PA Hopes For Arab Majority in Land of Israel by 2010
11:11 Nov 15, '05 / 13 Cheshvan 5766

(IsraelNN.com) According to the Palestinian Authority's Bureau of Statistics, there are 4.7 Arabs in the Land of Israel (between the Jordan River and the Medditeranean).

The PA envisions that by 2010 there will be an Arab majority in the region. "At that point we will tell the Israelis that we are offering them an Israeli State," read a statement from the Bureau.

The PA hopes to speed the demographic growth through importing Arabs from throughout the Middle East to Gaza in order to threaten Israel with the demand for a binational state between the river and the sea that would be an Arab one.

Recent demographic studies have undercut many of the methods used by the PA Statistics Bureau however.

Saudi Arabia annuls embargo on Israel

Arab state to lift its economic embargo on Israel, as precondition to become member of World Trade Organization. Move is important milestone, may foretell relations with Arab countries in future, Israeli official says
Ynet

Saudi Arabia has agreed to annul its economic embargo on Israel, thus paving its way to become a member of the World Trade Organization , Israeli and American sources reported Tuesday.

 
The country is expected to officially join the international organization on December 11th, two days prior to the opening of the WTO's convention in Hong Kong.

 
All states that are members of the organization are obligated to adhere to the WTO's legislation, which include demands for the liberalization of various economic sectors, as well as a commitment to open the country's markets to trade with other member states.

 
The process to approve Saudi Arabia's appeal to register with the WTO has persisted for 12 years, in part due to the Arab embargo on Israel, which goes against the organizations' regulations.

 
A promise for the future?

 
Israel's ambassador to the trade organization, Yitzhak Levanon, said that Saudi Arabia has presented sufficient warranties to attest for its willingness to abide by the WTO's rules once it becomes a member, including the rule that pertains to the ban on embargos against other member states.

 

Levanon said he was pleased with Saudi Arabia's decision to bear with the rules, and added that he hopes this move will open the door for a better future in the region.

 
"Such embargos within the WTO are totally unacceptable. Once Saudi Arabia has accepted these rules, the door for future relations, when the time comes, has opened," he added.

 
Saudi Arabia's Assistant Minister of Petroleum Affairs Prince Abdulaziz, was more vague in his comment on the issue, and said that "they (Israel) are there as members of the organization, and so are we, there is nothing more to it."

 
According to Yair Shiran, deputy director-general for foreign trade in the Industry, Trade, and Labor Ministry, the Saudi obligation to remove the embargo represents an important milestone, in light of the fact that there are currently several other Arab states that are in stages of accession to the WTO.

 
These countries will also have to lift the embargo, if they wish to become members of the organization, he explained.

 

Sharon's son faces jail for election fraud
By Simon Freeman and agencies
The eldest son of Ariel Sharon, the Israeli Prime Minister, today faces jail after pleading guilty to breaking campaign financing rules.

Omri Sharon admitted falsifying corporate documents, perjury and violating the party funding rules during his father's campaign in primary elections for the Likud Party in 1999. Mr Sharon was later elected Prime Minister in 2001 and 2003.

Omri, who must now step down as a member of Israel’s parliament, pleaded guilty to the charges at the opening of his trial before a court in Tel Aviv.

Dan Sheinman, his attorney, told Israel Radio that his client is demanding a light sentence in return for the guilty pleas. More serious charges of fraud and breach of trust were dropped.

The charges carry a maximum of seven years in prison. Although prosecutors have insisted that Omri must be sent to prison, the term is expected to be much shorter.

No details were given in court today but Mr Sheinman explained that under campaign law in 1999  politicians were allowed to collect only 800,000 shekels (£97,243) for party primaries. Omri collected about 6 million shekels (£747,000).

Menachem Mazuz, the Attorney General, decided to press charges against Omri in July, but had to wait until a Bill was passed limiting MPs’ immunity against prosecution before the court formally indicted him in late August.

Ariel Sharon was questioned by police but has always insisted he had no knowledge of the financing of his campaign, saying it was run exclusively by his son who is one of his closest advisors.

In court papers, prosecutors have said that a shell company controlled by Omri, Annex Research, took contributions from companies in Israel and abroad worth some $1.3 million (£750,000) which were illegally ploughed into his father’s campaign.

Evidence taken from taped phone conversations and documents in the 41-year-old’s handwriting formed part of the evidence against him, with prosecutors arguing that he disguised the true purpose of Annex and effectively "laundered" the incoming funds. Foreign funding of political campaigns is illegal in Israel.

Last year, the Prime Minister was cleared of involvement in a corruption probe into a property scandal known as the Greek island affair, in which he was suspected of accepting a bribe via his other son Gilad when he was foreign minister in the late 1990s.

The law has never been enforced, and character witnesses will testify that Omri is an upstanding public figure, Mr Sheinman said.

In addition, he said, lawmakers are now updating the legislation with more realistic figures.

"All of these things have great significance regarding the punishment, not regarding the actual violation of the law. We admit the violations ... he (Omri Sharon) takes full responsibility for this," Mr Sheinman said.

"He has to pay a price, but the price has to be very, very moderate."

Ariel Sharon’s two terms as Prime Minister have been marred by scandals over campaign financing and real estate deals since 2003, but he has not been indicted

Last June, Meni Mazuz, the Israeli Attorney-General, dropped a long-running bribery case against Mr Sharon, citing lack of evidence, despite the chief prosecutor’s recommendation to indict him.

The Public Security Minister, Tzahi Hanegbi, was forced to resign as police probed allegations that he appointed dozens of political allies to posts when he previously served as environment minister.

The Infrastructure Minister, Yosef Paritsky, was also sacked after he was exposed for trying to incriminate a party colleague in the run-up to primary elections.

Israel’s state comptroller delivered a withering verdict on the culture of cronyism and corruption at the heart of government in May, warning that it threatened the whole fabric of the state.

Presenting his annual report, Judge Eliezer Goldberg denounced "the corruption of power" which he said was "more dangerous than any other threat to which the state is exposed."

Powerful earthquake hits northern Japan
Tokyo, Japan   
15 November 2005 07:30
A powerful earthquake shook northern Japan early on Tuesday, triggering small tsunami waves that struck towns along the north-eastern coast about 350km away. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

Japan's Meteorological Agency said the magnitude-7,1 quake hit at 6.39am local time off the east coast of Japan's main island of Honshu, and issued a tsunami warning.

About 400 households along the coast were temporarily ordered to evacuate, public broadcaster NHK reported. Local authorities also ordered fishing boats to move to open water to avoid being washed up on the shore.

Small tsunami waves measuring up to 50cm hit Ofunato city on the coast of Iwate prefecture nearly an hour after the quake, the agency said.

Smaller tsunami waves hit at least four other coastal towns in Iwate, Aomori and Miyagi provinces, but there were no immediate reports of damage.

The agency called off the tsunami warning about two hours after the quake.

Tsunami waves -- generated by earthquakes -- are often barely noticeable in the ocean, but can rise to great heights once they arrive at shore.

Tuesday's quake shook buildings across a wide area of northern and eastern Honshu, including Tokyo, and Hokkaido.

Express train services between Tokyo and north-eastern Japan were temporarily suspended for safety checks, but resumed later, NHK said.

Tokyo's metropolitan area is home to about 35-million residents, or a quarter of Japan's population.

Japan is one of the world's most earthquake-prone countries because it sits atop four tectonic plates. A 7,2-magnitude earthquake shook north-eastern Japan in August, injuring at least 59 people, triggering landslides, damaging buildings and causing widespread power outages.

There was no destructive Pacific Ocean-wide tsunami threat following Tuesday's earthquake, based on historical quake and tsunami data, according to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in Ewa Beach, Hawaii.

However, earthquakes as large as Tuesday's can generate a local tsunami capable of causing destruction along coastlines within 100km of the epicentre, according to the centre.

In 1993, a quake off Japan's northernmost main island of Hokkaido triggered a tsunami measuring 30m tall on Okushiri Island, flattening homes there within minutes. More than 200 people died in the waves, and in fires caused by the quake.

A quake with an estimated magnitude of 8,3 hit Tokyo in 1923, killing 142 000 people. Tsunami waves followed that quake, but caused relatively little damage. -- Sapa-AP

It's great to see you, Brother. I'm sorry to hear about the pain though. Take care now and get plenty of rest.

I use both Opera and Firefox...i've gotten the latest Release Candidate for Firefox and it seems to be working fine. You all are correct about removing IE will cause major problems. That's microsoft's way of making things harder for PC's to be independent. I won't even use IE unless i'm getting windows updates from Patch Tuesday and occasionally when I want to do a virus scan from http://housecall.trendmicro.com which is a free virus scan. I dunno what the rules are about virus scanning websites, but it's worked for me so far. I use a cocktail of different services such as adaware, sygate firewall, peer guardian, microsoft antispyware beta 1 and avast antivirus...all right after the other so my machine stays pretty clean. I have mixed emotions about Spybot Search and Destroy, but i may break down and give it a try. Just a few thoughts.

Coram Deo,
Joshua

Spybot S&D is a pretty good program but with the other programs that you already have you will have to be careful what you remove with it. For example, Spybot recognises certain Adware cache files as adware bots and will remove them. Adware will still run but it won't be able to detect those adware bots if you have them in your system.

 

You are right Brother Tom. Portions of I.E. support many other functions in Windows programs. One of these is Desk Top functions. To delete it would make the desk top inoperative and therefore no computer.

Hi livingforthelord,

I see this is your first post so first I would like to welcome you to the forum.

I have a big disk drive so storage is not a problem for me. I personally would not delete the MS programs. There is a way though to change which ones are default and which ones are not.

I am not positive as to how to do that on Win2000. On the Win XP it is located in the Add/Remove Programs folder under the "Set Programs and Defaults" tab. When programs such as FireFox and Thunderbird etc are set as the default program they will be accessed much quicker and you wont have that problem you are talking about either.

Brother Tom,

I am sure that this is exactly what God is doing. One Jesus' Apostles doubted that Jesus was in fact risen. He was chastised for his doubt but Jesus did in fact give him the evidence necessary to remove that doubt.

As the Bible tells us, Jesus isn't willing that any of us should perish. So I am sure that He is affording every opportunity for the doubting Thomas' of this world.

Texas marriage amendment supporter silenced...but not anymore
Citizen quietly supporting marriage obtains help from ADF-allied attorney to win victory against attempt to remove him from public property

BALCONES HEIGHTS, Texas - A citizen passively pledging his support for marriage is once again free to express his views in public after receiving assistance from an Alliance Defense Fund allied attorney.

Larry Scott held a sign in support of Texas' proposed constitutional amendment on marriage while sitting in a chair on public property Oct. 28.  Personnel at a nearby mall called police.  Although Scott remained quiet and seated and did not present an obstruction to pedestrian or vehicle traffic, police told him to move on.

"Mr. Scott was simply engaging in the freedoms that the First Amendment provides," said ADF-allied attorney Michael J. Morris.  "He was in no way, shape, or form causing a disturbance or hindrance to any citizens or businesses and had every right to do what he was doing."

Morris sent a letter to the local police chief advising him of Scott's rights under the Constitution.  Scott was able to resume holding his sign Nov. 4.

Scott engaged in a similar display for three to four weeks during 2004's general election, where he ran into similar trouble with a different outcome.  After mall personnel placed a call to authorities in that instance, Scott was told by police that his actions were indeed legal.

"The authorities' turnabout in allowing, then disallowing, Mr. Scott's actions within the space of a year didn't make sense," Morris said.  "We are pleased that he is once again allowed to exercise his rights without interference."

Scott was referred to Morris after phoning the Texas-based Liberty Legal Institute for assistance.

Texas voters Tuesday adopted the constitutional amendment for which Scott was publicly displaying support (www.telladf.org/news/pressrelease.aspx?cid=3586).

Access denied: Unemployment advocates banished from open forum
Presence of Bible verses leads to censoring of ads
Monday, November 14, 2005, 4:45 PM (MST)
ADF Media Relations | 480-444-0020

Comments
 


DETROIT, Mich. - Two Michigan unemployment advocates have retained the counsel of Alliance Defense Fund attorneys after being banned from placing Bible verses on advertisements touting their services.  A lawsuit has been filed in federal court.

"Apparently, the Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency thinks it can discriminate against Christian content in ads," said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Kevin Theriot.  "Prohibiting the Grosjeans from expressing their religious viewpoint as part of their ads in a public forum is a blatant violation of the First Amendment."

Andrew and Glenda Grosjean, independent contractors who work on behalf of employees who have been denied benefits by the Michigan UIA, found the agency had censored their ads after they refused to remove the biblical references.

Unemployment advocates are not necessarily attorneys but perform many of the same functions on behalf of unemployed persons.  They are permitted to display personalized biographical ads in a list the UIA distributes to unemployed workers who have been denied employment benefits.

In the past, the Grosjeans have been permitted to include biblical references on their ads.  However, after submitting ads on Sept. 15, a UIA employee informed the Grosjeans that the material violated the so-called "separation of church and state" and ordered the Bible references removed. Without the Grosjeans' knowledge, employees then removed the ads' religious content before displaying them.

"Secularization of the Grosjeans' ads is impermissible," Theriot said.  "The Constitution does not permit UIA employees to edit materials at will simply because they contain religious references.  Censorship is apparently fully employed at the Michigan UIA."

  Knock at the Door

By: Brittany Waller


"And so I say to you: Ask, and you will receive; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you." (Luke 11:9)

Some days I feel like praying is a waste of my time. I feel like I am talking to a brick wall. If that wall bursts out and starts to talk to me before God does, I am going to blink a few times, scream, and then run away very fast.

However, God does listen. He listens to every plea of help, every angry word towards him, and every word of praise that slips off our lips. The question is do we mean what we say?

If you are taking a test and are stumped on a question, don't expect God to magically send you brain waves to make you smarter, if it does happen call me. But, God doesn't work that way. He knows best. He knows what you need and when you need it. If you long to find God, search harder because he isn't far. He is close enough to hold your hand or wipe away your tears.

God wants you to talk to Him. He will listen to you when everyone else walks away. All you have to do is open up your heart to Him. Will you open up that door? He is knocking. Don't take the time to fix your hair or look in the mirror to see how you look. In God's eyes you are beautiful, and he loves you no matter what!

  Piercing the Darkness

By: Beth Hays


“When I fall, I will rise. Even though I am in darkness, the Lord will be my light.” (Micah 7: NLV

I have spent the last few days in a real low point in my relationship with God and I haven’t been able to find the strength to climb out of it. I have tried all the simple answers, like praying, singing, and reading, but I need something that’s REAL. It seems no matter how hard I claw, the deeper I slip. And it is starting to get hopeless.

But it never quite gets there. I was putting up my calendar for 2005 and on the picture for January was this verse. It blew me away. I have fallen so deeply I wonder if I will ever get out. I am surrounded by vertical walls full of thorns and cackling demons with no where to go. But, when I stood by and thought about it, I know I will rise. It will get better, as it always does. There is always joy after the pain and a stream of misty light after a storm. I was infused with hope.

But, ironically, that hope fulfilled the rest of the verse. God pierced my darkness with his light and truth. He showed me hope in the midst of despair. He showed me HIM in a place where everything was blurry and unidentifiable. And what could be better than the beauty of our God overtaking the blackness of my soul? Even when I was in darkness, the Lord broke through and became my light.

Maybe you feel like you’ve fallen and will never find a way to the top again. I know it’s desperately hard to imagine, but sometimes we have to hang out in the valley before we’re taught to soar with the eagles. Take hope my friend, it WILL get better. And when it seems you are trapped in the depths of darkness and you can’t see a thing, look around, the light is there, the Lord is with you. I know He’s reaching in your darkness to show you just how much He adores you. Keep going, my sibling in Christ, I promise every moment is worth the trial.

  Loving Yourself

By: Steve Self


“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”  1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (NIV)

I’ve heard many sermons and Sunday school lessons on the love listed above; as a matter of fact I’ve preached some of the sermons and taught some of the Sunday school classes on these verses. The love Paul describes here is called agape love. It’s an unconditional, covenantal, unchangeable, decisive love, it is an action we are commanded to do. This love is not emotional nor does it change with circumstances, it’s always the same. Most of the time this passage is talked about, it’s in the context of how to love others. But as I was counseling a person who was depressed and down, God showed me a new angle of this verse. He showed me that we are supposed to love ourselves with this type of love too.

When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, He talked about the commandment to love the Lord with all you have, but then He went on to talk about the 2nd one being just like it. He tells us to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. If we are taught to love our neighbors as ourselves, and we are taught that we are to love our neighbors with agape love, then we need to also need to read this passage in reverse and love ourselves as we love our neighbors.

We are our own worst critics, sometimes we are too critical. We make a mistake or sin, we repent, and then we still feel guilty. The guilt is not coming from God, it comes from our accuser and we need to realize that. One huge step in attaining a biblical view of self-worth is to apply this scripture to your own view of yourself. People always tell me “Steve, I can love others like I am supposed to, but I just can’t love myself like that.” They are right, it is much harder to accept what God has said about you and truly believe it. Much less carry out an action plan to live in to God’s will for our view of our self.  

No matter what is in your past, no matter what you have done, no matter what you are struggling with right now, you can practice regarding your self-worth by following the scripture above. I’m not saying you can use this scripture and go about your life and freely sin and not care about it. That is a flagrant misuse of God’s grace. But what I am saying, is that Satan can attack you and tell you that you are worthless or that you are not smart enough or not good looking enough, but now you know how to protect yourself from believing the lie. Arm yourself with God’s word which is sharper than any double-edged sword, put this weapon into your arsenal and watch God do wonders in your life. You are a precious child of God, one He loves very much. Would God lie to you? Of course not! So don’t think He would start lying to you with this teaching. He loves you and He wants you to love yourself. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you make this change in your views and in your life.  With this love, God accepted Jesus as our sacrifice so we could be with Him.  With this same love, Jesus came to earth and lived through terrible suffering to be our sacrifice.  Even if you were the only person ever to be born, Jesus would have still died for you.  Remember, when you hate yourself, you are hating God’s creation. A creation He formed lovingly with His own hands. God loves you, so love yourself.

Thanks Living

"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'" Matthew 25:40 (NIV)

When someone does something nice for you, what do you do? You say, "Thank you," don't you? Sometimes that just doesn't seem to be enough. Has someone ever done something for you that was so nice that you wanted to do more than just say, "Thank You." I have. When that happens, I sometimes send them a "Thank You" card. Everyone enjoys receiving a "Thank You" card.

Another way you can show your thanks when someone does something really nice for you is by doing something nice for them in return. For example, if someone invites you to spend the night and you have a really good time, you should return their kindess by inviting them to come and spend the night with you.

It is always important to show our appreciation when someone does something for us, isn't it?

Well, I don't know anyone who has done more for us than God has. God provides food when we are hungry and water when we are thirsty. He heals us when we are sick and he comforts us when we are sad. The Bible tells us that he is an ever-present helper in times of trouble.

Because of all God has done for us, we say, "Thank you." But somehow that doesn't seem to be enough. We could write him a "Thank You" card, but I don't think the Post Office could deliver it, do you? I have a good idea, why don't we do something nice for him in return? But how?

Jesus told us how to do it. Jesus, said, "Whatever you do for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you do it for me." That means when we feed someone who is hungry, it is the same as doing it for Jesus. When we visit someone who is sick, it is the same as doing it for Jesus. When we give clothes to those who are in need, it is the same as doing it for Jesus.

There is a very special name for this way of saying, "Thank you." I call it "thanks living."  "Thanks living" is when we show our thanks by the way we live. "Thanks living" is when we look at the many ways God has blessed us, and we thank him by being a blessing to others.

Let's pray and ask God to help us to offer our thanksgiving by "thanks living."

Our Father, we come into your presence with thanksgiving. Help us to turn our thanksgiving into "thanks living." Amen.