Israel news from within Israel

[Shammu]

Teens Attempted to Create Communist Cell
January 14, '08

(IsraelNN.com) Four teenagers who were arrested in Haifa late on Saturday night were apparently trying to establish a local cell of a Russian communist party, police said on Sunday night.  The teens were arrested after police found them holding materials used to create Molotov cocktails.

The teens later told police investigators that they were filming a video explaining how to prepare Molotov cocktails, and were planning to use the video to train new members of their cell.  The four said they oppose capitalism, and had participated in demonstrations against United States President George Bush during his recent visit to Israel.

Teens Attempted to Create Communist Cell

[Shammu]

Arabs Demand NIS 40 Million for Homesh
January 13, '08

(IsraelNN.com) A group of Palestinian Authority Arabs is demanding NIS 40 million from the state, saying their land was used to build the town of Homesh.  The group was offered compensation for use of the land when the IDF began using the area for security purposes, but rejected the offered money.  Those who own property in what was once Homesh decided to demand retroactive compensation payments after the city was destroyed in 2005.

Sources quoted in Haaretz said an Israeli court would probably rule in favor of the Arabs.  Officials are attempting to settle the case out of court, they said, and are likely to agree to pay at least NIS 20 million to resolve the claim.

Arabs Demand NIS 40 Million for Homesh

[Shammu]

Olmert Agrees to Allow in 50,000 Arab 'Refugees'
 
by Hillel Fendel

(IsraelNN.com) The issue of "Arab refugees" has long been a matter of widespread consensus in Israel, with even left-wing parties declaring that allowing them into Israel would endanger its very existence as a Jewish state.  Nevertheless, the subject does not appear to be going away.  Reports are that Prime Minister Olmert has now agreed to allow 50,000 Arabs who left Israel in 1948 - or are descendants of those who did - to enter and live in Israel.

Channel Ten reported Thursday night that in a private meeting between Olmert and Palestinian Authority Chairman Abu Mazen, the two agreed that in the final-status agreement, Israel would withdraw from 92% of Judea and Samaria, including all the non-Jewish neighborhoods in eastern Jerusalem.  It was also agreed that 50,000 "refugees from 1948" would enter and live in the State of Israel.

Staffers in Olmert's office did not deny the report, and even hinted that it was at least partially accurate.

Olmert Went Further than Bush
U.S. President George Bush summed up his three-day visit to Israel on Friday by saying that a new Palestinian state, together with financial compensation, would be the solution to the refugee problem.  The implication is that the refugees need not enter Israel.

"There must be an end to Israel's occupation [sic] that began in 1967," Bush said.  "Palestine must serve as a national home for the Palestinians, and Israel - for the Jews."

Israel liberated Judea and Samaria during the Six Day War in 1967, capturing it, essentially, from no one. No country in the world, other than Great Britain and Pakistan, recognized Jordan's control over Judea and Samaria between 1948 and 1967.

Lebanon: Return, Not Money
Lebanon's Prime Minister Fuad Seniora does not accept Bush's position on the refugees. Seniora said that money alone is not enough, and that his country will continue to refuse to grant citizenship to the 400,000 refugees living within its borders.  The number of Arabs who left Israel in 1948 has been estimated to be roughly a half-million, but millions now claim the 'right to return.'

Hamas, too, refuses to accept any solution other than the "return" to Israel of the millions of Arabs who claim that they themselves, or their ancestors, were forced to leave Israel in 1948.  The Hamas prime minister in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, said that Bush will soon leave the political arena, while the Hamas demands will remain forever: "A Palestinian state in the pre-1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital, the destruction of all the settlements, the release of all the Palestinian prisoners, the 'right of return' of all the Palestinian refugees, and continued adherence to the strategy of not giving up on even one inch of all of Palestine."

Arabs Denied Refugee Problem
Oft-forgotten is the fact that the refugee problem was not caused by Israel, but by the Arab states.  "The Arab States encouraged the Palestine Arabs to leave their homes temporarily in order to be out of the way of the Arab invasion armies," according to the Jordanian newspaper Filastin (February 19, 1949).

Joan Peters, in her classic work "From Time Immemorial," quotes (on page 13) an Arab-sponsored Institute for Palestine Studies finding that "the majority" of the Arab refugees in 1948 were not expelled, and that 68% left without seeing an Israeli soldier.

On April 27, 1950, the Arab National Committee of Haifa informed the Arab States: "The removal of the Arab inhabitants... was voluntary and was carried out at our request... The Arab delegation proudly asked for the evacuation of the Arabs and their removal to the neighboring Arab countries."

Zuheir Muhsein, the late Military Department head of the PLO and member of its Executive Council, told the Dutch daily Trouw, March 1977, "The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity... Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people... to oppose Zionism."

Olmert Agrees to Allow in 50,000 Arab 'Refugees'

[nChrist]

On April 27, 1950, the Arab National Committee of Haifa informed the Arab States: "The removal of the Arab inhabitants... was voluntary and was carried out at our request... The Arab delegation proudly asked for the evacuation of the Arabs and their removal to the neighboring Arab countries."

Zuheir Muhsein, the late Military Department head of the PLO and member of its Executive Council, told the Dutch daily Trouw, March 1977, "The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity... Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people... to oppose Zionism."

I wonder how much of the world actually knows and understands this. I also wonder if the world knows this land belonged to Israel in the first place. The biggest question is, "Does the world know this land belongs to GOD?" Do they know that JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF is the Anointed KING of Israel, and HE will NOT be denied HIS Throne and Kingdom?

Love In Christ,
Tom

Revelation 11:13-19 NASB
And in that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell; seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. The second woe is past; behold, the third woe is coming quickly. Then the seventh angel sounded; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever." And the twenty-four elders, who sit on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, "We give You thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who are and who were, because You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign. "And the nations were enraged, and Your wrath came, and the time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to reward Your bond-servants the prophets and the saints and those who fear Your name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth." And the temple of God which is in heaven was opened; and the ark of His covenant appeared in His temple, and there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder and an earthquake and a great hailstorm.

[Def]

I wonder how much of the world actually knows and understands this. I also wonder if the world knows this land belonged to Israel in the first place. The biggest question is, "Does the world know this land belongs to GOD?" Do they know that JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF is the Anointed KING of Israel, and HE will NOT be denied HIS Throne and Kingdom?

Love In Christ,
Tom

Revelation 11:13-19 NASB
And in that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell; seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. The second woe is past; behold, the third woe is coming quickly. Then the seventh angel sounded; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever." And the twenty-four elders, who sit on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, "We give You thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who are and who were, because You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign. "And the nations were enraged, and Your wrath came, and the time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to reward Your bond-servants the prophets and the saints and those who fear Your name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth." And the temple of God which is in heaven was opened; and the ark of His covenant appeared in His temple, and there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder and an earthquake and a great hailstorm.

Hi brother Tom you are so right .and i have proof but i am to tire right now to go into explanation .
i just finish the old testament today.
i feel tired I feel older and lost two pound and i could not afford to many lost of those.
 tomorrow Matthew here i come.
Love in Jesus Def
.Glory Glory Hallelujah!what Power.for someone as little as me.
I am speechless

[Soldier4Christ]

'Syrian spy' busted
before nuke attack 
Accused of plotting against Jewish state
prior to Israel's air raid of suspected site

Israel arrested a suspected Syrian militant operating on Israeli soil accused of preparing attacks against the Jewish state, WND has learned.

The militant was arrested July 29, weeks before Israel's Sept. 6 air raid on a remote site in Syria that has been described by independent analysts and some U.S. politicians as a potential Syrian nuclear reactor.

Security officials would not say whether the July arrest of the suspected Syrian militant was tied to the Jewish state's Sept. 6 air strike in Syria. According to security sources, his activities were known to Israeli intelligence agencies for at least one year prior to his arrest.

Sources indicated the arrest was ordered as part of a series of other steps taken to ensure against Syrian retaliation following the Israeli air raid.

Israel has acknowledged carrying out the September air raid after earlier denials but has given no details on the target, which some analysts have said was a nascent Syrian nuclear reactor constructed with the aid of North Korea.

Earlier this week, an independent monitoring group told the New York Times that Syria has commenced construction on a new building at the same site bombed by Israel.

The Syrian, whose name is being withheld by security sources for operational reasons, was a legal resident of Buqata, a largely Druze village in the Israeli Golan Heights. He was arrested at his home during a nighttime police raid.

The Golan Heights is strategic mountainous territory captured by the Jewish state after Syria twice used the terrain to attack Israel. It has a population of about 35,000 – approximately 18,000 Jewish residents and 17,000 Arabs, mostly Druze. The Arab residents retain their Syrian citizenship, but under Israeli law they can also sue for Israeli citizenship.

The Israeli police withheld information about the July arrest of the suspected Syrian militant and imposed a complete Israeli media blackout on the case.

According to informed sources, the arrest docket officially charges the suspected militant with establishing relations with enemy agents.

Security sources involved with the arrest told WND the militant is accused of gathering intelligence on Jewish communities and Israeli military positions in the Golan Heights and passing the information to the Syrian government and to elements in Syria seeking to use the information to mount Hezbollah-style guerrilla raids and attacks against the Golan.

In 2006, WND broke the story Syria was in the early stages of forming a guerrilla group threatening attacks against Israeli positions and Jewish communities in the Golan Heights, according to security sources.

The Syrian militant arrested in July is suspected of working for the guerrilla group.

During a widely-circulated interview in August 2006, a senior official from Syrian President Bashar Assad's Baath party told WND the new guerrilla group, called the Syrian Committees for the Liberation of the Golan Heights, would launch "resistance operations" if Israel didn't vacate the Golan.

One month later, a man identified as the leader of the new Committees gave an interview to state-run Iranian television.

Amos Yadlin, head of the Israel Defense Forces' intelligence branch, told the Knesset last October that Syria is indeed forming a Hezbollah-like group.

Last February, the Committees for the Liberation of the Golan faxed a letter to Israeli news agencies claiming it was holding Guy Hever, an Israeli soldier who went missing in the Golan in 1997. The Committees said they would release Hever in exchange for nine Syrians held in Israeli jails.

[Soldier4Christ]

Israel supporter says downfall of Olmert gov't imminent

Christian Zionist Jim Hutchens says the withdrawal of a right-wing Israeli party from Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's coalition government is more evidence that both the left and the right of the political spectrum in Israel do not approve of the direction Olmert is taking the country.



Minister of Strategic Affairs Avigdor Lieberman announced Wednesday he was pulling his Israel Beiteinu party out of Israel's coalition government because Prime Minister Olmert is negotiating with the Palestinian Authority over the so-called "core issues" -- which include the division of Jerusalem, the final status borders, and the influx of descendants of Arabs.

Jim Hutchens, president of The Jerusalem Connection International, says Lieberman's departure foreshadows a further decline of the Olmert government.

"The Shas party, which is also part of the coalition -- Prime Minister Olmert's coalition -- will probably follow suit on this," he predicts. "Now there are a couple of other political parties that are standing in the wings, one is a religious party -- highly religious -- that would share the same views in regards with the core issue discussion that I think Avigdor Lieberman has taken."

Hutchens notes Olmert's approval rating has been in the single digits for months now, and it is just a matter of time before his government collapses. And from a Christian Zionist standpoint, he says, that "bodes well," because the division of Israel is not in keeping with the promises God made to the Jewish people regarding their land.

[Shammu]

Winograd Commission member

As publication of final report on Second Lebanon War draws near, commission member tells Ynet report's conclusions could have dramatic ramifications for Israeli political system
Aviram Zino

"The final report of the Winograd Commission is expected to be dramatic and decisive," a member on the commission told Ynet Thursday, ahead of the report's publication in two weeks' time.

The member also stated that the report could have "drastic ramifications" for the political system, and could even lead to a toppling of the government.

The commission's spokesman refused to comment on the statements at this point.

Winograd's preliminary report, which was released in April 2007, strongly criticized Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, then-Defense Minister Amir Peretz, then-Chief of Staff Dan Halutz and the government as a whole for their functioning during the first five days of the campaign.

The final report is set to focus on the period leading up the ceasefire agreement, signed on August 12, 2006, and also cover the years that preceded the war, since Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000.

The report is also expected to spotlight the last 48 hours of the fighting, which took place parallel to diplomatic efforts to finalize the UN Security Council ceasefire resolution.

'Elections will likely be pushed up' 

While the commission said it would not include individual recommendations in its conclusions, the member stated that the report would contain "difficult findings" regarding the deaths of 33 soldiers during the final operation of the war. These conclusions, he said, "will, at the very least, move up the general elections."

The main issues set to be covered by the report include the decision-making process employed by the political echelon during the war; the relations between the political and military echelons throughout the campaign; the handling of the home front; and of course, the war's results.

The report will be presented to the public in a special press conference on January 30 at the Jerusalem International Convention Center. Dozens of local and foreign journalists are expected to attend the conference.

An hour prior to the event, the report will be handed to the prime minister and defense minister.

Winograd Commission member

[Shammu]

Israel defending citizens through uncompromising war

JPost.com staff and Yaakov Katz
THE JERUSALEM POST
an. 17, 2008

Defense Minster Ehud Barak on Thursday ordered the complete closure of the crossings from Israel into the Gaza Strip in the wake of the incessant Kassam rocket attacks.

In a situation assessment Barak conducted with IDF officials, the defense minister ordered them to stop the transfer of trucks and goods into the Strip in order to exert pressure on Hamas.

The defense establishment emphasized that the transfer of medicines and humanitarian aid would be allowed only in exceptional circumstances and only after a thorough examination.

Earlier, Barak had ordered a continuation of the restrictions on Gaza fuel supply and instructed the defense establishment to allocate 260 million shekels for fortifications in Sderot and Gaza belt neighborhoods.

Also Thursday, Barak said that Israel would deepen its operations in the Gaza Strip and stop the firing of rockets at the western Negev.

Speaking during a visit to the area accompanied by IDF commanders, Barak said: "Even as we stand here, [Kassam] fire continues. The IDF will continue in its ongoing operation and deepen it in order to strike at the perpetrators, until the firing stops."

"It won't be easy, it won't happen this weekend, but we will bring an end to Kassam attacks on Sderot," he added.

Meanwhile, the Gaza operations got the seal of approval from the US, with US Assistant Secretary of State Sean McCormack saying that Israel has the right to defend itself from Kassam rocket attacks.

However, McCormack urged the IDF to avoid harming innocent civilians, Israel Radio reported.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said earlier that Israel would not tolerate the incessant Kassam rocket fire from the Gaza Strip and would act repeatedly against the Islamic Jihad, Hamas and all other Palestinian groups which continue to wage war on Israeli citizens.

"We are not looking to fight in the Gaza Strip, we do not want to harm its residents and we have no special desire to kill any citizen," Olmert told the Israel Manufacturers' Association in Tel Aviv. "But we will not, and we cannot continue to suffer this relentless Kassam rocket fire on citizens of the state of Israel that emanates from there."

The prime minister went on to commend the latest string of IDF operations in the Gaza Strip, which has so far killed at least 20 Palestinian operatives, and said that such military activity will continue until rocket attacks stop.

"They absorbed a punch, and this punch is not the last one that they will absorb during this insufferable Kassam rocket fire on the southern Israel," Olmert said, promising that the Jewish state "will continue to act, with wisdom and with ferociousness, with maximal precision in order to hit all those who want to harm us, and without hitting innocent citizens, that are becoming victims of extremism, brutality, hate and incitement."

Nevertheless, Olmert emphasized that there are no easy solutions to rocket attacks. "Unfortunately we can't just press a button to stop it."

Earlier Thursday, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni made similar comments during her visit to Moscow, saying that Israel would defend its citizens not only through negotiations, but also through "uncompromising war" against Palestinian terror from Gaza.

"Israeli is obligated to its citizens, and needs to give a response to the daily attacks coming from Gaza," the foreign minister said, adding that "the answer to the Kassam rocket attacks is an uncompromising war on terror which originates from Gaza, and not only through dialogue and negotiations."

"[Israel] must be clear: when speaking of a Palestinian state, we are talking about two parts - Gaza and the West Bank," the foreign minister continued.

"The situation in Gaza must change," she concluded.

Also Thursday, Vice Premier Haim Ramon said that Israeli military pressure on Hamas and other Palestinian organizations in the Gaza Strip would eventually bring an end the rocket attacks on the western Negev.

"We already see a pretty major weakening within Hamas; a wish on their part to arrive at a cease fire," Ramon told Army Radio. "The easiest way to bring quiet to the Negev and Sderot will be if Hamas hold their fire."

A senior Hamas official was quoted by Israel Radio as saying overnight Wednesday that Ismail Haniyeh's Hamas government would attempt to put a stop to Kassam rocket fire and other terror attacks emanating from the Gaza Strip.

The source added, however, that it would be difficult to quell the flames so long as Israel continued aggressive operations in the Gaza Strip.

On Wednesday, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said "We will increase the pressure on the Gaza Strip in order to bring an end to the Kassam rocket fire."

Speaking during an opening speech at a Naval graduation ceremony in Haifa, Barak said Israel had no intention of softening its stance against terrorists and that military strikes in Gaza would continue as long as necessary.

Barak orders Gaza crossings shut
~~~~~~~~

This seems like very strong words when combined with the missile test earlier today. I have never heard of Israel being empty on her threats. I know the Israeli's stands behind their threats more than any other country, because they can't relax their stance!!

[Soldier4Christ]

Jewish construction restricted in Jerusalem 
Regarded as sign government plans to forfeit parts of holy city

In what some are pointing to as a sign the Israeli government plans to forfeit parts of Jerusalem, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert reportedly has suspended all construction in eastern sections of the city unless specifically approved by the prime minister himself.

"All construction beyond the Green Line, even in Jerusalem, requires the housing minister and prime minister's approval," Sara Zimmerman, an official in Israel's Housing Ministry, revealed to the Knesset yesterday.

The Housing Ministry ordinarily regulates construction in the Jewish state, but Zimmerman informed the Knesset that Olmert's office took over the approval process for issuing tenders to build in the Jewish neighborhoods of eastern Jerusalem, including even for kindergartens or health clinics.

Israel recaptured eastern Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount – Judaism's holiest site – during the 1967 Six Day War. The Palestinians have claimed eastern Jerusalem as a future capital; the area has large Arab neighborhoods, a significant Jewish population and sites holy to Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

About 231,000 Arabs live in Jerusalem, mostly in eastern neighborhoods. The city has an estimated total population of 724,000.

Following the Knesset session, Olmert's office quickly released a statement denying it is restricting eastern Jerusalem construction, while the Housing Ministry has returned phone calls to WND for clarification on the issue.

"We have made it very clear to all international bodies, including U.S. President George W. Bush during his visit. We have no intention of freezing the construction in Jerusalem. All such claims are baseless and unfounded," Olmert's office said.

But Zimmerman did not testify Olmert froze construction in eastern Jerusalem, only that the prime minister has stipulated his approval was necessary for any building there.

Reuven Rivlin, a lawmaker in Israel's opposition Likud party, slammed Olmert's reported decision to halt Jerusalem construction.

"The whole wretched truth is out," said Rivlin.

Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski commented, "Israel cannot be the first nation in the world which turns its capital into an illegal outpost."

The reported move to restrict Jewish construction in Jerusalem follows statements last month by Israeli Vice Premier Haim Ramon, a top Olmert deputy, that Israel "must" give up sections of Jerusalem for a future Palestinian state, even conceding the Palestinians can rename Jerusalem "to whatever they want."

"We must come today and say, friends, the Jewish neighborhoods, including Har Homa, will remain under Israeli sovereignty, and the Arab neighborhoods will be the Palestinian capital, which they will call Jerusalem or whatever they want," said Ramon during an interview.

Positions held by Ramon, a ranking member of Olmert's Kadima party, are largely considered to be reflective of Israeli government policy.

Ramon's statements came after November's U.S.-sponsored Annapolis summit at which Olmert committed to aim at completing negotiations by the end of this year to create a Palestinian state, with Israel expected to evacuate swaths of Jerusalem and the strategic West Bank.

Ramon said due to the city's demographics, Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem "should not be under Israeli sovereignty, because they pose a threat to Jerusalem being the capital of a Jewish Israel."

Olmert to blame for dividing Jerusalem?

Ramon listed population statistics as the reason Olmert's government finds it necessary to split Jerusalem.

But WND broke the story last month that according to Jerusalem municipal employees, during 10 years as mayor of Jerusalem, Olmert instructed city workers not to take action against hundreds of illicit Arab building projects throughout eastern sections of Jerusalem housing over 100,000 Arabs squatting in the city illegally.

The workers and some former employees claim Olmert even instructed city officials to delete files documenting illegal Arab construction of housing units in eastern Jerusalem.

Olmert was Jerusalem mayor from 1993 to 2003. As mayor he made repeated public statements calling Jerusalem the "eternal and undivided capital" of Israel. Jerusalem municipal employees and former workers, though, paint a starkly contrasting picture of the prime minister.

"He did nothing about rampant illegal Arab construction in Jerusalem while the government cracked down on illegal Jewish construction in the West Bank," said one municipal employee who worked under Olmert. ,p>She spoke on condition of anonymity because she still works for the municipality.

One former municipal worker during Olmert's mayoral tenure told WND he was moved in 1999 to a new government posting after he tried to highlight the illegal Arab construction in Jerusalem. He also spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing for his current job.

Aryeh King, chairman of the Jerusalem Forum, which promotes Jewish construction in Jerusalem, told WND an investigation by his group found Olmert's city hall deleted files documenting hundreds of illegal Arab building projects throughout eastern sections of Jerusalem. He said he forwarded his findings to Israel's state comptroller for investigation.

King also claims Olmert told senior municipal workers not to enforce a ban on illegal Arab buildings.

"Ehud Olmert gave the order not to deal with the problem and not to put Israeli security forces to the duty of taking down the illegal Arab complexes," said King. "Senior municipal workers told me Olmert said not to bother with the illegal Arab homes because eventually eastern Jerusalem would be given to the Palestinian Authority."

King's report alleges Jerusalem municipal officials erased the files, which detail over 300 cases of Arab construction in eastern Jerusalem deemed illegal starting from 1999. The illegal buildings reportedly were constructed without permits and are still standing. According to law, they must be demolished.

Local media reports investigating King's charges alleged the files were erased by Ofir May, the head of Jerusalem's Department of Building Permits, with the specific intention of allowing the statute of limitation on enforcing the demolition of the illegal construction to run out.

cont'd

[Soldier4Christ]

The Jerusalem municipality released a statement in response to the allegations claiming the threat of Arab violence kept it from bulldozing the illegal Arab homes.

"During the years of the intifada, the municipality had difficulty carrying out the necessary level of enforcement in the neighborhoods of eastern Jerusalem due to security constraints," the statement read.

King said the hundreds of buildings allegedly detailed in the deleted municipal files house more than 20,000 illegal units.

"We're talking about perhaps 100,000 or more Arabs in eastern Jerusalem living in illegal homes with the government doing nothing about it," King said.

Arabs squat illegally on Jewish-owned land

WND's own investigation last year found hundreds of acres of key properties in Jerusalem purchased by a Jewish group for the stated purpose of Jewish settlement instead were utilized for U.N. facilities and the illegal construction of dozens of Arab apartment buildings housing thousands.

The lands, purchased by the Jewish National Fund, or JNF, are under the management of the Israeli government.

The properties in question include over 200 acres in the northern Jerusalem neighborhoods of Qalandiya and Kfar Akev, located near an old Israeli airport, and about 50 acres in a north Jerusalem suburb known as Shoafat, which is adjacent to the Jewish neighborhood of Pisgat Zeev.

The two neighborhoods were specifically mentioned by Olmert last month as up for possible Israeli evacuation.

The lands were legally purchased on behalf of JNF using Jewish donations in the early 1900s, immediately after the organization was founded in 1901 with the specific charge of repurchasing and developing the land of Israel for Jewish settlement.

A tour of Qalandiya and Kfar Akev found dozens of Arab apartment complexes, a Palestinian refugee camp and a U.N. school for Palestinians constructed on the land.

According to officials in Israel's Housing Ministry, Arabs first constructed facilities illegally in Qalandiya and Kfar Akev between 1948 and 1967, prior to the 1967 Six-Day War during which Israel retook control of the entire city of Jerusalem.

Qalandiya, still owned by JNF, came under the management of the Israeli government's Land Authority in the late 1960s.

Ministry officials say the bulk of illegal Arab construction in Qalandiya took place during Olmert's tenure as mayor, with construction of several new Arab apartment complexes still taking place this year.

Neither the Olmert municipality nor JNF took any concrete measures to stop the illegal building, which continues today with at least one apartment complex in Qalandiya under construction.

Jerusalem's Shoafat neighborhood, which has an estimated value of $3 million, also was purchased by JNF in the early 1900s and fell under the management of the Israel Land Authority about 40 years ago. Much of the illegal Arab construction in Shoafat took place in the past 15 years, with some apartment complexes built as late as 2004.

In Qalandiya, Kfar Akev and Shoafat, Israel's security fence cordons off the Arab sections of the JNF lands from the rest of Jewish Jerusalem.

Internal JNF documents obtained by WND outline illegal Arab construction on the Jewish-owned land. A survey of Qalandiya summarized on JNF stationery conducted in December 2000 and signed by a JNF worker states, "In a lot of the plots I find Arabs are living and building illegally and also working the JNF land without permission."

The JNF survey goes on to document illegal construction of Arab apartment complexes and the U.N. school under the property management of Israel's Land Authority.

[Shammu]

4200 Red Balloons
By Mladen Andrijasevic
January 26, 2008

There is this photo in The Jerusalem Post of red balloons that the Israeli consulate put on 1st Avenue just in front of the UN headquarters. Actually 4,200 red balloons to signify 4,200 Kassam rockets fired into Israel from Gaza since the 2005 disengagement. It was done apparently because nothing else worked. "Up until this day, every attempt to raise the issue and make it part of the American media's agenda has been unsuccessful," Consulate Spokesman David Saranga said.

Red Ballons picture

I emailed my friends in the States to find out whether this photo was carried by any New York City media, or any media in the US. Nothing. Apart from the blogosphere -- nothing.

This article could be devoted only to the fact that the UN, the organization set up to stop aggression has been debating a resolution which would accuse Israel for blockading Gaza without even mentioning the 4200 rockets, and in so doing would negate the very principles it was originally founded on. But the American media does not seem to care about the 4200 Kassams either. That implies that nobody in the world cares about getting their facts straight. This, in itself, is a startling story.

Does the world always behave like this? No, of course not. We all know what would be happening if Key West were attacked from Cuba or San Diego attacked from Mexico. The rockets falling on Key West would not go unreported. No, there has to be one ingredient in the story which makes everybody switch into another universe, into a trance of mass hypnosis -- and that ingredient is of course Israel. When Israel is part of the equation, you can expect -- actually there does not seem to be a limit what one can expect. It all becomes surreal.

Diplomats from liberal democracies, whose countries participated in the founding of the UN organization, look at the red balloons and then proceed to abstain. Not support , mind you, but abstain. Supporting the resolution would be too much; the signs of total surrender to tyranny. They are not quite ready for that yet. Abstaining gives them the feeling of wisdom and tolerance and 'control'. They can look themselves in the mirror without throwing up.

For the US media there could be even less excuse. Especially the New York City media. The ideology which fuels the Kassams attacks is the same one that inspired the 19 jihadists to fly into the World Trade Center just three miles south of these red balloon reminders. But the story that involves Israel is automatically judged by other standards, and however logically we try to explain what is going on, and try to factor in all the known anti Israel bias, it is insufficient , because as the UN Security Council resolution in the making shows, the explanation is beyond hate, envy, appeasement, cowardice, greed, anti-Semitism.

4200 Red Balloons

[Shammu]

PM rejects talk of early elections
By Mazal Mualem
29/01/2008

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has no intention of setting a date for early elections together with Labor Chairman and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, the prime minister's associates said Monday.

They were responding to predictions by Labor politicians that Barak would respond to the Winograd Committee's full report on the Second Lebanon War, due out Wednesday, by working to advance the elections to early 2009.

The premier's associates said Olmert has no intention of turning himself into a lame duck by advancing the elections. Moreover, they argued, early elections would paralyze the country, damage the economy and destroy the peace process, which Labor supports.

"How would it be possible to advance the diplomatic process when everyone would be wanting to sharpen his positions?" demanded one of Olmert's associates. "Our negotiating partner would also understand that it is impossible to reach an agreement with a prime minister whose days are numbered."

This message by Olmert's associates was part of the premier's preparations for the political battle that will erupt, he expects, after the Winograd report is published. His main fear is that Barak will yield to public pressure and keep the promise he made during his primary campaign last year - that after the full Winograd report is released, he will work to either replace Olmert or advance the elections. Without Labor, Olmert has no Knesset majority.

Olmert's associates insisted that the premier opposes early elections out of "national responsibility," not narrow political interests. "If we entered an election year now, the meaning would be inability to govern and to manage the affairs of state in a considered, responsible fashion, because the entire political system would be busy with electioneering, spin and populist bills," another associate argued.

Moreover, they said, elections - and the profligate spending known as "election economics" that usually accompanies them - would cost the state tens of millions of shekels.

Olmert and his associates have refrained from personal attacks on Barak, but other members of Olmert's Kadima party have been doing the dirty work for them. Senior Kadima MKs charged Monday that Barak favors early elections for personal reasons and is disregarding the national interest.

Kadima MKs have also been warning that early elections would lead to a rightist government led by Likud Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu, in a coalition with Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu and a new party led by businessman Arcadi Gaydamak. "Barak needs to realize that he would bring Bibi [Netanyahu] to power," said one. "That's the meaning of early elections."

Olmert, in his address to the Kadima faction Monday, urged its MKs to keep calm about the Winograd report. "We've faced challenges in the past, and we'll face challenges in the future as well," he said, adding that Kadima "should lead Israel for many years to come."

Likud members, meanwhile, responded to fears of a Netanyahu-Lieberman-Gaydamak government by pointing out that, for months, Netanyahu has been talking about establishing a unity government after the elections, and he plans to invite every Zionist party in the Knesset to join such a government.

In response to Kadima's argument about the importance of political stability, Likud MKs countered that a government "must reflect the will of the public," as one put it. "This will be the case only after new elections, since the Olmert-Barak government no longer represents most of the public."

Barak on Monday reiterated his mantra that he will decide what to do only after reading the report. He is expected to announce his decision only next week.

In the meantime, three Labor MKs who favor quitting the government unless Olmert resigns - Eitan Cabel, Ophir Pines-Paz and Danny Yatom - are trying to mobilize support within the Labor Party for their stance.

PM rejects talk of early elections

[Soldier4Christ]

Official: 'Gay plague' will destroy Israel 
Knesset member compares homposexual 'epidemic' to bird flu

Posters reading 'in this house lives an MK who is trying to outlaw citizens' right to march in Jerusalem,' hung on MKs Gabbay, Zeev's homes. Zeev: Gays a plague that could destroy Israel

Members of Hadash party's "Red-Pink Patrol" hung placards overnight Tuesday on the homes of Knesset members Eli Gabbay (National Union-NR) and Nissim Zeev (Shas) in protest of a proposal banning gay pride parades in Jerusalem.

"In this house lives an MK who is trying to outlaw the citizens' right to march and protest on the streets of Jerusalem," one of the posters read. "This anti-democratic bill is targeting not only the homosexual, lesbian, transgender and bisexual communities, but also human and civil rights in general.

The proposed amendment to Basic Law: Jerusalem, would enable the Jerusalem Municipal Council to ban gay parades and rallies for considerations of disturbance to public order, offending the public's sensitivities or for religious considerations.

Yaniv Rosner, a member of Hadash's "Red-Pink Forum," said MKs Gabbay and Zeev "are attempting to create a situation whereby an entire community is denied its right to protest in Jerusalem.

"There is no precedent to such legislation," he said, "this is way past being only about the gay community; it is a question of whether the right to protest is a basic, democratic right in Israel."

'Legislation inherently damaging'

During a heated Knesset debate Sunday, MK Zeev claimed that the proposed legislation was aimed at assisting homosexuals and lesbians who want to start a family.

He said that if it was up to him he would put gays in rehabilitation centers "along with drug addicts and alcoholics".

Zeev went as far as comparing the gay movement to a "plague that may destroy Jewish Israel", adding that this "plague" should be dealt with "just as the Health Ministry is dealing with bird flu."

Professor Mordechai Kremnitzer, a law professor who took part in this debate, preferred to focus on the core legal issues at hand. “The true test of freedom of expression is the actual expression at hand and whether is offensive at the deepest levels,” he told the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee.

The professor therefore pointed out that “this type of legislation is acceptable if we want to turn Jerusalem into another Teheran, not if it is the capital of secular Jews as well.”

MK Yitzhak Levy of the National Religious Party pointed out, conversely, that even Israeli police forces do not allow all worshipers to enter the Temple Mount for prayers.

Kremnitzer categorically rejected this analogy, saying there was a big difference between maintaining law and order and preventing certain elements from rioting to instituting legislation that "stands against everything that a democratic, Jewish state ought to be.

“This legislation is inherently damaging. If freedom of expression is impinged upon, Israel will cease to be a democracy,” said the professor.

[nChrist]

The problem here is an ABOMINATION before GOD. AND, it is a plague that brings dreaded diseases and death to millions every year. So, the comparison to a plague is quite accurate. Why would any country want to encourage or tolerate a public health CRISES? Even without the Biblical Directives, this would still be a matter of common sense.