Prophecy and End Time Series. - Israel

[Shammu]

Last update - 18:21 15/12/2005            
Hamas threatens to step up attacks if Israel strikes Iran
By Haaretz Service and Agencies

TEHRAN - Hamas will step up its attacks on Israeli targets if Israel attacks Iran, the militant group's chief-in-exile Khaled Meshal said on Thursday.

"If Israel attacks Iran, then Hamas will widen and increase its confrontation of Israelis inside Palestine," Meshal told reporters in Tehran, where he has held three days of talks with top political and security officials.

On Wednesday, Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Dan Halutz said Iran will be capable of enriching uranium within the next three months, but will have to overcome many technological obstacles before reaching the nuclear "point of no return."

"Iran is determined to obtain the technological capability that will allow it to produce a nuclear bomb, but numerous obstacles remain in its path," Halutz told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. "Even if the Iranians pass the uranium-enrichment stage, they are still a number of years away from building the bomb."

"An Iran with nuclear capability is a global problem," said Halutz. "It will be difficult to impose sanctions on it, and the problem could arise of the transfering of `dirty bombs' to terror organizations."

The International Atomic Energy Agency board of governors is slated to convene on March 6 to discuss imposing sanctions on Iran, Halutz noted.

Former finance minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last week that Israel should take "bold and daring" action to thwart Iran's plans for nuclear armament, citing Israel's 1981 air strike on a Iraqi nuclear facility.

"The Iranian threat is an existential one, as it is a country that declared its plans to destroy Israel and is developing the tools to carry out this destruction. In this regard, I will continue the legacy of Menachem Begin, who thwarted Iran's neighbor, Iraq, from acquiring nuclear weapons by adopting bold and daring measures.

"I believe that is what Israel needs to do," Netanyahu told Israel Radio.

In 1981, Begin ordered an air strike on Iraq's nuclear facility in Osirak, near Baghdad. As a result of the attack, Iraq's nuclear armament plan was thwarted.

On Tuesday, Iran's spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, encouraged Palestinians to continue their struggle against Israel. Iranian television reported that Khamenei told Meshal that "the experience of the last 50 years teaches that negotiation with the Zionist occupation doesn't improve the situation. We will achieve victory through the struggle only."

Praise for Ahmadinejad's anti-Israel comments

Meshaal also praised Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for recent comments in which he called the Holocaust a myth and said Israel should be moved to Europe or North America.

"Those were brave and true remarks and it is what the Islamic nations say, especially the Palestinians," he said.

The European Union and Israel condemned Ahmadinejad 's remark, with the German foreign minister adding that the comment denying the Holocaust will affect Iran's nuclear talks with European negotiators later this month.

Hamas threatens to step up attacks

[Shammu]

Updated Dec. 17, 2005 8:51
EU warns Iran to stop provoking Israel
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
BRUSSELS, Belgium

Iran could face sanctions if it keeps provoking Israel and the West, European leaders warned Friday, even as the Teheran regime's interior minister said the Iranian president's remarks had been "misunderstood."

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad aggravated tensions with the West this week by calling the Holocaust a "myth," a statement that came two months after he called for Israel to be "wiped off the map."

European leaders said Ahmadinejad's remarks were the latest "provocative political moves" from Teheran since May.

"These comments are wholly unacceptable and have no place in civilized political debate," said a draft statement at a European Union summit that EU leaders were expected to adopt later Friday.

EU leaders warned Tehran they would review diplomatic options for possible sanctions against Iran.

The condemnation came as Iran prepares to resume talks Wednesday with European envoys over its nuclear program, which the EU and United States fear is intended to build atomic weapons. Envoys from Britain, Germany and France are trying to get Tehran to halt uranium enrichment.

Leaders warned that the EU was losing patience in mediating the international standoff. "The window of opportunity will not remain open indefinitely."

EU leaders said they were "gravely concerned at Iran's failure to build confidence that its nuclear program is exclusively peaceful," adding that recent decisions to resume work on enriching uranium "only add to the EU's profound concerns about Iran's intentions."

Iran's interior minister insisted Friday that the West "misunderstood" Ahmadinejad's comments.

Ahmadinejad "wanted to say that if others harmed the Jewish community and created problems for the Jewish community, they have to pay the price themselves," Mostafa Pourmohammadi told The Associated Press in Athens, Greece. "People like the Palestinian people or other nations should not pay the price."

"A historical incident has occurred. Correct or not correct. We don't want to launch research or carry out historical investigation about it," Pourmohammadi said on the sidelines of a conference in the Greek capital.

In Berlin, German lawmakers unanimously condemned the Iranian president's remarks, calling them "completely unacceptable." Lawmakers urged the German government to "counter any policy that disputes Israel's right to exist and denies the Holocaust."

Denying the Holocaust is a crime in Germany, a country sensitive about its Nazi past and the genocide that killed more than 6 million Jews during World War II.

"What the Iranian president has said about the state of Israel is completely unacceptable," Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson said. "He knows that he is denying the Holocaust and he is wrong … and I condemn it."

In remarks carried live by state television and repeated several times, Ahmadinejad said during a tour of southeastern Iran on Wednesday that if Europeans insist the Holocaust occurred, then they are responsible and should pay the price.

"Today, they have created a myth in the name of Holocaust and consider it to be above God, religion and the prophets," Ahmadinejad told thousands of people in Zahedan. "If you committed this big crime, then why should the oppressed Palestinian nation pay the price?

"This is our proposal: If you committed the crime, then give a part of your own land in Europe, the United States, Canada or Alaska to them so that the Jews can establish their country."

The EU statement Friday reaffirmed Israel's right to exist, noting that "all members of the United Nations have undertaken to refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state."
EU warns Iran

[Shammu]

Arab MK: Israel ‘robbery of century’

Knesset Member Azmi Bishara in Lebanon: We are original inhabitants of Palestine, not ‘those who came from Poland, Russia; says Israelis should leave, take their democracy with them

Ronny Shaked

Israel is the 20th century's greatest robbery, carried out in broad daylight, Arab Knesset member Azmi Bishara (National Democratic Assembly) told a Lebanese audience last week during a speech at an Arab book fair in Beirut.

"I will never recognize Zionism even if all Arabs do," he said. "I will never concede Palestine. The battle is still long."

Bishara, who recently launched his campaign for an additional term in the Knesset, left for Lebanon five days ago without consent from the Interior Ministry, Israel's leading newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported Sunday.

His harsh anti-Israel message at the fair was quoted by Lebanese newspaper As -Safir.

"The conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is not a demographic dispute, but a national one," he said. "It's not the problem of 1.2 million Palestinians living in Israel. They are like all Arabs, only with Israeli citizenship forced upon them."

"We are the original residents of Palestine, not those who came from Poland and Russia," the MK added.

‘Leave and take your democracy with you’

Directing his speech at Israelis, Bishara said, "Return Palestine to us and take your democracy with you. We Arabs are not interested in it."

The audience received the Knesset member with great applause

Bishara also used the opportunity to criticize Arab leaders who have ties with Israel.

"Why does one of the Arab countries provide a home for (Foreign Minister) Silvan Shalom, while the army destroys homes in Palestine on a daily basis?" he said, referring to the foreign minister's recent visit to his birth county of Tunisia. "If you want to surrender, do it, but don't force us to give in."

Bishara has meanwhile returned to Israel and told Yedioth Ahronoth Saturday night that his speech was "about Zionism and citizenship."

"I didn’t say anything new that I hadn't said in other places. I've spoken like this in the Knesset," he said.

Arab MK: Israel ‘robbery of century’

[Shammu]

Last update - 23:47 18/12/2005            
Background: Who would take over from Ariel Sharon?
By Gideon Alon, Haaretz Correspondent

In the event that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is unable, for health reasons, to continue running the affairs of the state over a period of days or weeks, Finance Minister Ehud Olmert, who also serves as deputy prime minister, would need to step in.

As interim prime minister, Olmert would be authorized by law to exercise all the powers granted to the prime minister for a period of 100 days, at the end of which the serving prime minister would technically be viewed as having resigned his post, triggering the resignation of the entire government.

At the end of the 100-day period, the Basic Law on The Government mandates that the president begin the process of forming a new government. In light of the fact that elections for the 17th Knesset are scheduled for March 28 (100 days from Sunday), there's no need for the president to begin such a process.

   Advertisement

Following the elections, the president would ask the MK leading the party with the best chance of forming a stable coalition to put together the next government.

Sharon's condition will have no effect on the date set for the general elections, unless it suddenly deteriorates or he dies. The Knesset is allowed to postpone the elections by an 80-MK majority vote "if special circumstances occur which prevent holding elections on their planned date."

Elections have been postponed only once in the country's history, following the outbreak of the 1973 Yom Kippur War. They were then delayed by two months and held on December 31, 1973.

Israel has already seen prime ministers fall ill and have to be absent from work, such as Menachem Begin. But there has never been a situation in which an interim prime minister had to remain in his position for the full 100 days.

Who would take over from Ariel Sharon?

[Shammu]

Dec. 19, 2005 17:26
Doctors: PM will suffer no residual effects from stroke
By JPOST.COM STAFF

In a press conference Monday afternoon, senior members of the Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center staff declared that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon would be released from hospital Tuesday morning, and that while they recommended that he rest, he would be able to reassume his workload.

The cause of a minor stroke which Sharon suffered unexpectedly Sunday afternoon, was a small blood clot, doctors explained. After doctors treated Sharon with blood-thinners the clot quickly dissolved.

Neurologist Professor Tamir Ben-Hur stated unequivocally that despite media reports, at no time did the prime minister lose consciousness or become disoriented. However, Sharon's speech had been affected slightly, Ben-Hur noted.

Both Ben-Hur and Dr. Jacob Naparstek, Director of Internal Medicine at Hadassah, assured the press and the public that Sharon was unharmed, and that there was no reason to fear that any similar event would occur in the future.

While hospitalized Sunday evening, Sharon joked with his medical and office staff, telling them that they "are not rid of him yet." He added in a bit of self-humor that he thought he should take a few days off.

Using a double entendre on the name of his new political party Kadima ('Forward' in Hebrew), Sharon quipped that he felt fine, and that the time had arrived to move forward.

After being rushed to hospital Sunday evening, the prime minister underwent a series of medical examinations including an MRI and neurological tests, all of which, according to hospital staff, were satisfactory.

Dr. Yuval Weiss added that Sharon's condition improved during his hospitalization. The hospital official noted that the prime minister did not require any invasive procedures. Sharon reportedly asked to be released Sunday night, but the physicians denied his request.

The prime minister was taken directly to the VIP section of the hospital's trauma room. Meanwhile, Hadassah was closed off to civilian entry by special police forces. The senior medical staff of the hospital was called in to treat him.

Sharon, who will celebrate his 78th birthday in February, is already the oldest incumbent prime minister in Israeli history. Approximately three years ago, the prime minister underwent kidney stone surgery.

Cabinet secretary Yisrael Maimon was reportedly at the prime minister's bedside, fielding the many phone calls from politicians and dignitaries.

Labor Party Chairman Amir Peretz was the first politician to respond publicly to the incident, saying he wished the prime minister well. President Moshe Katsav expressed similar wishes. MK Eli Yishai called on behalf of Shas's spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef to wish Sharon a speedy recovery.

On the Right side of the political spectrum, far-right Likud leadership candidate also wished the prime minister a long life - but out of politics.

National Union MK Arye Eldad said that the incident will make the public realize that "the state cannot be run by a 77-year-old man with risks like obesity, shortness of breath and now stroke. This incident obligates the prime minister to reveal his health condition to the public, so the fate of the nation will not hinge on a blood clot the size of a millimeter."

Israeli stocks were mostly lower but losses were modest early Monday as investors reacted cautiously to news that Sharon was hospitalized overnight.

Eighteen of the TA-25's components were moving lower led by declines in Bank Leumi, Bezeq and Africa-Israel. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and Bank Hapoalim were the best performers.

Foreign media outlets, including those from the western and Arab world, were reporting extensively on the incident.

The United States Ambassador Elliot Abrams called the prime minister's office to express wishes for Sharon's recovery on behalf of US President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Likewise, the EU's concern for the prime minister were related by their foreign policy chief Javier Solana. Similar calls were received from PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

In Gaza City, dozens of armed men from the Popular Resistance Committees, a small Palestinian militant group, fired guns in the air and handed out sweets to motorists in celebration of the news that Sharon was ill.

Doctors: PM will suffer no residual effects from stroke

[Shammu]

Hamas leader lauds Iranian president
12.19.2005.16:37

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's remarks regarding the Holocaust and the State of Israel are true statements that represent the believers, the Mujahidin and the freedom warriors, Hamas' political department head Khaled Mashal said Monday.

Mashal, who is currently residing in Tehran, referred to the Iranian president's statement in which he expressed doubt that the Holocaust occurred and demanded that Austria and Germany give some of their provinces to the Jews to establish a state in Europe "instead of the one established in Palestine."

"These are excellent statements," Mashal said.

"Today Iran has a brave leader, whose words may not be approved by the world's governments, but are supported by the people of the globe," he added.

Mashal also said the Palestinians are proud of the Iranian stance, and that "everybody should have the courage to voice this truth."

'Muslims will eventually win'

The Hamas leader added that many of the world's countries understand that Israel is an aggressive country, and that opinion polls conducted in the European Union prove that approximately 60 percent of Europeans believe Israel constitutes the biggest threat to world peace.

"People realize the truth but are afraid. The West is afraid of the world Zionists' reaction since the Israelis and the Zionists are exhausting western society with the issues of anti-Semitism and doubt in the Holocaust," Mashal said.

Mashal also expressed his hope that "time is in favor of us the Muslims, while Israel is in a course of retreat. It is losing the image it has been trying to create for many years."

"We, the resistance people, will eventually win God willing," he concluded.

Hamas leader lauds Iranian president

[Shammu]

Iran denies media reports of attempt to assassinate president
By Reuters

TEHRAN - Iran on Monday denied media reports that a firefight last week in the country's lawless southeastern borderlands was an assassination attempt on Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Government officials said Ahmadinejad was making a speech in Zahedan, capital of Sistan-Baluchistan province, on Wednesday when a car carrying security forces was attacked by smugglers on the road to the Gulf port of Chaharbahar.

"During the attack, the local driver and a Revolutionary Guardsman was killed. The police immediately intervened. One smuggler was killed and one arrested," government spokesman Gholamhossein Elham told a news conference.

Some domestic and foreign reports described the attack as an assassination attempt, but officials said the vehicle that came under fire was not part of Ahmadinjad's cavalcade and that there had been no question of the president traveling on that road.

The vehicle had been deployed as part of large scale security measures imposed for the presidential visit.

"The attack just shows this region is very insecure for everyone: Sunnis, Shi'ites, Baluch and non-Baluch," Elham said.

The Baluch tribes of southeastern Iran are predominantly Sunni Muslims. Shi'ism is the official religion in Iran.

Sistan-Baluchistan is a main conduit for drugs moving to Europe from Afghanistan and Pakistan. More than 3,300 Iranian troops have died fighting well-armed traffickers since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

The area is dotted with police forts, which would explain how police were able to intervene quickly in the gun battle.

In his speech in Zahedan, Ahmadinejad called the Holocaust a myth, sparking international uproar.

The Iranian leader said that if Europeans insist the Holocaust did happen, then it was they who were responsible and they should pay the price.

"If you committed this big crime, then why should the oppressed Palestinian nation pay the price?" Ahmadinejad asked rhetorically.

"This is our proposal: If you committed the crime, then give a part of your own land in Europe, the United States, Canada or Alaska to them [Jews] so that the Jews can establish their country," he said, developing a theme he raised in Saudi Arabia the week before.

"If your civilization consists of unjust acts, oppression and poverty for the majority of the globe to provide your own people welfare, then we shout at the top of our voices that we hate your frail civilization," he said, to rapturous cries of "God is Greatest" from the crowd.

Iran denies media reports of attempt to assassinate president

[Shammu]

Iraq’s Zarqawi Sets up Gaza Branch at Palestinian Base

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report

December 19, 2005, 1:37 PM (GMT+02:00)
   
Since early December, a branch of Abu Musab al Zarqawi’s al Qaeda in Iraq has been running a forward base in Gaza City preparatory to in-depth attacks in Israel, according to DEBKAfile’s exclusive counter-terror sources. It joins the Al Qaeda-Palestine cell established some weeks ago in the Gaza Strip.

A high-ranking Israeli army officer confided to us: “For years, we fought al Qaeda in unpublicized encounters in remote places far from our borders. Now we have to admit they are here, on our very threshold.” The officer went on to warn: “The conjunction of al Qaeda and Palestinian terrorist structures confronts Israel with a grave strategic threat.”

According to our sources, Israeli intelligence briefed prime minister Ariel Sharon and defense minister Shaul Mofaz in the first week of December on the Zarqawi group’s infiltration of the Gaza Strip from Sinai and its arrival in Gaza City.

Part of the incoming terror group transited the Rafah terminal (where US officials say the security video cameras have broken down), past European monitors, by showing forged Palestinian documents; part were smuggled in through the Philadelphi border enclave which is guarded by Egyptian police. Intelligence chiefs informed the prime minister that the new cell linked up with the local branch of the Palestinian terror umbrella, the Popular Resistance Committees, which is headed by Shekh Khalil Kuka. The PRC welcomed the newcomer by making its publicity outlets available. Since Monday, Dec. 5, PRC Internet websites have been posting daily bulletins on Zarqawi’s attacks on US and Iraqi targets which often run to 20-30 communiques a day.

These bulletins are now released simultaneously in Baghdad, Gaza, Rafah and Khan Younes. In Gaza, they appear alongside a PRC statement declaring: “The Palestinian and Zarqawi’s struggles are one and the same.”

It is the first time that a Palestinian combat-terrorist organization has aligned itself directly and openly with al Qaeda’s commander in Iraq. Yet, although no attempt has been made to conceal this alliance, it has received no publicity in Israel.

DEBKAfile’s sources report that Israeli counter-terror agencies are quietly working on the premise that the Popular Resistance Committees of Gaza and the Fatah-al Aqsa Brigades of the West Bank plan to make their operational structures available to Zarqawi’s cell for in-depth attacks in Israel.

Meanwhile, the new cell is not letting the grass grow under its feet. Its leaders have managed to enlist the support of the Bedouin clans of southern Gaza, which number tens of thousands of tribesmen, thereby substantially expanding their logistical base. Al Qaeda’s Sinai cell, which Egypt has been unable to root out, already counts on northern Sinai’s Bedouin clans for logistical support.

The pledge of solidarity issued by Gaza’s Khan Younes and Deir Balah Bedouin chiefs declares: “We are now committed to following Zarqawi’s flag.”

It condemns the Bani Hassan Bedouin tribe of Jordan for reprimanding and expelling members who joined al Qaeda and accuses their chiefs of capitulating to the rulers of Jordan.

(Last Tuesday, a Jordanian military tribunal issued a third death sentence in absentia against the Jordanian-Palestinian al Qaeda chief in Iraq.)

The Palestinian Bedouin statement ends with a traditional piece of poetry to mark the new pact. This is a free translation:

How is it that our lords Osama bin Laden and Musab Zarqawi are persecuted, while the enemies of our faith walk straight-backed

How is it that Jihad warriors are treated as aliens, while corrupt infidels are beloved

How is it that true believers are condemned to death, while the flags of the licentious are held aloft

How is it that jihadists are killed, while others make peace with usurers

In July and August, 2005, ahead of Israel’s evacuation of the Gaza Strip, DEBKAfile warned that Zarqawi and al Qaeda’s terrorists were waiting for the pullback to establish forward bases in the Gaza Strip. Four months later, they are poised for action on Israel’s borders.

Iraq's Zarqawi Sets up Gaza Branch at Palestinian Base

[Shammu]

Israel�s Military Intelligence chief: Existential threat growing

Tuesday, December 20, 2005 20:10 IST
JNW HEADLINE NEWS

MI Chief: Existential threat growing
By Stan Goodenough

December 18th, 2005


Israel�s Military Intelligence chief warned the cabinet Sunday that 2006 could see a quantum leap in the ability of the Islamic forces around Israel, and now being established in Gaza, Judea and Samaria, to bring about the destruction of the Jewish state.

Major-General Aharon Ze�evi Farkash said it appeared that Gaza on the one hand and Judea-Samaria on the other were respectively about to turn into two separate �Palestinian� entities: �Hamastan� and �Fatahstan.�

As this was happening, Farkash said, �in Arab countries weapons are being produced at a quantity and quality that threaten the heart of the State of Israel. Iran, Syria, Hizb�allah, and Hamas are accumulating missiles from Kassams to Shihab 3 missiles.�

Iran was �determined to reach nuclear capabilities and obtain ground to ground missiles. It is turning into a regional power. I don't see a real possibility for diplomacy preventing Iran from becoming armed with nuclear weapons. In the coming months, we will witness the end of the abilities of our diplomatic maneuvers, and that of the world, against Iran.�

But Farkash�s dark omen, as with the numerous similar and intensifying alarm bells that have been sounded down the last decade-and-a-half, is expected to go unheeded.

Like its predecessors since 1991, this Israeli government appears unable or unwilling to withstand the enormous pressure that has consistently been brought to bear by the Gentile nations.

The world universally insists that Israel move ahead and create the conditions for the birthing of a Palestinian state.

This demand has remained unwavering and has intensified, despite the terrible number of Jewish lives that have been lost, and the thousands of Israelis who have been mutilated and bereaved since the signing of the Oslo Accords � hailed in 1993 as heralding the arrival of peace.

The Palestinian state-in-the-making would be set up in the Gaza Strip, Judea and Samaria � the former area the soft underbelly of Israel, the latter two comprising the cradle of Israel�s nationhood and the mountainous high ground that would tower over what would be left of Israel.

And while the forces from without squeeze down on the Israeli people, secular forces within the country, apparently blind to the suicide they expect their state to commit, are forging ahead towards next year�s elections.

Oozing with self-confidence in his ability and qualifications to secure Israel against the

Islamic threat, Sharon and his new Kadima Party is gaining massive momentum and drawing like-minded Israelis to him like moths to a candle flame.

Unless the flame is extinguished, things look increasingly bleak for the country that was supposed to be a haven for the Jewish people, but which has become de facto the most dangerous place for Jews to live on earth today.

Israel�s Military Intelligence chief: Existential threat growing

[Shammu]

Last update - 17:00 21/12/2005            
Palestinian sources: Hamas man killed by IDF in Jenin raid
By Jonathan Lis, Nir Hasson and Ze'ev Schiff, Haaretz Correspondent, Haaretz Service and News Agencies

Israel Defense Forces troops killed a militant from the Hamas terrorist organization during an arrest raid in the West Bank on Wednesday, a Palestinian security source said.

Palestinian gunmen and Israel Defense Forces soldiers exchanged fire on Wednesday after troops entered the West Bank town of Jenin to arrest suspected militants, witnesses said. One soldier was wounded in the shootout.

The IDF and Border Police forces surrounded a building where Ziad Moussa, wanted for the murder of IDF soldier Yonatan Avaron during a similar raid earlier this year, was hiding. The IDF closed off the area, members of the militant group said.

During the altercation, the soldiers sent an army sniffer dog into the building to find Moussa, but the dog could not locate him. The forces then entered the building to search for Moussa, who was found alive with a pistol and two magazines of ammunition.

The army confirmed that it carried out an arrest operation in Jenin but did not provide further details.

IDF girds for terror escalation, warns it may cut power to Gaza
As the army prepares for the possibility of an escalation in terrorism, Israel is threatening to cut off the Gaza Strip's electricity supply if a Qassam rocket hits a vital Israeli infrastructure facility.

There is a working assumption in senior Israeli military circles that the situation will worsen, Israel Radio reported early on Wednesday. "The [Palestinian] Authority is not doing a thing, and appears as if it is losing control," it quoted Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz as saying.

"After the elections in the Authority we may find ourselves facing a terror offensive, therefore the IDF must be deployed and ready so that Israel is not surprised, and will know how to defend its citizens," Mofaz was quoted as saying.

Mofaz is expected to meet Wednesday with Egypt's intelligence chief General Omar Sulieman and ask him to pressure Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to fight militant groups.

Agriculture Minister Israel Katz (Likud) told Israel Radio on Wednesday that Israel should bomb the Gaza Strip, forcing some of its residents to flee to the Sinai desert. He said that he would demand that the government undertake an efficient deterrence policy in order to prevent the firing of Qassam rockets into Israel.

Labor MK Matan Vilnai said Wednesday that one of the ways Israel can prevent the firing of Qassam rockets into Israel is by having IDF troops enter the northern Gaza Strip and staying there. He told Israel Radio that by disturbing the Palestinians' lives, the army will be able to make Palestinian civilians prevent the firing of Qassam rockets, but warned that killing Palestinian civilians would achieve the opposite.

On Sunday, after a Qassam rocket fired from Gaza landed not far from an Israel Electric Corporation power plant south of Ashkelon, Israel told the Palestinian Authority that it planned to shut off power for two hours in the early hours of Monday morning, as a warning of things to come if the Qassam fire did not stop.

However, implementation was indefinitely postponed to give the main Palestinian hospital in Gaza time to purchase emergency generators.

The Qassam rocket fired at the power plant which, according to the Israel Defense Forces, was launched from the ruins of the settlement of Dugit, in the northern Gaza Strip, was the second rocket fired at Ashkelon in the past week.

Five Qassams landed in Israel Tuesday: one on an army base, and the other four in open areas near Sderot and the western Negev. Israel realiated by shelling the open areas from which the rockets were launched.

The Qassams caused neither casualties nor property damage, but the Red Dawn warning system in Sderot went off twice Tuesday evening, sending the town's residents scurrying for shelter.

Cutting off Gaza's electricity would not only turn off all the lights in the Strip, but would also cause damage to many workshops and factories. Israel has never before taken such a step, just as it has never interfered with the PA's water supply, and at least some Palestinian leaders apparently believe that Israel would never dare to do so.

During a high-level discussion among Israeli officials, some argued that such a step would be ineffective because to the Palestinian terror organizations, the most important thing is hurting Israel - even if this also results in serious harm to the Palestinians.

However, the prevailing view was that Palestinian public opinion could pressure the terrorist organizations to restrain their attacks if many Palestinians came to feel that the price they were paying for such attacks was
too high.

IDF girds for terror escalation, warns it may cut power to Gaza

[lsm250]

Something to think about would an attack from Iran possibly destroy the Temple Mount thence the rebuilding of the Temple? I have really enjoyed the end times study and feel that maybe not in my lifetime but shortly, the gears are turning. Thank God I'm saved! Bless you all. lsm250

[Soldier4Christ]

Something to think about would an attack from Iran possibly destroy the Temple Mount thence the rebuilding of the Temple? I have really enjoyed the end times study and feel that maybe not in my lifetime but shortly, the gears are turning. Thank God I'm saved! Bless you all. lsm250

In a certain way that is kind of humurous.

[Shammu]

Last update - 07:39 23/12/2005            
Mofaz okays new measures to curb Qassam fire in northern Gaza
By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent, Haaretz Service and Agencies

Following a meeting with senior security officials, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz on Thursday evening approved a series of new measures aimed at curbing Qassam fire from the northern Gaza Strip.

According to the plans, Israel Defense Forces artillery would prevent Palestinians from entering the evacuated settlements of Dugit and Elei Sinai, where the debris is used for hideaways for rocket launching units.

However, the IDF did not receive the go-ahead for the shelling.

   Advertisement

Hours after a new volley of Qassams landed in Israel, with one rocket striking an army base and lightly wounding five soldiers, Israeli officials issued stauch threats to step up military measures to counter the rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.

"Certainly if the rocket fire on Ashkelon does not stop, there will be a very fierce response, and no option can be ruled out, including a ground operation," said Vice Premier Ehud Olmert, adding, "but of course, we must reach the conclusion that this is the right method at the time we make the decision."

David Baker, an official in the Prime Minister's Office, told Haaretz that, "the rocket launching was from territory that Israel evacuated. Israel is compelled to respond, including steps that we haven't taken until now. We have no other choice."

Baker went on to say that "the Palestinian Authority continues to not take any discernable measures against terrorism."

He would not elaborate, however, on the steps that Israel plans to take, saying only that "necessary" measures would be employed.

On Thursday a Palestinian man was killed in an Israel Defense Forces artillery barrage on northern Gaza, officials at a Gaza hospital said. The barrage was part of an Israeli response to a series of rocket attacks on southern Israel earlier in the day that wounded five soldiers.

Israel said the shells were aimed at fields that militants used to launch the rockets at Israel. Most of the fields were empty, but shrapnel from one of the shells that landed near the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza killed Ibrahim Naana, 21, hospital officials said.

The five soldiers were lightly wounded when the second of two Qassam rocket fired by Islamic Jihad militant struck an army base not far from the southern city of Ashkelon.

The five received medical treatment at the scene and were later transferred to Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon.

Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attacks. The first Qassam landed south of Ashkelon, Israel Radio reported, hitting an open area near the city's industrial zone.

Three militants killed in Nablus raid
Also Thursday morning, IDF troops killed three Palestinian militants in a raid in the West Bank city of Nablus, Israel Radio reported.

The radio also reported the arrest of an Islamic Jihad militant behind a deadly suicide bombing in Hadera, after a gag order had been lifted.

In the Nablus raid, witnesses identified one of the gunmen killed as Bashar Khalani, Nablus commander of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The other two were named as Anas Al-Sheikh, another PFLP member, and Ahmed Jiyousi of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a militant faction linked to the ruling Fatah party.

The three were killed while trying flee from a house surrounded by soldiers.

The PFLP threatened revenge for the attack.

"Israel will pay the price for this crime," said Kaed Al Ghoul, a senior PFLP leader.

Some 3,000 people gathered Thursday afternoon in Nablus' main square at a joint funeral for the militants. Dozens of gunmen fired in the air, and the crowd chanted, "Bashar, our friend, the response will be in Tel Aviv."

Khalani was reponsible for the suicide attack in the Carmel open air market in Tel Aviv last year that killed three people, and at the Geha junction two years ago, in which four people were killed.

According to the report, IDF special forces besieged a house in central Nablus where several wanted militants were believed to be holed up, when the three gunmen jumped out a window in an attempt to avoid arrest.

Police special forces that also participated in the raid fired at the three and killed them as they were running away. It was initially reported that the three were wounded by the gunfire but their deaths were later confirmed by the army.

The army continued to encircle the house, believing more wanted men to be hiding there. The security forces called on the wanted men to exit voluntarily to be taken in for questioning, army sources told Israel Radio.

Islamic Jihad militant Mohammed Kashua, from the West Bank, was arrested by IDF troops and Shin Bet security forces for his role in the bombing at Hadera open-air market.

Kashua transported the bomber in the suicide attack in the coastal city two months ago, in which six Israelis were killed and 27 were wounded.
Mofaz okays new measures to curb Qassam fire in northern Gaza

[nChrist]

Brothers and Sisters,

We don't know - GOD might be unfolding Bible Prophecy as we speak. We won't know HIS ways or the day, but HIS ancient Promises will be fulfilled to the letter. It would be fascinating to watch from the perspective of a student of Bible Prophecy, but I personally feel that HE will take us home to Glory before the worst of it. If not, we will know part of what's going on, and HE will be with us.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

JESUS CHRIST IS KING!!

Love In Christ,
Tom

Proverbs 14:26 NASB  In the fear of the LORD there is strong confidence, And his children will have refuge.

[Shammu]

U.S. Jews: Arabs want to destroy Israel

78 percent of American Jews think Arabs seek the destruction of Israel, not return of occupied territories, a new American Jewish Committee survey reveals
Yitzhak Benhorin

Most American Jews (78 percent) believe that the goal of the Arabs is not the return of occupied territories but rather the destruction of Israel, a new annual survey of The American Jewish Committee revealed.

According to the survey, 18 percent of United States Jews think that the Arabs' sole desire is to return to the 1967 borders. However, 65 percent of respondents stated they support the establishment of a Palestinian state, while 36 said they were against it.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon won the backing of 67 percent of the poll's participants, who said they strongly support the Israeli leader's handling of relations with the Palestinian Authority and Israel's building of the security fence.

Most American Jews, 60 percent, want Jerusalem to remain united under Israeli control, while 36 percent back a division of the capital.

At the same time, more Jews in the U.S. (46 percent) favor a removal of settlements, than those who are against it (36 percent).

Anti-Semitism in U.S. concerning

The survey further revealed that although 79 percent of American Jews said they believe that the state of Israel is important for their Jewish identity, 59 percent never visited the country.
Twenty percent of respondents visited Israel once, and another 20 percent came to the country twice or more.

American Jews are concerned about anti-Semitism in their country. Most Jews (65 percent) said that anti-Semitism in the U.S. constituted "some kind of a problem," and 27 percent defined it "a very serious problem."

The survey inspected the religious denomination of the Jewish public in the U.S., revealing that 10 percent of American Jews are orthodox, 32 are conservative and 29 reform. One of every four Jews (26 percent) defines himself as 'just Jewish,' and is not affiliated to any synagogue.

Opposed to Iraq war

On the question of the Jewish American attitude toward the Iraq war, the AJC poll discovered that 70 percent oppose the war, while only 28 percent support it. Sixty percent of American Jews disapprove of the way the U.S. government is handling the campaign against terrorism, and 36 percent approve of it.

Almost half of the survey's respondents, 49 percent, said they support the U.S. taking military action against Iran to prevent it from developing nuclear weapons. Forty six percent said they oppose such action.

U.S. Jews: Arabs want to destroy Israel