Daniel 12:4   But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end ...

Remember ...And never forget 9/11

Pelosi Trip ProvesThat Democrats Have Become A Traitorous Party
PipeLineNews 2007/3/31
San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Nancy Pelosi’s unbelievably harmful trip to the Middle East, meeting along the way Syria’s dictator Bashar Assad and Fatah’s Mahmoud Abbas, both major terrorist players is the clearest signal yet that the Democrat party has become allied with the enemies of the United States.   Her inclusion of CAIR’s first Congressman, Islamist Keith Ellison in the entourage, is especially revealing, because he represents a particularly galling dhimmi offering to the terrorists by the Dems sanctifying their pact with those who wish America great harm. ...

What's Condi doing with al-mukhabarat?
The Arab American News 2007/3/31
BEIRUT — Two intriguing meetings took place last week in the Arab world. In Egypt, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with the intelligence services directors of four Arab states (Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates). Just days later, the Arab heads of state met in Riyadh for their regular Arab summit.   Which of the two meetings was more significant and signaled the tone, content and direction of Arab state policies? Are the three factors at play here — American foreign policy, Arab security systems, and Arab national leaderships — merely coordinating in a logical move among allies and friends, or are they converging into a single political dynamic that blends American foreign policy with Arab security services?   The summit meeting was a routine event that reissued a historic, but five-year-old, peace offer to Israel. The Rice meeting with the intelligence chiefs was a novelty that deserves more scrutiny, for both its current meaning and future implications. ...

Syrian-Cuban Joint Committee for Economic & Scientific Cooperation to Meet Soon
Syrian Arab News Agency 2007/3/31
...The committee due to be met in Damascus next Wednesday, will be headed by Minster of Trade and Economy Amer Hosni Lotfi and Cuban Minister of Foreign Investment and Economic Cooperation Marta Lomas.   The Cuban Minister, heading an economic and commercial delegation, arrives in Damascus next Monday. She will hold talks with senior Syria officials on opening new prospects for cooperation in all domains.
If we don't watch out, we will have something the likes of the Cuban missile crisis all over again.  Hmmm.  Wouldn't it be just like God to allow Israel's enemies to be instrumental in destroying the U.S. for it's treachery against Him by the US promoting the splitting of His land of Israel?

Moscow hails results of Arab League summit - ministry
Russian News and Information Agency 2077/3/31
The Russian Foreign Ministry approved Saturday the results of the Arab League summit, held in Riyadh March 28-29.   "In the documents signed at the summit we [Russia] see that Arab nations confirm their intention to form in the region a zone of stability, peace and stable development, without a place for hostility, intolerance, extremism and terrorism," the ministry said in a statement. ...
This 'place' referred to sounds a lot like "when they shall say Peace and Safety" to me.

Ball is still in Arabs' court
yNetNews 2007/3/31
...Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who boasts 30 years of experience in negotiations with Israel, attempted to convey a calming message that the Israeli "No" does not yet mark the end of the road, but Jerusalem made sure to signal that it prefers the current state of affairs over the temptations of normalization, which may end up exacting a heavy price should Israel's position on the issue of the right of return for refugees be compromised.   The Arab Quartet - Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates - received the green light to head to Washington and to the United Nation's headquarters in New York in order to enlist support for the Arab peace plan.   The Quartet also received a mandate to set up committees that would open negotiations without referring to Israel explicitly. If they insist on complying with the conditions set forth by the Syrian president, and if they refuse to meet Israelis face to face, we can bury the Arab peace plan, until next time.

EU vows to work for peace with Abbas
The Jerusalem Post 2007/3/31
European Union foreign ministers on Saturday pledged to work with moderates in the Palestinian leadership, while the bloc's foreign policy chief said events in the region are for the first time in years raising hopes of full peace between Israel and the Arab world. ...On Saturday, the Europeans agreed they will judge the new government by its actions rather than its words and progressively help it build up credible government institutions.   However, the 27-member bloc will limit its dealings to moderates such as Abbas, Foreign Minister Ziad Abu Amr and Finance Minister Salam Fayyad, Solana said.   "We don't see any reason why we should not continue to see someone who we have known for many, many years, who has been cooperating with us," EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said. "I see no reason to cut contacts ... they're friends, we continue to cooperate with them." ...

Pakistan's wild western faultline
The Austrailian 2007/3/31
...Pakistan may not be facing any imminent threat of an Islamic fundamentalist takeover, but there is a danger of fragmentation with radical Islamists controlling part of the country. The growing influence of militant Islam, particularly in the strategically located North West Frontier Province and the western province of Balochistan, is ominous. The militants, who fashion themselves on the legacy of Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime, have already established rigid Islamic rule in the Waziristan tribal region. The situation is more worrying as their influence spills over to other areas of the North West Frontier Province. In many parts of the province, the militants have forcibly closed down video and music shops, as well as internet cafes, declaring them un-Islamic.   The barbers are warned not to shave beards; people are prohibited from playing music, even at weddings, and from watching television. Women are barred from coming out of their homes on their own. The Talibanisation of Waziristan and the rising power of the radical mullahs in parts of the North West Frontier Province present a disturbing scenario. It will be difficult to contain the spread of this trend to other parts of the country. ...Musharraf's support for the US-led war on terror, his tactical co-operation with certain militant groups and his refusal to embed a culture of democracy and accountability have intensified social, ethnic and religious differences in Pakistani society. These are the faultlines from which a geopolitical earthquake could erupt at some point, an earthquake that would make the present regional security situation look positively calm by comparison. Pakistan's battle with itself is far from over.

Ezra and Followers Depart Babylon (348 BCE)
Chabad.org 2007/3/31
A year following the building of the second Temple in Jerusalem (see Jewish History for the 3rd of Adar) Ezra gathered many of the Jews who had remained in Babylon and began a journey to the land of Israel. Though he certainly wanted to go earlier, his teacher, Baruch ben Neriah was too frail to travel, and Ezra refused to leave him until his passing.   Ezra was the head of the Sanhedrin, who all traveled together with him.   On the 12th of Nissan, Ezra departed from the river of Ahava, the beginning of the long journey to the land of Israel which would last for nearly five months (see Jewish history for the 1st of Av. ...

Abbas Warns Israel, Accept 2002 Arab Peace Plan or Face War
Arutz Sheva 2007/3/30
Israel would be well advised to team up with the Palestinian Authority under the 2002 Arab peace plan, says PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas – and well advised to raise its alert status if it does not.   Abbas accused Israel of “seeking to avoid the realization of peace” by insisting on changes to the plan authored five years ago by Saudi Arabian King Abdullah. ...He warned, however, that if Israel did not accept the Arab peace plan, “The entire region will be under renewed threats of war [and] explosions, as well as regional and international confrontations, as a result of the absence of a solution or the impossibility of implementing one.” ...

DEBKAfile Exclusive: US financial sources in Bahrain report American investors in Bahrain advised to pack up business operations and leave
DEBKAfile 2007/3/30
The advice came from officers with US Central Command 5th Fleet HQ at Manama, who spoke of security tension, a hint at an approaching war with Iran. Arab sources report the positioning of a Patriot anti-missile battery in Bahrain this week; they say occupancy at emirate hotels has soared past 90% due mostly to the influx of US military personnel. They also report Western media crews normally employed in military coverage are arriving in packs. ...Earlier, DEBKAfile quoted intelligence sources in Moscow as predicting that a US strike against Iranian nuclear installations codenamed Operation Bite has been scheduled for April 6 at 0040 hours. Missiles and air raids will conduct strikes designed to be devastating enough to set Tehran’s nuclear program several years back.

Israel rejects Arab League refugee proposal
Russian News & Information Agency 2007/3/30
..."I'll never accept a solution that is based on their return to Israel, any number," Olmert told The Jerusalem Post. "I will not agree to accept any kind of Israel responsibility for the refugees. ..."Israel's position with regard to the peace process with the Palestinians is based on fundamental principles, with a central one being the coexistence of two states pursuing national aspirations of their peoples," the ministry said. ...Echoing the ministry's assessment of the Arab League summit, Olmert said in a separate interview that Israel could sign a peace accord with all of its foes in five years given favorable circumstances, including the results of the summit.   "There is a real opportunity for Israel to sign an all-embracing peace accord with all its foes," Olmert told the Israeli Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper without elaborating. ...
Looks like it may get worse before it gets better.

U.S. steps up campaign against Syrian government
MontereyHerald.com 2007/3/30
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration has launched a campaign to isolate and embarrass Syrian President Bashar Assad, using parliamentary elections in late April as a lever, according to State Department officials and Syrian exiles.   The campaign, which some officials fear is aimed at destabilizing Syria, has been in the works for months.   It involves escalating attacks on Syria's human rights record, which is generally regarded as abysmal, as well as White House-approved support for Syrian bloggers and election monitors inside and outside the country to highlight the nation's lack of freedom, the officials and others said.   The State Department in recent weeks has issued a series of rhetorical broadsides against Syria, using language harsher than that usually reserved for U.S. adversaries. On Friday, the administration criticized a planned visit there by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif..   "It's the new Cuba - no language is too tough," said one of the officials, who like others insisted on anonymity to discuss internal government planning. ...
? Daniel 7:8 I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots

Syria Continues to Impede Lebanese Development
Assyrian International News Agency 2007/3/30
Beirut (AsiaNews) --- Syria, which continues to block Lebanon's progression, the President of the Republic Emile Lahoud, who refuses to step down but instead continues to create controversy, Michel Aoun, who has allied himself to Hezbollah for his political aims to become the next head of state. ...
? Daniel 7:8 I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots

Arab League Summit Ends on Low Note
The New York Sun 2007/3/30
The Arab League summit of kings, emirs, and presidents-for-life, after huffing and puffing for two days, made Israel an offer it cannot accept and said America is to blame for all the turmoil in the Middle East. ...As far as Israel is concerned, at this week's summit the Arab League made the one offer Israelis cannot accept: recognition in exchange for the return of millions of Palestinian Arabs, who fled when the Jewish state was established in 1948.   The king did not explain how Israel, with a population of about 5.5 million overwhelmingly Jewish people, could absorb and live with a sudden inflow of about 4 million Arab Muslims, many bent on destroying it. ...

Arab League initative crucial to peace, says Abbas
ABCNews Online 2007/3/30
The Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has warned of escalating violence if Israel fails to accept a peace initiative sponsored by the Arab League.   Mr Abbas has told a summit meeting of Arab leaders in the Saudi capital Riyadh that Palestinians have extended a hand of peace to Israel.   Mr Abbas has said the entire Middle East faced an increased threat of war and regional confrontation if there were no solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. ...
Again parroting King Abdullah II of Jordan.

Iran the major topic at Arab League summit
The Olympian 2007/3/30
The specter of Iran loomed over a regional summit that closed here Thursday, with Arab League delegates increasingly anxious over their Persian neighbor's meddling in Iraq, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories.   Officially, the Arab summit's only resolution on Iran was the perennial demand that it relinquish three islands claimed by the United Arab Emirates.   In several closed side meetings, however, Arab diplomats focused on larger concerns: Iran's growing regional power, its potential to inflame sectarian tensions and the unrest their countries could experience if U.S.-led forces were to attack Iran's nuclear facilities.   "We look forward to decreasing the signs of a dangerous confrontation between Iran and the West that would lead the whole region into the abyss," Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said in his closing speech Thursday. ...

US 'Surprised' by Saudi Comments on American Role in Iraq
Payvand's Iran News 2007/3/30
The Bush administration Thursday expressed surprise, and said it was seeking clarification, over remarks by Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah at the Arab League summit that the United States role in Iraq was an "illegal foreign occupation." U.S. officials meanwhile are welcoming the Arab League's relaunch of its 2002 peace initiative for Israel. VOA's David Gollust reports from the State Department.   Officials here are not depicting downplaying the remarks of the Saudi king as a problem in relations with Saudi Arabia, a key Middle East ally of the United States.   But they say they will contact the Saudi government over the comments, and are defending the legality of U.S. involvement in Iraq. ...

U.S. Speaker Nancy Pelosi flying in to Lebanon
Ya Libnan 2007/3/30
...Pelosi - whose job as speaker places her "just two heartbeats away from the presidency," meaning that if both the president and vice president were to become incapacitated, she would become president - will head a congressional delegation .   The congressional delegation that accompanies the Speaker includes:
Congressman, Democrat Keith Ellison from Minnesota- US 's first Muslim congressman.
Congressman, Democrat Nick Rahall from West Virginia, is of Lebanese descent
Congressman , Democrat Tom Lantos from California who is Jewish is chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee
Congressman , Democrat Henry Waxman from California who is also Jewish
Congressman , Republican David Hobson from Ohio ...

Saudi king urges Arab states to unite against US interference
Brisbane Times 2007/3/30
SAUDI ARABIA'S King Abdullah has told Arab leaders that the US occupation of Iraq is illegal and warned that unless Arab governments settle their differences, foreign powers such as the US will continue to dictate the region's politics.   The king's speech, at the opening of the Arab League summit in Riyadh, underscored growing differences between Saudi Arabia and the Bush Administration as the Saudis take on a greater leadership role in the Middle East, partly at US urging.   The Saudis seem to be emphasising that they will not be beholden to the policies of their longtime ally. They brokered a deal between the two main Palestinian factions last month, but one that Israel and the US found problematic because it added to the power of Hamas rather than the more moderate Fatah group. ...Last week the king cancelled his appearance next month at a White House dinner in his honour. The official reason was a scheduling conflict. But Dr Mustapha Hamarneh, the director of the Centre for Strategic Studies at the University of Jordan, said the Saudis were sending Washington a message. "They are telling the US they need to listen to their allies rather than imposing decisions on them and always taking Israel's side," he said. ...

King Returns Home after Taking Part in Arab Summit in Riyadh
Jordan News Agency 2007/3/29
...King Abdullah II on Thursday arrived back home after taking part in the 19th Arab Summit, which concluded today in Riyadh. ...His Majesty said, "Time has come for a united Arab position and for the organization of our capabilities, powers and resources to serve our mutual interests and confront the dangers."   "We face today two options: either we mobilize our strengths and unite our stances and policies so that we will have the political weight we need to confront the challenges to our security and the future of our homelands, or we remain divided by differences that weaken our global standing and become easy targets for others to interfere in our affairs and impose their own agendas." King Abdullah stressed.   “Peace between the Arab states and Israel cannot be reached until Israel works constructively and seriously and demonstrates her respect and commitment to the Arab Initiative, a unanimously approved proposal," the King added. ...
? Revelation 17:13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.
Has this 'prophetic' time now come?  It sure appears that way.

”Riyadh Declaration” at the end of Arab Summit
Al Bawaba 2007/3/29
At its conclusion Thursday (29/3) in Riyadh, the 19th Arab summit issued "Riyadh Declaration". following is the text:
The Riyadh Declaration
We, the leaders of Arab states, meeting in the 19th session of the council of the league of Arab states at the summit level in Riyadh, capital of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in 28-29 March 2007, -Based on the principles and aims stated in the Arab league charter and other Arab conventions; including the document of covenant, accord and solidarity between Arab countries, and the document of development and modernization in the Arab world; -Inspired by our religious and Arab values that renounce all forms of immoderation, extremism and racism; and stressing the aims of boosting the Arab identity, deepening its cultural bases, and continuing its open humanistic message, while facing the challenges and risks threatening to re-schematize the state of affairs in the region, dissolve the common Arab identity, and undermine the connections that bind us; -Affirming the urgent need to regain the spirit of Arab solidarity ...
...and so on, and so, and so on.

President Kibaki in talks with Jordanian King
Kenya Broadcasting Company 2007/3/29
President Mwai Kibaki Wednesday March 28, 2007 held talks with His majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan where they discussed bilateral issues for the mutual benefit of Kenya and Jordan.   The Jordanian King expressed his countries interest of being a hub in the distribution of Kenyan products in the entire Middle East Region.   His majesty King Abdullah II expressed confidence on the standards of Kenyan products saying consumers in his country will directly benefit immensely from the variety of high quality Kenyan products in the market.   In that connection, the King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan informed President Kibaki that his country would establish a shipping line on its coast with a view of easing the transportation and subsequent delivery of products between the two countries. ...
? Daniel 8:25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand

The PKK as an American Problem
The Journal of Turkish Weekly 2007/3/29
The recently released Iraq Study Group (ISG) report successfully lists Turkey’s major concerns about instability in Iraq. The report states that Turkish anxiety over “operations of [the] Kurdish Workers Party (PKK), . . . a terrorist group based in northern Iraq . . . that has killed thousands of Turks,” are so serious that Turkey might “go after the PKK themselves.” PKK terror is definitely Turkey’s most serious concern. Yet, surprisingly, the report, which suggests that efforts to stabilize Iraq will move ahead only if all of Iraq’s neighbors contribute to the process, does not offer a single policy suggestion on how to address the PKK issue in order to bring Turkey on board.   This is a significant gap. Unless the PKK issue is resolved, Turkey will not fully commit itself to stabilizing Iraq. Accordingly, the PKK issue is as much an Iraqi and American problem as it is a Turkish problem, and, in addition to Turkey’s ongoing efforts, action on their part is required to solve it. ...

At summit, Arabs push for nuclear energy while warning of possible Middle East arms race
Combined Jewish Philanthropies  2007/3/29
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Arab leaders pushed ahead with plans to develop nuclear programs, even as they warned of a possible Middle East nuclear arms race created by their powerful rivals Israel and Iran.   On Thursday, the final day of their annual summit, Arab League leaders said they would hold a high-level meeting this summer to review plans for an Arab nuclear industry.   Jordan's King Abdullah II called in a speech for the creation of a "Peaceful Arab Center for Using Nuclear Energy" to help "build our societies and modernize the realms of science, industry, agriculture and health." ...

DEBKAfile: Arab summit ending in Riyadh strengthens radical Iran and Syria and recognizes Palestinian Hamas
DEBKAfile 2007/3/29
The conference ending Thursday, March 29, ended the isolation of the two Middle East governments backing anti-US fighting elements in Iraq, fomenting Hizballah’s war effort against Israel and aiding Palestinian terror.   The Arab front, portrayed by American and Israeli policy-makers as an effective “moderate” barrier against Iranian expansionism and nuclear aspirations, jumped aboard the radical bandwagon.   A large Iranian delegation, led by foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki, was welcomed as honored guests by the Riyadh conference. None of the Arab rulers mentioned, let alone castigated, Tehran’s seizure of 15 British navy personnel five days earlier.   Saudi King Abdullah publicly buried the hatchet with Syrian president Bashar Assad and announced to general acclaim that the next Arab League summit would be held in Damascus. Syria’s misdeeds with regard to Lebanon were glossed over. ...The end-product of the Arab summit of 2007 was the collapse of the so-called “moderate Arab front” on which the Bush administration and Olmert government had banked heavily. The line emerging from the conference was strongly anti-American and anti-Israel.   Its host, Abdullah, publicly lambasted the US deployment in Iraq as “illegitimate foreign occupation.” ...

Arab League refuses to change plan
The Jerusalem Post 2007/3/29
Israel adopted a low-key, wait-and-see approach Wednesday night to the Arab League's unanimous decision to relaunch without changes its land-and-refugee-for-peace initiative from March 2002.   The Prime Minister's Office responded to the Arab League decision taken earlier in the day in Riyadh by saying that Israel would "study in detail the initiative and see if there is anything new, any changes, and then respond."   According to an AFP report, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit confirmed the heads of state adopted all resolutions submitted by their foreign ministers, including relaunching the peace initiative. The report said that in the resolution the Arab leaders "reaffirm the commitment of all Arab states to the Arab peace initiative as approved at the Beirut summit in 2002 in all its elements."

RELIGION: Sanhedrin Kills Passover Lamb...
NewsByUs 2007/3/29
They are going to do it. They are going to sacrifice a lamb for Passover in Israel. The contemporary Sanhedrin has been meeting for some time in order to put in place this Old Testament rite, per Religion News Service’s Deborah Pardo-Kaplan.   These Jews meet in a tiny apartment in Nahlaot. There are thirteen Orthodox Jews who gather every Tuesday to converse and program. “They are the management team of a larger developing Sanhedrin, or religious court, in Israel.   “And they plan to sacrifice sheep on the Temple Mount on the day before or one month after Passover, which starts at sundown April 2. Either date is permissible under Jewish law. ‘If the government will not resist,’ said Rabbi Dov Stein, 68, a member of the group, ‘we will do it.’” ...

Syria to host next Arab summit, Assad says
Reuters 2007/3/29
Syria is to host next year's Arab summit, President Bashar al-Assad said at the closing ceremony of a summit of Arab leaders in the Saudi capital.   "I thank you for approving the holding of the next summit in Syria," Assad said in a brief speech at the end of the two-day meeting where Saudi Arabia sought to rally Arab countries around a land-for-peace proposal to Israel.   The summit meetings of heads of state of the 22-nation Arab League are held on a rotating basis in different countries. ...

Arab league concurs with OIC'S stand to end Arab world crises:Abdullah
Indian Muslims 2007/3/29
Arab League member countries concurred with the stand of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) that a solid effort supported by all member states be initiated to resolve the problems and crises besetting the Arab World and the Muslim ummah.   Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said as the OIC Chair, it was Malaysia's fervent hope that initiatives made to solve the issues at hand, be they new or old, received the support of all Islamic nations, particularly from leaders attending the Arab League Summit here.   Abdullah said the leaders expressed their support after he delivered his 20-minute at the two-day summit speech which touched on the crises faced by the Islamic countries, including the long-drawn Palestine conflict. ...

Saudi king blames Arab leaders for Mideast turmoil
GlobeAndMail.com 2007/3/28
The king of Saudi Arabia sharply criticized Arab leaders Wednesday for divisions and infighting and painted a bleak picture of the bloodshed and turmoil across the Middle East as he opened an Arab summit in the Saudi capital.   King Abdullah said in an address to the delegations that Arab nations are “further from unity than they were at the time of the founding of the Arab League,” the 22-member body formed in 1945 to promote Arab unity.   King Abdullah pointed to the bloodshed in Iraq, where he called the U.S military presence an “illegitimate occupation” and warned that “abhorrent sectarianism threatens a civil war. The real blame should be directed at us, the leaders of the Arab nation,” he said. “Our constant disagreements and rejection of unity have made the Arab nation lose confidence in our sincerity and lose hope.” ...

Khalifa for joint Arab strategy
Khaleej Times Online 2007/3/28
The challenges and tensions facing the Arab Summit should not overshadow the promising potential of our Arab Nation, the President, His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, said yesterday on his arrival to attend the 19th Arab Summit which opens in the Saudi capital today.   “We are confident that Arab leaders share with us the keen interest in making this summit a new standpoint and a new turning point in joint Arab action”, he observed.   In a statement to the Press, Shaikh Khalifa said, “The experiences which we have gone through prove that our strength lies in our solidarity and facing the dangers threatening  our nation with a common Arab stand.” ...
? Revelation 17:13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.

Queen Rania calls on companies to bridge East-West divide through Corporate Multicultural Responsibility
Jordan News Agency 2007/3/27
...said Queen Rania, "We all have a role to play in promoting multicultural responsibility in our homes, schools, neighborhoods, universities, places of worship, and places of work."   Citing alarming statistics released by Gallop last year, Her Majesty said that 22 percent of Americans did not want a Muslim as a neighbor and one third said they would feel nervous if they noticed a Muslim man on their flight. "I am alarmed at the way in which the Muslim world and our Western counterparts are looking at each other with suspicion, fear, prejudice then turning away."   Such a growing trend of isolation is dangerous because, as Queen Rania noted "we all belong in some sense to East and West… let us not forget that East and West are neighbors. And good neighbors do more than live alongside each other – they live together." ...Her Majesty said that in the weeks and months ahead, she plans to expand on these ideas "with the aim of championing a culture of trust and respect between Islam and the West." ...
This sounds like a coming new push to 'integrate Muslims among us' in a move by Islam to better place themselves to cut off our heads when the time is right, just as the 'radicals' have been saying they will do, and as Biblical scripture also says they will do.
? Revelation 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

King Congratulates Newly Elected Mauritanian President
Jordan News Agency 2007/3/27
...King Abdullah II sent a cable to the newly elected Mauritanian President, Mohammad Ould El Sheikh Abdullah, congratulating him in his name ...
? John 5:43 "I am come in my Father's name (HASHEM), and ye receive me not: if another shall come "in his own name" (HASHEMITE), him ye will receive.

Jordan's king urges Rice to make "progress" in peace moves
Monsters & Critics 2007/3/26
King Abdullah II of Jordan Monday urged US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to ensure 'tangible progress' in the stalled Palestinian-Israeli peace talks through 'coordination' with all Arab and world parties, according to an official statement.   'The monarch underlined the importance of coordination between the US administration and various Arab and international parties with a view to achieving real and tangible progress' in negotiations between Palestinian and Israeli sides,' the royal court said.   'The king also expressed support for the current US efforts aimed at reviving the peace process between Israelis and Palestinians and resolving the conflict between the two sides in accordance with the two-state formula,' it added. ...

Sunni sheiks join Americans in fight against insurgency
Concord Monitor 2007/3/26
Not long ago it would have been unthinkable: a Sunni sheik allying himself publicly with American forces in a xenophobic city at the epicenter of Iraq's Sunni insurgency.   Today, there is no mistaking whose side Sheik Abdul Sattar al-Rishawi is on. Outside his walled home in Ramadi, a U.S. tank is on permanent guard beside a clutch of towering date palms and a protective dirt berm.   The 36-year-old sheik is leading a growing movement of Sunni tribesmen who have turned against al-Qaida-linked insurgents in Anbar province. The dramatic shift in alliances may have done more in a few months to ease daily street battles and undercut the insurgency here than American forces have achieved in years with arms.   The American commander responsible for Ramadi, Col. John Charlton, said the newly friendly sheiks, combined with an aggressive counterinsurgency strategy and the presence of thousands of new Sunni police officers on the streets, have helped cut attacks in the city by half in recent months. ...
Why don't people get it I ask?  People like this are not on one side or the other, but rather, at the present time it's in his best interest to fight alongside the US, that is, until the tide turns in his favor.  Hence the term, "the enemy of my enemy is my friend".  Yes, friend indeed, but only until they are in the position of strength.  That is their 'Allah's' way!

The Arab peace initiative is owned by Arab Summit and only Arab leaders can decide on it
Jordan News Agency 2007/3/26
Government Spokesman Nasser Judeh affirmed that the Arab peace initiative is an “Arab summit property” and any thing related to this initiative is in the hand of the Arab leaders and is pending on the summit deliberations.   Judeh made his remarks in response to a question during his weekly meeting with media representatives on whether there have been any external pressures to amend the initiative.   “There is no suggestion on part of Jordan to amend it,” he said. This was clearly illustrated during King Abdullah’s recent intensive meetings during which he confirmed the essence of the initiative and adherence to its contents. ...Judeh denied that there had been a visit by Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh to Jordan. Haniyeh stopped at Amman Airport only to join the Palestinian delegation headed by President Mahmoud Abbas to the Arab summit in Riyadh.   On recent visits by several Iraqi top officials to Jordan in recent days and whether their talks in Amman were related to the formation of a shadow government in Iraq by Iyad Allawi, Judeh said King Abdullah “ is keen on meeting representatives of all Iraqi political spectra ...

DEBKAfile reports: High alert at US and UK bases, Middle East armies on the ready lest Iran’s seizure of 15 British seamen Friday is only first Iranian reprisal action
DEBKAfile 2007/3/24
...Middle East and Persian Gulf nations as well as the US and UK are bracing for further Iranian marine, air or terrorist operations in Iraq and other places in reprisal for the sanctions measure before the UN Security Council in New York. On the ready too are the Saudi armed forces and some Israeli air and naval units.   According to Iranian sources the 15 British Royal navy seamen and marines which an Iranian warship seized with their commando craft Friday, March 23, have been taken to Tehran to explain their “aggressive action.” ...DEBKAfile’s military sources say the incident was but a pretext. According to incoming intelligence, Tehran plans to release a series of reprisals after sanctions are approved in New York Saturday evening, March 24.    The Islamic Republic is also cautioning its Gulf neighbors Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, whose foreign ministers meet visiting US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice in Assuan Saturday morning, not to cooperate with Washington’s regional policies and to stay neutral in the US-Iran dispute.   President Mahmoud Admadinejad’s last-minute cancellation of his appearance before the Security Council is further indication that Tehran gave up on diplomatic maneuvers for pre-empting the sanctions resolution and, assuming their approval was not preventable, turned instead to ramping up military tensions. ...

Jews Revive the Sanhedrin with Plans for a Passover Sacrifice
BeliefNet.com 2007/3/24
...they plan to sacrifice sheep on the Temple Mount on the day before or one month after Passover, which starts at sundown April 2. Either date is permissible under Jewish law. "If the government will not resist," said Rabbi Dov Stein, 68, a member of the group, "we will do it."   As Easter eclipses the last days of Passover this year, Christians will focus again on the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus. The Sanhedrin, meanwhile, will literally attempt to resurrect the Passover sacrifice of old. ..."We want all the world," Stein said, "to walk with God." ...This current Sanhedrin also sees as one of its goals to evaluate any potential messianic contender. "There is no redemption without the Sanhedrin," said Stein. "We are building the opportunity for a king (messiah)." ...

Abbas boosts Saudi proposal
JTA 2007/3/23
Mahmoud Abbas urged Israel to accept a Saudi proposal for a regional peace deal. ..."We are proposing that you make peace with 57 Muslim countries. That you no longer be an isolated island. That the Israeli flag fly from Morocco to Mauritania to Indonesia," Abbas told Yediot Achronot. "Everyone is willing to support the Saudi initiative. This is the most serious peace initiative since 1948," the year of Israel's founding.   Israeli leaders have voiced renewed interest in the Saudi proposal, though they have reservations about its calls for a complete withdrawal from territory captured in 1967 and its apparent embrace of the Palestinian demand for a refugee "right of return" ...

DEBKAfile Exclusive: Israel-Jordan tensions flare over discovery of king’s covert support for hard-line Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal
DEBKAfile 2007/3/22
Israeli officials and army chiefs were taken aback by an intelligence report summing up two years of research, which exposed Jordan’s King Abdullah, Israel’s partner in peace and the war on terror, as being secretly in league with the Damascus-based radical Khaled Meshaal.   A high-placed Israeli source commented: “All these years Israel was guided by the knowledge that Meshaal was sponsored by Damascus and more recently Tehran. We now learn the entire Hamas leadership also enjoyed the patronage of the Hashemite court in Amman. It has been a real shock.” ...The compilers of the Israeli intelligence report question the consistency of Jordan on the one hand contributing to a military force supposed to bolster Palestinian moderates while at the same time backing Hamas. They also ask, according to DEBKAfile’s sources, if Jordan can be relied on to select non-Hamas members for the Palestinian unit designed to offset Hamas’ military strength. Were Hamas infiltrators weeded out? And can Jordanian officials be trusted not to leak the force’s secrets to Hamas?   The ties between the royal house and Hamas, according to Israeli intelligence researchers, have always been managed by Muslim Brotherhood leaders close to the throne.

Assad confirms Israeli talks
Haaretz 2007/4/21
Syrian President Bashar Assad confirmed that Syria has been conducting secret negotiations with Israel in recent years, as reported by Haaretz in January. In an interview published yesterday in the Saudi newspaper Al-Jazira, Assad said that international envoys had shuttled between Syria and Israel, carrying each country's point of view regarding peace to the other. ...

King Receives Arab League Secretary General
Jordan News Agency 2007/3/20
...King Abdullah II said it was important to come up with resolutions that unify the Arab stance on the various challenges and activate joint Arab action over the next stage, during the Arab summit, which will be held in Riyadh later this month.   During a meeting with the Arab League Secretary General Amr Musa, His Majesty said the Arab summit was the best opportunity to achieve an Arab consensus on ways to push the Middle East peace process forward in the near future. ...
The king speaks to the Arab League Secretary General on behalf of all Arabs and their aspirations.  Again he is their mouthpiece.

Arab League Chief calls on Israel to present its own peace initiative
Haaretz 2007/3/20
Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa urged Israel on Tuesday to be more proactive in restarting the stalled Mideast peace talks following the creation of a new Palestinian unity government.   The Fatah and Hamas movements agreed to form the new government three days ago, but Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has refused to deal with the government until accepts international demands that it recognize Israel, renounces violence and abide by past peace deals.   Israel's stance puts it at odds with the U.S. and the European Union, who have signaled a willingness to deal with moderate members of the new government, while continuing to condition the resumption of direct financial aid on acceptance of the three conditions.   "We expect an offer by Israel," Moussa told reporters after talks with Jordanian Foreign Minister Abdul-Ilah al-Khatib. He did not provide details on the kind of initiative the Arab League hopes for from Israel. ...

Arab League chief rules out amendment of Arab peace plan
Monsters & Critics 2007/3/20
Arab League Secretary General Amr Musa on Tuesday completely excluded the possibility of amending the Arab Peace Initiative as demanded by Israel.   'There is no intention whatever to introduce any changes to the Arab Peace Initiative,' Musa told a press conference he jointly addressed with Jordanian Foreign Minister Abdul Ilah Khatib. ...

A license to dig
Haaretz 2007/3/20
Over the last few days, Israel Antiquities Authority workers have uncovered some interesting archaeological findings in the excavations next to the Mugrabi Gate. The items are not remnants from the First or Second Temple era, or even from the Byzantine, Crusader or Mameluk period. They found a jar of jam. ...The jam jar indicates that the excavations at the Mugrabi ascent have not gotten very far. Right now, they reveal the remnants of the lives of the neighborhood's residents, who were evacuated from their homes immediately after the Six-Day War and transferred outside the Old City. Now the excavators are deliberating whether to raze the remnants of the Mugrabi quarter's homes to reach lower strata. ...

'Islamic world in cold war'
yNetNews 2007/3/20
The Islamic world is entering a cold war period as the divide between Shiites and Sunnis escalates, Israeli experts said during a conference at Tel Aviv University on Tuesday afternoon.   Dr. Uzi Rabi, of the Department of Middle Eastern and African History at Tel Aviv University, said both Iran and Sunni nations were sending envoys to battle it out in Iraq.   "There are many reports of Saudi Arabia indirectly supporting al-Qaeda, in order to prevent a Shiite takeover of Baghdad," Rabi said.   "There is a cold war going on in the Middle East between the agents of Iran and Sunni states," he argued, adding: "pragmatic Arab states, such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, and the small Gulf states, have recently joined into a bloc aimed at checking the Shiite phenomenon sweeping the Middle East." ...

Jordan's parties ask king's help against cabinet, parliament
Monsters & Critics 2007/3/19
Thirty-one Jordanian opposition and pro-government political parties on Monday urged the intervention of King Abdullah II to end what they called a 'state of siege' imposed on them in tandem by the government and the lower house of parliament.   They accused the cabinet and the House of Representatives of teaming up 'to encroach on the country's national institutions including press, trade unions and political parties, as well as constitutional freedoms.'   'We appeal to your majesty to step in to salvage us out of this state of siege and ensure the prevalence of the constitution which provides for separation of powers, political pluralism and safeguarding rights of citizens,' the parties said in message to the king that was read out at a press conference. ...

Jordanian parliament blasts Olmert for expecting Amman collapse
Monsters & Critics 2007/3/19
Amman - Jordan's lower house of parliament on Monday rebuked sraeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert for predicting the 'collapse' of the Jordanian regime in the case of a premature pullout of US troops from neighbouring Iraq.   The House of Representatives said in a statement it had expressed its 'condemnation and extreme indignation over these hostile remarks that reflect ignorance and lacks the minimum of courtesy.'   'The Hashemite regime in Jordan, which has not been at any time ever a fragile country or have lacked any of the requirements of a state, will remain a strong homeland and will not be affected by any scepticism or any developments in the region,' the house said.   The Israeli newspaper Haaretz had quoted Olmert last Friday as telling a conference of a pro-Israel lobby in the US that a withdrawal of US troops from Iraq at this juncture could have offshoots including 'the collapse of the regime in Jordan.' ...
Another reason for the 'little horn' to hold a grudge and later take revenge on Israel, once 'empowered' to do so?

1st International Conference on Digital Communications and Computer Applications Opens at JUST
Jordan News Agency 2007/3/19
Deputizing for Minister of Education and Higher Education, Khaled Touqan, Secretary General of the Education Ministry Mohammad Abu Qiddis, opened at the Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST), the 1st International Conference on Digital Communications and Computer Applications and the Fifth Regional Expo for Electronic Sites and Information Technology with the participation of 14 Arab countries and 30 foreign countries.   Qiddis said the conference provides an opportunity to get acquainted with the latest developments and scientific research in areas related to communications and computer applications, and exchange ideas and points of views on these issues. ...President of JUST, Wajih Oweis said the university keeps pace with the scientific and technological developments in the world and interact with them in line with His Majesty King Abdullah’s vision in this domain. ...
? Daniel 8:25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand
The king knows well that dominance in this area of technology commands world recognition of the powers that be.

Will anxious Arab states soon form a nuclear family?
The Daily Star 2007/3/19
...While Jordan and other states acknowledge Iran's right to obtain nuclear technology for civilian purposes, they fear that Iran is really out to develop a military program, to better impose its agenda on the Arab world. This fear has become especially acute in view of Iran's growing influence over a vanquished Iraq. Arab states will never accept Iran becoming a nuclear power unless it provides cast-iron guarantees that its nuclear technology is for power generation only, alongside an Iranian acknowledgement of national Arab interests, boundaries and the common interest to live in a stable region. ...Jordan lies at the heart of the turmoil, given Iran's increasing strategic and intelligence role in occupied Iraq, once the Hashemite Kingdom's fortified "eastern gate." Jordan's quest to build a nuclear reactor is limited to civilian purposes, according to King Abdullah II, who maintains it has long been on the national agenda as a substitute fuel source. But sandwiched between two arch-foes armed to the teeth, Jordan is seeking guarantees against an ever-nearing precipice, with Washington pursuing an aggressive policy vis-a-vis Iran in an already boiling region. ...

Baghdad New Alliance
Alarab Online 2007/3/19
...What happened was that Bush’s train broke down before it started, which made him revise the whole mechanism to keep it going. His plan is to increase the number of his forces together with setting an alliance for ‘moderates’ inside Iraq and its geographical environment so that everybody would contribute to repairing the defect and start his train engine. In fact, the Middle East is required to help Bush’s train to start in order to continue its trip as previously planned.   Indeed, Bush said it explicitly when addressing the governments of the Middle East allied to Washington, “Let everybody know that America’s failure in Iraq would threaten all the region’s moderate states, for extremism would move to them”. He calls upon these states – The Gulf States, Jordan, and Egypt, in addition to Syria and Iran – to play a greater role in Iraq to help the USA stand up against the armed resistance and make its project successful. ...
I believe it's this very strategy that will enable the kingdom of the antichrist to come to power in Iraq.

Bedein: Arab League To Convene In Mecca
The Evening Bulletin 2007/3/19
Next week in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the leaders of the Arab countries are supposed to reconfirm the Saudi initiative, which has become the official initiative of the Arab League, the entity at war with Israel since the inception of the Jewish state in 1948.   The public relations campaign that has accompanied the Saudi initiative has let the world know that the Saudi proposal contains a recognition of Israel.   However, as Israeli left-wing pundit Ben Dror Yemini wrote this past Friday in the Israeli newspaper Maariv, "It is not clear which Israel the Arab countries are prepared to recognize. If it is Israel as a Jewish state, in keeping with the U.N. resolution, then this initiative should be welcomed. However, its principal demand is for the "right of return" for all those Palestinians who claim "their" lands inside the state of Israel - then this initiative contains no recognition of the State of Israel. Actually, it is a ruse and a conceit."   It is instructive to pay attention to the Arab view of the Saudi plan. ...

Israeli Defense Minister Calls for Starting Final Solution with President Abbas
WAFA Palestine News Agency 2007/3/19
Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz called for an immediate start of negotiations on permanent solution with President Mahmoud Abbas. ...He added that negotiations on final solution should start now and Israel should begin a political initiative and not stay in a position of defense.

A cautionary tale on regime changes
AM New York 2007/3/19
...Perhaps the most significant feature of this new Middle East is a renewed alliance between Washington and authoritarian Sunni Arab regimes - Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf countries - that is trying to counter Iran and Syria. ...But some analysts argue it will be difficult to convince Arab populations that Iran poses a greater threat than the United States or Israel. "We have yet to see how successful the U.S. - and the Arab regimes allied with it - will be in countering popular support for Iran," said Amal Saad-Ghorayeb, an expert on the Shia and a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut. "The Arab street is never going to see Iran as much of an enemy as Israel or the U.S." ...
Ultimately this alliance will backfire once the 'Arabian Kingdom' comes to power and then morphs into the 'kingdom of the antichrist'.

Assad: Olmert's government Israel's weakest ever
yNetNews 2007/3/19
"The current Israeli government is the weakest in Israel's history," asserted Syrian President Bashar Assad on Monday in an interview with the Saudi newspaper Al-Jazira. He sees no sign of an imminent renewal of the peace process and expects there to be little progress over the next two years.   In the interview, Assad disclosed that a series of European, American and Arab envoys had come to Syria in an effort to mediate between Jerusalem and Damascus. But he denied that any serious negotiations had taken place. ...
? Daniel 7:8 I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots
Continued justification for Assad's uprooting.

Hamas slams Abbas choice of Dahlan as security head
Reuters 2007/3/19
Hamas, in its first rift with Fatah since forming a Palestinian unity government, accused President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday of acting illegally by naming one of the Islamist group's foes as national security adviser.   Mohammad Dahlan, one of Fatah's most powerful leaders and a possible successor to Abbas, led a crackdown on Hamas Islamists as Gaza security chief in the 1990s. ..."Hamas sees the step by President Mahmoud Abbas to appoint Mohammad Dahlan, a lawmaker, as his adviser for national security as a violation of Palestinian law," Hamas said in a statement.   "The president of the authority did not consult Hamas or anybody else when he took the decision," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said. "We hope that the president will reconsider this decree." ...
And this is a 'unity' government?  NOT!

Christian-Arab Predicts World Islam Takeover - Unless...
Arutz Sheva A7 2007/3/18
..."When will you Westerners realize that half-measures don't work with people who are willing to die by the thousands for Allah to achieve their goal? In their eyes the Western World is simply an abomination on earth that has to be wiped out. ..."I think Hizbullah will attack again as soon as they are fully re-equipped and I think it will be during the summer, while Israel is still in a military and political turmoil... This time you will have to destroy Hizbullah no matter what the cost may be.   "Of course, your next round against Hizbullah may involve the Syrians and the Iranians against you. The Iranians declared that they will not allow Hizbullah to be defeated no matter what and may launch their missiles against you. So will the Syrians. What will Israel do? It is unlikely that Israel will accept its destruction and may use their nuclear arsenal if the West will not come to their help...
Contributed by Bob Anderson.

Arab leaders hope unity government leads to independent Palestinian state
International Herald Tribune 2007/3/18
...Jordan's King Abdullah II said the new government will hopefully be "a step toward the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on Palestinian lands," the official Petra news agency reported.   Abdullah also reaffirmed Jordan's full support for "efforts to rebuild Palestinian institutions to achieve the aspirations of the Palestinian people." ...Israel and the U.S. on Sunday ruled out a resumption of transfers to the Palestinians. They believe the platform of the new government falls short of international demands to renounce violence, recognize Israel and accept past peace deals.   The new Palestinian alliance appears to implicitly recognize Israel by calling for a Palestinian state on lands the Israelis captured in 1967, in contrast with Hamas' past calls to eliminate Israel altogether.   It also pledges to "respect" previous agreements with Israel and authorizes Abbas to conduct future peace talks. ...
? Daniel 11:23 And after the league made with him he shall work deceitfully: for he shall come up, and shall become strong with a small people.

Young Arab Leaders to provide over 1000 global educational opportunities by end of 2007
AMEInfo 2007/3/18
As part of its strategies for 2007, the Young Arab Leaders (YAL) today announced the 'International Education Initiative', aiming to link over 1,000 talented youth with Education programs worldwide. ...YAL is in the process of organizing the 'Arab Asian Dialogue Forum' in Singapore from 27-28 April. To be held under the patronage of H.M. King Abdullah II, of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, and H.E. senior minister, Goh Chok Tong, of the Republic of Singapore, the convention will bring together over 100 Arab and Asian leaders representing more than 20 countries from the business, media, government, and the global NGO community.
? Daniel 8:25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand

Jordan's Abdullah outlined a path to peace in Mideast
DesMoinesRegister.com 2007/3/18
Recently, King Abdullah II of Jordan, an ally of the United States in the Middle East, delivered a speech to a joint session of Congress. I read the entire speech on the Internet. It was a beautiful speech, one of the best I have ever read.   It spelled out in detail a path to peace that has been agreed to by all Arab governments, including Hamas and Hezbollah and, most significantly, Iran. This is the Arab League peace proposal from Saudi Arabia presented in 2002. It offers complete recognition of Israel - economic, cultural and political - and guarantees peace in the region for all countries and peoples. To those of us who follow this conflict in detail, this proposal, based on United Nations Resolution 194 that created the State of Israel, is the best path to peace.   This highly significant speech to a joint session of the Congress of the United States was ignored by the Register. The rest of the world has read this speech and is well-informed about the Arab League peace proposal. Why are we Iowans kept ignorant of these important developments?
? Daniel 7:8, Rev. 13:5 ...And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things…
Here appears to be a simple case of someone believing everything they read.

Terror victims' kin thank king for help
The Home News Tribune 2007/3/18
..."We just wanted to tell him thank you for everything he did for our family," Jadalhack said. "We knew even if we did get to meet him our time would be short, because he is the king after all, but we were happy for every second."   On Nov. 9, 2005, Saleh's sister, Nariman, her brother-in-law, Ariff, and her niece, Bensiana, were killed in a terrorist attack in Amman, Jordan. ..."After the attack the King of Jordan went around the hospitals meeting the family members of the victims," Saleh said as her husband pulled up a picture on his laptop of Saleh's nephew Samer Kareem with the king. Kareem, who was going to attend the wedding, but came down with a headache and did not go, is holding Toleen as he speaks with the king.   "It meant a lot to us that he came out there like he did," Jadalhack said. "When we met him I just wanted to thank him for what he did for our family." ..."The king is a very gracious and friendly man," Holt said. "He gave Ali and Wafa a warm greeting and they had a brief discussion before posing for a picture." ...

Iraqi Sunnis plan lobbying operation in Washington
Boston.com 2007/3/18
Members of the largest Sunni Muslim political bloc in Iraq's Parliament are planning to open a lobbying operation in Washington, in a dramatic shift for Sunni parties that once boycotted Iraq's elections and turned down opportunities for dialogue with the United States. ..."This is the first time in history that the Sunni group will have at least some kind of existence in Washington," Hanooti said, adding that Kurds and Shi'ites have had representation in Washington for years, since the era of Saddam Hussein's regime. ..."There is a realization among Sunni Arab politicians and some insurgents that the real enemy is not the United States, which is temporarily in Iraq, but Iran, which is the real long-term threat," said Joost Hiltermann, Jordan-based Middle East project director of the International Crisis Group. ...
Remember it was the Iraqi Sunnis last year that asked King Abdullah II of Jordan for his help.  Now they are lobbying the US in Washington DC no less.

Lieberman: Arab Monitoring Committee supports destruction of Israel
yNetNews 2007/3/18
Deputy Prime Minister and Strategic Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman warned on Saturday of what he called a "worrisome and dangerous union between the Higher Monitoring Committee for the Arab Population in Israel, a forum of Israeli-Arab leaders, and the newly established Palestinian unity government – they both call of the destruction of Israel as a Jewish and Zionist nation."   Lieberman announced he intends to bring the matter to the cabinet's weekly meeting on Sunday and said he calls on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to boycott the Higher Monitoring Committee.   Two of the committee's statements in particular have riled Lieberman, the most recent of these was issued on Saturday evening and expressed the committee's support for the new Palestinian unity government. The second statement, issued last December, was a document titled "The Future Vision of Palestinian Arabs in Israel.' In the document the Arab leaders call for Israel to be "replaced with a bi-national state… since it has a large Arab majority." ...

Syria rejects UN plan for civilian monitors on border with Lebanon
Haaretz2007/3/18
Syria has told the United Nations that it opposes a UN plan to deploy civilian monitors along its border with Lebanon in an effort to prevent weapons from being smuggled from Syria to Hezbollah.   In talks over the last few weeks, Syrian authorities threatened to completely close the border if such forces are deployed on the Lebanese side. ...
? Daniel 7:8 I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots
Continued justification for Assad's uprooting.

US to keep Palestinian aid ban but allow some contacts
Reuters 2007/3/18
The United States said on Sunday its ban on direct aid to the Palestinian government would remain in place but it broke ranks with Israel by authorising contacts with some members of the new unity administration.   The U.S. consulate in Jerusalem said Washington would continue to shun Hamas ministers in the power-sharing Palestinian cabinet but permit contacts with non-Hamas members on a case-by-case basis.   The decision to allow some contacts marked a shift in U.S. policy and a split with Israel, which said it would boycott the new government in its entirety, including non-Hamas ministers.   Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert ruled out resuming talks on Palestinian statehood with President Mahmoud Abbas and urged the world to shun the government sworn in on Saturday. Olmert's cabinet voted not to recognise the new administration. ...

Dichter: Abbas essentially rejecting road map
The Jerusalem Post 2007/3/18
...Speaking at the weekly cabinet meeting, Dichter said that Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's opposition to setting up a Palestinian state with temporary borders was essentially an opposition to the second stage of the "road map" peace plan, which calls for a provisional Palestinian state while the PA negotiates the final borders with Israel. ...

MK Sarsur: We must act together to liberate Jerusalem
yNetNews 2007/3/18
At a conference entitled "Jerusalem First," held in Ramallah on Sunday, the chairman of the United Arab List-Ta'al, Knesset Member Ibrahim Sarsur, called on all Arabs and Muslims to focus their energies on the future of Jerusalem. "If we act in concert, we can become a torrent on the road to liberation," he declared.   In his comments, Sarsur emphasized the religious importance of Jerusalem for Muslims and said that Israeli plans for the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and all around the city, must be resisted. "Just as the Muslims liberated Jerusalem from the Crusaders, so we must believe that today, too, the liberation of Jerusalem is not an impossible mission," he said, adding that "security, peace and stability will be achieved only when the city is liberated."   Sarsur emphasized that "Muslims around the world need to concentrate their energies on Jerusalem, not on Iraq or Kashmir or any other place, because Jerusalem is the central and most dangerous issue and thus must form the banner and the framework for the struggle of Muslims and Arabs around the world." ...
Sounds to me like he got his script from Jordan's king Abdullah II and his 'Jordan first'.

Report: Chirac pressed Israel to attack Syria
The Jerusalem Post 2007/3/18
French President Jacques Chirac told Israel at the start of the war in Lebanon that France would support an Israeli assault on Syria, it was reported on Sunday.   Army Radio reported that in the message, which was delivered by Chirac to Israel via a secret channel, the French president suggested that Israel invade Damascus and topple the regime of Bashar Assad. In exchange, Chirac assured Israel of full French support for the war. ...
 ? Daniel 7:8 I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots
Something we've come to expect of French leadership, ...treachery.

Abbas has become Hamas
yNetNews 2007/3/18
...the elementary conditions set by the Quartet on Hamas were not decisive enough, and from the moment Abbas adapted his stances to those of Hamas at the Mecca summit and Israel did not renounce it, the road was paved to Abbas' inclination to accept that the unity government's platform would resemble the Hamas' fundamental positions.   This is why, for example, the new Palestinian government has not renounced terror and does not recognize Israel. As to the adherence to former agreements signed by the Palestinians, there's nothing to be said here, because even Abbas himself is not adhering to them. ...

Israel fears U.S. Iraq exit could topple Jordanian regime
Haaretz 2007/3/17
Israel is worried a hasty American withdrawal from Iraq could topple the Hashemite regime in Jordan, one of the reasons why Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and others publicly oppose such a move.   Olmert voiced his opposition in a live video speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) on Tuesday, speaking out strongly against a rapid American exit from Iraq. ...However, Israel is not concerned solely about Jordan's fate, it fears that stability throughout the region would be undermined if the United States is viewed as having lost to the extremists. "Those who are concerned for Israel's security, for the security of the Gulf states and for the stability of the entire Middle East should recognize the need for American success in Iraq, and a responsible exit," Olmert told the AIPAC conference. ...

Jordan Takes Part in Meetings of Arab Federation for Transport Workers
Jordan News Agency 2007/3/17
Jordan is currently taking part in the 2-day meeting of the Secretariat General of the Arab Federation for Transport Workers, which kicked off on Saturday in Kuwait with the participation of several delegations representing more than ten Arab associations. ...Ibrahim al-Qaisi, said the delegation would submit a request to include His Majesty King Abdullah' speech at the US Congress, within the important documents and references for the federation.   He added that the meeting comes within the context of joint action among the Arab associations to take a unified stand towards the various challenges facing workers in the transport and communications sector, and put acceptable solutions to challenges facing this sector.
This appears to be all a part of putting in place more elements of the coming greater Arab kingdom.

MK Eitam: Israel must cut ties with Abbas
The Jerusalem Post 2007/3/17
MK Effi Eitam (NU-NRP) responded to the approval of a Palestinian Authority coalition on Saturday saying that Israel must break all ties with PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. ..."Israel's insists it will continue talking to Abu Mazzen, and on the other hand will boycott the government [itself]... this delivers a weak message to the world… Israel is closing her eyes to the Hamas government which has disguised itself as a unity government in hope of winning international support.   "Israel must cut ties with Abu Mazzen until all Hamas ministers resign," insisted Eitam.

Muslim Brotherhood tells Assad to quit & allow free elections
YaLibnan 2007/3/17
“Seven years of Bashar’s presidency is enough for him to present his resignation, leave power and make space for others to assume responsibility for the presidency through real competition, not a referendum,” London-based Ali Bayanouni ( Pictured R) told Reuters in an interview.   Bayanouni is a key founder of a united opposition movement -- the so-called National Salvation Front -- formed last year with secular, nationalist, liberal and Kurdish opposition parties with the aim of overthrowing Assad and installing democracy.   The opposition, comprising 16 Syrian parties, includes former Vice-President Abdel-Halim Khaddam, a figurehead who broke ranks with Assad in 2005.   “The opposition forces are moving towards applying pressure on the regime starting with demonstrations and moving to civil disobedience,” said Bayanouni, who left Syria before Assad’s father crushed an Islamist revolt in the town of Hama in 1982 killing at least 10,000 people and perhaps twice that number. ...
? Daniel 7:8 I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots
Continued justification for Assad's uprooting.

New relief aid convoy heads for Palestinian areas
Jordan News Agency 2007/3/17
A Jordanian relief aid convoy headed for the Palestinian areas on Saturday as part of Jordan’s continued humanitarian support to the Palestinian brothers.   The convoy, operated by the Jordanian Hashemite Charity Commission in coordination with the Jordanian Armed Forces Crisis Management Center, includes six trucks laden with 50 tons of relief supplies. ...
A benevolent king?  Winning the hearts and minds of Arabs one truckload at a time.

Saudi king congratulates Abbas and Haniya
iFocus 2007/3/17
Saudi King Abdullah, whose country hosted a meeting last month between rival Palestinian factions, on Saturday telephoned the two leaders to congratulate them on the formation of a national unity government, AFP News Agency reports.   The official news agency SPA said the king told Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and prime minister Ismail Haniya that he hoped the formation was "a step on the path to establishing the Palestinian state on its territory and to achieving a just and global peace in all the region." ...

Losing Jerusalem
Haaretz 2007/3/17
...From the Palestinian perspective, it would appear, the main problem is not recognition of Israel, the Jewish settlements in the West Bank, the violence and the terror or even the problem of the refugees and the right of return. The problem is Jerusalem. Just as the State of Israel would not be able to exist if the right of the 1948 refugees to return were to be recognized, it can be said that a Palestinian state could not exist without East Jerusalem as its capital.   It is in this context that the protest to the Israeli work at the Mugrabi Gate - both by Muslims in general and the Palestinians in particular - must be viewed. It is true that this work does not involve the Al-Aqsa compound itself, that the Israeli plans do not endanger anything sacred to Islam and that these demonstrations exploit the sensitivity surrounding religious issues to launch another attack on the Israeli government. This was the case in the Western Wall tunnel affair in 1996 and when Ariel Sharon visited the Temple Mount in September 2000, and this was the case in a long series of other incidents in which Israel disrupted the status quo in Jerusalem.   Every action that Israeli spokesmen define as a measure of strengthening the Israeli hold in the capital of Israel is defined in Palestinian and Arab terms as a continuation of the efforts to Judaize Jerusalem. ...

Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood calls on Assad to quit
Khaleej Times Online 2007/3/16
The exiled leader of Syria’s outlawed Muslim Brotherhood on Friday called on President Bashar al-Assad to step down and allow free elections, saying the opposition would resort to civil disobedience if the regime failed to introduce democratic change.   “Seven years of Bashar’s presidency is enough for him to present his resignation, leave power and make space for others to assume responsibility for the presidency through real competition, not a referendum,” London-based Ali Bayanouni told Reuters in an interview.   Bayanouni is a key founder of a united opposition movement -- the so-called National Salvation Front -- formed last year with secular, nationalist, liberal and Kurdish opposition parties with the aim of overthrowing Assad and installing democracy. ...
? Daniel 7:8 I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots

Rice: Arab League plan is a position, not a basis for talks
The Jerusalem Post 2007/3/16
...She denied having conversations with League members about how the document could be modified to be more palatable to Israelis.   "I have not talked to people about modification," she said at a brief press conference with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni following their meeting Wednesday. "I think it's a favorable thing that they are putting forward something, but [the initiative] is not a negotiating position as I understand it, but rather a framework, a vision for how Israel and the Arabs might reconcile." ...

Iran's covert war in Iraq
The Washington Times 2007/3/16
Americans and people around the world have expressed understandable skepticism about the claim by U.S. military officials in Baghdad that Shi'ite militias in Iraq are receive financing, equipment, arms, munitions and training from elite units of the Iranian special forces.   After all, we remember how key elements of U.S. intelligence reports that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction (WMD) proved to be inaccurate, and we remember how those inaccurate reports provided the rationale for the American invasion of Iraq. So why should we believe intelligence reports about Iranian involvement in the fighting in Iraq today -- especially if such a belief could potentially lead to fighting between the United States and Iran in the future?   There are four critical differences between the case against Iran today and the WMD estimates involving Iraq in 2003. All these differences combine to build an overwhelming case for the accuracy of the reports about Iranian involvement in Iraq. ...The one thing the U.S. military cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt is that the Iranian government's highest levels have authorized this covert war in Iraq. However, a review of all the evidence publicly released leaves no doubt that Iranian special forces are actively arming and training Shi'ite militia groups within Iraq. The only thing missing is the equivalent of a signed "Presidential Finding" from either Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or the Ayatollah Khamenei authorizing Qods Force operations inside Iraq. This type of proof will never be available.   While we may never have the smoking gun, it is hard to believe such a large-scale covert action could take place by Iranian forces in Iraq without both the direct knowledge and at least tacit approval of the Iranian government's highest officials.

Cameras capture 3,556 environmental, traffic violations - Jordan
MENAfn 2007/3/16
AMMAN — Around 3,556 environmental and traffic violations in the capital have been captured on film since the beginning of this month, a majority of them in the Zahran district.   According to the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) press centre, 1,930 were environmental and 1,626 traffic violations.   Earlier this year, GAM, in cooperation with the Public Security Department, equipped 16 vehicles with video cameras to monitor harmful emissions, littering and traffic violations in the capital's streets.   Amman Mayor Omar Maani said the project is being implemented in cooperation with the King Abdullah Design and Development Bureau. ...
The little BIG brother in Jordan.

New Islamic militia forms in Lebanon
Combined Jewish Philanthropies 2007/3/16
A new militant Islamic organization, Fatah al Islam, has formed at a refugee camp in Tripoli, Lebanon, under the leadership of a Palestinian fugitive.   The new organization is led by Shakir al-Abssi, a former associate of deceased al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was sentenced to death in absentia alongside the slain leader for the 2002 assassination of Laurence Foley, a U.S. diplomat in Jordan, The New York Times reported Friday.   U.S. intelligence officials estimate that Abssi has amassed a force of 150 men armed with explosives, rockets and an anti-aircraft gun since setting up shop in the refugee camp four months ago, the Times said. ...

Arab League Sec. Gen. urges support for Palestinian unity gov't
Kuwait News Agency 2007/3/16
Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa called on Friday Arab states to drum up in international circles much-sought-after support for the new Palestinian unity government.   Moussa made his comment before departure to Tunisia to discuss preparations for the next Arab summit's agenda and to participate in the Euro-Mediterranean Parliament conference.   The Secretary General said Arabs must cooperate with the Palestinian government and support efforts in lifting up imposed sanctions and all kinds of suffering on the Palestinian people. ...
The only reason they've got to 'drum up' support is to 'appear' in unity.  The world know that the Palestinians are anything but unified.  If it were a good thing they wouldn't need to 'drum up' support for it at all, but as usual it appears to be all a 'facade' to deceive the rest of the world to but into it.

The Coming War with Islam
FrontPageMag 2007/3/15
...“I have to tell you something which very few of you seem to comprehend.” He continued, “Your bungling war against a few thousand Hezbollah fighters which you should have crushed no matter what, considering the importance of the outcome, has created a completely new situation, not only for this area, but globally. Your inept leadership totally misunderstood the importance of winning this war."
“As a matter of fact, the whole Moslem world, not only the Arabs, simply couldn’t believe that the mighty Israeli Army that defeated the combined Arab forces in six days in 1967, and almost captured Cairo and Damascus in 1973, couldn’t defeat a small army of Hezbollah men. As usual the Moslems see things the way they want to see things. Most think that the present generation of Israelis have gone soft and can be defeated."
“The American bungling of the war in Iraq only added to their conviction that victory not only over Israel but also over the West is not only possible, but certain. The ramifications of these two bungling wars may bring an Islamic bloody Tsunami all over the West, not only in Israel. The sharks smell blood and these two wars gave them the green light to attack sooner than they had in mind. Your problem is that you are on the defensive and they have the option to choose the time and the places when and where to attack and there is nothing much you can do about it. When will you Westerners realize that half measures don’t work with people who are willing to die by the thousands for Allah to achieve their goal? In their eyes the Western World is simply an abomination on earth that has to be wiped out.” ...
“The Americans, the Europeans, and even you Israelis really don’t know what it is all about, do you? During the last generation hundreds of thousands of children have been taught all over the Moslem world in Madrass schools to become martyrs for Allah in order to kill the infidels. These youngsters not only are ready to do it, but are actually in the process of doing it. Bombs are going off all over the world killing and maiming thousands of people, not only on 9/11 in the US, in London Madrid and Bali, but in Africa, India, Bengladesh, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and many other places. The first signs of the Islamic Tsunami is already here, but the West doesn’t understand, or doesn’t want to understand what is coming."
“The Americans, instead of realizing that this is as bad as World War Two, or even worse, are going to pull out of Iraq, handing it over to Iran on a silver platter. Next may come the Saudis and the rest of the Gulf states. When dirty bombs go off all over Western towns, who is going to stop the Iranians?"
“Now is the time to stop them, not only because they are developing nuclear bombs, but because Iran has become the base for all Islamic terrorist. They supply, money, men, and weapons to Islamic terrorist around the world, quite often through their diplomatic mail. Billions of petro-dollars that are pouring into Iran are being funneled into terrorist organizations world-wide. They believe, and perhaps rightly so, that the West will do nothing to stop them in achieving their goals.
...the Iranians rely on the West doing nothing about their development of nuclear bombs. They also rely on their secret weapon: an inexhaustible supply of Islamic suicide bombers, some of them who are already planted all over the Western World. Besides the Islamic countries that supply these suicide bombers, a second front has been opened, and that is the Internet with more than five thousand Islamic web sites, brain washing and urging young Moslems to become martyrs for Allah. They especially target young Moslems who live in Europe and the West in general. The Western intelligence authorities consider these web sites a bigger threat than the Iranian atomic bomb. Al-Qaeda recently issued a television broadcast that promised a devastating attack against its enemies this spring. As we all know, Al-Qaeda doesn’t make empty threats." ...
...Perhaps our book of Revelation is not so wrong in describing that the end of the world would start at Armageddon, which we know as Har-Megiddo in Israel. The book of Revelations describe the last battle would be fought at Armageddon between the “Forces of good and the forces of evil.”
“And who would you call the forces of good ‘Israel or Islam?’ I asked looking him straight in the eyes. He gave me a startled look. “If I were a Moslem, I would have no problem to name the forces of good and it wouldn’t be Israel. As a Christian, I would probably name Israel, but as a Christian Arab I would prefer not to answer.” ...

Quartet crumbles, Arab League rumbles and Israel fumbles
News By US 2007/3/15
America, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations - the Quartet - have now apparently decided that their shared vision of creating a second Arab State in former Palestine - in addition to Jordan - is unrealistic and unattainable.   It has taken the Quartet four years of fruitless endeavour to finally understand that this vision has turned into a nightmare, that its’ negotiating skills have been found wanting, totally inept and ineffective, and that its’ inability to exercise any persuasive leadership or control over the negotiations has made it the laughing stock of the Arab world.   Competent negotiators know that you don’t start negotiations unless you can reasonably be assured of a successful outcome. The Quartet has stumbled badly and its’ reputation has been shot to pieces.   You would think that in these circumstances the Quartet would understand the need to go back to the drawing board and formulate a new policy that did not have the creation of another Arab State as its’ centrepiece.   Instead the Quartet has decided to create a symphony orchestra by joining with the 22 members of the Arab League in pursuing the League’s outdated and totally flawed 2002 Peace Initiative - which calls for precisely the same second Arab State to be created in former Palestine.   By what stretch of the imagination does the Quartet believe the Arab Plan will succeed when its’ own plan has so spectacularly failed to be implemented in even the smallest detail? ...

Double Vision about Palestine
Israel Hasbara Committee 2007/3/15
Everyone knows that we see what we want to see. The British think that Israel is subjugating the "poor Palestinians" and occupying "Arab land". But they don't think that the Catholic Irish in Northern Ireland have a valid complaint against England. The Spanish also think that Israel is subjugating the "poor Palestinians" and occupying "Arab land", but the Spanish don't think that the Basques, one of the most ancient European peoples, deserve independence – or even autonomy.   The United Nations gives more money per capita to the Palestinians than to any other group and runs a relief agency ­– United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East – dedicated to keeping alive the Palestinian demand for a "right of return" to Israel. (The US pays about a third of the agency's costs, while the 57 Muslim countries pay only a pittance.) The UN promotes the belief that Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas is a moderate. This belief, shared by the Bush and Olmert administrations, wasn't shaken by Abbas' statements on 11 January 2007 in Ramallah that, "We will not give up our principles ... rifles should be directed against the occupation [Israel]" and "The issue of the refugees [right of return to Israel] is non-negotiable."   Critics of Israel's Right wing claim that "everyone knows" what the final settlement with the Palestinians will be, so let's negotiate the final settlement and be done with it. Theoretically, what "everyone knows" is: two states living alongside of each other, with minor border adjustments from the 1949 armistice line and a "fair" resolution of the demand for the right of return of Palestinian "refugees". That's what the world wants to see happen. Israel is increasingly considered the impediment to "what will happen down the road anyway". ...

2nd-Temple Jewish Town Uncovered in Jerusalem
Arutz Sheva 2007/3/14
In the course of preparing tracks for the new light-rail system in Jerusalem, remains of an ancient Jewish community just north of the Holy Temple have been uncovered.   Rescue digs, required by law before any major construction work in Jerusalem and environs, have found a major set of remains of a Jewish town from post-Second Temple times. A long strip of land, 400 dunams (100 acres) in size, has been uncovered in which can be seen roads, alleys, houses, public buildings, a mikveh (ritual bath), and more. ...Evidence shows that the community - the largest from that period yet uncovered in the Jerusalem vicinity - was inhabited by a well-to-do and religiously observant populace. In addition to the mikveh, many stone utensils were found - popularly used because they could not become ritually defiled, according to Jewish Law.   Many coins were also found, including a rare gold one (pictured above) depicting Trainus Caesar (98-117 CE). Trainus began his reign 30 years after the Second Temple was destroyed. Antiquities Authority dig manager Rachel Bar-Natan said that this was only the second coin of its type found in Israel, and the first one within the Green Line. ...
Contributed by Jody Deasy.

Avoid the 'grand solution' temptation
The Jerusalem Post 2007/3/14
...The Saudi monarchy, in concert with Egypt, Jordan and other Sunni Arab regimes, views Shi'ite power, led by the triumphant revolutionary government in Iran attempting to acquire nuclear weapons, as the greatest threat to their survival. The insurgency that has dismembered Iraq, the attempt by Hizbullah to control Lebanon, and the strength of the Muslim Brotherhood elsewhere threatens to engulf the Arab elites. Under these circumstances, a strengthened strategic relationship with the US and a tacit alliance with Israel against Iran are vital for the Saudi and "moderate" Arab regimes.   Not withstanding the lip-service paid to resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict and ending "the suffering of the Palestinians," these issues are secondary in this coalition of interests. ...
It is this very seemingly fearful scenario that is causing the morphing of the Sunni Arab regimes into a newer 'United Kingdom of Arabia" (the 'Arab nation' as King Abdullah II of Jordan likes to call it) that will make 'peace with Israel', and have the world's blessing.
? Daniel 11:21 ...but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries

Arab moderates push peace plan ahead of summit
Reuters 2007/3/14
...In a rebuke to Israel, Jordan's Foreign Minister Abdelelah al-Khatib told reporters after separate talks with his Saudi and Egyptian counterparts they were agreed the Arab plan had all the necessary elements for a comprehensive settlement.   "This is an Arab peace initiative, a declaration of principles towards solving the Palestinian issue and represents a clear Arab position and is acceptable on the international arena," Khatib said.   Jordanian officials privately say the Arab Quartet wants to show Washington the seriousness of their quest for peace with Israel in return for a stronger commitment by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice to a two-state solution by 2008. ...
Now it's 2008???  Oh no, not another year of this!

Jordan's king urges unified Arab stance on peace process (Roundup)
Monsters & Critics 2007/3/14
Jordan's King Abdullah II Wednesday urged Arab countries to produce a 'unified' Arab stance on pushing forward the Middle East peace process before the arrival in the region of the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice later this month. ...'The monarch underscored the importance of coordinating Arab attitudes and the need for the forthcoming Arab summit conference in Riyadh to come up with practical decisions for dealing with challenges of destiny that face the Arab nation,' the statement said.   'Issues on the agenda of the summit are of paramount importance, and Arab countries should unify their stands particularly regarding how to restore momentum to the Arab Peace Initiative which was adopted by the Arab summit in Beirut in 2002,' it added. ...
The king is pushing not only the west, but the entire world for this so-called peace agreement.  Again, all Arabs are called 'the Arab nation' by the king, and it appears that he aims to make it his Arab kingdom, and a unified one at that.  It is obvious they are NOT NOW UNIFIED, otherwise why would the king be urging them on to unity, and you can be sure that they will willingly lie about their unity to achieve their agenda goal, that being to force this so-called 'peace' agreement upon Israel, which will turn out to be no peace at all, but rather their 'covenant with death' and 'the time of Jacob's trouble'.

Jordan's king meets with Talabani (Roundup)
Monsters & Critics 2007/3/14
Amman - Jordan's King Abdullah II met Wednesday with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and urged backing for national reconciliation efforts in Iraq, according to an Official statement.   The monarch 'stressed the need for extending support to efforts aimed at achieving national reconciliation with the participation of all components of the Iraqi people', the royal court said.   Talabani 'thanked Jordan for the medical care he was accorded' at King Hussein Medical Centre, where he was moved on February 25 after suffering sudden health irregularities in his home province of Kurdistan, the statement added. ...'He in particular commended the coordination of efforts by Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt with the aim of arriving at a united, secure and stable Iraq,' the statement said.
? Daniel 11:21 ...but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries
By urging peace and prosperity, and by providing critical needs to brother Arabs, the king is winning the kingdom by flatteries one good deed and word at a time.  Sooner rather than later they will welcome him as 'their Mahdi'.

The 'boxing match' with Syria's Assad
The Daily Star 2007/3/14
...Saudi Arabia's "chess match" with Assad has failed to reach its objectives simply because it's all carrots and no sticks.   Along with the US and its main Arab allies, the kingdom has been attempting to agreeably negotiate with Assad his own downfall, by urging him to accept that his Lebanese allies agree on the proposed text for an international court.   Earlier negotiations failed because they gave him absolutely no good reason to do so.   The Baghdad conference had the Americans unwisely trying to establish "constructive dialogue" with their Syrian counterparts to get Syria's help in Iraq. Assad has repeatedly urged Washington to talk to him, given that his leadership is "the key to solving Iraq's problems."   In fact, Syria has very little to offer in Iraq (Sunni radicals will do with or without Syrian assistance) and demands much in return, most notably in Lebanon. Unconditionally talking to the Syrians (as the Saudis could testify) will only encourage Assad's aggressive behavior toward Lebanon and provide nothing in return, except for a moral boost for Syria's Lebanese allies (as demonstrated by the March 12 speeches in North Lebanon of pro-Syrian parties praising "changes in regional US policies").   The next expected step is the adoption of the UN Security Council of the international tribunal under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter. ...Saudi Arabia could meanwhile attempt to corner Assad, forcing him into a deal and avoiding the international community's enforced solution. This can be done through outright support for the Muslim Brotherhood, the only viable and popular alternative to Assad's regime.   Urged by the kingdom, both Ankara and Moscow would join in the scuffle by exercising various forms of pressure on Syria, including economic, military, and water-related issues.   Even as the Security Council heads toward Chapter 7, the Saudis should still consider the hard way not only as a matter of principle, but also to have the upper hand in the harder times to come.   Either way, it's time for a "boxing match" with Assad.
Whatever way it falls, we know from scripture that three are uprooted, ...finally.
? Daniel 7:8 I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots

PA Finance Minister: I Don't Know Where Aid Money Goes
Arutz Sheva 2007/3/14
The incoming Finance Minister of the Palestinian Authority has admitted that hundreds of millions of dollars transferred to the PA have “disappeared.”   Salam Fayed, who formerly worked for the World Bank and the US Federal Reserve, told the Daily Telegraph that he has no idea where the more than $700 million granted the PA since the Hamas terror group rose to power has gone.   “Palestinian Authority spending is out of control, salaries are being paid to workers who never turn up, and nobody can track where the money is going,” the paper quoted Fayyad as saying.   The report even quoted Fayed pleading with the reporter to, "Please write this: no one can give donors assurance [that their money is not going to finance Hamas terrorism]. Why? Because the system is in a state of total disrepair." ...
I believe this fiasco is by design in order to route money, without trails, to terrorist entities.

Israel now open to once-rejected Arab peace plan
Christian Science Monitor 2007/3/14
A five-year-old Saudi Arabian regional peace plan appears to be displacing the US's dormant "road map" as the initiative to get Arabs and Israelis back to the table.   After initially rejecting the plan, which was adopted by the Arab League in 2002 and offers full Arab ties if Israel returns all territory occupied since 1967, Israel this week praised the proposal as a new starting point for talks.   The resurfacing of the plan highlights the growing willingness of US-allied Arab regimes to engage with the Palestinian-Israeli conflict directly. But there is still a wide gap between what Arabs are seeking – such as the return of Palestinian refugees – and what Israel is willing to give. ...

Solana: EU supports Syrian initiative to regain Golan Heights
Haaretz 2007/3/14
The European Union supports Syria's goal of regaining the Golan Heights from Israel, the EU foreign policy chief said after meeting President Bashar Assad on Wednesday.   "We would like to work as much as possible to see your country Syria recuperate the territory taken in 1967," Javier Solana told a joint news conference with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem.   Syria has made it clear that its cooperation to help end violence in Iraq would be tied to Western - especially U.S. - support for its peaceful campaign to regain the Golan Heights, which Israel conquered during the Six Day War four decades ago. ...
More of 'you scratch my back and maybe we'll scratch yours' mentality.  It also kind of seems like they think they have the US and western interests in a headlock and are saying 'ok cry uncle'.

Russia to Sell Ka-226 Helicopters to Jordan
MosNews.com 2007/3/13
On Tuesday, Feb. 13, Russia and Jordan signed an agreement on sale of Russian Ka-226 light multi-purposes helicopters. This agreement is one of many intergovernmental and commercial agreements signed during President Vladimir Putin’s official visit to Jordan. One of the other agreements foresees assembly in Jordan of Russian Lada cars, manufactured by AvtoVAZ. The agreement on the sale of the Ka-226 helicopters was signed by Denis Manturov, general director of Oboronprom united industrial corporation, and Dr. Moayad Samman, the managing director of the King Abdullah II Design and Development Bureau. Details of the agreement, such as the number to be bought, were not revealed. ...
? Daniel 8:25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand

Young Arab Leaders to launch inaugural 'Arab Asian Dialogue Forum'
AMEInfo 2007/3/13
Held under the patronage of H.M. King Abdullah II, of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, and H.E. Goh Chok Tong, Senior Minister of the Republic of Singapore, the forum aims to create a dialogue to develop relations between Asia and the Arab world.   According to Dr. Omar Bin Sulaiman, Governor of Dubai International Financial Centre, the chairman of the forum's organizing committee Arab Asian Dialogue Forum will formulate and enhance the relationship and strategic partnership between Asia and the Arab world through the exchange of knowledge and trade expertise.   'The Arab Asian Forum is the first of its kind aimed at opening up new communication channels between the two regions. It also complements YAL's strategy to bridge the communication gap between the Arab region and the rest of world, complementing the Arab American Action Forum held in September 2006. The initiative will move to Europe in the next phase.' ...
It's obvious by the verbiage that there is a 'master' plan' with several or many phases.  I would like to see what the end goal is, but it appears they are on the road to global dominance.  Also, just the title of this forum sounds 'racist in nature'.

Jordan quietly gaining Temple Mount control
Officials say Arab kingdom using shell firms to buy key properties with access to holy site
WorldNetDaily 2007/3/13
JERUSALEM – Jordan has been quietly purchasing real estate surrounding the Temple Mount in Jerusalem in hopes of gaining more control over the area accessing the holy site, according to Palestinian and Israeli officials.   The officials confirmed to WND the Jordanian Kingdom has been using shell companies during the past year to purchase several apartments and shops located at key peripheral sections of the Temple Mount.   The officials said Jordan also set up a commission to use the companies to petition mostly Arab landowners adjacent to eastern sections of the Temple Mount to sell their properties. They said profits from sales at any purchased shops would be reinvested to buy more real estate near the Mount and in eastern Jerusalem neighborhoods. ...

Efforts underway for resumption of Israeli-Palestinian talks -- Jordan
Kuwait News Agency 2007/3/13
Jordan's King Abdullah II said on Tuesday that efforts were "underway, with the backing of the United States, to prepare the necessary framework for the Israelis and Palestinians to return to the negotiating table." "A failure of the peace process would contribute to more violence and extremism and weaken the forces of moderation in the region," the king was quoted as saying in an official statement issued by the Hashemite Monarchy Diwan. ...The king underlined the role that could be played by Washington in brokering peace efforts.   He also said that the Iraqi refugees now based in his country were receiving all the care they required as "official guests" until the restoration of law and order to their country. ...
The king is always quick the play the 'fear' card.

Jonathan Gurwitz: Ignoring extremism fuels chaos
My San Antonio 2007/3/13
...Last week, Jordan's King Abdullah II addressed a joint session of Congress. The Hashemite monarch is perhaps the region's most intelligent leader. But the tired and faulty message he brought to Washington was this: The fundamental problem in the Middle East, the wellspring of all violence, is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.   Not one word about his Sunni brethren flooding Baghdad's streets with rivers of blood. Not even a hint about the mass rapes of women and girls in Darfur. Does anyone believe if a Palestinian government were tomorrow to raise the Hamas flag over Jerusalem that Iraq's Shiites and Sudan's blacks would be any safer?   Like Sherlock Holmes' observation about the dog that didn't bark in the night, Abdullah's desultory performance at the Capitol reveals the real problem in the Middle East: the failure to condemn extremism. ...

EU foreign policy chief visits Syria
European Jewish Press 2007/3/13
Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni spoke out against Solana’s visit over the weekend after it was revealed that Damascus would be his final stopover destination in a three country Middle East tour. ...Speaking at a meeting with EU foreign ministers in Brussels last week, Livni was quoted as saying it was wrong for Solana to give credence to Syria while it appears to continue to support Lebanese group Hezbollah which waged last summer’s war on Israel.   "To engage the Syrian regime, in the absence of any real change in its actions on the ground, would be to reward the regime for policies that have greatly endangered the Middle East and the cause of peace," Livni said, according to the Jerusalem Post. ...
? Daniel 7:8 I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots

Hamas says some of its forces paid with Abbas funds
Reuters 2007/3/13
Part of the $100 million in tax revenues transferred by Israel to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas went on paying security services, including members of a Hamas-led force, a Hamas source said Tuesday.   During a meeting with Abbas on Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert asked him to account for how the $100 million in Palestinian tax revenues had been spent.   Israel opposed using the money to pay salaries, particularly to members of Hamas, a group whose charter calls for the destruction of the Jewish state, government officials said.   "The (Hamas) Executive Force was a part of the security services which received part of their salaries, just like the other forces," the Hamas source said. ..."This flies in the face on what was agreed upon," said an Israeli government official.   Under U.S. pressure, Israel transferred the $100 million to Abbas's office in January.   Israeli officials said at the time that the money would be earmarked for humanitarian needs and programmes to strengthen Abbas's presidential guard, and not to pay salaries. ...
This should be no surprise to anybody, especially since we know that in Islam Muslims are encouraged to lie if it will further their cause.

Israeli works did not damage Temple Mount, UN says
yNetNews 2007/3/13
Israeli works near the Temple Mount did not cause damage to the historic site, a UNESCO report set to be published Wednesday states. However, the UN organization recommends that the excavations at the place be suspended in order to allow for international monitors to arrive in Jerusalem and supervise the project.   In the report, which was obtained by Ynet, UNESCO experts laud Israel for the transparency with which the works were being carried out, and note that the excavations conducted near the Temple Mount compound do not jeopardize its stability.   According to the report, the works near the Mugrabi Gate have been properly documented and supervised, in compliance with international professional standards. ...

Commentary: Accept the Saudi Initiative
Middle East Times 2007/3/13
JERUSALEM -- Four years after it was first presented, the Arab Peace Initiative is finally taking center stage. Rumors of behind-the-scenes meetings and negotiations on the Initiative between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Saudi national security advisor Prince Bandar Bin Sultan have been strengthened by reports that the Saudi prince is trying to modify the Initiative to be more acceptable to Israel. ...Despite the rumors that Bandar is trying to modify the document, it is very unlikely that the Arab states would agree to change the proposal, already hammered out between various interests and forces within the Arab world. But the Arab League (AL) could improve the document's appeal by marketing it better to Israel. For one, it is possible to state that the Arab Peace Initiative is a "framework, a basis, or a platform" for renewing the peace process rather than having it appear as a document that must either be accepted, or rejected, in its entirety.   The AL summit, to be held in Riyadh at the end of this month, could decide to send a high-level representative to appear before the Knesset and the Palestinian Legislative Council in order to present the Initiative directly to the people of Israel and Palestine. That would be the kind of triggering event to completely change the political climate surrounding the Initiative since 2002. ...

Livni calls for normalization first, peace later
The Daily Star 2007/3/13
Israel urged Arab states on Monday to normalize ties now, saying this could hasten the end of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and cautiously welcomed a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace proposal. The comments by Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi came amid reports of "secret talks" between Israel and the Palestinians on reviving the peace process.   "Do not wait for peace to come before you normalize relations with us. Normalize relations now and peace will come," she told Arab countries in a speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a powerful pro-Israel lobbying group. "You have the power to change reality and to encourage the Palestinians to embrace coexistence," she added. ...

Bedein: European Union Willing To Accept Hamas' Non-Recognition Of Israel
The Evening Bulletin 2007/3/13
Israel's efforts to prevent international recognition of the Hamas-led Palestinian unity government have suffered a blow.
The leaders of the 27 member countries of the European Union, who met in Brussels over the weekend, released a statement in which Europe shows flexibility and is willing to accept the refusal of Haniya and his colleagues to recognize Israel.   France was the nation that pushed toward the compromise wording that was accepted by the EU leaders.   A statement released by European leaders last Friday said that Europe welcomes the Mecca Agreement between Fatah and Hamas and congratulates the Saudis for their role in achieving it, without any mention that the Mecca Agreement makes no mention of reconciliation or peace with Israel.   Regarding the content of the agreement, it read, "The European Union stands ready to work with a legitimate Palestinian government that adopts a platform reflecting the Quartet principles." This is a significant retreat from the European position that until now accorded with the United States, demanding that the Palestinian government meet the three conditions that the Quartet set for the Palestinians: recognizing Israel, abandoning violence and honoring the agreements signed between the two parties. Currently, it has become clear that it is enough for Europe that the Palestinian unity government "reflect" the principles of the international community without explicitly meeting them.   The Swedish foreign minister, Carl Bildt, said: "By honoring the existing agreements, there is implied recognition of Israel's right to exist." EU foreign policy director Javier Solana said that Europe will not tell the Palestinians exactly how they must recognize Israel. "There are many ways to express recognition of Israel. I will not say which one is the most appropriate. They must decide that. It must only be sufficiently clear," Solana told the media in Brussels. ...

State inquiry panel on 2006 Lebanon war will name names in interim report due out in mid-April
DEBKAfile 2007/3/13
DEBKAfile: Israel's two ruling parties, PM Ehud Olmert's Kadima and defense minister Amir Peretz' Labor are reviewing their options. The commission headed by Judge Winograd Tuesday contradicted a spate of leaks and affirmed that its interim findings will include judgments on the performances in the first week of the conflict of the prime minister, defense minister and ex-chief of staff Dan Halutz. Halutz has already resigned. ...

Judeh voices Jordan’s hope for mobilizing efforts to advance Mideast
Jordan News Agency 2007/3/12
...King Abdullah II’s historical speech at the US Congress joint session last week has received large scale positive reactions from a wide variety of international circles.
“King Abdullah talked, in the name of the Arab nation, bravely and frankly before the congress stressing centrality of the Palestinian issue at this crucial stage of peace making in the region,” Judeh told reporters. ...
Again it's stated that King Abdullah II of Jordan speaks for the Arab nation (singular), and that includes ALL of them.

Commentary: Jordan and the new regional realities
Middle East Times 2007/3/12
...Given its size and resources, Jordan has always relied on its allies to advance regional initiatives. Hence, a prominent Saudi role enhances Jordan's ability to maneuver in the region, both in terms of countering Iranian influence and in addressing the Palestinian-Israeli issue regionally and internationally.   The main feature of the Arab system today is its fragility and fragmentation, largely due to the deficiency created by the Syrian presence in the Iranian camp, and the absence of Iraq as a regional player. The emergence of the Saudi role at the forefront may compensate significantly for these deficiencies. This, in turn, would allow Jordan to pursue its national interest and more effectively address the challenges it faces.
? Daniel 8:23-24 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up. 24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.
Perhaps some of the non-spiritual power comes from his being 'enabled' by the US, the EU, and as well the Arab League, ...this very scenario we see on today's stage of history.

Our World: Lame ducks and sitting ducks
The Jerusalem Post 2007/3/12
...Last Wednesday, Jordan's King Abdullah addressed a joint session of the US Congress. Abdullah came to the US at an interesting moment in the history of his own kingdom. The same day that Abdullah told US lawmakers that Israel is the source of all the misfortunes in the world, or as he put it, "The wellspring of regional division, the source of resentment and frustration far beyond, is the denial of justice and peace in Palestine," his state prosecutor announced the arrest of three al-Qaida terrorists. The men were arrested for plotting to assassinate Bush during his visit to Amman on November 29 and for plotting to bomb the US embassy in Amman.   What is interesting about the announcement, coming as it did the day that Abdullah spoke to the Congress and ate a private dinner with the president, is that it shows the mendacity of Abdullah's contention.   Israel is not responsible for the fact that Jordan has a huge problem with al-Qaida. Moreover, with a population that is more than 70 percent Palestinian, the monarch of the Hashemite kingdom would do well to look in the mirror before declaring that the lack of Palestinian statehood has anything to do with Israel.   ACCORDING to Israel's Channel 2, Abdullah built on his "Blame the Jews" theme to great effect during his private dinner with the president. Bush was reportedly convinced by his Jordanian guest that the world will be a better, safer place if the US abandons its demand that the PA destroy the terror cells and armies operating in its territory before it commences pressure on Israel to surrender Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem to Hamas-Fatah. ...

King to Patronize World Forum in Singapore Next April
Jordan News Agency 2007/3/12
...King Abdullah will deliver a keynote address at the opening session of the forum entitled “Arab-Asian Dialogue”. ...The two-day forum will be attended by 100 figures from public and private sector institutions as well as civil society institutions from more than 20 Asian and Arab countries with a view to discussing a number of initiatives that would contribute to enhancing cooperation between the Middle East and Asia mainly in the economic and media fields.

DEBKAfile Exclusive: Al Qaeda-Gaza declares war on both Palestinian rivals: Hamas and Fatah
DEBKAfile 2007/3/12
As Palestinian and Israeli leaders, Mahmoud Abbas and Ehud Olmert finished discussing the Gaza Strip’s fate Sunday, March 11, three events showed how little they and Hamas are in control.   Al Qaeda’s No. 2, Ayman Zawahri issued a declaration of war on the Palestinian Authority and Hamas in a videotape aired by the Arabic TV Al Jazeera.   An hour later, the Islamic Brotherhood of Justice (another name for al Qaeda’s operational branch in the Gaza Strip) announced the launching of its Operation White Land, targeting the political and military leaders of Fatah and Hamas.   DEBKAfile’s military sources also reveal that a rebellion has sprung up against the top Hamas leadership.   Olmert and Abbas nonetheless continue to act out a Pan-Arab diplomatic process at Washington’s behest ...
I believe it is because of these declarations of war that  'the peacemaker' (the little horn) having at last achieved his goal 'making peace', is then compelled by his agreement to 'enforce the peace', or as scripture says "by peace shall destroy many", those 'many' being the 'terrorists against the so-called peace'.

US to help Libya build N-plant
The News 2007/3/12
TRIPOLI: The United States is to help Libya to build a first nuclear power plant under an agreement to be signed soon, the official JANA news agency reported on Monday. The Libyan parliament or General People’s Committee (GPC) gave its approval on Sunday for the foreign ministry to sign the deal, JANA said.   “The GPC authorised on Sunday the GPC for Foreign Liaison and International Cooperation to sign the agreement related (to) the Libyan-American cooperation in peaceful use of nuclear energy offered by the United States,” it said in an English-language dispatch.   “The agreement aims at establishing a nuclear station in Libya to produce electricity, desalting water, and developing the radiochemistry performance at energy researches centre.” There was no immediate confirmation from Washington of the proposed deal. ...
Go figure.  When will they ever learn, when will they ever learn (to the tune of 'Where Have All The Flowers Gone').

Iran Moves Out of the Isolation Booth
Time 2007/3/12
...while Washington has called for Iran to be isolated and has refused to talk to Tehran, the Saudis have been holding discussions with Iran for months. The first clear fruit of those talks is visible in Lebanon, where Iran and Saudi Arabia appear to have walked their allies there back from the brink of civil war, and put them on the path towards finding new terms for coexistence. On the Palestinian front, while Washington has demanded that its allies keep Hamas isolated — and pressed Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas to resist calls to join the Islamists in a unity government — the Saudis brought the two Palestinian factions together in Mecca and brokered just such a coalition government. due to be formalized this week.   Those examples suggest that the diplomatic process now underway over Iraq is unlikely to further the U.S. goal of isolating Iran. The Iraqi government, which initiated Saturday's talks, wants no part of any regional alliance to confront Iran, insisting that its territory not be used as a base for confrontation between the two powers. While it depends on the U.S. for its security, the government is nonetheless dominated by Shi'ite parties allied with Iran. What happens in the diplomatic process Baghdad has initiated may be as important as the U.S. troop surge: U.S. commander General David Petraeus made clear last week that there can be no military victory in Iraq — the military campaign aims to create a window of improved security in which a political deal must be forged among all the belligerents. Such a deal must almost certainly be accompanied by a regional accord that precludes external support to the warring factions.   Indeed, if Saudi Arabia and Iran were able to find an incentive to cooperate in cooling tensions in Lebanon, the incentive ought to be that much greater in the case of Iraq, given its proximity and the negative fallout both will suffer in the event of a sectarian meltdown of Iraq. Such cooperation would help stabilize Iraq, but there's no room in there for a strategy of isolating and confronting Iran. The Saudis appear inclined to find a way of living with Iran, accommodating its interests while aggressively protecting their own. The Bush Administration may soon discover that, as far as diplomacy goes, that's the only game in town.

Hamas makes mockery out of Abbas-Olmert meet
Jerusalem Newswire 2007/3/12
Hamas brazenly pulled the rug out from under PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas Sunday night, demonstrating once again that the Islamist terror group, and not the secular terrorist leader, is the dominant power among the Palestinian Arabs.   At a meeting earlier Sunday evening between Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, the PA "chief" had responded to Olmert's demand that kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit be released immediately.   It would happen before the PA established its new unity government, Abbas said.   But Hamas spokesman Razi Hamed dismissed this.   We "have other, more pressing issues to deal with" than setting Shalit free, he said. ...

Livni, Rice to discuss Saudi initiative in Washington meeting
Haaretz 2007/3/12
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and her American counterpart Condoleeza Rice will discuss the 2002 Saudi initiative for Mideast peace during their meeting in Washington this week, an aide to Livni said Monday.   "She [Livni] certainly sees positive elements in the Saudi initiative that could serve as the basis for further progress," Ido Aharoni said.   Haaretz reported earlier Monday that the U.S. administration is holding separate talks with Israel and Saudi Arabia ahead of the Arab League summit in Riyadh late this month, in which Saudi plan is likely to be the focus. ...

Don't wait for peace to normalize ties, Livni tells Arab states
yNetNews 2007/3/12
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni urged Arab nations on Monday to normalize ties with Israel now, saying this could hasten the end of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.   "Do not wait for peace to come before you normalize relations with us. Normalize relations now and peace will come," she said in a speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a powerful pro-Israel lobbying group.   "You have the power to change reality and to encourage the Palestinians to embrace co-existence," said Livni, who drew applause from an audience of 5,500 people packed into a Washington convention hall. ...

Israel arrests 40 in West Bank sweep
EARTHtimes 2007/3/12
An Israeli military sweep in the West Bank Monday resulted in the arrests of at least 40 Palestinians on terror charges.   Soldiers went door-to-door in and around the cities of Jenin and Ramallah, Kuwait's KUNA news agency reported.   Israel Radio said most of those arrested were members of the militant factions of either Hamas or Fatah, and many were students. ...

The Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming (and Environmentalism)
FrontPageMag 2007/3/12
Partly as a result of this, the institution of "science" has succumbed to the lure of massive sums of money that have been guaranteed if they promise the right answer. ...Illuminate for us how the ideological tactic works. ...Horner: A belief in both the certainty of catastrophic man-made global warming and the horrors of capitalism are matters of faith, which tend to be held in tandem. No society in its right mind is going to willfully do to itself what the environmentalist industry, at its core, desperately seeks: massive diminution of individual liberties and ceding of most decision making to the least accountable level of governance possible, in the name of creating an Edenic world, a Goldilocks world, where man's population, growth, energy use and impact is "just right"; this, by the way, is to be judged in the eyes of people who believe there are just enough of them and way too many of everyone else. ...What each of these companies share in common is a belief that their pals in government will stop before they go too far and actually fully implement the Kyoto agenda, but will only go just far enough to provide windfall profits of money for nothing. It is a remarkably cynical and very dangerous game. ...
COMMENT: Their twofold objective is to eliminate two billion or more people from the face of the earth and to wield absolute power! Again, I refer you to Paul Erlich. If you think you or your children and grandchildren would enjoy serfdom, by all means support them.
Article and comments contributed by Bob Anderson.

DEBKAfile Exclusive: Bowing to Washington, Olmert agrees to go directly and unconditionally to final-status talks with Palestinians
DEBKAfile 2007/3/11
Prime minister Ehud Olmert conceded key Israeli policy points in his talks with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in Jerusalem Sunday, March 11, according to DEBKAfile’s Middle East and Washington sources – contrary to advance statements from his office that the meeting was only a formality.   Last week, Bush administration officials notified Olmert’s senor aides Yoram Turbovitch and Shalom Turjman in Washington that the wait for the Palestinians to comply with roadmap conditions to recognize Israel and renounce violence was at an end. Whether a Palestinian government was led by Hamas or shared with Fatah, they were told, Israel must now initiate final settlement talks with Abbas. Saudi and Jordanian leaders had won President George W. Bush over on this point as leverage for cooperation on the Iraq and Iranian issues.   At the Sunday cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, the prime minister therefore announced he was seriously considering accepting the 2002 Saudi peace plan. He already knew the Saudis had informed the White House that the plan would not be revised at the coming Arab summit in Riyadh on March 28.   This means that Olmert has agreed to rescind the road map’s conditions for peace talks in favor of the tough Saudi peace plan.   It was left to Abbas to run down for Olmert’s benefit the steps expected from Israel, now that the road map’s provisions were out of the way:
1. The Israeli government must pledge unconditionally that the IDF will refrain from attacking the Gaza Strip. Abbas called this “a mutual ceasefire” although he offered no guarantee for the Palestinian termination of missile fire or other terrorist attacks emanating form the Gaza Strip.   After the Olmert-Abbas talks, Israeli officials spread reports of an Israel military alert in the area around the Gaza Strip in an effort to lay a smokescreen to conceal the prime minister’s concession.
2. Abbas said he would do his best to obtain the release of Hamas hostage Gilead Shalit, but offered no promises.
3. The “mutual ceasefire” is the first step to fast-track Israel-Palestinian negotiations on its extension to the West Bank.   DEBKAfile reports that Israeli military and intelligence chiefs are trying to impress on the prime minister that the cessation of Israel’s intense counter-terror operations on the West Bank will result in an eruption of a fresh wave of Palestinian suicide bombings inside Israel and the transfer of Palestinian missiles and rockets to launching positions opposite central Israel, including its main cities.
4. Security restrictions on Palestinian movements in the West Bank must be further relaxed.
5. In May or June of 2007, Israel will enter into direct negotiations with the Palestinians on a final -status framework.   Since the road map was formulated, Abbas has lobbied hard to skip the document’s prior condition for an end to Palestinian violence as the sine qua non for talks on a final settlement. Now the Palestinian leader has got is way.
6. Abbas voiced the hope that Israel’s flexibility in negotiating with the Palestinians would be rewarded by the willingness of “moderate” Arab and Muslim nations, like Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Malaysia and Indonesia, to establish diplomatic and open economic relations with the Jewish state. ...

Israel Cabinet: We Have No War With Palestinians
IsraelNewsAgency 2007/3/11
...Prime Minister Olmert said Israel and the PA had a series of issues to discuss. However, he added that, "We need to continue to act in order to improve the Palestinian population's standard of living. We must remember that we have no war against the Palestinian citizen who lives his life and wants to live in peace. We must do everything to in our power to ease restrictions on the Palestinians' daily lives." ...

Haniyeh announces policies of the new Palestinian unity government
Aljazeerah 2007/3/11
Palestinian designated Prime Minister, Ismail Haniyeh, has said that he needs more time to complete the formation of the unity government.   Speaking to Palestinian TV Haniyeh said "we were looking to announce the government in the first period of three weeks, but due to national reasons we needed to postpone the announcement for another week".   Haniyeh said that the position of the government has become clear. He said that a committee has been formed to write the draft of the new government's political statement, which is to be delivered by Haniyeh before the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) in order to gain the confidence of the PLC.   Haniyeh added that he wants the government to be announced before the forthcoming Arab summit so the Palestinians can attend as a united government. Haniyeh stated that "the delegation to the summit will be headed by Abbas and the Prime Minister".   Haniyeh said that the announcement of the government will be on Wednesday or Thursday and on Saturday the government will be presented before the PLC to gain confidence.   Haniyeh said that the issue of the ministry of the interior will be solved soon. ...

Olmert-Abbas talks yield no accords
International Herald Tribune 2007/3/11
The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel held their second summit meeting in a month late Sunday, but aides said afterward that there was little concrete progress to report.   Still, both sides made it clear that more meetings would follow, even if, as expected, Abbas's Fatah movement joins the Islamist Hamas in a still-unfinished unity government. ...

Jordan: Abbas must clarify peace goals
The Jerusalem Post 2007/3/10
..."It's necessary to build on Arab and international efforts over the past few weeks to activate the peace process," Abdullah said in a royal palace statement issued after his talks with Abbas in the Jordanian capital.   He stressed "the necessity to formulate a clear view of the objectives and results to be reached through the upcoming negotiations," referring to Abbas's meeting with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday - the second between the two leaders in a month.   "It's very important to establish this formula before the (US Secretary of State Condoleezza) Rice visit and the Arab summit at end of month," Abdullah said. ..."The goal must be a peace in which all sides gain," he said. "There must be a peace in which Israelis will be part of the neighborhood." ... Israel said it would not delve into the most important issues like the borders of a future Palestinian state unless the new Palestinian government meets international demands to renounce violence, recognize Israel and accept existing peace deals as demanded by the Quartet of Middle East mediators. ...

Google Video: The Great Global Warming Swindle
Video.Google.com 2007/3/10
The hour required to watch this is well invested. Particularly note 1. WHY?, otherwise known as follow the money and 2. The conclusion, which implicitly documents how to eliminate two billion people.   This entire movement is beneath contempt.
Article/video and comments contributed by Bob Anderson.

PM: Israel 'serious' about Saudi plan
The Jerusalem Post 2007/3/10
..."We have said more than once that the Saudi initiative is a matter which we would be ready to treat seriously and we have not altered our position," he said. "We hope very much that at the meeting of heads of Arab states to take place in Riyadh, the positive elements expressed in the Saudi initiative will be revalidated and will perhaps improve the chances of negotiation between us and the Palestinian Authority." ...

Abbas wants meeting with Olmert for final talk
Khaleej Times Online 2007/3/10
...‘I intend to discuss with the Israeli premier all outstanding questions for which we did not reach solutions so far as well as the final status talks,’ Abbas told reporters.   ‘Our discussions will also cover the ongoing efforts to form a Palestinian national unity government,’ he said.   ‘It is important to build on His Majesty the King’s speech before the (US) Congress by conducting close and relentless contacts on Arab, regional and international levels, as this speech has dealt with the Palestinian question in an unprecedented manner,’ he added. ...

America's most Vicious Enemy in the Middle East: a figure of Anti-Christ?
American Chronicle 2007/3/9
Few people allover the world can imagine how close to disaster the US has come. Even fewer can grasp the colossal differences between President Bush and the political pariah of Dick Cheney. Very few know who imposed this useless Vice-president on G. W. Bush. Unfortunately, only some observers in the Middle East have an insightful understanding of the plans made and promoted by a secret association of Muslim 'moderates' who are hidden behind the acts of both Dick Cheney and Ossama bin Laden. These plans are about to generate a breakthrough in the world to the detriment of all!   The dreadful conspiracy 1945 – 1999 ...It was all well organized: they accepted British supremacy for some time. They forged President Roosevelt's letter of April 5, 1945 that seriously damaged US interests in the wider area. They controlled King Hussein of Jordan, making appear always as pro-British. They supported the so-called 'Arab' states against Israel – UK – France. They used fake wars (1967, 1973), covered genocidal acts shamelessly perpetrated, arranged false peace agreements, all to prepare the way of an inhuman person, and then offer him a destructive power that will kill many. ...Materializing the Satanic Anti-American Plan 1999 - 2012 ...The September 11th events have not been triggered in order to change things in Afghanistan but to offer an excuse for causing chaos in Iraq. ...If all these critical points get worsened day by day, it is because the dangerous and apostate Free Masonic group launches the latest stages of the paranoid plan to impose their 'man' (if that "thing" is a human being! ?) as ultimate peacemaker and ruler of the Middle East.   2007: the critical appointment with History ...Iran hit by the US and plunged into a civil war, Turkey submerged in internal strife between the generals and Erdogan's rising Islamists, and Iraq impossible to mend, with the Americans planning to leave.   Following a 'small' war between Israel and Syria (why America prevents Simon Peres from visiting Damascus?), all will be in place to help rise the tyrant who got married with a former Palestinian prostitute. This guy, insiders say, was the result of devious sexual intercourse, and only later presented to his father, the king, as his own son, and potential 'heir apparent'. The most poisonous words and the most imminent life threats obliged his uncle to cede his rights to succession, before the king died.   Events of Islamic Revolution will be machinated in Saudi Arabia, and attributed to the oppressed Shia minority of the barbaric Shia realm. Then, the domino collapse will be quasi-automatic: Having long waited in the wings, Abdullah of Jordan would go through following steps: 1. Absorb Saudi Arabia   2. Benefit from an American collapse in Iraq   3. Present himself as the warrantor of Sunni supremacy in Syria and Lebanon   4. Benefit from a split of Turkey into Turkey and Kurdistan   5. Merge with (or invade) Iran   6. Benefit from the side effect of one the previous successes, probably 2 and/or 5, such as support from Pakistan, Indonesia, Nigeria and Egypt, with millions of people already trained in medressas allover the world to become fighting soldiers of Islam.   7. Attack Israel, and destroy it following an unprecedented bloodshed that would certainly weaken his Satanic kingdom.   Plus 1 - At any point after no 2, enjoy ‘benevolent’ adhesions of, or successful ‘coups’ in, Yemen, Oman, Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, and Bahrain. ...Abdullah of Jordan: in secrecy believed to be Islam's 'forthcoming' Mahdi ...
Contributed by Sal Smario.
A 'MUST READ' article.

Tehran and Washington on the Same Side
Syrian Opposition Front Forges Pact with anti-Syrian Lebanese Government

DEBKA-Net-Weekly 2007/3/9
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad brought Saudi King Abdullah a gift on his first visit to Riyadh last Saturday, Feb. 3: the Iranian government’s consent to signing off on Saudi Lebanon policy, thereby accepting two principles:
1. The three anti-Syrian faction leaders, Lebanese prime minister Fouad Siniora, the head of the March 14 Party Saad Hariri and Druze leader Walid Jublatt would bow to the Saudi demand to double Hizballah strength in the government coalition to four cabinet seats.
2. In return, Hizballah’s Hassan Nasrallah would drop his campaign to overthrow the government and withdraw his veto from the UN international tribunal for prosecuting those responsible for assassinating former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri in Feb. 2005. In other words, to buy more cabinet seats, Hizballah would be willing to ditch Bashar Assad, who has been fighting the tribunal tooth and nail to save his closest aides from prosecution for complicity in the assassination. ...
? Daniel 7:8 I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots
Continued justification for Assad's uprooting.

Israeli military and government sources report Syria has positioned thousands of rockets on its border with Israel
DEBKAfile 2007/3/9
...In its detailed report, AFP discloses that most of the Syrian rockets positioned on Israel’s border are 220 mm with a range of 70 km and 302 mm rockets with a reach of 100 km, AFP reports. The latter could reach Israel’s third largest port city of Haifa and its industries, as well as Tiberias and Kiryat Shemona.   Many are hidden in underground chambers and camouflaged silos. The Israeli sources said Syria had built a system of fortified underground tunnels along its border with Israel. They also believed Syria had deployed several FROG rocket launchers with a 550-kilogram warhead and 70-km range in areas between the border and the capital Damascus, 40 km away. ...DEBKAfile’s military sources report that this redeployment indicates Syria is anticipating an Israeli response to a potential attack by moving tank and armored infantry across the border to strike the rocket formations. The FROG rockets would be used against this incursion.   AFP’s sources see the deployment as an indication that Damascus may be preparing for future “low intensity warfare.” The massive deployment of well-entrenched rockets poses “a real strategic threat” to Israel. ...DEBKAfile has reported that Russia was selling Syria thousands more advanced anti-tank missiles capable of piercing tank armor of the types which reached Hizballah from Syria in last year’s conflict.

BBC, Different Religions Fail To Remember The History Of Jerusalem
The Evening Bulletin 2007/3/9
...As the BBC knows, non-Muslims are also forbidden from entering Mecca and Medina, the holiest cities in Islam.  Christians in the Middle East's Arab states, like the Jews before them, have been emigrating in large numbers in response to ethnic violence and discrimination.   Yet, according to your reporter, "most of the world" (and I suspect him, too) believes this is "occupied territory," although, "from whom" is left unsaid. A Palestinian state never governed it, and Arab control on the part of Jordan, which also seized the city by force, was the briefest of any sovereign entity for many centuries.   Presuming that the British believe their Bible - the Queen is head of the Church of England - they know that Jerusalem was a Jewish city well past the time of Jesus.  According to more recent British census figures, Jerusalem has had a majority Jewish population for centuries, as well.   Jerusalem is, as well, the cradle of Christianity; although one would never know that from recently-manufactured Islamic propaganda masquerading as scholarship that claims that the Jews' temple was elsewhere. ...

Educating Abdullah II
American Thinker 2007/3/8
I was listening to Jim Lehrer's interview with Jordan's King Abdullah that followed his speech to a joint session of Congress. In that address he stressed the necessity of solving the Arab-Israeli conflict, but I could not help recalling what was said about one of the signers of the American declaration of Independence, Samuel Chase:

"He had more learning than knowledge, and more of both than judgment."

For, given the King's unquestioned and unquestionable knowledge of Arab history, it is very surprising that his judgment would be as follows:

JIM LEHRER: To be specific, how do you see a connection between the Palestinian issue and the war in Iraq?
KING ABDULLAH: Well, you know, again, if we go back to the simplicity of the issue being a core issue, people have perceived that the Palestinians have had tremendous injustice put upon their shoulders, that this is Israel that is responsible for that, supported by the Western powers.

It is surprising because, as the King should surely know, Arab history is largely that of conquest. And conquest, by definition, is getting possession of something previously owned by others. And those others may claim the title. And if they have the ability, they can regain the possession. So the whole thing becomes just a property dispute.   Is Israel an occupied Arab land? Or is Palestine an occupied Jewish land? It is not that clear-cut, and the King should hold off his righteous indignation. His knowledge of Arab history should tell him so. And if he needs help in understanding its implications, let me suggest my essay "Arabs and mirrors." ...I doubt that the texts I'm suggesting to the King will increase his knowledge - I am sure he knows all the facts I'm talKing about - but they will unquestionably improve his judgment. For, as Samuel Chase's critic so acutely observed, and as King Abdullah of Jordan proved yet again in his interview, learning, knowledge and judgment are very different things indeed.

Gall of the Hashemites
The New  York Sun 2007/3/8
If one were to distill 110% wrongheadedness and then distill it again a second, third, and fourth time, one couldn't come up with a speech as purely wrongheaded as the one that the Hashemite king, Abdullah II, delivered yesterday to a joint meeting of Congress. The king's aim amounted to blaming Israel for all the world's problems. "The wellspring of regional division, the source of resentment and frustration far beyond, is the denial of justice and peace in Palestine," the king said. "This is the core issue. And this core issue is not only producing severe consequences for our region, it is producing severe consequences for our world." Balderdash is the kindest way to describe it. It doesn't track with the actions of the violent terrorists, and it doesn't track with their statements. If the terrorists are upset about Israel's treatment of the Palestinians, why are they setting off bombs in Indonesia and Spain and Saudi Arabia and Iraq, which are hardly in the vanguard of support for Israel? ...Abdullah's speech yesterday won negative reviews from many of the Democratic lawmakers who now control Congress. The New York Times' Paris edition quoted Rep. Steve Israel of Long Island as saying, "I was troubled to hear the suggestion that the fact that Sunni and Shia are murdering each other is somehow the fault of the Israelis. This implication is a dangerous one and completely unacceptable." The chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee, Rep. Thomas Lantos, was quoted by Fox News as saying the speech was "Profoundly disappointing … a missed opportunity." One of the effects of the Islamist terrorist onslaught of recent years is that more Americans have thought more deeply about these matters. They will not be gulled by a foreign potentate offering up Israel as a scapegoat for troubles that originate with the failings of the Arab and Islamic world and their nondemocratic leaders, Abdullah among them.

U.S. officials cool on king's call for Americans to broker Arab-Israeli peace
International Herald Tribune 2007/3/8
King Abdullah II of Jordan made a passionate appeal for the United States to take the lead in pursuing Arab-Israeli peace, telling Congress that without progress on that issue, none of the Middle East's other problems would be solved.   "Sixty years of Palestinian dispossession — 40 under occupation — a stop- and-go-peace process, all this has left a bitter legacy of disappointment and despair on all sides," he said in a speech Wednesday before a joint meeting of Congress. ..."While he appropriately asked for a resumption of the peace process in the Middle East, he was very imbalanced in identifying the obstacles to that peace process," Representative Steve Israel, a New York Democrat, said in a statement. "I expected to hear a speech about Iraq; instead, I was troubled to hear the suggestion that the fact that Sunni and Shia are murdering each other is somehow the fault of the Israelis." ..."This was not a normal speech," said James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute, who watched Abdullah's speech from the House gallery. "He put a moral and political challenge on Congress." But, Zogby added, "some will run away from it." ...Calling for a new peace initiative, Lantos said afterward, "is sort of unrealistic at a time when the dominant element in the Palestinian area does not recognize the existence of Israel."

Israel pushing to improve Saudi peace initiative ahead of Riyadh summit
Just International 2007/3/8
..."We understand that the intention is to improve the initiative and come up with a better offer," said one.   Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni presented Israel's demands Thursday. First and foremost, she said, Israel objects to the document's section on the Palestinian refugees, which was not part of the initial Saudi draft, but was added at the 2002 Arab League summit in Beirut.   "A new summit is in the offing, and they ought to know which parts [of the plan] are acceptable to Israel and what seems to us like an absolute red line," she explained ...

I Had A Dream
Ken at LittleHornArchive.com 2007/3/8
Funny thing happened to me this morning in my twilight hours prior to waking.   I had a dream, and in it was reminded of several things: 1) that Noah was warned by God to build an ark for the saving of his house prior to the flood. 2) that there was a great earthquake prior to Christ's resurrection that resulted in the graves of many being opened, wherein on resurrection day those that were in those graves arose, went into the city and were seen of many. 3) that Paul said the dead in Christ shall rise first.
I concluded in my dream that, in faith, I should be like Noah and prepare, but to prepare for earthquakes on or just prior to 'first fruits' when the dead rise, according to the shadow cast in Matthew 27.   So it's in my plan to be 'earthquake ready', and have my car parked on the street (not in my garage), as earthquakes, perhaps worldwide, will surely do more damage than open graves.  Since I believe it is the plan to be around another 40 days after the dead rise, I want to be prepared to make it through that 40 days until we are caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air.  Besides, in California it's a good idea to be 'earthquake ready' anyway :-)
Matthew 27:50-54 Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. 51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; 52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, 53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many. 54 Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

President Abbas Praises King Abdullah's Speech in US Congress
WAFA Palestine News Agency 2007/3/8
President Mahmoud Abbas praised on Wednesday King Abdullah’s speech, he delivered before a joint meeting of the US Congress on Wednesday.   President Abbas said this stance is not strange from King, who is always at the forefront of those supporting the Palestinian rights and defending the Palestinian cause. ...
? Daniel 11:23 And after the league made with him he shall work deceitfully: for he shall come up, and shall become strong with a small people.

U.S. doesn't expect free or fair parliamentary elections in Syria next month
Kuwait News Agency 2007/3/8
..."... Sadly, history does not lead us to the conclusion that we can expect a free and fair election at the parliamentary level (in Syria)," McCormack said during a department briefing. "Typically these elections are ones in which the winning candidate wins with about 90 percent of the vote. It Is better than the presidential election, where they win with 99 percent of the vote." Syria is essentially a one-party state, and Syrian President Bashar Assad "has made promises about political reform in the past, and sadly, we have not seen that kind of political reform."
? Daniel 7:8 I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots
Continued justification for Assad's uprooting.

What connects War in Iraq w/terror in US
The Conservative Voice 2007/3/8
...Because I fear so much for the next person who is going to speak to you today. It is vitally important I scrutinize every word I say because I do not want to risk speaking casually about events and contacts and jeopardize his safety or the safety of his family. I must insure the information I discuss does not reveal exact details that can put him and his family in harms way. This man is going to provide you with the realities of “Wahhabi-ism” and the Islamic organizations determined to destroy the fabric of America. He is speaking out against the many believers of Islam who hate America. This man is Officer Hassan and he is also going to tell you about the realities of the Ba’ath Party and to inform you about al Qaeda, which I can assure you was alive and well in Iraq well before we entered the country in early 2003. For my part, I am going to tell you that al Qaeda was alive and well in Iraq when I entered; but more importantly I am telling you al Qaeda is alive and well in the United States today. Before I speak about any topic, however, I want to tell you that Hassan is a hero. This gentleman saved my life and other Americans on more than one occasion during the initial phases of the war in 2003. I can tell you that Hassan and I spent several months together in Iraq. We had experiences during that time that I will remember for the rest of my life. There were times when we were working together throughout Iraq that we feared for our lives. ...

Abdullah: America's moral vision can be asserted by leadership in peace
The Jerusalem Post 2007/3/8
...some took issue with elements of Abdullah's speech.   Aaron Jacob of the American Jewish Committee said that while the organization also supports the peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, "We take issue with the contention that the Palestinian issue is the core cause of conflict" in the region. He pointed to several intra-Arab power struggles and fractures as other sources of tension.   Jess Hordes of the Anti-Defamation League's Washington office noted that Congress refrained from supporting some of his statements concerning the Palestinians.   "There were instances in which the audience was not drawn in in areas that I think wouldn't have been appropriate," he said. ...

J'lem city council meets ahead of release of new Mugrabi plan
Haaretz 2007/3/8
The Jerusalem municipal planning and construction council held its first meeting this week ahead of the release of a new plan to construct a bridge to the Mugrabi Gate entrance to the Temple Mount.   The previous plan for construction near the Temple Mount generated a great deal of protest from Muslims. Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski announced several weeks ago that the controversial plan would be put on hold to give city residents a chance to acquaint themselves with the planned structure and submit any objections to the project. He said the move was intended to diminish opposition to the construction, which he said stemmed from ignorance, since the original plan was not presented to the public. ...Yehoshua Pollack, head of Jerusalem's municipal planning and construction council, said Wednesday that the exact placement of the bridge might be altered. "The bridge itself is essential, but it could be that we will ask to change its route," said Pollack. "We plan to invite all the relevant experts, from the security fields, the police, preservation and archeology, as well as members of the Waqf [Muslim religious trust], to hear their positions. We decided to renew the basic discussion about the entire subject." ...

UN agency debates Israel's nuclear programme
Middle East Online 2007/3/8
Iran branded Israel "a uniquely grave threat" to world peace because of its alleged nuclear weapons Thursday, after the UN atomic agency sharply cut aid to Tehran because of its own atomic programme.   "Nuclear weapons in the hands of the Israeli regime with ... a long and dark catalogue of crimes and atrocity such as occupation, aggression, militarism, state terrorism, crimes against humanity and apartheid pose a uniquely grave threat to regional and international peace and security," Iranian ambassador Ali Asghar Soltanieh told the governing board of the International Atomic Energy Agency.   Iran and Arab states complain that it is unfair to scrutinize Tehran for allegedly developing nuclear weapons when Israel has them and is not under IAEA monitoring, as it has not signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). ...
Blah! Blah! Blah! Blah!

Iraqi Shiite leaders in a tug-of-war with Arabs over regional conference
International Herald Tribune 2007/3/8
The Iraqi government and Arab countries have broken into bitter squabbling ahead of a Baghdad conference on Saturday that the United States had hoped would finally unite them in efforts to stabilize the war-torn nation.   Sunni-led Arab governments plan to use the conference to press for a greater Sunni role in Iraq. That has rankled Iraq's Shiite leaders, who believe the Arabs are trying to reverse their new-found power after decades of being marginalized under Sunni minority rule. ...

Hamas promises full cease-fire if Israel helps end boycott of PA gov't
Haaretz 2007/3/8
If Israel agrees to persuade the international community not to boycott the new Palestinian unity government, the Palestinians "will offer a promise from Hamas and Fatah of a total cease-fire with Israel, including a complete halt to Qassam [rocket] fire and suicide bombings," a senior Hamas official told Haaretz yesterday.   Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas plans to deliver this offer at his upcoming meeting with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Palestinian sources said. The meeting is tentatively scheduled for Sunday, thought according to the Palestinians, the date has not yet been finalized. ...

King Congratulates Syrian President
Jordan news Agency 2007/3/7
...King Abdullah II sent a cable to Syrian President Bashar Assad congratulating him in his name ...
? John 5:43 "I am come in my Father's name (HASHEM), and ye receive me not: if another shall come "in his own name" (HASHEMITE), him ye will receive.

Report: Assad flips out at Ahmadinejad on phone
The Jerusalem Post 2007/3/7
...Sources close to the Syrian leader told the newspaper that Assad had initially called the Iranian president to discuss Ahmadinejad's meeting with Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah in Riyadh.   However, the conversation reportedly turned ugly when Ahmadinejad voiced support for the establishment of an international tribunal on the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri - a sensitive subject for Syria, which has been suspected of involvement in the Lebanese leader's death.   The report said that Assad became enraged and launched into an angry tirade, cursing the Iranians at the end of the conversation. ...
? Daniel 7:8 I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots
Continued justification for Assad's uprooting.

The Saudi Plan Returns to Center Stage
Israel Insider 2007/3/7
Events of the past few months have led analysts in the Middle East and elsewhere -- most notably in Washington DC -- to suggest that in today's Middle East, Saudi Arabia has become the new address for regional diplomacy. ...And now perhaps the most important Middle East peace initiative in years, the Saudi Plan, is back on the table. In a summit scheduled to take place in Riyadh at the end of the month, the Arab League is expected to re-launch the initiative ...

King Abdullah of Jordan Addresses a Joint Meeting of Congress - The Video
C-SPAN.org 2007/3/7  (RealPlayer required, and set to play rtsp protocol)
Speaking at a joint meeting of Congress, King Abdullah of Jordan makes remarks on the state of U.S.-Jordanian relations and the status of the Mideast peace process. King Abdullah is on a five-day working visit to the US to advance Arab diplomacy. WASHINGTON, DC: 28 min.

Address by His Majesty King Abdullah II - Joint Meeting of Congress
Jordan Embassy, Washington, DC 2007/3/7  (the complete speech linked)
...Thank you for such a warm welcome. It is an honor to stand, as my father did, before this historic institution. Allow me to thank you, on behalf of all Jordanians.  
Jordan and the United States have had a long friendship. It is a special privilege to be here in the year that the American Congress welcomes its first woman Speaker, and its first Muslim-American member of Congress. These milestones send a message around the world about the America I know so well, a place where individuality is nurtured, a place where hard work is rewarded, a place where achievement is celebrated. The America I know so well believes that opportunity and justice belong to all.
In my days in Massachusetts, I also learned something of New England virtues. There wasn’t actually a law against talking too much, but there was definitely an attitude that you didn’t speak unless you could improve on silence.
Today, I must speak; I cannot be silent.
I must speak about a cause that is urgent for your people and for mine. I must speak about peace in the Middle East. I must speak about peace replacing the division, war, and conflict that have brought such disaster for the region and for the world.
This was the cause that brought my father King Hussein here in 1994. With Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin beside him, he spoke of a new vision for the Middle East. Their courageous work for peace received bipartisan support from your leaders. And there was tremendous hope for a new era. There was tremendous hope that people would be brought together. There was tremendous hope that a final and comprehensive settlement of all the issues would be achieved.
Thirteen years later, that work is still not completed. And until it is, we are all at risk. We are all at risk of being victims of further violence resulting from ideologies of terror and hatred. It is our greatest and most urgent duty to prevent such dangers to our region, to your country and to the world. The choice is ours: an open world full of promise, progress and justice for all; or a closed world of divided peoples, fear, and unfulfilled dreams. Nothing impacts this choice more than the future of peace in the Middle East.
I come to you today at a rare, and indeed historic, moment of opportunity, when there is a new international will to end the catastrophe. And I believe that America, with its enduring values, its moral responsibility, and yes, its unprecedented power, must play the central role. ...
? Daniel 7:8, Rev. 13:5 ...And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things…
? Daniel 8:25 ...and by peace shall destroy many
? Daniel 11:21 ...but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries
? Daniel 11:23 And after the league made with him he shall work deceitfully: for he shall come up, and shall become strong with a small people.

Plot to kill Bush in Jordan revealed
The Jerusalem Post 2007/3/7
A Jordanian prosecutor on Wednesday revealed a previously unannounced plot by three alleged militants to assassinate US President George W. Bush during his last visit to the kingdom.   The military prosecutor charged the three Jordanians, Nidhal Musleh al-Momani, Sattam al-Zawahrah and Tharwat Daraj, with plotting to carry out terrorist attacks and the illegal possession of explosives. The three also were planning to attack the American and Danish embassies in Amman, the prosecutor alleged during the opening day of the trial.   The Jordanian authorities arrested the three men on Nov. 28, one day before Bush's arrival in Amman for talks with King Abdullah II and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. The prosecutor told the court the defendants were found with homemade bombs made by filling large plastic bottles with gasoline. ...

What Arab initiative?
Haaretz 2007/3/7
According to the London newspaper Al Hayat, in a preliminary discussion that was held yesterday in Cairo, the Arab foreign ministers agreed that the summit that will convene in Riyadh three weeks from now will emphasize the commitment of the Arab League and its members to "a just and comprehensive peace as a strategic choice." The line is identical to its big brother, born in February 2002 in Saudi Arabia, and baptized in Beirut. It will be difficult to impossible for Hamas to swallow this bitter pill but like experienced poker players, its leaders are keeping mum. Why should they come out the patsies of the Arab world?   The formulation of the resolution that has been prepared in advance of the Riyadh summit states that the Arab League "expresses full support for the Mecca agreement, which was obtained under the auspices of the Guardian of the Holy Places [the Saudi king], with the help of an Arab effort, to achieve Palestinian national agreement and the establishment of a national unity government." The summit will also call upon the international community to recognize the new government and to lift the siege on the territories. Hamas is not taking too great a risk in gambling that Israel will do the work of refusing in its stead. ...And indeed, the government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz, like the government of Ariel Sharon and Shimon Peres before it, hasn't the slightest clue about what to do with the expected resolution by 22 Arab leaders to ratify their decision from five years ago to replace the state of war with normal relations. Who knows when, or if, 22 Arab leaders will ever again offer a peace formula that 40 years ago would have been considered the Zionist dream come true? ...The birthplace of the Saudi initiative and its younger sister, the Beirut resolution, was in Jordan, not Saudi Arabia. The first drafts were written by Dr. Marwan Muashar, who was Jordan's first ambassador to Israel and later its ambassador to Washington and foreign minister. He has recently been appointed to the position of World Bank vice president. King Abdullah of Jordan thought that King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia had a beter chance of selling the initiative to his American friends. He assumed that it would not suit the Arab leaders to buy an initiative from a small trader like the Hashemite kingdom. ...
This is an analysis worthy of reading the full article.

The Temple Mount is in his hands
Haaretz 2007/3/6
A few years ago, Rabbi Yaakov Ariel, the chief rabbi of Ramat Gan and one of the leading candidates for chief rabbi of Israel, ruled in a halakhic article (dealing with religious law) that the laws regarding a moser (someone who informs against or hands over another Jew) and a rodef (someone who pursues a person with the intent of killing him) do not apply to the present-day Israeli government. According to religious law, these crimes are punishable by death.   Last week, his brother, Rabbi Israel Ariel, head of the Temple Institute in Jerusalem, was arrested and held for questioning by the Jerusalem District police. Along with four of his colleagues, Ariel, 68, the head of the Sanhedrin beit din (rabbinical court) on matters of religion and state, sent a letter to the head of the Israel Defense Forces Central Command, Major General Yair Naveh, in which he accused Naveh of being a moser for signing eviction notices for 20 outpost residents.   In the letter, the Sanhedrin beit din referred the general to the law of damages in Maimonides, which states, "if he is determined to be a moser, he must be killed for fear that he will hand over others" and "it is permitted to kill the moser anywhere, even at present when we do not rule on matters of capital punishment, and whoever kills him first is praiseworthy." ...Ariel's rabbinical court has already passed several controversial rulings in the past year, such as prohibiting a member of the military prosecution, who participated in a legal proceeding against outpost residents, from being summoned to the Torah. But there is no question that the focus of Ariel's activity for years has been the Temple and awareness of the Temple. ...According to any criteria, the extent of his knowledge and expertise on the history, structure, rituals and vessels of the Temple is tremendous, and few share his expertise on the practical aspects of Temple worship. Ariel also managed to bring together a team of innovative rabbis and researchers. Only recently, they finished a 10-year project that involved producing precise reconstructions of the High Priest's garments: breastplate, vest, gold headband and blue coat with bells and pomegranates.   Rabbis, scholars, researchers, artists and other experts were all involved in the restoration work, which was based on Jewish sources: the Torah, midrashim, the Mishna, the Talmud et al. Over the years, the institute has reconstructed around 70 Temple ritual objects, including a gold candelabrum, a gold altar, a showbread table, shovels, the mizrak for collecting and pouring blood and incense. They plan to recreate another 150 such items. ...For Ariel, the Temple is relevant, and the goal of the Temple Institute is to create the infrastructure and foundation to facilitate building the Third Temple. ...The Sanhedrin beit din decision last week to purchase a flock of sheep, in the hope that conditions will be ripe by Pesach to sacrifice a Paschal Lamb on the Temple Mount, is a faithful reflection of how Ariel has behaved for many years: "We have to prepare and behave as though the Temple will be built tomorrow." His endless search all over the world for the "red heifer," whose ashes were used in Temple times for purification after contact with the dead, is part and parcel of this approach. ...
The full content of this article is another reason why I believe that the Mughrabi Gate approach must be reconstructed, that reason being to get the Temple onto Temple Mount to reconstruct it and get it into operation very quickly.

King Abdullah arrives in Washington to 'educate' the US on Mecca deal
Israel Insider 2007/3/6
Jordan's King Abdullah II arrived in Washington on Monday on a quest to educate the US administration on the importance of strong-arming Israel into accepting a pan-Arab "peace" offer.   Following his arrival, Abdullah met with Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. On Tuesday he was scheduled to dine with President Bush, and on Wednesday address a joint session of Congress.   A Washington-based Jordanian diplomat told The Jerusalem Post that Abdullah wants to "better explain" the Saudi-authored Arab League-backed regional peace initiative in order to elicit greater US participation in the peace process. ...

Divesting from Israel is divesting from peace
The South End 2007/3/6
The divest-from-Israel campaign is being pushed on campuses by groups such as the so-called Anti-Racist Action (ARA) with a promise to bring peace to the Middle East, yet the Arab leadership of the campaign looks at it differently. In their eyes, the real goal of the campaign is not to foster peace between Arabs and Israelis as claimed, but rather to destroy Israel by collapsing its economy.   With roots dating back to 1921, the Arab boycott of Israel was officially declared in 1945 to literally starve out the Jews almost four years before the modern state of Israel was even established.   Hatred of Jews was the unifying factor which resulted in the formation of the Arab League, which runs the boycott as official government policy of its member states plus the non-state member Palestinian Authority. ...The Arab League has set the goal of the Arab boycott of Israel to be nothing less than the complete destruction of Israel, thus there is no reason to expect anything less from its subordinate divest-from-Israel campaign which is not scheduled to end with the creation of a proposed Palestinian state.   The divest-from-Israel campaign is simply designed as a way to invigorate the Arab boycott of Israel via recruiting non-Arab peace activists such as the ARA under false pretense — promoting warfare, including economic warfare, is by definition, the antithesis of peace. ...

Coming Catastrophe: Four Mysteries of America and Iran
HumanEvents.com 2007/3/6
...At first, America's attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq benefited Iran, by removing two of Tehran's major enemies in the region, the Taliban and Saddam Hussein. However, once America was camped in Baghdad, the Islamic Republic of Iran saw that an American success to create a secular, capitalist democracy would be a mortal blow to the radical, apocalyptic Iranian revolution.   From Iran's point of view, America must be defeated not only in Iraq and Afghanistan but also across the region. Tehran is in the hands of a non-rational cadre that is committed to an apocalyptic vision that includes creating chaos in order to bring about, according to the Shia sect known as the Twelvers, the return of the hidden Twelfth Imam, the Mahdi, who vanished twelve centuries ago in Iraq. This unique, opaque vision propels the strategic decisions of the Tehran regime.   Tehran sees its future in absolutes. Either it defeats America in the region, and establishes its hegemony over the region's oil reserves, and enforces a Persian Empire for the first time in 2500 years, or else it loses everything. Tehran will not seek settlement. If America does not attack pre-emptively, then Tehran will find a way to provoke the attack. The current wrestling at the United Nations Security Council over Iran's refusal to cease its nuclear enrichment program can be understood as a ploy by Iran to draw in America to a military confrontation.   Tehran will not bend before words, sanctions, threats or an attack. Tehran believes that it can answer an American attack with strikes on American forces in Iraq, on the Persian Gulf oil structure and, through its proxies, on the state of Israel. Tehran's radical cadre believes that it will survive the American attack in its bunkers. In the meantime, Tehran can close the Gulf and starve the West for oil. The day a ceasefire is imposed by exhausted powers, Tehran emerges as the regional hegemon. ...

King stresses drive to enhance effectiveness, accountability

The Jordan Times 2007/3/5 ...King Abdullah, who is on a several-day official visit to the US, detailed the business opportunities available in the country to chief executive officers of several major companies in the state of Massachusetts.   The Monarch said that the country’s drive towards development includes the building of an open, free and dynamic economy.   “Jordan seeks to maintain the overall economic stability and to build a conducive investment environment,” the King added, stressing the drive to enhance effectiveness and accountability in the government’s decision-making process. ...King Abdullah highlighted the investment opportunities available in the country, including those under  the privatisation scheme. Other opportunities include infrastructure projects including the Red-Dead Sea Canal, the gas distribution network in the cities of Amman and Zarqa, the railroad projects and Aqaba Transport Project, the King told the businessmen.   Highlighting the main key sectors of pharmaceuticals and healthcare as well as that of  information and communications technology,  the King referred to the sectors’ expanding exports.  The pharmaceutical sector is the country’s third largest exporting sector, as 80 per cent of its production is exported at present to over 60 countries. ... ? Daniel 8:25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand

$177,239 USAID grant to support Madaba entrpreneurs
The Jordan Times 2007/3/5
...It was a twist of fate that led Abu Daqer to this business —  when she turned to her love of drawing after being unable to find a job as an administrative secretary.   In 2004, after 10 years of being a housewife, she attended a mosaic training workshop at the Jordanian Hashemite Fund for Human Development (JOHUD) to build on her love for artistic creation. It was there that she got a chance to build on her talent and realise her potential.   “Seeing my work on display at several exhibitions, made me realise that there was a lot more I could do, so I decided to move ahead,” she said.   Abu Daqer said she was able to proceed with her idea when Siyaha came to JOHUD and conducted a workshop on how to build and invest in one’s own business.   Abu Daqer was one of nine others entrepreneurs who got the chance to boost their businesses from a  $177,239 grant, awarded as part of the USAID/Siyaha’s Madaba Enterprise Development Programme (MEDP).   The MEDP is part of the Madaba Tourism Strategy, which envisions transforming the city into Jordan’s City of Mosaic Art and Holy Heritage.    The programme provides a combination of grants, access to finance, and counselling to support businesses and entrepreneurs in the enhancement and creation of sustainable tourism products and services. ...
? Daniel 8:25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand

Bedein: Saudi Arabia - Although At War With Israel - Called By U.S. As Mideast Mediator
The Evening Bulletin 2007/3/5
On May 15, 1948, on the very day that Israel declared its independence from the British empire, the Arab league, comprised of the Arab states in the Middle East, declared a war whose purpose was to exterminate the nascent Jewish state.   Of the five Arab League nations that border Israel, four of these countries eventually made interim arrangements of one sort or another to put themselves on a slow path of reconciliation with Israel. Egypt and Jordan made peace treaties with Israel. Lebanon and Syria signed armistice agreements with Israel.   However, the fifth Arab nation contiguous to Israel, Saudi Arabia, now the dominant nation in the Arab League, remains in a formal state of war with Israel, having never agreed to any armistice or any semblance of a peace agreement with Israel. Instead, Saudi Arabia has consistently funded all terror groups at war with Israel, from Hamas to the 10 PLO terror factions based in Damascus.   Saudi Arabia has earned the distinction as the first nation since the Third Reich which is officially "Judenrein" - Jew free. By law, no Jew may visit or live in Saudi Arabia.   However, with the sudden encouragement of the Bush administration, Saudi Arabia has been thrust into the position of the key mediator in the Middle East conflict. ...
Go figure.

Kingdom to Support Any Arab Decision on Peace Plan: Saud
Arab News 2007/3/5
...“The peace plan is the property of Arabs, not Saudi Arabia. If they want to change or develop it, it’s totally an Arab decision,” Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal told reporters here.   Referring to Libya’s decision not to attend the Arab summit in Riyadh following a change in the conference venue, Saud said, “It is the discretion of the host country to decide whether the summit be held in Arab League headquarters or in its country.”   He said Saudi Arabia had never considered Iran as an enemy. “If the Kingdom had considered Iran its enemy, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah would not have received President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad in Riyadh.” However, he advised Tehran to avoid confrontation with the US to reinforce the stability of the region. ...

Arab states weigh peace plan revision
The Jerusalem Post 2007/3/5
...While Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa said the plan would not be altered, the officials said other Arab diplomats have been quoted recently as saying that they would work to drop the clause, a move that would make the initiative more palatable to Israel.
This element is just another bargaining chip.

UN refugee chief praises Arab states for generosity, urges more aid for fleeing Iraqis
UN News Centre 2007/3/5
Praising Arab states for their traditional generosity toward displaced people, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees UNHCR) António Guterres has urged them to take a more active role in his agency’s work and called for international solidarity in easing the plight of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis fleeing conflict in their homeland. ...Mr. Guterres, who was today wrapping up a three-day visit to Egypt, also expressed concern about rising intolerance, racism and xenophobia in many parts of the world, including misperceptions about Islam that can negatively affect Muslim refugees in need of international protection.   “Even in the most developed societies, we see the re-emergence of racism, xenophobia and that brand of populism which always tries to generate confusion in public opinion between refugees, migrants and even terrorists,” he said. “Let us be perfectly clear: refugees are not terrorists, they are the first victims of terror.   “The same attitudes have generated widespread misperceptions about Islam, of which Muslim refugees have so frequently been the victims. This is something that we at UNHCR cannot accept. It is our duty to respond, to fight those attitudes and to bring out the truth,” he added. ...
Well certainly the Arab / Islamists have the UN on board with them in promoting Islam.  However, there are endless cases that could be cited to show this particular point of argument to be a sham, and very inconsistently applied throughout the Islamic world.

Raiders of the Lost Tomb
MSNBC/Newsweek 2007/3/5
A book and movie allege the final resting place of Mary, Joseph and the King of Kings has been found. Controversy to follow. ...
Matthew 24:23-26 Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. 24)  For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. 25) Behold, I have told you before. 26) Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.
BE AWARE, and DO NOT BE DECEIVED!

DEBKAfile Exclusive: Hamas recycles Gush Katif rubble to fortify 50 sq. km of war bunkers on Gaza Strip-Egyptian border
DEBKAfile 2007/3/5
Beneath the Rafah-Philadelphi border region between Gaza and Egyptian Sinai, the Palestinian Hamas has built a vast underground stronghold. A separate series of secret tunnels snakes under another Gaza border into western Israel.   Senior Israeli military sources describe the Rafah-Philadelphi warren as spreading over 50 sq. km. It consists of a net of multipurpose, well-furnished tunnels, designed by Syrian and Hizballah army engineers for combat against tanks and armored infantry and equipped with thousands of the latest anti-tank missiles. It takes Hamas two and a half weeks to excavate one kilometer under ground.   “They should never have been allowed to build this fortress. We should have stopped it long ago,” said one high officer.   DEBKAfile’s military sources disclose that Israel’s heads of government and military knew what was going on, but did not raise a finger to stop the construction of Hamas’ buried stronghold. Neither did any responsible official or officer question Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s decision to abstain from military action to knock it out before its completion.   Rather than feeding the Palestinian population, Hamas is sinking every incoming cent in its war preparations. ...
Yep, and these are the same people that want the US and EU embargo of funding for the Palestinian government lifted.

Qadhafi’s novel way of sending message to West
The News International 2007/3/5
TRIPOLI: Muammar Qadhafi, ever the political showman, has chosen the talk show as a new way of sending a message to the West: Economic reform will help Libya, but political change is not needed.   Sitting around a table in front of the international media, he said in an unprecedented debate with two Western thinkers and a celebrated British journalist that the ballot box was not for his oil-exporting nation.   His Jamahiriyah “state of the masses” would stay, he said, defending a system of town hall meetings in which political parties are banned and which he says other nations should adopt.   Globalisation, however, could be of economic benefit as Libya unshackles its static economy, said Qadhafi, leader of the North African country since seizing power in a 1969 coup.   The tape of Friday’s debate will be distributed to international television channels and may be placed on a Libyan government Web site, said George Snell, an official of a US public relations firm involved in organising Friday’s event. Despite Qadhafi’s support for Jamahiriya, some Libyans have nevertheless wondered whether change will one day come to the political realm, pointing to calls for pro-democracy reforms made last year by his most prominent son, Saif al-Islam.   Qadhafi on Friday left no one in any doubt. ...

Abbas accuses EU of pro-Israel bias
Haaretz 2007/3/5
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas complained yesterday to the European Union of "a series of provocative and illegal Israeli actions." He went on to accuse the EU of discrimination against the Palestinians, and of fostering an unjust, pro-Israeli approach. In an unusually harsh letter from Dr. Rafiq Husseini, Abbas' chief of staff, to German Foreign Minister Frank Walter-Steimeier, the Palestinian leadership complained of several instances in which Israel has allegedly violated its prior commitments, including the road map. ...Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni was expected to visit Brussels in advance of the EU meeting scheduled for today, in an attempt to convince the Europeans to adhere to the embargo for as long as the Hamas government refuses to renounce terror and recognize Israel as well as agreements signed with it.   Officials in Jerusalem are concerned about possible erosion in the European Union regarding the embargo, as reflected in recent announcements by several European governments of their intention to reevaluate their stance following the Mecca agreement between Hamas and Fatah.
It appears that Abbas is attempting to further erode the EU's stance against Palestinians that refuse to recognize Israel.

Egypt's bloggers test media control
TVnz.co.nz 2007/3/5
Egyptian bloggers have come into the spotlight, on the one hand as an important forum for political debate, on the other as the target of government attempts to limit their freedom of expression.   Earlier this month, Abdel-Karim Suleiman, a 22-year-old former law student at al-Azhar Islamic university, became the first Egyptian jailed for his blogging when he was handed a four-year prison sentence.   "Despite their small number, the bloggers have established themselves as an alternative media outlet," said Ehab el-Zalaky, a senior editor at the independent weekly newspaper al-Dustor, who has written extensively on bloggers. ...Writing on his blog shortly before his detention in November, Suleiman was defiant.   "I am not scared at all ... I will not back away one inch from what I wrote and handcuffs will not prevent me from dreaming of my freedom," he blogged.   Since Suleiman's arrest, said fellow blogger Wael Abbas, 32, Egypt's blogosphere has changed. "I cannot say I am not afraid," he told Reuters. "With this government one has to expect the worst." ...

King Meets Businessmen
Jordan News Agency 2007/3/4
...During a meeting in Massachusetts with executive directors of American companies, the king said that comprehensive development includes building a free and open economy, establishing investment friendly climate and structuring the mechanism of government decisions to increase their effectiveness.   The king informed the businessmen on investment opportunities in Jordan especially in the privatization and infrastructure projects. ...The king affirmed Jordan’s ability to serve as a regional center for American companies especially that it enjoys special advantages such as qualified labor force, developed educational system and investment promotion laws. ...
? Daniel 8:25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand

Back To Their Old Tricks
Threats Watch 2007/3/4
Sunni insurgents fighting under the umbrella of the Islamic State of Iraq have reverted back to the practice of posting execution videos. CNN reports that a video released by the Islamic State of Iraq “shows a group of Iraqi men blindfolded in a room. In the final 21 seconds, the video cuts to a scene showing the men lined up, kneeling in a field, before they are shot in the back of the head.” ...

Libya won't attend upcoming Arab summit in Saudi, accuses Arabs of being 'not serious'
International Herald Tribune 2007/3/4
Libya won't attend the upcoming Arab summit in Saudi Arabia, the Libyan foreign minister said Sunday, adding that the Arab world "is not serious" and that "joint Arab action is dysfunctional."   "Arab joint action is marred by disorder," Libyan Foreign Minister Abdel-Rahman Shalqam said at Arab League headquarters in Cairo Sunday. "Libya is insisting on a real Arab mechanism — not policies of axes, groups and unilateral changes to decisions," an angry Shalqam said.   Arab foreign ministers convened Sunday to prepare the agenda for the summit, which is scheduled for Mar. 28-29 in the Saudi capital Riyadh.   Late Saturday, Shalqam announced that his country's "seat at the summit will be vacant." Libya will not attend due to "procedural errors," he said. ...

Iran denies Saudi report it supports Arab peace plan
Haaretz 2007/3/4
A spokesman for the Iranian presidency on Sunday denied that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had expressed support for the 2002 Arab peace initiative during talks with Saudi officials, as reported by Saudi Arabia's official news agency.   "During the summit, no discussions were held in this regard," Spokesman Ehsan Jahandideh told IRNA, the Iranian news agency. ...
More of 'he said, she said'.

Abbas, Hamas forces expanding despite unity deal
Reuters 2007/3/4
Forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the ruling Hamas movement are pushing ahead with expansion plans despite a unity government deal, Palestinian and Western officials said.   Workmen in the West Bank city of Jericho said they have stepped up construction of a 16-acre (6.5-hectare) base for Abbas's presidential guard and are putting the finishing touches to a "college" for his intelligence service. ...The Islamic militant group Hamas has likewise been busy building up its own "executive force" to 12,000 members, double the current size. "We are working hard to accomplish that," spokesman Islam Shahwan said. ...Zakaria al-Qaq, a security expert at al-Quds University, said the unity government deal between Fatah and Hamas political leaders may have stemmed factional fighting for now, but there was little trust between rival forces in the field.   "The Mecca agreement may look good, but on the ground it's not doable. The mobilisation is still the same, the preparation is still the same, on both sides," he said. ...

AL chief said : The Arab Peace Initiative is not negotiable
YaLibnan 2007/3/4
"The Arab initiative is not open for review," Moussa told a meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo.   "Any twisting of the Arab initiative will cause great harm to the Palestinian cause and can affect any movement towards a just peace," he said.   "Go back to the Arab initiative and you will see how flexible and balanced it is," he added.   Moussa was responding to comments made earlier this week by Israeli occupation Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who said the Jewish state cannot accept the Arab initiative as it stands. ...
Blah! Blah! Blah! Blah!   This seems all to be political maneuvering prior to any talks that may come about.

Iraqi government responsible for defusing sectarian conflict, Arab League chief says
International Herald Tribune 2007/3/4
The Iraqi government is responsible for defusing the conflict in the war-torn country, Arab foreign ministers said Sunday in a statement that also urged the government to redraft the constitution and rescind laws that they consider as preferable to Shiites and Kurds.   Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa also hinted that Arab governments may attempt to take the Iraqi conflict back to the U.N .Security Council if current efforts to end the crisis fail.   Sunday's statement was the strongest sign yet from the mostly Sunni Muslim Arab governments that they blame the Iraqi government for the nearly 4-year-old sectarian strife. ...

Rising Saudi power
yNetNews 2007/3/4
Avidly backed by the White House, Saudi King Abdullah is becoming the Arab world's leading mediator and he is taking the role away from Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.   During her last two visits to the region, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made sure to stop over in Riyadh while skipping over Egypt. ...The Saudis' activities are aimed at preventing what they view as a horrific scenario: While Iran continues its race towards nuclear arms, it would take over Iraq and Lebanon, topple the Egyptian regime, take over the sacred sites in Saudi Arabia, and declare the founding of "the right Islamic empire." ...

Halawani commends King’s efforts to develop national economy
Jordan News Agency 2007/3/3
Chairman of the two Chambers of Industry of Jordan and Amman Hatem al-Halawani paid tribute to His Majesty King Abdullah II’s continued efforts to develop national economy and improve living conditions of Jordanian citizens.   “His Majesty the King is pursuing efforts to place Jordan on the map of global economy and make a more inviting investment ambiance,” Halawani said in a press statement. Economic topics figure high on the King’s agenda and wherever he goes he urges world countries to provide more aids to Jordan to enable the country go ahead in its development plans and projects, he added. ...Economic reform plans have already started to deliver as national exports rose up to an unprecedented level reaching US$2.9 billion. ...
? Daniel 8:25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand

Jordan Islamists hail king's commitment to hold polls this year
Monsters & Critics 2007/3/3
The Islamic Action Front (IAF), Jordan's largest political party, on Saturday welcomed King Abdullah II's assertion that general elections would be held on time later this year. ...'We appreciate the monarch's pledge to hold the elections later this year as provided for by the constitution, and urge the government to speed up the enactment of a modern and fair election law that replaces the present one which is rejected by the public,' the IAF Secretary General Zaki Bani Ershaid said in a statement.   King Abdullah, currently visiting the United States, told the state-run Jordan television in a recorded interview Friday that both parliamentary and municipal elections would be held later this year. ...
The announcement by the king was clearly politically timed to relieve him of US 'democratic pressure' and gain favor for the Arab plan this week as he speaks to the US Congress.  It will not surprise me a bit if he postpones the election again as it gets closer to the time to vote in Jordan.

Rifai to Head Jordan’s Delegation to the Arab Foreign Ministers Meetings
Jordan News Agency 2007/3/3
...Petra’s correspondent in Cairo has learned that the draft resolutions on the peace process and Palestinian issue, will reiterate the Arab commitment to just and comprehensive peace, and that peace could not be achieved without full Israeli withdrawal from all occupied Arab lands. ...The draft resolutions will also call for finding a just solution to the Palestinian refugees issue in addition to condemning the Israeli excavation work near Al Aqsa Mosque.

Bakhit lectures in Future Builders Forum
Jordan News Agency 2007/3/3
In his lecture in the Future Builders Forum on Saturday entitled “The Internal Jordanian scene”, Bakhit stressed that His Majesty King Abdullah II wanted Jordan to set a unique example of democracy through the establishment of limited number of political parties representing all political spectrums with platforms that care about concerns of all segments of the Jordanian society.   The Premier underlined the importance of the King’s current visit to the US, noting that King Abdullah is the first Arab leader, who was given the opportunity to address the two branches of the US Congress separately and in joint sessions. ...Bakhit noted to King’s key role and his moderate vision in coordinating Arab stances to create the sought for influence in the West and the US regarding the centrality of the Palestinian issue. ...

Islamic-Christian committee for defending Jerusalem in action
Kuwait News Agency 2007/3/3
A joint Islamic-Christian committee was formed for defending Jerusalem against Israel's judaisation process, it was announced here Saturday. ...Spokesman for the Roman Orthodox Church Atallah Hanna said there is need to join hands to rescue Jerusalem that embraces Islamic and Christian sanctities.

Unholy struggles over the Temple Mount
Haaretz 2007/3/3
...In Jerusalem, ...a power struggle is raging over the Temple Mount among the Palestinian Authority, Jordan, Israel, the northern branch of the Islamic Movement and other interested parties. One symbol of this struggle is the replacement last Thursday of the long-time head of the Islamic Waqf religious trust, Adnan Husseini, by Azzam Al-Khatib.   While the Jordanian supporters of Husseini, who is currently abroad, explained that the change of hands was routine - the result of the former head's retirement - it is obvious that the move has important political implications and is connected to the complicated relationship among the parties.   The position of Waqf head is the most important one in the web of control over Muslim assets in Jerusalem, the most significant of which are the Temple Mount and Al-Aqsa Mosque. The Jerusalem Waqf operates under the aegis of Jordan. In its peace agreement with the Hashemite Kingdom, Israel promised to maintain Jordan's special status regarding Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem. ...

Minister of Information and Communications Technology Interviewed by Petra
Jordan News Agency 2007/3/3
Minister of Information and Communications Technology, Bassem Rousan said the communications and information technology sector in Jordan contributes to 10 percent of Jordan’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).   The minister added in an interview with Jordan News Agency, Petra, that the sector has many prospects to achieve progress and success, adding it exported software programs worth $150 million to markets of the Arab Gulf and other countries.   “The ministry is working to ensure a better utilization of the communications and information technology sectors to transform Jordan into a knowledge-based economy and accelerate social and economic growth,” he added. ...
? Daniel 8:25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand

Iran president in Saudi for nuclear, regional talks
Khaleej Times Online 2007/3/3
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in Saudi Arabia on Saturday on his first official trip to the US ally for talks expected to cover the crises in Lebanon and Iraq and Teheran’s nuclear programme.    Ahmadinejad, whose country could face tougher UN sanctions over its refusal to suspend its nuclear programme, was met at the airport by King Abdullah, the Saudi state news agency said.   ‘In the meeting with King Abdullah, we will discuss those issues that should be carried out jointly in the Islamic world and also the region,’ the official IRNA news agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying shortly before leaving Teheran. ...

Airline links Damascus, Tehran and Caracas
Gulf Times 2007/3/3
An Iranian aircraft from Tehran took off from Damascus yesterday for the Venezuelan capital Caracas in a flight opening a new Teheran-Damascus-Caracas route. ...

Bolton, Former Top U.S. Envoy at UN, Turns Against Bush on Iran
Bloomberg 2007/3/3
John Bolton, who helped shape President George W. Bush's diplomacy aimed at blocking the nuclear ambitions of Iran and North Korea, said those efforts are failing and the U.S. may have to seek the ouster of the governments in Tehran and Pyongyang.   Bolton has been quick to voice his disappointment with the president he was serving as United Nations ambassador less than three months ago. The agreement with North Korea to exchange economic aid for a nuclear disarmament pledge shows the Bush administration has "abandoned the principles it pursued for much of its first several years in office," he said in an interview yesterday.   Talks with either North Korea or Iran won't work, Bolton asserted. "Unless you're prepared to believe that the Iranians are voluntarily going to give up the pursuit of nuclear weapons, the idea of pursuing negotiations is ultimately going to be fruitless,'' he said. ...

Hamas presents Haniyeh with list of ministerial nominees
Haaretz 2007/3/3
Hamas gave Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh its list of nominees for ministerial posts in a national unity cabinet on Saturday, but a source in the Islamist movement declined to reveal the names.   Of the 12 Cabinet ministers proposed by Hamas, seven are from the West Bank and five from Gaza, said Salah Bardawil, a Hamas spokesman. None of the Gaza candidates served previously in parliament or the Cabinet, he said.   Under a power-sharing agreement, Hamas can nominate 12 Cabinet ministers, including three independents, while Fatah can propose eight, including two independents. Haniyeh will remain prime minister, while Fatah will be able to fill the post of deputy prime minister. ...Haniyeh appealed to faction leaders on Friday to finish choosing ministers for a unity government, warning further delay could embolden opponents of the deal.   Haniyeh had asked Abbas's Fatah faction and other groups to submit their choices by Friday, ahead of a planned meeting with Abbas in the Gaza Strip.   But Fatah and Hamas officials said they needed more time for deliberations. The final make-up of the new government may not be settled for another week, a Hamas official said. ...

Peres calls for pushing Moscow to stop supplying arms to Syria
Haaretz 2007/3/3
Israel should pressure Moscow to stop supplying weapons to Syria, Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres (Kadima) said Friday.   Supplying weapons to Syria encourages it to go to war, Israel Radio quoted Peres as saying.   "The United Nations is aware that weapons-smuggling from Syria to Hezbollah is continuing," Peres was quoted as saying. "Israel must exert pressure on Moscow so it stops supplying the Syrians with weapons." ...Israeli officials have recently learned that Damascus is close to concluding a large deal with Russia to procure thousands of advanced anti-tank missiles for the Syrian army. Such a development suggests that Israel's diplomatic efforts to block the sale have failed. ...
? Daniel 7:8 I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots
Continued justification for Assad's uprooting.

The Assad Regime is Isolated and Ripe for Ousting
DEBKA-Net-Weekly 2007/3/2
The top Saudi echelon, up to and including King Abdullah, sees Bashar Assad and the Allawite regime in Damascus as a weak and dispensable link in Iran’s front against the United States and Israel in the Middle East. This view was advanced by Princes Bandar and Muqrin when they met US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice in Amman on Feb. 19. It was also implicit in the successful outcome of their negotiations with Iran to preserve the Fouad Siniora government. The princes, who kept King Abdullah in Riyadh abreast of their talks on Lebanon with the Iranian national security adviser Ali Larijani, reported their impression that Syria and its president had lost their strategic clout for Tehran in the Lebanese arena. By the same reckoning, Bashar Assad had been reduced to a bit player in the determination of Iran’s positions on a settlement of the Iraq crisis. Shortly before they made their presentation to the US secretary in Amman, the Saudi princes received word that Tehran was willing to work on a joint Saudi-Iranian text as the basis for an international tribunal to try the suspects in the two-year old assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri. The Iranians were not troubled by the decision reached by the UN investigator Serge Brammertz to bring before the tribunal leading members of the regime in Damascus, including Assad’s close relatives and high intelligence officers. Tehran’s only condition for this joint effort was the nonimplication of Hizballah members The Saudis gained the impression that Tehran was willing to throw Syria to the wolves as long as Hizballah was exonerated. They inferred that, just as the Bush administration had been disappointed in Israel’s military performance in the war with Hizballah last summer, so too Iran had felt let down by Syria’s lukewarm involvement in the conflict on the side of the Hizballah. Assad was therefore abandoned and vulnerable - and therefore ripe for regime change, in the view of the Saudi princes – regardless of whether or not Washington reached a regional settlement with Tehran.
? Daniel 7:8 I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots
Continued justification for Assad's uprooting.

Kuwaiti Crown Prince calls for Iraq solidarity, stopping bloodshed
Kuwait News Agency 2007/3/2
HH the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah expressed his deep concern on Friday over violence in Iraq and the bloodshed that was victimizing many innocent civilians every day.   He called on Iraqi factions to exert all efforts to reach a conciliation and to place national interests above all else in order to achieve unity and end the needless letting of blood. ...HH Sheikh Nawaf stressed the need for greater regional cooperation and coordination on security issues to counter terrorism, a global phenomenon that no country - great or small - was safe from. ...And in response to a question on whether the region was still in danger of being targeted by terrorist organizations, HH the Crown Prince said terrorism had become "a global problem and no country - large or small - is safe from it.  "This, he said, required that "countries of the region exercise caution" and employ greater security coordination and to take a "unified and solid stand against this phenomenon." Terrorism, he stressed, was forbidden by Islam, a religion that called for co-existence and tolerance away from violence and terrorizing innocent civilians. ...
In this statement there is the hint of a 'coalition' of Arab states to counter the terrorist threat in the greater middle east.  I call this the coming 'United States of Arabia'.  How else will the Arabs also 'guarantee Israel's safety in the 'Arab lands for Israeli peace' deal unless they band together to do it?  That then, I think, is how the 'little horn character' gets his 'crown' to go out and conquering and to conquer the terrorists.  Who better then to give the crown to than soldier extraordinaire and creator of 'the Amman message' of 'peaceful Islam' himself than Abdullah II, the Hashemite King of Jordan, their current Arab spokesperson to the world?  And how could the world possibly resist the temptation to allow this seeing the current world threat?  It looks to be pretty much a slam dunk as I see it.
? Revelation 6:2 And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.

King Abdullah II to cast light on Jordan''s view of Mideast situation
Kuwait News Agency 07/3/2
...In an interview with the state-run television before his departure to the United States, the king said his visit was part of Jordanian efforts to achieve a comprehensive settlement for the troubles in the region.   "The United States is an essential party in the international Quartet on the Middle East. We are fully convinced of the need to work with the major players, on top of who is the United State, to find a way out of the current instabilities in the Middle East," he underscored. ..."We must do our part and urge this super power and the other powers to adopt balanced positions on the Middle East peace process.   "The U.S. leaders have recently stated their desire to push forward the peace process on the basis of the road map and the two-state solution.   "During my visit to the United States I'm going to focus not only on my meeting with President George W. Bush but also on meetings with decision-makers and legislators as I will address the U.S. Congress on Jordan's view of situation in Middle East," King Abdullah II added.

Jordan's King Abdullah: US must act now to change image
Monsters & Critics 2007/3/2
Jordan's King Abdullah II on Friday urged the US to act now to improve its image in the Middle East and called on Israel to abandon its 'fortress' mentality.   Abdullah, speaking ahead of a visit to the US, also warned that the Middle East stood before a crucial turning point.   'Frankly speaking, we are in this region facing two options: peace and stability or chaos,' he told Jordanian state television. ...'It is high time the US exercised this role and prove to peoples of the region its transparency and non-bias to any of the belligerent parties,' Abdullah said. ...

Jordan's new face in old media
Financial Times Deutschland 2007/3/2
...ATV will be the first commercial television station in Jordan, a predominantly Muslim, conservative state surrounded by neighbours such as Iraq, Syria, Israel and the Palestinians. "Media is perceived as a troublesome sector in the Arab world. Most of the big television stations in the region are either supported by governments or not really based on financial viability."   Mr Alayyan is driven first and foremost by the bottom line, rather than politics or ideology. He believes the Jordanian advertising market will justify his $20m investment in ATV just as it has supported his previous ventures. ...
? Daniel 8:25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand

If Iran gets the bomb
Jewish World Review 2007/3/2
...In a moderate scenario, not only would all the events that would likely occur in a best-case scenario occur. Iran would also make indirect use of its nuclear arsenal. In this case, Iran would likely use one of its existing terror proxies in the Sinai, Gaza or Lebanon, or invent a new terror group in one or all of these areas. Iran would transfer one or more nuclear weapons to its terror group of choice, which would then attack Israel and cause the second Holocaust in seventy years. Iran would deny any connection to the attack although it would reap high praise on its perpetrators.   While Iran's leaders from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on down have expressed a willingness to endure an Israeli nuclear second-strike, judging from the way in which the Western policy elites are treating Iran today, the Iranians can have every expectation that there is every reason for the Iranians that they can wipe Israel off the map and pay no price for their aggression either from a destroyed Israel or from the US.   The New York Times and its counterparts will likely note that there is no absolute certainty that Iran was behind the attack. Even the skimpiest Iranian denials or vague allegations against countries like Pakistan or Russia or "rogue" scientists from the former Soviet Union or Pakistan will likely be seized upon as a justification for not responding to the attack. ...
COMMENT: Although I haven't emphasized this in some time, the belligerent Muslim nations ALWAYS act in such a way as to preserve at least a semblance of DENIABILITY. Syria, through Assad's terminal stupidity, is the only possible exception. (His father, on the other hand, was a consummate master of the game.)
Article and comment contributed by Bob Anderson.

Egypt mediates between Saudi and Syria
United Press International 2007/3/2
Diplomats in Cairo told United Press International that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak spoke to Syrian President Bashar Assad after the first held talks with Saudi King Abdullah during a visit to Riyadh Wednesday.   "Mubarak relayed to Assad the Saudi desire to see more positive Syrian stands towards efforts exerted by Riyadh to resolve the various issues in the region, especially the Lebanese crisis," said one diplomat on condition of anonymity. ...

High Commissioner to address League of Arab States in Cairo
Reuters 2007/3/2
...On Sunday, the High Commissioner will address the opening session of the 127th meeting of the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs in Cairo, focusing on the situation of Iraqi refugees in neighbouring Arab countries and the internally displaced inside Iraq. He will be highlighting the urgent need for humanitarian solidarity by the international community and seek partnerships with the Arab States in addressing the needs of the Iraqis. ...

Give Abboud the Boot
Why does Syria need two ambassadors in Washington?
The Weekly Standard 2007/3/1
It's been two years since the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri caused the United States to withdraw its ambassador from Syria. But even as the U.S. embassy in Damascus continues to function without its senior diplomat, Syria maintains not one but two ambassadors to Washington. Officially, Syrian president Bashar Assad's top diplomat in the United States is Ambassador Imad Moustapha. Assad's second, unofficial--but reliably pro-Syria--envoy is Lebanon's ambassador to Washington, Farid Abboud.   The absence of a Lebanese ambassador to Washington who is accountable to his own government reflects the ongoing Syrian influence in Lebanon and the fractious nature of Lebanese politics. While the Bush administration has adapted to this dynamic by finding alternative interlocutors to Abboud, the situation remains problematic for Lebanon.   Abboud has been in Washington for eight years, a remarkable tenure given the typical ambassadorial rotation lasts only four years. He was appointed by the pro-Syria Lebanese president Emile Lahoud--who himself was chosen by Assad. And despite the tectonic shift in Lebanese politics away from Syria following the assassination of Hariri, the unabashedly pro-Syria, pro-Hezbollah Abboud remains ensconced in the embassy. The anti-Syrian Lebanese government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora has thus far been incapable of dislodging him. ...

Zeid begins Washington role
JTA 2007/3/1
...Zeid's ties with Jewish groups are thought to have helped scuttle his bid to become U.N. secretary-general. Zeid began his work in Washington on Tuesday, a week before King Abdullah II arrives in Washington to make his case to Congress and President Bush for greater U.S. involvement in brokering an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement.

Iraqi President Hails King and Government for Hosting him for Treatment
Jordan News Agency 2007/3/1
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani expressed thanks and appreciation for His Majesty King Abdullah II and Government for hosting him for treatment at King Hussein Medical City.   Talabani thanked, in a press conference held at the medical city today, His Majesty the King for visiting him and checking on him at the hospital in addition to the noble feelings by Jordanian people, Jordan Armed Forces and the Royal Medical Services who took care of him. ...
A benevolent king?
? Daniel 11:21 ...but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries

EU to Increase its Annual Aid to Jordan to 67 Million Euro
Jordan News Agency 2007/3/1
Within the framework of economic and financial cooperation between the EU and Jordan and under the European Assistance Programme for the years 2007-2010, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Jordanian Government and the European Commission under which the EU provides Jordan with grants worth €265 million for the said period was signed today at the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation. ...The assistance will address four development priorities: Strengthen political reforms, promote and develop trade and investment between Jordan and the EU, increase growth and sustainable development and support financial reforms and provide institutions support to the institutions involved in the implementation of the Euro- Jordanian mutual Action Plan. ...
? Daniel 8:25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand

King warns time running out to make peace progress

The Jordan Times 2007/3/1 King Abdullah on Wednesday called on the international community to intensify efforts “at this stage” to revive the Middle East peace process.   The King told British Prime Minister Tony Blair at a meeting here that world powers should help Palestinians and Israelis overcome obstacles hindering the resumption of peace negotiations. ...Abbas also met in Amman with EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner, who reiterated calls on the incoming government to meet international conditions to win Western cooperation.   “We have never abandoned the Palestinian people,” Ferrero-Waldner told reporters.   “We talked with the president about the Mecca agreement and we said it was an important step forward because this has helped to bring calm to a very difficult situation that might have really gone to a civil war,” she said.   “We want this government to respond to the principles of the Quartet. We have to wait a little bit to really give a judgement [on the incoming government],” she added. ...Also yesterday, King Abdullah met with British treasury chief, Gordon Brown, for talks on bilateral ties, particularly economic cooperation.   In another development, King Abdullah and Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora discussed over the telephone latest developments in Lebanon. ...

Ferero Affirms Importance of Jordan’s Role in Peace Process

Jordan News Agency 2007/3/1
Commissioner for Foreign Affairs Neighborhood Policy Benita Ferero Waldner affirmed the importance of Jordan’s role in the peace process.   In statements to Petra, Ferero said that the King’s current visit to Britain and the United States is a living example on the king’s efforts in this peace process.   Ferero hailed Jordan’s progress in the field of reform and development affirming the support of the European Union to such efforts which comes within the frame of distinguished bilateral relations. ...
 

EU Commission New Headquarters Opens in Amman
Jordan News Agency 2007/3/1
...The new UN Commission headquarters was opened by European Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighborhood Policy Benita Ferrero-Waldner in the presence of Foreign Minister Abdul Ilah Al Khatib.   Waldner stressed, during the opening ceremony, the EU commitment to continue presenting aid and support for Jordan to develop its economy, throughout supporting Jordan in fields like education and energy.
? Daniel 8:25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand

King Abdullah II drums up support for boarding school in Jordan
International Herald Tribune 2007/2/1
BOSTON: King Abdullah II of Jordan pushed for support for the boarding school he is founding for male and female students from throughout the Middle East, which was inspired by his experiences at Massachusetts' private Deerfield Academy. ..."Because King's, like Deerfield, is more than an academic institution, we believe it can be an agent for positive change and progress," said Abdullah, who studied at the Deerfield boarding school from 1977 to 1980.   "It will be a leadership incubator — helping to grow creative, thoughtful, achieving adults who can lead our region through the uncertainties and challenges that lie ahead," he said. ..."Humanity cannot sustain its growing divisions — East and West, haves and have-nots, insiders and outsiders," Abdullah said. "The advancement of knowledge and collaboration among peoples of nations is really the only way forward." ..."But hope is held down by apathy and division. We must make a decisive choice for peace and cooperation and progress," Abdullah said.
? Daniel 7:8, Rev. 13:5 ...And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things

Focus on Mughrabi
The Jerusalem Post 2007/3/1
For the first time, the Israel Antiquities Authority has installed a webcam at an archeological site in an effort to defuse religious tensions caused by a dig.   Three cameras installed at the Mughrabi Gate Reconstruction Project - which adjoins both the Western Wall Plaza and the Temple Mount in the Old City - went on line February 15. ..."We have nothing to hide. Whoever wants to come to the Web site can see what is going on in the excavation area," Liat Eizenkot of the IAA told In Jerusalem. ...The Web site, www.antiquities.org.il/home-eng.asp, has received nearly 200,000 hits since its webcam went live two weeks ago, said IAA spokeswoman Osnat Goaz. Of the cyber-visitors, 33 percent came from the United States and 17% from Israel. Among the digital viewers were 1,451 people from Egypt, 945 from Saudi Arabia and two from the Vatican.  ...While the Temple Mount has nine historic gates that are not blocked up, the Wakf only permits non-Muslims to enter through the Mughrabi Gate. The gate takes its name from the former Mughrabi Quarter which was bulldozed in June 1967, shortly after the IDF reunited Jerusalem during the Six Day War.

Hariri urges EU to pressure Syria to stop interfering in Lebanon
YaLibnan 2007/3/1
During a visit to Brussels, Hariri, son of the assassinated former PM Rafik Hariri, also urged the European Union to help pressure Syria to stop undermining attempts to set up a tribunal to investigate his father's murder.   "There have been efforts by Saudi Arabia and Iran to get the crisis in Lebanon resolved," the head of the pro-democracy majority told reporters at the European Parliament.   "Saudi Arabia knows the politics of Lebanon. Iran has a role because of its involvement with Hezbollah. So hopefully there is a kind of discussion that is ongoing now in finding an end to this crisis," he said.   But Hariri added: "I believe that the main problem today is the Syrian regime which is trying to stop this agreement from happening ." ...
? Daniel 7:8 I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots
Continued justification for Assad's uprooting.

Beating ploughshares into swords
Al-Ahram 2007/3/1
Gulf Arab states are going on a shopping spree for the purchase of sophisticated Western weaponry at an estimated cost of $60 billion. A recent report in The New York Times, of which The Daily Telegraph had published another version two months earlier, said the lethal weapons order would include Apache attack helicopters, cruise missiles, Typhoon fighters and tanks, in addition to other war accessories. Saudi Arabia, which already has US-installed and operated Patriot anti- missile batteries, will reportedly spend $50 billion, representing the lion's share of the military package. The UAE has earmarked almost $8 billion to buy fighter aircraft, missiles and other military materiel. Other states vying for modern armament are Kuwait and Oman. And money is no problem. The oil revenues of Middle Eastern producing countries in 2006 is estimated at more than $400 billion, based on an average price of $57 per barrel. Suddenly, the Gulf Arab region has become a vendor's paradise for Western arms manufacturers. An arms race is accelerating in the region, with incalculable consequences. The question is: for what purpose?   Self-defence in the face of a threat is a historically legitimate right of individuals and nations. ...If self-defence in a jittery region is legitimate, then it is equally a legitimate question to define the enemy against whom the Gulf States will defend themselves. ...

Israel tightens grip on Jerusalem
International Relations and Security Network 2007/3/1
Israeli government bodies are considering a major settlement project in East Jerusalem, according to an Israeli daily.   If approved, the neighborhood would constitute the largest Jewish settlement project in the Territories since the 1967 war and would radically alter the demographic make-up of previously Palestinian areas, creating a potentially insurmountable obstacle to talks on the future status of the city.   Israel's Ha'aretz newspaper reported on Wednesday that the Housing Ministry was drawing up plans for the establishment of a large ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) neighborhood on the city's northern border. ...

Livni: Israel can't accept 2002 Arab League peace initiative
Al Bawaba 2007/3/1
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told a Palestinian daily in an interview published Thursday that Israel could not accept a 2002 Arab League peace initiative in its current formulation.   In her first interview, Livni told Al-Ayyam newspaper that Israel's stance on the new Palestinian unity government would depend on its diplomatic plan, and the extent to which it meets the three demands of the international community, namely, recognize Israel, renounce violence and abide by previously signed peace agreements.   "We are demanding that the government meet these three conditions," she stressed. Asked if Israel is ready to work with ministers who are not members of Hamas, Livni said: "We consider the cabinet as one body." ..."We are working on forming a (unity) government and this will happen before the five-week deadline," Abbas said after talks with Jordanian Prime Minister Maaruf Bakhit, state-run Petra news agency reported.   "There is a lot of work to be done until then in order to present to the world the government in the best way," Abbas said. 

Unesco experts visit site of controversial excavation
Gulf News 2007/3/1
A team of experts from Unesco yesterday toured an Israeli archaeological excavation that Muslims fear could damage Islam’s holiest site in Jerusalem.   Israel says the dig, 50m from a religious compound known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif and to Jews as Temple Mount, will do no harm to the Dome of Rock and Al-Aqsa mosques on the plaza, which overlooks Judaism’s Western Wall.   Israeli archaeologists began what they called a “rescue excavation” at the site on February 7 to salvage artefacts before planned construction of a walkway leading up to the complex, where the two biblical Jewish Temples once stood. ...A spokesman for Unesco in Jerusalem said the experts visited the excavations but he gave no details of yesterday’s tour. ...

Movie Review: TITLE: OBSESSION: RADICAL ISLAM'S WAR AGAINST THE WEST
Dr. Ted Baehr 2007/3/1
OBSESSION is a brilliantly produced documentary that explores the war against Western Civilization, Christians and Jews by radical Muslims who take seriously Mohammed's teaching about Holy War. Using a graphic representation of a map of the world, the documentary opens by showing newsreel footage of the Islamic terrorist attacks on civilians and others. Soon, the whole world is filled with dots where these newsreel footage attacks occurred, from the destruction of the World Trade Center in New York to the train bombing in Madrid, Spain. The documentary examines the violent teachings of the leading Muslim clerics around the world. It shows little children being trained to hate and masses of people calling for the death of the United States. OBSESSION is a brilliant documentary. It builds to a deeply moving, profound climax. The ending, however, tries to build a bridge to moderate Muslims by saying they need to root out the Jihadists. This codicil comes after the emotional climax. Anyone who has watched the documentary will realize that this ending is either wishful thinking or merely an attempt to appear moderate. Be that as it may, OBSESSION is highly recommended must viewing.
What this movie depicts fits perfectly as 'the beginning of the end' that the book of Revelation prophesied nearly 2000 years ago regarding the end times.

Rabbis want sheep sacrifice
Scotsman.com 2007/3/1
A FRINGE group of extremist rabbis wants to resume the biblical practice of animal sacrifice at a religious site in Jerusalem, members said yesterday. ...Now a group, called the Re-established Sanhedrin, is trying to find sheep suitable for sacrifice, with an eye towards resuming the practice at the Temple Mount, which is also home to the al-Aqsa Mosque ...
? Daniel 9:27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
We know from the the scripture that they will at least eventually start this sacrificing.  However, we do not know how long it goes on before it is halted by the 'Little Horn' character turned antichrist.

New security strategy transforms battleground
Telegraph.co.uk 2007/3/1
...The strategy is to ratchet up pressure on militias, posting soldiers every few streets. In a circular action, Americans and Iraqis will move out to the streets before US troops pull back to act as a rapid reaction force.   Capt William Billeter claims that the level of street activity has soared. "It's exciting for us to see things change. Before when we saw an empty street that was a signal that a bomb was there and people had pulled their kids in. We want to see crowds. It's a good thing."   Phase one of the plan to transform Baghdad's security has brought a startling drop in crime — as much as 80 per cent, according to estimates. But there is still the fear that the men of violence are biding their time.

Waiting for the U.S. to tire
Haaretz 2007/3/1
The books Americans are reading - about "God, globalization and the place of Americans in this world," according to the Economist - may explain Washington's agreement to participate in a conference with Iraq's neighbors, scheduled to take place in 10 days. In terms of its position in the Middle East, Washington has something to worry about. It has a powerful competitor rising in this region - Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is racing to embrace everyone the U.S. is slamming.   In early February, Putin met with Ali Akbar Velayati, Iran's former foreign minister who is now supreme religious leader Ali Khamenei's adviser. According to reports from Iran, Velayati received Russian assurances that no debilitating international sanctions would be imposed on Tehran. Mostly, however, they talked about the future of Iraq. ...Russia is positioning itself in the Middle East in anticipation of the moment the United States begins its Iraq pullout. ...

Moussa calls for all parties' efforts to save Iraq
People's Daily Online 2007/3/1
Arab League (AL) Secretary General Amr Moussa called here Wednesday on the United States and all other parties to work together to save the war-torn Iraq from the crisis.   Moussa made the call in statements to reporters after his meeting with Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, visiting Croatian Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration.   All parties, including the United States, should cooperate to save Iraq on the basis of achieving national reconciliation, reconstructing the country and halting the sectarian war there, Moussa told the reporters.   He, meanwhile, denied accusations levelled at Arabs of not living up to their obligations towards the Iraqi people, saying that the Arabs did not fail to assist the Iraqis and many Arabs tried to go to Iraq. ...