Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon told Jewish leaders Tuesday that Israel should absorb one million foreign Jews in the next decade and most of world Jewry by the year 2020. "We have to bring over here in the coming 10 or 12 years another million Jews," Sharon urged increased immigration from the former Soviet Union, Ethiopia, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa. "We have by the year 2020 to create a situation where most of the Jewish people are living here. If we want them to stay Jews, if we want them to be Jews, then they have to live here. Some 4.9 million of Israel's 6.2 million citizens are Jews, but growth rates of the non-Jewish population have outstripped those of Jews. The Jerusalem-based World Jewish Congress has said that in less than a decade Israel's Jewish population will be the world's largest. More Jews currently live in New York than in Israel, with more than six million Jews living in the whole of the United States Note: Jeremiah 31:8 Behold, I ( God ) will bring them from the North country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth…..( a great company shall return )
Iraq has again moved troops and vehicles around positions near the Jordanian border. U.S. defense sources said the deployment ordered by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein began less than a week ago and involved thousands of soldiers from up to six divisions as well as military vehicles and artillery. Iraqi surface-to-surface missile batteries were not seen but were believed being prepared for operations. The Iraqi deployment was a key issue during the visit to Israel by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell over the weekend. "We are talking about a worrisome development that comes despite our attacks on Saddam's anti-aircraft batteries," a U.S. defense source said. "It appears we are dealing with a man who is not afraid and could act on moment's notice." Saddam's troop deployment near the Jordanian and Syrian border appears to constitute a message to the new U.S. Bush administration. Report On Iraq Ignites Israeli Fears Defense officials have welcomed the troubling report by German Intelligence that Iraq could have an atomic bomb within three years and develop a long-range ballistic missile that puts the capitals of Europe under threat by 2005. Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh said he hopes the report will move European states to act with more determination to restore sanctions on Iraq. He added that Israel and the United States need to work more closely to develop a better missile-defense system. The assessment in the IDF is that the new Bush administration will shift its emphasis in the region from the Israeli-Palestinian peace track to the more traditionally Republican strategic interest of oil.
All-out conflagration nearly engulfed Mid-east this week! ... A new report claims a regional war in the Mid-east was on the brink of "exploding" into reality this week, only days after U.S. and British warplanes struck an Iraqi radar command-and-control site Feb. 16. Mid-east sources said on Thursday that six divisions of Iraqi troops were massed near the Syrian border and U.S. intelligence officials had "additionally picked up Iraqi preparations for launching long-range surface-to-surface missiles". The movements, which were relayed to Israeli intelligence and military officials, were tracked by American spy satellites, the report said, prompting the Jewish state to place its forces on high alert and warn some towns in northern Israel to prepare for incoming missile attacks. The report said U.S. intelligence estimates claimed that Iraqi missile forces would have been ready to launch at Israel by 6 p.m. local time Thursday, but Mid-east sources said "a European government -- probably Britain" -- sent word to Iraqi intelligence that if missile launch preparations continued, "Israel would not again sit still and wait for Iraqi missiles to rain down on its towns, as it did in the 1991 Gulf War." Israeli air force officials were planning a pre-emptive strike against the amassed Iraqi troops and missile launch sites, using conventional munitions "and with the help of small neutron bombs."
Pope John Paul II affirmed today that the blueprint for every Christian is to become more adept in its devotion to Mary. After commemorating Bruno Marchesini, a Catholic saint, the Pope remarked, “We need to look to the Mother of Christ, and ask her to teach us, and instill us with a sincere devotion to our Most Holy Virgin, the Mother of God!”. Note: The Pope apparently is unfamiliar with scripture: ( I Timothy 2:5 For there is one mediator between God and men; the man Christ Jesus.) ( John 16:13 Howbeit, when he, the Spirit of Truth is come, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak of himself ( like Marian apparitions )
Palestinian Authority Mufti Sheikh Ekrima Sabri has issued a religious ruling forbidding Jews from touching the Western Wall. The Moslems claim that the Wall is part of the Temple Mount, which the Mufti claims belongs only to them. “The [Western] Wall is part of the Al Burak Wall which is part of the Al Aqsa mosque; so the Jews ( Israel ) really have no right to the place at all”! The whole problem is that the place does not relate to them ( Israel ), and is only associated with Islam and Mohammed!
China could pose a future threat to Gulf oil currently supplied to the United States, warns a report by a Washington-based think tank. The Center for Strategic and International Studies report projected that rapid economic growth will turn China into a major oil importer over the next 20 years. This development could result in competition between China and the United States for Persian Gulf oil! One scenario described the prospect that Beijing would form military ties with Gulf states to ensure that China is a priority for Arab and Iranian oil exports. The rising dependence of China on Persian Gulf oil could well alter political relationships within and outside the region. China is already providing Iran and Iraq with sophisticated weapons systems, and has formed a regional alliance with Russia to counter the influence of the US and the EU in the region.
Senior IDF sources are reporting that a regional military conflagration could break out in the wake of any unexpected developments in the West Bank territories or along the Lebanese border. Terrorist groups are suspected of planning to carry out attacks requiring an Israeli retaliation that would likely result in the destabilization of the entire region, according to the sources. The sources pointed out that young leaders were at the head of several countries in the region, ( Syria, Jordan ) in stark contrast to the checks-and-balances inherent in the Israeli decision-making process. IDF officials have warned residents in Northern Israel to prepare for Katyusha rocket attacks from Hezbullah terrorists operating in Southern Lebanon. Israel has repeated its call to Syrian President Assad to reign in the Hezbullah before the border erupts into a full-blown war. Newly elected Israeli Prime Minister Sharon has demanded that Syria curtail the activities of the Hezbullah organization as a precursor to renewed peace talks.
Palestinian leaders have called for yet another “day of rage” to protest the United States bombing of Iraq. Thousands of Palestinians joined the Iraqi marches in calling for the death of America. Saddam Hussein blamed Israel for the escalation in tensions in the Middle East. Hussein also announced that 500,000 Iraqi army personnel were training to liquidate the Israeli’s from Jerusalem. Meanwhile. the American and IDF militaries utilized joint exercises to test their patriot missile defense system in lieu of a possible missile attack from Iraq or Syria; while reports are circulating that China is empowering Iraq with air-defense capabilities.
Russian military official Col. Gen. Leonid Ivashov announced recently that Iranian Defense Minister Adm. Ali Shamkhani would visit Moscow in March to conduct a series of meetings to formulate and define their “joint military and security interests” in the Middle East region. The official agenda will also include plans to promote regional security within the scope of the Middle East Peace Process, focusing on the failure of the United States to facilitate peace based upon UN Resolutions. Mr. Ivashov stressed that Moscow and Teheran shared common interests in the Caspian Sea region, ( oil ) and that both nations were opposed to the penetration of NATO into the Caucasus region. Note: Russia and Iran are already coordinating their logistical plans for opposing the rise of the Antichrist in the West. Their military plans will eventually evolve into a joint operation against Israel. Their secretly coordinated plans are not a secret from God however, for in Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39; God reveals their secret intentions: Ezekiel 38:15-16 And thou shalt come from thy place out of the North (Russia) parts, thou, and many people ( Iran, Ethiopia, Libya, Togarmah, etc.) with thee; all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army; And thou ( Russia ) shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud ( airforce ) to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days;
Netanyahu Blames Barak and Clinton for Current Mess Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sharply criticized outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Barak and former U.S. President Bill Clinton, and their peacemaking-policies for the current escalation in violence. He stated that Yasser Arafat still seeks to drive Israel into the sea, and that the appeasement peace craft policies of Clinton-Barak only served to wet his appetite for that eventuality. Netanyahu stated that the rejection by Arafat of the far-ranging concessions made by Barak at Camp David reveals that there can be no final settlement of the conflict for the foreseeable future. “Mr. Arafat merely used the Oslo Peace Process as a means of achieving a better position of fulfilling his desire of destroying the state of Israel”. He further blamed the administration of Bill Clinton of having intervened excessively in the peace process, thereby encouraging the Palestinian negotiating team to adopt an uncompromising position. Netanyahu concluded his remarks by forecasting that Israel could only hope now for a “Cold Peace” with the Palestinians, modeled on the West vs. Soviet Union styled Cold War.
Newly elected Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has appointed former Prime Minister Ehud Barak as defense minister of Israel. The coalition of the two political opponents is an effort intended to unite Israel’s two major political parties in the hopes of repulsing an ever widening guerrilla-style war with the Palestinians. Mr. Sharon is also hopeful that by inviting Mr. Barak into his government that his own international image as a war-hawk can be alleviated, since Barak is viewed internationally as a political dove.
Eight people were killed on Thursday when a bus driven by a Palestinian terrorist crashed headlong into a crowded bus-stop in Holon. The attack was classified as a mere car accident by Yasser Arafat. President Bush called the Palestinian leader and warned him to work to inhibit such incidents of violence. Israel has been targeting terrorist cell leaders recently for assassination, which Mr. Arafat concludes has resulted in the raising of the violence. ( Masoud Iyyad, Arafat’s Fatah bodyguard was killed in a recent IDF helicopter raid ) Yasser Arafat has reportedly fled the Gaza Strip area out of fear of an Israeli reprisal against him in retaliation for the bus attack. European Union Supports PA on Starting Point to Renew Peace Process whether ideas raised at Camp David and Taba should serve as the point of departure for further negotiations. "The European Union understands that much ground has already been covered in open and frank negotiations between the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority," an official declaration of the EU Presidency on the results of last week's election stated. "The European Union is convinced that the progress made on all major issues during the last negotiations should form the basis for future talks on the permanent status."
The World Council of Churches, meeting in Berlin, Germany called upon Israel to withdraw from all Palestinian territory, and from the entire Golan Heights region. The Council also urged the world to help restore freedom and civil rights to the Palestinian people, and to provide the logistical support for the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank. The committee of the WCC concluded its meeting by urging all Christians to work with other “heavenly religions” and national associations in containing the violence in the Middle East. Note: The “Church of the world” does not recognize the providential plan of God to restore Israel unto himself. ( Isaiah 14:1 “For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land; ) The “World Church’s” amillennialistic perspective of Bible prophecy omits the significance of national Israel in God’s redemptive plan. But God is actively involved with the restoration of Israel, to the dismay of much of the world.
Likud candidate for prime minister Ariel Sharon has overwhelmingly defeated Prime Minister Ehud Barak to become the next prime minister of Israel, according to exit polls broadcast by both Israeli television networks at 10 p.m. Sharon received 59.5% of the vote compared to 40.5% for Barak. In the 1999 elections Barak received 56% of the vote compared to 44% for the Likud's Binyamin Netanyahu. Counting of the results began with the closing of the polls at 10. The first official result announced on Channel 1 a few minutes ago gave the count of the first 100 polling stations at 63.8% for Sharon and 36.1% for Barak.
WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration is reconsidering a campaign pledge to begin moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. ''We are studying it,'' Secretary of State Colin Powell said Sunday on ABC's This Week program. ''At this time of considerable level of violence in the region, we will continue to examine when that process will begin.'' Israel votes for a new prime minister Tuesday after four months of Israeli-Palestinian clashes that have killed nearly 400 people and left both sides deeply pessimistic about the prospects for a negotiated settlement. Jerusalem, which both regard as their capital, is among the most divisive issues. During the campaign, Bush said that if elected, he would immediately begin moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv, site of most embassies. But national security adviser Condoleezza Rice told CNN Sunday that Bush would first consult with ''friends in the region.'' ''Unlike Bill Clinton, we expect Bush to fulfill his commitment,'' said Morton Klein, head of the Zionist Organization of America. Daniel Pipes, director of the Middle East Forum, a think tank in Philadelphia, said he doubted that Bush would carry out the transfer.
President Bush's religious faith has become a source of wonderment in the capital of the Free World. Sages don't know what to make of the fact that our president speaks the name of God with plain reverence, rather than out of political calculation.Evan Thomas of Newsweek, a churchgoing man himself, noted in a largely favorable piece about Bush that the president "presses his eyes tight shut when he prays and often reads the Bible in the early morning." To the average Beltway swell, this behavior marks Bush as an atavistic weirdo caught up in a cult akin to necromancy or Zoroastrianism. Political reporters don't close their eyes out of deference to the Almighty: They clench their lids only when presented with direct evidence of Clinton criminality. Religious devotion has fallen completely out of vogue in Washington. Not even the "reverends" running around town seem wedded to Scripture, except to run interference for someone's criminal defense or political agenda. The common lot of religious activists - liberal and conservative - seem to fit Ambrose Bierce's definition of a Christian: "One who believes in the teachings of Jesus Christ insofar as they are not inconsistent with a life of sin." But then along comes George W. Bush to throw everybody for a loop. Capital insiders have forgotten how to deal with authentic discourse after eight years of artifice-worship. Adepts have become accustomed to searching for loopholes and ulterior motives in every presidential utterance.
In the Middle East, former President Bill Clinton has not yet exited stage left. Four days before the Israeli election, he appeared tonight in a long Israeli television interview and indirectly endorsed the underdog, Prime Minister Ehud Barak, by praising his courage in peacemaking. "I can't say enough about how much I respect the risks that Prime Minister Barak has taken," Mr. Clinton said in the taped interview with Channel Two from his new house in Chappaqua, N.Y. "He showed an uncommon willingness to reach final status issues. He went much further than any Israeli leader has ever gone." When asked, Mr. Clinton ambled toward an assessment of the front- running candidate, the rightist Likud leader Ariel Sharon. But the interviewer, in typical Israeli style, cut him off. (Coincidentally, Mr. Barak said today that he regretted never having found a way to address the people as prime minister without a television reporter's interrupting after every eight words.) Asked if he thought that Mr. Sharon, a hard-liner, could demonstrate diplomatic flexibility, Mr. Clinton said, smiling, "That's a decision for him. I try not to interfere in your elections but I think the peace process should continue."
 
 
 
 
 
  
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Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement
vowed
Wednesday to ensure that Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon could
never keep
his promise to make Israel secure. A statement from Fatah's
leadership in
the West Bank urged the Palestinian Authority not to negotiate
with Sharon,
who triumphed in Tuesday's prime ministerial vote over Ehud
Barak. "If the
Israelis think that Sharon will make security for them, we say
loudly that
Israel will never have security at all," the statement said.
"The Intifada
and resistance are our strategic options to get rid of the
occupation and to
achieve freedom, return [of Palestinian refugees], national
independence and
sovereignty. We call for stepping up the Intifada and resistance
in the face
of the butcher Sharon,".