Clinton Says he'd Fight for Israel

Aug. 2….(NY Post) Bill Clinton, who avoided serving in Vietnam says he would take up arms and "fight and die" for Israel if Iraq attacks the Jewish state. Clinton, who opposed the Vietnam War, signed up for the ROTC to avoid immediate induction when he received his draft notice in 1969. He later changed his mind about the ROTC and decided to take his chances with the new draft lottery. "If Iraq came across the Jordan River, I would grab a rifle and get in the trench and fight and die," the ex-president said to wild applause at a Jewish fund-raiser in Toronto. Clinton, who tried but failed to make peace in the Middle East the legacy of his presidency, decried the current cycle of violence in Israel. "I don't think there is a military solution to this," he said. "But I know there's not a terrorist solution to it." Clinton also said he disagreed with President Bush that peace can be achieved only when Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is gone from power. The ex-president said the best solution to the Middle East conflict is an interim settlement that would "establish a Palestinian state now." Clinton said Arafat made a "disastrous mistake" by turning down past peace proposals that would have given the Palestinian leader control of 97 percent of the West Bank.

FOJ Note: So the American traitor would fight for Israel. Israel: you need no one to fight for you except God almighty! Mr. Clinton was only too willing to give away Israeli territory to Arafat in his egotistical Agenda to win a Nobel Peace Prize for himself. Mr. Clinton compromised Israel right into the current mess, literally setting Israel up for the Trojan Horse scenario that Arafat had planned.

The American victims of Hamas Hatred

AUG. 2….(FOJ) US Ambassador Dan Kurtzer Thursday laid a wreath outside the cafeteria at the Frank Sinatra International Student Center at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, the scene of Wednesday's bombing which killed seven, including five American citizens. Kurtzer, who was a student at the university more than 30 years ago, said the bombing was a horrible act, designed to invade the sanctity of the university. "This is a new depth of depravity," he said. The following Americans were killed by Hamas in the attack on Hebrew University in Jerusalem. ( David Diego Ladowski, 29, of Jerusalem; Levina Shapira, 53, of Jerusalem; Marla Bennett, 24, of California (US); Janis Ruth Coulter, 36, of New York (US) not pictured: Benjamin Blutstein, 25, of Pennsylvania (US); David Gritz, 24, of Massachusetts (US)

Yasser Arafat: Making himself Relevant Again?

Aug. 2….(FOJ) With American President Bush calling for the end of the Arafat era, and Israeli Prime Minister Sharon moving to dismantle Arafat's terrorist authority, the situation had seemed to make Arafat irrelevant to the Peace process. But now, with Hamas exposing itself as the relentless anti-Zionist entity, chairman Arafat is trying to manipulate the situation to make himself relevant once again, at least in the eyes of the UN. Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat called the Israeli operation into Nablus "a new massacre.” He has made an appeal to the whole United Nations: is this acceptable?" is it acceptable that Israel occupies our land, imprisons their leader, and commits massacres again. (an obvious reference to the erroneous charge of a massacre in Jenin in May) In response to the Nablus incursion, Arafat said: "I am asking for quick international intervention from the United Nations. If they are not able to send forces, then send observers."

Jews: Terrorism Will Not Break Us

Aug. 2….(Jewish World Review) Wednesday it was a university cafeteria next door to the art school where our son's baby-sitter is exhibiting her graduation project. Gradually, over the last two years of terrorist war, the landmarks of daily life have been turned into scenes of atrocity. Yet we've stopped marking those scenes with memorials or plaques listing the victims. Partly that's because there are now too many sites to commemorate. But partly too it's because Israeli society knows it can't afford to dwell on its losses in the midst of war. Just as soldiers don't pause to eulogize a fallen friend during battle, we too must continue fighting this war in which civilians are the front-line soldiers and persistence is our most powerful weapon. This terrible summer is defined not only by terrorism but also by a stubborn Israeli refusal to be terrorized. We've become expert in finding safe corners where we can steal some moments of normalcy. Ariel Sharon, once unelectable, now enjoys 70% support. Even many of us who once opposed occupying the territories now agree that we have no choice but to destroy the terrorist state-in-the-making nurtured by Yasser Arafat. Rather than undermine our morale, the terrorist attacks only strengthen our resolve. Most Israelis realize that this isn't a war of Palestinian desperation but part of a long pattern of Palestinian self-destructiveness. Just as there would have been no Palestinian refugee problem had the Palestinians not rejected the U.N. partition in 1947 and tried to destroy the newborn Jewish state, and just as there would have been no Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza had the Arab world not tried again to destroy Israel in 1967, so too would there be no re-occupation today had the Palestinians accepted Israel's offer of statehood two years ago. Finally, we draw strength from the realization that we are the front line in a global war against a new barbarity. Humanity is poised between breakthrough and breakdown, between unimagined scientific and medical advances and the forces of terrorist dissipation and religious reaction that would send us back to the Middle Ages.

Not surprisingly, the Jews once again find themselves the primary targets of those intent on world domination. As history has repeatedly proved, what begins as a threat to the Jews ends with a threat to civilization. In clinging to a semblance of normal life and refusing to be terrorized, we are fighting a war whose implications extend far beyond Israel. Terrorists around the world are watching this conflict to see whether terrorism breaks Israeli will. Whether or not the world recognizes it, we know we're holding the line for its future as well as ours.


FOJ Note: The Jews are right. Israel is the focal point of world history, and the fate of the whole world hangs in the balance over the struggle for Jerusalem. God's prophetic time-clock is ticking down to the prophesied showdown over the sovereignty of Jerusalem.

Israel Invades Nablus

Aug. 2….(Jerusalem Post) Israel sent tanks and troops into the West Bank city of Nablus Friday, hitting back for the terror attack lon the Hebrew University earlier in the week, and took additional measures aimed at deterring Palestinians from carrying out further strikes. In overnight clashes and operations, four Palestinians were killed by Israeli soldiers and five houses were destroyed. Also, Israeli officials approved orders to expel relatives of two suspected terrorists from the West Bank to Gaza. Israeli troops control seven of the eight main Palestinian centers in the West Bank, moving in after back-to-back suicide bomb attacks in Jerusalem June 18-19. The university bombing and a suicide attack the day before were he first bombings in Jerusalem since the incursions.

Israeli Lynched Outside Tulkarm

Aug. 2….(Jerusalem Post) Shani Ladani, 27, of Moshav Olesh in the northern Sharon, was murdered by Palestinian terrorists while he was working near Moshav Nitzanei Oz, west of Tulkarm, Thursday morning. He was buried at Olesh Thursday night. Ladani was bound hand and foot and shot point-blank in the head in what Judea and Samaria Brig.-Gen. Gershon Yitzhak described as a "lynching." He said it appeared the terrorists had taken advantage of the easing of the curfew on Tulkarm to perpetrate the attack and had afterward returned to the city.

Syria's Assad Blames Israel

Aug. 2….(Ha Aretz) In remarks published Thursday, Syrian President Bashar Assad said Israel alone was responsible for the stalemate in the Mid-east peace process, while his top military officer said Syria was beefing up its military capabilities to defend against Israel. "Israeli governments, especially the Sharon government, through their eagerness for bloodshed and their desire to swallow Arab lands and expand, are solely responsible for foiling all efforts aimed at achieving peace and stability in the region," Assad said, celebrating Army Day in Syria. As outlined by Assad, who took office in July 2000, the basis of this peace would be Israel's withdrawal from the Golan Heights, a strategic plateau captured by Israel in the 1967 Six Day War, and the creation of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.

Bush, King Abdullah Disagree on Iraq

Aug. 2….(Reuters) President Bush and a key Arab ally, Jordan's King Abdullah, found themselves in disagreement Thursday over a possible U.S. attack to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and over the pace of American peacemaking in the Middle East. The king soft-pedaled his opposition to a potential U.S. military strike against Baghdad. But Bush, in an Oval Office picture-taking session with the monarch, made clear he had not changed his mind about considering ``all tools'' to bring about regime change in Iraq. Supposedly a debate is raging within the Bush administration over how to go about toppling Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld favor aggressively confronting Hussein. They argue that he presents a serious threat and that time is not on the side of the United States. Secretary of State Colin Powell and CIA Director George Tenet are reported to be posing skeptical questions about a military campaign and what happens after Saddam is gone.

Iraq Invites UN Inspectors Back

Aug. 2….(Guardian) In a move that took the international community by surprise, Iraq has invited the chief United Nations weapons inspector to Baghdad for technical talks, it emerged last night. The US government, which has been debating the possibility of an invasion of Iraq this week, had no immediate response although commentators saw it as a possible breakthrough in what had appeared to be a march to war. Iraq's foreign minister, Naji Sabri, sent a letter to the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, saying the government would like the chief inspector, Hans Blix, and other UN weapons experts to come to Baghdad for talks "at the earliest agreed upon time" in order "to establish a solid basis for the next stage of monitoring and inspection activities and to move forward toward that stage". The Iraqi government's invitation to members of the UN weapons inspectorate is seen as heralding a possible return of the inspectors for the first time since December 1998. This would represent a major shift in policy, and is likely to at least put on hold any plans for an imminent US attack on Iraq. Jordan's King Abdullah hinted strongly that US allies had suddenly realized Mr. Bush was planning an early invasion of Iraq. While the Iraq move is likely to be dismissed as a ploy and a delaying tactic by the more hawkish members of the Bush administration, it will probably bring at least a temporary halt to the war talk, and that may have been the reason for the invitation. Also, Iraq may have issued the invitation to UN inspectors as a means of isolating further the American plans against Iraq.

Hamas Leader Yassin Says, Sorry about Americans

Aug. 1….(Reuters) The militant Islamic group Hamas denied on Thursday it had deliberately targeted U.S. citizens in a deadly bomb blast at a cafeteria frequented by foreign students at Jerusalem's Hebrew University. The fighter of Hamas did not ask the students about their identity cards and he can't do so. He does not know if they are Arab or Israelis. But we are not targeting at all American targets," said Abdel Azziz al-Rantissi as he joined Muslim cleric in saying that the Americans were just in the way. President Bush said today that he was "furious" about the attack. I'm just as angry as Israel is right now," he told reporters in the Oval Office as he sat down for talks with Jordan's King Abdullah. In his picture-taking session with Abdullah, Bush rejected the view held by many Arab leaders that the United States should be willing to accept Yasser Arafat as the leader of the Palestinian Authority.

U.S. President George W. Bush pauses while answering a question about violence in the Middle East, during a bilateral meeting with Jordanian King Abdullah (not shown) in the Oval Office of the White House, August 1, 2002. Bush said Thursday he was "furious" about the Palestinian attack in Israel that killed seven people, including five Americans.

CFR Suggest Changes to US – Israeli Relationship Image

Aug. 1….(Jerusalem Post) The US must do a better job explaining why it supports Israel if it wants to improve its image in the Arab world, a new report issued by the Council on Foreign Relations says. Figuring out how to improve America's image abroad has taken on a higher priority since September 11 as the US pursues its war on terrorism. The report, completed by an Independent Task Force on Public Diplomacy, says for public diplomacy to be effective it "must be a central element of foreign policy." Israel, it says, is a "prime example of an unpopular policy that the US should manage more prudently to curry favor from world audiences. Washington, however, must do better in explaining the motivations behind its policies." "Without casting itself as Israel's special champion, messages should point out that the United States is a democratic country, and that US policy toward Israel and on other issues is heavily influenced by the views of Congress, powerful interest groups, the press, and public opinion generally," the report says. The CFR report also says the US needs to engage in trying to curb the widespread impression that the United States unconditionally supports Israeli policies." The US should also highlight American support for a viable Palestinian state negotiated on the basis of UN resolutions "and a desire to see an end to Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank soon," it says. The CFR report recommends the creation of a Public Diplomacy Coordinating Structure led by the president's personal designee to ensure action and coordination at the highest level. Along those lines, the Washington Post reported yesterday that the White House plans to set up a Office of Global Communications to coordinate the administration's foreign policy message and supervise America's image abroad.

FOJ Note: The US finds itself alone in supporting Israel's right to exist and to defend herself against terrorism. That image has cast America into the hate-filled vat of anti-Semitism. (Death to Israel and Death to America around the world)

Hamas Denies Israel's Right to Exist

Aug. 1….(Arutz) Hamas spokesman Abdel Aziz Rantisi made it quite clear today. He said that terrorist attacks will continue until all Jews leave Israel. Rantisi made the remarks while claiming responsibility on behalf of Hamas for the slaughter of seven more people in Jerusalem this afternoon. Five Americans were killed and four were injured in the terrorist attack on Jerusalem's Hebrew University Wednesday. Hamas published a pamphlet Thursday warning that for every Hamas leader killed by Israel it would kill 100 Israelis.

Palestinians Celebrate Hebrew U Attack

Aug. 1….(Jerusalem Post) Palestinians marched in Gaza yesterday in a display of celebration over the suicide attack at the Hebrew University earlier Wednesday, which claimed the lives of seven and wounded about ninety. About 10,000 Palestinians handed out sweets, sang songs and chanted anti-Israeli slogans as they marched through Gaza city on Wednesday to celebrate the bombing that killed seven people at Jerusalem's Hebrew University. The rally was organised by the Islamic movement Hamas. Thousands of activists of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other militant organizations marched in demonstration, the report said, some veiled by Kefiehs and brandishing firearms. The crowd called for the continuation of suicide attacks against Israel with some calling for all out war to destroy Israel. The Palestinian Authority did not intervene or act against the demonstrations.

Hamas Experimenting with Chemical Weapons

Aug. 1….(World Tribune) The Pentagon has determined that the Hamas terrorist organization has been conducting research in the use of chemical weapons for suicide bombers. U.S. officials said the Islamic militant group has experimented with explosives and chemicals that could spread lethal agents over a wide area, Middle East Newsline reported. "Some of the groups, like Hamas, are exploring ways to utilize WMD," Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Marshall Billingslea said. "Hamas is working with poisons and chemicals and an effort to coat suicide bomber fragments."

Iraq Close to Nuclear Bomb Goal

Aug. 1….(Guardian) Saddam Hussein will have enough weapons-grade uranium for three nuclear bombs by 2005, a former Iraqi nuclear engineer told senators yesterday, as the US Congress held hearings on whether to go to war. Khidir Hamza, who played a leading role in Iraq's nuclear weapon programme before defecting in 1994, cited German intelligence in saying: "With more than 10 tonnes of uranium and one tonne of slightly enriched uranium...in its possession, Iraq has enough to generate the needed bomb-grade uranium for three nuclear weapons by 2005." He also claimed: "Iraq is using corporations in India and other countries to import the needed equipment for its program and channel it through countries like Malaysia for shipment to Iraq." Mr Hamza, who now works for a New York thinktank, said that the chemical and biological weapons programmes were making strides and Baghdad was "gearing up to extend the range of its missiles to easily reach Israel". His pessimistic assessment was echoed by other witnesses, including the former UN chief weapons inspector, Richard Butler.

The UN Jenin Massacre Report

Aug. 1….(Jerusalem Post) The long-awaited UN report regarding PA claims of an Israeli massacre in the city of Jenin is being released today. The violence in Jenin came amid an Israeli offensive across the West Bank launched on March 29 in response to a suicide bombing that killed 29 Israelis. The Jenin camp saw the heaviest fighting, and Palestinian Cabinet Minister Saeb Erekat said in mid-April that 500 people had been killed. But the UN report said only 52 Palestinian deaths had been confirmed by April 18, and that less than half may have been civilians. Twenty-three Israeli soldiers were also killed. It called the Palestinian allegation that some 500 were killed "a figure that has not been substantiated in the light of evidence. The UN findings mirrored those of Human Rights Watch, which said its experts had found nothing to back allegations of an Israeli army massacre. The Palestinians accused Israel of committing "war crimes" and "atrocities" in Jenin and said the key outstanding issue was whether the attacks constituted "a massacre and a crime against humanity." The report charged Palestinian militants with deliberately putting their fighters and equipment in civilian areas in violation of international law.

EU Demands Accounts from Arafat

Aug. 1….(EU Observer) The European Union is ready to stop financial support for the Palestinians from October, if some money is not accounted for. In a letter sent to Palestinian leader Yassir Arafat, EU Commissioner Chris Patten has demanded that spending for the July-August period be accounted for by October at the latest.

Church in England is Apostate

July 31….(News Telegraph) A third of Church of England clergy doubt or disbelieve in the physical Resurrection and only half are convinced of the truth of the Virgin birth, according to a new survey. The poll of nearly 2,000 of the Church's 10,000 clergy also found that only half believe that faith in Christ is the only route to salvation. While it has long been known that numerous clerics are dubious about the historic creeds of the Church, the survey is the first to disclose how widespread is the skepticism. Most bishops now share the views of the former Bishop of Durham, the Rt. Rev David Jenkins, who caused a scandal in the 1980s when he contrasted the Resurrection with a "conjuring trick with bones". Nevertheless liberal clergy remain profoundly uncertain about the Church's core doctrines. In the survey, two thirds of them expressed doubts in the physical Resurrection and three quarters are unconvinced by the Virgin birth. The survey, carried out by Christian Research, found increasingly positions of authority are being placed in the hands of people who believe less and less. It is an intolerable situation where the faithful are increasingly being led by the unfaithful." The poll added that doubts about the core doctrines of the Church were higher among women priests and their supporters.

FOJ Note: Belief in the resurrection is fundamental to being a Christian. Take away the resurrection and the whole purpose of Jesus mission to earth is reduced to ashes. And if Jesus was not born of a Virgin, then he could not be God's only begotten Son. Denying these basic doctrines is Apostasy!

Arafat Throws Reforms out the Window

July 31…..(Debka) Yasser Arafat posed with Rev. Jesse Jackson in Ramallah before cameras and roundly condemned “suicide terrorism”. But as soon as Jackson was airborne, he vented his real feelings for Americans of any stripe with a series of contemptuous actions, all aimed at undermining the credibility of the US-sponsored reform program for cleansing the Palestinian administration of terrorist and corrupt elements. First, his Fatah was ordered to execute a fresh wave of terrorist attacks, three in 12 hours, leaving two Israelis dead and seven injured. Second, while executing this cycle of terror, Arafat acted to put back to undo all the steps in the reform program advanced by the United States and seconded by the European Union. He arbitrarily swept aside the police and security appointments made by the new Palestinian interior minister Gen. Abdel Razek Yahya, claiming they were unauthorized, and reinstated seven security officers the new man fired because of their records in orchestrating suicide campaigns. Arafat's move left the pro-American interior minister humiliated and stripped of powers for setting up the single security force mandated in the reform program to replace the dozen forces dedicated to Arafat and his terrorist assaults. Rather than face an empty office, Yahya announced he was leaving forthwith for Amman to join his family. He also dropped out of the Palestinian delegation invited to meet secretary of state Colin Powell next week.

Hamas Strikes at Hebrew University

July 31….(Ha Aretz) A bombing in a crowded cafeteria at the Mount Scopus campus of Jerusalem's Hebrew University killed at least seven people Wednesday afternoon and injured at least 85, 14 seriously. The bomb went off at lunchtime in the university's cafeteria. Hamas' military wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Martyrs' Brigade, said in a statement released to the Arabic satellite television network al-Jazeera that it had placed a bomb in the cafeteria two hours before the explosion. It was packed," Israeli government spokesman Danny Seaman said of the cafeteria. "The place is devastated inside. It's a terrible scene. There are body parts scattered 100 to 200 yards." The attack was at the Mount Scopus campus of the university located near the border between traditionally Arab east Jerusalem and west Jerusalem. "This was one place that I thought was safe," one witness said. It was the second bomb attack in the capital in the space of 24 hours. On Tuesday five people were injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up at a felafel stand in downtown Jerusalem, near the border with the city's largely Arab eastern half.

President Clinton Calls for Immediate Palestinian State

July 31….(World Net) The best solution to the Middle East conflict is an interim settlement "to establish a Palestinian state now," former U.S. president Bill Clinton says. But Clinton also stressed that the creation of such a state must be preceded by security assurances for Israel and a timetable to resolve other issues. The daily lives of Palestinians and Israelis are bound up together," he told the crowd of 350 supporters at a Markham home. "There can be no military solution to this (conflict), and no terrorist solution." He disagreed with President George Bush's belief that this can only be achieved when Palestinian chairman Yasser Arafat is gone from power. Nevertheless, he said it was important America remained involved because "Israelis believe that America is the only big country that cares if they live or die." Clinton said Palestinian chairman Arafat had made "a disastrous mistake" turning down the peace offers at Camp David, peace proposals that included control of 97 per cent of the West Bank.

Israel Preparing For US War on Iraq

July 31….(Arutz) The IDF has recently stepped up the preparation on the home front in anticipation of the expected US attack on Iraq. Israeli Security officials estimate that Saddam Hussein will order his army to fire long-range missiles at Israel, including some outfitted with chemical and biological warheads at the beginning of the US strike. In contact with the heads of the US Administration, Israel asked a forewarning of several days prior to the strike to be able to prepare for the possibility of missiles being fired on Israel's civilian population. The IDF foresees a public "avalanche" on the gas mask distribution centers in case of an emergency. Therefore, it has trained some 3,000 reservists, who would be called up at once to help the centers increase distribution to over 50,000 gas masks a day. The IDF has also finished drafting the procedures for updating and informing the public. The moment the report is received of a missile having been fired, a siren will be activated throughout the country, broadcasts on all television and radio stations will stop, and the public will be notified of the new alert code.

Pope Canonizes False Prophet

July 31….(FOJ) Pope John Paul, fighting off exhaustion in a rapturous 5th visit to Mexico, made a 16th-century peasant the 1st Indian Saint in the Americas. When the Pope arrived in Mexico Tuesday night, Mexican President Vincente Fox bowed before him and kissed the ring on his hand. The Pope canonized Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin, whose repeated visions of a dark-skinned Virgin Mary helped convert millions of indigenous Mexicans to Catholicism. The apparition seen in 1531 by Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin, whose Indian name means "Talking Eagle," later become known as the Virgin of Guadalupe and is one of Mexico's central cultural and nationalistic symbols. It is difficult to ever overstate the affection Mexicans have for their Virgin. Her image is everywhere and she is perhaps the most powerful symbol of identity and unity in a country of 100 million people with dozens of indigenous groups, many of which have suffered repression over the centuries. As much as 90% of Mexico's 100 million people are Roman Catholics. (Mary can covert absolutely nobody, and the promotion to Sainthood of Marian idol worshipers is blasphemy, and condemns all who follow this mysticism to the very opposite condition of conversion to Christ)

Saudi Arabia: A Major Player in Prophecy

July 31….(FOJ) Saudi Arabia has one of the world's youngest populations. About 70% the Saudi population is under the age of 19, and it has some of the world's oldest rulers. King Fahd is now 80, and suffered a serious stroke several years ago. Since then, most of his official duties have been carried out by his half brother, Crown Prince Abdullah, himself in his late 70s. Although the ruling regime is stable today, the advanced age of the country's leaders and the fuzzy lines of succession create concerns about the future. The ruling royal family is not on good terms with each other, and there are serious concerns that the Kingdom could fall into the hands of Islamic terrorists. As the country's de facto ruler, Abdullah is next in line for the throne. He is thought to have the support of most of the royal family, assuring a smooth transition if Fahd should precede him in death. Abdullah seems to be trying to steer Saudi Arabia toward economic, social and political reforms while preserving its conservative brand of Islam. The crown prince seems likely to maintain Saudi Arabia's long-standing strategic and economic ties with the United States, although he is very much displeased with U.S. efforts to restrain Israeli military action against the Palestinians. The death of King Fahd could see followers of Osama bin Laden or other Islamic extremists try to assassinate any Saudi ruler deemed too pro-Western, or take over altogether. Possible contenders include some 25 brothers and half brothers of King Fahd along with numerous sons and nephews. Islam and oil are the measuring sticks for everything that transpires in Saudi Arabia. Bible Prophecy conveys that Saudi Arabia will become worried about Russia's intentions on the Arabian Peninsula when Russia, along with her Middle Eastern allies (Persia, Libya, Ethiopia, and the Islamic Republics along Russia's southern border) invades Israel. Today, the Saudi Royal family looks to the U.S to deter any aggression against the Saudi Kingdom. But, the Saudi's are increasingly becoming more anti-American because of America's support for Israel.

Iran Warns US and Israel Against Hitting Busheir

July 30….(Al Bawaba) Iran has issued a statement that it will respond with full force against any attack on its nuclear installations, the English-language daily Tehran Times reported in a commentary, published on Tuesday. The commentary was referring to a report published Monday in The Washington Post saying Israel and the United States are concerned about Iran's nuclear power plant in Bushehr in the southern part of the Islamic Republic. The American report added that some circles in Tel Aviv and Washington even advocate a preemptive attack to prevent the plant from becoming operational. “Iran's nuclear installations are regularly inspected by the International Atomic Energy Agency, whose inspectors have time and again reported that Iran's installations are meant for peaceful purposes," the Iranian commentary said. "Iran is not the only country in the world with a nuclear power plant. There are many other countries which have nuclear power plants, yet no other countries have protested against them," Tehran Times wrote.

EU Broadens Ties to Iran

July 30….(UPI) At a time when the US is concerned with Iran's development of nuclear weapons, and its activities in what President Bush termed as the Axis of Evil, European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana visited Teheran andannounced that the EU was determined to broaden its ties and expand economic cooperation with Iran. Solana underlined the important role Iran has been playing in regional affairs and emphasized "the need for continued mutual relations between Iran and the EU member states. He said the EU backs Iran to join the World Trade Organization and expressed hope that the signing of a joint trade cooperation agreement would encourage the European countries to increase their investments in Iran. Kharrazi said the expansion of Iran-EU ties would serve both sides' interests and that his country was keen to promote a comprehensive cooperation with the European Union. Solana was in Teheran to meet Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi. Kharrazi blamed the United States' "unconditional support of Israel" on what he termed as "the Zionist atrocities" against the Palestinians. He welcomed the EU initiative while condemning America as an evil country.

Hizbullah Launches Anti-Aircraft Barrage

July 30….(Middle East News Line) Hizbullah gunners fired on Northern Israel for about two hours in the biggest attack against the Jewish State in months. Israeli military sources said Hizbullah fired 357 mm anti-aircraft rounds toward Israeli communities along the border. The Israeli Air Force routinely conducts flights along the Lebanese border. The Hizbullah attack encompassed many areas of the 70-kilometer border. Lebanese sources said Israeli military aircraft flew over Beirut and caused sonic booms over the capital. MENL sources said Israel has increased reconnaissance missions over central Lebanon.

US May Put Iranian Nuclear Plant on Hit List

July 30….A nuclear power plant being built in Iran has emerged as a potential test of the Bush Administration's doctrine of pre-empting threats to United States security. President George Bush has labelled Iran a part of the "axis of evil", and some of his defense officials argue that a nuclear plant at Bushehr, on the country's Persian Gulf coast, should be destroyed before it receives its first load of nuclear fuel from Russia. Russia has been engaged in helping Iran become nuclear capable. Iran is a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors have visited the Bushehr site. Although a pre-emptive strike appears to be supported by only a minority in the Administration, Israel has suggested it will not allow the plant to open.

Iran Seeks T-55 Production With Russia

July 30….(Middle East News Line) Iran, with Russian help is progressing in its upgrade of T-55 tanks. Industry sources said the effort would include Russian help in the production of an Iranian upgrade of the Soviet-origin T-55 main battle tanks. The sources said Russia has also offered to transfer technology for the modernization of Iran's tank and armored forces. A Russian military delegation met Iranian defense chiefs recently to discuss expanded cooperation in armored production and upgrades. The delegation was led by Russian Deputy Defense Minister Mikhail Dmitriyev. Dmitriyev, who also chairs the military technical cooperation committee with Teheran, toured Iranian military production facilities including Iran's Defense Industrial Organization.

Saudi Arabia Warned US About OK City

July 30….(World Net) There is growing speculation that the 1995 bombing in Oklahoma City had Al Qaeda connections. The speculation also points to the possibility of a government cover up in the bombing case to suppress a possible panic within the American public. Saudi Arabian intelligence officials warned the FBI about an Iraqi plot to attack federal facilities in 1995, including the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. A Saudi informant who is part of the Saudi counter-terrorism service, told US federal officials that he had seen a hit list and that first on the list was the federal building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Timothy McVeigh and accomplice Terry Nichols were eventually charged and convicted for differing roles in connection with the OKC bombing. McVeigh was executed June 11, 2001; Nichols has been sentenced to life in prison, but could face state death penalty charges in Oklahoma. Mike Johnston, co-counsel for Judicial Watch, said there was some evidence suggesting that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, a top al-Qaida lieutenant whom federal authorities believe may have masterminded the Sept. 11th attacks and trained McVeigh-Nichols for the OKC bombing in the Philippines.

Syria Cementing Ties with “Axis of Evil”!

July 30….(FOJ) Syria has recently begun exhibiting a special fondness for three countries, Iraq, Iran and North Korea, who have been dubbed the "axis of evil" by the U.S. administration. This month, Syrian President Bashar Assad gave a warm welcome to Kim Yong-nam, the president of the Supreme People's Assembly Presidium of North Korea and the number two man in the Asian state. According to reports, Assad spoke to his guest about Syria's efforts to forge closer ties also with Cuba, Sudan, Iraq and Iran in an effort to demonstrate Damascus's opposition to "the policy of tyranny" of the U.S. A letter blessing Iraqi President Saddam Hussein on the anniversary of the Ba'ath party's revolution in Iraq was published in Syria on July 17. Syria continues to benefit from the opportunity of exporting a few hundred thousand barrels of oil daily from Iraq, which supplies Damascus with the oil in direct contravention of UN regulations. This is one of the reasons why Damascus objects to an attack on Iraq.

Another Explosive Day in Israel

July 30….(FOX) A Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up Tuesday at a central Jerusalem fast-food stand popular with police, wounding four Israelis, police said. It was the first suicide bombing in Jerusalem since a pair of attacks June 18-19 killed 26 Israelis and prompted Israel to reoccupy seven of eight major Palestinian towns in the West Bank. In the Jerusalem attack, the bomber entered the Yemenite Felafel Stand, located on a busy downtown street, and detonated the explosives. In the West Bank, gunmen killed two Israeli settlers who had entered a Palestinian village. Alos, masked Palestinian gunmen hiding behind olive trees shot and killed two Israeli settlers who had gone to a Palestinian village for business. Also Tuesday, a Palestinian man entered a house in the Jewish settlement of Itamar near Nablus and stabbed a settler and his wife, seriously wounding them. The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, linked to Arafat's Fatah movement, claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Middle East Arms Race “Ticking Timebomb”

July 29….(AP) An hour's drive southwest of the biblical site of Armageddon lies Israel's high-tech bid to keep doomsday on hold. Here amid the picturesque palm trees and sand dunes on Israel's Mediterranean coast, troops at a heavily guarded air base are fine-tuning the Middle East's only operational missile defense. The first battery of Arrow 2 missiles has stood poised for action since October 2000. Its mission: to intercept and destroy any incoming missile threat to nearby Tel Aviv and surrounding areas. And these days, those threats are everywhere, particularly from Southern Lebanon, and Iraq. Experts warn that a growing number of countries, including Iran and Iraq, are mounting an all-out drive to acquire nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. Many of the same regimes also are developing powerful, more accurate rockets to deliver the lethal munitions. Russia, China and North Korea are all actively involved in contributing their expertise and hardware to Arab nations in exchange for regional influence. While Russian and China help Iran and Iraq, Israel is working with the United States to maintain its technological edge with defenses such as Arrow and a laser capable of destroying small incoming missiles. The Israeli arsenal already boasts a hefty nuclear stockpile, chemical weapons, accurate long-range missiles and sophisticated spy satellites. Regional defense analysts insist that the massive weapons buildup poses a potential for a real Armageddon type exchange.

Saudi Arabia Susceptible to Fall to al-Qaida?

July 29….(Guardian) Some intelligence experts believe Saudi Arabia is teetering on the brink of collapse, and fear that Al Qaeda could takeover of one of the West's key allies in the war on terror. Anti-government demonstrations have swept the desert kingdom in the past months in protest at the pro-American stance of the de facto ruler, Prince Abdullah. Abdullah could face a palace coup from elements within the royal family sympathetic to al-Qaeda. Saudi sources said the Pentagon had recently sponsored a secret conference to look at options if the royal family fell. Unrest in the east of the country rapidly escalated into nationwide protests against the royal family last week and shows that most Saudis support Yasser Arafat and the Palestinians and oppose the US backing of Israel.

Persia and Russia Coming Together

July 29….(Global Security)For the past seven years, U.S. and Israeli spy satellites have swept regularly over Iran's Persian Gulf coast, snapping pictures of Russian and Iranian construction crews working to complete a nuclear power plant at Bushehr. This year, the satellites beamed back images of a round reactor dome, cooling pipes, pumping equipment and what some intelligence analysts believe to be antiaircraft missile battery sites. Busheir has become a hot subject of debate in Washington and Tel Aviv concerning whether the plant should be allowed to come on line as scheduled in the next two or three years. As the plant moves closer to completion, it also has emerged as a potential test case of the Bush administration's new doctrine of preempting threats to U.S. national security. In the process, it has highlighted the complexities involved in executing a policy of preemption. Bush has labeled Iran a part of the “axis of evil,” and some U.S. defense officials argue that Bushehr should be destroyed before it receives its first load of nuclear fuel from Russia. On June 7, 1981, Israeli F-15s and F-16s destroyed the French-built Osirak light-water nuclear reactor near Baghdad. The attack was criticized by the United States at the time but is now regarded by many U.S. policymakers as a milestone in efforts to prevent Iraqi President Saddam Hussein from obtaining nuclear weapons. In recent weeks, Israel has publicly warned Iran that it considers the Bushehr plant a threat to its national security. There is some evidence, though not conclusive, that Iran is positioning antiaircraft missile batteries around the plant and a nuclear research facility near Tehran, according to analysts who have looked at high-resolution satellite images of those sites. The Bushehr plant, on Iran's southwestern coast, is set to be completed in 16 months and operational 18 months later. Iran, which is paying Russia $800 million for its assistance, says the 1,000-megawatt light-water reactor is for peaceful energy production only. The CIA estimates that Iran is seven years from having a nuclear bomb. Israeli intelligence estimates five years. Within the next few years, experts agree, Iran will have acquired enough know-how and technology to produce a long-range nuclear missile capability without further foreign assistance. Russia's help on Bushehr creates a “convenient cover for interaction” between Iranian and Russian scientists involved in nuclear weapons development, The CIA says it has considerable evidence that Russian scientists have been actively helping Iran acquire the technology, know-how and material to build a bomb. “Russia continues to supply significant assistance on nearly all aspects of Tehran's nuclear program,” CIA Director George J. Tenet told the Senate Armed Services Committee in March. “It is also providing Iran assistance on long-range ballistic missile programs.” With construction slated to be completed by late 2003 or early 2004, the window for action will soon begin to close. “Within the next year, either the U.S. or Israel is going to either attack Iran's nuclear sites or acquiesce to Iran being a nuclear state,” said John E. Pike, director of Global Security, a nonpartisan military and intelligence research center.

FOJ Note: Ezekiel 38 depicts that the alliance between Russia and Iran will catapult both nations into an assault upon the mountains of Israel in the Last Days.

Russia: Nuclear, Oil Cooperation With Iran

July 29….(AP) Ignoring U.S. opposition, Russia plans to sharply increase cooperation with Iran that includes a proposal to build six nuclear reactors in Iran. The plan also envisages Russian help for Iranian oil drilling and the joint launches of satellites. The 10-year proposed cooperation plan is certain to complicate Moscow's relations with Washington, which haD blossomed since President Vladimir Putin offered his support for the U.S.-led war on terror. Despite the warmer ties, Russia's completion of a nuclear reactor at the Iranian port of Bushehr has clouded relations with Washington. The United States has accused Iran of sponsoring terrorism and has said Russian assistance is helping Iran develop nuclear weapons. Moscow has dismissed the accusations, saying the aid only serves civilian purposes. The new cooperation plan takes the nuclear deal even further: It envisages a total of six Russian-built nuclear reactors in Iran, four at Bushehr and two at a yet-to-be-built plant in Akhvaz.

Christian Rally for Israel October 11

July 29….(Jerusalem Post) Christian supporters of Israel are gearing up for a massive, pro-Israel rally in Washington this autumn to press for increased support for Israel's fight against terror and oppose the Bush administration's call for the establishment of a Palestinian state. The rally, titled "Israel, You Are Not Alone," is sponsored by the Christian Coalition of America. It is scheduled for the afternoon of October 11, on the Ellipse near the White House, and organizers said they hope to bring out a minimum of 100,000 supporters. According to the president of the Christian Coalition, Roberta Combs, the rally was planned as a response to the increasing violence in the Middle East and the Evangelical Christian community's desire to show its continuing support for Israel. Among the issues the Christian Coalition plans to press, as outlined on a flier currently being circulated in thousands of churches across the US, is a call to the Bush administration to "allow Israel to fight its war on terrorism the way we fought ours in Afghanistan." A call to move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and opposition to dividing Jerusalem and dismantling settlements in Judea and Samaria will also be voiced. I believe it's going to really be a huge rally," said Brown. "It's going to send a very clear message to the Jewish people that those who are true Christians cannot really call themselves that without loving the Jewish state and the Jewish people, said Michael Brown of the Christian Coalition."

Rev. Jesse Jackson: Pro Yasser Arafat

July 29….(Ha Aretz) U.S. civil rights leader Reverend Jesse Jackson kicked off a Middle East peace mission Saturday by criticizing U.S. President George W. Bush's call for a change in Palestinian leadership. "That's an undemocratic idea," he said. Jackson intends to meet with Arafat, and in his expected meeting with the Palestinian Authority Chairman, will stress to the Palestinian leader that non-violence is not a sign of weakness. The 60-year-old leader of the Chicago-based Rainbow/PUSH Coalition heads a delegation representing several religious faiths who will meet Israeli and Palestinian leaders, rights groups, victims and religious leaders during the five-day visit.

Rev. Jackson is a Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

July 29….(FOJ) Rev. Jesse Jackson, visiting PA held territory while leading a group of American religious leaders, said that he is brokering a plan according to which Israel would extend humanitarian aid to Palestinian children. Jackson said he was concerned about rising malnutrition among Palestinians, particularly the children. He added that he had raised these concerns in a meeting yesterday with Foreign Minister Shimon Peres. "I'm convinced Israelis and Palestinians must live together," he said. In a sermon at St. Stephan's Church in Jerusalem, Jackson noted that Joseph had forgiven his brothers, despite the fact that they had mistreated him. So too should the Israelis and Palestinians, by breaking the cycle of violence and become reconciled. Jackson said there are those who have given up the dream, who want peace but do not believe it can be achieved. "The Israeli government is driven by fear, the Palestinians are driven by despair. There must be a third force driven by hope," he said. Jackson stated that the suicide bombers are not out to wipe Israel off the map. The idea of pushing the Jews into the sea is no longer at issue. But the Palestinians have their backs against the wall and that's why "something as futile as suicide attacks are their only recourse, he said." Jackson was asked if Israel had a Biblical right to Judea and Samaria. He responded that they did not, and that the issue should be worked out through negotiations. (FOJ Note: Mr. Jackson does not represent true Christianity. He is a wolf in sheep's clothing, and stands in absolute opposition to God's providence for Israel. Stating that Israel has no Biblical right to the Promised Land shows that Rev. Jackson is completely ignorant of God's word on the subject. His denying that the Arab terrorists do not intend harm to the existence of the State of Israel, and his assertion that suicide bombing are somehow justifiable reveals that Rev. Jackson is more closely aligned with the God of Islam, and the enemies of Israel, than anything associated with the Bible, or the one true God of Israel.)

US Isolates PA Terrorists in UN

July 29….(FOJ) US ambassador John Negroponte, speaking at the UN Security Council in New York City on July 26, snapped Washington's last ties to some critical historical conventions on the Middle East conflict. The ambassador said: “For any resolution to go forward, the United States, which has a veto in the 15-nation council – would want it to have the following four elements:

    a.) An explicit condemnation of terrorism;

    b.) A condemnation by name of the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, the Islamic Jihad and Hamas groups, and any other groups that have claimed responsibility for suicide attacks on Israel;

    c.) An appeal to all parties for a political settlement of the crisis;

    d.) A demand for improvement of the security situation as a condition for any call for a withdrawal of Israeli armed forces to positions they held before the September 2000 start of a Palestinian uprising.“

The American ambassador, with the conditions he posed for any Security Council resolution, clearly branded the armed Palestinian campaign a war of terror, which Israel has every right to combat and defeat with diplomatic and military assistance from the United States. The conditions he laid down effectively negated the legitimacy of the uprising that Arafat launched 22 months ago.

Arafat's Fatah will Target Sharon

July 26….(Jerusalem Post) The senior commander in Yasser Arafat's Fatah's organization, and Al Aksa Martyrs Brigade, Abu Mojihad has stated that Fatah will target senior Israeli government and army officials, including Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, in response to Israel's killing of senior Hamas military commander Salah Shehadeh. The group, known as "The Return Brigade," has also threatened former Israeli Prime minister Ehud Barak, OC Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Moshe Ya'alon, his predecessor, Lt.-Gen. (res.) Shaul Mofaz, Shin Bet chief Avi Dichter, Education Minister Limor Livnat, and Minister of Internal Security Uzi Landau, IDF major-generals Avi Malka and Giora Ireland, and politicians Avigdor Lieberman and Yitzhak Levy. The list was published last night and, after being aired on Hizbullah's Al Manara television station.

Iraq Calls upon China

July 26….(Arab News) Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan has called upon China to adopt a firm stand in the face of the American policy towards Iraq. He challenged China to help confront the global hegemony of the United States, and the propensity of the US for to harass Iraq. Iraq calls for a multilateral world and equity in international relations, non interference in internal affairs of people, security and peace to prevail the world, and rejection of the policy imposed by the American administration of evil.

Cloning Connected to ET's?

July 26….(FOJ) Clonaid of Korea has implanted a cloned embryo into the womb of a woman, who will deliver the human clone early next year. The human clone was implanted by scientists from the US and South Korea in April, according to the cloning company Guak Kyong Tae. Clonaid, the first company to deal in human cloning, belongs to the Raelian sect, which believes that extra-terrestrials began life on Earth and that the human species is a clone from alien life-forms.

Secretary Powell Warns Israel

July 26….(AP) The Bush administration has served notice on Israel that it is reviewing the use of American equipment in military operations that exact a heavy civilian toll. The U.S. concern is the impact on difficult peacemaking efforts. Targeting foes of Israel in densely populated areas using American made weapons is not something the US will permit. The notice of a continuing review came from Secretary of State Colin Powell at a news conference. But he gave no indication that Israel's use of an American-made F-16 fighter jet to kill Hamas military leader Salah Shehadeh in Gaza City on Tuesday will be judged a violation of U.S. law.

Hamas Leader Selects New Terror Chief

July 26….(Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi, one of the top political leaders of Hamas, is surrounded by his bodyguard while he attends a Hamas rally to support the new commander who is to succeed Shehada as head of Hamas military wing, in the Jabalya refugee camp in the Gaza Strip , July 26, 2002. "We hope that God blesses you and gives you the power to avenge us very soon," Rantissi told the rally. About 3,000 Palestinians, waving the green flags of Hamas, marched through the Jabaliya refugee camp on the edge to Gaza City and vowed revenge on Israel for the Tuesday attack. "The Hamas reaction will be equal to the Zionist crime," Rantisi told the crowd, which included five veiled women who said they were relatives Salah Shehadeh. The Hamas rally celebrated the killings of Rabbi Shapiro and 4 others in drive-by shootings in the West Bank.

US State Department Warns Israel

July 25….(Jerusalem Post) The US State Department warned Israel Wednesday not to use US-made weapons in contravention of US arms export regulations, reports Israel Radio. US-made weapons sold to Israel may only be used in self-defense or for internal security purposes. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said that the administration is required to make a report to Congress "anytime there might have been a substantial violation of the terms of sale of such weapons." Boucher said that the US is very concerned about a number of Israeli actions, including target killings and those that involve civilian casualties.

Iraq Defiantly Defends Suicide Bombings

July 25….(FOJ) Iraq's ambassador to the United Nations says that Palestinian suicide bombings in Israel are "legitimate suicidal actions in accordance with international law" against the "Zionist entity." Speaking at an emergency Arab-requested U.N. Security Council meeting on Israel's Gaza City attack, Abdul Al-Kadhe defended Palestinian actions and criticized the United States for indulging "the Zionist entity." He described Israel as "a spoiled child” and America the encourager of its spoiled child. "Israel is trying to terrorize and to crush the Palestinian people, to tame them and force them to accept this humiliating policy of simple submission." "Palestinian suicide bombings are a legitimate right, a way to achieve emancipation and legitimate self-defense against the Zionist military machine. And, so the Palestinian suicidal actions are legitimate." Al-Kadhe said that the United States is using its power as a military machine and its power in the media for its own narrow ends," he said. "The United States invokes the pretext of international terrorism in order to carry out their own strategic goals in the world, using force, threatening force and stating explicitly that they will intervene in the internal affairs of states and that they wish to change the political, social and economic regimes. "Proof of these are the constantly reiterated intentions of the U.S. administration to change the legal regime in Iraq and to launch military aggression against that country," Al-Kadhe said. "They have also stated their intention of changing the legal leaders of Palestine." Iraqi Foreign Minister Tarik Aziz, speaking in an interview on MSNBC, stated that the suicide bombers of the Palestinian Authority were not terrorists, but freedom fighters, opposing an illegal occupation of Palestinian land. He compared the suicide bombers to American forefather George Washington.

World War IV Began on Sept. 11

July 25….(Rapture Ready) Former CIA Director R. James Woolsey told a Washington audience Wednesday, "We are in a world war, we are in World War IV." He said World War IV began on Sept. 11, 2001. Woolsey, former director of central intelligence (1993-1995) under President Clinton, warned a packed audience at a Washington, D.C., symposium that this current world war will be unlike any other in history. The symposium discussed intelligence requirements in the new century and was hosted by the Institute on World Politics. Woolsey said that America won the Cold War, which he described as World War III, and he expects America to meet the challenges of the new war. The former CIA chief did not mince words as he challenged the administration to continue to pound out the message that America is not simply on a mission of self-defense but on a sacred campaign to safeguard the ideals of democracy. It will be a long and bloody conflict lasting years, he said.

The Salah Shehada Strike

July 25….(FOJ) Once again the UN Security Council has met and condemned Israel. What else is new. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said that Israel had failed in its "legal and moral responsibility to take all measures to avoid the innocent loss of life, by striking at Hamas terrorist thug Salah Shehada. The United Nations has passed more resolutions condemning Israel than it has passed against all the rest of the UN member states combined. One would think that Israel is the biggest, meanest, most oppressive bully on the planet. On the surface, this latest incident of retaliation would seem to be as President Bush stated, heavy-handed, if not blatantly wrong. However, one must realize that Israel is involved in a war, and it is a war for survival. The UN rules always only apply to Israel, and there are never reciprocating rules for all sides in this war.

Upon further review, I find that Israel used a precision guided one-ton bomb to hit Mr. Shehada. They wanted to make sure they got him. Shehada had already killed more than two hundred Israeli children. And it could be argued that you could add to his count the ten Palestinian children (even his own) that he was using as shields when he took refuge in a crowded apartment building. Gaza is reputed to be the most densely populated spot on earth per square mile. Intelligence warnings of vulnerable Palestinian civilians caused Israel to pull the plug on eight prior assassination attempts to kill Salah Shehadeh, the commander of the military wing of Hamas. Shehada was known to be planning many more attacks on Israeli children too. Considre that Shehada's has directed the June 18 attack on a Jerusalem bus killing many, and when the survivors tried to crawl to safety, they were systematically machine gunned by two Hamas terrorists dressed as Israeli soliders. The toll was 19 killed, half of them children. On May 17, Shehada sent a suicide bomber into a social club in the town of Rishon Letzion, killing 16 people and injuring more than 50. On March 31, a Hamas bomber attacks restaurant in Haifa, northern Israel, killing himself and 14 Israeli Jews and Arabs. On the same day, another Hamas bomber killed himself and wounded four people in an attack on an office for paramedics at the Jewish settlement of Efrat, south of Bethlehem.

On March 27, a bomber walked into a Passover celebration dinner in Netanya. There were no possible targets except the families -- women and children. This bomber not only carried explosives, but also poison gas that failed to function properly. Thanks to the malfunctioning gas bomb, he only murdered 28 people, mostly women and children. March 9: The Moment cafe in Jerusalem near Ariel Sharon's official residence killed 11, mostly children. March 2: Nine people killed including two babies, and 57 injured after suicide bomb attack in an ultra-Orthodox area of Jerusalem. On August 9 Shehada sent a suicide bomber against the Sbarro Pizzeria in Jerusalem, killing fifteen people, all of them women, children and elderly people, some of them Americans. On June 1, Shehada's bombers attacked the Dolphinarium Disco, a nightclub popular with young teens. Twenty-one teenagers were killed, most of them of junior high school age.

Israel is at war with an enemy that deliberately targets children. Israel's enemy isn't the kind of enemy to come out in the open and fight like a brave soldier. The Palestinian terrorists hide, they hit and then run for the cover of innocent people.

(What is the lesson here: Matt 26:52 for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.)

PA Will Charge Sharon Before ICC

July 23….(Arab News) The Palestinian Authority will file a complaint with the newly established International Criminal Court over the Israeli air strike on Gaza City which killed 15 people, including civilians and children, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's top adviser said. "We will ask the ICC for an urgent trial over the crime against humanity carried out last night. Palestinian spokesmen said, "this will be a real test for this court. We hope the trial will start immediately, to look into Sharon's policies, which have destroyed the peace process and all international efforts to put it back on track." The ICC was just launched on July 1 and is designed to investigate and prosecute alleged crimes against humanity, genocide and war crimes.

Bush Denounces Israeli Attack

July 24….(Fox) President Bush denounced as "heavy-handed" an Israeli warplane's missile attack on a Gaza City apartment building, which killed a Hamas leader at the top of Israel's most-wanted list and at least 14 other Palestinians, including nine children. "This heavy-handed action does not contribute to peace," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Tuesday. This was a deliberate attack on the site, knowing that innocents would be lost in the consequences of the attack," he said, adding that Bush still remained a strong backer of Israel. With his condemnation, the White House joined European and Arab nations who called the strike irresponsible and denounced the civilian deaths. The attack killed Salah Shehadeh, 48, a founder and the top commander of Hamas' military wing, known as Izzadine el-Qassam, the group said. The group has carried out scores of attacks, including more suicide bombings than any other Palestinian faction in the current Mideast conflict. "This operation was in my view one of our biggest successes," Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told Cabinet ministers. "We hit perhaps the most senior Hamas figure on the operational side of terror, Sharon said.”

FOJ Note: The attack on the Gaza home of Shehadah was enacted with American provided F-16 fighters, and therein lies the rub for President Bush.

FOJ Note: Shehadeh is also responsible for Hamas' deadliest suicide bombings, including a March attack at a Netanya hotel that killed 29, a June 2001 disco bombing in Tel Aviv that killed 21, and an August 2001 bombing at a Jerusalem pizzeria that killed 15. Shehadeh was notorious for using children as human shields against retaliation.

U.S. House okays $200 million for Israel's War on Terror

July 24….(Reuters)The U.S. House of Representatives has approved a $200 million aid package to Israel intended to help fight terror, and $50 million in humanitarian aid for the Palestinians, provided the money does not go directly to the Palestinian Authority, or to Chairman Arafat.

Sudan, Nigerian Muslims Making War on Christianity

July 24….(Worthy News) Christians in the Plateau State of central Nigeria have been killed and forced from their land by extremist Islamic militants. Attacks have been mounted against Christians in the area surrounding Jos. Christians in a village outside Jos were roused from sleep by church bells at 5am on a morning at the end of June. When they began making their way to church thinking it was the bell for morning prayers, they were ambushed by Islamic militants from the Hausa and Fulani tribes. At least a thousand Christians are refugees scattered between Mban, Pil and Langtan, and Christian leaders in the area have organised refugee camps and have recorded evidence of the atrocities. Bishop Ben Kwashi of Jos said: "We are facing a new Muslim onslaught. Terror has been released on the majority Christian population of the Plateau. As in Sudan, the church in these areas continues to be lively and fervent in faith in spite of their hardships. Our faith in our suffering is producing much fruit. Even now the congregations that are barely a month old are still zealous for Christ. We are losing material possessions and hanging on to Jesus alone."

The Hamas Terrorist Charter

July 24….(FOJ) many people have only recently become apprised of the role of the Hamas Terrorist organization in the West Bank and Gaza. A brief look at the Islamic militant group Hamas, whose military commander Salah Shehadeh was killed in an Israeli air strike in Gaza: Goal: An Islamic-ruled Middle East in which the Jewish state of Israel would be eliminated. Since it was founded in 1987, Hamas has dispatched its fanatical believers to kill hundreds of Israeli civilians and soldiers with suicide bombings, remote-controlled bombs and gun attacks. Hamas suicide bombers have played a prominent role in the current conflict. Hamas support comes from through contributions from the Arab world and Muslims elsewhere, including the United States. In Palestinian areas, especially in Gaza, Hamas has solidified its position by establishing social services, including kindergartens and schools, which are utilized as training grounds for teenage suicide bombers.

Allah Has Afflicted us For Failing to Destroy Israel

July 24….(FOJ) Official television and radio stations of the Palestinian Authority broadcasting from Gaza, carry a live sermon from a Muslim mosque in the Gaza Strip. The Imam delivers his sermon via loudspeakers arranged around town in which he urges worshippers to do what Allah orders, and Allah orders the destruction of the State of Israel. He warns that whoever disobeys Allah's orders would suffer sedition and torture, and charges of collaboration with the Devil. He urges Muslims to observe their daily prayers as he points to crowds attending Friday Muslim prayers. "It is for this reason," the Imam roars, "that Allah has afflicted us with sedition and an enemy, who does not fear us, but sweeps into our towns, kills our children, and imprisons our heroes." This would not have happened, he adds, "had we carried out Allah's orders of Holy Jihad, and had Muslims carried out orders for jihad and not listened to the empty talk about peace. What peace is this when Allah's Al-Aqsa Mosque is being desecrated and curfew is being imposed on the Muslim territories? The Muslim must carry out Allah's orders and bring death to Israel and America

The Re-Gathering of the Jews Continues

July 24….(FOJ) This week 633 new immigrants arrived in Israel. Of the 633 new Israeli citizens, 99 are came from the Ukraine, 135 from the Central Asian Republics of the Former Soviet Union and from the southern Caucasus region, 160 came from Russia itself, 96 from Argentina, 60 from Ethiopia, 15 immigrated from the USA, 30 from France and the remainder from the UK, Belgium, India and Brazil.

Jeremiah 29:14 And I will be found of you, saith the Lord: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the Lord; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.

lFarrakhan Calls US Plans to Attack Iraq a “War on God”

July 23….(Washington Times) Louis Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation of Islam, sharply criticized U.S. policy in the Middle East yesterday, urging the Bush administration to leave Yasser Arafat alone and warning that a military strike on Iraq would be an "attack against God Himself." "If America fails to use her heavy leverage in a positive way to bring about peace, the conflict will widen and American interests will be damaged," he said. Mr. Farrakhan, who advocates a full Israeli pullout from the West Bank, urged U.S. and United Nations officials to supervise the creation of a Palestinian state. Asked about the Palestinian suicide bombings, he said that the Palestinians were left with no choice but terrorism. "When people reach that level of despair, they do what they think they must do."

FOJ Note: Mr. Farrakhan is the ultimate in absurdity!

Iran President Khatami Assails US

July 23….(Washington Post) Iranian President Mohammad Khatami warned the United States on Tuesday against meddling in the Middle East. Khatami has accused the United States of warmongering and warned that any prospective military action against Iraq could seriously threaten regional stability. We call for an end to the genocide of the opposed people of Palestine and for the restoration of their inalienable rights," Khatami said. Khatami said action to topple Saddam in Iraq, Iran's foe in a 1980-1988 war that killed an estimated one million people, would violate that country's sovereignty. The United States has sought official talks with Iran since Khatami won presidential elections in 1997. Last week President Bush abandoned diplomatic overtures with Iran. Former U.S. President Bill Clinton made a series of reconciliation gestures but was always rebuffed. Washington cut ties with Tehran after radical Iranian students seized the U.S. embassy in 1979 and held dozens of its diplomats and other personnel hostage for 444 days.

FOJ Note: President Khatami has called for the nuclear destruction of Israel.

Israel Kills Top Hamas Leader

July 23….(Jerusalem Post) Israeli forces killed Salah Shehadeh, the leader of Hamas' military wing, Izzadine al-Qassem, the terror group that has carried out the largest number of suicide attacks against Israeli civilians in the Palestinian uprising. Shehadeh was known as deeply religious Muslim, and a fervent supporter of suicide bombings and had been a possible successor to Hamas' spiritual leader Sheik Ahmad Yassin. He directly commanded the top Hamas militants. Israel viewed Shehadeh as the most brutal and brilliant terrorist operating in the Gaza Strip. "He was personally responsible for orchestrating attacks against hundreds of civilians over the past two years." Shehadeh was born in Gaza in 1953. Shehadeh, along with Sheik Yassin and several other brotherhood members, founded the radical Hamas organization. Shehadeh was known by the nom de geurre Abu Mustapha. The Hamas terrorist organization has vowed to avenge the assassination of its military wing leader in the Gaza Strip. According to initial reports, a total of 11 Palestinians were killed in the strike, including Shehada's wife and three children. Dozens of people were wounded. Eye-witnesses said an F-16 warplane fired a missile that levelled five houses in a Gaza City neighbourhood. Israeli sources confirmed the airstrike in Gaza and the fact that Shehada had been killed.

U. N. Blasts Israel Over Assassination of Hamas Leader

July 23….(Ha Aretz) The United Nations blasted Israel today after IAF warplanes killed Hamas military wing leader Salah Shehada as well as 11 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip in the early hours of Tuesday. Chief Spokesman for the United Nations Fred Eckhard said that Israel has a legal and moral responsibility to take all measures to avoid the loss of innocent life. But Eckhard said that Israel "clearly failed to do so in using a missile against an apartment building." "The Secretary-General (Kofi Annan) calls on the government of Israel to halt such actions and to conduct itself in a manner that is fully consistent with international humanitarian law."

Russia Lashes at US, UK Strikes Against Iraq

July 23….(Middle East Wire) Russia has condemned British and US air strikes on Iraq, accusing them of complicating peace efforts in the Middle East and the Gulf, amid mounting speculation over US plans to oust Saddam Hussein. The US armed forces bombed what they said were military targets in Iraq's southern "no-fly" zone on Saturday and Sunday, striking a mobile radar unit and air defense facilities. Russia is convinced that such operations in illegitimate "no-fly" zones complicate the efforts of the international community to find a political and diplomatic solution to the Iraqi problem, and to ease tensions in the Middle East and the Gulf region," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

Israel Threatens to Strike Syria

July 22….(Jerusalem Post) Israel has warned that it will strike military targets inside Syria the next time Hizbullah attacks Israel. Israel has hardened its position after Syrian President Bashar el-Assad ignored two separate Israeli warnings, delivered via the United States, to end his country's support for Hizbullah and Palestinian terrorists groups based in Damascus. A third warning was delivered by IDF Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Mubarak is reportedly concerned that Bashar Assad is playing with fire, and doesn't realize it. Israel has come close to attacking Syria in recent weeks, but suicide bombings have kept Israel's attention on the West Bank and there has been a reluctance to open a second front in the north. Former head of military intelligence Maj.-Gen. Amos Malka has warned that "sooner rather than later we'll be engaged in a conflict with Syria, unless Syria changes its attitude." Assad has not delivered the goods," Malka reportedly said. "I'm not sure he reads the geopolitical map correctly, and he's taking unnecessary risks."

Bush Middle East Doctrine

July 22….(FOJ) The war to unseat Saddam will free Jordan of its Iraqi bear-trap and allow it to coordinate its relationship of peace with Israel. The Bush Administration's Middle East plan is to eliminate Hussein in Iraq and create a democratic-friendly government in the Palestinian territory with international oversights to rout out terrorists cells. Ariel Sharon is not averse to this development either. This plan would temporarily leave the territory under the joint rule of the Palestinians, the United States, Jordan and Israel; a plan Sharon could live with. The ominous danger however lies with Syria and the Iranian backed terror organizations based in Damascus. In a military confrontation with Syria, Iraq and the Hizballah, the United States and Israel alike face the dangers of mega-terror and attacks by weapons of mass destruction including radiological bombs, chemical and biological weapons.

The Balfour Declaration

July 22….(FOJ) The Balfour Declaration was the basis for which the Jewish State of Israel was reborn among the community of world nations. Documented on November 2, 1917 it granted diplomatic recognition of the Zionist Movement for a homeland in Palestine. British foreign affairs secretary Lord Arthur James Balfour submitted by Prime Minister David Lloyd George, corresponded to Lord Rothschild of the Zionist League the essence of Israeli Statehood.

Dear Lord Rothschild,
I have much pleasure in conveying to you, on behalf of His Majesty's Government, the following declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations which has been submitted to, and approved by, the Cabinet. "His Majesty's Government view with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country." I should be grateful if you would bring this declaration to the knowledge of the Zionist Federation.

Yours sincerely,
Arthur James Balfour

Palestinian Symbol Says it All

July 22….(FOJ) The photo enclosed depicts the boundary of the State of Israel with the Palestinian flag superimposed upon it. The sword of Allah is shown striking at the city of Jerusalem with blood flowing down from it to the small tree of Palestinian Statehood planted beneath. This symbol is displayed in PA government offices and in PA schools and mosques throughout the West Bank. So “occupation” is not the great impediment to Middle East Peace that it is so often publicized to be. You will also note that Allah's sword strikes at the heart of God's providential plan to send Jesus back to Jerusalem!

Bush Administration:Creating new Palestinian Government

July 20....(Debka) Without waiting for Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Europe or Saudi Arabia, the Bush administration is forging forward alone with a grand scheme for overhauling the Palestinian Authority politically, economically, militarily and administratively. It is a recurrent factor in America's Palestinian blueprint. Yet the White House is confident that support will gather as the plan rolls forward. It is undeterred even by the prospect of Palestinian violence or a row with Israel. The Bush administration is making no stops on the way because its Palestinian plan is not just a local issue, but one brick in a comprehensive strategy for redesigning the Middle East and its national frontiers, a strategy already in motion among the Kurdish and Turkoman minorities of northern Iraq. The Palestinians' turn has come now. the White House has entrusted the international development agency, USAID, with the task of rebuilding Palestinian Authority institutions from scratch. The administrator of this body, Andrew Nacios, and his deputy, Frederick Schieck, are presidential appointees. The vice president's daughter, assistant deputy secretary of state Elizabeth Cheney, has been named overall coordinator of the program, including CIA operations, for overhauling Palestinian governance. When the Oslo Peace Framework Accords regime was initiated in 1993, USAID was forced into a minor role by Yasser Arafat, who insisted that every dollar reaching the Palestinian Authority be processed through him personally. His motives emerged much later: the money was being misspent on weapons acquisitions and running his terrorist campaign against Israel. Nonetheless, USAID offices and facilities in Palestinian areas were not dismantled throughout the Oslo-dominated nineties and the Clinton presidency. They now stand ready to be fully reactivated as a central instrument of the American presence in Palestinian areas. To support the new project, DEBKAfile reports that the US administration has informally asked European and Far East banks holding Yasser Arafat's accounts to stall on requests for money transfers.

Saudi's Demand Israel drop Sharon

July 20...(Arab News) Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal warned on Thursday that the Middle East would end in tragedy if Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon remained in power. Speaking to reporters after talks at the White House, Prince Saud blamed Sharon's attitudes for holding up Middle East peace and said he would be much more optimistic about the prospects if the right-wing leader was "not there".

Palestinians Support Iraq Against U.S

July 19….(Jerusalem Post) Almost 80 percent of Palestinians believe they should support Iraq as they did during the 1991 Gulf War if the United States launches renewed military action against that country. The survey was conducted in March by the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion. When asked "How far do you support the notion that the Palestinians must support Iraq as they did in 1991, if the United States strikes again?" The survey found 51.6 percent strongly agreed and 28.3 somewhat agreed, for a total of 79.9 percent in favor. Only 3.6 percent were strongly opposed to the proposition and 6.9 percent were somewhat against it, which gives a total of 10.5 percent against. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat sided with Iraq during the Gulf War. During the conflict, Palestinians stood on their roofs and cheered as Iraqi Scud missiles struck Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities.

Bush Incites Iranian Muslim Shia Fundamentalists

July 19….(President George W. Bush has delivered his most significant Middle East speech pertaining to Iran. It was timed to land Friday morning in Iran, Islamic sermon time, and this was part of the intended effect. The White House was delivering a "maximal" affront to Iran's "maximal" Shia fundamentalist regime. Mr. Bush weighed in with the demonstrators who had taken to the streets, by the hundred thousand in Tehran, Isfahan, Shiraz, and Tabriz. Without naming names, he showed the U.S. no longer makes subtle distinctions between the "moderate reformist" President Mohammad Khatami, and the "hardline" theocratic regime of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Bush cast Iran as a funnel of hatred to the Hezbollah terrorist groups in Lebanon and Syria. He acknowledged that Iran is a regime which not only desperately seeks nuclear weapons despite Russian statements to the contrary, but has publicly declared it would use them to annihilate Israel the moment they were available. It is the principal source of arms for the world's Islamist terrorists; and the power behind a huge buildup in weaponry including medium-range missiles by the Hezbollah in Lebanon with Syrian complicity. At least twice in the present year, Israel has been on the verge of going to war with Syria!

Iran-Backed Lebanon Bases Alarm U.S.

July 19….(World Net) Iran has agreed to finance training bases in Lebanon to enable insurgents aligned with Tehran to track and down aircraft with short-range missiles. Western intelligence sources said the training is part of a $150 million program by Iran to bolster its proxy presence in the Levant through such groups as Hezbollah and Palestinian insurgency movements. The Iranian training bases program is intended to support and continue the Palestinian war against Israel.

Saudi Sheikh Assails America

July 19….(FOJ) In an interview on Al Jazeera television, Saudi Sheikh Mohsin Al-'Awaji, who once served as the Muslim Imam of the Great Mosque at King Saud University in Al-Riyadh preached hate against the United States. Mohammed, the Prophet has ordered the banishment of the Jews and Christians from the Arabian peninsula. He compared the "evil" U.S. with the people left behind to die in the biblical story of Noah. The Sheikh said that Saudi Arabia is a nation that was chosen by Allah, who tested it and purified it. The US is a tyrannous and evil nation that Allah will judge. "Since World War II, America has not been a democratic republic; it has become a military empire after the Roman model. It is even more abhorrent because its administration is ruled by the elite pressure groups that are the most dangerous to the human race, the companies that create destruction and sell arms. Therefore, the American way can be discerned and defined in one word: “war”. America unhesitatingly enters into war anywhere in the world. Then it calls for a kind of peace that will permit American companies to sign profitable contracts, with the aim of usurping resources under the slogan of cooperation in development. It is known that America's struggle against communism served as a pretext for starting wars in more than 40 countries across the world.

FOJ Note: There is a measure of truth in Sheikh Awaji's comments. Americans need to take stock of some of the criticism leveled against it. The military industrial complex has profiteered off the art of warfare. America's foreign policy hasn't exactly been appropriate for a Christian nation. The Sheikh is also correct when he asserts that America has abandoned its Christian Republic foundation.

Bush: Palestinian State Within 3 Years

July 19….(Ha Aretz) President George W. Bush pledged Thursday to proceed with peacemaking between Israel and the Arabs despite fresh violence, moving closer to the stand taken by European and Arab governments. "We refuse to be discouraged," he said at the start of a White House meeting with three Arab foreign ministers. "We are going to push for peace." Arab diplomats found grounds for encouragement. Prince Saud al-Faisal, the foreign minister of Saudi Arabia, said after a 30-minute White House meeting that Bush had promised to use his influence on the Israelis. The Bush administration promised skeptical Arab allies on Thursday that it would work "as hard as possible" to bring about a Palestinian state through a political solution within three years. "Only a political solution will bring an end to this tragic situation," Secretary of State Powell told reporters after lunch at the State Department with the visiting foreign minister of Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. "I reaffirmed to my colleagues President Bush's commitment... to working as hard as possible to try to achieve a final settlement within the three-year period," he added.

UN Security Council calls for Palestinian State

July 19….(Jerusalem Post) The U.N. Security Council urged Israel and the Palestinians on Thursday to support international efforts to achieve Middle East peace and establish a Palestinian state within three years. The council endorsed a statement issued Tuesday by the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia that called for an intensive effort to achieve reform, security and peace.

President George W. Bush (R) and Secretary of State Colin Powell (2R) meet with foreign ministers from Jordan Marwan al-Muasher (L) and Saudi Arabia, Prince Saud al-Faisal, July 18, 2002 in the Oval Office. Answering Arab complaints about his Middle East peace strategy, Bush said that Israel and the Arabs, with America's help must all push as hard as they can to achieve peace and security.

Bush Says Arafat Must Go

July 18….(FOJ) Appearing on a television press briefing, U.S. President George W. Bush condemned the dual suicide bombing Wednesday evening in Tel Aviv in which three people were killed. He reiterated that Arafat has failed his own people. He needs to step aside. Only hours before the attack, he renewed his call for a new Palestinian leadership. Bush said after the attack in Tel Aviv's old central bus station that peace could not be built on a "platform of violence against innocents." "These terrorist acts are also attacks on our efforts to restore hope to the Palestinian people. As I said on June 24, the hopes of a few cannot be allowed to hold the hopes of many hostage." The Palestinian Authority denounced the bomb attack but charged that Israel was responsible for the attacks. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Intifada brings suffering to Christians

July 18….(World Net) All Palestinians, including tens of thousands of Christians, will be collectively punished by Israel for the acts of the Islamic militants whose religion promises them paradise in return for killing women and children. Collective punishment is a part of war, and Israel is at war. Every nation practices collective punishment during time of war. For Palestinian Christians, this collective punishment received from Israel because of the acts of Islamic madmen is particularly bitter because they hold no ill will toward the Jewish people. One Palestinian Christian leader illustrated their frustration with these words, "The peace-loving people of Palestine, the Christians are just as much victims of these brutal attacks as are the Hebrews." Under the rules of the Israeli curfew, anyone sighted out of their homes could be shot, and all businesses, even Christian businesses, are closed. Immediately, the streets were full of people desperately trying to buy and sell necessities. In Bethlehem is the 20,000 square foot palace Yassar Arafat built for his family. He has other palaces in Ramallah and Gaza. It remains untouched by Israel, while Christian homes nearby have been burned out by tank shells. Why? Islamic terrorists fired on Israeli troops from behind the Christian homes, causing return fire. As quickly as Christians can move from Bethlehem they do. Their population continues to dwindle, and the number of Muslims continues to grow daily. Despite the loss of their towns and their dignity, Christian Palestinian placed the total blame for their plight upon Arafat. As one Christian woman said to me with tears in her eyes, "We share a common God. We pray for peace for Israel while we pray for bread for our tables."

Arafat's Civil Servants

July 18….(World Net) Residents under the jurisdiction of Yasser Arafat, many of whom are Christians and forced to leave the area say they are ill-served by the leader's Palestinian Authority. They see the PA as an "outside" government imposed upon them. Arafat did not return to the West Bank alone when he came out of exile from Tunisia in 1994. He had an entire army in Tunisia, an army that had been chased out of Lebanon by Israel in 1982. The officers of that army and the leaders of the bureaucracy he built in Tunisia became the Palestinian Authority. Virtually no local Palestinians were moved into the "new" Palestinian Authority government either before or after the "elections" of 1996. One elderly Palestinian interviewed pointed to one of the many new multistory homes on the hillside overlooking his village. "There is the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) money sent to help our children," he said. Hundreds of new mansions dot the West Bank in the populated areas, most on the hillsides overlooking villages, built for Arafat's cadre of cronies. The mansions range in size from 5,000 to 10,000 square feet or more. Most have their own water purification systems and backup generators. Those still under construction are being built by Muslim contractors who hire only Muslim employees. These huge homes are being constructed at a time West Bank unemployment runs as high as 80 percent. Do Palestinians want Yassar Arafat out? "He is not important anymore," they say. However, the locals fear any replacement will come from the "outsiders" he brought with him from Tunisia.

Meanwhile, more and more Christians flee. One Palestinian Christian leader told me, "Muslims get money from the outside; Christians get nothing so they move out." He tells me that UNESCO, and other United Nations agencies and the European Union officials are aware that the money does not trickle down from the Palestinian Authority. The village of Beit Jala outside of Jerusalem at one time had a Christian majority, but not any more. It is from Beit Jala that radical Islamic gunman fire on the Israeli community of Gilo. When the Israeli tanks return fire, it is usually a Christian home that is destroyed because the terrorist gunmen use them as shields. For the last few weeks, Arafat and his lieutenants have wired millions of dollars into personal accounts in Europe just in case the Israelis don't withdraw and they are forced to move from their new luxurious homes in the West Bank.

US Looking to Africa as Oil Supplier

July 18….(Middle East News Line) A leading energy analyst says the United States plans to double imports from Nigeria in an effort to replace dependence on Saudi Arabia. Paul Michael Wihbey, a member of the African Oil Policy Initiative Group, said the United States intends to double imports from Nigeria from the current 900,000 barrels a day to 1.8 million in 2007. Wihbey said Washington is drafting a new energy security policy that will see Nigeria replace Saudi Arabia as major crude oil supplier. "Statistics from the U.S. Department of Energy showed African oil exports to the U.S. will rise to 50 percent of total oil supply by 2015," Wihbey said "Nigeria is the energy superpower of Africa. The private sector, small and major operators, administration and officials have come to realize that Nigeria and the Gulf of Guinea are of strategic importance to the U.S." Saudi Arabia is the largest oil exporter of crude oil and the second biggest supplier to the United States. Nigeria is the fifth largest oil supplier to the United States.

Israelis Want Their Third Temple

July 18….(Jerusalem Post) Over half of all Israeli Jews would like to see the building of a Third Temple, according to a survey commissioned by the Reform movement's Israel Religious Action Center. The survey was commissioned for Tisha Be'av, which is today. The fast marks the destruction of the First and Second Temples. According to the survey, conducted by the Dahaf Institute, 53 percent of Jews would like a third temple erected on the Temple Mount. These included some 87% of religious and Haredi respondents and 64% of those who described themselves as traditional, but it also included 63% of respondents from the former Soviet Union, as well as most of those of Middle Eastern origin and those of Western origin aged 18 to 35. Only among older respondents of Western origin did a majority, 53%, not want to see the Temple rebuilt. At the same time, 55% of the respondents said that the present arrangement on the Temple Mount, in which public Jewish prayer is not permitted, should remain in force. As for the fast day itself, 64% of the respondents said that they did not observe Tisha Be'av in any particular manner and 29% said they fasted.

Israeli Court Rejects Temple Mount Prayer Petition

July 18….(Jerusalem Post) The High Court of Justice yesterday rejected a petition by the Temple Mount Faithful asking to be allowed to pray on the Temple Mount during the Tisha Be'av fast, which began last night. Jerusalem Police District Commander Miki Levy told the court there was substantial danger that such a service would trigger bloody riots and that the current situation was too fragile to allow it. Attorney Naftali Wurzberger, who represented the petitioners, said a situation in which Jews could not pray on the Temple Mount was "intolerable. If someone threatens violence, he should be arrested and dealt with. We should not become frightened and prohibit Jewish prayer."

What is Tisha B'AV

July 18….Tisha B'Av is the "ninth day" in the Jewish month of Av, which starts at sundown on the eighth day and concludes at sundown on the ninth day of Av. This is the day when the intensity of the entire three week Jewish mourning period reaches its peak. According to Jewish sages, many tragic events have occurred to Israel's ancestors on this day:

1. The first Jewish Temple was destroyed by Babylon.
2. The second Jewish Temple was destroyed by Rome.
3. Betar, the last fortress to hold out against the Romans
during the Bar Kochba revolt in the year 135,
fell, sealing the fate of the Jewish people.
4. One year after the fall of Betar, the Temple area was plowed.
5. In 1492, King Ferdinand of Spain issued the expulsion decree,
setting Tisha B'Av as the final date by which not a
single Jew would be allowed to walk on Spanish soil.
6. World War I began the downward slide to the Holocaust,
and began on Tisha B'av.

International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism

July 18….(IPICT) The International Policy Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) reveals some startling trends by breaking the death tolls down into sub-segments, age, sex and combatant status. The study shows that while the majority of Palestinian deaths in the conflict are combatants, Israeli fatalities are 80 percent noncombatants. Researchers also found that Palestinians are directly responsible for the deaths of at least 185 of their own number, one out of every eight Palestinians killed in the conflict thus far. (In the previous wave of Palestinian violence during the late 1980s, about 800 Palestinians were killed by other Palestinians as "suspected collaborators", amounting to about one-third of the total death toll.) ICT researchers also found that the proportion of women in the Israeli death toll is about 30 percent. By contrast, Palestinian fatalities are overwhelmingly 95 percent male. All total, 61 Palestinian females have been killed, compared to 160 Israeli females. Another great disproportion exists amongst non-combatants aged 40 and over, where 154 Israelis have been killed, compared to 69 Palestinians.

Dual Suicide Bombing in Tel Aviv

July 17....(Jerusalem Post)A dual bomb attack killed at least five people and injured more than 40 near a cafe in Tel Aviv Wednesday night, police said. An eyewitness to the attack said that two homicide bombers exploded a few seconds apart. The militant group Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack, saying the bombings were in response to the suffering of the Palestinian people. The attack occurred on Neve Shaanan Street in the southern part of the downtown area. An Israel Radio reporter at the scene said he saw victims’ bodies lying on the street. Moments later we heard the second explosion. I went down" to the street, he said. "It was horrible, dead people were everywhere and the injured were screaming. This attack in Tel Aviv proves that Palestinian terrorists are determined to murder, maim and terrorize as many Israelis as they can, thinking that by doing so they can pressure Israel into concessions.

UN, EU, Russia Differ With U.S. On Arafat

July 17….(Ha Aretz) United Nations, European and Russian leaders split sharply with the United States Tuesday over the future of Yasser Arafat, insisting that the Palestinian leader legitimately heads his people's statehood movement. During two hours of high-level talks, these leaders said they also told Secretary of State Colin Powell that headway must be made not just in curbing violence but in settling the Arab-Israeli conflict. Their diverse views overshadowed a uniform concern for the plight of the Palestinian people. Powell, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and European Union diplomat Javier Solana agreed that ways must be found to get more help to the Palestinians. The four expressed their "increasing concern about the mounting humanitarian crisis in Palestinian areas and their determination to address urgent Palestinian needs." They agreed on the need for a coordinated international campaign to support Palestinian efforts at political and economic reform, and urged Israel to relax its curbs on Palestinian travel and withdraw its forces from Palestinian-held areas as security improves. At the Quartet meeting yesterday, representatives failed to come to an agreement on the future of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat. A joint statement emphasized the need to reform the Palestinian Authority. It praised Yasser Arafat's 100 day plan for reform. Annan and Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, defended Arafat as the leader of his people. "The United Nations still recognizes Chairman Arafat, and we will continue to deal with him until the Palestinians decide otherwise," said Annan. Ivanov called Arafat "the legitimately elected leader of Palestine, and while he is in this capacity, we'll continue to maintain our relations with him."

Arafat Again Imlicated with Hezbollah

July 17….(FOJ) The Immanuel bus massacre in Israel yesterday broke with the routine Palestinian terrorist atrocity. Apparently the attack was engineered by Iran through its military-terrorist surrogate, the Hizballah, under the direct command of the super terrorist Imad Mughniyeh. The Hizballah-Palestinian alliance surfaced tangibly on January 3, when the Karine-A arms smuggling ship was captured in mid-voyage. Tuesday's Immanuel bus attack displayed quasi-military advance planning, efficient intelligence and expert tactics carried out by well-trained operatives. Their planning and attention to detail was faultless, including their escape route. The killing squad of three or four men appears to have spent two days or more lying near the scene of the attack. In late March, Iran and the Hizballah, with Syrian President Bashar Assad's concurrence, appointed Mughniyeh, one of the 22 terrorists on the FBI's most wanted list, supreme commander of south Lebanon. One of his main tasks is to fashion for Yasser Arafat a fresh terrorist apparatus for the West Bank, to replace the one that the IDF has demolished in its two large-scale counter-terror offensives in the last three months. With Arafat's blessing, therefore, the new South Lebanon commander has been busy pumping a fresh influx of Hizballah and PFLP-GC operatives into the areas still under Arafat's control.

Who Has the Right To Call Israel Home?

July 17….(AP) The origins of the fight for Israel reach back before written history. According to the Bible, the Jews fled slavery in Egypt to the land of Canaan (modern day Israel) around 1300 BC. After years of warfare, the Canaanites were defeated and Jerusalem established under King David (approx. 1000 BC). Internal squabbling led to a division of the kingdom, which then fell under the domination of the Assyrians, then Persians, Greeks and Romans. In 70 AD, the Romans razed Jerusalem, including its Temple, which was the center of religious life for Jews. This followed Jewish attempts to throw off Rome's yoke. Thousands were taken as slaves, while others fled Roman occupation. This dispersal of Jews throughout the Roman world and beyond became known as the Diaspora. Very few Jews were left within the territory of Israel, which was after Rome's collapse was held by the Byzantines, Arabs, the Christian crusaders and finally the Islamic Ottoman Empire. In the 19th Century, a group of European Jews began to look for a single homeland for all Jews to escape the persecution they suffered throughout Europe and in the Arab world. The leaders of the movement, known as Zionism, considered Uganda, but eventually decided to return to the area known to their religion as Israel. The Ottomans allowed some immigration by Jews into the area, then known as Palestine, and the movement continued after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire by the British in World War I. After the Holocaust, hundreds of thousands of Jews attempted to flee Europe for Palestine. The British tried to block many of those seeking "the Promised Land," in an effort to maintain a balance between the interests of Jewish settlers and Arabs in Palestine. In 1948, the United Nations mandated the creation of Israel as a Jewish state with the backing the United States and the Soviet Union. The Arab nations surrounding Israel were violently opposed to the new state in their midst, and thus war began on the day of U.N. mandated independence, May 14, 1948.

President Bush: Homeland Security

July 17….(Washington Post) President Bush will soon unveil his plans for Homeland Security. In a press briefing he stated, “Unless we act to prevent it, a new wave of terrorism, potentially involving the world's most destructive weapons, looms in America's future”. The President's grim words reminds people that "catastrophic threats," such as nuclear, radiological, biological and chemical weapons, as well as cyber-attacks are very real. "One fact dominates all homeland security threat assessments: terrorists are strategic actors," he stated. "They choose their targets deliberately based on the weaknesses they observe in our defenses and our preparedness. "We must defend ourselves against a wide range of means and methods of attack. Our enemies are working to obtain chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons for the purpose of wreaking unprecedented damage on America." A senior administration official said that organizations such as Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda terror network have strategies, too. "If there is any constant about terrorist strategies, it is that they seek surprise and they target our weaknesses," he said. "As we get strong in an area, they shift to another."

World Religions to Meet in Italy

July 17….(Zenit) With an eye toward addressing the problems of terrorism, poverty and globalization, about 350 Jewish, Muslim and Christian religious and lay leaders will meet in Sicily later this summer. The Sept. 1-3 conference in Palermo will the 16th in a series of annual events organized by the Community of Sant'Egidio, a Rome-based Catholic group involved in social service programs and mediation of political disputes. This year's event, expected to draw 5,000 participants, will focus on the topic "Religions and Cultures Between Conflict and Dialogue." Two dozen round-table discussions will be held. Sant'Egidio spokesman Mario Marazziti explained the purpose of the meeting, "We want dialogue to be the remedy in the short, medium and long-term for the temptation to divide the world, for the wall that tries to separate the Western, Jewish and Christian world from the Arab and Muslim world. Sant'Egidio Community began to organize these meetings, following the first World Day of Prayer for Peace of religious leaders, convoked by John Paul II in Assisi in 1986. At that time, the Pope invited all to continue "spreading the message of peace and living the spirit of Assisi."

Arafat Considering a PA Prime Minister?

July 17….(AP) Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is reportedly considering the appointment of a Prime Minister to share the running of day-to-day government affairs once a Palestinian state is declared after a planned January election, a senior Palestinian official told The Associated Press on Wednesday. Palestinian Cabinet minister Nabil Shaath says that an office of Prime Minister would solve a lot of daily problems that the President should not address. "Shaath said the beleaguered Palestinian leader, who for months has been largely confined by Israel to his battered compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah, has signed a decree convening a team of legal experts to come up with proposals on the idea of a Prime Minister and other constitutional issues. Shifting at least some executive powers to a prime minister could provide a way out of the impasse created by the refusal of Israel and the United States to deal with Arafat directly.

Its Official: Arafat is a Candidate

July 17….(FOJ) Yasser Arafat confirmed that he Will indeed be a candidate in January's Palestinian leadership elections. His decision is seen as throwing down a political gauntlet to US President George Bush, who has advocated new leadership in the PA. At the same time, Arafat's deputy in the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), Mahmud Abbas, said he would not oppose Arafat at the polls. Asked if he would run by an interviewer for Egyptian television, Arafat said, "Of course, if I am tasked by the Palestinian command (because) “I am proud of our democracy." It marks the first time Arafat has said personally that he intended to run in the Palestinian presidential elections. Arafat also hit out at Bush, who called last month for Palestinians to change their leaders for ones not "compromised by terror" or lose US backing for their own state, in reference to Israel's charges that Arafat is deeply implicated in anti-Israeli attacks by Palestinian militant groups. The Americans "must know that we are not Afghanistan, for them to try to change our as they wish," he said. "Can our people, the Arab League or the Arab nation, accept that?" President Bush is the only world leader that has publicly voiced his opposition to Arafat's continued leadership.

Tisha B'Av March for New Jewish Temple

July 17….(Tzemach) The Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Organization will conduct a march to the Temple Mount on Tisha B'Av (18 July 2002). They will be marching not only as a sign of mourning for the destruction of the Jewish Temple and to pray the Book of Lamentations but also to call on Israel and its government to immediately start the rebuilding of the House of God. (Tisha B'Av, the Fast of the Ninth of Av, is a day of mourning to commemorate the many tragedies that have befallen the Jewish people, many of which have occurred on the ninth of Av) (Tisha B'Av primarily commemorates the destruction of the first and second Temples, both of which were destroyed on the ninth of Av (the first by the Babylonians in 586 B.C.E.; the second by the Romans in 70 C.E.).

Evidence of Iraq-Al Qaida WMD Ties

July 16….(Middle East News Line) The United States has firm evidence that Iraq has distributed weapons of mass destruction (WMD) to Al Qaida and other Islamic militants. Richard Perle, Chairman of the Defense Policy Board, says that Iraq is coordinating with Al Qaida on plans to attack the United States.. "The evidence is very powerful," Perle said. "There is collaboration between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaida. Perle, a former assistant defense secretary, chairs a group that advises the Pentagon on national security issues. He is regarded as a leading proponent of a U.S. military campaign against Baghdad. The officials said Iraq hopes that the weapons, obtained during the Cold War with help from the Soviet Union, will be sent from the Middle East to Western Europe and the United States.

Mubarak Stands by 'Father of Palestinians

July 16….(Financial Times) Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Monday rebuffed attempts by Israel to sideline Yasser Arafat. President Mubarak's rejection of Israeli policy towards Mr. Arafat came as international talks on the Middle East resume in New York. Mubarak referred Arafat as "the father of the Palestinians". Israeli officials made it known ahead of Monday's visit that they would be looking for Mubarak's support in seeking to expel Arafat from the West Bank. But President Mubarak and other Arab leaders, many of whom harbor a deep dislike of Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, who is identified with the idea of expelling Mr Arafat, have insisted on the right of the Palestinians to choose their own leaders. The New York meeting represents the first big diplomatic activity led by the Bush administration to flesh out Mr Bush's vision for a new Palestinian leadership. US officials said on Monday the meeting was an opportunity to focus international support on reforming Palestinian political institutions as well as rebuilding the shattered Palestinian economy. However, the US diplomatic work is also focused on winning moderate Arab support for the proposed Palestinian reforms.

Ben-Eliezer: Hezbollah Dragging Syria Into War With Israel

July 16….(Ha Aretz) Meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak yesterday in Alexandria, Israeli Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer stated that Hezbollah was dragging Syria into a war with Israel. Ben-Eliezer warned that Israel would not suffer continued Hezbollah aggression on the northern border and stressed that Iran is continuing tosupport provocations carried out by the Shi'ite organization. Ben-Eliezer asked Mubarak to relay Israel's demand for a reduction in violence on the northern border to the Syrians. The defense minister said that he could not understand Syria's behavior and that its actions had caused the United States to classify it as a state that supported terror.

Bulletin: Terror Attack (9:00am est)

July 16….(FOJ) At least seven people died and more than 20 were wounded a few minutes ago in a terror attack near the settlement of Emanuel in the West Bank. The IDF said a device was detonated as a bus passed the settlement and then shots were fired. The location of the attack is between Nablus and Ramallah. An ambush on a bus in the same area on December 12 killed 10 Israelis.

Homosexuals Suggest Jesus was 'Gay'

July 16….(World Net) The pastor of Metropolitan Community Church, a church specifically for "gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered communities says Jesus was gay. The MCC was started by openly homosexual ex-Baptist minister, Troy Perry, who after the discovery and disclosure of his homosexuality, lost his license as a minister, got a divorce from his wife, failed at a suicide attempt, but "rediscovered" his rainbow-colored vocation and ministry. From his Los Angeles living room in 1968, Perry and his initial 12 members began their "gay church." Tens of thousands of so-called faithful "Christian" homosexual men and women flock weekly to MCC-affiliated churches worldwide to be "reaffirmed" with the message that God loves them and "gay is OK." The Rev. Troy Perry, highly regarded in gay circles, has been an invited guest to the White House on four separate occasions from 1977 to 1997 - three alone by former President Bill Clinton. In 1997, Clinton "celebrated" Perry as an "honoree" at a White House breakfast recognizing 100 national "spiritual leaders" in America.

Note: God calls homosexuality an abomination! While God loves sinners, he does not condone sin. (Romans 1:27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.)

ICG Calls for Internationalization

July 16….(Reuters) The International Crisis Group has suggested that outside pressure upon the Middle East will be needed to reach the two-state solution President Bush set out last month. The ICG released its report setting out detailed proposals for peace treaties between Israel and Syria and Lebanon, as well as an agreement with the Palestinians, just ahead of a New York meeting of the "quartet" of would-be peace brokers. Senior officials of the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations are then due to consult foreign ministers of an Arab "trio" Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. The ICG urges the quartet and trio to advocate, preferably at an early international conference, detailed blueprints for permanent peace deals between Israel and its Arab adversaries. "The goal would not be to impose a settlement on the Israeli or Palestinian leaderships but rather to generate so much domestic and international support for it that opposition would become increasingly hard to sustain," the ICG report says. The ICG advocates a "fully-mandated and capable U.S.-led multinational force to monitor implementation of the agreement and enhance both sides' sense of confidence and security." It also proposes a division of Jerusalem and an "international police presence and civilian administration" for the Old City and associated religious sites. The ICG praises Bush's goals of an end to Israeli occupation, a two-state solution and resolution of the questions of borders, Jerusalem and refugees in a relatively short period. (Note: The International Crisis Group is a multi-national think tank)

Weapons Manufacturers Gearing Up

July 16….(FOJ) U.S. weapons makers have doubled the production rate of laser-guided bombs, added a shift to assemble satellite-guided bomb tailkits and boosted output at one ammunition factory to its highest level in 15 years. Some of the ordnance will replace weapons used in the war in Afghanistan, but analysts say another reason for the buildup is to stockpile weapons for possible military action against Iraq. The US is brining up the stockpiles of the laser-guided bombs and JDAMs and Tomahawk missiles." JDAM stands for Joint Direct Attack Munition, the satellite-guided bomb that has been a favorite U.S. weapon in the war in Afghanistan. Military planners love the JDAM for its pinpoint accuracy and relatively low cost of less than $25,000 each. About 9,000 new JDAMs have been built this year, compared with about 10,000 total by the end of last year. Analysts have estimated that more than half of the first 10,000 JDAMs were used in Afghanistan and even more would be needed for an attack on Iraq. Precision weapons like JDAMs would be key to any attack on Iraq, since they would allow the United States to focus its firepower on Saddam's military infrastructure while minimizing civilian casualties. A Boeing Co. factory in St. Charles, Mo., assembles the JDAM kits, which fit over the tail of 1,000-pound or 2,000-pound "dumb" bombs to turn them into satellite-guided weapons. Earlier this year, the factory added a second shift of workers to increase production from about 1,000 kits per month to 1,500. The company plans to boost production even further, to 2,000 per month by the end of the year and 2,800 per month by the middle of 2003. Those rates would add another 20,000 or more JDAMs to the U.S. arsenal within a year and about 37,000 by the end of 2003. At the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant in Independence, Mo., production is at its highest rate in 15 years, higher than during the Gulf War. The plant recently got a $92 million contract to make 265 million rounds of small-caliber ammunition for the Army. Raytheon Co. makes laser-guided bombs at a factory in Tucson, Ariz. That factory has added a partial third shift, doubled its production rate and is delivering the laser-guided bombs five months ahead of schedule.

More “One Nation Under God” Facts

July 16….(FOJ) The recent debate in California about the American Pledge of Allegiance suggests that there is an ungodly trend steadily creeping into America's governing institutions. Consider that back on April 20, 2000 Ohio's state motto, taken from a Bible passage, was declared to be unconstitutional. Ohio's motto, “With God, all things are possible” a quotation from Matthew 19:26 was challenged by the ACLU of Ohio, which represented Rev. Matthew Peterson, a Presbyterian minister of all people.

Syria Buyings Arms for Iraq

July 15….(Ha Aretz) Syria, the current president of the UN Security Council, is violating the UN arms embargo on Iraq by sending weapons and military equipment delivered to Syrian ports on to Iraq via trucks and rail. The Syrian weapons purchases for transfer to Iraq include refurbished T-55 tank engines and other replacement parts for T-72s, from Bulgaria and Belarus; military trucks from Russia; anti-aircraft cannon from the Czech republic; Ukraine and other countries have sold 80 engines for MiG 29s, as well as radar systems for those planes. In addition, spare parts have been bought by Syria and sent on to Iraq for MiG 21s, 23s and 25s. Syria has also passed on equipment from Hungary and Serbia to Iraq. The weapons transfers put Syria in direct violation of Security Council embargoes on weapons sales to Iraq.

Arabs League: Two-year Timetable for Palestine State

July 15….(Weekend) Arab League states will push for the establishment of a Palestinian state within a two-year timetable, the Palestinian Authority's Minister of International Cooperation Nabil Shaath said yesterday. Shaath said he believed that the proposals would be presented by Arab delegates meeting in New York this week with the international diplomatic “quartet” of the United States, European Union, United Nations, and Russia. The Saudi, Egyptian and Jordanian foreign ministers are set to join in talks in New York on July 16 with top officials from the diplomatic quartet. The meeting stressed a Palestinian State should be a real and active state with East Jerusalem as its capital,” Arab League chief Amr Moussa said, adding the issues of Jerusalem and refugees had to be resolved. In this framework, the Arab countries are ready, not only to sign a peace agreement, but to establish peaceful relations with Israel as well.

Arafat's Hizballah Deal Cooked His Goose

July 15….(Debka) The dozens of Hizballah operatives, members of the notorious Imad Mughniyeh's security and intelligence networks, who infiltrated the West Bank and Gaza Strip late last year, significantly enhanced the capabilities of the Palestinian terrorist networks. They raised Palestinian organizational and training levels, contributed palpably to the unprecedented Palestinian suicide massacres that Yasser Arafat coordinated against Israeli citizens throughout the months of March, April, and May this year. In retrospect, it may be that Arafat's league with Hezbollah may be his own political undoing. Arafat's ties to Hezbollah and Iraq-Iran have imploded upon his Palestinian Authority governing body.

American Atheists Plan March on Washington

July 15….(CNSNews.com) – Atheists, secularists and humanists from across the United States are planning a "Godless Americans March on Washington" this fall to protest what they see as the growth of religion in U.S. culture and government, especially since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. "We are participating in this march to reclaim the American nation as a secular nation because we feel it's being moved more and more to a religious nation," said Katherine Bourdonnay, a spokesperson for the Council for Secular Humanism. "While America has many religious roots, it was founded as a secular nation, with a distinct separation of church and state," she said. The Council for Secular Humanism is one of 71 organizations planning to participate in the Nov. 22 march. Others are African Americans for Humanism, American Atheists, Mind Over Madness, and the Atheist Alliance International. The Godless Americans March will feature guest speakers, a rally, and various activities for children. According to the most recent American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS), approximately 30 million people in the United States identify themselves as atheist, humanist, freethinker, or agnostic. That number amounts to about 13 percent of the U.S. population.

Christian Support for Israel Rally

July 15….(World Net) The Christian Coalition is sponsoring an October 11 rally in Washington. The "Christian Support for Israel" rally opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank. The Christian Coalition plans to ask for the U.S. Embassy to be moved to Jerusalem immediately and that Jerusalem remain the "undivided" capital of Israel. Calling Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian Authority "terrorists," the organization doesn't want the U.S. to enter into any negotiations with them and asks that the Bush administration let Israel fight its enemies as the U.S. is fighting its own. The Coalition hopes the rally will have a great impact on the way President Bush views the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Another concern the Christian Coalition has and plans to address is how the Christians in Palestinian territories are being brutalized. Christians aren't allowed to build churches or renovate their churches and are being harassed in jail simply because of their religion.

Israel Helping Groom New PA Leader?

July 15….(Stratfor) Israel may actually be helping to groom an eventual replacement for Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. The Israeli government is exploring the possibility of deporting Marwan Barghouti, the West Bank leader of Yasser Arafat's militant Fatah faction to Lebanon and then on to exile in Europe, in exchange for Israeli prisoners held by the Lebanon-based Hezbollah guerrilla group. The prisoner-swap deal, is still in the negotiating stages, and being mediated by Germany with support from the United States. Israel is looking for a potential replacement for Arafat, and Barghouti is one of several high-profile contenders. His expulsion to Lebanon and exile to Europe would help raise his international profile, giving him access to European diplomatic circles where he could lobby on behalf of the Palestinian cause. Besides strengthening his international standing, exile will help increase Barghouti's stature among Palestinians and keep him from becoming embroiled in the leadership shake up. Despite his involvement in militant groups, he also is someone with whom the Israelis think they could hold peace talks. He is considered a pragmatist that supports negotiations as well as militant action, and he recognizes Israel's right to exist. A public trial and exile would only increase his fame and renown.

US Enforcing No-Fly Zones over Iraq

July 15….(AP) United States Defense official Paul Wolfowitz says Washington has yet to decide how to deal with Saddam Hussein. But he said that the Iraqi leader was too dangerous a threat to ignore and would have to be tackled. He related that Iraq is attacking coalition aircraft over the "no-fly zones" at the same rate it did before the Sept. 11 attacks on America. U.S. and British warplanes have been monitoring the zones over southern and northern Iraq since shortly after the 1991 Gulf War to protect Kurdish and Shiite Muslim groups from Baghdad. Iraq considers the zones violations of Iraqi sovereignty and frequently ties to shoot the planes down. During a visit to Turkey's largest city Istanbul at the weekend, he ruled out the prospect of Washington's support for the creation of a Kurdish state in northern Iraq. Speculation is that the US is to mount a military attack on Saddam and will use the Turkish base at Incirlik to enforce the no-fly zone over northern Iraq.

Arafat and PA Officials Raid PA Funds

July 15….(Yedioth Ahronoth) Senior Palestinian officials, including Yasser Arafat, have reportedly transferred tens of millions of dollars to personal European bank accounts for their private use if the Palestinian Authority collapses. The Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported that Mr. Arafat recently transferred $US5.1million ($9.1million) in aid money from Saudi Arabia to his private bank account in Paris for the benefit of his wife, Suha, and his daughter, Zahawa, who live there. His deputy, Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, allegedly moved $US70million to various European bank accounts, reportedly in the name of his brother, a rich businessman with interests in the Arab Gulf states.

Jerusalem: The Old City

July 15….(Jerusalem Post) Jews and Christians together make up about 30 percent of the population of Jerusalem's Old City. The Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies released its report on the Old City, and the report shows the proportion of Jews is increasing, from 8.6% in 1995 to 11.34% in 2002. There are some 33,500 people living in the Old City today. In 1995, according to a report issued by the institute last week, out of the 32,488 people living in the Old City, 70.6% were Muslims and 20.3% were Christians. The report showed that out of the 879 dunams of land in the Old City, 24% is owned by the Islamic Wakf, 28% by Muslims, 29% by Christians and the remaining 19% by Jews. The report was undertaken with the hope that it will prove useful in any future negotiations on the Old City's future. Overall, the Old City's population has grown by 36% since 1967, with the highest absolute growth in the Muslim community. The Muslim population remained constant from 1967 to 1983, but then jumped from 16,760 in 1983 to 22,814 in 1995. The Christian population dropped from 6,994 in 1967 to 6,483 in 1983. In 1995, there were 6,570 Christians in the Old City and the numbers have dropped since then, according to the report. Because of Muslim population growth and the return of Jews, the percentage of Christians living in the Old City dropped from 29.5% in 1967 to 20.3% in 1995. The Jewish population has risen from zero in 1967 to 2,235 in 1983, 2,802 in 1995, and 3,800 today.

“International Jerusalem” Proposed At OSCE Conference

July 13….(Worthy News) Fears that Jerusalem's Christian holy sites might one day come under Palestinian Authority rule has prompted an Italian lawmaker to suggest putting Jerusalem under the control of an international consortium. The proposal is due to be launched at a meeting in Berlin of the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe. Italian politician Marcello Pacini said he wanted to put forth the resolution so that whatever agreement is reached between Israel and the Palestinians. The status of Jerusalem is at the center of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. The Palestinians want the eastern part of the city, including the ancient Old City, to become the capital of a future Palestinian state. Israel considers the entire city to be its eternal, indivisible capital. Nevertheless, two years ago at Camp David, then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak offered PA Chairman Yasser Arafat some kind of authority in the city as part of a proposal for a permanent settlement. Arafat rejected the offer, which he later said had never been made. Arafat has claimed that he is the guardian of both Muslim and Christian holy sites in the Old City of Jerusalem. The Vatican, as well as many Evangelical Christian denominations have said that they have never asked him to represent them. Currently, although Israel is ultimately in charge in the Old City, both Christian and Islamic institutions run their own religious and holy sites. The resolution is nothing new. Rome proposed putting the Old City under an "international consortium" of European, Russian, Israeli and Palestinian representatives. Similar proposals have been floated since 1948

Arafat’s Mufti Calls For War on America

July 13….(Jerusalem Post) Chief IslamicMufti Ikrama Sabri , the top Arab official in Jerusalem publicly encouraged Arabs to continue terror attacks against Israel, and also made it clear that America, too, was a target. “America”, he said, “is the biggest enemy of the Palestinians. ”Sheikh Ikrema Sabry, who was appointed and is paid by Yassir Arafat, also urged all Arabs to beware of the peace initiatives of the United States. “America is the enemy, the first and truest enemy of the Palestinians,” Sabry declared. Sheikh Sabry serves as the Mufti, the chief Islamic cleric in Jerusalem. His remarks have frequently included a strong anti-American and anti-Israeli tone, but these remarks were unusually harsh and had the additional importance of appearing to sanction, or even sanctify, attacks against Israel and the United States. “American support of Israel is no longer a secret,” he added, “it is open and clear and done in order to combat Islam and Muslims.” “We have said several times in the past and I reiterate today that it is the right of the Palestinians to resist the Zionist occupation!

Entire PA Leadership Must Go

July 12….(Ha Aretz) In an interview with Israeli Channel 2 news, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice said Thursday that the administration of President George W. Bush had reached the conclusion that the entire Palestinian Authority leadership should be replaced, and not just chairman Yasser Arafat. It's not just a question of one man," said Rice. "It's an entire political regime that needs to be changed, so that one man does not control the lives of the entire population." Later Thursday, Arafat told CNN that the United States should recognize the legitimate choices of the Palestinian people. The Palestinian leader said that he opposes suicide bombings, and that he was doing everything in his power to prevent them. He added that the decision of the Palestinian people to elect him as their leader could not be ignored. He explained that his people were suffering from problems, killings, hardships, and tragedies.

Arafat: No Immediate Plans to Step Down from Power

July 12….(Ha Aretz) Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat said today that he has no immediate plans to step down from power. "It is not only up to me. It will be up to many people," Arafat said in an interview with The Associated Press and Bahrain television at his Ramallah headquarters. Arafat vowed however that he wouldn't step down any time soon. "I have been elected by the people. I am not a coward. I'm not ready to betray the people who elected me," Arafat said. He refused to give more specifics when questioned about the apparent contradiction, repeating only that he did not intend to leave office. He said reforms of the Palestinian Authority demanded by the United States were already underway and that he would welcome international participation and support in furthering the process. When asked how he felt about the U.S. demand for reform, Arafat said he understood that Bush had supported some of the reforms being made. He cited the changes in the Palestinian security forces, which have now been brought under the supervision of a new interior minister. Arafat said he wanted the United States' support in the reforms, but refused to be more specific. He said a Palestinian delegation would meet with Israeli leaders on Saturday to discuss "many issues." Upbeat about the renewed contact, Arafat said he believed further progress could be made if Prime Minister Ariel Sharon "will give them the mandate." "How can it be accepted internationally that we are the only people living under occupation?"

Barghouti: Trial or Exile?

July 12….(AP) Imprisoned Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti would be expelled to Lebanon under a deal taking shape between Israel and the Hezbollah guerrillas. The report said Israel would send Barghouti through Lebanon to exile in Europe, release about 100 prisoners and return the bodies of dozens of Hezbollah guerrillas. In exchange, Hezbollah would free Elhanan Tennenbaum, an Israeli citizen abducted in October 2000, and return the bodies of three Israeli soldiers abducted from the Israel-Lebanon border around the same time. Israel announced that Barghouti, the West Bank leader of Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, would be put on trial in a civilian court. Israel says that Barghouti directed attacks against Israelis by Fatah-affiliated militias. Barghouti, 43, was captured in a raid in the Ramallah area on April 15, when Israeli forces were in control of several West Bank towns and cities during a six-week incursion that had begun two weeks earlier. He has been held in Shin Bet security service lockups since then and has not been charged. In an interview with Al-Manar TV, the Hezbollah station, Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah confirmed that "serious" contacts are in progress.

Saudi Arabia Implicated in Palestinian Terrorism

July 12….(Middle East News Line) A new Israeli report relayed to the United States details what officials term has been Saudi financing for Palestinian insurgents. The report is based on Palestinian Authority documents captured during the Israeli military offensive in the West Bank in April. The documents detail the flow of funds by Saudi government institutions to Hamas and Islamic Jihad. "The documents clearly unveil that Saudi Arabia transferred large sums of money in a systematic and ongoing manner to families of suicide terrorists, and to the Hamas organization and to persons and entities identified with Hamas. The source identified as providing funding for suicide bombings was the Riyad-based Saudi Committee for Support of the Palestinian Uprising, Al Quds, an organization headed by Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef Bin Abdul Aziz.

Amnesty International Condemns Civilian Targeting

July 12….(Jerusalem Post) Amnesty International condemns all attacks by Palestinians armed groups against Israeli civilians since September 29, 2000, and calls on the Palestinian Authority to reform its judicial system, according to a comprehensive report issued yesterday. In the report, entitled "Israel, the occupied territories, and the Palestinian Authority," Amnesty "calls on the leadership of all Palestinian armed groups to cease attacking civilians, immediately and unconditionally." The group "urges the Palestinian Authority to arrest those involved in attacks on civilians" and to do a better job enforcing its criminal justice system so that it falls in line with the standards of international human rights. The report says that there is never a justification for attacks against civilians. Amnesty explains that targeting civilians for whatever purpose runs "contrary to fundamental principles of humanity which should apply in all circumstances at all times." "The attacks against civilians by Palestinian armed groups are widespread, systematic, and in pursuit of an explicit policy to attack civilians," says the report. "They therefore constitute crimes against humanity under international law." According to the report, armed groups from both sides of a conflict are forbidden by international humanitarian law to target people who are "not members of the armed forces of either sides." Among the "Palestinian armed groups" that have claimed or been accused of responsibility for these attacks are Fatah Tanzim, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

Barghouti to be Tried in Civilian Court?

July 12….(Jerusalem Post) Although there are conflicting reports coming out of Israel about what will be done with captured Tanzim leader Marwan Barghouti, the Jerusalem Post continues to report that he will stand trial. Marwan Barghouti, the general-secretary of the Fatah movement in the West Bank and head of the Tanzim militia, will be tried in a civilian court, the Justice Ministry announced yesterday. The trial would be the first in years of a senior Palestinian. Israel will also try four other suspected terrorist leaders Nasser Awis, Thabet Mardawi, Abas e-Sayyad, and Nasser Abu Hamid. Justice Ministry spokesman Ya'acov Galant said Israel intends to try the five in civilian court because of their connection "to several attacks in Israel" as opposed to attacks carried out in the West Bank. Marwan Barghouti commander of the Tanzim and the Aksa Martyrs' Brigades in Judea, Samaria, and the Gaza Strip. He is suspected of heading an organization which initiated many terrorist attacks against Israel in which hundreds of Israeli citizens were killed or wounded, and of personal involvement in specific attacks. In placing Barghouti on trial, Israel is apparently hoping to prove the complicity of the highest levels of the Palestinian Authority leadership in terrorist attacks. Israeli authorities have said that he acknowledged also orchestrating attacks, with the approval of Arafat.

Sharon Will Let Arafat Alone

July 12….(Jerusalem Post) Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who on several occasions has tried to convince his cabinet to approve the expulsion of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, now accepts the consensus among top diplomatic and security officials in Israel and Washington that Arafat should remain isolated and irrelevant. The Sharon government has decided to ignore him diplomatically and just let him hydrate. We need to have absolutely no interaction with Arafat, and we do not need to give the Palestinian people a reason to support him either.

U.S. Zeroing in on Hezbollah

July 12….(World Net) Within a space of a few months, the Bush administration has changed its assessment on Hezbollah nearly 180 degrees. Before Sept. 11, the United States viewed Hezbollah as a local problem connected to the Arab-Israeli conflict. Today, however, the Bush administration and congressional leaders see Hezbollah as the biggest insurgency threat after al-Qaida. What led to the change was new intelligence data supplied by Israel, Jordan and Germany that detailed Hezbollah's strategy post-Sept. 11. Simply put, Hezbollah is an arm of Iran meant to dominate the Middle East and replace al-Qaida as the next global terrorist group. This strategy was discussed in a June 1 meeting in Tehran. (reported by FOJ) Several secret meetings took place under the auspices of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps that included Hezbollah leaders and allies in such groups as Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command. The lineup for the meeting included PFLP-GC chief Ahmed Jibril, Islamic Jihad's Ramadan Shallah, Hamas's Imad Alami, Hezbollah's Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah and the movement's foreign operations chief Imad Mughniyeh. But there was an unexpected addition to the meeting, that of an unidentified senior al-Qaida member. The Iranians made the following offer to the group. Tehran would be willing to be their new sponsor and invest $150 million in a worldwide terror campaign. The condition was full coordination with Tehran and between the terrorist groups. Those who agreed would obtain safe haven, money and weapons, such as short-range rockets that can reach much of Israel from neighboring Lebanon or Jordan. The meeting set King Abdullah in a panic. The Hashemite king urged Washington to forget Iraq and focus on expelling Hezbollah from Lebanon. Last week, Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Bob Graham toured the Middle East and relayed Washington's warning to Lebanon and Syria that Hezbollah will become a target.

Iraqi Defectors Meet To Overthrow Saddam

July 11….(Middle East News) For the first time, Iraqi military officers will meet publicly in a campaign to overthrow the regime of President Saddam Hussein. Seventy Iraqi defectors will meet on Friday in London to plan strategy to topple Saddam and establish a democratic regime. The three-day conference is expected to be the first time such a large group of military officers will publicly join the opposition. Iraqi leaders and newspapers have already denounced the officers and warned them not to convene. The defectors are expected to discuss how to recruit Iraqi commanders to join a coup against Saddam.

Prominent among the former officers is MajorGeneral Najib al-Salhi, a former tank commander in the elite Republican Guards, who fought the coalition in the Gulf War before defecting in 1995. Now living near Washington, he is regarded as a potentially key figure in persuading serving members of the Iraqi Armed Forces to rebel once America begins its assault. On the question of what kind of regime would take its place, the organisers want a firm declaration from the participants at the meeting that the military will not take over control of Iraq and replace one dictatorship with another. They want a democracy that reflects the country's three dominant ethnic groups and confines the military to defensive duties.

Al Queda has 5,000 Plants in America

July 11….(Washington Times) U.S. intelligence agencies are watching several groups of Middle Eastern men thought to be among some 5,000 al Qaeda members and supporters in the United States. Small groups of about a half-dozen men in Seattle, Chicago, Detroit and Atlanta are under surveillance and believed to be part of Osama bin Laden's network. It had been previously estimated that Al Queda only had a few hundred terrorist plants inside the U.S. The plants are trained and prepared to carry out attacks "when they are called upon to do so. In addition to al Qaeda, about a dozen other international terrorist groups have members in the United States.

The Modus Operandi of the PLO

July 11….(FOJ) The Palestinian Liberation Organization was founded in 1964 by Egypt. By 1969, Yasser Arafat assumed the leadership of the PLO. Note that its emblem, like that of other Palestinian terrorist groups, displays a map of all of the State of Israel, not just those areas administered by Israel since 1967.

Palestine Liberation Organization executive committee member Zahir Muhsein states: The Palestinian people do not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people" to oppose Zionism. For tactical reasons, we developed the concept of a Palestinian people to superimpose our strategic position in the territory. However, someday the moment will come when we reclaim our right to all of Palestine. In fact, on the same day Arafat signed the Declaration of Principles on the White House lawn in 1993, he explained his actions on Arab and Jordanian TV. Here's what he said: "Since we cannot defeat Israel in war, we do this in stages. We take any and every territory that we can of Palestine, and establish a sovereignty there, and we use it as a springboard to take more. When the time comes, we can get the Arab nations to join us for the final blow against Israel."

Arafat's Fatah Organization

July 11….(FOJ) Enclosed is the emblem of Yasser Arafat's Fatah Organization which predominates the Palestinian Authority. Notice the grenade and crossed rifles, superimposed on a map of Israel. This emblem symbolizes the dedication of Fatah, along with many other so-called "liberation" groups, to the "armed struggle" against Israel. Founded in the early 1960s by Egyptian-born Yasser Arafat and some of his Israel-hating friends from Algeria, Fatah eventually took over the Palestine Liberation Organization. Backed by Syria, Arafat's Fatah began carrying out terrorist raids against Israeli targets in 1965, launching raids from Jordan, Lebanon and Egyptian-occupied Gaza, careful not to implicate Syria in those raids. Since then it has been the PLO's most prominent faction, under the direct control of PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat. "Fatah" is a reverse acronym of the Arabic, Harekat at-Tahrir al-Wataniyyeh al-Falastiniyyeh. The word "Fatah" means "conquest by means of Jihad, or Islamic holy war".

LA Airport Killer Was Illegal Alien

Hesham Mohamed Hadayet, who attacked the El Al Israel Airlines counter before a security guard shot and killed him, was living in the United States illegally until he applied for adjustment of status under the program, known as 245(i) from the section of immigration laws. He gained legal residence upon his wife's winning a green card through the “diversity” visa lottery that allows 55,000 persons a year to earn immigrant visas.

Note: This is bio-diversity? Why did America ever need to become more diverse? I guess it was once, too Christianized….?

Hussein Plans to Make Hell for America

July 11….(Newsmax) Saddam Hussein is planning to use every available weapon at his disposal if the US leads an assault on Iraq to unseat him from power. Hussein has let it be known to all that he would wait for the United States to throw the first punch, but then hit back with everything he's got, both on the battlefield and "all other fronts." This presumably means the activation of "sleeper" cells in the United States. The Saudi newspaper Al-Watan-Al-Arabi, quoting sources close to the ruling family in Baghdad, passed along the information as a warning to anti-Iraq powers. The source stated: “The Americans must know that the heroes of Iraq can become human bombs in the thousands, willing to blow up Americns in their own houses, We will make their life's a living Hell.” If Osama bin Laden truly did carry out the September attacks as they claim, then as God is my witness, we will prove to them that what happened in September is a picnic compared to the wrath of Saddam Hussein." The Saudi source claimed that what will happen between Bush 43 and Hussein will be larger and more dangerous than what happened between Hussein and former President Bush.

Turkey will be Key in US Effort Against Iraq

July 10….(Debka) Apparently the US led effort to destabilize and remove Saddam Hussein from his grip on power in Iraq could come from the nation of Turkey and the many Turkish peoples that reside in Iraq. Any change in Iraq could also effectuate a big change in Syria!

US war planners may have decided that their most useful strategic asset for the coming offensive against Saddam Hussein is the 2.5 million Turkomans of north and central Iraq. Turkey has come around to joining the US offensive against Iraq for compelling strategic reasons of its own. One, the eventual dis-severance of Iraq will enfeeble Iraq and its military ally, Syria, both neighbors. Turkey now has special military units and military intelligence agents positioned in Turkoman towns, corresponding to the US presence in the Kurdish regions.

Palestinian Group Planning to unseat Arafat

July 10….(UPI) A group of prominent Palestinians disillusioned with Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian Authority have formed a new political movement to offer an alternative to West Bank and Gaza voters in the coming elections. Jihad Bargouti, one of the movement's founders, said Tuesday the fledgling Palestinian National Solidarity Movement is led by Edward Said, an American academic of Palestinian origin who has been prominent in Palestinian affairs. Marwan Bargouti, Jihad's brother and head of Tanzim, the armed wing of Arafat's own Fatah organization and currently in an Israeli jail, was also a leading member. The PNSM was formed late last year by a group of leading Palestinians who are critical of the way the Palestinian Authority has administered the West Bank and Gaza under Arafat's leadership. Jihad Barghouti, a Palestinian surgeon with Jordanian nationality, gave no indication of the extent of the new movement's grassroots following among Palestinians. But he said the PNSM plans to hold a meeting in the West Bank shortly that would test public reaction. Marwan Barghouti, seen by some as a possible successor to Arafat, was arrested and has been held by the Israelis since April when they swept into the West Bank in response to a campaign of Palestinian suicide bombings. Said, a professor of literature at Columbia University, New York, brought up in Egypt the child of Christian Palestinian Arabs, was a member of the Palestinian National Council before the Israeli hand-over of West Bank towns and Gaza following the Oslo peace agreement. Said broke with Arafat when the Palestinian leader signed the Oslo agreement. Jihad Barghouti said 20 leading PNSM members held a series of meetings beginning in Zurich, Switzerland, in November, to draw up a strategy for the post-Arafat era. The PNSM proposes that once Arafat is marginalized in Palestinian politics, there be a 15-member interim government for two years to be followed by elections for a Palestinian president. Western officials, including Americans, who were at the meeting welcomed the PNSM plan, Barghouti said.

US May Hit Iraq from Jordan

July 10….(New York Times) An American military planning document calls for air, land and sea-based forces to attack Iraq from three directions, the north, south and west , in a campaign to topple President Saddam Hussein. American military planners are considering Jordan as a staging area for air and commando raids against Iraq in the event the United States decides to attack Iraq. American planning in the event of an attack on the regime of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein calls for air, land and naval forces to attack from three directions. Using Jordanian bases would enable U.S. forces to attack from the west, as well as from the north via Turkey and the south via several Persian Gulf states, the paper said. American troops in Jordan could also help to detect, track and destroy Scud missiles that Baghdad might shoot at Israel as it did in the 1991 Persian Gulf War. Jordan's foreign minister, Marwan Muasher, told the paper in a telephone interview from Amman, that Jordan would not be used as a launching pad for any military action against Iraq.

Note: In the 1991 Persian Gulf War, Jordan permitted over-flight of Iraqi missiles toward Israel.

The Hezbollah Threat

July 10….(Koinonia House) President Bush has made it clear in recent speeches that the U.S. desires a regime change in Iraq. Military preparations to that end have been ongoing, with a continued troop build up in Kuwait and construction of a new airstrip in the United Arab Emirates. Despite fears that Saddam Hussein may be working on building up his non-conventional weapons, some in the Senate Intelligence Committee fear that the focus on Hussein may be diverting U.S. attention away from a more urgent threat - the Islamic Fundamentalist group Hezbollah. U.S. Senator Bob Graham (D-Florida), chairman of the Senate's Select Committee on Intelligence, believes the Hezbollah training camps in Syria and Lebanon are "raising up the next generation of terrorists" and are a more immediate threat than Hussein. Some reports suggest Hezbollah and Al-Aaida are already working together. However, Senator Graham doesn't believe the U.S. should necessarily be the one to destroy the training camps. He would prefer to give the Syrians and the Lebanese an opportunity "to clean up their own house". In response to Senator Graham's comments, Hezbollah Deputy Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem said U.S. accusations "have been pouring" on Hezbollah, "but "they know well that we will not fall to such accusations and we do not fear their signals of (preparing) aggressions against us." He said Hezbollah "will prove and will be in the right position to defend ourselves and prove our right in independence and freedom to express our opinions and values." Thus far, Syria and Lebanon have done little to reign in Hezbollah, and President Assad of Syria has defended the right of Hezbollah to continue its struggles against Israel. There is concern, in fact, that Hezbollah will increase its attacks into northern Israel, as a top Hezbollah official announced this week that they will no longer recognize the withdrawal "blue" line created by the United Nations. The previous U.S. Administration had tried to convince President Assad's father to cut ties with Hezbollah but with no success. Hezbollah has refused to enter into any negotiations or peace talks with Israel.

Senate Intelligence Sites Damascus Terror Camps

FOJ Note: Focus on Jerusalem Prophecy Ministry has highlighted the potential of Damascus playing a part in end-time Bible Prophecy for 3 years. That scenario is based upon the prophesied destruction of the city of Damascus depicted in Isaiah 17 and Jeremiah 49. Ironically, Damascus is becoming more and more the center of concern in the war on international terrorism. July 10….(Jerusalem Post) The Chairman of the US Senate Intelligence committee says the US should pressure Syria to dismantle terrorist camps in Lebanon and consider air strikes if it doesn't. Florida senator Bob Graham said Hizbullah and Islamic Jihad camps must be shut down. Graham said if Syria refuses to close them, then the international community, led by the United States, has a priority to destroy them.

Kentucky Pastor Makes Waves

July 9….(FOJ) One Kentucky Independent Baptist minister has come into heavy criticism for his Christian expository on the subject of homosexuality, unnatural sexual orientations, illicit Hollywood movies, abortion, perverse rock stars, anti-Christian Supreme Court rulings, and an influx of non-Christian religious teaching. Pastor Jeff Fugate of Clays Mill Road Independent Baptist Church of Lexington, Kentucky, speaking at a July 4th rally spoke about what he termed some cancerous ailments that threaten America future. His comments, coupled with the patriotic theme of the founding of America as a Christian nation placed Pastor Fugate in the eye of a storm centering on the controversy over the separation of church and State. Pastor Fugate remarked that America was founded as a Christian nation and that other religions, while enjoying the freedom of expression in America, should not be allowed to change America's Christian foundation.

FOJ Note: Pastor Fugate's comments have been derided in the local media, and resulted in him being labeled as an intolerant “hate-monger.” In reality, Pastor Fugate's remarks are actually an uncompromising exposition of the truth in a world that hates the truth. (The uncompromising Biblical truth is often an offense to high-minded religious people)

Bush Supports Temporary Occupation

July 9….(Jerusalem Post) US President George W. Bush yesterday reiterated his backing for Israel's re-occupation of Palestinian towns until the general security situation improves. Asked again if he is perfectly comfortable with Israel's presence in the West Bank, Bush said: "I would hope that everybody got the message that we all have the responsibility to fight off terrorist attacks. Bush said he had not been briefed recently on the status of Palestinian reforms. He reiterated that progress needs to be made toward the institutions that are necessary for a Palestinian state to emerge that will give us all confidence in its ability to fight off terrorist activities. The PA needs to develop the ability to receive international aid without the money being stolen, and to develop a judiciary." Bush has essentially conditioned US support for a Palestinian state, both financial and nominal on Palestinian reform. Bush has also affirmed that Israel should withdraw from territory that it now occupies after these structures are developed.

Al Qaeda Threatens Attacks Soon

July 9….(Reuters) The al Qaeda network will strike U.S. targets in America and around the world soon, an al Qaeda spokesman said in an interview published today. "Our military and intelligence networks are assessing and monitoring new U.S. targets that we will strike in a period of time which is not long," spokesman Sulaiman bu Ghaith told the Algerian Arabic daily newspaper El Youm. "Our suicide militants are ready and impatient to carry out attacks against U.S. and Jewish targets inside America and abroad," the spokesman added. El Youm director said the newspaper received on Monday by e-mail taped answers to questions that had been sent Sunday to al Qaeda's Internet Web site. Bu Ghaith warned America to "fasten its seat belts" because his organization "will hit, with God's willing, from where they will not expect." "America knows we are men of action and not men of words," he went on, saying that attacks were also being planned against the "puppet government" of Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Bu Ghaith, in a tape aired last month by Qatar-based al Jazeera television, said al Qaeda was behind a suicide attack on a Tunisian synagogue in April that killed 21 people, including 14 German tourists. He said that Washington's war on terrorism since Sept. 11 had not affected al Qaeda's military, intelligence, economic and information infrastructures and reiterated that bin Laden was going about his work.

Iraq Ready for American Attack?

July 9….(Reuters) Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz said the United States could not remove President Saddam Hussein from power and his country was ready to defend itself against American aggression. Aziz told reporters that Iraq was not worried by comments on Monday from President Bush, who said the United States would use all tools at its disposal to oust the Iraqi leader. Speculation that the U.S. would attack Iraq to oust Saddam has intensified since talks aimed at putting United Nations weapons inspectors back in the country broke down last week.

Farrakhan Prayer: Iraq Victory over America

July 9….(Washington Times) Iraq's state-run media has quoted Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan as saying during a visit to Baghdad that American Muslims are praying for an Iraqi victory in a war with the United States. Mr. Farrakhan held talks with Islamic Affairs Minister Abdul Munem Saleh on "ways to confront the American threats against Iraq," INA reported. The agency quoted the black Muslim leader as saying "the Muslim American people are praying to the almighty God to grant victory to Iraq." Mr. Saleh was quoted by INA as urging a common effort among the Muslims of the world to "expose the American and Zionist crimes toward the people of Iraq and Palestine." This is the second visit to Baghdad for Mr. Farrakhan, who arrived from Damascus on Friday as part of a regional tour. He first visited Iraq in 1997.

Arafat May Step Down Soon

July 9….(UPI) Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is expected to step down in the coming weeks through an agreement between the United States, Israel and certain Palestinian and Arab parties, a Jordanian magazine said Monday. The opposition periodical, Al-Majd, which is considered close to Syria, quoted unidentified high-ranking Palestinian sources as saying the president of the Palestinian Legislative Council, Ahmad Qurai, known as Abu Alaa, is Arafat's most likely successor. They said Abu Alaa has the upper hand over another favored candidate, Mahmud Abbas, who goes by the name of Abu Mazen and is secretary-general of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, The sources said Arafat was almost acquiescent about stepping down willingly after being briefed about a U.S. and Israeli request to replace him as a condition for restarting peace negotiations and the creation of an independent Palestinian state. They said Arafat was granted a last chance to think about the best way to step down, and that if he did so, he would most likely choose to retire to a home in territories under the control of the Palestinian Authority, rather than go into exile in Egypt, Jordan or Tunisia. The reports about Arafat's projected departure coincided with denials by Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt that they were involved in contacts aimed at ousting him.

PA Member Calls Arafat's Reforms a 'Catastrophe'

July 9….(Ha Aretz) A member of the Palestinian Legislative Council says that Yasser Arafat is incapable of reforming the Palestinian Authority and referred to the changes enacted by the PA chairman to date as "a catastrophe." "What Arafat has achieved actually is nonsense because he kept all of the collaborators and corrupt people among the cabinet." Houssam Khader, PA cabinet member says that Arafat's reforms are a catastrophe which will lead the Palestinian people to hell." When asked if he believed Arafat's claims that he wants to enact real reforms, Khader answered, "No, I don't think his mentality accepts these types of reforms." "I don't care if Arafat continues or not," he added. "I care if the Palestinian people will re-elect him or not. Khader also said that the Palestinian leader was currently fighting "to be in power" with his "corrupt" advisors and collaborators at his side.

American Jews Immigrating to Israel

July 9….(FOJ) About 400 immigrants from the United States and Canada, the largest ever from North America, landed Tuesday morning at Ben-Gurion International Airport. Most of the newcomers intend to settle in Jerusalem and the town of Beit Shemesh, south of the capital. Another 130 North American immigrants are expected to arrive over the summer. The Jewish community in the US is the largest in the world and therefore from a strategic point of view, it is the great potential reservoir in the world for immigration. The 400 immigrants are the largest group of North Americans to arrive at one time in the last 25 years, according to the Jewish Agency. Last year, 1,378 North American Jews immigrated to Israel. The numbers have been steadily dropping from 1995, when 2,503 North American Jews immigrated. North American Jews have never made up a large portion of immigrants only 111,096 out of 2.8 million immigrants who have arrived since 1948. The banner year was 1971, when 8,122 came. According to Jewish Agency spokesman Yehuda Weinraub 601 North Americans have arrived so far this year, compared with 561 last year. With the additional 400, the numbers for this year already are up to 1,000 new North American immigrants.

Jordan Article Indicates Arafat Will Resign

July 8….(Rapture Ready) Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is expected to step down in the coming weeks through an agreement between the United States, Israel and certain Palestinian and Arab parties, a Jordanian magazine said Monday. The opposition periodical, Al-Majd, which is considered close to Syria, quoted unidentified high-ranking Palestinian sources as saying the president of the Palestinian Legislative Council, Ahmad Qurai, known as Abu Alaa, is Arafat's most likely successor. They said Abu Alaa has the upper hand over another favored candidate, Mahmud Abbas, who goes by the name of Abu Mazen and is secretary-general of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization. The sources said Arafat was almost acquiescent about stepping down willingly after being briefed about a U.S. and Israeli request to replace him as a condition for restarting peace negotiations and the creation of an independent Palestinian state. They said Arafat was granted a last chance to think about the best way to step down, and that if he did so, he would most likely choose to retire to a home in territories under the control of the Palestinian Authority, rather than go into exile in Egypt, Jordan or Tunisia. The reports about Arafat's projected departure coincided with denials by Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt that they were involved in contacts aimed at ousting him.

Hezbollah Does Not Recognize UN Borders

July 8….(Jerusalem Post) A comment by a leading Hizbullah official that the organization no longer recognizes the UN-delineated withdrawal line has raised speculation that the radical Shi'ite group may be laying the groundwork for an intensification of assaults across the Lebanese border with Israel. Shiekh Mohammed Ra'ad, leader of Hizbullah's faction in the Lebanese parliament, came amid reports that the IDF is maintaining a high state of alert along the northern border in anticipation of an attempt by the organization to carry out an attack in the coming days. Ra'ad, in an interview with the "Asharq al-Awsat" Arabic-language newspaper, said Hizbullah refuses to accept any ceasefire or negotiations with Israel or to recognize the withdrawal line. He said the "blue line," to which the IDF withdrew when it pulled out of Lebanon in May 2000 in full compliance with UN Security Council resolution 425, was a "superpower's demarcation and we don't recognize it.

Arafat is all about Lawlessness and Corruption

July 8….(Jerusalem Post) Wherever Arafat goes, lawlessness, corruption, and instability follow. This statement does not come from any longtime opposition of Yasser Arafat, but rather from Abbas Zaki, a founding member of Fatah and a long-time supporter of the Palestinian Authority Chairman in an interview in Newsweek. Zaki, 60, participated in fedayeen raids against Israel from Jordan after the Six Day War, and spent 27 years in exile before returning to the West Bank in 1994 after the signing of the Oslo Accords. He was an Arafat lieutenant in the Palestinian Legislative Council, but lost confidence in Arafat during recent IDF operations in the West Bank. Palestinians are starting to blame Arafat openly for their suffering, he says. "Eight years ago, he came to Gaza and Jericho and said, 'I'll make it into Hong Kong.' Instead, he turned it into Somalia," says a Bethlehem schoolteacher whose gunman brother was forced into exile last month. "He's like a pair of old shoes. It's time for him to be cast aside." Hussam Khader, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council and an influential leader of Fatah in the Balata refugee camp near Nablus, said, "I don't think that Arafat cares about anything other than being in power”. Arafat will win re-election in spite of the fact that everybody blames him for destroying Palestinian life and keeping thieves in his government," says Khader, 39. "We are like the Beduin. We follow our sheikhs.

Proposal to Internationalize Jerusalem's Old City

July 8….(Jerusalem Post) The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, composed of parliamentarians from 55 countries has proposed internationalizing the Old City of Jerusalem. Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the US-based Simon Wiesenthal Center, said he fears the initiative will pass when brought before the OSCE for a vote today because it appeared to have a lot of support. "The head of the Italian delegation told us his main concern is that in the future when there are peace discussions, the Palestinian entity will be given control of the Christian Holy 's prefer for religious reasons to have the Old City internationally administered

. Terrorist Camps in Lebanon, Syria

July 8….(Jerusalem Post) Terrorist training camps in Lebanon and Syria pose a more urgent threat to the US than Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, US Senator Bob Graham (D-Florida), chairman of the Senate's Select Committee on Intelligence, said yesterday. While the Bush administration has called on Lebanon and Syria to stop their support for terrorism, it is more actively considering a campaign to oust Saddam Hussein in the next phase of the war on terrorism. Graham, speaking on NBC's Sunday morning talk show Meet the Press after returning from a trip to the Middle East, argued against trying to oust Saddam Hussein now since there is no Arab support for the move. "I also believe there are some things that we need to do that are more urgent. One of those is to deal with these training camps that have developed particularly in Syria and Lebanon where the next generation of terrorists are being prepared," Graham said. I think that is a much more immediate threat to the security of the United States of America, in my judgment than Saddam Hussein.

Wailing Wall, Wailing?

July 8….(Jerusalem Post) Two Jewish men tried to climb the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest site, because a water stain on one large stone has led some ultra-Orthodox Jews to conclude that redemption is near and the Messiah is on his way. Some Jewish mystics believe it is a sign the "wall is crying," signaling the coming of the Messiah. Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch, who presides over the wall, told the Jerusalem Post that the dripping was "highly unusual" and suggested that "maybe the wall is indeed crying because of the current situation in the country". Rabbi Menachem Fromann went further. "There is a prophecy that everybody knows, that states that when water comes through the stones of the wall it presages the advent of the Messiah," he said. "Perhaps God is opening up a path for peace and people will feel this and move towards it." The towering slabs of stone known to Jews as the Western Wall are revered as the last remains of the temple built by Herod the Great in 20BC and destroyed by the Romans in AD70.

Powell: 'They Won't Drive Me Out'

July 8….(Telegraph) Colin Powell, the beleaguered Secretary of State, has delivered an angry riposte to the Pentagon hard-liners responsible for his recent string of policy defeats, insisting to allies that he "won't let those bastards drive me out". Despite his frustration at President Bush's tendency to side with Donald Rumsfeld, the Defense Secretary, on issues ranging from the Middle East to the International Criminal Court, General Powell is making it clear that he does not intend to quit before the next presidential election.

Farrakhan to Launch Anti-Israel Lobby

July 8….(Jerusalem Post) Louis Farrakhan, controversial head of the Nation of Islam, a US-based black Muslim group, plans to establish an anti-Israel lobbying organization to pressure the Bush Administration on its Middle East policy, the Libyan News Agency Jana reported over the weekend. According to the report, Farrakhan, "put forward his plan to confront the Zionist lobby in America". Farrakhan told officials in Syria and Lebanon that his mission is focusing on establishing a political group of different ethnic groups to exert pressure on the American administration and its policies, especially in the Middle East. According to Farrakhan, it will also confront the Zionist lobby which has infiltrated the American establishment.

Powell calls 'Madrid quartet' to New York

July 8….(Harpazo) Members of the "Madrid quartet" will meet again in mid-July at United Nations offices in New York, in an attempt to forge an agreement about U.S. President George Bush's new plan for the Middle East. Discussions will include Washington's call for the replacement of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat. The New York meeting will apparently be held on a high ministerial level, since U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has announced that he wants to meet with top officials from the other members of the quartet, the UN, the European Union and Russia to formulate a joint policy. The last round of meetings between the quartet, held in London, did not yield tangible results, and exposed differences of opinion between the U.S. and the other members over future ties with Arafat. Representatives of Arab states (Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan) will be asked to take part in the upcoming meetings at the UN on July 15 and 16.

EU Needs a Super President

July 8….One of the most senior figures in Europe's debate on its future has added his voice to calls for a powerful president to give strategic direction to the European Union. Giuliano Amato, vice-chairman of the EU's constitutional convention, and a former Italian prime minister, called the status quo "a crazy system, that is totally inefficient". He argued that the EU needed a President. The convention is scheduled to meet until early next year in a bid to come up with a EU balance of power that could endure for some 30 years. Valéry Giscard D'Estaing, convention chairman, hopes to reach a consensus that will be accepted by governments when they renegotiate the EU treaty in 2004.

EU: “Israel Must End its Occupation”

July 8….(Weekend) After meeting with Dr. Saeb Erekat the Palestinian Minister in Jericho yesterday, Miguel Angel Muratinos the European envoy to the peace process in the Middle East, reiterated the European stand towards the Middle East crisis of rejecting the Israeli occupation to the Palestinian Lands, and demanding that it stop. Mr. Muratinos also stated that the EU does not refuse dealing with President Arafat, emphasizing the European positive position towards the peace process that will lead to establishing the independent Palestinian State with Jerusalem as its Capital according to the International legitimacy.

Note: The so-called “occupation” is a misnomer. Israel is not an occupier of somebody else's territories. Furthermore, Israel can make the case for legitimate sovereignty in the “disputed territory” more than any other claimant.

LA Airport Killings Were Terror-Related

July 8….(Debka) Hashem Mohamed Hadayat, 41 who killed two Israeli's at the LA international airport on July 4th at the El Al terminal, and wounded 7 others, was a Muslim extremist and a member of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad terrorist cell. During his ten years in the United States, he was a secret operative of the Egyptian Jihad who maintained undercover links to the same Jihad cell in Brooklyn, New York, as the “blind sheikh” Abdul Rahim Rahman and Ramzi Yousef. Hadayat met Dr. Ayman Zuwahri, the Jihad Islami chief who is Osama bin Laden's deputy, twice in California, once in 1995 and again in 1998. Hadayat was an acquaintance of Egyptian copilot Gameel el-Batouty, the man who was at the controls of the Egypt-air Boeing 767 Flight 990, which took off from Los Angeles airport for Kennedy, New York. After Kennedy, the plane bound for Cairo plunged into the Atlantic off the Nantucket Island, Mass. coast, killing all 217 passengers and crew on October 31, 1999. His neighbors in his Los Angeles suburb tell a report that he hated Israelis and Jews and asked one of his neighbors to take down the American and US Marine flags put up after 9/11. Counter-terror experts cite Hesham Hadayat as a classical al Qaeda plant. He was positioned at Los Angeles airport in the early 1990s to bide his time for the right moment to carry out a terrorist attack.

In Pursuit of a Peace Partner

July 3….(FOJ) In October, 1994 Yasser Arafat received the Laureate Nobel Peace Prize. It was hoped that the reward would entice Arafat to give up his ideals of completely destroying Israel, and join the world's elite political class as a Statesman and President. But Arafat played the peace process as a means to an end in his agenda against Israel. Arafat was born in Cairo on August 4, 1929, not in Jerusalem as he so often claims. His parents, members of the al-Husseini clan had immigrated to Egypt, not as exiles or refugees, but as people seeking their fortune in a better land. Yes, Arafat's family simply moved to Egypt in the 1920s, more than twenty years before the State of Israel even came into existence! Yasser Arafat's given name is Abd al-Rahman abd al-Rauf Arafat al-Qud al-Husseini. His uncle was the infamous Haj Muhammed Amin al-Husseini, an ally of Adolph Hitler in the 1930's and 1940's. Yasser Arafat was recruited, and returned to the Palestine arena by the New World Global Order geopolitical and diplomatic ideologues working under the auspices of several nations and the United Nations banner to forge a Peace Process between Israel and the Arab world. For the Last Days one-world empire to emerge, it needs a “peace partner” in Palestine. Yasser Arafat has served their purposes until now, (keeping Israel from exercising sovereignty in Jerusalem, Judea) but now a new peace partner is required, one that will serve the geopolitical strategies of the Antichrist..

Article (4) of the PLO Charter
The Palestinian struggle is part and parcel of the “world-wide struggle against Zionism”, colonialism and international imperialism

Article (19) Armed struggle is a strategy and not a tactic, and the Palestinian Arab People's armed revolution is a decisive factor in the liberation fight and in uprooting the Zionist existence, and this struggle will not cease unless the Zionist state is demolished and Palestine is completely liberated.

Barak: Arafat a 'Serial Liar'

July 3….(Jerusalem Post) Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak called Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat a "serial liar," a liar who is completely untrustworthy and has finished his "role in history. Barak took to task those on the left and in the peace camps that are unwilling to give up on Arafat. "I fear that what has happened to much of the hard-core left is that their identification with Arafat is so strong they echo his positions." He said he doesn't believe Israel should do anything to eliminate Arafat, but said, "I'm sure we must stop the campaign that exists among some of us to save Arafat. Barak, said that eventually, five, 10, 15, or 20 years down the line, an agreement will be reached with the Palestinians that will be "microscopically close" to what was presented at Camp David. Even though Camp David didn't bring peace, Barak stated that once and for all Arafat's true face was revealed. Note: To paraphrase another Israeli Prime Minister, let me ask Mr. Barak, “what took you so long,” to discover that Arafat was untrustworthy?

Mass Rally in Gaza Supporting Arafat

July 3….(FOJ) Thousands of Palestinians chanting "more attacks and explosives belts" took to the streets of Gaza Wednesday in a rally organized by Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction to protest against a U.S. call to replace him. At the Gaza rally, one activist from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed group linked to Fatah, pledged over a loudspeaker that “any Palestinian openly challenging Arafat's leadership would be a dead man”. "Any collaborator who would represent himself an alternative to Chairman Arafat will be executed in the public square," said the message, which echoed through the streets as armed men fired in the air. Palestinian officials said hostility towards the United States had risen since Bush's statement calling for new Palestinian leadership. The crowd called for the death any Palestinian suspected of collaborating with Israel, or compromising the uprising by catering to President Bush's policy of dismissing Arafat. Note: Democracy is really taking hold in Gaza, isn't it! Apparently the election campaign is off and running in the PA, with Arafat in a clear lead.

July 4; America's Independence Day

July 4, 1776 wasn't simply the birth date of America's freedom. It was also the birth date of freedom in the world. France used to refer to President George Washington as the “father of freedom." He became the icon of inspiration for freedom fighters the world over. But the first American President would probably be dismayed with today's modern America. On May 12, 1779 George Washington confirmed the central role Christianity should play in education. He stated, “Congress should do all that is possible to instill the religion of Jesus Christ into the school children of America.” To his troops at Valley Forge, “it should be your highest glory to and of utmost importance to your character to be a Christian”. Upon the occasion of his inauguration, Washington said, “We ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which God and Heaven has ordained”. On October 9, 1789, President Washington stated; “it is impossible to rightly govern without God and the Holy Bible”!

Historians assert emphatically that the downfall of nations takes the following course”

1.) The undermining of the dignity and sanctity of the home, which is the basis for human society;

2.) Higher and higher taxes and the spending of public money for free bread and circuses for the populace;

3.) The mad craze for pleasure, sports becoming every year more exciting, more brutal, more immoral;

4.)The building of great armaments when the real enemy is within, the decay of individual responsibility;

5.) decay of religion, with faith fading into mere form, losing touch with almighty God!

II Corinthian 3:17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

Saudis Reject Call to Replace Arafat

July 3….(Jerusalem Post) Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Washington, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, met yesterday with US National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, to deliver a message from Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah about President George W. Bush's Middle East speech last week. He conveyed that Abdullah "rejects any intervention by any party in Arab internal affairs, especially the affairs of the Palestinian people, who alone have the right to choose their leadership." Saudi intelligence chief Prince Nawaf bin Abdul-Aziz was quoted in an interview last week expressing a similar view. "The Saudi kingdom is against any intervention in the internal affairs of the Palestinians. We must leave it to them to decide who their President is, and reject any power such as the United States imposing one on them."

Arafat Fires Security, Police Chiefs

July 3….(Washington Post) Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat fired his West Bank security chief and Gaza police chief Ghazi Jibali. West Bank Preventive Security Chief Jibril Rajoub says that he was informed of Arafat's decision to fire him. Rajoub is one of the most powerful figures in the West Bank, and is a potential candidate in any elections, but has had a falling-out with Arafat. During a previous incursion into the West Bank, Israeli forces destroyed Rajoub's headquarters, and he ordered the men inside to surrender, losing face among many Palestinians.

U.S. Position on Arafat is Final

July 3….(Ha Aretz) U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs William Burns told his "quartet" of counterparts (UN, EU, NATO, Russia) at a meeting in London on Tuesday that the U.S. decision to cut off all contact with Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat was final. Serious differences of opinion arose in the meeting between representatives from the U.S., European Union, Russia and the United Nations. The Europeans said that they intended to maintain contact with the Palestinian leader. The Russian and UN representatives also rejected a boycott on Arafat. Another "quartet" meeting is scheduled for this month at the foreign ministerial level, to be headed by Secretary of State Colin Powell, and will likely also include representatives from Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan.

Understanding bin Laden and September 11

July 3….(FOJ) Many people have speculated as to why Osama bin Laden decided to launch his assault on America on September 11th, and many wondered suspiciously why it occurred on America's emergency assistance dialing numbers. (911) Perhaps the real reason was actually provided by M. Bin Laden himself in his video messages. Osama Bin Laden is trying to rouse the entire Muslim world to Jihad, and hatred for Israel is his prime motivating force. Symbolism is a weapon in his arsenal. Consider what he has referred to in his post-September 11 video statements: “after 80 years, the sword has come to America, and, “there will be no peace for America until there is peace in Palestine." He was almost certainly referring to the resolution passed on September 11, 1922 by the, U.S. Congress endorsing the Balfour Declaration for partitioning the land of Palestine and thus creating a Zionist State of Israel. (Be it hereby resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled that the United States of America favors the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of Christian and all other non-Jewish communities in Palestine, and that the Holy places and religious buildings and sites in Palestine shall be adequately protected.) Most Americans are unfamiliar with the history of Palestine and the founding of the State of Israel.

America Will not Join ICC

July 3….(AP) The United States is facing criticism from across the globe for threatening to end United Nations peacekeeping missions in Bosnia and elsewhere unless U.S. peacekeepers are exempt from prosecution by the International war-crimes tribunal. More than 100 countries celebrated the birth Monday of the International Criminal Court as a milestone for global justice and vowed not to let U.S. opposition sabotage the tribunal's mission to deter and prosecute war criminals. The U.S. government maintains that the court would put American soldiers and civilians at risk of prosecution under laws that are outside America's control, calling the court a potential violation of U.S. sovereignty. "The President said that it is a vital matter of principle to protect American men and women peacekeepers, the United States has a lot at risk."

Fatah Calls For Attacks on US, Zionist Targets

July 2….(Jerusalem Post) Groups affiliated with Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement yesterday called upon all Palestinian organizations, including the Islamic movements, to attack Zionist and American targets everywhere in response to US efforts "to remove the legitimate leadership of the Palestinian people." Fatah's military wing, al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades, issued a statement yesterday in which it threatened "to strike at Zionist and American interests and installations" in Israel and throughout the world if the United States maintains its opposition to Arafat. The statement warned US President George W. Bush that it will return to the type of fedayeen operations that prevailed in 1970s if what they called the conspiracy against Arafat continued.

Note: Arafat's Fatah organization is essentially stating that it will join the forces of terrorism to wage war on America!

US, Europeans, Russians to Discuss Arafat

July 2….(FOJ) The United States will try to resolve differences with its Mid-east peace partners regarding Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat in talks this week. Assistant Secretary of State William Burns will meet in London on Tuesday with UN, European Union and Russian officials to discuss Arafat's future and how to support Palestinian reforms.

EU Will Work with Arafat

July 2….(Rapture Ready) European Commission President Romano Prodi said the EU would continue its dialogue with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat if he is re-elected in January, despite US calls for his replacement. The White House said Bush had "given up hope" for Arafat to enact reforms but Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen echoed Prodi's comments. "It is not up to me to decide with whom I have to negotiate. We will of course negotiate with the leader elected by the Palestinians," he said.

Secretary of State Powell Flip-Flop

July 2….(FOJ) The US secretary of state, Colin Powell, has found himself even further out on the edge of the US administration yesterday after the most humiliating reversal yet in his Middle East policy. Less than a month after emphasizing that the US would continue to do business with the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, Mr. Powell was forced on Sunday to renounce him. In an interview on Sunday, Sec. Powell finally conceded defeat to the administration hawks. Asked about the role of Mr. Arafat, Mr. Powell admitted that even if the Palestinian leader won the election scheduled for January, the US may not do business with him. "I have no plans to meet with him and I don't want to speculate about the future, but at the moment I can't imagine meeting with Arafat," he said. Secretary Powell is repeatedly losing out to hawks congregating round the defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, and the national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice. After each rebuff, there are hints in the US press that he may quit.

Europe Fumes as Powell Isolated

July 2….(Guardian) US secretary of state, Colin Powell, less than a month after insisting that the US should continue to do business with the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, has finally succumbed to the Bush position to renounce him. A European diplomat, prepared to speak only on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the US administration's internal politics, described Mr. Powell's position as "dynamite". Another diplomat, from a neighboring country, reflecting on the Arafat U-turn, said Mr. Powell's policy switches were becoming "stranger and stranger". Powell will hold talks in New York tomorrow on the Middle East with Per Stig Moller, foreign minister of Denmark, which has just taken over the European presidency. In an interview with the Arabic daily, al-Hayat, last month, Mr. Powell pushed the idea of a Middle East peace conference, possibly in the summer, and that the US would continue to work with Mr. Arafat. He reiterated both ideas to US journalists accompanying him on a trip overseas. But he was quickly undermined by the White House press secretary, Ari Fleischer, who characterized them as Powell's personal ideas rather than administration policy. President Bush delivered the coup de grace on Monday when he failed to mention the peace conference and devoted much of his speech to saying the Palestinians would have to ditch Mr. Arafat. European foreign ministries view Mr. Powell as their representative in Washington, the sensible member of the administration. Given this, it is not surprising that Secretary Powell is seen as the European in the US administration.

Muhammed Dahlan: Bush Killing Peace Process

July 2….(Muhammed Dahlan, who some view as a possible successor to Yasser Arafat, criticized U.S. President George Bush's plan for the Middle East, saying that "far from setting out a vision of peace," instead it points "to an American decision to give up on the peace process." According to Dahlan, President Bush "is now effectively demanding a coup d'etat against Arafat, because the American administration says that even if he is re-elected in new elections, it will not deal with him." "What has effectively been done is to transform a series of demands of the international community and international law into a series of demands to be made of Yasser Arafat," Dahlan says Bush's speech will "make the conflict worse, while providing no positive gains for either Palestinians or Israelis." Dahlan says he won't rule out running against Arafat in any future elections. "I have huge criticisms of Arafat but when Bush and Ariel Sharon say they want to replace Arafat, I become the head of his re-election committee." Dahlan has represented Palestinians in security negotiations with Israel and analysts say he is regarded by Israel and the United States as a reliable Palestinian peace partner and among the best in the crop of a new leadership generation.

Bashar Assad: The Man on the Point

July 2….(FOJ) Bashar Assad is the “man on the point” in the war on terrorism. It is not Osama bin Laden. With his announcement this week that Syria will continue to actively support the Hezbollah Terrorist organization, and to support terror groups inside the Palestinian areas of the West Bank, Assad has essentially positioned his nation of Syria as the diplomatic-logistical bulwark against any Palestinian peace deals with Israel. Syria and its complicity with multiple terrorist organizations operating out of Damascus form the ultimate stumbling block to the development of a geographical perimeter of peace partners around Israel. More and more the West (U.S.) is beginning to realize that Damascus will not ever accommodate the existence of Israel on any portion of land in the Middle East. Bashar Asad was born on September 11, 1965, in Damascus. With the death of his father Hafez Assad, long time leader of Syria, Bashar was named the commander-in-chief of theSyrian armed forces on June 11, 2000 and on July 10, he was elected President of Syria. President al-Assad earned U.S. and Israeli condemnation for his anti-Jewish remarks when Pope John Paul II visited Syria a year ago. Assad advocates a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace, meaning agreement with all Arab factions together as opposed to separate treaties between Israel and each Arab State. Assad has also extensively developed closer military ties with Iraq, and Iran, nations that President Bush categorized as part of the Axis of Evil.

Pope: Christianity and Islam Must Harmonize

July 1….(World Net) Pope John Paul II hailed Iran's efforts to promote dialogue among civilizations and religions, as proposed by Iranian President Seyed Mohammad Khatami. In a meeting with the head of the Molla Sadra Islamic Theology Foundation, Ayatollah Mohammad Khamenei, the Pope stressed the need for Islam and Christianity to cooperate on achieving religious harmony through dialogue. He also praised the suggestions put forward by the Islamic Republic toward resolving problems currently facing religious minorities. For his part, Khamenei described the understanding and resolve of Islam and Christianity to fight the evils and corruption that plague society as "significant." He also stressed dialogue among religions as the ideal means for establishing global peace and justice. Khamenei, arrived in Rome to attend a session on "phenomenology and science" held at the Vatican.

Note: Jesus Christ and Muhammad have nothing in common. II Corinthians 6:14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?

Powell and Rice Enforce “No Arafat” Stance

July 1….(World Watch) The Bush administration warned the Palestinians Sunday about the clouding of their prospects for nationhood if they re-elect Yasser Arafat as their leader. Colin Powell said, the Palestinians "have the right to elect whoever they wish to, and we have the right and the ability to determine how we will deal with those circumstances." Should the Palestinians vote Arafat back to power, "then they ought to understand the consequences," Powell said. He also said the administration has abandoned for now its idea of an international conference of foreign ministers on the Middle East this summer. Condoleeza Rice, appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press," said the administration at least would end any financial support of Arafat's Palestinian Authority if he remains in power. "We are not trying to pick the leadership of the Palestinian people, but we are saying that there are consequences". "How can you work with a leadership that on one hand says it wants the peace process and on the other hand continues to work with terrorists who are undermining the peace process?" "The United States of course will respect democratic processes. But the fact is that if a leadership emerges that will not deal with the problem of terrorism, the United States can do nothing to move this process forward," Rice said. Palestinian diplomat al-Kidwa indicated that once an independent Palestine exists, the U.S. goal of getting rid of Arafat might be reachable. After independence, al-Kidwa said, the question of Arafat's future "will be very legitimate, because many Palestinians also think that he might not be the man to build all of the institutions of a state. "But we are still in the phase of national liberation, and I think he symbolizes the ambitions of the Palestinian people during this stage.

Note: This is a total diplomatic reversal for Secretary Powell.

Israel Kills Hamas Bomb-makers

July1….(Reuters) Muhaned Taher, who was considered the most senior West Bank militant wanted by Israel, was killed Sunday evening by IDF troops in Nablus. Taher was commander of the Hamas military wing in the Hebron area. A second Hamas member, Imad Draoza, was also killed and another was injured and arrested. A security services source said Taher topped the most-wanted list, making bombs that killed 104 Israelis. Hamas vowed to avenge Israel's killing of Taher.

Bush Wants “Under God” Judges

July 1….(FOJ) President Bush attacked the ruling by two federal judges that banned the Pledge of Allegiance in government schools. The phrase "under God" is merely "a confirmation of the fact that we received our rights from God," he said. "We need commonsense judges who understand that our rights were derived from God," Bush told reporters at the Group of Eight summit meeting in Canada. "Those are the kind of judges that I intend to put on the bench."

US Dealings with Arafat 'Suspended'

July 1….(Washington Post) Washington is no longer dealing with the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, and has no plans to do so at present, according to US Secretary of State Colin Powell. Speaking on American television Sunday, Colin Powell said Mr. Arafat had not provided the kind of leadership necessary to move forward. Mr. Powell's comments came after controversial calls by President George W Bush last week for the Palestinian people to replace their leadership. A Palestinian Authority official, Ahmed Abdul Rahman, urged all Palestinians not to meet with Mr Powell or any Israeli officials as long as the Palestinian people were, as he put it, under siege.

Terror Alliance Has U.S. Worried

July 1….(Washington Post) The Lebanon-based Hezbollah organization, one of the world's most formidable terrorist groups, is increasingly teaming up with al Qaeda on logistics and training for terrorist operations, according to U.S. and European intelligence officials and terrorism experts. The new cooperation, which is ad hoc and tactical and involves mid- and low-level operatives, mutes years of rivalry between Hezbollah, which draws its support primarily from Shiite Muslims, and al Qaeda, which is predominantly Sunni. It includes coordination on explosives and tactics training, money laundering, weapons smuggling and acquiring forged documents, according to knowledgeable sources. This new alliance, even if informal, has greatly concerned U.S. officials in Washington and intelligence operatives abroad who believe the assets and organization of Hezbollah's formidable militant wing will enable a hobbled al Qaeda network to increase its ability to launch attacks against American targets.

Americans Overwhelmingly Favor 'Under God'

July 1….(Reuters) A vast majority of Americans say "under God" should remain part of the Pledge of Allegiance in the wake of a court ruling that said the pledge is unconstitutional, a Newsweek magazine poll reveals. The survey showed that 87 percent support the phrase and 54 percent think the government should not avoid promoting religion. Additionally, 60 percent think that government leaders making public expressions of faith in God is good for the nation.

Arafat: Ready to Meet Bush 'Anytime, Anywhere'

July 1….(Ha Aretz) Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat offered on Sunday to meet U.S. President George W. Bush "anytime, anywhere" to promote Middle East peace despite Bush's call for his removal from power. Bush, who has never met with Arafat since taking office in 2001, has called for a new Palestinian leadership to pave the way for the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

One in 3 Europeans “Anti Semitic”

July 1….(Independent) A new form of anti-Semitism has taken hold in Europe, fuelled by anti-Israeli sentiment, according to a survey which shows almost one in three Europeans now harbors some anti-Jewish feelings. Attitudes towards Jews vary across the five countries surveyed with Belgians, Germans and the French "most likely to hold a prejudiced view of Jews". Denmark and the UK are said to be the least prejudiced. But attitudes in the UK show a worryingly high level of anti-Semitic sentiment. The findings of 2,500 people polled – 500 in each country – show 30 per cent harbored traditional anti-Jewish views. The survey was commissioned by the Anti-Defamation League, a US-based organization set up just before the First World War to combat anti-Semitism in the US.

Pope Will Not Retire

July 1….(AP) The Vatican specialist who collaborated with Pope John Paul II on the best-selling book "Crossing the Threshold of Hope" says the pontiff has firmly decided not to retire. In a front-page article Saturday in the Milan daily Corriere della Sera, Vittorio Messori quoted what he said he had deduced from the pope's thoughts on the subject: "The force to continue is not my problem but that of Christ, who wanted to call me, though unworthy, to be his vicar on Earth. In His mysterious design, He has brought me here. And it will be He who decides my fate."

Assad: We Support Palestinians, Hezbollah!

July 1….(FOJ) Syrian President Bashar al-Assad shrugged off U.S. pressure to cut ties with Lebanon's Hizbollah and expel radical Palestinian groups Washington regards as "terrorists." In an interview published in the Al-Liwaa daily on Monday, he said: "Syria supports the Lebanese national resistance, including Hizbollah...in resisting Israeli occupation and liberating land, politically and in the media because the brothers in the Lebanese resistance do not need military support from Syria." "As for the Palestinian groups...their work is limited to political and media activities, and their offices in Damascus provide political representation to the 400,000 Palestinians living in Syria and who look to attain their rights and return to their land," he was quoted as saying. The remarks were Assad's first public comment on those groups since President Bush demanded in his Middle East policy speech last week that Syria cut backing for Hizbollah and expel militant Palestinian groups it hosts.

Damascus hosts 10 Palestinian terror groups, including the Islamist groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which have carried out a series of suicide attacks on Israelis since the start of the 21-month-old uprising against Israeli occupation. It also defends Hizbollah, which waged a war of attrition that helped end Israel's 22-year occupation of south Lebanon in May 2000, as legitimate national resistance. In a reference to Israeli warnings in recent months that the Jewish state would respond to Hizbollah attacks on its troops in a disputed area by hitting Syrian targets, Assad told Al-Liwaa that Syria would defend itself against any Israeli action. "If the Israeli government involved itself in waging aggression on Syrian territories, naturally Syria would defend itself," the newspaper quoted Assad as saying. Israel holds Damascus responsible for attacks by Hizbollah!

Note: Damascus international airport has become the primary transit hub for al Qaeda operatives traveling back and forth through the Middle East and on to the Balkans. Iran's hardline spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and his terror chiefs, who are working day and night to convert the Hizballah-controlled areas of Lebanon into Iran's forward line and second-strike base in case of a US or Israeli strike against Iranian nuclear and weapons of mass destruction industries. Bashar Assad in Damascus and the Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Lebanon are keeping a wary eye on the White House. The Syrian President was told his double game was no longer acceptable; he must decide between cracking down on the terrorist organizations in his country, including al Qaeda, or expect American retribution. In the battle of Jenin last April, al Qaeda as well as Hizballah terrorists, were ranged against the IDF on the Palestinian side. Also al Qaeda fighters are able to move between Tehran, Damascus, Beirut and the Palestinian refugee camps of south Lebanon, with logistical and intelligence aid from the Hizballah.

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