Insightful News

Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Feds don't explain separating Jerusalem, Israel'I don't know why it would be listed that way. I don't put out the directory'
Posted: November 27, 20071:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
Jerusalem

A new U.S. government listing of State Department contacts around the world that separates Jerusalem from Israel apparently is going to be unexplained.

The document, the United States Department of State Telephone Directory (unclassified), was finished just days ago, as a U.S. promotion of a political division of Jerusalem to accommodate demands from the Palestinian Authority developed.

The split of the Israeli capital is one of the issues on the table at the Annapolis Middle East peace summit beginning today, and the PA wants to base the capital of a future Palestinian Arab state in Jerusalem. There also have been calls for Jerusalem to be made an international city.

Multiple WND calls to the State Department seeking an explanation went unreturned. But an operator finally connected WND with a State Department press office employee, who said the action was "not political."

"I don't know why it would be listed separately. I don't put out the directory," he told WND. He declined further comment and disconnected the call.

While the directory, dated Nov. 20, 2007, lists the consulates for various cities in nations under that nation listing, such as listing Baghdad, Basrah and others under Iraq, there are separate listings for Israel (Tel Aviv) and Jerusalem.

WND has obtained a draft Israeli-Palestinian declaration to be presented at the Annapolis conference and to serve as an official outline of a final settlement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

Palestinian leaders have asked the U.S. to support a demand that the Palestinian Authority be allowed to open official representative institutions in eastern sections of Jerusalem, including a sanctioned headquarters in Israel's capital, WND has learned.

Political sources in Jerusalem said Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is studying the request. The opening of PA offices in Jerusalem would serve as a major statement that the city would become the capital of a future Palestinian state, said senior Palestinian negotiators speaking to WND.

In line with previous Israeli-Palestinian accords, the PA until now has been barred from conducting political activity in Jerusalem, although it maintained an office, called Orient House, in an eastern Jerusalem neighborhood that previously functioned as a de facto PA headquarters.

Orient House was closed down by Israel in 2001 following a series of suicide bombings in Jerusalem and information Israel said indicated it was used to plan and fund terrorism. Thousands of documents and copies of bank certificates and checks captured by Israel from Orient House – including many documents obtained by WND – showed the offices were used to finance terrorism, including direct payments to the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror group.

Palestinian officials speaking to WND said they are urging the U.S. to support what they said is a key demand allowing the PA to open official institutions and to reopen Orient House to serve as their headquarters.

The PA already hired a new director for Orient House, Adnan Husseini, the former director-general of the Waqf, or Islamic custodians of the Temple Mount, said the Palestinian officials. Husseini's cousin, Faisal Husseini used to run Orient House and served as the PA's main representative in Jerusalem until his death in 2001.

"The U.S. has completely backed us on our legitimate requests that Israel halt all settlement expansion and dismantle illegal outposts," said a senior Palestinian negotiator speaking on condition of anonymity. "We are urging the Americans to now back us in our request to open institutions in Jerusalem."

Olmert told the Knesset Israel would not establish any new Jewish communities in the West Bank and will begin to dismantle what are termed existing illegal outposts, or Jewish structures built without government permits.

At the Annapolis summit, Olmert is widely expected to outline a Palestinian state in most of the West Bank, which borders Jerusalem and is within rocket range of Tel Aviv and Israel's international airport. Hamas leaders, including the group's chief in Gaza, repeatedly have vowed to take over the West Bank if Israel withdraws from the strategic territory. Hamas in June seized the Gaza Strip, overrunning all U.S.-backed compounds of Abbas' Fatah organization.

There have been reports – denied by Olmert – the prime minister will also seek to hand over eastern sections of Jerusalem to Abbas.

Last month, Olmert hinted he would be willing to divide Jerusalem, asking during a speech whether it was "really necessary" to retain certain Arab neighborhoods in Judaism's capital.

Vice Premier Haim Ramon, a member of Olmert's ruling Kadima party, last month reportedly mapped out a future partition of Jerusalem under a deal with the Palestinians.

Ramon wrote in a letter to Jerusalem City Councilman Nir Barkat, according to the Israeli newssite YnetNews.com, that under his plan, "The Jewish neighborhoods (of Jerusalem) will be recognized as Israeli and under Israeli sovereignty. Accordingly, the Arab neighborhoods will be recognized as Palestinian."

Monday, November 26, 2007
FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU

Palestinian state by '08, says BushTells PA president in private meeting U.S. committed to Israeli withdrawal
Posted: November 26, 20075:00 p.m. Eastern
By Aaron Klein
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com

The U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md., is the site of the Middle East peace summit this week.

JERUSALEM – President Bush told Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas during a private meeting today the U.S. will ensure the Palestinians will have a state on the ground before Bush leaves office, a senior Palestinian negotiator told WND.

"Bush and the U.S. administration gave us a commitment there will be a Palestinian state before he leaves office, and not just an outline of a state on paper but contiguous territory on the ground," said the Palestinian negotiator, who spoke on condition his name be withheld because he was revealing the contents of a private meeting.

"Bush said he is committed to seeing an Israeli withdrawal from most of the West Bank," the negotiator said.

Bush met separately today with Abbas and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert ahead of tomorrow's U.S.-sponsored Annapolis summit at which the Israeli and Palestinian teams are slated to present a joint declaration widely expected to outline a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and eastern sections of Jerusalem.

After holding private meetings with the Israeli and Palestinian leaders, Bush told reporters at a press conference he was "optimistic" tomorrow's summit would be successful.

"We want to help [Abbas]. We want there to be peace. We want the people in the Palestinian territories to have hope," said Bush after his meeting with the Palestinian leader.

Abbas later told a news conference he has "a great deal of hope that this conference will produce permanent status negotiations, expanded negotiations, over all permanent status issues that would lead to a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinian people."

"This is a great initiative and we need [Bush's] continuing effort to achieve this objective," said Abbas.

In what has been described by some media outlets as a diplomatic coup for Bush, the governments of Syria, Saudi Arabia and dozens of other Arab states are sending senior representatives to tomorrow's summit.

WND reported yesterday that according to top diplomatic sources in Jerusalem, in exchange for Saudi Arabia attending the Annapolis conference, the Israeli government agreed to recognize the importance of a Saudi-sponsored "peace initiative" in which the Jewish state is called upon to evacuate the strategic Golan Heights, the entire West Bank and eastern sections of Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount and the Western Wall.

While Israel doesn't commit itself to the Saudi-backed Arab Peace Initiative's requirements, a clause in the current draft of the Israeli-Palestinian declaration slated for the Annapolis conference and obtained by WND reads: "We recognize the critical supporting role of Arab and Muslim states and the importance of the Arab Peace Initiative."

As well, Syria reportedly agreed to attend Annapolis after Damascus received American and Israeli commitments the Golan Heights would be put on the table at the Israeli-Palestinian conference.

The Golan Heights is strategic mountainous territory that looks down on Israeli population centers and twice was used by Syria to launch ground invasions into the Jewish state.

While Israel is not expected to commit itself to evacuating the Golan Heights at Annapolis, the mere mentioning of the strategic territory at the international summit could serve to put the issue back on the bargaining table.

Syria is in a military alliance with Iran and is accused by the U.S. of supporting the insurgency in Iraq and generating instability in Lebanon. Israel says Syria regularly ships Iranian rockets and weaponry to the Lebanese Hezbollah militia. The chiefs of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad Palestinian terror groups are based in Damascus. Syria is also accused by Israel of holding Israeli soldiers missing in action, including Brooklyn-born Zachary Baumel, who was captured by Syrian forces 23 years ago.

Syria was invited to the summit without any preconditions or pledges to cease its purported backing of terrorism or its alleged meddling in Lebanese affairs.
To interview Aaron Klein, contact Tim Bueler Public Relations by e-mail, or call (530) 401-3285.

Rabbi: Cleanse country of Arabs

Prominent right-wing rabbis gather for 'emergency meeting' ahead of Annapolis conference, state no peace can be achieved if Arabs stay on Israel's land Kobi Nahshoni "We must cleanse the country of Arabs and resettle them in the countries where they came from," head of the Yesha Rabbis Council, Rabbi Dov Lior, declared Monday, adding that, "If this means we have to pay them, we will. Without doing so, we will never enjoy peace in our land."

Lior made the statement during an "emergency meeting" of the Association of Rabbis for the People of Israel and the Land of Israel held in Jerusalem ahead of the Annapolis peace conference.

"You have no cause for concern, no peace will come out of all these conferences and agreements," Lior told the participants. The rabbi stated that although he was interested in peace, Israel could never hope to achieve peaceful relations "with evil people of this kind."

MK Uri Ariel (National Union), who also attended the meeting, said that the prime minister aimed to convince the public that Judea and Samaria should be given to the Palestinians. Ariel also called on the attendees not to waste their time on trying to change the minds of MKs and ministers. "This is a struggle of good versus evil," he exclaimed.

'No leader has the right to give away land'

Rabbi Zalman Melamed stated that assisting or participating in the handing over of parts of Eretz Israel to non-Jews was strictly prohibited. "We must declare clearly that we will not do anything that is against our holy Torah. We shall fight all those who attempt to violate the Torah's mitzvot."

At the conclusion of the meeting, the association's secretary, Rabbi Yosef Artziel, read out the decisions agreed upon in the gathering: "No leader, in any generation, has the right to give away Eretz Israel… we call on the Jews abroad, and especially on community leaders and rabbis, to join us in our efforts against this treaty and its implications.

"Together, we will save the people of Israel from the government's terrible plan."

www.gamla.org
Inviting A Bull Into The China Shop

Barry Rubin, JPOST.com
November 27, 2007 ::: 17 Kislev 5768

What would you do if your foreign policy agenda had these priorities:

• get Arab and European support for solving the Iraq crisis;
• mobilize Arab and European forces against a threat led by Iran and its allies Syria, Hamas, and Hizbullah;
• get Iran to stop its campaign to acquire nuclear weapons;
• reestablish American credibility toward friends and deterrence toward enemies; reduce the level of Israel-Palestinian conflict.

That pretty much describes the US framework for dealing with the Middle East nowadays.

The Annapolis conference is not going to contribute to these goals. Its most likely outcome is either failure, or a non-event portrayed as a victory because it took place at all.

No one is going to say, We are so grateful at the US becoming more active on Arab-Israeli issues that we are going to back its policies on other issues.

On the contrary, the conference is more likely to show the inability of the US to produce results, thus undermining belief in American leverage in the region in general. It shines the spotlight on the most divisive issue, the great excuse for not doing more to help US efforts, raising its prominence.

What most of Washington simply fails to understand is that any real demand for Palestinian or Arab concessions will be fodder for radical groups and frighten Arab regimes, pushing the latter away from support for America rather than toward it. And any Israeli concessions obtained by this process will not satisfy their demands, either.

Despite thousands of claims by lots of famous people, national leaders and respected journals, solving the Arab-Israeli conflict will not make radical Islamism or terrorism go away.

Would you like to know why? Because even if this issue could be solved - which isn't about to happen for reasons requiring a different article - doing so would necessitate a compromise including an end to the conflict, acceptance of Israel and compromises by the Arab side.

These steps would inflame the extremists and make any Arab rulers who accepted them vulnerable to being called traitors. It would increase instability in the Arab world, also by removing the conflict as a splendid excuse and basis for mobilizing support for the current rulers. Arab politicians understand this reality; most people in the West don't.

Such considerations are accurate analytically, but the conference will take place anyway. It has been reinterpreted by the US government as the opening of a long-term process rather than its culmination. The analogy is with the Madrid meeting of 1991 - which started a nine-year-long, failed peace process - rather than the Camp David summit of 2000, which marked its breakdown.

Given the fact that the meeting is going to take place, and one would like to see as little damage result as possible, what is the worst mistake that could be made to ensure that an already difficult situation becomes worse? Answer: Invite Syria.

Let's remember a few things. The meeting was called to deal with the Palestinian issue. Bringing in the Syrian question is going to destroy that focus. Palestinian leaders know this to be true and are no doubt horrified by Damascus getting equal time.

But that's just the start of the problem. Run your eye back up the page to the five points listed as priorities for US policy.

Iraq? Syria is the main sponsor of the terrorist insurgency. It has a deep interest in ensuring that no moderate, stable, pro-Western regime takes root in Syria.

The radical alliance? Syria is a leading factor in the problem, a partner with Iran for 20 years. Anyone who believes that Damascus can be split from Teheran understands nothing about the mutual benefits Syria gets from the alliance - far greater than anything the West could possibly give to its dictator President Bashar Assad.

Iran's nuclear ambitions? The day Iran gets atomic weapons will be a great day for Syria, ensuring its strategic protection, damaging Western influence, and helping the radical Islamist cause that Syria backs.

American credibility? It undermines years of US efforts to pressure Assad away from radical adventurism. Syria can now show that it can kill Americans soldiers in Iraq, murder democratic Lebanese politicians, foment Hamas's takeover of the Gaza Strip and sponsor Hizbullah's effort to seize power in Lebanon - all without incurring any serious risk or cost.

On the contrary, Syria is now making demands on the US for concessions in order to entice it to show up. This is happening at the very moment when plans for an international trial of Syrian leaders for political assassinations in Lebanon are gathering momentum, as Syria's campaign to install a puppet government in Beirut has just been foiled.

Is the conference's purpose, however ill-conceived, to make progress on Arab-Israeli peace and strengthen the Palestinian Authority? Having Syria present lets in the main Arab sponsor of Hamas, a state working tirelessly to throw out the current Palestinian leadership and raise the level of Arab-Israeli violence.
Believing Assad really intends to negotiate peace seriously is folly enough. But inviting Syria is the equivalent of inviting Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida to an anti-terrorism conference.

Signs, Signs, & More Signs

The featured news could prove to be the fulfillment of major portions of Scripture.

Daniel 9

27 - And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

Bible students have interpreted the above text to mean that the anti-christ will confirm a peace treaty with Israel, and this will start the clock on the find week (seven years) in Daniel's 70 weeks. If it is we will soon know if the rapture will occur before the beginning of the tribulation. We could be flying soon! PTL!

www.drudgereport.com
Syria Agrees to Attend Mideast Summit

Nov 25, 9:51 PM (ET)By ANNE GEARAN
WASHINGTON (AP) - Arab holdout Syria agreed Sunday to attend a Mideast peace conference called by President Bush to restart talks to resolve the six-decade conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, yet expectations for the summit remained low. The two sides came to Washington without agreeing on basic terms for their negotiations.

Bush invited the Israeli and Palestinian leaders to separate meetings at the White House on Monday to prepare for the centerpiece of his Mideast gathering - an all-day session Tuesday in Annapolis, Md. It is to be the only time that Bush, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas meet together, and their three-way handshake is expected to be the conference's symbolic high point. Bush closes the U.S. effort with a second set of separate Israeli and Palestinian meetings at the White House on Wednesday.

"The broad attendance at this conference by regional states and other key international participants demonstrates the international resolve to seize this important opportunity to advance freedom and peace in the Middle East," Bush said in a statement Sunday.

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators were meeting with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her deputy for the Mideast region, still trying to write a framework for talks that their U.S. hosts had hoped would be complete by now. Rice's spokesman said the last-minute work is not surprising.

"We're confident there will be a document and we'll get to Annapolis in good shape on that," but bargaining may well continue behind the scenes during the session Tuesday, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in an interview.

"It will memorialize their common understandings to this point," and look ahead to negotiations the two sides expect to begin in earnest after the session, McCormack told The Associated Press.

Separately, Palestinian negotiators Ahmed Qureia and Saeb Erekat met with Tzipi Livni, Israel's lead negotiator, for unscheduled talks Sunday evening. Asked if they were optimistic about the prospect for reaching a consensus on a joint declaration, Qureia replied, "You don't meet if you're not optimistic."

Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch also met with Palestinian negotiators Sunday in an attempt to reach a breakthrough, a member of the Palestinian delegation said.

Bush's national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, said the joint statement was not as important as it might have seemed when it was first broached. The two sides took the unexpected step of seeking negotiations, and the declaration no longer needed to serve as a vehicle to prod them to do so, Hadley said.

"If we get something, if they can agree on some things as an input to the negotiations, that would be fine," Hadley said. "But I think it is really no longer on the critical path to a successful conference."

The Bush administration, which has largely taken a hands-off approach to the nitty-gritty of Mideast peacemaking until now, says the goal is to set up an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel. Israeli and Palestinian leaders have said they want to do that by the time Bush leaves office in January 2009. While there are widespread doubts in the administration about that time line, Rice has said she is game to try.

"This is not a negotiation session, it is to launch negotiations," Hadley said.
Hadley said that during his address to the conference Tuesday, Bush will make clear that the Mideast peace process has his support, and that it is a top priority for the rest of his time in office. But he is not expected to use his speech to advance any of his own ideas on how to achieve that by wading into the issues that have kept the parties bitterly divided.

The conference is meant to draw Arab and other outside backing for what will be difficult negotiations. The idea is also to let Arab states have their say alongside Bush, making it more difficult for them to complain that Washington is not doing enough or is not listening to good advice from those closest to the conflict.

Syria, which borders Israel and has no diplomatic relations with the Jewish state, gave Washington a partial victory Sunday by agreeing to send a lower-level envoy to the session. Syria wants to raise the question of the Golan Heights, strategic territory Israel seized from Syria in the 1967 war. The U.S. hosts and Israel have agreed, at least tacitly, to listen.

Other major Arab states whose participation was considered essential had decided on Friday to send their top diplomats.

As 16 Arab nations and the Arab League prepared to sit down with Israel for the first time in more than a decade, Israel's ambassador to Washington said what Arab leaders say and do after the conference can change the bitter atmosphere in the Middle East.

"Annapolis is about two things," Ambassador Sallai Meridor said in an interview. Foremost is furthering direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians "and the other thing it is important for is creating international and Arab support for this process," Meridor said. "We hope the Arabs will come and come with a spirit of peace."

Israel's Foreign Minister Livni suggested that a lack of Arab backing contributed to the failure of the last round of talks. That effort collapsed in bloodshed in the waning days of the Clinton administration in early 2001.

The Arab world, Livni told reporters en route to Washington, "should stop sitting on the fence."

"There isn't a single Palestinian who can reach an agreement without Arab support," she said. "That's one of the lessons we learned seven years ago." But, Livni added, "it is not the role of the Arab world to define the terms of the negotiations or take part in them."

Whatever joint agreement the Israelis and Palestinians present at Annapolis will be a starting point and is likely to sketch only vague bargaining terms.

The big questions that have doomed previous peace efforts, such as the borders of a Palestinian state, the status of disputed Jerusalem and the rights of Palestinians and their descendants to return to homes in what is now Israel, would come later.

Palestinian negotiator Yasser Abed Rabbo said Palestinians hoped to work out a joint document, but that an agreement was not essential because of assurances received in the U.S. invitation to the conference.

That invitation, he said, "includes all the terms of reference for the future negotiation" and "confirms that both sides are committed" to putting in place the peace process. "This is enough to launch negotiations after the conference."

www.foxnews.com
Saudi Arabia Marks 136th Beheading of 2007

Sunday , November 25, 2007
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia —

Saudi authorities on Sunday beheaded a citizen convicted of shooting a man in the head with an assault rifle, the Interior Ministry said.

In a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency, the ministry said that Ali bin Suweid Al-Domnan killed Diyab bin Ali al-Mansour following an argument in the southern city of Najran.

Saudi Arabia follows a strict interpretation of Islam under which those convicted of murder, drug trafficking, rape and armed robbery are executed in public with a sword.

Sunday's execution brought to 136 the number of people beheaded in the kingdom this year, according to an Associated Press count. Saudi Arabia beheaded 38 people last year and 83 people in 2005.

When You Think You Have Heard It All!

www.foxnews.com
Bones of Baby Found in Detroit Home; 2 Charged With Abusing Second Child

Monday , November 26, 2007

DETROIT —
Police investigating the apparent abuse of a 1-year-old boy say they found the skeletal remains of his baby brother concealed in the ceiling of a home.

The boys' parents, 24-year-old Nickella Reid and 27-year-old Joseph Miller, were arrested Friday after Reid took her year-old son to the hospital with burns. She said he was scalded the day before Thanksgiving by Miller, her boyfriend.
The couple were arraigned Saturday on first- and second-degree child abuse charges. They were jailed on bonds of $700,000 for Miller and $400,000 for Reid, authorities said.The name of the injured boy was not released.

Reid told police that Miller killed another son, Deante Miller, in March 2006, while Miller said he died of natural causes. Miller also denied scalding the younger boy, authorities said.

Authorities say the couple then burned the body in a barbecue grill — to save on funeral costs, they claimed — and hid what was left of the remains in the ceiling of a home once occupied by Miller's sister.

The decision whether to charge the couple in Deante's death will be based on the investigation, Wayne County assistant prosecutor Maria Miller said. A forensic expert will examine the remains, she said.

She said that the surviving boy was severely abused, with burns over one-third of his body. He was in fair condition at a Children's Hospital of Michigan, authorities said.

Reid's four other children were placed in foster care, authorities said.

Thanksgiving Greeting

2 Samuel 22

50 - Therefore I will give thanks unto thee, O LORD, among the heathen, and I will sing praises unto thy name.

Will the Annapolis Summit bring peace to Middle East?

Jewish World Review Nov. 20, 2007 /10 Kislev 5768

How can Washington and Jerusalem be so irresponsible?
By Caroline B. Glick

www.JewishWorldReview.com

According to foreign reports, Israel destroyed a nuclear weapons installation in Syria in September. Never has a larger story been pushed under the rug by so many so quickly. What are we to make of this?

Over the weekend former federal prosecutor and the head of the non-governmental International Intelligence Summit, John Loftus, released a report on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program. His report was based on a private study of captured Iraqi documents. These were the unread Arabic language documents that US forces seized, but had not managed to translate after overthrowing Saddam Hussein in 2003.

After a prolonged battle between Congress and then director of US National Intelligence John Negroponte, President George W. Bush ordered those documents posted on a public access Web site last year. They were taken down after it was discovered that among the Iraqi documents were precise descriptions of how to build nuclear weapons.

As Loftus summarized, "The gist of the new evidence is this: Roughly one-quarter of Saddam's WMD was destroyed under UN pressure during the early to mid 1990s. Saddam sold approximately another quarter of his weapons stockpile to his Arab neighbors during the mid-to-late-1990's. The Russians insisted on removing another quarter in the last few months before the war.

The last remaining WMD, the contents of Saddam's nuclear weapons labs, were still inside Iraq on the day when the coalition forces arrived in 2003. His nuclear weapons equipment was hidden in enormous underwater warehouses beneath the Euphrates River. Saddam's entire nuclear inventory was later stolen from these warehouses right out from under the Americans' noses."

Loftus then cites Israeli sources who claim that the Iraqi nuclear program was transferred to the Deir az Zour province in Syria.

See complete article at the above website or www.watch.org.

Update and Commentary
2007: Nine Major FEMA Disasters and Two Major Crises Coincide with U.S. Involvement in the Israel "Peace" Process - Bill Koenig
www.watch.org

I primarily focus on billion dollar-plus U.S. events that coincide with White House involvement with Israel’s land. However, after research, I discovered there were nine major FEMA disasters and/or clusters of events in 2007 and two other major crises that coincided either with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s visit to Jerusalem or U.S. President George W. Bush, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Secretary Rice’s Quartet meetings.

After four of Rice’s eight trips to Israel this year, President Bush declared major FEMA disasters for events that coincided with her trips to Israel.
Four disaster events and/or clusters of events were weather-related. A fifth disaster occurred when a major bridge collapsed in the Congressional district of Congress’ only Muslim Congressman — on the day he stated he was going back to Israel to work on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. At the same time, Rice was in Jerusalem meeting with Olmert, Shimon Peres, Tzipi Livni, and Ehud Barak.

The bridge collapsed in the area known as the ‘West Bank’ — the west bank of the Mississippi River at the campus of the University of Minnesota. (There is a West Bank campus and an East Bank campus.)

During Rice’s November trip to Israel there was a major political crisis for the Bush Administration in Pakistan, a sixth major non-FEMA weather event, record oil-prices and the euro hit a new high against the US dollar.

There were five additional major FEMA disaster events and/or clusters of events that occurred in the United States in 2007 that coincided with President Bush and Rice preparing for a meeting with Olmert, meeting with Olmert in Washington, and during Rice’s Quartet meetings.

See the complete articile @ www.watch.org

San Francisco approves ID cards that exclude gender
By Emily Bazar

USA TODAY

Next year, San Francisco will issue municipal identification cards showing the usual name, birthdate and photo.

What the card won't include: gender.

When other cities considered issuing ID cards without regard to legal status, the debate was over illegal immigrants. In San Francisco, where the Board of Supervisors approved such an ID on Tuesday, transgender activists added gender to the discussion.

"Transgender" is a broad term for people who do not identify with their birth sex. Those who refer to themselves as transgender include cross-dressers and transsexuals.

"The card really makes gender a non-issue," says Kristina Wertz, legal director of the Transgender Law Center in San Francisco.

Wertz says legally changing a name and gender designation can be time-consuming and cost hundreds of dollars. IDs that don't match appearance could "out" people and make them vulnerable to discrimination or abuse, she says.

Martin Rawlings, 30, is a female-to-male transsexual. When he legally changed his name in 1999, he had trouble getting his employer to change it on his paycheck. His bank, though, had changed his name.

As a result, he had trouble depositing his checks. A municipal ID would have helped, he says. "It's often a barrier to finding work, not having an identification that matches your presentation," he says.

Measure to Ban In-Office Romance Fails in San Francisco
Wednesday, November 21, 2007 - www.foxnews.com

San Francisco supervisors voted down a measure that would have prohibited city managers from "engaging in romantic or sexual relationships" with employees, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Wednesday.

The measure, which failed Tuesday in an overwhelming 10-1 vote, was seen as a thinly veiled swipe at Mayor Gavin Newsom's admitted affair with a secretary, who at the time was the wife of his campaign manager, it was reported.

The legislation's sponsor, Supervisor Chris Daly, was the only official who voted in favor of it.

"It is common practice in the corporate work setting where managers ... are held accountable and these types of relationships are not tolerated," Daly was quoted in the report.

The vote by city managers sent a message that they didn't see it that way.

The measure would have prohibited city managers from "engaging in romantic or sexual relationships" with employees.

Earlier this year, Newsom acknowledged having an affair with his commission appointments secretary, who at the time was the wife of his campaign manager.

The mayor's spokesman Nathan Ballad said, "Chris Daly has no business poking around in anybody's personal life."

"We're pleased that the Board of Supervisors had the wisdom to kill Chris Daly's intrusive legislation," he said.

Our modern society is seeking to redefine the meaning of male and female, marriage, and morality, while faced with what could be unbelievable results.

I am thankful that our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, is going to return and Rapture the church out of this world. Praise His Holy Name!

This Week

This week there was a major earthquake in Chile, a devastating cyclone in Bangladesh, coldest winter in decades in South America, and serious trouble in the Middle East.

But, the most interesting event in recent history will be Annapolis Summit planned for the week after Thanksgiving. It appears Olmert is prepared to surrender East Jerusalem and the Temple Mount to Abbas. Many Bible students are questions that decision. Will God be pleased?

The President Bush and the Europeans are putting a lot of pressure on Israel to accept the two state solution as well as the surrender of Jerusalem. Bill Clinton attempted to do the same with Arafat at Camp David. It just did not work. We will see.

Cyclone leaves thousands dead, millions homeless in Bangladesh

BARGUNA, Bangladesh (AFP) — Thousands of people are believed dead and millions are homeless and destitute after the worst cyclone in years tore through impoverished Bangladesh, officials said Saturday.

More than 1,723 people were confirmed to have died and the number was rising by the hour as soldiers and relief workers battled to reach the worst-hit coastal districts that were smashed late Thursday as cyclone Sidr roared in from the Bay of Bengal.

"We are expecting that thousands of dead bodies may be found within a few days," the deputy head of the government's disaster management office, Shekhar Chandra Das, told AFP in the capital Dhaka.

"We have not been able to collect information about casualties in many remote and impassable places due to the disruption to communications," he said.

News Update

YOUR GOVERNMENT AT WORK
Coed locker rooms given green lightStatute allows people to 'choose a gender'
Posted: November 14, 20078:21 p.m. Eastern
By Bob Unruh© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com

Coed locker rooms could be a reality now that a new statute to allow people to "choose a gender" has been approved in Maryland.

But the measure, given the green light by elected officials in Montgomery County, will soon be the subject of a court challenge, according to a non-profit public-interest law firm.

"The definition for 'gender identity' is so vague that no individual of ordinary intelligence can possibly know when they are violating Chapter 27," Robert Tyler, general counsel for the Advocates for Faith & Freedom, told county officials in a letter.

"Pursuant to the definition of 'gender identity,' an individual can choose a gender without limitation whatsoever," he said.

Tyler's comments referred to the newly approved county law 27-03, which creates a protected class of citizenry for those individuals who claim a "gender identity" issue. (See worldnetdaily.com for the balance of article.)

Hamas: Hillary ticket to Palestinian victoryTop terror group adviser: Clinton would end 'unlimited military, political support' for Israel
Posted: November 15, 20071:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com

Hamas believes Sen. Hillary Clinton, if elected president in 2008, will end President Bush's "unlimited military and diplomatic support for Israel" and adapt a more "evenhanded" approach toward the Palestinians, says the group's top political adviser.

Speaking yesterday with WND Jerusalem bureau chief Aaron Klein, Ahmed Yousuf, the top adviser to the Hamas leader in Gaza and to the deposed prime minister of the Hamas-led Palestinian government, said in recorded comments the group heard from "many Americans" that if the Democrats take the White House next year they will implement "drastic changes" to U.S. foreign policy and relations with the Palestinians.

"I do believe Miss Clinton will have a more balanced policy when it comes to how to solve the Arab-Israeli conflict," Yousuf told Klein. "And I don't think she is going to give to the Israelis this unlimited military and diplomatic support that they are actually enjoying now; so … the future politics in the region will [see] a very drastic change when it comes to how to handle the Palestinian question."
(See worldnetdaily.com)

Israel preparing for 'day after' Teheran gets atom bomb
JPost.com Staff , THE JERUSALEM POST
Nov. 15, 2007

Israel is preparing for the possibility of Iran acquiring nuclear weapons, the Reuters news agency reported Thursday.

According to the report, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has instructed his ministers to draft proposals on how to cope with a nuclear Iran.

The report was later denied by a senior Prime Minister's Office official, Israel Radio reported.

The agency quoted a source close to Olmert as saying there were "long-term ramifications to be addressed, like how to maintain our deterrent and military response capabilities, or how to off-set the attrition on Israeli society that would be generated by fear of Iranian nukes."

Minister Ami Ayalon refused to discuss specific policy issues, but told Reuters that there was a need for a three-point strategy against Iran.

"First, we must make clear that this is a threat not just to Israel, but to the wider world. Second, we must exhaustively consider all preventive options. And third, we must anticipate the possibility of those options not working," Ayalon said. (See jpost.com)

These are certainly interesting times. Let's just keep looking up!

Our Lord Blessed Our Jubilee!

19th Jubilee By The Sea

Luke 19

37 - And when he was come nigh, even now at the descent of the mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen;
38 - Saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest.

Truly, the 19th Jubilee by the Sea gave evidence to the divine presence of our wonderful Lord. One can only imagine what we will experience when we are translated into His presence when He returns for His church. The moment we see Him we will be eternally satisfied.

Big News Day

BBC News

Bhutto calls on Musharraf to quit

Pakistan's detained opposition leader Benazir Bhutto has called for President Pervez Musharraf to step down.

Ms Bhutto made the call after police mounted a massive security operation to prevent a protest march in Lahore, where she is under house arrest.

It is the first time Ms Bhutto has urged Gen Musharraf to quit altogether.
Pakistan's government says elections will proceed according to schedule in January, but critics say in present conditions they cannot be free or fair.

Gen Musharraf attracted fierce international protest when he imposed emergency rule in Pakistan on 3 November, citing rising militancy and "interference" by the judiciary in the governance of the country.

On Tuesday, police in Lahore imposed a seven-day detention order on Ms Bhutto, ahead of a planned "Long March for Democracy" to demand the end of emergency measures.

Comment: Is this a replay of fall of the Shah of Iran?

World Net Daily

TRAIL OF TERROR:

'Mr. Suicide Bomb' goes to Washington Rice, U.S. lawmakers met with Muslim sheikh who says Jesus, Moses 'prophets for Islam'

Posted: November 13, 20071:00 a.m. Eastern

A senior Muslim cleric who is a prominent justifier of suicide bombings met last week with senators and congressmen and consulted last month with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, WND has learned.

Sheikh Taysir Tamimi, chief Palestinian justice, also claimed in a recently released book for which he was interviewed the Torah was "falsified," Jewish and Christian history were "invented," the Jewish Temples never existed and the Al Aqsa Mosque was built by angels.

"I am very glad to have this occasion to speak to Congress and the Senate and have access to groups and individuals that form American policy," said Tamimi in a statement.

"I emphasized in the meetings the importance of religious coexistence and that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict cannot be solved without creating a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital," the Tamimi statement said.

Tamimi is considered the second most important Palestinian cleric after Muhammad Hussein, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem.

World Net Daily

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Annapolis Insanity
By Joseph Farah

The U.S. is preparing for a very ominous summit in Annapolis later this month to move the "peace process" forward.

When all is said and done, the word "Annapolis" is going to take on a new meaning from this historic error.

What do I mean?

When we say "Oslo" today, you probably think of this so-called "Middle East

peace process" – one that leads inevitably and inexorably to never-ending appeasement of the Islamists by Israel.

That's essentially what the peace process is all about. It's about doing the same things over and over again and somehow expecting different results.

A good word for this process is "insanity."

Unfortunately, I believe when this Annapolis summit is completed, we will look back at Oslo and what has transpired since as "the good old days."

Here is what is being decided there:

• The borders between Israel and a future Palestinian state.
• The status of Jerusalem, including those holy places on and adjacent to the Temple Mount.
• The so-called "right of return" for so-called Palestinian "refugees" living outside Israel and the Palestinian areas.

Actually, it's not quite accurate to say these things are being decided there. The truth is they have already been decided. The meeting in Annapolis is a formality where they will be unveiled to the world.

Gays Deserve Torture, Death Penalty, Iranian Minister Says
The Times

Tuesday , November 13, 2007
By Dominic Kennedy

Homosexuals deserve to be executed or tortured and possibly both, an Iranian leader told British MPs during a private meeting at a peace conference, The Times has learned.

Mohsen Yahyavi is the highest-ranked politician to admit that Iran believes in the death penalty for homosexuality after a spate of reports that gay youths were being hanged.

President Ahmadinejad, questioned by students in New York two months ago about the executions, dodged the issue by suggesting that there were no gays in his country.

Britain regularly challenges Iran about its gay hangings, stonings and executions of adulterers and perceived moral criminals, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) papers show.

The latest row involves a woman hanged this June in the town of Gorgan after becoming pregnant by her brother. He was absolved after expressing his remorse. Britain said that this demonstrated the unequal treatment of men and women in law and breached Iran’s pledge to restrict the death penalty to the most serious crimes.

Certainly, the focus of the world is on the Middle East and Jerusalem.

Bad News Day

Jerusalem Post
Nov 7, 2007 11:00 Updated Nov 7, 2007 12:00

'Iran has 3,000 centrifuges working at enrichment plant'
By ASSOCIATED PRESS

BIRJAND, Iran Iran has achieved a landmark, with 3,000 centrifuges fully working in its controversial uranium enrichment program, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced Wednesday.

We have now reached 3,000 machines," Ahmadinejad told thousands of Iranians gathered in Birjand, in eastern Iran, in a show of defiance of international demands to halt the program believed to be masking the country's nuclear arms efforts.

Ahmadinejad has in the past claimed that Iran succeeded in installing the 3,000 centrifuges at its uranium enrichment facility at Natanz. But Wednesday's claim was his first official statement that the plant is now fully operating all those centrifuges.

When Iran first announced launching the 3,000 centrifuges in April, the UN nuclear watchdog agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency, said Teheran had only 328 centrifuges up and running at Natanz's underground facility.

The Sunday Times
November 4, 2007

Saudi Arabia is hub of world terror

The desert kingdom supplies the cash and the killers
Nick Fielding and Sarah Baxter, Washington

It was an occasion for tears and celebration as the Knights of Martyrdom proclaimed on video: “Our brother Turki fell during the rays of dawn, covered in blood after he was hit by the bullets of the infidels, following in the path of his brother.” The flowery language could not disguise the brutal truth that a Saudi family had lost two sons fighting for Al-Qaeda in Iraq.

The elder brother, Khaled, had been a deputy commander of a crack jihadist “special forces” unit. After his “glorious” death, Turki took his place.

“He was deeply affected by the martyrdom of his brother,” the Knights said. “He became more ambitious and more passionate about defending the land of Islam and dying as a martyr, like his brother.”

Turki’s fervent wish was granted earlier this year, but another Saudi national who travelled to Iraq had second thoughts. He was a graduate from a respectable family of teachers and professors who was recruited in a Saudi Arabian mosque and sent to Iraq with $1,000 in travel expenses and the telephone number of a smuggler who could get him across the Syrian border.

In Iraq he was ordered to blow himself up in a tanker on a bridge in Ramadi, but he panicked before he could press the detonator. He was arrested by Iraqi police. In a second lorry, another foreign fighter followed orders and died.

Ynetnews.com

Rabbis warn Bush: Annapolis will bring destruction to US

Group of right-wing rabbis writes open letter to US president demanding he cancel Annapolis summit or risk provoking 'wrath of the almighty.' Rabbis assert Katrina disaster a result of America's support of 2005 disengagement, say California fires a warning.
Neta Sela
Published:
11.06.07, 19:57 / Israel Jewish Scene

It appears the lessons of 911 have long been forgotten. Al-Qaeda is not the only enemy we are facing. Major political changes have or are taking place in Iran, Pakistan, and Turkey. This does not take into consideration the mess going on in Iraq and Israel.

Now, we need to factor in Iran and Pakistan with nuclear bombs. When this much activity takes place at the same time, it could be a good day to fly!

Jerusalem Surrounded

Ynetnews.com

Report: Hizbullah conducted mass military drill in southern Lebanon Organization said to have held largest 'defensive' military exercise ever; drill lasts three days, preparations undetected by UNIFIL forces.
Ali Waked

Hizbullah conducted its largest military exercise ever in southern Lebanon several days ago, the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar reported Monday.

According to the report, the exercise was three days long and spanned thousands of the organization's fighters. Hizbullah Secretary-General Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah was said to have commanded the drill personally.

The exercise, said the paper, was meant to deter Israel from launching another assault against Lebanon, and increase Hizbullah's readiness.

It sounds like Israel is facing another round of attacks from Hizbullah. This is the first time that I can remember reading of them actually playing war games. It apppears they have replentished their arsenal of rockets, and they have filled thier ranks with new recruits.

We must continue to pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

Middle East Balance In Question

Musharraf Imposes Emergency Rule
BBC News

Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf has declared emergency rule, state-run TV has said, amid reports that police have surrounded the Supreme Court.
Troops have been deployed inside state-run TV and radio stations, while independent channels have gone off air.

Gen Musharraf is awaiting a Supreme Court ruling on whether he was eligible to run for re-election last month while remaining army chief.
Pakistan has been engulfed in political upheaval in recent months.

The security forces have suffered a series of blows from pro-Taleban militants opposed to Gen Musharraf's support for the US-led "war on terror".

If the pro-Taleban militants take over in Pakistan the balance of power will dramatically shift not only in the Middle East but through the world.

Gen Musharraf has been under an assault for aiding us. Turkey is being pressured internally to invade Northern Iraq and eliminate with the Kurds.

These are certainly exciting times as we witness the Middle East forming confederacy against Israel and the US.

Big News Day

War on Terror Flashpoints Identified - BBC

A senior strategist for the US government says that the three key future flashpoints for militant jihadists will be Pakistan, Bangladesh and Europe.

Floods in Mexico Strand Thousands

A week of heavy rains caused rivers to overflow, leaving 70 percent of the Gulf state of Tabasco underwater, and forcing thousands of people to cling to rooftops or flee to shelters. It is the worst flooding the state has seen in 50 years.

Of the estimated 700,000 people whose homes were flooded, damaged or cut off, 300,000 still had not been rescued Thursday and potable water supplies were exhausted in Villahermosa, Tabasco Gov. Andres Granier said. Police, soldiers and military workers were still trying to reach them.

Deadly HIV-TB co-epidemic sweeps sub-Saharan Africa: report

Drug-resistant tuberculosis and HIV have merged into a double-barreled epidemic that is sweeping across sub-Saharan Africa and threatening global efforts to eradicate both diseases, according to a report released Friday.

Over-burdened health systems are unable to cope with the epidemic and risk collapse, said the report, which calls for urgent measures to curb its spread.
A third of the world's 40 million HIV/AIDS sufferers also have TB, and the death rate for people infected with both is five times higher than that for tuberculosis alone.

Luke 21

28 - And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.

Please place the flood victims in Mexico on your prayer list. It appears that over a 1,000,000 people in the State of Tabasco are victims. Deadly HIV-TB co-epidemic sweeps sub-Saharan Africa with the potential of being spread around the world. At home we are experiencing an out-break of MRSA, a drug resistant infection, which is normally found in hospitals not our schools.

These are a few things I have been tracking today. Let's all look up we may be flying sooner rather than later.