Deciding Israel's Future Without Involving Them

I find the recent actions of some of the world's leaders rather unsettling and a point in question has to involve the fate of the West Bank that Israel legitimately won during the Six-Day War in 1967. To say that their arrogance is revolting is mild and to describe their decisions in harsher terms would bother on vulgarity. I really find their actions bothering on big-bully tactics and yet they have the audacity to tell China that what it did in Tibet was way out of line - talk about having a good look at yourselves in the mirror and grow up Quartet.

Israel Today Monday, September 29, 2008 Ryan Jones
Int'l community tries to remove Israelis from peace process

With Israel's democratic process getting in the way of securing a final status Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement, the international community has issued a statement that it hopes will take the troublesome Israeli electorate out of the equation. Responding to Arab pressure to reverse the establishment of the State of Israel, the international community hoisted the land-for-peace process on the Jewish state. But Israel's vibrant democracy has proven to be a wrench in the gears, prone to electing leaders not in tune with the international community's plans when it feels its own security and national interests are being harmed. And the 15-year-old land-for-peace process has done anything but maintain Israel's security and protect its long-term national interests.

The results at the ballot box have largely stalled the peace process, and even the purported progress over the past year is likely to be erased when, as polls predict, Israelis elect a right-wing government opposed to recklessly dividing the land in the next general election. It was this trend that the Middle East Quartet comprised of the US, UN, European Union and Russia hoped to obstruct last weekend in what amounted to blatant interference in Israel's democratic process.

Quartet leaders meeting in New York at the opening of the UN General Assembly insisted that it is vitally important to the very integrity of the peace process that Israelis be kept in the dark about what their leaders are offering to the Palestinians. In a statement released via the US State Department, the Quartet "noted the significance of this process and the importance of confidentiality in order to preserve its integrity."

Referring in the next line to the "irreversibility of the negotiations," the Quartet also took it upon itself to determine that the current formula whereby Israel can test different offers to the Palestinians without actually committing to future concessions will no longer fly.

Israel's core position since direct high-level peace talks started in 1993 has been that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. This principle underlined the ill-fated 2000 Camp David talks where former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak made far-reaching offers to try to entice Yasser Arafat into a peace deal, but insisted that all offers were off the table the moment the summit ended. That position was supported and even echoed by their host, former US President Bill Clinton. But the international community is starting to understand that the Palestinians will settle for nothing less than 100 percent of their demands being met. The only way to achieve that is to make all Israeli offers binding, no matter how tentative, and then stockpile those offers over a period of time until the Palestinians are satisfied.

The Quartet's goal appears to be to change the rules of the game, even to the point of denying Israeli voters the ability to participate in the peace process in any meaningful way. With a public kept in the dark and an opposition unable to campaign on a platform of alternative approaches to peace because all past offers are binding, the current leadership is far more likely to remain in power. From Ariel Sharon to Ehud Olmert to Tzipi Livni, Israel's recent and current leaders all once strongly opposed the policies they now champion. But of late these leaders have been only too happy to acquiesce to the new anti-democratic rules as they seek to forge a positive legacy as "peacemakers" and win the praise of the international community. Sharon relished in this praise after he forcibly uprooted 8,000 Jews from the Gaza Strip, while his successors have conveniently ignored the fact that accolades quickly reverted to criticism as the Palestinians up the ante.

If the international community succeeds in eliminating the last vestiges of electoral pressure and political accountability in Israel, then the convergence of increasing recklessness by the nation's leaders and overbearingness by Western power brokers will be complete. The Land of Israel is today on the verge of being divided, if only the Israelis could be removed from the process.

I believe that they will get their just reward for what they are trying to dish out to one of the most ancient of races - that of the physical descendants of Father Abraham. Sometimes I wish that the leaders of the Quartet take out their Bibles, wipe the dust off the covers and start reading what the Holy Spirit had so meticulously penned in there for all to see that the whole land belonged to the descendants of Abraham.

The US Presidential Candidate Debate

Next week will be an interesting week in the USA. There will be one round of debate between the VP candidates for the Democratic (Sen. Joe Biden) and the Republican (Gov. Sarah Pailin) parties and then there will be another between Barak Obama and John McCain. In both debates, we will probably get some ideas of what each candidate as well as the respective parties want to do over the next four years and the way these pan out will indirectly affect world events.

Yes, granted that Governor Pailin of Alaska does not have much experience in foreign relations as compared to Joe Biden but I strongly believe that the experience can be cultivated. What is the use of someone who has a lot of experience but is stubborn to change and persistently stick to his/her own ground that his/her ideas are always right when it has so clearly shown that they are bullying ideas and not well accepted by other countries? I would rather have someone who is opened to Godly wisdom and apply the wisdom of the Lord in all his/her decisions. i would rather have a God-worshipping leader of the country than one who may be super rich and hence worldly powerful but is unscrupulous in his handling of national and international affairs.

So going by what is before us, I would prefer the McCain-Pailin ticket to win the November 04, 2008 Presidential elections.

Will Ehud Olmert Get His Chance To Inflict Damage?

This short news report is an extract of the Israel Today, a publication from Israel summarizing some of the major news items in the country.

Monday, September 15, 2008 Israel Today Staff
Olmert offers Palestinians 98% of 'West Bank'

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will offer Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas 98 percent of Judea and Samaria when the two meet later this week, Israel's Channel 2 News reported on Sunday.

The report came just hours after Olmert told his cabinet that "the vision of Greater Israel no longer exists," and blasted anyone who clings to Israel's biblical and historical right to the area known as the "West Bank" as "delusional."

Olmert wants to pay Jewish settlers living in the territories he plans to surrender one million shekels each to voluntarily relocate. Those who refuse his offer would be forcibly uprooted after the signing of a peace deal.

Olmert is scheduled to resign as prime minister in two days, but insists that despite his "lame duck" status, fervent land-for-peace efforts must continue.

The prime minister on Monday explained his mad rush to conclude a peace deal in the coming days by telling the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee: "Every day that passes without coming to an agreement with the Palestinians is one more day that, in the future, we'll be sorry for."

For someone who is about to be forced out of office because of corruption, one would wonder what he is trying to do and I dread to think of the consequences of his action. Will this turn out to be just another piece of 'noise' and will blow away? I certainly believe so.

Three Hurricanes In Three Weeks

On my Sept01 post I wrote about Hurricane Gustav heading for Louisiana which incidentally simmered down to only a Force 3 hurricane at the last minute. Shortly after that, Hurricane Hanna came and went.

And towards the end of last week Hurricane Ike blasted Houston after creating havoc on Galveston Island. So far the death toll had been placed at 13 dead with hundreds still to be located. So what happened here? Did the people not evacuate to safety? Why did so many choose to stay behind? Were they not warned about the dangers?

I guess one of the reason for so many opting to stay put was because they saw Gustav and Hanna and because the twain were subdued, they had the impression that Ike would be similar. Didn't the weather bureau report that this hurricane would be a Force 3 hurricane as well? I have not experienced one myself (praise the Lord that I do not have to) but I believe one cannot be too sure about the fury of a storm and it would be generally better to be safe than sorry later.

Wouldn't one be worried if one were to see 15-foot waves charging towards the shore? I know I would because I had seen such waves before when I was growing up on Christmas Island. Every year we would experience the 'gales' (as we would call them there because of the strong winds and the waves) but we knew we would be relatively safe because of the cliffs surrounding the island and we just have to stay away from the beaches on those days.

So is there a message for us through the storms/hurricanes? I believe there is... for one thing we need to recognize the fury of nature and be better prepared and that is why I would not trade anything for my safe haven of sunny Singapore. I know I am greatly blessed to make this place my home.

World War III

It is interesting that there are two articles in yesterday's edition of Israel Today newspaper that referred to potential trouble with the Galilee Arabs and another of potential war that is looming in the Middle East as World War III.

Article 1 - Monday, September 01, 2008 Israel Today Staff
Galilee Arabs could break away from Israel, warns former ambassador

Former Israeli ambassador to the US, Danny Ayalon warned on Sunday that the current Arab majority in Israel's northern Galilee region could one day break away from the Jewish state and demand international recognition. Ayalon said the Galilee Arabs would act on the precedents being set by Kosovo and the Georgian breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

The solution, urged Ayalon, is for the government of Israel to immediately implement policies that will encourage more Jews to move to the Galilee. If his words are not heeded, Ayalon cautioned, the coming demand by Galilee Arabs for independence will be the "last piece in the puzzle" of the total dismantling of the Jewish state. Ayalon made his remarks during a mayoral campaign rally in the northern town of Carmiel during which he officially announced he is joining the right-wing Israel Beiteinu Party. Israel Beiteinu supports the creation of a Palestinian Arab state in Judea and Samaria, but advocates swapping large Israeli-Arab towns bordering those areas for large Jewish settlements.

Article 2 - Monday, September 01, 2008 Israel Today Staff
Report: US about to strike Iran; Tehran warns of World War III

A major Dutch newspaper reported on Monday that the Dutch intelligence agency AIVD recently pulled all of its operatives out of Iran after learning that an American air strike on Iranian nuclear and missile production facilities is imminent. Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf reported that AIVD had previously been conducting a very successful sabotage operation against Iran's production of medium and long-range missiles. According to the report, AIVD pulled out of Iran after being warned that the country's missile factories would be among the targets hit by unmanned American bombers "within weeks."

While the report did not mention any potential Israeli involvement in the impending US military strike, Israel's Ma'ariv daily newspaper reported on Friday that Jerusalem had reached a strategic decision to deny Iran nuclear weapons at all costs and by any means. The Ma'ariv report stated that independent of other efforts by Western powers, Israel had begun preparations for its own possible strike on Iranian nuclear facilities.

Responding to the latest reports, the deputy chief of staff of the Iranian military, General Masoud Jazayeri, said on Saturday that any attack on his nation would result in World War III. Speaking to Iran's IRNA news agency, Jazayeri warned that in the event of an attack on Iran, Israel and the US "will be eliminated before anything."

Well, these have been going on for a while and the question we should be asking is not, "will it happen as predicted?" Rather, one should be asking, "When will all these take place?" I believe we are not that far away and when all these materialize, I and a host of others who believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior will not be physically around to witness it; we will be with our Lord as He had promised that He will return to take us away and we will not be victims of the aftermath.

And I believe this coming US Presidential elections on November 4, 2008 will be a watershed one as the outcome will become an important piece of the jigsaw puzzle.

When Will The Politicians Learn From Their Earlier Errors In Judgement?

When one looks at political events around the world, one often wonders whether all the politicians even pay attention to the history lessons created in the past and draw conclusions from them and therefore avoid making the same mistakes twice.

Hurricane Gustav is expected to hit Louisiana today Sept 01 and cause widespread damage across the same areas as Hurricane Katrina exactly three years ago on August 29, 2005. Katrina was a Category Three hurricane and Gustav will be a minimum Category Three hurricane as well. Initially it was believed to be a Category Five hurricane but since it hit Cuba, some of the force had been dissipated.

Now what am I saying here? what is the cause of Gustav? I believe that Hurricane Gustav came about because some two weeks ago, Secretary of State Condeleza Rice told the Israeli government that Jerusalem will have to be divided back to its East and West Jerusalem status in order for the ongoing peace negotiation between the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli Government can proceed. Now that is drawing on a very delicate line as the Jews believe emphatically that Jerusalem should never be divided and that it belongs to the Jews as their ancient capital (that is why the seat of the Israeli government, the Knesset, is sited in Jerusalem and not Tel Aviv as UN still believes).

I believe that whoever touches the apple of God's eye (the Jews) will have its consequences; if any nation were to bless Israel (the physical descendants of Abraham), that nation will be blessed but if it does not bless them (as in actually cursing them), the nation will suffer a fate that will be worse off that before. This is what was prophesied to Abraham in Genesis 12:3, (Amplified Bible)

"And I will bless those who bless you [who confer prosperity or happiness upon you] and curse him who curses or uses insolent language toward you; in you will all the families and kindred of the earth be blessed [and by you they will bless themselves]

I believe that USA would have been better off if they had not insisted on having the peace agreement signed the way they wanted it to go but should have sat down and really studied the Scriptures and sought the Lord for directions rather than what they had dished out. I am disappointed to say that the politicians are only interested in scoring political points and ignoring the heartbeat of our Lord.