New Blogspot Will Be Launched on July 25, 2011

It is now official.
The replacement blogspot will happen on July 25, 2011 and this blog will cease to be updated and may even disappear in due course after I have terminated the email account.
I have held that email account for more than twenty years and I have to move on and terminate the account for economic and practical reasons.
And so you can view the new blogspot at this URL

http://andrew-lap-wai-lee.blogspot.com

New Blogspot To Be Launched Soon

To all the followers of my blogspot, thanks for the support and encouragement.
In fact, because of your encouragement, I am going to start a new site shortly and plan to shut this down soon as I will be terminating the email account with which I had used to create this blogspot.
You can reach me at the new URL - andrew-lap-wai-lee@blogspot.com
Once again, thanks for the support.

Israel-Lebanon tensions rise over natural gas rights - Israel Today

Israel and Lebanon have become embroiled in a legal and diplomatic battle over rights to undersea natural gas fields that could potentially turn violent.

Dispute over natural resources has long been a catalyst for war, and few would be surprised if Lebanon's dominant Hizballah terrorist militia used this latest quarrel as justification for a fresh attack on the Jewish state. "Lebanon has warned that it insists on protecting its borders and resources," a spokesman for Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri told Bloomberg. Berri and the Lebanese government were responding to an Israeli cabinet vote that defined the nation's maritime borders. Israel was keen to take that step after Lebanon began laying claim to offshore territories that encompass huge natural gas reserves discovered by Israel in recent years.

Last year, Lebanon submitted maps demarcating new maritime borders to the UN. But the lines differ greatly from those decided upon by Israel, and even from those Lebanon itself agreed to years ago. "The line that Lebanon submitted to the UN is significantly south of the Israeli line," said Netanyahu. "It contradicts the line Israel has agreed upon with Cyprus, and what is more significant to me is that it contradicts the line that Lebanon itself concluded with Cyprus in 2007." Israel will submit its own maps to the UN later this week.

The natural gas reserves discovered in the eastern Mediterranean in recent years are estimated to be the largest in the world, and could drastically alter Israel's economic and energy situation. But the new maritime border insisted upon by Lebanon would mean a loss of billion of dollars worth of gas rights to Israel.

Israeli firms working the Tamar and Leviathan undersea gas fields announced last year that in addition to the enormous amount of natural gas, there may also be rich oil reserves in the area. Hizballah, which effectively controls Lebanon's government, responded by accusing Israel of "stealing" Lebanon's natural resources, and threatening war. Hizballah has attacked and started war with Israel for less in the past.

66th UN General Assembly Meeting in September 2011

The next UN General Assembly (which is their 66th assembly) will open on September 13, 2011 with the debates taking place between 21-23 and 26-30. What should be of great significance is the question of statehood for the Palestinian people.

So far President Obama had tried to push the US stand of Israeli withdrawal from all land captured by the IDF in the 6-day war in 1967 but Israel had maintained that the borders prior to the 6-day war is not defensible. So far, President Obama had kept silent whether he would pursue the discussion line and support President Mahmoud Abbas in his resolution to the UN.

A Palestinian State would have to support the existence of Israel as a separate nation and this is going to be interesting, if not difficult, as the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and all Arabic states try not to recognize Israel as a nation and their intention has always been to drive Israel into the Sea (Mediterranean Sea).

Israel is willing to let the Palestinians have their own land but only where they are currently living (Gaza and Samaria (or West Bank)) but Jerusalem is not negotiable. Unfortunately the Arabs also want Jerusalem for themselves and that is where the entire debate will come to a grid-lock. As at this moment, Israel calls Jerusalem its capital city but the world only recognize Tel-Aviv as the capital and not Jerusalem and so, to reinforce Israel's position, it would help when all nations begin to move their embassies from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem and in so doing, the sovereignty of Israel will be strengthened.

So, what would happen at this coming UN General Assembly debate will be an interesting watch and the future of Israel will be unfolded albeit through divine intervention.