From: Eddie Chumney
To: heb_roots_chr@geocities.com
Subject: Weekly Digest 7/18/98
Israel
in the News
July
12 - July 18, 1998
TEMPLE MOUNT
CHAI VEKAIYAM ACTIVISTS PRAY ON TEMPLE MOUNT
IsraelWire-7/12
Two members of the Chai Vekaiyam organization prayed silently on
the Temple Mount of the Old City of Jerusalem today, the Fast of
the 17th of Tamuz.
Since the liberation of the Mount in the June 1967 War by Israeli
paratroopers, Jews have been barred from praying on the Mount by
Israeli governments who conceded to pressure from the Moslem Wakf
on the Mount. Chai Vekaiyam activists, who are fighting for the
right of Jewish prayer on the Mount, make regular trips to the
Mount, but are carefully observed to ensure not even their lips
are moving, as to not anger Wakf officials.
Today, according to the report, two such persons were observed by
an Israeli policeman, who chose to turn a blind eye. According
to the movement's leader, Yehuda Etzion, they are now cautiously
optimistic that this may indicate a subtle but noticeable change
in the government's policy vis-a-vis Freedom of Worship for Jews.
CHAI VEKAIYAM MEMBERS ACQUITTED OF CHARGES
IsraelWire-7/12
Five members of the Chai Vekaiyam organization were acquitted of
charges by the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court today, stemming from
charges of illegal congregation relating to an incident that took
place 3-years ago. The defendants were attempting to pray on the
Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City, and were subsequently
arrested.
The organization's leader, Yehuda Etzion, stated that he hoped
this was a small indicator that the government's discriminatory
policy barring Jews from praying on their holiest site, will be
eliminated. Etzion told IsraelWire in a telephone interview that
it is unacceptable that Jews, living in Israel, may not enjoy the
basic right of any person living in a free society, namely
Freedom of Worship. Etzion added that such a policy, barring Jews
from praying, would not be tolerated by the international Jewish
community in any free country, and it should not be tolerated
here in Israel as well.
WHO HAS THE KEY MIKDASH-BUILD
21 Tamuz 5758 Volume II, Number 15
Who has the key to changing the degrading status of the Temple
Mount?
* The Minister of Education (Fax +972-2-560-2752), who is the
chief of the Antiquities Authority and whose responsibility it is
to reveal and research the many remnants of the Temple present on
the Temple Mount.
* The Minister of Religion, who is required by law to set times
for entrance and prayer on the Temple Mount, and who has the
authority to decide who will be allowed to enter the Temple Mount
and on what days.
* The Minister of Internal Security (Fax +972-2-5847872), who
must dictate that on Jewish Holidays the Temple Mount should be
open only to Jews, and who must enforce the Law of Antiquities
and the Law of Holy Places.
* The Israeli Police, who limit the Jews entering the Temple
Mount and thereby are assisting in the Islamification of our Holy
Site.
* Last but not least -- you and I -- When we go up to the Temple
Mount at every opportunity and see the Temple Mount as the best
location to pray, we make it for that moment a Jewish site.
Together, we will change the governmental treatment of the
location of the Mikdash.
THE KEY IS IN YOUR HANDS AND MINE
JERUSALEM
UN WARNS ISRAEL AGAINST EXTENDING BOUNDARIES
Reuters July 14, 1998 United Nations
The Security Council has told Israel not to act on its decision
to extend the boundaries of Jerusalem but the Jewish state says
the United Nations cannot intervene. In a statement issued late
Monday, the council also called on Israel "not to take any other
steps which would prejudice the outcome of the permanent status
negotiations" with the Palestinians, due to be completed next
May. The council served notice it would "keep Israeli actions
under review."
The Security Council statement was a follow-up to a daylong
council debate June 30 when more than 40 speakers criticized the
Israeli plan to expand Jerusalem's boundaries. They said it
would extend an "umbrella authority" over nearby Israeli
settlements in the West Bank, change the population balance in
the Holy City and endanger the already faltering Middle East
peace process.
Reacting to the council statement, Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu's adviser David Bar-Illan told Reuters in Jerusalem:
"What Israel has done in Jerusalem is purely a municipal matter.
There was no room for any intervention by an international body.
Israel will continue to develop the city of Jerusalem for the
benefit of all its residents."
Israel said the shift in Jerusalem's municipal boundaries was
aimed at bolstering its economy and infrastructure and would
apply strictly to areas west of the city, within the pre-1967 war
lines. It said the planned "umbrella municipality" would not
extend authority over any Israeli settlements but would
coordinate services with surrounding communities.
PEACE PROCESS
NETANYAHU SAYS DEFENSE CHIEF TO HEAD TALKS
2.35 p.m. ET (1836 GMT) July 16, 1998 Jerusalem
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday he expected
Israeli Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai to meet a Palestinian
negotiator, perhaps even right away, to try to hammer out a peace
breakthrough. Palestinians also voiced a readiness "in
principle" to meet.
"There's general agreement, certainly on our part, that it's
time to engage the Palestinians directly...I assume the first
meeting will be with Mr Mordechai, the defense minister,"
Netanyahu told Reuters in an interview.
ISRAEL, PALESTINIANS TO HOLD TOP-LEVEL MEETING
Sunday July 17, 1998 Jerusalem (AP)
Israel's defense minister will meet with Palestinian leader
Yasser Arafat's deputy on Sunday, in the first top-level contact
between the sides in months.
Arafat's spokesman, Nabil Abourdeneh, said Friday the
Palestinians suspect Israel will try to use the upcoming meetings
to gain time and wriggle out of its commitments. "We will go
because the Americans want us to," Abourdeneh said in an
interview. "Netanyahu just wants to waste time, and he found (the
Americans) will make this easy for him by calling for direct
talks."
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat confirmed a meeting
between Arafat deputy Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Defense Minister
Yitzhak Mordechai would take place Sunday evening. He stressed
the Palestinians hoped Mordechai would come to the meetings with
a mandate to accept the U.S. proposals. "The U.S. proposals are
not up for negotiations. We hope that this (meeting) will be the
last extra mile the U.S. administration asks us to go," Erekat
said.
SYRIA: NO CHANCE OF PEACE WITH NETANYAHU
By David Makovsky and Agencies Ha'aretz 7/12/98
The situation in the Middle East is precarious, with peace
looking impossible while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu remains in power, Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq Shara
said in a magazine interview.
"The situation in the Middle East has not been so dangerous since
the 1991 (international peace) conference in Madrid and the end
of the Cold War," Shara was quoted as saying in the weekly
magazine Le Point published yesterday.
"Today there will be total peace or no peace at all. There is no
middle ground. Now, with Benjamin Netanyahu, peace is
unobtainable." Syrian President Hafez al-Assad is due to fly to
France next week for a rare official visit to the West. Syrian-
Israeli peace talks and Israel's offer of conditional withdrawal
from South Lebanon are expected to top his agenda.
MIDDLE EAST
U.S. REVIVES EFFORTS TO TOPPLE SADDAM HUSSEIN
Global Intelligence Update Red Alert July 17, 1998
The United States has once again stepped up efforts to oust Iraqi
President Saddam Hussein. The Voice of America reported on July
14 that the U.S. Principal Deputy Secretary of State for Near
Eastern Affairs, David Welch, would lead a delegation to northern
Iraq in an attempt to negotiate a settlement between the
Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of
Kurdistan (PUK). The delegation, which will include Turkish
officials, hopes to forge an alliance between the two Kurdish
groups to help maintain pressure against Saddam Hussein. Hussein
has exploited divisions between the groups since they slipped
into factional fighting in 1994.
In June, the Clinton Administration set about reversing its
political decline in the Middle East, reaching out to Iran in
public statements from both Secretary of State Madeleine Albright
and President Clinton. We noted, at the time, that Iran held the
upper hand in dealing with the U.S., as Washington had little to
offer. What the U.S. did have to offer was collaboration with
Iran in destroying Iraq and in limiting Russia's influence in the
region. Plans to achieve the former are now evidently underway,
at least in the Kurdish north of Iraq, and possibly in the Shiite
south. . . .there is ample evidence of increasing Iranian
nvolvement with Iraq's Shiites, and of increasing tension in the
south of Iraq. Overall, the potential for action against Iraq is
increasing rapidly.
ADMINISTRATION SEEKS CONGRESSIONAL APPROVAL FOR POSSIBLE
ANTI-IRAQ OPERATION
July 17, 1998 By Tom Raum, Associated Press Washington (AP)
The Clinton administration has asked Congress for approval to use
contingency funds that would allow it to carry out covert
operations against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, U.S. officials
said Friday. The officials, speaking on the condition of
anonymity, confirmed a report in The Wall Street Journal that the
administration was seeking broad authority from Congress to plan
and mount covert operations against the Iraqi leader. Frustrated
with repeated standoffs, some congressional leaders, including
Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., have urged the
administration to more actively confront Iraq, including with
covert operations and by supporting Iraqi opposition groups.
PREPARATION FOR WAR
SNEH CRITICAL OF IDF STATE OF PREPAREDNESS
(IsraelWire-7/14)
According to Labor MK Ephraim Sneh, the chairman of the
subcommittee on the IDF, the situation existing today, vis-...-vis
the readiness of the IDF, is "catastrophic". Sneh added that NIS
20 billion would have to be allocated over a 4-year period to the
IDF if it was to rehabilitate itself. The MK made special mention
of the unacceptable level of preparedness that existed in the
Home Front Command, and its ability to deal with an attack using
non-conventional warfare. It is the Home Front Command that is
responsible for protecting the citizens in the case of an Iraqi
missile attack or any other non-conventional threat that
endangers the general population of the country. Sneh, quoting
unnamed IDF sources, said that he was told the situation now was
as critical as it was on the eve of the October 1973 Yom Kippur
War.
BLUE-RIBBON PANEL WARNS OF MISSILE THREAT
Reuters July 15, 1998 Washington
North Korea, Iran and Iraq will be able to hit the United States
and its allies with missiles tipped with deadly weapons sooner
than previously projected, a bipartisan panel set up by Congress
said Wednesday. The blue-ribbon panel also found the United
States "might well have little or no warning" before foes deploy
ballistic missiles that could change the dynamics of global
power.
"The threat to the U.S ... is broader, more mature and evolving
more rapidly than has been reported ... by the intelligence
community," the nine-member panel concluded without dissent.
In the unclassified version of its report, the Commission to
Assess the Ballistic Threat to the United States did not spell
out precisely how close North Korea and Iran might be to fielding
missiles that could hit the United States. But it said they
would be able to cause "major destruction" in U.S. cities "within
about five years of a decision to acquire such a capability," and
10 years in the case of Iraq.
Arguing that Washington may be in the dark about covert missile
programs, the panel left open the question of how far along North
Korea and Iran might be now.
FALSE PROPHET AND ANTI-CHRIST
MALACHI MARTIN CONFIRMS THIRD SECRET OF FATIMA
Stan Deyo's e-mail 7/16/98
For Art Bell listeners, Stan called into the program 2 nights ago
to discuss some of the startling things we are hearing/reading
about El Nino. . . After Stan finished, Malachi Martin was
interviewed for the remainder of the show. One interesting thing
that occurred during the Malachi Martin interview was the
discussion of the "Third Secret of Fatima."
While Malachi Martin himself would not reveal what was
specifically in the secret, he did state he would confirm if
someone called in with correct information. This would not
violate his confidentiality vow. Several people did send in
documents claiming to be THE secret. Several had elements of
truth in them, some did not.
Hours into the show, Stan faxed the following message through
during the interview: "Art - I had a Jesuit priest tell me more
of the 3rd Fatima secret years ago in Perth... Re: last pope
would be under control of Satan. Pope John fainted thinking it
might be him. We were interrupted before I could hear the rest.
Stan."
Stan's conversation with the Jesuit priest transpired 24 years
ago and he never forgot the horror of the content. Actually,
what was told to Stan was even worse than what was faxed to Art,
but the important thing to know is that Malachi Martin CONFIRMED
it.
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From: Bridges for Peace (Clarence Wagner)
To: heb_roots_chr@geocities.com
Subject: Weekly News Update and Prayer Focus from Israel
Week
Ending: July 17, 1998
1) 43 COUNTRIES RECOGNIZE PA PASSPORT
2) TIME RUNNING OUT FOR ARAFAT
3) ARAFAT: PAKISTAN NUKES MATCH ISRAEL'S
4) EUROPEAN LEADERS TO RECOGNIZE PALESTINIAN STATE
1) 43 COUNTRIES RECOGNIZE PA PASSPORT
The Palestinian Authority, under Israeli
jurisdiction and as
stipulated by the Oslo Accords, now controls the civil affairs of a
population numbering over 2.5 million. This, in itself, hardly
constitutes a nation. Yet over 43 nations recognize the PA passport
at their international borders. These nations include Algeria,
Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Columbia,
Cyprus, Denmark, Egyp= t, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, India,
Italy, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Malta= , Morocco, Netherlands, Norway,
Pakistan, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South
Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab
Emirate, U.K., USA, Yemen and others. In addition, these countries have
already opened representative offices in the Palestinian Authority
areas of Gaza and the West Bank:
Denmark, Egypt, Germany, India, Jordan, Morocco, Netherlands, Norway,
Portugal, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Sweden and Switzerland.
(The Jerusalem Report, July 6, 1998)
2) TIME RUNNING OUT FOR ARAFAT
Declaration of a Palestinian state in May 1998
poses many
questions, none easy and all potentially dangerous. The continuing
role of the Israeli army - deployed in areas under the civil rule of
a state that Israel doesn't recognize - would be unclear. So would
the future of the joint Israeli-Palestinian patrols, one of the
hallmarks of Oslo. If cooperation between both sides' security forces
were to collapse, warns Carmi Gillon, ex-head of the Shin Bet
security agency, the potential for conflict would be intensified. The
information-trading critical to thwarting suicide bombers would be
curtailed, and the settlers' security would be gravely undermined -
especially in Gaza, where the Katif enclave of 6,000 Israelis is
surrounded by land under full PA control. Khalil Shikaki, director of
the Center for Palestinian Research and Studies, a respected think
tank in Nablus, sees the announcement of Palestinian Statehood not as
a progression of negotiated agreements but as an issue of
credibility. He stated, "If the state is not declared on May 4, we
should start the countdown for the demise of the national movement,
it's leadership and ideology. "Arafat realizes he's not going to live
forever. Maybe he'll live a year or two beyond the deadline. Another
five years would be a miracle. May 4 gives him a historic moment; I
don't think he'll let it pass." (The Jerusalem Report, July 6, 1998)
3) ARAFAT: PAKISTAN NUKES MATCH ISRAEL'S ISLAMABAD
(Reuters) - Palestinian President Yasser Arafat
said on Monday
that Pakistan's nuclear program matched that of Israel and had the
backing of the Moslem world.
"If Israel can have a nuclear weapon, then
why should you not
have it?" the official APP news agency quoted him as saying in a
stopover in the Pakistani capital en route to China. "There is very
positive and strong reaction from (the) Moslem world to Pakistan's
nuclear tests,'' Arafat was quoted as saying.
Israel has not admitted having a nuclear weapon
but is widely
thought to have developed one.
APP said Arafat had condemned economic
sanctions, which the
government says have brought it close to default on $30 billion of
foreign debt.
Pakistan has shunned the label "Islamic
bomb'' used by some
commentators to describe the six devices which Pakistan said it tested
at the end of May following five tests the same month by arch rival
India. (Murray Kahl, July 13, 1998)
4) EUROPEAN LEADERS TO RECOGNIZE PALESTINIAN STATE
While it has been kept secret, HA'ARETZ has
learned that
France will recognize a Palestinian state when it is declared in 1999 by
Arafat.
France has always been sympathetic to the establishment of an
independent Palestinian state. Other members of the EU have also
declared that they will recognize the state, but have cautioned
Arafat to use it very cautiously as his "trump card." The threat of
their approval is meant to put pressure on PM Netanyahu to "advance
the peace process." (HA'ARETZ, FYI)
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WHO ARE WE?
For those who are new to the list, Bridges for Peace is a
Christian charitable organization, headquartered in Jerusalem, Israel. Since
1977, we have been working to build Christian-Jewish understanding
and support for the people and land of Israel. We do this through
twelve different aid projects to help the people of Israel, while
disseminating information about Israel and teaching Christians about
the Hebraic roots of Christianity. We have national offices in
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To receive more information and our other publications, send your
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We also invite you to look at our WEB SITE at:
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