JEWISH KING JESUS IS COMING AT THE RAPTURE FOR US IN THE CLOUDS-DON'T MISS IT FOR THE WORLD.THE BIBLE TAKEN LITERALLY- WHEN THE PLAIN SENSE MAKES GOOD SENSE-SEEK NO OTHER SENSE-LEST YOU END UP IN NONSENSE.GET SAVED NOW- CALL ON JESUS TODAY.THE ONLY SAVIOR OF THE WHOLE EARTH - NO OTHER. 1 COR 15:23-JESUS THE FIRST FRUITS-CHRISTIANS RAPTURED TO JESUS-FIRST FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT-23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.ROMANS 8:23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.(THE PRE-TRIB RAPTURE)
LUKE 21:28-29
28 And when these things begin to come to pass,(ALL THE PROPHECY SIGNS FROM THE BIBLE) then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption (RAPTURE) draweth nigh.
29 And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree,(ISRAEL) and all the trees;(ALL INDEPENDENT COUNTRIES)
30 When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand.(ISRAEL LITERALLY BECAME AND INDEPENDENT COUNTRY JUST BEFORE SUMMER IN MAY 14,1948.)
JOEL 2:3,30
3 A fire devoureth (ATOMIC BOMB) before them;(RUSSIAN-ARAB-MUSLIM ARMIES AGAINST ISRAEL) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(ATOMIC BOMB AFFECT)
ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their eyes shall consume away in their holes,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB)(BECAUSE NUKES HAVE BEEN USED ON ISRAELS ENEMIES)(GOD PROTECTS ISRAEL AND ALWAYS WILL)
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.(1/2-3 BILLION DIE IN WW3)(THIS IS AN ATOMIC BOMB EFFECT)
EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.
ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.
MALACHI 4:1
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven;(FROM ATOMIC BOMBS) and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
And here are the bounderies of the land that Israel will inherit either through war or peace or God in the future. God says its Israels land and only Israels land. They will have every inch God promised them of this land in the future.
Egypt east of the Nile River, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, The southern part of Turkey and the Western Half of Iraq west of the Euphrates. Gen 13:14-15, Psm 105:9,11, Gen 15:18, Exe 23:31, Num 34:1-12, Josh 1:4.ALL THIS LAND ISRAEL WILL DEFINATELY OWN IN THE FUTURE, ITS ISRAELS NOT ISHMAELS LAND.12 TRIBES INHERIT LAND IN THE FUTURE
Israel Travels: Passover-A walk above history on Jerusalem’s northern ramparts-The Old City walls offer glimpses, from a unique angle, of the Crusaders, Turks, Jordanians, Arabs and Jews who have manned the fortifications for 2,000 years-By Aviva and Shmuel Bar-Am April 11, 2017, 10:05 am-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
A few days after the recapture of Jerusalem in 1967, Knesset member and former prime minister David Ben-Gurion called for the government to demolish the walls surrounding the Old City. He was speaking at a rally for members Rafi, the political party he had founded in 1965. In a voice vibrant with passion, he stressed that the wall – built by the Turks – was not Jewish, and with its destruction the Holy City would be united for all to see.His listeners were stupefied. But after the moment that it took to absorb what Ben-Gurion had proposed, they broke into stormy applause.In his book “One Jerusalem,” Teddy Kollek recalls the incident but writes that he never spoke to Ben-Gurion about his idea. Kollek, who was mayor of Jerusalem at the time, believed that he understood the rationale behind it, but found the idea rather bizarre for historical, aesthetic and cultural reasons.Fortunately, the walls are still there, and they are impressive: Just over four kilometers in length, they are 12 meters high, studded with towers and topped with crenellations. Atop the walls are ramparts (fortified walkways) that visitors can tread for wonderful views of the city both inside and outside the walls.Most popular with tourists is the southern portion of the ramparts that begins behind David’s Tower and ends at Mount Zion, a walk that we have taken often, and even written about in the past. Looking for something different, we decided to go in the opposite direction last week, and strolled the ramparts from Jaffa Gate to Damascus Gate.Our guide was Gura Berger, spokesperson for the East Jerusalem Development Company (PAMI) that operates the ramparts, along with the (unusually clean) restrooms in the Old City, the Ophel Archeological Gardens and Zedekiah’s Cave (near Damascus Gate).Our tour began with a plaza, actually the roof on one of the 35 towers built by Turkish Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent when he restored the walls of the Old City. He began his repairs around the year 1537, twenty years after the Turks conquered the Holy Land from the Mamlukes. In most places the Sultan’s engineers followed the line of far older walls, for the city has been surrounded off and on for at least 2,000 years.Long slits in the tower walls gave archers the opportunity to shoot at any enemy attempting to invade the city. The more important positions were large enough so that an archer could stand on either side of the slit, thus covering the entire area below.Soldiers also had access to parapets built into towers like this one. Their floors contain machicolations, openings from which soldiers could dump boiling oil or hot tar on enemy forces approaching the gate.All of which were totally unnecessary, as no one attacked the city during the entire 400-year period of Turkish rule. And in 1917, during World War I, Jerusalem surrendered to the British without a fight. However, after the division of Jerusalem in 1948, and until the city’s reunification in 1967, Jordanian soldiers sniped at Jewish neighborhoods from high atop these very ramparts.From this portion of the ramparts you are high above the Old City’s Christian Quarter and encounter sights from an entirely new angle: red rafters typical of houses in the Quarter, a variety of lovely gardens, an unusual stone chimney with a weird resemblance to a minaret, and Armenian tile decorations on one of the homes.Although the Crusaders established a Latin (Catholic) Patriarchate in Jerusalem in 1099, Catholics fled to Acre when Saladin conquered the city in 1187. It wasn’t until 1847 that Pope Pius the 19th reinstated the Jerusalem Patriarchate, in the long white building that stretches all the way to the corner. Among the enterprises operating inside its walls is Knights Palace, a guesthouse constructed in the 1880’s originally as a dormitory for seminary students and decorated with Crusader figures, symbols, mosaics and paintings.As the building is also home to the Patriarch, a lovely chapel, hundreds of religious personnel and a school, rampart walkers invariably find children playing basketball down below, and nuns in the gardens or hanging up laundry.Turning the corner, IDF Square and the early 20th century buildings along Jaffa Road come into view – including Jerusalem’s first City Hall. Constructed in 1930 with money from Barclay’s Bank, the rounded building still features jagged holes made from Jordanian bullets during the years in which Jerusalem was divided.That green patch below, part of the Builders of the Wall Garden, contains the base of a tower. Legend has it that King David buried Goliath’s head on this site – giving rise to the name “Goliath’s Tower.” It is also called Tancred’s Tower, for the Crusader who helped Godfrey of Bouillon attack the city from this direction on July 15, 1099. Tancred and his troops camped nearby and, 100 years later, Crusaders built a tower-studded fortress here and named it in his honor.Surprising to find in the Christian Quarter, perhaps, a stone mosque fits perfectly into its location next to the walls. Called Kamra – a Moslem woman’s name that is the feminine form of “moon” in Arabic – it is topped by a very tall, decorative crescent.Further down, outside the walls and across the street, are buildings constructed by the French in the late 19th century. Le Hȏpital Saint-Louis (we call it the French Hospital) was designed in Baroque Renaissance style and houses terminal patients.Next door, Notre Dame de Jerusalem, the largest single building constructed in Jerusalem before World War I, played an important part during the War of Independence. Early in the war, the Jordanian Legion tried to conquer the complex as part of a plan to move into the heart of New Jerusalem. In a fierce battle between Jewish forces – including a number of teenage volunteers – and the Legion, the Arab advance was halted..This part of the walk offers unique views of East Jerusalem, Mount Scopus and the Mount of Olives, Builders of the Wall Garden and the Light Rail, which runs for much of its route along the border between Jordan and Israel until the reunification. Hard to imagine, but during those 19 years, the road and tracks below were only masses of barbed wire in a forbidding No-Man’s Land.The huge Terra Sancta complex on the other side of the walkway houses the offices of the Franciscan Order responsible for the Holy Sites in the Middle East, along with a printing press, educational institutions and the stunning St. Savior Church designed by famous architect Antonio Barluzzi in 1924.The Moslem Quarter that comes into view is incredibly crowded, and every roof is topped with a satellite dish. Clay pipes in unusual formations on one roof are meant to provide natural air conditioning. Called mashrubiye in Arabic, they permit women to sit outside without being seen, offering them a bit of fresh air.Protruding from the wall below are golden henbane flowers which contain strong chemicals like scopolamine. A hallucinogenic that can kill you if you get too much of it, it is said to be good for making spies “sing.” Golden henbane, which grows in the cracks of walls and old ruins, flowers through May.Before descending at Damascus Gate – the most beautiful of Old City gates – we had a view of its dazzling decorations at a most unusual angle.Berger calls this jaunt an historical urban “trek” because the stones are sometimes uneven, the walkway can be very narrow, and there are some tricky turns. It is not suitable for strollers, walkers or wheelchairs. Babies should be carried in slings or other carriers. And watch small children carefully.—A free app offers a running explanation of the ramparts called Jerusalem Audio Tours.During the Passover holiday week:Regular entrance fee to the ramparts drops from NIS 18 (with discounts for seniors, kids, etc.) to NIS 10 a person, and at all times a ticket is good for two days.Adults and children over the age of nine can rappel on the walls near IDF Square after their ramparts walk. Price for both: NIS 25.You are invited to a thrilling trek through otherwise inaccessible passages under the floor of Zedekiah’s Cave (Solomon’s Quarry). Price: NIS 69 with the possibility of rappelling on the way out.For more information call PAMI offices at 02-6277550.
Eric Trump ‘sure’ Ivanka helped push for Syria missile strike-In an interview with The Telegraph, US president’s son says his sister has large ‘influence’ on father’s decision making-By Alexander Fulbright April 11, 2017, 12:38 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
US President Donald Trump’s son Eric Trump said he is “sure” his sister Ivanka Trump helped push their father to launch a missile strike on Syria in response to the Syrian government’s use of chemical weapons, according to an interview published Tuesday.Speaking with the British daily The Telegraph, Eric Trump said that his sister likely used her “influence” with her father to push for their missile strike.“Ivanka is a mother of three kids and she has influence. I’m sure she said: ‘Listen, this is horrible stuff,’” he said, adding that she was “heartbroken and outraged” by the chemical weapons attack.Following a chemical weapons attack last week in the Syrian town of Khan Sheikhoun, in which at least at least 86 people were killed, including 27 children, the US navy launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at the Syrian regime’s Shayrat Airfield, from which the Trump administration said the deadly attack was launched.“Ivanka is by his side in Washington. She is not involved in everything. I think she comes and goes with issues she deeply cares about but when you get to a certain level of power a lot of times, and you see this in business too, a lot of times people will say yes just because you happen to be the boss,” he said.Eric Trump, who along with his brother Donald Jr. now runs the Trump Organization in place of their father, said that the fact that Ivanka is the US president’s daughter allows her a degree of influence on Trump’s thinking that many non-family members don’t have.“I think the beautiful thing about family is you play on a little bit of a different dynamic and once in a while you can pull them aside and say: ‘No disrespect but you might want to think about this or maybe you crossed the line here,’” he said.“I think it gives you a sounding board who is a little bit more unconventional than the 37 people that might happen to be standing round a table at that one time who just want to appease.”Eric, who acknowledged he is not involved in any government decisions, said his father had been opposed to acting in Syria before the chemical attack.“My father will act in times like that. And by the way, he was anti doing anything with Syria two years ago. Then a leader gasses their own people, women and children. At some point America is the global leader and the world’s superpower has to come forward and act and they did with a lot of support of our allies and I think that’s a great thing.”“I stay out of politics and I stay out of the administration but you can tell he was deeply affected by those images of the children,” he said, adding that “it was horrible. These guys are savages and I’m glad he responded the way he responded.”Ivanka Trump, who converted to Judaism after marrying Jared Kushner, officially became a White House employee last month, following questions over her role as an informal adviser were raised by ethics experts.Like Kushner, who also serves as an adviser to the US president, reports have credited Ivanka with having a large influence over her father’s decision-making.In his interview with the The Telegraph, Eric Trump also said nepotism was a “beautiful thing” and said it was only logical the president would appoint family members to manage his business and to key White House positions.“You trust the people who are closest to you. Who is he going to trust most to run a company? He is going to trust somebody who he trusts implicitly,” he said.“He knows I care about the family. He knows I care about the brand. He knows I deeply care about the properties, our amazing teams. And he knows I’m going to do everything I can humanly possible to take care of that.”“Is that nepotism? Absolutely. Is that also a beautiful thing? Absolutely. Family business is a beautiful thing. The same applies for Ivanka. Ivanka is by his side in Washington,” he added.Agencies contributed to this report.
Explosion rocks police HQ in Turkey’s Diyarbakir-At least four wounded in suspected attack in Turkey’s largest Kurdish-majority city, days before controversial vote-By AFP April 11, 2017, 11:53 am-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
DIYARBAKIR, Turkey — A strong blast rocked Turkey’s largest Kurdish-majority city of Diyarbakir on Tuesday near the riot police headquarters, just days before a key referendum on boosting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s powers.The blast could be heard in several areas of the southeastern city, an AFP journalist at the scene said, with medics saying at least four people were wounded.Grey smoke rose from the area as ambulances rushed to the scene.The cause of the explosion was not immediately known.Turks will on Sunday vote on whether to approve constitutional changes giving Erdogan executive presidential powers, which critics say would drag the country into one-man rule.LIVE: Large explosion hits Diyarbakir in southeastern Turkey http://ift.tt/2o2nzs6 pleasant yhetti (@pleasentyhetti) April 11, 2017-The southeast has been battered by renewed fighting between Kurdish rebels and Turkish security forces since a fragile truce collapsed in summer 2015.The outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has been waging an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984 during which over 40,000 people have been killed.The group is designated by Ankara, the United States and the European Union as a terror group.
Tillerson, top diplomats hold urgent meeting on Syrian crisis-Despite renewed calls for Assad’s ouster following gas attack, US and its allies still struggling to formulate Syria policy-By Josh Lederman April 11, 2017, 11:08 am-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
LUCCA, Italy (AP) — With fresh urgency but scant solutions, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and top foreign diplomats held an urgent meeting Tuesday to strategize on a way forward to end the protracted civil war in Syria.A meeting of the “likeminded” countries was hastily arranged on the sidelines of a Group of 7 industrialized economies in Italy, days after the US for the first time launched airstrikes against Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces. It came hours before Tillerson was to make a tense trip to Moscow to press Russia’s leaders to finally abandon their support for Assad.Though intended to punish Assad for a chemical weapons attack, the US strikes last week served to refocus the world’s attention on the bloody war in Syria, now in its seventh year. Diplomats gathered in Italy as US officials in Washington floated the possibility of new sanctions on the Syrian and Russian military, plus the threat of additional US military action if Assad’s government continues attacking civilians.At Tuesday’s meeting in the walled Tuscan city of Lucca, the G-7 countries were joined by diplomats from Muslim-majority nations including Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. The inclusion of those countries is important because the U.S. strategy for Syria involves enlisting help from Mideast nations to ensure security and stability in Syria after the Islamic State group is defeated.Seated around long tables in an ornate, red-walled room, the diplomats smiled and exchanged pleasantries but made no remarks as photographers were allowed in briefly for the start of the meeting. The session lasted roughly an hour.A key focus since the chemical attack has been on increasing pressure on Russia, Assad’s strongest ally, which has used its own military to prop up Assad in Syria. The US and others have said that Russia bears responsibility for the deaths of civilians at the hands of Assad given Moscow’s role in guaranteeing the 2013 deal in which Assad was supposed to give up his chemical weapons arsenal.The US raised the stakes significantly on Monday when a senior US official said Washington has made a preliminary conclusion that Russia knew in advance of Syria’s chemical weapons attack last week. Yet the US has no proof of Moscow’s involvement, said the official, who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly on intelligence matters and demanded anonymity.That accusation will hang over Tillerson’s visit to Moscow, where he plans with meet with Russia’s foreign minister and possibly with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin declined to say whether Putin would meet with Tillerson, in line with its usual practice of not announcing such meetings ahead of time.The United States has sought to downplay expectations for the trip or the likelihood that the US will leave with any concessions from Russia regarding its support for Assad. Instead, the US is hoping to use the trip — the first by a Trump Cabinet official to Russia — to convey its expectations to Moscow and then allow the Russians a period of time to respond.Yet even as the US seeks to project a sense of urgency about the Syria crisis, Washington has struggled to explain a hazy strategy that has yet to clarify key questions: whether President Bashar Assad must go, how displaced Syrians will be protected and when America might feel compelled to take further action.Successive attempts by top Trump administration officials to articulate a plan have only furthered the appearance of a policy still evolving. In the absence of answers, other countries seem to be moving ahead on their own terms.Tillerson himself raised fresh expectations for aggressive US action — and not only in Syria — as he visited Sant’Anna di Stazzema, a Tuscan village where the Nazis massacred more than 500 civilians during World War II. As he laid a wreath, he alluded to the Syria chemical attack.“We rededicate ourselves to holding to account any and all who commit crimes against the innocents anywhere in the world,” Tillerson said.Though such comments hint at a more activist US foreign policy focused on preventing humanitarian atrocities, US President Donald Trump has consistently suggested he prefers the opposite approach. His new administration has generally downplayed human rights concerns while promoting an “America First” strategy de-emphasizing the concerns of foreign nations.No component of Trump’s Syria policy has engendered more confusion than Assad’s future — an issue that similarly befuddled the Obama administration, whose once-adamant position that Assad must go softened substantially by the time President Barack Obama left office in January.Leading up to the US missile attack, Trump’s administration had said that Assad’s future was up to the Syrian people. Then Trump, the day after the assault, said his thinking about Assad had changed. Tillerson answered a question about effecting regime change by saying the US was organizing a coalition to do just that.Yet after Trump’s retaliatory strike, the position became less clear. Some officials, like Tillerson, said the US was confident Syrians would choose on their own to push Assad aside, while suggesting the US wouldn’t mandate it. UN Ambassador Nikki Haley and others said that ousting Assad was indeed a US goal, but only one of several.
28 And when these things begin to come to pass,(ALL THE PROPHECY SIGNS FROM THE BIBLE) then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption (RAPTURE) draweth nigh.
29 And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree,(ISRAEL) and all the trees;(ALL INDEPENDENT COUNTRIES)
30 When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand.(ISRAEL LITERALLY BECAME AND INDEPENDENT COUNTRY JUST BEFORE SUMMER IN MAY 14,1948.)
JOEL 2:3,30
3 A fire devoureth (ATOMIC BOMB) before them;(RUSSIAN-ARAB-MUSLIM ARMIES AGAINST ISRAEL) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(ATOMIC BOMB AFFECT)
ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their eyes shall consume away in their holes,(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB) and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.(DISOLVED FROM ATOMIC BOMB)(BECAUSE NUKES HAVE BEEN USED ON ISRAELS ENEMIES)(GOD PROTECTS ISRAEL AND ALWAYS WILL)
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.(1/2-3 BILLION DIE IN WW3)(THIS IS AN ATOMIC BOMB EFFECT)
EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.
ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.
MALACHI 4:1
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven;(FROM ATOMIC BOMBS) and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
And here are the bounderies of the land that Israel will inherit either through war or peace or God in the future. God says its Israels land and only Israels land. They will have every inch God promised them of this land in the future.
Egypt east of the Nile River, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, The southern part of Turkey and the Western Half of Iraq west of the Euphrates. Gen 13:14-15, Psm 105:9,11, Gen 15:18, Exe 23:31, Num 34:1-12, Josh 1:4.ALL THIS LAND ISRAEL WILL DEFINATELY OWN IN THE FUTURE, ITS ISRAELS NOT ISHMAELS LAND.12 TRIBES INHERIT LAND IN THE FUTURE
Israel Travels: Passover-A walk above history on Jerusalem’s northern ramparts-The Old City walls offer glimpses, from a unique angle, of the Crusaders, Turks, Jordanians, Arabs and Jews who have manned the fortifications for 2,000 years-By Aviva and Shmuel Bar-Am April 11, 2017, 10:05 am-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
A few days after the recapture of Jerusalem in 1967, Knesset member and former prime minister David Ben-Gurion called for the government to demolish the walls surrounding the Old City. He was speaking at a rally for members Rafi, the political party he had founded in 1965. In a voice vibrant with passion, he stressed that the wall – built by the Turks – was not Jewish, and with its destruction the Holy City would be united for all to see.His listeners were stupefied. But after the moment that it took to absorb what Ben-Gurion had proposed, they broke into stormy applause.In his book “One Jerusalem,” Teddy Kollek recalls the incident but writes that he never spoke to Ben-Gurion about his idea. Kollek, who was mayor of Jerusalem at the time, believed that he understood the rationale behind it, but found the idea rather bizarre for historical, aesthetic and cultural reasons.Fortunately, the walls are still there, and they are impressive: Just over four kilometers in length, they are 12 meters high, studded with towers and topped with crenellations. Atop the walls are ramparts (fortified walkways) that visitors can tread for wonderful views of the city both inside and outside the walls.Most popular with tourists is the southern portion of the ramparts that begins behind David’s Tower and ends at Mount Zion, a walk that we have taken often, and even written about in the past. Looking for something different, we decided to go in the opposite direction last week, and strolled the ramparts from Jaffa Gate to Damascus Gate.Our guide was Gura Berger, spokesperson for the East Jerusalem Development Company (PAMI) that operates the ramparts, along with the (unusually clean) restrooms in the Old City, the Ophel Archeological Gardens and Zedekiah’s Cave (near Damascus Gate).Our tour began with a plaza, actually the roof on one of the 35 towers built by Turkish Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent when he restored the walls of the Old City. He began his repairs around the year 1537, twenty years after the Turks conquered the Holy Land from the Mamlukes. In most places the Sultan’s engineers followed the line of far older walls, for the city has been surrounded off and on for at least 2,000 years.Long slits in the tower walls gave archers the opportunity to shoot at any enemy attempting to invade the city. The more important positions were large enough so that an archer could stand on either side of the slit, thus covering the entire area below.Soldiers also had access to parapets built into towers like this one. Their floors contain machicolations, openings from which soldiers could dump boiling oil or hot tar on enemy forces approaching the gate.All of which were totally unnecessary, as no one attacked the city during the entire 400-year period of Turkish rule. And in 1917, during World War I, Jerusalem surrendered to the British without a fight. However, after the division of Jerusalem in 1948, and until the city’s reunification in 1967, Jordanian soldiers sniped at Jewish neighborhoods from high atop these very ramparts.From this portion of the ramparts you are high above the Old City’s Christian Quarter and encounter sights from an entirely new angle: red rafters typical of houses in the Quarter, a variety of lovely gardens, an unusual stone chimney with a weird resemblance to a minaret, and Armenian tile decorations on one of the homes.Although the Crusaders established a Latin (Catholic) Patriarchate in Jerusalem in 1099, Catholics fled to Acre when Saladin conquered the city in 1187. It wasn’t until 1847 that Pope Pius the 19th reinstated the Jerusalem Patriarchate, in the long white building that stretches all the way to the corner. Among the enterprises operating inside its walls is Knights Palace, a guesthouse constructed in the 1880’s originally as a dormitory for seminary students and decorated with Crusader figures, symbols, mosaics and paintings.As the building is also home to the Patriarch, a lovely chapel, hundreds of religious personnel and a school, rampart walkers invariably find children playing basketball down below, and nuns in the gardens or hanging up laundry.Turning the corner, IDF Square and the early 20th century buildings along Jaffa Road come into view – including Jerusalem’s first City Hall. Constructed in 1930 with money from Barclay’s Bank, the rounded building still features jagged holes made from Jordanian bullets during the years in which Jerusalem was divided.That green patch below, part of the Builders of the Wall Garden, contains the base of a tower. Legend has it that King David buried Goliath’s head on this site – giving rise to the name “Goliath’s Tower.” It is also called Tancred’s Tower, for the Crusader who helped Godfrey of Bouillon attack the city from this direction on July 15, 1099. Tancred and his troops camped nearby and, 100 years later, Crusaders built a tower-studded fortress here and named it in his honor.Surprising to find in the Christian Quarter, perhaps, a stone mosque fits perfectly into its location next to the walls. Called Kamra – a Moslem woman’s name that is the feminine form of “moon” in Arabic – it is topped by a very tall, decorative crescent.Further down, outside the walls and across the street, are buildings constructed by the French in the late 19th century. Le Hȏpital Saint-Louis (we call it the French Hospital) was designed in Baroque Renaissance style and houses terminal patients.Next door, Notre Dame de Jerusalem, the largest single building constructed in Jerusalem before World War I, played an important part during the War of Independence. Early in the war, the Jordanian Legion tried to conquer the complex as part of a plan to move into the heart of New Jerusalem. In a fierce battle between Jewish forces – including a number of teenage volunteers – and the Legion, the Arab advance was halted..This part of the walk offers unique views of East Jerusalem, Mount Scopus and the Mount of Olives, Builders of the Wall Garden and the Light Rail, which runs for much of its route along the border between Jordan and Israel until the reunification. Hard to imagine, but during those 19 years, the road and tracks below were only masses of barbed wire in a forbidding No-Man’s Land.The huge Terra Sancta complex on the other side of the walkway houses the offices of the Franciscan Order responsible for the Holy Sites in the Middle East, along with a printing press, educational institutions and the stunning St. Savior Church designed by famous architect Antonio Barluzzi in 1924.The Moslem Quarter that comes into view is incredibly crowded, and every roof is topped with a satellite dish. Clay pipes in unusual formations on one roof are meant to provide natural air conditioning. Called mashrubiye in Arabic, they permit women to sit outside without being seen, offering them a bit of fresh air.Protruding from the wall below are golden henbane flowers which contain strong chemicals like scopolamine. A hallucinogenic that can kill you if you get too much of it, it is said to be good for making spies “sing.” Golden henbane, which grows in the cracks of walls and old ruins, flowers through May.Before descending at Damascus Gate – the most beautiful of Old City gates – we had a view of its dazzling decorations at a most unusual angle.Berger calls this jaunt an historical urban “trek” because the stones are sometimes uneven, the walkway can be very narrow, and there are some tricky turns. It is not suitable for strollers, walkers or wheelchairs. Babies should be carried in slings or other carriers. And watch small children carefully.—A free app offers a running explanation of the ramparts called Jerusalem Audio Tours.During the Passover holiday week:Regular entrance fee to the ramparts drops from NIS 18 (with discounts for seniors, kids, etc.) to NIS 10 a person, and at all times a ticket is good for two days.Adults and children over the age of nine can rappel on the walls near IDF Square after their ramparts walk. Price for both: NIS 25.You are invited to a thrilling trek through otherwise inaccessible passages under the floor of Zedekiah’s Cave (Solomon’s Quarry). Price: NIS 69 with the possibility of rappelling on the way out.For more information call PAMI offices at 02-6277550.
Eric Trump ‘sure’ Ivanka helped push for Syria missile strike-In an interview with The Telegraph, US president’s son says his sister has large ‘influence’ on father’s decision making-By Alexander Fulbright April 11, 2017, 12:38 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
US President Donald Trump’s son Eric Trump said he is “sure” his sister Ivanka Trump helped push their father to launch a missile strike on Syria in response to the Syrian government’s use of chemical weapons, according to an interview published Tuesday.Speaking with the British daily The Telegraph, Eric Trump said that his sister likely used her “influence” with her father to push for their missile strike.“Ivanka is a mother of three kids and she has influence. I’m sure she said: ‘Listen, this is horrible stuff,’” he said, adding that she was “heartbroken and outraged” by the chemical weapons attack.Following a chemical weapons attack last week in the Syrian town of Khan Sheikhoun, in which at least at least 86 people were killed, including 27 children, the US navy launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at the Syrian regime’s Shayrat Airfield, from which the Trump administration said the deadly attack was launched.“Ivanka is by his side in Washington. She is not involved in everything. I think she comes and goes with issues she deeply cares about but when you get to a certain level of power a lot of times, and you see this in business too, a lot of times people will say yes just because you happen to be the boss,” he said.Eric Trump, who along with his brother Donald Jr. now runs the Trump Organization in place of their father, said that the fact that Ivanka is the US president’s daughter allows her a degree of influence on Trump’s thinking that many non-family members don’t have.“I think the beautiful thing about family is you play on a little bit of a different dynamic and once in a while you can pull them aside and say: ‘No disrespect but you might want to think about this or maybe you crossed the line here,’” he said.“I think it gives you a sounding board who is a little bit more unconventional than the 37 people that might happen to be standing round a table at that one time who just want to appease.”Eric, who acknowledged he is not involved in any government decisions, said his father had been opposed to acting in Syria before the chemical attack.“My father will act in times like that. And by the way, he was anti doing anything with Syria two years ago. Then a leader gasses their own people, women and children. At some point America is the global leader and the world’s superpower has to come forward and act and they did with a lot of support of our allies and I think that’s a great thing.”“I stay out of politics and I stay out of the administration but you can tell he was deeply affected by those images of the children,” he said, adding that “it was horrible. These guys are savages and I’m glad he responded the way he responded.”Ivanka Trump, who converted to Judaism after marrying Jared Kushner, officially became a White House employee last month, following questions over her role as an informal adviser were raised by ethics experts.Like Kushner, who also serves as an adviser to the US president, reports have credited Ivanka with having a large influence over her father’s decision-making.In his interview with the The Telegraph, Eric Trump also said nepotism was a “beautiful thing” and said it was only logical the president would appoint family members to manage his business and to key White House positions.“You trust the people who are closest to you. Who is he going to trust most to run a company? He is going to trust somebody who he trusts implicitly,” he said.“He knows I care about the family. He knows I care about the brand. He knows I deeply care about the properties, our amazing teams. And he knows I’m going to do everything I can humanly possible to take care of that.”“Is that nepotism? Absolutely. Is that also a beautiful thing? Absolutely. Family business is a beautiful thing. The same applies for Ivanka. Ivanka is by his side in Washington,” he added.Agencies contributed to this report.
Explosion rocks police HQ in Turkey’s Diyarbakir-At least four wounded in suspected attack in Turkey’s largest Kurdish-majority city, days before controversial vote-By AFP April 11, 2017, 11:53 am-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
DIYARBAKIR, Turkey — A strong blast rocked Turkey’s largest Kurdish-majority city of Diyarbakir on Tuesday near the riot police headquarters, just days before a key referendum on boosting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s powers.The blast could be heard in several areas of the southeastern city, an AFP journalist at the scene said, with medics saying at least four people were wounded.Grey smoke rose from the area as ambulances rushed to the scene.The cause of the explosion was not immediately known.Turks will on Sunday vote on whether to approve constitutional changes giving Erdogan executive presidential powers, which critics say would drag the country into one-man rule.LIVE: Large explosion hits Diyarbakir in southeastern Turkey http://ift.tt/2o2nzs6 pleasant yhetti (@pleasentyhetti) April 11, 2017-The southeast has been battered by renewed fighting between Kurdish rebels and Turkish security forces since a fragile truce collapsed in summer 2015.The outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has been waging an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984 during which over 40,000 people have been killed.The group is designated by Ankara, the United States and the European Union as a terror group.
Tillerson, top diplomats hold urgent meeting on Syrian crisis-Despite renewed calls for Assad’s ouster following gas attack, US and its allies still struggling to formulate Syria policy-By Josh Lederman April 11, 2017, 11:08 am-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
LUCCA, Italy (AP) — With fresh urgency but scant solutions, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and top foreign diplomats held an urgent meeting Tuesday to strategize on a way forward to end the protracted civil war in Syria.A meeting of the “likeminded” countries was hastily arranged on the sidelines of a Group of 7 industrialized economies in Italy, days after the US for the first time launched airstrikes against Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces. It came hours before Tillerson was to make a tense trip to Moscow to press Russia’s leaders to finally abandon their support for Assad.Though intended to punish Assad for a chemical weapons attack, the US strikes last week served to refocus the world’s attention on the bloody war in Syria, now in its seventh year. Diplomats gathered in Italy as US officials in Washington floated the possibility of new sanctions on the Syrian and Russian military, plus the threat of additional US military action if Assad’s government continues attacking civilians.At Tuesday’s meeting in the walled Tuscan city of Lucca, the G-7 countries were joined by diplomats from Muslim-majority nations including Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. The inclusion of those countries is important because the U.S. strategy for Syria involves enlisting help from Mideast nations to ensure security and stability in Syria after the Islamic State group is defeated.Seated around long tables in an ornate, red-walled room, the diplomats smiled and exchanged pleasantries but made no remarks as photographers were allowed in briefly for the start of the meeting. The session lasted roughly an hour.A key focus since the chemical attack has been on increasing pressure on Russia, Assad’s strongest ally, which has used its own military to prop up Assad in Syria. The US and others have said that Russia bears responsibility for the deaths of civilians at the hands of Assad given Moscow’s role in guaranteeing the 2013 deal in which Assad was supposed to give up his chemical weapons arsenal.The US raised the stakes significantly on Monday when a senior US official said Washington has made a preliminary conclusion that Russia knew in advance of Syria’s chemical weapons attack last week. Yet the US has no proof of Moscow’s involvement, said the official, who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly on intelligence matters and demanded anonymity.That accusation will hang over Tillerson’s visit to Moscow, where he plans with meet with Russia’s foreign minister and possibly with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin declined to say whether Putin would meet with Tillerson, in line with its usual practice of not announcing such meetings ahead of time.The United States has sought to downplay expectations for the trip or the likelihood that the US will leave with any concessions from Russia regarding its support for Assad. Instead, the US is hoping to use the trip — the first by a Trump Cabinet official to Russia — to convey its expectations to Moscow and then allow the Russians a period of time to respond.Yet even as the US seeks to project a sense of urgency about the Syria crisis, Washington has struggled to explain a hazy strategy that has yet to clarify key questions: whether President Bashar Assad must go, how displaced Syrians will be protected and when America might feel compelled to take further action.Successive attempts by top Trump administration officials to articulate a plan have only furthered the appearance of a policy still evolving. In the absence of answers, other countries seem to be moving ahead on their own terms.Tillerson himself raised fresh expectations for aggressive US action — and not only in Syria — as he visited Sant’Anna di Stazzema, a Tuscan village where the Nazis massacred more than 500 civilians during World War II. As he laid a wreath, he alluded to the Syria chemical attack.“We rededicate ourselves to holding to account any and all who commit crimes against the innocents anywhere in the world,” Tillerson said.Though such comments hint at a more activist US foreign policy focused on preventing humanitarian atrocities, US President Donald Trump has consistently suggested he prefers the opposite approach. His new administration has generally downplayed human rights concerns while promoting an “America First” strategy de-emphasizing the concerns of foreign nations.No component of Trump’s Syria policy has engendered more confusion than Assad’s future — an issue that similarly befuddled the Obama administration, whose once-adamant position that Assad must go softened substantially by the time President Barack Obama left office in January.Leading up to the US missile attack, Trump’s administration had said that Assad’s future was up to the Syrian people. Then Trump, the day after the assault, said his thinking about Assad had changed. Tillerson answered a question about effecting regime change by saying the US was organizing a coalition to do just that.Yet after Trump’s retaliatory strike, the position became less clear. Some officials, like Tillerson, said the US was confident Syrians would choose on their own to push Assad aside, while suggesting the US wouldn’t mandate it. UN Ambassador Nikki Haley and others said that ousting Assad was indeed a US goal, but only one of several.
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