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
PM said preparing package of gestures for Palestinians at Trump’s behest-Netanyahu reportedly tells cabinet that the Americans know about every home that is built in the settlements-By Times of Israel staff April 3, 2017, 1:03 pm
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly preparing a raft of goodwill gestures for the Palestinians following a request from US President Donald Trump, who wants to see the two sides back at the negotiating table.Netanyahu presented some of the measures to his cabinet in a meeting held Thursday night, according to a report published Monday in the Haaretz newspaper. The reported cited five participants in the closed-door meeting who spoke on condition of anonymity.Chief among the measures was allowing Palestinians to build in Area C of the West Bank, the part of the territory under full Israeli civil and military control.During the meeting, the prime minister also announced measures to limit building in the West Bank. He told his ministers that although the move is not part of an official agreement or informal understanding with the White House, he knows that the Trump administration will be keeping a very close eye on settlement construction.The Americans know about every home that is built in the settlements, he reportedly said.The prime minister also noted several times that Trump is determined to make progress on the Israeli-Palestinian issue and to reach a deal between the two sides. Netanyahu stressed the importance of Israel not being seen as the party that caused the process to fail.Trump will this week be meeting Arab leaders, who are likely to present him with a plan to get the Israelis and the Palestinian back to the negotiating table.In previous attempts, the Palestinians have demanded a complete freeze to settlement construction.While Netanyahu has close personal relations with Trump and views the new administration as much better for Israel than the Obama White House, he is nevertheless wary of antagonizing the American leader.“This is a very friendly administration and we need to be considerate of the president’s requests,” Netanyahu reportedly said, referring to Trump’s statements that he would like to see settlement construction limited.Although Netanyahu had said that there will be “no limits” on construction in Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem, he stressed that “we have to act wisely,” Haaretz reported, implying that construction in the capital will not automatically be green-lighted.After ministers last Thursday approved a new settlement for the evacuees of the Amona outpost, the Prime Minister’s Office said overnight Thursday-Friday that any future construction would be limited to existing settlement boundaries or adjacent to them. If legal, security or topographical limitations do not allow adherence to those guidelines, however, new homes would be built outside the current settlement boundaries but as close as possible to them, the statement said.Israel will also prevent the construction of any new illegal outposts, Netanyahu told his ministers.The White House on Friday welcomed the new policy.Notwithstanding the Israeli unilateral steps to curry favor with the US, Israel Radio reported Sunday that the negotiations between Israel and the US over settlement construction were put on hold on Sunday morning after Netanyahu and Jason Greenblatt — Trump’s special envoy — and working groups on both sides failed to reach understandings on the issue.However, the White House told The Times of Israel later Sunday that it was not holding “formal negotiations” with Israel over the settlements. “I would dissuade you from the notion that there is some set of formal negotiations regarding settlements,” an administration official told The Times of Israel. “We continuously discuss a range of issues, including how to improve the overall climate.”
UN vote on Israeli settlements has changed little-Experts say Security Council resolution is irrelevant and even counterproductive; Obama allowed it through, Trump’s UN envoy has said it will not happen again-By Joe Dyke April 3, 2017, 10:12 am-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
AFP — Three months after a landmark UN resolution condemning Israeli settlements, the measure has changed little on the ground and some analysts question whether it ever will.Security Council Resolution 2334, passed in December, did little to halt settlement building, with a raft of new projects announced by Israeli officials in the weeks that followed.At the same time, it is among the measures US President Donald Trump’s administration has cited in its argument that Israel is being unfairly targeted at the UN.Some diplomats see the resolution as increasingly irrelevant, even counterproductive.“It was a flash in the pan,” one said.It was passed in former president Barack Obama’s final days in office after the United States opted not to veto it, giving the green light for the first Security Council resolution condemning settlements since 1979.Trump had called for it to be vetoed.The Israeli government reacted fiercely, withdrawing ambassadors from countries that sponsored it and threatening sanctions.“Israel categorically rejects the despicable anti-Israeli resolution at the UN, and will not adhere to it,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a seething statement after the council voted in favor of the motion 14-0, with the US abstaining. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu subsequently accused the Obama administration of secretly formulating the text with the Palestinians. Jerusalem warned it would be “a tailwind for terror and boycotts” and derided its text for branding “the Western Wall occupied Palestinian territory.” (The resolution refers to East Jerusalem, including the Old City as “occupied Palestinian territory.)-Israel has also announced plans for more than 5,500 new homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since January.Last week, it announced the first new government-sanctioned settlement in more than 25 years, for the evacuees of the illegal Amona outpost.Trump’s UN envoy Nikki Haley has promised a much different approach.“The days of Israel bashing are over” at the UN, she told the AIPAC pro-Israel lobby in Washington, DC, last week. “That happened but it will never happen again,” she said od Resolution 2334. “You’re not going to take our number one democratic friend in the Middle East and beat up on them,” she said.Critics say that Israeli settlement expansion is gradually eroding hopes of a two-state solution, the basis of years of negotiations.Settlements are viewed by most international leaders as illegal, though Israel disputes this, and as major stumbling blocks to peace as they are built on land the Palestinians see as part of their future state. Israel says that settlements are not an impediment to peace and these issues must be the subject of negotiations.-‘Too late’-While Trump has vowed unstinting support for Israel, he too has called on the country to “hold back on settlements for a little bit” while Washington considers ways to restart Israeli-Palestinian talks.Still, Netanyahu’s government has negotiated with the White House on how to move forward with settlement building.Robert Serry, until 2015 UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, said the resolution was effectively stillborn because it came so late in Obama’s term.“I support the resolution’s content,” he told AFP. “But it is an example of what can happen if something happens too late.”Had a similar resolution not been vetoed by the Obama administration in 2011, it could have built pressure on Israel, he said.“But what we have seen now is the resolution has become the focus of all kinds of activities in Israel and the United States claiming it is another example of Israel bashing.”Britain, for example, later seemed to backtrack.It voted for the resolution but later refused to support a statement at a Middle East peace conference in Paris in January that Israel opposed.There was speculation that London was in part concerned with upsetting the incoming Trump administration.-Israel’s objections to the resolution included the fact that it branded-“If 2334 symbolized some sort of international consensus, what happened in Paris was exactly the opposite,” said Nimrod Goren, head of the Israeli Institute for Regional Foreign Policies.“Instead of the resolution being the starting point for significant action or agreement, it was stepped back on.”Alan Baker, a former senior Israeli diplomat and negotiator, said Trump’s and Israel’s actions had made the resolution less relevant.“Obama was at the end of his term and felt he could lash out,” he said. “Now (critics) have to pull themselves back and limit their bashing of Israel.”-Being ignored?-On March 24, current UN Middle East envoy Nickolay Mladenov presented the first quarterly report on the resolution.Serry pointed out that new UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres did not present the report, and questioned whether it was an attempt to distance himself from the resolution.Trump has proposed cuts in US funding to the UN, which could leave Guterres, who only took office in January, in a bind.Serry said rows over Israel and the Palestinians threatened to damage the UN’s work elsewhere. “This can impair on the very functions of the United Nations itself.”The content of Mladenov’s first report also faced criticism.One clause in the resolution calls on countries to differentiate between Israel and its settlements.Mladenov’s first report says only that there were “no developments” related to this matter.Nathan Thrall from the International Crisis Group think tank said more needed to be done.“At the most basic level I would expect Mladenov to name and shame — to call out those member states who are not complying with 2334,” he said.A UN official speaking on condition of anonymity said it was up to countries to enforce implementation.Not everyone has been critical, and some believe the resolution being passed was an achievement in itself.“We all knew there wouldn’t be any real world consequences. It was more about making a point,” one European diplomat said.“Now we no longer refer to resolutions from the 1980s. We refer to something from 2016.”But Thrall said that for now, little action could be expected.“Can we at this point say that 2334 is being ignored? Yes.”Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Jordan says Israel’s new settlement undermines peace-Government spokesman says plans for new West Bank town harms prospect of two states, violates Palestinian rights-By Times of Israel staff April 1, 2017, 7:33 pm
Jordan on Saturday condemned Israel’s announcement that it would build the first officially sanctioned new settlement in the West Bank in more than 20 years, with Amman saying the plan would undermine efforts to achieve peace.Jordanian government spokesman Mohammed Momani said the establishment of a new West Bank settlement would hurt the peace process and “constitutes a clear violation of the rights of the Palestinian people, in particular their right to establish an independent state within the 1967 borders,” according to the Ynet news site.Israel’s announcement, he said, “harms efforts to restart the peace process and bring an end to the conflict.” He said the move would also strengthen terrorists and extremist ideologies.Momani called on other countries “to condemn Israel’s policy of settlement expansion and to stop its provocations.”The new settlement was approved by the security cabinet late on Thursday for the evacuees of the illegal Amona outpost, which was razed last month after the High Court of Justice ruled that it was built on private Palestinian land. The new settlement will be built next to Shilo.The cabinet on Thursday also announced the approval of tenders for some 2,000 new settlement homes in the West Bank — housing units whose planned construction, among some 5,500, was first announced in January.Egypt and the Arab League have also condemned the Israeli announcement. Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul-Gheit said Friday that the move “clearly showed that Israel isn’t a true partner for achieving peace, and is captive in the hands of radical settlers.”The UK, France and Germany, as well as the UN, have also blasted the plans.Britain’s Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said they were “contrary to international law and seriously undermine the prospects of two states for two peoples.”The French Foreign Ministry said Israel’s announcements were “extremely worrying” and that Paris “firmly condemns these decisions that threaten peace and risk exacerbating tensions on the ground.”A German government spokesperson cited by Haaretz said that “the federal government expects the Israeli government to clarify which solution they are pursuing for a lasting peace with the Palestinians. Germany will not recognize any change in the 1967 lines, which has not been agreed between the parties.”The Palestinians reacted furiously to the announcement.PLO Secretary General Saeb Erekat said in a statement on Friday that the Palestinians will “hold Benjamin Netanyahu and his extremist government fully responsible for the consequences of such violations.”“We send a clear message to the US administration, the United Nations and to the European Union: Peace is not going to be achieved by tolerating such crimes,” he added.Senior Palestinian official Hanan Ashrawi said the move showed the government was pushing ahead with “their systematic policies of settler colonialism, apartheid and ethnic cleansing, showing a total and blatant disregard for Palestinian human rights.”The White House, meanwhile, warned Israel against “unrestrained” settlement activity, cautioning that “while the existence of settlements is not in itself an impediment to peace, further unrestrained settlement activity does not help advance peace,” according to an official.But the Trump administration did say it welcomed Netanyahu’s announcement Thursday, after the approval of the new settlement, that Israel will curb construction in West Bank settlements as a goodwill gesture to US President Donald Trump.The Prime Minister’s Office said Thursday that any future construction would be limited to existing settlement boundaries or adjacent to them. However, if legal, security or topographical limitations do not allow adherence to those guidelines, new homes will be built outside the current settlement boundaries but as close as possible to them.Israel will also prevent the construction of any new illegal outposts, Netanyahu told his ministers.
Planned Amona 2.0 might not house West Bank settlers for 3 years-While some rushed to condemn Israel’s decision to build the Geulat Zion settlement, hawks and doves agree that red tape and US pressure could yet stymie the process-By Raphael Ahren April 3, 2017, 6:57 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
While the government gave its official approval last week to the establishment of a new settlement in the West Bank to replace the razed illegal outpost of Amona, it appears that no settlers are going to be moving in any time soon.A host of bureaucratic and logistic hurdles have to cleared first, and settler leaders fear that deliberate foot-dragging on the government’s part could delay the settlement’s creation for an indeterminate period.Even leftists who oppose settlement expansion estimate that it may take up to three years before anyone can move into the new community — even if the government goes full speed ahead.“It takes time to approve a new settlement; it’s a lot of work,” said Hagit Ofran, who analyzes settlement growth for Peace Now, a dovish organization opposed to Israel’s presence in the West Bank. “The government knows how to move such processes quickly, but it will not be finished by tomorrow morning.”If the government does decide to move fast on establishing the new settlement, it could take 12 to 24 months for the bulldozers to start rolling, and “another year, at least, until people can move in,” she said.On Thursday evening, the security cabinet voted unanimously in favor of a plan to establish a new community adjacent to Shiloh in the northern West Bank to resettle the evicted residents from Amona, an outpost razed in early February because the High Court of Justice ruled it had been built illegally on private Palestinian land.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had promised months ago to create the new settlement in exchange for the peaceful evacuation of Amona. The new community, which is reportedly slated to be built on a West Bank hilltop called Geulat Zion, or “The Redemption of Zion,” would be the first government-approved settlement in more than two decades.The Geulat Zion hilltop is currently barren, though Peace Now says building a new settlement there “is strategic for the fragmentation of the West Bank, as it continues a stretch of settlements from the Green Line to the Jordan Valley, aiming to undermine the possibility of creating a viable Palestinian state.While the US government expressed understanding for the government’s decision, saying Netanyahu had promised it before President Donald Trump expressed his reservations about settlement expansion, the United Nations, the European Union and individual Arab and European states sharply condemned the move, saying it undermined prospects for peace.Hours after it announced the establishment of the new settlement, the government said that it would henceforth adopt a “new policy” of limiting settlement expansion to take Trump’s position into consideration.According to an unofficial agreement between Jerusalem and Washington, Israel can add an unlimited number of housing units to any settlement in the West Bank as long as it does not dramatically expand the community’s existing “footprint.”Israel further commits not to establish any new outposts besides the one planned for Geulat Zion, which is located northeast of Ramallah.The Yesha Council settlement umbrella organization initially reacted favorably to the government’s plans, celebrating the first new settlement in decades and highlighting that Israel was given a green light to expand settlements everywhere in the West Bank.Speaking to The Times of Israel on Monday, however, the council’s foreign envoy, Oded Revivi, said he feared the cabinet’s decision to build a new settlement might have been a “smokescreen” to divert the settlers’ attention from a policy to slow down the pace of West Bank construction in a bid to appease the Trump administration.“The decision is extremely vague, and we’re concerned that nothing will come of this promise,” Revivi said. “Time will tell whether there were good intentions behind it or not.”According to the text of the security cabinet’s decision, which was leaked to the Hebrew press, several stages have to be completed before construction can commence for the new community.For instance, the security cabinet asked the defense minister to appoint a preparatory committee to do the required groundwork. That would include determining an exact location, and then investigating various aspects crucial to the planning process, including financial, budgetary, environmental and infrastructure issues. The committee’s findings would then have to be approved by a planning and zoning committee and receive the Finance Ministry’s blessing.After that, the defense minister would be required to report back to the security cabinet “in order to plan the settlement and deliberate on aspects related to its establishment, including obtaining financial-budgetary references,” according to the security cabinet’s decision.“There’s no way to estimate how long this will take,” Revivi said. “Judging by the language of the security cabinet decision, it will take as long as the prime minister and his ministers want it to take. If they wanted the plan to come to fruition tomorrow, it would happen tomorrow.”Revivi, who is also the mayor of Efrat, just south of Bethlehem, said he was disappointed that the government did not publish more information about its plans for the new settlement, but added that the Yesha Council was not going to embark on a vocal campaign to demand their speedy implementation.“Time will tell,” he said.According to Peace Now’s Ofran, if the government were serious in advancing the plans for the new settlement at the Geulat Zion site, the initial planning stage would likely last several months. After that, obtaining the necessary approvals for the plans would take between six months and a year, she estimated, “depending on how fast they want to work and how many legal problems and other planning obstacles they will encounter.”“Realistically speaking, I would say it takes between one and two years, if they work fast and seriously” to conclude the planning and approvals stage, she said. From the moment actual construction started it would take an additional 12 months or so until the settlers would be able to move into their new homes, she reckoned.On the other hand, if the government wanted to delay or entirely freeze the development of the Geulat Zion site — presumably in the framework of American efforts to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations — it would be very easy to stop the process, Ofran said.“If the government wanted to drag its feet, it could do so forever,” she said. “In the West Bank, everything can be stopped with a single order from the government. It’s occupied territory, so there’s no need for legislation. Theoretically, they can stop the process at any point and stall as long as they want.”
Jerusalem police to beef up security ahead of Passover-Day after stabbing in Old City, commander warns terrorists will likely seek to carry out attacks over Jewish holiday-By Stuart Winer April 2, 2017, 9:32 am-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
A senior police officer said Sunday that security will be bolstered in Jerusalem ahead of the upcoming Passover festival as a precaution against possible terror attacks.Speaking a day after a terrorist stabbed three people in Jerusalem’s Old City, Commander Doron Turgeman — who oversees security in the area — said terror groups seek to attack Israelis around the Jewish holidays.“Holidays and festivals over the years have caused higher tensions and sensitivity and are a preferred period for attacks,” Turgeman told Army Radio. “Ahead of the festival there will be wider deployment based on assessments of the situation. We are here in order to enable the holiday to go ahead as usual.”The weeklong Passover festival begins on April 10. Tens of thousands of people are expected to visit Jerusalem’s Old City during the holiday.On Saturday afternoon, a Palestinian terrorist stabbed two young men and the police officer in the Old City, wounding them, before being shot and killed by security forces.The two civilians injured in the attack were released from the Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital after being treated in the emergency room overnight, a hospital spokesperson said on Sunday. The injured police officer was being treated in the capital’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center. All were said to suffer light-to-moderate wounds.The attack took place on Haggai Street in the Muslim Quarter. It was the second stabbing attack in the Old City last week.Palestinian media identified the assailant as 17-year-old Ahmad Jazal from the West Bank village of Sebastia, near Nablus. Overnight Saturday, security forces raided Jazal’s home.Shortly before carrying out the attack Jazal photographed himself smiling outside the Temple Mount’s Dome of the Rock. The photos were shared by Palestinians on social media, with some praising the “martyr” for his actions.Last Wednesday, Border Police shot and killed a woman as she attempted to stab them with scissors outside Damascus Gate. The Palestinian Health Ministry later identified the assailant as Siham Rateb Nimir, 49, from East Jerusalem.According to Palestinian media, her son was Mustafa Nimir, who was shot dead by Border Police officers in September after an apparent misunderstanding at an East Jerusalem checkpoint.In the past year and a half the Old City, and the Damascus Gate in particular, have seen several attacks by Palestinians, and in one case a Jordanian national.Agencies and Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
The British are putting restrictions and obstacles,' complains PA chief-UK withholding diplomatic visa from incoming Palestinian envoy — Abbas-Palestinian leader suggests Britain is mulling reducing ties, threatens to act in kind-By Dov Lieber April 3, 2017, 6:15 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Britain has so far refused to grant a diplomatic visa to the newly appointed Palestinian Authority representative to the United Kingdom, PA President Mahmoud Abbas said on Monday.In an interview with the Pan-Arab daily al-Quds al-Arabi, Abbas admitted the UK had thus far held off on granting Maen Areikat, the former Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) representative in Washington, the same status as his predecessor in London Manuel Hassassian, in what appears to be a sign of ambivalence over Areikat’s diplomatic status.“We asked the British government to treat the new envoy as it had treated the previous ambassador. It should not change its treatment as that would mean bad will and misconduct from Britain, and we will have a position and reaction to that,” Abbas said, after being asked if it was true that Areikat had not been given the sought-after documentation.When asked if he knew the British were attempting to reduce the diplomatic standing of the PA’s envoy to London, Abbas responded: “The British are trying to scale back and are trying to put restrictions and obstacles. But we told them that we want to be treated like before, to deal with the new ambassador just like the former ambassador.”The Palestinian office in London was upgraded into a diplomatic mission in 2011.“The consultations are not over yet. I do not think it is a big problem,” Abbas added.However, when asked if the PA would act in kind against Britain, Abbas responded: “All possible options will be open to us.”Abbas did not explain why the British were withholding a diplomatic visa for Areikat.The British consulate in Jerusalem did not respond to an inquiry on the matter.The diplomatic dust-up comes as Palestinians have threatened legal action against the British government if it does not retract its intention to celebrate the centennial of the Balfour Declaration.The Balfour Declaration, a document signed on November 2, 1917, by foreign secretary Arthur James Balfour, announced his government’s intention to facilitate “a national home for the Jewish people” in the Land of Israel.Abbas said during the interview with Al Quds al Arabi that the PA was continuing with its plans to sue over the declaration.Palestinian officials have long branded the Balfour Declaration a “crime,” and last July officials in Ramallah announced plans to sue the British government over the document, viewed in Israel as an important step toward the country’s creation.Abbas has spoken out against the centennial celebration of the document at nearly all of his recent major international speeches, including most recently at the Arab Summit in Jordan last Wednesday.He has also called on the UK to apologize for the declaration and do so by recognizing the state of Palestine.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during an official visit to the UK in February that an invitation he received from British Prime Minister Theresa May to attend November’s centenary celebrations of the Balfour Declaration in London “speaks volumes” about Jerusalem’s relationship with Downing Street.“While the Palestinians want to sue Britain for the Balfour Declaration, the British prime minister is inviting the Israeli prime minister to an event to mark the 100th anniversary of the declaration. That speaks volumes,” Netanyahu said.Raphael Ahren contributed to this report.
10 killed as blast rocks Saint Petersburg subway, dozens hurt-Putin says terror, other causes being investigated after explosion at metro station in Russian city; possible culprit said caught on camera; second device reportedly found-By Agencies April 3, 2017, 3:57 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Some 10 people were killed Monday in an explosion on the subway in Saint Petersburg, Russian authorities said.President Vladimir Putin, who was visiting the city on an unrelated trip Monday, said investigators were looking into whether the explosion was a terror attack or if there might have been some other cause.He offered his condolences to the families of those killed.Russia’s National Anti-Terrorist Committee, which said “several” people were killed and injured, said an unidentified explosive device went off on a train that was traveling between two stations.Andrei Kibitov, spokesman for the St. Petersburg governor, told Russian television 10 people were killed and 50 injured in the subway explosion.The blast occurred at the Technological Institute metro station’s platform, a busy hub of the underground network in the center of Russia’s second-largest city.Russian news reports said that a security camera caught a person who could be responsible for the blast.The Interfax news agency cited an unidentified source who said the suspect in Monday’s blast might have left the explosive device in a bag. It didn’t explain why the man was believed to be the culprit.The subway’s administration said several stations in the city were closed and that an evacuation was underway. Reports indicated that all stations in the city had been shut.The Russian anti-terrorism committee said it had found and deactivated a bomb at another Saint Petersburg subway station.Social media users posted photographs from the scene of the blast, showing people lying on the floor and a train with a mangled door nearby.Russian Senator Viktor Ozerov told the Interfax agency that the explosion looked like a terrorist attack.Following the reports, the Moscow metro also announced that it was “taking additional security measures” as required by law in such situations, according to the network’s official Twitter account.While there was no immediate indication as to what caused the blast, Russia’s security services have previously said they had foiled “terrorist attacks” on Moscow’s public transport system by militants, some of whom were trained by Islamic State jihadists in Syria.And Russia’s public transportation systems have been targeted by attacks in the past.In 2013, Russia was hit by twin suicide strikes that claimed 34 lives and raised alarm over security at the Sochi Winter Olympic Games.A bombing at the main railway station of the southern city of Volgograd killed 18 people on while a second strike hit a trolleybus and claimed 16 lives.A suicide raid on Moscow’s Domodedovo airport that was claimed by Islamic insurgents from the North Caucasus killed 37 people in January 2011. That strike was claimed by the Caucasus Emirate movement of Islamist warlord Doku Umarov.Russia beefed up its security over the holiday period in the wake of the attack on the Berlin Christmas market that killed 12. Authorities placed heavy trucks at road intersections to block off areas where public festivities were taking place after the attack in the German capital that was claimed by the Islamic State group.Russia has intervened militarily to bolster Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces in September 2015, turning the tables on the battlefield just as rebel forces were strengthening their hold on key areas.Russian bombardments helped the regime retake rebel areas in the east of the northern city of Aleppo after four years of fighting.More than 310,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict broke out in March 2011 with protests against Assad’s rule.
UK police: Hate crime beating could have involved 30 people-Iranian-Kurdish asylum-seeker has been in intensive care unit since Friday attack, for which 5 have been charged so far-By DANICA KIRKA April 3, 2017, 6:13 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
LONDON (AP) — Authorities in London charged five people Monday over an unprovoked attack on a 17-year-old Iranian-Kurdish asylum-seeker as police sought to piece together the mob violence that involved up to 30 people.London’s Metropolitan Police say the five were charged with violent disorder, with one also being charged with racially aggravated grievous bodily harm following the attack Friday in the London borough of Croydon. Three others remain in custody.Police said a group of youths approached the teen at a bus stop and questioned him. Upon learning he was an asylum-seeker, they chased him through the streets and beat him. The attack only stopped after police sirens could be heard and bystanders intervened. The teen’s two friends got away.The teen has been hospitalized with a fractured skull and a blood clot on the brain but police say he is starting to make a recovery and may be moved out of intensive care Monday.Detectives are trying to find the victim’s family, who live in Iran. He has not been named.As the investigation has progressed, police have increased their estimates of the number of people involved in the highly unusual incident.“I think this was probably confidence by numbers,” Detective Superintendent Jane Corrigan said. “It started off with this smaller group of people, who were joined by between 20 to 30, and they just viciously attacked these individuals because they were asylum-seekers.”The five people arrested by police are: Daryl Davis, 20, Danyelle Davis, 24, Barry Potts, 20, George Walder, 20, and Jack Walder, 24. All are from Croydon and have been charged with violent disorder.George Walder has been additionally charged with racially aggravated grievous bodily harm.The attack has prompted strong condemnation from London’s mayor and police officials.
Jewish center in Sweden closes after anti-Semitic threats-Members of Jewish community in Umea say neo-Nazi group Nordfront behind campaign of intimidation and vandalism-By JTA and Times of Israel staff April 3, 2017, 5:59 pm
A Jewish center in northern Sweden decided to close after receiving anti-Semitic threats.The members of the Judisk Föreningen, or Jewish Association, in Umea decided at a meeting on Sunday to close its building and end the association’s activities, The Local-Sweden reported.The association has been received threatening emails, and its building was vandalized with stickers of swastikas and spraypainted threats such as “we know where you live,” the report said, citing the Swedish-language SVT News Västerbotten.“Too many things have happened lately which mean that Jewish parents don’t feel safe having their kids at the schools. Our children shouldn’t live in a world where they have to be ashamed for what they are, but it’s not possible to operate if people are scared,” Umeå Jewish Association spokesperson Carinne Sjöberg told SVT.Sjoberg told the BBC that the neo-Nazi group Nordfront was responsible for the campaign of intimidation and threats. She said the decision to close the center was made after the windows of one of the community’s members were smashed.“My mother and father are (Holocaust) survivors, so this is not OK. Enough is enough. It was like stepping into their shoes in the 1930s,” she said.The city of some 120,000 is home to some 50 Jews, according to a Haaretz profile of the Jewish center there from 2016. Sjoberg told the Israeli paper that she founded the organization several years ago to give the city’s Jews a home and educate against racism and anti-Semitism.Two years ago, residents of Umea held a march to mark the anniversary of Kristallnacht, the campaign of violence that the Nazis unleashed 78 years ago against German and Austrian Jews, but excluded the town’s Jewish community from participating in the event, according to the BBC.The event had turned into an anti-racism rally and some feared clashes with pro-Palestinian demonstrators, according to reports.Isak Reichel, the secretary general of Sweden’s central council of Jewish communities, told the BBC that Jews in some Swedish localities face discrimination and harassment.“We’ve had problems with neo-Nazis in Gothenburg and Umea, but in other cities like Stockholm we feel safer,” he said, but he added that in the southern Swedish city of Malmo Jews have been threatened by Islamist groups.
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
PM said preparing package of gestures for Palestinians at Trump’s behest-Netanyahu reportedly tells cabinet that the Americans know about every home that is built in the settlements-By Times of Israel staff April 3, 2017, 1:03 pm
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly preparing a raft of goodwill gestures for the Palestinians following a request from US President Donald Trump, who wants to see the two sides back at the negotiating table.Netanyahu presented some of the measures to his cabinet in a meeting held Thursday night, according to a report published Monday in the Haaretz newspaper. The reported cited five participants in the closed-door meeting who spoke on condition of anonymity.Chief among the measures was allowing Palestinians to build in Area C of the West Bank, the part of the territory under full Israeli civil and military control.During the meeting, the prime minister also announced measures to limit building in the West Bank. He told his ministers that although the move is not part of an official agreement or informal understanding with the White House, he knows that the Trump administration will be keeping a very close eye on settlement construction.The Americans know about every home that is built in the settlements, he reportedly said.The prime minister also noted several times that Trump is determined to make progress on the Israeli-Palestinian issue and to reach a deal between the two sides. Netanyahu stressed the importance of Israel not being seen as the party that caused the process to fail.Trump will this week be meeting Arab leaders, who are likely to present him with a plan to get the Israelis and the Palestinian back to the negotiating table.In previous attempts, the Palestinians have demanded a complete freeze to settlement construction.While Netanyahu has close personal relations with Trump and views the new administration as much better for Israel than the Obama White House, he is nevertheless wary of antagonizing the American leader.“This is a very friendly administration and we need to be considerate of the president’s requests,” Netanyahu reportedly said, referring to Trump’s statements that he would like to see settlement construction limited.Although Netanyahu had said that there will be “no limits” on construction in Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem, he stressed that “we have to act wisely,” Haaretz reported, implying that construction in the capital will not automatically be green-lighted.After ministers last Thursday approved a new settlement for the evacuees of the Amona outpost, the Prime Minister’s Office said overnight Thursday-Friday that any future construction would be limited to existing settlement boundaries or adjacent to them. If legal, security or topographical limitations do not allow adherence to those guidelines, however, new homes would be built outside the current settlement boundaries but as close as possible to them, the statement said.Israel will also prevent the construction of any new illegal outposts, Netanyahu told his ministers.The White House on Friday welcomed the new policy.Notwithstanding the Israeli unilateral steps to curry favor with the US, Israel Radio reported Sunday that the negotiations between Israel and the US over settlement construction were put on hold on Sunday morning after Netanyahu and Jason Greenblatt — Trump’s special envoy — and working groups on both sides failed to reach understandings on the issue.However, the White House told The Times of Israel later Sunday that it was not holding “formal negotiations” with Israel over the settlements. “I would dissuade you from the notion that there is some set of formal negotiations regarding settlements,” an administration official told The Times of Israel. “We continuously discuss a range of issues, including how to improve the overall climate.”
UN vote on Israeli settlements has changed little-Experts say Security Council resolution is irrelevant and even counterproductive; Obama allowed it through, Trump’s UN envoy has said it will not happen again-By Joe Dyke April 3, 2017, 10:12 am-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
AFP — Three months after a landmark UN resolution condemning Israeli settlements, the measure has changed little on the ground and some analysts question whether it ever will.Security Council Resolution 2334, passed in December, did little to halt settlement building, with a raft of new projects announced by Israeli officials in the weeks that followed.At the same time, it is among the measures US President Donald Trump’s administration has cited in its argument that Israel is being unfairly targeted at the UN.Some diplomats see the resolution as increasingly irrelevant, even counterproductive.“It was a flash in the pan,” one said.It was passed in former president Barack Obama’s final days in office after the United States opted not to veto it, giving the green light for the first Security Council resolution condemning settlements since 1979.Trump had called for it to be vetoed.The Israeli government reacted fiercely, withdrawing ambassadors from countries that sponsored it and threatening sanctions.“Israel categorically rejects the despicable anti-Israeli resolution at the UN, and will not adhere to it,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a seething statement after the council voted in favor of the motion 14-0, with the US abstaining. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu subsequently accused the Obama administration of secretly formulating the text with the Palestinians. Jerusalem warned it would be “a tailwind for terror and boycotts” and derided its text for branding “the Western Wall occupied Palestinian territory.” (The resolution refers to East Jerusalem, including the Old City as “occupied Palestinian territory.)-Israel has also announced plans for more than 5,500 new homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since January.Last week, it announced the first new government-sanctioned settlement in more than 25 years, for the evacuees of the illegal Amona outpost.Trump’s UN envoy Nikki Haley has promised a much different approach.“The days of Israel bashing are over” at the UN, she told the AIPAC pro-Israel lobby in Washington, DC, last week. “That happened but it will never happen again,” she said od Resolution 2334. “You’re not going to take our number one democratic friend in the Middle East and beat up on them,” she said.Critics say that Israeli settlement expansion is gradually eroding hopes of a two-state solution, the basis of years of negotiations.Settlements are viewed by most international leaders as illegal, though Israel disputes this, and as major stumbling blocks to peace as they are built on land the Palestinians see as part of their future state. Israel says that settlements are not an impediment to peace and these issues must be the subject of negotiations.-‘Too late’-While Trump has vowed unstinting support for Israel, he too has called on the country to “hold back on settlements for a little bit” while Washington considers ways to restart Israeli-Palestinian talks.Still, Netanyahu’s government has negotiated with the White House on how to move forward with settlement building.Robert Serry, until 2015 UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, said the resolution was effectively stillborn because it came so late in Obama’s term.“I support the resolution’s content,” he told AFP. “But it is an example of what can happen if something happens too late.”Had a similar resolution not been vetoed by the Obama administration in 2011, it could have built pressure on Israel, he said.“But what we have seen now is the resolution has become the focus of all kinds of activities in Israel and the United States claiming it is another example of Israel bashing.”Britain, for example, later seemed to backtrack.It voted for the resolution but later refused to support a statement at a Middle East peace conference in Paris in January that Israel opposed.There was speculation that London was in part concerned with upsetting the incoming Trump administration.-Israel’s objections to the resolution included the fact that it branded-“If 2334 symbolized some sort of international consensus, what happened in Paris was exactly the opposite,” said Nimrod Goren, head of the Israeli Institute for Regional Foreign Policies.“Instead of the resolution being the starting point for significant action or agreement, it was stepped back on.”Alan Baker, a former senior Israeli diplomat and negotiator, said Trump’s and Israel’s actions had made the resolution less relevant.“Obama was at the end of his term and felt he could lash out,” he said. “Now (critics) have to pull themselves back and limit their bashing of Israel.”-Being ignored?-On March 24, current UN Middle East envoy Nickolay Mladenov presented the first quarterly report on the resolution.Serry pointed out that new UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres did not present the report, and questioned whether it was an attempt to distance himself from the resolution.Trump has proposed cuts in US funding to the UN, which could leave Guterres, who only took office in January, in a bind.Serry said rows over Israel and the Palestinians threatened to damage the UN’s work elsewhere. “This can impair on the very functions of the United Nations itself.”The content of Mladenov’s first report also faced criticism.One clause in the resolution calls on countries to differentiate between Israel and its settlements.Mladenov’s first report says only that there were “no developments” related to this matter.Nathan Thrall from the International Crisis Group think tank said more needed to be done.“At the most basic level I would expect Mladenov to name and shame — to call out those member states who are not complying with 2334,” he said.A UN official speaking on condition of anonymity said it was up to countries to enforce implementation.Not everyone has been critical, and some believe the resolution being passed was an achievement in itself.“We all knew there wouldn’t be any real world consequences. It was more about making a point,” one European diplomat said.“Now we no longer refer to resolutions from the 1980s. We refer to something from 2016.”But Thrall said that for now, little action could be expected.“Can we at this point say that 2334 is being ignored? Yes.”Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
Jordan says Israel’s new settlement undermines peace-Government spokesman says plans for new West Bank town harms prospect of two states, violates Palestinian rights-By Times of Israel staff April 1, 2017, 7:33 pm
Jordan on Saturday condemned Israel’s announcement that it would build the first officially sanctioned new settlement in the West Bank in more than 20 years, with Amman saying the plan would undermine efforts to achieve peace.Jordanian government spokesman Mohammed Momani said the establishment of a new West Bank settlement would hurt the peace process and “constitutes a clear violation of the rights of the Palestinian people, in particular their right to establish an independent state within the 1967 borders,” according to the Ynet news site.Israel’s announcement, he said, “harms efforts to restart the peace process and bring an end to the conflict.” He said the move would also strengthen terrorists and extremist ideologies.Momani called on other countries “to condemn Israel’s policy of settlement expansion and to stop its provocations.”The new settlement was approved by the security cabinet late on Thursday for the evacuees of the illegal Amona outpost, which was razed last month after the High Court of Justice ruled that it was built on private Palestinian land. The new settlement will be built next to Shilo.The cabinet on Thursday also announced the approval of tenders for some 2,000 new settlement homes in the West Bank — housing units whose planned construction, among some 5,500, was first announced in January.Egypt and the Arab League have also condemned the Israeli announcement. Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul-Gheit said Friday that the move “clearly showed that Israel isn’t a true partner for achieving peace, and is captive in the hands of radical settlers.”The UK, France and Germany, as well as the UN, have also blasted the plans.Britain’s Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said they were “contrary to international law and seriously undermine the prospects of two states for two peoples.”The French Foreign Ministry said Israel’s announcements were “extremely worrying” and that Paris “firmly condemns these decisions that threaten peace and risk exacerbating tensions on the ground.”A German government spokesperson cited by Haaretz said that “the federal government expects the Israeli government to clarify which solution they are pursuing for a lasting peace with the Palestinians. Germany will not recognize any change in the 1967 lines, which has not been agreed between the parties.”The Palestinians reacted furiously to the announcement.PLO Secretary General Saeb Erekat said in a statement on Friday that the Palestinians will “hold Benjamin Netanyahu and his extremist government fully responsible for the consequences of such violations.”“We send a clear message to the US administration, the United Nations and to the European Union: Peace is not going to be achieved by tolerating such crimes,” he added.Senior Palestinian official Hanan Ashrawi said the move showed the government was pushing ahead with “their systematic policies of settler colonialism, apartheid and ethnic cleansing, showing a total and blatant disregard for Palestinian human rights.”The White House, meanwhile, warned Israel against “unrestrained” settlement activity, cautioning that “while the existence of settlements is not in itself an impediment to peace, further unrestrained settlement activity does not help advance peace,” according to an official.But the Trump administration did say it welcomed Netanyahu’s announcement Thursday, after the approval of the new settlement, that Israel will curb construction in West Bank settlements as a goodwill gesture to US President Donald Trump.The Prime Minister’s Office said Thursday that any future construction would be limited to existing settlement boundaries or adjacent to them. However, if legal, security or topographical limitations do not allow adherence to those guidelines, new homes will be built outside the current settlement boundaries but as close as possible to them.Israel will also prevent the construction of any new illegal outposts, Netanyahu told his ministers.
Planned Amona 2.0 might not house West Bank settlers for 3 years-While some rushed to condemn Israel’s decision to build the Geulat Zion settlement, hawks and doves agree that red tape and US pressure could yet stymie the process-By Raphael Ahren April 3, 2017, 6:57 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
While the government gave its official approval last week to the establishment of a new settlement in the West Bank to replace the razed illegal outpost of Amona, it appears that no settlers are going to be moving in any time soon.A host of bureaucratic and logistic hurdles have to cleared first, and settler leaders fear that deliberate foot-dragging on the government’s part could delay the settlement’s creation for an indeterminate period.Even leftists who oppose settlement expansion estimate that it may take up to three years before anyone can move into the new community — even if the government goes full speed ahead.“It takes time to approve a new settlement; it’s a lot of work,” said Hagit Ofran, who analyzes settlement growth for Peace Now, a dovish organization opposed to Israel’s presence in the West Bank. “The government knows how to move such processes quickly, but it will not be finished by tomorrow morning.”If the government does decide to move fast on establishing the new settlement, it could take 12 to 24 months for the bulldozers to start rolling, and “another year, at least, until people can move in,” she said.On Thursday evening, the security cabinet voted unanimously in favor of a plan to establish a new community adjacent to Shiloh in the northern West Bank to resettle the evicted residents from Amona, an outpost razed in early February because the High Court of Justice ruled it had been built illegally on private Palestinian land.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had promised months ago to create the new settlement in exchange for the peaceful evacuation of Amona. The new community, which is reportedly slated to be built on a West Bank hilltop called Geulat Zion, or “The Redemption of Zion,” would be the first government-approved settlement in more than two decades.The Geulat Zion hilltop is currently barren, though Peace Now says building a new settlement there “is strategic for the fragmentation of the West Bank, as it continues a stretch of settlements from the Green Line to the Jordan Valley, aiming to undermine the possibility of creating a viable Palestinian state.While the US government expressed understanding for the government’s decision, saying Netanyahu had promised it before President Donald Trump expressed his reservations about settlement expansion, the United Nations, the European Union and individual Arab and European states sharply condemned the move, saying it undermined prospects for peace.Hours after it announced the establishment of the new settlement, the government said that it would henceforth adopt a “new policy” of limiting settlement expansion to take Trump’s position into consideration.According to an unofficial agreement between Jerusalem and Washington, Israel can add an unlimited number of housing units to any settlement in the West Bank as long as it does not dramatically expand the community’s existing “footprint.”Israel further commits not to establish any new outposts besides the one planned for Geulat Zion, which is located northeast of Ramallah.The Yesha Council settlement umbrella organization initially reacted favorably to the government’s plans, celebrating the first new settlement in decades and highlighting that Israel was given a green light to expand settlements everywhere in the West Bank.Speaking to The Times of Israel on Monday, however, the council’s foreign envoy, Oded Revivi, said he feared the cabinet’s decision to build a new settlement might have been a “smokescreen” to divert the settlers’ attention from a policy to slow down the pace of West Bank construction in a bid to appease the Trump administration.“The decision is extremely vague, and we’re concerned that nothing will come of this promise,” Revivi said. “Time will tell whether there were good intentions behind it or not.”According to the text of the security cabinet’s decision, which was leaked to the Hebrew press, several stages have to be completed before construction can commence for the new community.For instance, the security cabinet asked the defense minister to appoint a preparatory committee to do the required groundwork. That would include determining an exact location, and then investigating various aspects crucial to the planning process, including financial, budgetary, environmental and infrastructure issues. The committee’s findings would then have to be approved by a planning and zoning committee and receive the Finance Ministry’s blessing.After that, the defense minister would be required to report back to the security cabinet “in order to plan the settlement and deliberate on aspects related to its establishment, including obtaining financial-budgetary references,” according to the security cabinet’s decision.“There’s no way to estimate how long this will take,” Revivi said. “Judging by the language of the security cabinet decision, it will take as long as the prime minister and his ministers want it to take. If they wanted the plan to come to fruition tomorrow, it would happen tomorrow.”Revivi, who is also the mayor of Efrat, just south of Bethlehem, said he was disappointed that the government did not publish more information about its plans for the new settlement, but added that the Yesha Council was not going to embark on a vocal campaign to demand their speedy implementation.“Time will tell,” he said.According to Peace Now’s Ofran, if the government were serious in advancing the plans for the new settlement at the Geulat Zion site, the initial planning stage would likely last several months. After that, obtaining the necessary approvals for the plans would take between six months and a year, she estimated, “depending on how fast they want to work and how many legal problems and other planning obstacles they will encounter.”“Realistically speaking, I would say it takes between one and two years, if they work fast and seriously” to conclude the planning and approvals stage, she said. From the moment actual construction started it would take an additional 12 months or so until the settlers would be able to move into their new homes, she reckoned.On the other hand, if the government wanted to delay or entirely freeze the development of the Geulat Zion site — presumably in the framework of American efforts to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations — it would be very easy to stop the process, Ofran said.“If the government wanted to drag its feet, it could do so forever,” she said. “In the West Bank, everything can be stopped with a single order from the government. It’s occupied territory, so there’s no need for legislation. Theoretically, they can stop the process at any point and stall as long as they want.”
Jerusalem police to beef up security ahead of Passover-Day after stabbing in Old City, commander warns terrorists will likely seek to carry out attacks over Jewish holiday-By Stuart Winer April 2, 2017, 9:32 am-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
A senior police officer said Sunday that security will be bolstered in Jerusalem ahead of the upcoming Passover festival as a precaution against possible terror attacks.Speaking a day after a terrorist stabbed three people in Jerusalem’s Old City, Commander Doron Turgeman — who oversees security in the area — said terror groups seek to attack Israelis around the Jewish holidays.“Holidays and festivals over the years have caused higher tensions and sensitivity and are a preferred period for attacks,” Turgeman told Army Radio. “Ahead of the festival there will be wider deployment based on assessments of the situation. We are here in order to enable the holiday to go ahead as usual.”The weeklong Passover festival begins on April 10. Tens of thousands of people are expected to visit Jerusalem’s Old City during the holiday.On Saturday afternoon, a Palestinian terrorist stabbed two young men and the police officer in the Old City, wounding them, before being shot and killed by security forces.The two civilians injured in the attack were released from the Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital after being treated in the emergency room overnight, a hospital spokesperson said on Sunday. The injured police officer was being treated in the capital’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center. All were said to suffer light-to-moderate wounds.The attack took place on Haggai Street in the Muslim Quarter. It was the second stabbing attack in the Old City last week.Palestinian media identified the assailant as 17-year-old Ahmad Jazal from the West Bank village of Sebastia, near Nablus. Overnight Saturday, security forces raided Jazal’s home.Shortly before carrying out the attack Jazal photographed himself smiling outside the Temple Mount’s Dome of the Rock. The photos were shared by Palestinians on social media, with some praising the “martyr” for his actions.Last Wednesday, Border Police shot and killed a woman as she attempted to stab them with scissors outside Damascus Gate. The Palestinian Health Ministry later identified the assailant as Siham Rateb Nimir, 49, from East Jerusalem.According to Palestinian media, her son was Mustafa Nimir, who was shot dead by Border Police officers in September after an apparent misunderstanding at an East Jerusalem checkpoint.In the past year and a half the Old City, and the Damascus Gate in particular, have seen several attacks by Palestinians, and in one case a Jordanian national.Agencies and Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
The British are putting restrictions and obstacles,' complains PA chief-UK withholding diplomatic visa from incoming Palestinian envoy — Abbas-Palestinian leader suggests Britain is mulling reducing ties, threatens to act in kind-By Dov Lieber April 3, 2017, 6:15 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Britain has so far refused to grant a diplomatic visa to the newly appointed Palestinian Authority representative to the United Kingdom, PA President Mahmoud Abbas said on Monday.In an interview with the Pan-Arab daily al-Quds al-Arabi, Abbas admitted the UK had thus far held off on granting Maen Areikat, the former Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) representative in Washington, the same status as his predecessor in London Manuel Hassassian, in what appears to be a sign of ambivalence over Areikat’s diplomatic status.“We asked the British government to treat the new envoy as it had treated the previous ambassador. It should not change its treatment as that would mean bad will and misconduct from Britain, and we will have a position and reaction to that,” Abbas said, after being asked if it was true that Areikat had not been given the sought-after documentation.When asked if he knew the British were attempting to reduce the diplomatic standing of the PA’s envoy to London, Abbas responded: “The British are trying to scale back and are trying to put restrictions and obstacles. But we told them that we want to be treated like before, to deal with the new ambassador just like the former ambassador.”The Palestinian office in London was upgraded into a diplomatic mission in 2011.“The consultations are not over yet. I do not think it is a big problem,” Abbas added.However, when asked if the PA would act in kind against Britain, Abbas responded: “All possible options will be open to us.”Abbas did not explain why the British were withholding a diplomatic visa for Areikat.The British consulate in Jerusalem did not respond to an inquiry on the matter.The diplomatic dust-up comes as Palestinians have threatened legal action against the British government if it does not retract its intention to celebrate the centennial of the Balfour Declaration.The Balfour Declaration, a document signed on November 2, 1917, by foreign secretary Arthur James Balfour, announced his government’s intention to facilitate “a national home for the Jewish people” in the Land of Israel.Abbas said during the interview with Al Quds al Arabi that the PA was continuing with its plans to sue over the declaration.Palestinian officials have long branded the Balfour Declaration a “crime,” and last July officials in Ramallah announced plans to sue the British government over the document, viewed in Israel as an important step toward the country’s creation.Abbas has spoken out against the centennial celebration of the document at nearly all of his recent major international speeches, including most recently at the Arab Summit in Jordan last Wednesday.He has also called on the UK to apologize for the declaration and do so by recognizing the state of Palestine.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during an official visit to the UK in February that an invitation he received from British Prime Minister Theresa May to attend November’s centenary celebrations of the Balfour Declaration in London “speaks volumes” about Jerusalem’s relationship with Downing Street.“While the Palestinians want to sue Britain for the Balfour Declaration, the British prime minister is inviting the Israeli prime minister to an event to mark the 100th anniversary of the declaration. That speaks volumes,” Netanyahu said.Raphael Ahren contributed to this report.
10 killed as blast rocks Saint Petersburg subway, dozens hurt-Putin says terror, other causes being investigated after explosion at metro station in Russian city; possible culprit said caught on camera; second device reportedly found-By Agencies April 3, 2017, 3:57 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Some 10 people were killed Monday in an explosion on the subway in Saint Petersburg, Russian authorities said.President Vladimir Putin, who was visiting the city on an unrelated trip Monday, said investigators were looking into whether the explosion was a terror attack or if there might have been some other cause.He offered his condolences to the families of those killed.Russia’s National Anti-Terrorist Committee, which said “several” people were killed and injured, said an unidentified explosive device went off on a train that was traveling between two stations.Andrei Kibitov, spokesman for the St. Petersburg governor, told Russian television 10 people were killed and 50 injured in the subway explosion.The blast occurred at the Technological Institute metro station’s platform, a busy hub of the underground network in the center of Russia’s second-largest city.Russian news reports said that a security camera caught a person who could be responsible for the blast.The Interfax news agency cited an unidentified source who said the suspect in Monday’s blast might have left the explosive device in a bag. It didn’t explain why the man was believed to be the culprit.The subway’s administration said several stations in the city were closed and that an evacuation was underway. Reports indicated that all stations in the city had been shut.The Russian anti-terrorism committee said it had found and deactivated a bomb at another Saint Petersburg subway station.Social media users posted photographs from the scene of the blast, showing people lying on the floor and a train with a mangled door nearby.Russian Senator Viktor Ozerov told the Interfax agency that the explosion looked like a terrorist attack.Following the reports, the Moscow metro also announced that it was “taking additional security measures” as required by law in such situations, according to the network’s official Twitter account.While there was no immediate indication as to what caused the blast, Russia’s security services have previously said they had foiled “terrorist attacks” on Moscow’s public transport system by militants, some of whom were trained by Islamic State jihadists in Syria.And Russia’s public transportation systems have been targeted by attacks in the past.In 2013, Russia was hit by twin suicide strikes that claimed 34 lives and raised alarm over security at the Sochi Winter Olympic Games.A bombing at the main railway station of the southern city of Volgograd killed 18 people on while a second strike hit a trolleybus and claimed 16 lives.A suicide raid on Moscow’s Domodedovo airport that was claimed by Islamic insurgents from the North Caucasus killed 37 people in January 2011. That strike was claimed by the Caucasus Emirate movement of Islamist warlord Doku Umarov.Russia beefed up its security over the holiday period in the wake of the attack on the Berlin Christmas market that killed 12. Authorities placed heavy trucks at road intersections to block off areas where public festivities were taking place after the attack in the German capital that was claimed by the Islamic State group.Russia has intervened militarily to bolster Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces in September 2015, turning the tables on the battlefield just as rebel forces were strengthening their hold on key areas.Russian bombardments helped the regime retake rebel areas in the east of the northern city of Aleppo after four years of fighting.More than 310,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict broke out in March 2011 with protests against Assad’s rule.
UK police: Hate crime beating could have involved 30 people-Iranian-Kurdish asylum-seeker has been in intensive care unit since Friday attack, for which 5 have been charged so far-By DANICA KIRKA April 3, 2017, 6:13 pm-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
LONDON (AP) — Authorities in London charged five people Monday over an unprovoked attack on a 17-year-old Iranian-Kurdish asylum-seeker as police sought to piece together the mob violence that involved up to 30 people.London’s Metropolitan Police say the five were charged with violent disorder, with one also being charged with racially aggravated grievous bodily harm following the attack Friday in the London borough of Croydon. Three others remain in custody.Police said a group of youths approached the teen at a bus stop and questioned him. Upon learning he was an asylum-seeker, they chased him through the streets and beat him. The attack only stopped after police sirens could be heard and bystanders intervened. The teen’s two friends got away.The teen has been hospitalized with a fractured skull and a blood clot on the brain but police say he is starting to make a recovery and may be moved out of intensive care Monday.Detectives are trying to find the victim’s family, who live in Iran. He has not been named.As the investigation has progressed, police have increased their estimates of the number of people involved in the highly unusual incident.“I think this was probably confidence by numbers,” Detective Superintendent Jane Corrigan said. “It started off with this smaller group of people, who were joined by between 20 to 30, and they just viciously attacked these individuals because they were asylum-seekers.”The five people arrested by police are: Daryl Davis, 20, Danyelle Davis, 24, Barry Potts, 20, George Walder, 20, and Jack Walder, 24. All are from Croydon and have been charged with violent disorder.George Walder has been additionally charged with racially aggravated grievous bodily harm.The attack has prompted strong condemnation from London’s mayor and police officials.
Jewish center in Sweden closes after anti-Semitic threats-Members of Jewish community in Umea say neo-Nazi group Nordfront behind campaign of intimidation and vandalism-By JTA and Times of Israel staff April 3, 2017, 5:59 pm
A Jewish center in northern Sweden decided to close after receiving anti-Semitic threats.The members of the Judisk Föreningen, or Jewish Association, in Umea decided at a meeting on Sunday to close its building and end the association’s activities, The Local-Sweden reported.The association has been received threatening emails, and its building was vandalized with stickers of swastikas and spraypainted threats such as “we know where you live,” the report said, citing the Swedish-language SVT News Västerbotten.“Too many things have happened lately which mean that Jewish parents don’t feel safe having their kids at the schools. Our children shouldn’t live in a world where they have to be ashamed for what they are, but it’s not possible to operate if people are scared,” Umeå Jewish Association spokesperson Carinne Sjöberg told SVT.Sjoberg told the BBC that the neo-Nazi group Nordfront was responsible for the campaign of intimidation and threats. She said the decision to close the center was made after the windows of one of the community’s members were smashed.“My mother and father are (Holocaust) survivors, so this is not OK. Enough is enough. It was like stepping into their shoes in the 1930s,” she said.The city of some 120,000 is home to some 50 Jews, according to a Haaretz profile of the Jewish center there from 2016. Sjoberg told the Israeli paper that she founded the organization several years ago to give the city’s Jews a home and educate against racism and anti-Semitism.Two years ago, residents of Umea held a march to mark the anniversary of Kristallnacht, the campaign of violence that the Nazis unleashed 78 years ago against German and Austrian Jews, but excluded the town’s Jewish community from participating in the event, according to the BBC.The event had turned into an anti-racism rally and some feared clashes with pro-Palestinian demonstrators, according to reports.Isak Reichel, the secretary general of Sweden’s central council of Jewish communities, told the BBC that Jews in some Swedish localities face discrimination and harassment.“We’ve had problems with neo-Nazis in Gothenburg and Umea, but in other cities like Stockholm we feel safer,” he said, but he added that in the southern Swedish city of Malmo Jews have been threatened by Islamist groups.
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