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
STOP ARABS PAY TO SLAY DEATH CULT WELFARE
http://ift.tt/2EPCe2o
Trump’s top peace envoy heads to Israel for meeting with Quartet-Jason Greenblatt will meet with envoys to 'exchange information and continue our engagement on advancing peace,' White House official says-By Eric Cortellessa-TOI-17 January 2018
WASHINGTON — Amid continued diplomatic fallout from US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, and a belligerent, fiery speech from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas denouncing his administration’s peace efforts, Trump’s top peace envoy, Jason Greenblatt, will arrive in the region Wednesday to meet with envoys from the Middle East Quartet to advance an Israeli-Palestinian accord.“Jason will be attending a regular meeting of the Quartet Envoys to exchange information and continue our engagement on advancing peace,” a White House official told The Times of Israel on Tuesday.Greenblatt, who will arrive in Israel on January 17, will likely stay until US Vice President Mike Pence’s visit, which is scheduled for January 22-23.The so-called Quartet consists of representatives from the US, Russia, the United Nations, and the European Union. It was established in Madrid in 2002 to try and resolve the decades-old dispute between Israelis and Palestinians.The upcoming meeting comes as Palestinians still fume over Trump’s Jerusalem decision.On Sunday night, Abbas gave a pugnacious speech before members of the PLO leadership in Ramallah, in which he denied any historic Jewish ties to the region and denounced the US president’s Jerusalem recognition as “the slap of the century,” language allusive to Trump’s own promise of delivering Israeli-Palestinian peace, which he has said would be the “deal of the century.”Since the December 6 announcement, Abbas and other senior Palestinian leaders have also refused to meet with US officials. Greenblatt is not expected to meet with PA officials this week.The Palestinian’s chief negotiator Saeb Erekat has said the PA will refuse any US-sponsored peace talks until Trump reverses his recognition of Jerusalem.Along with Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner, Greenblatt, a former attorney with the Trump Organization, has been leading his peace team’s push to renew negotiations between the sides.Despite the rhetoric that Palestinian and other Arab leaders have used since Trump’s move last month, the White House insists it is still pushing ahead with presenting a peace plan in the future.“The president remains as committed to peace as ever,” one official said last month.
Abbas couldn’t make peace with the Jews; he believes his own lies about us-In 2008, the Palestinian leader rejected Ehud Olmert's unsurpassable peace offer. Sunday's revolting speech in Ramallah underlined why-By David Horovitz-TOI-17 January 2018
Almost a decade ago, in the dying months of his premiership, Ehud Olmert offered Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas pretty much everything the Palestinians ostensibly seek from Israel.Hosting Abbas at the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem on September 16, 2008, Olmert took out a large map and specified the remarkable territorial concessions he was offering in a bid to partner the Palestinians to statehood and end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict once and for all.Olmert offered Abbas what amounted to 100 percent of the West Bank — with one-for-one land swaps enabling Israel to extend sovereignty to three major settlement blocs and the Palestinians compensated with territory inside Israel’s current sovereign borders. He rejected the “right of return” for millions of Palestinians to Israel — an influx that would doom the Jewish state — but indicated a willingness to meet the Arab Peace Initiative’s call for a just and agreed solution to the refugee issue, including a compensation fund and the symbolic absorption of several thousand refugees.Most dramatically of all, he proposed dividing Jerusalem into Israeli- and Palestinian-controlled neighborhoods and relinquishing Israeli sovereignty on the Temple Mount and throughout the Old City. Instead, said Olmert, the “Holy Basin” would be overseen by a five-member, non-sovereign international trusteeship, comprising Israel, the PA, Jordan, the US and Saudi Arabia.Olmert wouldn’t give Abbas his map unless the PA chief signed off on it. This, Abbas refused to do. Rather, at the end of their extraordinary meeting, it was decided that the two sides would meet again the next day, to work on finalizing terms. As Olmert would recall in a 2015 Israeli TV interview, “I told him, ‘Remember my words, it will be 50 years before there will be another Israeli prime minister that will offer you what I am offering you now. Don’t miss this opportunity.’”But miss the opportunity is precisely what Abbas did. He headed back to Ramallah, where he quickly sketched out his own map of what Olmert had proposed. Hours later, his chief negotiator Saeb Erekat called to say the Palestinians couldn’t meet as scheduled because they had to go to Amman, but would return for talks the following week. That never happened. For years afterwards, Olmert would say sorrowfully that he was still waiting to hear back from Abbas.In 2015, the PA chief acknowledged that he had rejected Olmert’s terms, complaining that the refugee proposal was not satisfactory, and asserting disingenuously as regards the division of territory: “He showed me a map. He didn’t give me a map… He told me, ‘This is the map’ and took it away. I respected his point of view, but how can I sign on something that I didn’t receive?”Unsurprisingly, Abbas made no mention of Olmert’s extraordinary peace proposal during his two-hour-plus anti-Israel, anti-Trump and anti-peace ramble before members of the PLO leadership in Ramallah on Sunday. Yet that appalling speech nonetheless provided the dismal explanation of why the man charged with leading his people to statehood had, nearly a decade earlier, rejected the best chance he would ever have to achieve that declared ambition.Out of Abbas’s embittered 82-year-old mouth came the truth: He himself believes the vicious propaganda disseminated first by his late and unlamented predecessor Yasser Arafat and then maintained during his own 13 years at the helm of the Palestinian Authority.Of course Abbas chose not to accept Olmert’s unbeatable offer of statehood. It would have required the Palestinians to acknowledge the legitimacy of an Israel which, in Abbas’s own words, is just an unrooted “colonial project that has nothing to do with Judaism.” It would have required the Palestinians to share the territory with a people to whom the holy land was so alien, in his foul rewriting of history, that they would rather go to their deaths at the hands of the Nazis than live here. “The Jews did not want to emigrate even with murder and slaughter,” as he put it. “Even during the Holocaust, they did not emigrate.”So unwanted was the holy land by the Jews, he further elaborated in his revolting revisionist narrative, that David Ben-Gurion resorted to forcing Middle Eastern Jews to come here. “Ben-Gurion did not want Middle Eastern Jews to come [to Israel],” Abbas told his rapt audience, “but when he saw the vast land, he was forced to bring Middle Eastern Jews… that didn’t want to come. From Yemen they flew 50,000 Jews… Then they went to Iraq, which had large reserves of Jews…”The man whose doctoral thesis blamed Zionist agitation for the Holocaust, and disputed the number of Jewish victims, on Sunday set out a series of falsehoods obvious to the most casual student of 20th century events. He detailed a narrative that allowed no historic Jewish connection to this land — no Biblical history, no Temples, no ancient sovereignty. He airbrushed the Jewish nation out of its own past.Obviously, no leader so determinedly blinded to his enemy’s legitimacy could ever have agreed to reconciliation. Abbas’s public excuse for rejecting Olmert’s statehood offer in 2008 may have been “He didn’t give me a map.” What plainly motivated his rejection, however, was his insistent conviction that the Jews have no right to be here whatsoever.The tragedy is that first Arafat’s, and then Abbas’s, dead-end leadership affects us all. However inconvenient, the fact is that there are millions of Israelis and Palestinians — Jews, Christians and Muslims — between the river and the sea and we somehow have to find a way to live here together.The solution, as has always been clear to those who are prepared to open their eyes, lies not in some attempted quick diplomatic fix — trying to strong-arm the two sides into an accord on terms they do not want, against an artificial timetable they will not honor. Rather, the long path ahead requires education — education regarding the discomfiting fact that there are competing, conflicting claims to this land.Cognizant that the Palestinians are not going anywhere, and desperate for an accord that might liberate us from the choice of living by the sword or perishing, Israelis have shown a willingness — most dramatically represented by Olmert’s offer — for far-reaching territorial compromise. They have ousted prime ministers — notably Benjamin Netanyahu in 1999 — who they thought were missing opportunities for peace.The Palestinians, by contrast, have refused to acknowledge Jewish legitimacy, and convinced themselves that Israel is a transient, shallow presence that can ultimately be ousted. This, despite the spectacular evidence of our strong, resilient, thriving nation.A century ago, it was axiomatic in Islam that there were Jewish temples atop the Temple Mount; that’s why the Muslims subsequently placed mosques there. What Abbas’s speech so dismally underlined is that the false narrative of Jewish history that has taken hold in more recent decades is not only cynically disseminated by Palestinian leaders to their people, but also thoroughly accepted by the leaders themselves.The UN can vote itself blue in the face against Israel. Foolish nations can unilaterally recognize Palestinian statehood — to the detriment of the Palestinians, since such “support” merely deepens their obduracy. But the only route to Palestinian independence runs via a negotiated settlement with Israel.The Olmert offer of a decade ago showed how far Israel was prepared to go to partner the Palestinians to statehood. The despicable, tragic, self-defeating Abbas speech of Sunday night showed that so long as the Palestinians blind themselves to the fact of Israel’s legitimacy, no Israeli offer is going to be good enough.
Defense Ministry team examining legalization methods for West Bank outposts-Ministry officials have categorized dozens of unauthorized settlements and are looking at ways by which each of them can be approved-By TOI staff-JAN 17,18
Israel’s Defense Ministry has for months been examining plans for the possible legalization of unauthorized West Bank outposts, Hadashot TV news reported Tuesday night.The TV station obtained a tape in which Deputy Defense Minister Eli Ben Dahan (Jewish Home) could be heard speaking about the project at a faction meeting of his party on Monday.“Over the past six months we’ve formed at team of 4-5 people at the Defense Ministry and we’ve begun to map out all the outposts — around 70 of them — that are unregulated,” Ben Dahan said.“Just this last Thursday we sat for almost three hours and ranked the communities by category — how they can be authorized and through what measures.”Ben Dahan noted that some outposts would be easier to legalize than others, giving the example of Asa’el, near Hebron, which he said had been built following a government decision, but its construction had not been properly regulated.On Sunday Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman submitted a proposal to the cabinet to legalize the Havat Gilad outpost, days after one of its residents was killed in a terror attack.Havat Gilad residents claim to have purchased the land prior to establishing the outpost in 2002. The settlers named the hilltop community after Gilad Zar, the security coordinator of the Shomron Regional Council, who was shot dead in an attack a year earlier.Palestinians, however, have denied the purchase, claiming that the documents were fake.Controversial legislation passed in February 2016 allows the Israeli government to retroactively expropriate private Palestinian land where illegal outpost homes have been built, provided that the outposts were established “in good faith” or had government support and that the Palestinian owners receive financial compensation for the land.But the law has been frozen by the High Court of Justice, which last month directed the state to explain why it should not be struck down on constitutional grounds. The government has until February 25 to put together a response.Although Israel does not have a constitution, it does possess a series of quasi-constitutional basic laws that underpin the court’s perspective on the legality of legislation.Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit has himself criticized the law as unconstitutional and called for its annulment in his legal response to petitions against the legislation.Shortly after it was passed, Mandelblit announced that he would not defend the law on behalf of the state.
IDF chief: Iranian nuclear threat ‘is not theoretical’-Eisenkot says Tehran still desires atomic weapons, despite 2015 accord with world powers-By TOI staff-JAN 17,18
Iran’s desire for nuclear weapons has not been extinguished by the nuclear deal it signed with world powers, IDF Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot said Tuesday.Speaking at an event of bereaved families organization Yad Labanim in Eilat, Eisenkor said “The Iranian threat is not theoretical. The intent and desire to reach nuclear capability exists, despite the deal.”US President Donald Trump last week said Washington would withdraw from the accord this year unless its terms were changed.Trump signed a waiver on Friday keeping the Iran nuclear deal alive for the moment, but stated it would be the last time he did so unless Congress and European countries heeded his call to strengthen the deal.Trump laid out four conditions that must be met, including increased inspections, ensuring “Iran never even comes close to possessing a nuclear weapon,” and that there be no expiration date to the nuke deal. It currently expires after a decade.His last condition required Capitol Hill lawmakers to pass a bill unilaterally incorporating Iran’s missile program into the nuclear deal.Iran has repeatedly said that the nuclear accord cannot be renegotiated, including on Saturday when the Iranian Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying Tehran would “accept no changes” to the deal and will not allow the accord to be linked to any non-nuclear issue.The German government said Monday it would seek more details on what the US wants regarding deal, but said it stands by the agreement.Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov meanwhile said Moscow “will not support what the United States is trying to do, changing the wording of the agreement, incorporating things that will be absolutely unacceptable for Iran.”Agencies contributed to this report.
UNRWA warns US funding cut threatens regional security, Palestinian dignity-Head of aid agency calls for global fundraising effort; Washington insists move not a punishment-By TOI staff and Agencies-17,18
The UN relief agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) on Tuesday said a US decision to reduce its funds threatened regional security, as well as “the dignity and human security of millions” of Palestinians.“Given the long, trusted, and historic relationship between the United States and UNRWA, this reduced contribution threatens one of the most successful and innovative human development endeavors in the Middle-East,” UNRWA chief Pierre Krähenbühl said in a statement.“The reduced contribution also impacts regional security at a time when the Middle East faces multiple risks and threats, notably that of further radicalization.” he said.The State Department on Tuesday notified the UN Relief and Works Agency by letter that the US was withholding $65 million of a planned $125 million funding installment to the body. The letter also made clear that additional US donations will be contingent on major changes by UNRWA, which has been heavily criticized by Israel.“We would like to see some reforms be made,” said State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert, adding that changes were needed both to the way the agency operates and is funded. “This is not aimed at punishing anyone.”Krähenbühl called for a global fundraising effort to make up for the loss of US support.“At stake is the access of 525,000 boys and girls in 700 UNRWA schools, and their future,” he said. “At stake is the dignity and human security of millions of Palestine refugees, in need of emergency food assistance and other support in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and the West Bank and Gaza Strip.“At stake is the access of refugees to primary health care, including pre-natal care and other life-saving services. At stake are the rights and dignity of an entire community.”UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was not aware of the decision, but warned that UNRWA provides “vital services.”“I am very concerned and I strongly hope that in the end it will be possible for the United States to maintain the funding of UNRWA in which the US has a very important share,” he told reporters at the UN.The U.S. donated $355 million to UNWRA in 2016 and was set to make a similar contribution in this year, with the first installment to have been sent this month. But after a highly critical Jan. 2 tweet from Trump on aid to the Palestinians, the State Department opted to wait for a formal policy decision before sending its first installment.Trump’s tweet expressed frustration over the lack of progress in his attempts to broker peace between Israel and the Palestinians, and he pointed the finger at the Palestinians. “We pay the Palestinians HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year and get no appreciation or respect,” he said. “But with the Palestinians no longer willing to talk peace, why should we make any of these massive future payments to them?”Nauert said the United States believes there needs to be more “burden-sharing,” a regular Trump complaint about multilateral organizations dependent on significant contributions of US cash.“We don’t believe that taking care of other nations and other people have to be solely the United States’ responsibility,” she said.The US plan to withhold some, but not all, of the money was backed by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary James Mattis, who offered it as a compromise to demands for more drastic measures by UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, officials said.Haley wanted a complete cutoff in US money until the Palestinians resumed peace talks with Israel that have been frozen for years. But Tillerson, Mattis and others argued that ending all assistance would exacerbate instability in the Mideast, notably in Jordan, a host to hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees and a crucial US strategic partner.The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) blamed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the US move.“The US Administration seems to be following Netanyahu’s instructions to gradually dismantle the one agency that was established by the international community to protect the rights of the Palestinian refugees and provide them with essential services,” said Hanan Ashrawi on behalf of the PLO Executive Committee.“This administration is thereby targeting the most vulnerable segment of the Palestinian people and depriving the refugees of the right to education, health, shelter and a dignified life,” she said.The PLO official too said that shaving $65 million off the US donation would destabilize the region.“It is also creating conditions that will generate further instability throughout the region and will demonstrate that it has no compunction in targeting the innocent,” she said, adding that, “Once again the US Administration proves its complicity with the Israeli occupation.”Ashrawi also met with representatives of Germany and Norway, encouraging them and other European nations to work towards a two-state solution, recognize a Palestinian state, and increase their country’s contributions to UNRWA, the Palestinian Authority’s official news station Wafa reported.Israel has often criticized UNRWA, accusing it of sheltering terrorists and allowing Palestinians to remain refugees even after settling in a new city or country for many generations, thus complicating a possible resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.The US decision was applauded on Tuesday by Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations and some ministers.Israeli envoy Danny Danon argued that UNRWA misuses humanitarian aid to support propaganda against the Jewish state and perpetuate the Palestinians’ plight.“It is time for this absurdity to end and for humanitarian funds to be directed towards their intended purpose: the welfare of refugees,” Danon said in a statement.The US donated $355 million to UNWRA in 2016 and was set to make a similar contribution in this year, with the first installment to have been sent this month. But after a highly critical Jan. 2 tweet from Trump on aid to the Palestinians, the State Department had opted to wait for a formal policy decision before sending its first installment.Trump’s tweet expressed frustration over the lack of progress in his attempts to broker peace between Israel and the Palestinians, and he pointed the finger at the Palestinians.“We pay the Palestinians HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year and get no appreciation or respect,” he said. “But with the Palestinians no longer willing to talk peace, why should we make any of these massive future payments to them?”
Palestinians blame Israel for US funding cut to UNRWA-PLO official Hanan Ashrawi says Washington's apparent gradual withdrawal from UN agency shows 'it has no compunction in targeting the innocent'-By TOI staff and Agencies-17 January 2018
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) on Tuesday blamed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the United States’ decision to slash funding to the UN relief agency for Palestinians (UNRWA).The State Department on Tuesday notified the UN Relief and Works Agency by letter that the US was withholding $65 million of a planned $125 million funding installment to the body. The letter also makes clear that additional US donations will be contingent on major changes by UNRWA, which has been heavily criticized by Israel.“We would like to see some reforms be made,” said State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert, adding that changes are needed both to the way the agency operates and is funded. “This is not aimed at punishing anyone.”The State Department said it was releasing the rest of the installment — $60 million — to prevent the agency from running out of cash by the end of the month and closing down.“The US Administration seems to be following Netanyahu’s instructions to gradually dismantle the one agency that was established by the international community to protect the rights of the Palestinian refugees and provide them with essential services,” said Hanan Ashrawi on behalf of the PLO Executive Committee.“This administration is thereby targeting the most vulnerable segment of the Palestinian people and depriving the refugees of the right to education, health, shelter and a dignified life,” she said.The PLO official said that shaving $65 million off the US donation would destabilize the region.“It is also creating conditions that will generate further instability throughout the region and will demonstrate that it has no compunction in targeting the innocent,” she said, adding that, “Once again the US Administration proves its complicity with the Israeli occupation.”Ashrawi also met with representatives of Germany and Norway, encouraging them and other European nations to work towards a two-state solution, recognize a Palestinian state, and increase their country’s contributions to UNRWA, the Palestinian Authority’s official news station Wafa reported.Israel has often criticized UNRWA, accusing it of sheltering terrorists and allowing Palestinians to remain refugees even after settling in a new city or country for many generations, thus complicating a possible resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.The US decision was applauded on Tuesday by Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations and some ministers.US President Donald Trump earlier this month threatened to cut US aid to the Palestinians, saying on Twitter that Washington gets “no appreciation or respect” from the Palestinians.“We pay the Palestinians HUNDRED OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year and get no appreciation or respect,” Trump tweeted on January 3.It's not only Pakistan that we pay billions of dollars to for nothing, but also many other countries, and others. As an example, we pay the Palestinians HUNDRED OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year and get no appreciation or respect. They don’t even want to negotiate a long overdue…— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018-“With the Palestinians no longer willing to talk peace, why should we make any of these massive future payments to them?”Although Trump referred to all US assistance to the Palestinians, the contribution to the refugee agency would be the first to be affected.The agency focuses on providing health care, education and social services to Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.On Monday, the United Nations said the work of the agency was “critical” and if the United States or any other donor cuts its contributions “we will have to find other sources.”
US withholds $65 million from UN agency for Palestinians-Making reduced payment of $60 million, State Department official says Washington is undertaking 'a fundamental re-examination' of UNRWA's operations and funding-By Agencies and TOI staff-17 January 2018
WASHINGTON, United States — The United States sent $60 million to keep the UN relief agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) in operation but withheld a further $65 million while it urged others to pay more, a State Department official said Tuesday.“There is a need to undertake a fundamental re-examination of UNRWA, both in the way it operates and the way it is funded,” the official said.The official told AFP the decision to withhold some funds was meant to encourage more “burden-sharing” by other members.“The United States has been UNRWA’s single largest donor for decades. In years past, we contributed some 30 percent of UNRWA’s total income,” he said.“Without the funds we are providing today, UNRWA operations were at risk of running out of funds and closing down.“The funds provided by the United States will prevent that from happening for the immediate future.”US President Donald Trump earlier this month threatened to cut US aid to the Palestinians, saying on Twitter that Washington gets “no appreciation or respect” from the Palestinians.“We pay the Palestinians HUNDRED OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year and get no appreciation or respect,” Trump tweeted on January 3.It's not only Pakistan that we pay billions of dollars to for nothing, but also many other countries, and others. As an example, we pay the Palestinians HUNDRED OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year and get no appreciation or respect. They don’t even want to negotiate a long overdue…— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018-“With the Palestinians no longer willing to talk peace, why should we make any of these massive future payments to them?”Although Trump referred to all US assistance to the Palestinians, the contribution to the refugee agency would be the first to be affected.Israel has often criticized UNRWA, accusing it of sheltering terrorists and allowing Palestinians to remain refugees even after settling in a new city or country for many generations, thus complicating a possible resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.The State Department announcement was hailed by Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon on Tuesday.“UNRWA has proven time and again to be an agency that misuses the humanitarian aid of the international community and instead supports anti-Israel propaganda, perpetuates the plight of Palestinian refugees and encourages hate,” Danon said in a statement.“Just over the last year alone, UNRWA officials were elected to the leadership of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, UNRWA schools denied the existence of Israel, and terror tunnels were dug under UNRWA facilities. It is time for this absurdity to end and for humanitarian funds to be directed towards their intended purpose – the welfare of refugees,” he added.Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan also praised Washington’s “bold” new approach.The US is trying a bold, new approach to Middle East peace- actually addressing the core issues: #Jerusalem, Palestinian terror incitement (Taylor Force), cutting funds to #UNRWA. An approach based on the simple idea that peace requires recognizing reality rather than ignoring it— גלעד ארדן (@giladerdan1) January 16, 2018-The agency focuses on providing health care, education and social services to Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.On Monday, the United Nations said the work of the agency was “critical” and if the United States or any other donor cuts its contributions “we will have to find other sources.”Human Rights Watch director Kenneth Roth on Monday called the US move “vindictive” and a “bullying tactic,” as he urged other governments to step in and fill the gap if the United States decides to definitely cut funding.“It is vindictive for the US government to deprive the UN of money to feed and educate Palestinian children in order to blackmail the Palestinian Authority into rejoining Trump administration-led peace negotiations,” Roth said in a statement.
With a vent at Trump, Abbas exits ‘peace process’-In speech to PLO council, PA leader may have unleashed forces that will end Oslo Accords and bring down his rule-By Karin Laub-TOI-17 January 2018
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — There seems to be no going back for Mahmoud Abbas after the Palestinian leader cursed and ridiculed US President Donald Trump and his aides in a pugnacious speech — a very public break with the 82-year-old’s long-standing efforts to cultivate Washington’s goodwill as the sole pathway to Palestinian statehood.Abbas’ pivot from quiet diplomacy to loudly challenging the US and Israel brings him in line with his aggrieved public and quashes any last expectations of a US-brokered peace deal, but could also unleash forces that might eventually bring down his self-rule government.Some questions and answers about the conflict:-Why the outburst?-The mostly unscripted barnburner — out of character for the typically buttoned-down Abbas — marked the culmination of his frustration with the US administration. In the span of a few weeks, Trump smashed what Palestinians see as the ground rules of US mediation in their conflict with Israel.Trump recognized contested Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, then portrayed Abbas’s subsequent rejection of Washington as an unfit broker as a blanket refusal to negotiate, followed by threats to cut US aid to the Palestinians.“Yekhreb beitak!” (literally “May your house be demolished”) Abbas exclaimed to laughter from a hall packed with Palestine Liberation Organization officials, cursing Trump as he recounted the recent US measures. Burning more bridges, Abbas also lashed out at Trump’s ambassadors to the UN and to Israel, Nikki Haley and David Friedman.His core message was to reject pre-emptively what he fears to be an upcoming US plan for a Palestinian mini-state on only some of the lands captured by Israel in 1967 and without a foothold in Jerusalem. “We will not accept a deal America dictates,” Abbas said defiantly.-What now? A day after Abbas’ “exit speech” from two decades of intermittent, US-led talks with Israel, a PLO decision-making body outlined a confrontational approach — at least on paper.The Palestinian Central Council called for suspending the PLO’s 1993 recognition of Israel, halting security coordination with Israel and ending Palestinian compliance with interim peace deals from the mid-1990s. These so-called Oslo Accords had created the Palestinian Authority, headed by Abbas since 2005, and defined Israeli-Palestinian relations.The final decision lies with Abbas. Aides and Palestinian analysts suggested he will move cautiously.Implementing the council decisions could quickly escalate tensions with the hard-line government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and possibly bring about the collapse of Abbas’s financially fragile self-rule government which administers most of the West Bank.Ending compliance with the Oslo Accords could also remove any justification for the continued existence of the Palestinian Authority.On the other hand, Netanyahu and Abbas have overlapping interests that helped maintain the status quo for years, despite many crises and an adversarial relationship.Both benefit from continued security coordination against a shared enemy, the Palestinian group Hamas, labeled a terror group by Israel and the US, which rules the Gaza Strip. The foreign aid-dependent Palestinian Authority shoulders the responsibility for the welfare of millions of Palestinians that would otherwise fall on Israel. The Oslo Accords have also created a Palestinian political class eager to protect its perks, while hundreds of thousands of Palestinians depend on autonomy government salaries.-What’s the alternative? Abbas says he remains committed to a two-state solution, or setting up a Palestinian state alongside Israel. But he hasn’t explained how he can now get there, in the absence of the old framework of the ultimately unsuccessful “peace process” that called for a negotiated border deal.Palestinians face years of uncertainty, as they try to strengthen alliances with Europe and the Arab world to make up for frayed ties with the US.Abbas hopes to generate more pressure on Israel, including international sanctions, to force an end to its half-century-old occupation, said PLO official Hanan Ashrawi. “Without accountability, without Israel understanding that there is a price to be paid for its intransigence, it is not going to budge,” she said.But there are no firm commitments of support, despite sweeping condemnation of Trump’s Jerusalem move in recent UN Security Council and General Assembly votes.Europe, for years relegated by Washington to the role of Middle East paymaster, hasn’t signaled a new assertiveness in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Sunni Arab states such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt are bent on curbing the influence of regional rival Iran, even at the expense of the once-central Palestinian cause, including the fate of Jerusalem, sacred to Muslims, Christians and Jews.Netanyahu has strengthened Israel’s trade and security ties with countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. This week, for instance, he is in India, signing trade deals with the one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing economies.-Is it a win for Netanyahu? Abbas’s rambling remarks seemed to provide fodder for Israeli hard-liners, who claim that he has not truly accepted Israel and lacks the credentials of a partner for peace.Abbas at one point described the settling of Jews in the Holy Land as a colonial conspiracy, seemingly denying their historic ties to the land, and also claimed that Israel is “sending us lots of (illegal) drugs” that might tempt Palestinian children.Dan Shapiro, a former US ambassador to Israel, said he understands Abbas’s frustration with Trump and the Israeli government, but that this “doesn’t justify returning to the most outrageous canards about Israel’s very legitimacy.”“If he has chosen to go that route, he has chosen to end his role as a partner in the two-state solution,” Shapiro, a visiting fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, said of Abbas.Netanyahu has demanded that Abbas accept Israel as a Jewish state, as proof of peaceful intent.Abbas has said it’s not his role to define Israel’s character, and that Netanyahu is simply trying to deflect attention from Israeli actions such as settlement building.-What happens after Abbas? Israel might be able to score a short-term public relations win by portraying Abbas as rejectionist, but this won’t lessen the existential threat posed by the unresolved conflict. Arabs and Jews will soon reach demographic parity in the land between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River, with Palestinians poised to become a majority.Without a partition deal — even less likely after the latest crisis — Israel will either continue to rule over Palestinians with lesser rights or will have to give them citizenship in a single, binational state, an option most Israelis reject.Abbas has dismissed the idea of an interim state in parts of the West Bank and Gaza, fearing the temporary will become permanent.After 13 years in office, Abbas shows no willingness to step aside and has refused to groom an heir. His fiery speech reflected a broad Palestinian consensus and might help restore some of his tattered domestic legitimacy.And even when he is eventually replaced, his successor is unlikely to accept what Abbas is now resoundingly rejecting.
Mossad intelligence led to German raids on Iranian spies — report-Western officials claim al-Quds Force tried to recruit non-Iranian Shiites to carry out attacks in Europe, particularly on Jewish and Israeli targets-By Agencies and TOI staff 17 January 2018
The Mossad intelligence service provided critical information that led to raids on the homes of suspected Iranian spies throughout Germany, Israel’s Kan public broadcaster reported on Tuesday.Hours earlier, German authorities said they were conducting searches across the country in connection with ten suspected Iranian spies, with one report saying that they were members of an elite military force that had been eyeing Israeli and Jewish targets.The weekly German-language magazine FOCUS reported that arrest warrants for the suspects listed them as being members of the al-Quds Force, which is part of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps and is considered a terrorist organization by the United States.The alleged spies had been monitoring Israeli and Jewish targets, the report said.According to the Kan report, the al-Quds Force had tried to recruit non-Iranian Shiites — primarily those with European citizenship — to establish a terror cell to carry out attacks throughout the continent.Israel’s Ambassador to Germany, Jeremy Issacharoff, told Kan that “the affair should raise a red flag not only in Germany, but in all of Europe.”“The time has come for the Germans and the Europeans to understand what is hidden behind the Iranian smile of recent months,” the ambassador added.Issacharoff said Israel had “bolstered security” at the embassy and that Israelis were “warned” about the incident.The Israeli news report said the Mossad spy agency offered key intelligence in the case. But German prosecutors said authorities searched premises linked to the suspected Iranian spies following an extensive investigation by the country’s domestic intelligence agency.A spokesman for the Federal Prosecutors Office said the raids took place early Tuesday at private homes and offices across Germany, but no arrests were made. He said the suspects are believed to have “spied on institutions and persons in Germany on behalf of an entity associated with Iran.”The spokesman, Stefan Biehl, told The Associated Press that raids were prompted by a tip from Germany’s domestic intelligence service.He declined to comment on the FOCUS report that the suspects were spying on Israelis and Jews.FOCUS reported that the searches — including by police special forces — were carried out in Berlin, Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria and North Rhine-Westphalia.Germany’s Interior Ministry referred questions about the raids to federal prosecutors.Last month, the German government protested to the Iranian ambassador following the conviction of an Iranian agent for spying. The Pakistani man was convicted in Berlin last year of espionage and sentenced to more than four years in prison. His targets included Reinhold Robbe, who headed the German-Israeli Association.Germany’s Foreign Ministry said the Iranian envoy, Ali Majedi, was summoned just before Christmas and told that “spying on people and institutions with a particular relationship to the state of Israel on German soil is a blatant violation of German law.”
Bannon refuses to answer House panel’s questions in Russia probe-Intelligence Committee subpoenas former Trump adviser after he proves uncooperative with its investigation of suspected campaign collusion with Russia-By Tom Lobianco-JAN 17,18TOI
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon on Tuesday refused to answers questions from the House Intelligence Committee about his time working for President Donald Trump, provoking a subpoena from the panel’s Republican chairman.Bannon walked into a closed-door meeting with House members Tuesday morning and was still being grilled Tuesday evening as part of the committee’s investigation into Russian election inference. Lawmakers also wanted answers from him about Trump’s thinking when he fired FBI Director James Comey.The committee chairman, Devin Nunes of California, issued the subpoena after Bannon refused to answer questions about his time on the presidential transition or his work in the Trump White House, said Nunes spokesman Jack Langer. It’s unclear if Bannon was more forthcoming after the issuance of the subpoena.A spokeswoman for Bannon did not respond to multiple requests for comment Tuesday afternoon. A White House official said the White House did not seek to exert executive privilege over Bannon — a move that would have barred him from answering certain questions — because they didn’t have to. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.At the White House, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said “no one” had encouraged Bannon not to be transparent during questioning but there’s a “process of what that looks like.”“As with all congressional inquiries touching upon the White House, Congress must consult with the White House prior to obtaining confidential material. This is part of a judicially recognized process that goes back decades,” Sanders told reporters.The committee also planned to press Bannon on other “executive actions” taken by Trump that have drawn interest from congressional investigators prying into ties between Trump’s campaign and Russian operatives, said another person, who wasn’t authorized to speak on the record about the closed-door session and spoke on condition of anonymity.Those key elements bear directly on the criminal investigation now underway by special counsel Robert Mueller, who is charged with investigating ties between the Trump campaign and Russia and whether the president obstructed justice by firing Comey or by taking other actions to thwart investigators.The focus on Bannon follows his spectacular fall from power after being quoted in a book saying that he sees the president’s son and others as engaging in “treasonous” behavior for taking a meeting with Russians during the 2016 campaign.In Michael Wolff’s “Fire and Fury,” Bannon accuses Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort of essentially betraying the nation by meeting with a group of Russian lawyers and lobbyists who they believed were ready to offer “dirt” on Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.More recently, Bannon has said he was not referring to Trump Jr. but rather to Manafort. Wolff stands by his account.After the book’s release, Trump quickly disavowed “Sloppy Steve Bannon” and argued extensively there was no evidence of collusion between his presidential campaign and operatives tied to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Bannon apologized a few days later but was stripped of his job leading the pro-Trump news site Breitbart News.Bannon last year had largely avoided the scrutiny of congressional investigators, who instead focused much of their energy on trying to secure interviews with top witnesses like Manafort and former national security adviser Michael Flynn.But Bannon played a critical role in the campaign, the presidential transition and the White House — all periods of time now under scrutiny from congressional investigators looking for possible evidence of a connection between Trump’s operations and Russia.Bannon recently retained the same lawyer being used by former Trump chief of staff Reince Priebus and current White House general counsel Don McGahn. Neither Bannon nor his lawyer immediately responded to a request for comment Monday.The House Intelligence Committee is speeding toward a conclusion of its interviews in its Russia investigation. The final result could be marred by partisan infighting, raising the probability that Republicans on the panel will issue one set of findings and the Democrats will issue their own report.
Israeli TV: Abbas fury a response to Saudis revealing Trump’s pro-Israel plan-Report says clauses of 'ultimate deal' include Israeli control over security matters, permanent IDF Jordan Valley presence, and no settlement evacuations-By TOI staff-17 January 2018
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas decided to give his fiery address denouncing Israel and the United States earlier this week after Saudi officials informed him of the parameters of US President Donald Trump’s peace plan, which were overwhelmingly favorable to the Jewish state, Israeli television reported Tuesday.A close associate of the PA president was summoned to Riyadh for an urgent meeting earlier this month. There, the details of Trump’s peace plan — which provides for a “state-minus” — were presented to the Palestinians for the first time, according to Hadashot news.The plan’s main clauses were as follows: less-than-full statehood for the Palestinians, ongoing Israeli control over security matters, a permanent IDF presence in the Jordan Valley, land swaps not based on the pre-1967 lines, no settlement evacuations, and an Israeli veto regarding the final status of Jerusalem, which would be later negotiated by the parties, the TV report said.On Sunday, Abbas gave a particularly harsh address at a meeting of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Central Council, lambasting Trump and rejecting US peace overtures.“We told Trump we will not accept his project, the ‘deal of the century,’ which has become the ‘slap of the century,’” said Abbas on Sunday. “But we will slap back.”In a statement responding to the Tuesday TV report, the White House called it “regrettable that the Palestinian leadership is looking to create a false impression against an unfinished plan they have not even seen,” according to a Hebrew translation of the statement to Hadashot news.“We will present our principles directly to Israelis and Palestinians at the right time and under the right conditions,” the White House statement concluded.Abbas’s combative speech also drew harsh condemnation from Israeli leaders after he called Israel “a colonial project that has nothing to do with Judaism,” and suggested European Jews chose to undergo “murder and slaughter” in the Holocaust rather than emigrate to British-held Palestine. President Reuven Rivlin and ministers subsequently accused the PA leader of peddling anti-Semitic conspiracies.In a bid to defuse the tensions, Trump’s special envoy to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, Jason Greenblatt, is scheduled to arrive in Israel on Wednesday.Greenblatt will take part in meetings with members of the so-called Middle East Quartet — the US, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations, Channel 10 reported Tuesday.Tensions escalated between the US and the Palestinians following Trump’s December 6 recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Abbas slammed the move and said the United States had ended its historic role as the key sponsor for Israel-Palestinian peace talks. Violent riots ensued in the West Bank and Gaza in the weeks following the announcement as Abbas’s Fatah group urged “days of rage” and terror group Hamas demanded a violent new intifada uprising.Also in December, a number of news outlets reported that when Abbas had visited Saudi Arabia in September, Riyadh informed him of the outlines of a peace plan being drawn up by the Trump administration.Among the elements of the Saudi proposal outlined in those earlier reports was the establishment of the capital of a future Palestinian state in Abu Dis, a suburb of Jerusalem in the West Bank, east of Israel’s security barrier.
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
STOP ARABS PAY TO SLAY DEATH CULT WELFARE
http://ift.tt/2EPCe2o
Trump’s top peace envoy heads to Israel for meeting with Quartet-Jason Greenblatt will meet with envoys to 'exchange information and continue our engagement on advancing peace,' White House official says-By Eric Cortellessa-TOI-17 January 2018
WASHINGTON — Amid continued diplomatic fallout from US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, and a belligerent, fiery speech from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas denouncing his administration’s peace efforts, Trump’s top peace envoy, Jason Greenblatt, will arrive in the region Wednesday to meet with envoys from the Middle East Quartet to advance an Israeli-Palestinian accord.“Jason will be attending a regular meeting of the Quartet Envoys to exchange information and continue our engagement on advancing peace,” a White House official told The Times of Israel on Tuesday.Greenblatt, who will arrive in Israel on January 17, will likely stay until US Vice President Mike Pence’s visit, which is scheduled for January 22-23.The so-called Quartet consists of representatives from the US, Russia, the United Nations, and the European Union. It was established in Madrid in 2002 to try and resolve the decades-old dispute between Israelis and Palestinians.The upcoming meeting comes as Palestinians still fume over Trump’s Jerusalem decision.On Sunday night, Abbas gave a pugnacious speech before members of the PLO leadership in Ramallah, in which he denied any historic Jewish ties to the region and denounced the US president’s Jerusalem recognition as “the slap of the century,” language allusive to Trump’s own promise of delivering Israeli-Palestinian peace, which he has said would be the “deal of the century.”Since the December 6 announcement, Abbas and other senior Palestinian leaders have also refused to meet with US officials. Greenblatt is not expected to meet with PA officials this week.The Palestinian’s chief negotiator Saeb Erekat has said the PA will refuse any US-sponsored peace talks until Trump reverses his recognition of Jerusalem.Along with Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner, Greenblatt, a former attorney with the Trump Organization, has been leading his peace team’s push to renew negotiations between the sides.Despite the rhetoric that Palestinian and other Arab leaders have used since Trump’s move last month, the White House insists it is still pushing ahead with presenting a peace plan in the future.“The president remains as committed to peace as ever,” one official said last month.
Abbas couldn’t make peace with the Jews; he believes his own lies about us-In 2008, the Palestinian leader rejected Ehud Olmert's unsurpassable peace offer. Sunday's revolting speech in Ramallah underlined why-By David Horovitz-TOI-17 January 2018
Almost a decade ago, in the dying months of his premiership, Ehud Olmert offered Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas pretty much everything the Palestinians ostensibly seek from Israel.Hosting Abbas at the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem on September 16, 2008, Olmert took out a large map and specified the remarkable territorial concessions he was offering in a bid to partner the Palestinians to statehood and end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict once and for all.Olmert offered Abbas what amounted to 100 percent of the West Bank — with one-for-one land swaps enabling Israel to extend sovereignty to three major settlement blocs and the Palestinians compensated with territory inside Israel’s current sovereign borders. He rejected the “right of return” for millions of Palestinians to Israel — an influx that would doom the Jewish state — but indicated a willingness to meet the Arab Peace Initiative’s call for a just and agreed solution to the refugee issue, including a compensation fund and the symbolic absorption of several thousand refugees.Most dramatically of all, he proposed dividing Jerusalem into Israeli- and Palestinian-controlled neighborhoods and relinquishing Israeli sovereignty on the Temple Mount and throughout the Old City. Instead, said Olmert, the “Holy Basin” would be overseen by a five-member, non-sovereign international trusteeship, comprising Israel, the PA, Jordan, the US and Saudi Arabia.Olmert wouldn’t give Abbas his map unless the PA chief signed off on it. This, Abbas refused to do. Rather, at the end of their extraordinary meeting, it was decided that the two sides would meet again the next day, to work on finalizing terms. As Olmert would recall in a 2015 Israeli TV interview, “I told him, ‘Remember my words, it will be 50 years before there will be another Israeli prime minister that will offer you what I am offering you now. Don’t miss this opportunity.’”But miss the opportunity is precisely what Abbas did. He headed back to Ramallah, where he quickly sketched out his own map of what Olmert had proposed. Hours later, his chief negotiator Saeb Erekat called to say the Palestinians couldn’t meet as scheduled because they had to go to Amman, but would return for talks the following week. That never happened. For years afterwards, Olmert would say sorrowfully that he was still waiting to hear back from Abbas.In 2015, the PA chief acknowledged that he had rejected Olmert’s terms, complaining that the refugee proposal was not satisfactory, and asserting disingenuously as regards the division of territory: “He showed me a map. He didn’t give me a map… He told me, ‘This is the map’ and took it away. I respected his point of view, but how can I sign on something that I didn’t receive?”Unsurprisingly, Abbas made no mention of Olmert’s extraordinary peace proposal during his two-hour-plus anti-Israel, anti-Trump and anti-peace ramble before members of the PLO leadership in Ramallah on Sunday. Yet that appalling speech nonetheless provided the dismal explanation of why the man charged with leading his people to statehood had, nearly a decade earlier, rejected the best chance he would ever have to achieve that declared ambition.Out of Abbas’s embittered 82-year-old mouth came the truth: He himself believes the vicious propaganda disseminated first by his late and unlamented predecessor Yasser Arafat and then maintained during his own 13 years at the helm of the Palestinian Authority.Of course Abbas chose not to accept Olmert’s unbeatable offer of statehood. It would have required the Palestinians to acknowledge the legitimacy of an Israel which, in Abbas’s own words, is just an unrooted “colonial project that has nothing to do with Judaism.” It would have required the Palestinians to share the territory with a people to whom the holy land was so alien, in his foul rewriting of history, that they would rather go to their deaths at the hands of the Nazis than live here. “The Jews did not want to emigrate even with murder and slaughter,” as he put it. “Even during the Holocaust, they did not emigrate.”So unwanted was the holy land by the Jews, he further elaborated in his revolting revisionist narrative, that David Ben-Gurion resorted to forcing Middle Eastern Jews to come here. “Ben-Gurion did not want Middle Eastern Jews to come [to Israel],” Abbas told his rapt audience, “but when he saw the vast land, he was forced to bring Middle Eastern Jews… that didn’t want to come. From Yemen they flew 50,000 Jews… Then they went to Iraq, which had large reserves of Jews…”The man whose doctoral thesis blamed Zionist agitation for the Holocaust, and disputed the number of Jewish victims, on Sunday set out a series of falsehoods obvious to the most casual student of 20th century events. He detailed a narrative that allowed no historic Jewish connection to this land — no Biblical history, no Temples, no ancient sovereignty. He airbrushed the Jewish nation out of its own past.Obviously, no leader so determinedly blinded to his enemy’s legitimacy could ever have agreed to reconciliation. Abbas’s public excuse for rejecting Olmert’s statehood offer in 2008 may have been “He didn’t give me a map.” What plainly motivated his rejection, however, was his insistent conviction that the Jews have no right to be here whatsoever.The tragedy is that first Arafat’s, and then Abbas’s, dead-end leadership affects us all. However inconvenient, the fact is that there are millions of Israelis and Palestinians — Jews, Christians and Muslims — between the river and the sea and we somehow have to find a way to live here together.The solution, as has always been clear to those who are prepared to open their eyes, lies not in some attempted quick diplomatic fix — trying to strong-arm the two sides into an accord on terms they do not want, against an artificial timetable they will not honor. Rather, the long path ahead requires education — education regarding the discomfiting fact that there are competing, conflicting claims to this land.Cognizant that the Palestinians are not going anywhere, and desperate for an accord that might liberate us from the choice of living by the sword or perishing, Israelis have shown a willingness — most dramatically represented by Olmert’s offer — for far-reaching territorial compromise. They have ousted prime ministers — notably Benjamin Netanyahu in 1999 — who they thought were missing opportunities for peace.The Palestinians, by contrast, have refused to acknowledge Jewish legitimacy, and convinced themselves that Israel is a transient, shallow presence that can ultimately be ousted. This, despite the spectacular evidence of our strong, resilient, thriving nation.A century ago, it was axiomatic in Islam that there were Jewish temples atop the Temple Mount; that’s why the Muslims subsequently placed mosques there. What Abbas’s speech so dismally underlined is that the false narrative of Jewish history that has taken hold in more recent decades is not only cynically disseminated by Palestinian leaders to their people, but also thoroughly accepted by the leaders themselves.The UN can vote itself blue in the face against Israel. Foolish nations can unilaterally recognize Palestinian statehood — to the detriment of the Palestinians, since such “support” merely deepens their obduracy. But the only route to Palestinian independence runs via a negotiated settlement with Israel.The Olmert offer of a decade ago showed how far Israel was prepared to go to partner the Palestinians to statehood. The despicable, tragic, self-defeating Abbas speech of Sunday night showed that so long as the Palestinians blind themselves to the fact of Israel’s legitimacy, no Israeli offer is going to be good enough.
Defense Ministry team examining legalization methods for West Bank outposts-Ministry officials have categorized dozens of unauthorized settlements and are looking at ways by which each of them can be approved-By TOI staff-JAN 17,18
Israel’s Defense Ministry has for months been examining plans for the possible legalization of unauthorized West Bank outposts, Hadashot TV news reported Tuesday night.The TV station obtained a tape in which Deputy Defense Minister Eli Ben Dahan (Jewish Home) could be heard speaking about the project at a faction meeting of his party on Monday.“Over the past six months we’ve formed at team of 4-5 people at the Defense Ministry and we’ve begun to map out all the outposts — around 70 of them — that are unregulated,” Ben Dahan said.“Just this last Thursday we sat for almost three hours and ranked the communities by category — how they can be authorized and through what measures.”Ben Dahan noted that some outposts would be easier to legalize than others, giving the example of Asa’el, near Hebron, which he said had been built following a government decision, but its construction had not been properly regulated.On Sunday Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman submitted a proposal to the cabinet to legalize the Havat Gilad outpost, days after one of its residents was killed in a terror attack.Havat Gilad residents claim to have purchased the land prior to establishing the outpost in 2002. The settlers named the hilltop community after Gilad Zar, the security coordinator of the Shomron Regional Council, who was shot dead in an attack a year earlier.Palestinians, however, have denied the purchase, claiming that the documents were fake.Controversial legislation passed in February 2016 allows the Israeli government to retroactively expropriate private Palestinian land where illegal outpost homes have been built, provided that the outposts were established “in good faith” or had government support and that the Palestinian owners receive financial compensation for the land.But the law has been frozen by the High Court of Justice, which last month directed the state to explain why it should not be struck down on constitutional grounds. The government has until February 25 to put together a response.Although Israel does not have a constitution, it does possess a series of quasi-constitutional basic laws that underpin the court’s perspective on the legality of legislation.Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit has himself criticized the law as unconstitutional and called for its annulment in his legal response to petitions against the legislation.Shortly after it was passed, Mandelblit announced that he would not defend the law on behalf of the state.
IDF chief: Iranian nuclear threat ‘is not theoretical’-Eisenkot says Tehran still desires atomic weapons, despite 2015 accord with world powers-By TOI staff-JAN 17,18
Iran’s desire for nuclear weapons has not been extinguished by the nuclear deal it signed with world powers, IDF Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot said Tuesday.Speaking at an event of bereaved families organization Yad Labanim in Eilat, Eisenkor said “The Iranian threat is not theoretical. The intent and desire to reach nuclear capability exists, despite the deal.”US President Donald Trump last week said Washington would withdraw from the accord this year unless its terms were changed.Trump signed a waiver on Friday keeping the Iran nuclear deal alive for the moment, but stated it would be the last time he did so unless Congress and European countries heeded his call to strengthen the deal.Trump laid out four conditions that must be met, including increased inspections, ensuring “Iran never even comes close to possessing a nuclear weapon,” and that there be no expiration date to the nuke deal. It currently expires after a decade.His last condition required Capitol Hill lawmakers to pass a bill unilaterally incorporating Iran’s missile program into the nuclear deal.Iran has repeatedly said that the nuclear accord cannot be renegotiated, including on Saturday when the Iranian Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying Tehran would “accept no changes” to the deal and will not allow the accord to be linked to any non-nuclear issue.The German government said Monday it would seek more details on what the US wants regarding deal, but said it stands by the agreement.Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov meanwhile said Moscow “will not support what the United States is trying to do, changing the wording of the agreement, incorporating things that will be absolutely unacceptable for Iran.”Agencies contributed to this report.
UNRWA warns US funding cut threatens regional security, Palestinian dignity-Head of aid agency calls for global fundraising effort; Washington insists move not a punishment-By TOI staff and Agencies-17,18
The UN relief agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) on Tuesday said a US decision to reduce its funds threatened regional security, as well as “the dignity and human security of millions” of Palestinians.“Given the long, trusted, and historic relationship between the United States and UNRWA, this reduced contribution threatens one of the most successful and innovative human development endeavors in the Middle-East,” UNRWA chief Pierre Krähenbühl said in a statement.“The reduced contribution also impacts regional security at a time when the Middle East faces multiple risks and threats, notably that of further radicalization.” he said.The State Department on Tuesday notified the UN Relief and Works Agency by letter that the US was withholding $65 million of a planned $125 million funding installment to the body. The letter also made clear that additional US donations will be contingent on major changes by UNRWA, which has been heavily criticized by Israel.“We would like to see some reforms be made,” said State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert, adding that changes were needed both to the way the agency operates and is funded. “This is not aimed at punishing anyone.”Krähenbühl called for a global fundraising effort to make up for the loss of US support.“At stake is the access of 525,000 boys and girls in 700 UNRWA schools, and their future,” he said. “At stake is the dignity and human security of millions of Palestine refugees, in need of emergency food assistance and other support in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and the West Bank and Gaza Strip.“At stake is the access of refugees to primary health care, including pre-natal care and other life-saving services. At stake are the rights and dignity of an entire community.”UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was not aware of the decision, but warned that UNRWA provides “vital services.”“I am very concerned and I strongly hope that in the end it will be possible for the United States to maintain the funding of UNRWA in which the US has a very important share,” he told reporters at the UN.The U.S. donated $355 million to UNWRA in 2016 and was set to make a similar contribution in this year, with the first installment to have been sent this month. But after a highly critical Jan. 2 tweet from Trump on aid to the Palestinians, the State Department opted to wait for a formal policy decision before sending its first installment.Trump’s tweet expressed frustration over the lack of progress in his attempts to broker peace between Israel and the Palestinians, and he pointed the finger at the Palestinians. “We pay the Palestinians HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year and get no appreciation or respect,” he said. “But with the Palestinians no longer willing to talk peace, why should we make any of these massive future payments to them?”Nauert said the United States believes there needs to be more “burden-sharing,” a regular Trump complaint about multilateral organizations dependent on significant contributions of US cash.“We don’t believe that taking care of other nations and other people have to be solely the United States’ responsibility,” she said.The US plan to withhold some, but not all, of the money was backed by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary James Mattis, who offered it as a compromise to demands for more drastic measures by UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, officials said.Haley wanted a complete cutoff in US money until the Palestinians resumed peace talks with Israel that have been frozen for years. But Tillerson, Mattis and others argued that ending all assistance would exacerbate instability in the Mideast, notably in Jordan, a host to hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees and a crucial US strategic partner.The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) blamed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the US move.“The US Administration seems to be following Netanyahu’s instructions to gradually dismantle the one agency that was established by the international community to protect the rights of the Palestinian refugees and provide them with essential services,” said Hanan Ashrawi on behalf of the PLO Executive Committee.“This administration is thereby targeting the most vulnerable segment of the Palestinian people and depriving the refugees of the right to education, health, shelter and a dignified life,” she said.The PLO official too said that shaving $65 million off the US donation would destabilize the region.“It is also creating conditions that will generate further instability throughout the region and will demonstrate that it has no compunction in targeting the innocent,” she said, adding that, “Once again the US Administration proves its complicity with the Israeli occupation.”Ashrawi also met with representatives of Germany and Norway, encouraging them and other European nations to work towards a two-state solution, recognize a Palestinian state, and increase their country’s contributions to UNRWA, the Palestinian Authority’s official news station Wafa reported.Israel has often criticized UNRWA, accusing it of sheltering terrorists and allowing Palestinians to remain refugees even after settling in a new city or country for many generations, thus complicating a possible resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.The US decision was applauded on Tuesday by Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations and some ministers.Israeli envoy Danny Danon argued that UNRWA misuses humanitarian aid to support propaganda against the Jewish state and perpetuate the Palestinians’ plight.“It is time for this absurdity to end and for humanitarian funds to be directed towards their intended purpose: the welfare of refugees,” Danon said in a statement.The US donated $355 million to UNWRA in 2016 and was set to make a similar contribution in this year, with the first installment to have been sent this month. But after a highly critical Jan. 2 tweet from Trump on aid to the Palestinians, the State Department had opted to wait for a formal policy decision before sending its first installment.Trump’s tweet expressed frustration over the lack of progress in his attempts to broker peace between Israel and the Palestinians, and he pointed the finger at the Palestinians.“We pay the Palestinians HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year and get no appreciation or respect,” he said. “But with the Palestinians no longer willing to talk peace, why should we make any of these massive future payments to them?”
Palestinians blame Israel for US funding cut to UNRWA-PLO official Hanan Ashrawi says Washington's apparent gradual withdrawal from UN agency shows 'it has no compunction in targeting the innocent'-By TOI staff and Agencies-17 January 2018
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) on Tuesday blamed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the United States’ decision to slash funding to the UN relief agency for Palestinians (UNRWA).The State Department on Tuesday notified the UN Relief and Works Agency by letter that the US was withholding $65 million of a planned $125 million funding installment to the body. The letter also makes clear that additional US donations will be contingent on major changes by UNRWA, which has been heavily criticized by Israel.“We would like to see some reforms be made,” said State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert, adding that changes are needed both to the way the agency operates and is funded. “This is not aimed at punishing anyone.”The State Department said it was releasing the rest of the installment — $60 million — to prevent the agency from running out of cash by the end of the month and closing down.“The US Administration seems to be following Netanyahu’s instructions to gradually dismantle the one agency that was established by the international community to protect the rights of the Palestinian refugees and provide them with essential services,” said Hanan Ashrawi on behalf of the PLO Executive Committee.“This administration is thereby targeting the most vulnerable segment of the Palestinian people and depriving the refugees of the right to education, health, shelter and a dignified life,” she said.The PLO official said that shaving $65 million off the US donation would destabilize the region.“It is also creating conditions that will generate further instability throughout the region and will demonstrate that it has no compunction in targeting the innocent,” she said, adding that, “Once again the US Administration proves its complicity with the Israeli occupation.”Ashrawi also met with representatives of Germany and Norway, encouraging them and other European nations to work towards a two-state solution, recognize a Palestinian state, and increase their country’s contributions to UNRWA, the Palestinian Authority’s official news station Wafa reported.Israel has often criticized UNRWA, accusing it of sheltering terrorists and allowing Palestinians to remain refugees even after settling in a new city or country for many generations, thus complicating a possible resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.The US decision was applauded on Tuesday by Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations and some ministers.US President Donald Trump earlier this month threatened to cut US aid to the Palestinians, saying on Twitter that Washington gets “no appreciation or respect” from the Palestinians.“We pay the Palestinians HUNDRED OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year and get no appreciation or respect,” Trump tweeted on January 3.It's not only Pakistan that we pay billions of dollars to for nothing, but also many other countries, and others. As an example, we pay the Palestinians HUNDRED OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year and get no appreciation or respect. They don’t even want to negotiate a long overdue…— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018-“With the Palestinians no longer willing to talk peace, why should we make any of these massive future payments to them?”Although Trump referred to all US assistance to the Palestinians, the contribution to the refugee agency would be the first to be affected.The agency focuses on providing health care, education and social services to Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.On Monday, the United Nations said the work of the agency was “critical” and if the United States or any other donor cuts its contributions “we will have to find other sources.”
US withholds $65 million from UN agency for Palestinians-Making reduced payment of $60 million, State Department official says Washington is undertaking 'a fundamental re-examination' of UNRWA's operations and funding-By Agencies and TOI staff-17 January 2018
WASHINGTON, United States — The United States sent $60 million to keep the UN relief agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) in operation but withheld a further $65 million while it urged others to pay more, a State Department official said Tuesday.“There is a need to undertake a fundamental re-examination of UNRWA, both in the way it operates and the way it is funded,” the official said.The official told AFP the decision to withhold some funds was meant to encourage more “burden-sharing” by other members.“The United States has been UNRWA’s single largest donor for decades. In years past, we contributed some 30 percent of UNRWA’s total income,” he said.“Without the funds we are providing today, UNRWA operations were at risk of running out of funds and closing down.“The funds provided by the United States will prevent that from happening for the immediate future.”US President Donald Trump earlier this month threatened to cut US aid to the Palestinians, saying on Twitter that Washington gets “no appreciation or respect” from the Palestinians.“We pay the Palestinians HUNDRED OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year and get no appreciation or respect,” Trump tweeted on January 3.It's not only Pakistan that we pay billions of dollars to for nothing, but also many other countries, and others. As an example, we pay the Palestinians HUNDRED OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year and get no appreciation or respect. They don’t even want to negotiate a long overdue…— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2018-“With the Palestinians no longer willing to talk peace, why should we make any of these massive future payments to them?”Although Trump referred to all US assistance to the Palestinians, the contribution to the refugee agency would be the first to be affected.Israel has often criticized UNRWA, accusing it of sheltering terrorists and allowing Palestinians to remain refugees even after settling in a new city or country for many generations, thus complicating a possible resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.The State Department announcement was hailed by Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon on Tuesday.“UNRWA has proven time and again to be an agency that misuses the humanitarian aid of the international community and instead supports anti-Israel propaganda, perpetuates the plight of Palestinian refugees and encourages hate,” Danon said in a statement.“Just over the last year alone, UNRWA officials were elected to the leadership of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, UNRWA schools denied the existence of Israel, and terror tunnels were dug under UNRWA facilities. It is time for this absurdity to end and for humanitarian funds to be directed towards their intended purpose – the welfare of refugees,” he added.Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan also praised Washington’s “bold” new approach.The US is trying a bold, new approach to Middle East peace- actually addressing the core issues: #Jerusalem, Palestinian terror incitement (Taylor Force), cutting funds to #UNRWA. An approach based on the simple idea that peace requires recognizing reality rather than ignoring it— גלעד ארדן (@giladerdan1) January 16, 2018-The agency focuses on providing health care, education and social services to Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.On Monday, the United Nations said the work of the agency was “critical” and if the United States or any other donor cuts its contributions “we will have to find other sources.”Human Rights Watch director Kenneth Roth on Monday called the US move “vindictive” and a “bullying tactic,” as he urged other governments to step in and fill the gap if the United States decides to definitely cut funding.“It is vindictive for the US government to deprive the UN of money to feed and educate Palestinian children in order to blackmail the Palestinian Authority into rejoining Trump administration-led peace negotiations,” Roth said in a statement.
With a vent at Trump, Abbas exits ‘peace process’-In speech to PLO council, PA leader may have unleashed forces that will end Oslo Accords and bring down his rule-By Karin Laub-TOI-17 January 2018
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — There seems to be no going back for Mahmoud Abbas after the Palestinian leader cursed and ridiculed US President Donald Trump and his aides in a pugnacious speech — a very public break with the 82-year-old’s long-standing efforts to cultivate Washington’s goodwill as the sole pathway to Palestinian statehood.Abbas’ pivot from quiet diplomacy to loudly challenging the US and Israel brings him in line with his aggrieved public and quashes any last expectations of a US-brokered peace deal, but could also unleash forces that might eventually bring down his self-rule government.Some questions and answers about the conflict:-Why the outburst?-The mostly unscripted barnburner — out of character for the typically buttoned-down Abbas — marked the culmination of his frustration with the US administration. In the span of a few weeks, Trump smashed what Palestinians see as the ground rules of US mediation in their conflict with Israel.Trump recognized contested Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, then portrayed Abbas’s subsequent rejection of Washington as an unfit broker as a blanket refusal to negotiate, followed by threats to cut US aid to the Palestinians.“Yekhreb beitak!” (literally “May your house be demolished”) Abbas exclaimed to laughter from a hall packed with Palestine Liberation Organization officials, cursing Trump as he recounted the recent US measures. Burning more bridges, Abbas also lashed out at Trump’s ambassadors to the UN and to Israel, Nikki Haley and David Friedman.His core message was to reject pre-emptively what he fears to be an upcoming US plan for a Palestinian mini-state on only some of the lands captured by Israel in 1967 and without a foothold in Jerusalem. “We will not accept a deal America dictates,” Abbas said defiantly.-What now? A day after Abbas’ “exit speech” from two decades of intermittent, US-led talks with Israel, a PLO decision-making body outlined a confrontational approach — at least on paper.The Palestinian Central Council called for suspending the PLO’s 1993 recognition of Israel, halting security coordination with Israel and ending Palestinian compliance with interim peace deals from the mid-1990s. These so-called Oslo Accords had created the Palestinian Authority, headed by Abbas since 2005, and defined Israeli-Palestinian relations.The final decision lies with Abbas. Aides and Palestinian analysts suggested he will move cautiously.Implementing the council decisions could quickly escalate tensions with the hard-line government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and possibly bring about the collapse of Abbas’s financially fragile self-rule government which administers most of the West Bank.Ending compliance with the Oslo Accords could also remove any justification for the continued existence of the Palestinian Authority.On the other hand, Netanyahu and Abbas have overlapping interests that helped maintain the status quo for years, despite many crises and an adversarial relationship.Both benefit from continued security coordination against a shared enemy, the Palestinian group Hamas, labeled a terror group by Israel and the US, which rules the Gaza Strip. The foreign aid-dependent Palestinian Authority shoulders the responsibility for the welfare of millions of Palestinians that would otherwise fall on Israel. The Oslo Accords have also created a Palestinian political class eager to protect its perks, while hundreds of thousands of Palestinians depend on autonomy government salaries.-What’s the alternative? Abbas says he remains committed to a two-state solution, or setting up a Palestinian state alongside Israel. But he hasn’t explained how he can now get there, in the absence of the old framework of the ultimately unsuccessful “peace process” that called for a negotiated border deal.Palestinians face years of uncertainty, as they try to strengthen alliances with Europe and the Arab world to make up for frayed ties with the US.Abbas hopes to generate more pressure on Israel, including international sanctions, to force an end to its half-century-old occupation, said PLO official Hanan Ashrawi. “Without accountability, without Israel understanding that there is a price to be paid for its intransigence, it is not going to budge,” she said.But there are no firm commitments of support, despite sweeping condemnation of Trump’s Jerusalem move in recent UN Security Council and General Assembly votes.Europe, for years relegated by Washington to the role of Middle East paymaster, hasn’t signaled a new assertiveness in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.Sunni Arab states such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt are bent on curbing the influence of regional rival Iran, even at the expense of the once-central Palestinian cause, including the fate of Jerusalem, sacred to Muslims, Christians and Jews.Netanyahu has strengthened Israel’s trade and security ties with countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. This week, for instance, he is in India, signing trade deals with the one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing economies.-Is it a win for Netanyahu? Abbas’s rambling remarks seemed to provide fodder for Israeli hard-liners, who claim that he has not truly accepted Israel and lacks the credentials of a partner for peace.Abbas at one point described the settling of Jews in the Holy Land as a colonial conspiracy, seemingly denying their historic ties to the land, and also claimed that Israel is “sending us lots of (illegal) drugs” that might tempt Palestinian children.Dan Shapiro, a former US ambassador to Israel, said he understands Abbas’s frustration with Trump and the Israeli government, but that this “doesn’t justify returning to the most outrageous canards about Israel’s very legitimacy.”“If he has chosen to go that route, he has chosen to end his role as a partner in the two-state solution,” Shapiro, a visiting fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, said of Abbas.Netanyahu has demanded that Abbas accept Israel as a Jewish state, as proof of peaceful intent.Abbas has said it’s not his role to define Israel’s character, and that Netanyahu is simply trying to deflect attention from Israeli actions such as settlement building.-What happens after Abbas? Israel might be able to score a short-term public relations win by portraying Abbas as rejectionist, but this won’t lessen the existential threat posed by the unresolved conflict. Arabs and Jews will soon reach demographic parity in the land between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River, with Palestinians poised to become a majority.Without a partition deal — even less likely after the latest crisis — Israel will either continue to rule over Palestinians with lesser rights or will have to give them citizenship in a single, binational state, an option most Israelis reject.Abbas has dismissed the idea of an interim state in parts of the West Bank and Gaza, fearing the temporary will become permanent.After 13 years in office, Abbas shows no willingness to step aside and has refused to groom an heir. His fiery speech reflected a broad Palestinian consensus and might help restore some of his tattered domestic legitimacy.And even when he is eventually replaced, his successor is unlikely to accept what Abbas is now resoundingly rejecting.
Mossad intelligence led to German raids on Iranian spies — report-Western officials claim al-Quds Force tried to recruit non-Iranian Shiites to carry out attacks in Europe, particularly on Jewish and Israeli targets-By Agencies and TOI staff 17 January 2018
The Mossad intelligence service provided critical information that led to raids on the homes of suspected Iranian spies throughout Germany, Israel’s Kan public broadcaster reported on Tuesday.Hours earlier, German authorities said they were conducting searches across the country in connection with ten suspected Iranian spies, with one report saying that they were members of an elite military force that had been eyeing Israeli and Jewish targets.The weekly German-language magazine FOCUS reported that arrest warrants for the suspects listed them as being members of the al-Quds Force, which is part of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps and is considered a terrorist organization by the United States.The alleged spies had been monitoring Israeli and Jewish targets, the report said.According to the Kan report, the al-Quds Force had tried to recruit non-Iranian Shiites — primarily those with European citizenship — to establish a terror cell to carry out attacks throughout the continent.Israel’s Ambassador to Germany, Jeremy Issacharoff, told Kan that “the affair should raise a red flag not only in Germany, but in all of Europe.”“The time has come for the Germans and the Europeans to understand what is hidden behind the Iranian smile of recent months,” the ambassador added.Issacharoff said Israel had “bolstered security” at the embassy and that Israelis were “warned” about the incident.The Israeli news report said the Mossad spy agency offered key intelligence in the case. But German prosecutors said authorities searched premises linked to the suspected Iranian spies following an extensive investigation by the country’s domestic intelligence agency.A spokesman for the Federal Prosecutors Office said the raids took place early Tuesday at private homes and offices across Germany, but no arrests were made. He said the suspects are believed to have “spied on institutions and persons in Germany on behalf of an entity associated with Iran.”The spokesman, Stefan Biehl, told The Associated Press that raids were prompted by a tip from Germany’s domestic intelligence service.He declined to comment on the FOCUS report that the suspects were spying on Israelis and Jews.FOCUS reported that the searches — including by police special forces — were carried out in Berlin, Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria and North Rhine-Westphalia.Germany’s Interior Ministry referred questions about the raids to federal prosecutors.Last month, the German government protested to the Iranian ambassador following the conviction of an Iranian agent for spying. The Pakistani man was convicted in Berlin last year of espionage and sentenced to more than four years in prison. His targets included Reinhold Robbe, who headed the German-Israeli Association.Germany’s Foreign Ministry said the Iranian envoy, Ali Majedi, was summoned just before Christmas and told that “spying on people and institutions with a particular relationship to the state of Israel on German soil is a blatant violation of German law.”
Bannon refuses to answer House panel’s questions in Russia probe-Intelligence Committee subpoenas former Trump adviser after he proves uncooperative with its investigation of suspected campaign collusion with Russia-By Tom Lobianco-JAN 17,18TOI
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon on Tuesday refused to answers questions from the House Intelligence Committee about his time working for President Donald Trump, provoking a subpoena from the panel’s Republican chairman.Bannon walked into a closed-door meeting with House members Tuesday morning and was still being grilled Tuesday evening as part of the committee’s investigation into Russian election inference. Lawmakers also wanted answers from him about Trump’s thinking when he fired FBI Director James Comey.The committee chairman, Devin Nunes of California, issued the subpoena after Bannon refused to answer questions about his time on the presidential transition or his work in the Trump White House, said Nunes spokesman Jack Langer. It’s unclear if Bannon was more forthcoming after the issuance of the subpoena.A spokeswoman for Bannon did not respond to multiple requests for comment Tuesday afternoon. A White House official said the White House did not seek to exert executive privilege over Bannon — a move that would have barred him from answering certain questions — because they didn’t have to. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.At the White House, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said “no one” had encouraged Bannon not to be transparent during questioning but there’s a “process of what that looks like.”“As with all congressional inquiries touching upon the White House, Congress must consult with the White House prior to obtaining confidential material. This is part of a judicially recognized process that goes back decades,” Sanders told reporters.The committee also planned to press Bannon on other “executive actions” taken by Trump that have drawn interest from congressional investigators prying into ties between Trump’s campaign and Russian operatives, said another person, who wasn’t authorized to speak on the record about the closed-door session and spoke on condition of anonymity.Those key elements bear directly on the criminal investigation now underway by special counsel Robert Mueller, who is charged with investigating ties between the Trump campaign and Russia and whether the president obstructed justice by firing Comey or by taking other actions to thwart investigators.The focus on Bannon follows his spectacular fall from power after being quoted in a book saying that he sees the president’s son and others as engaging in “treasonous” behavior for taking a meeting with Russians during the 2016 campaign.In Michael Wolff’s “Fire and Fury,” Bannon accuses Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort of essentially betraying the nation by meeting with a group of Russian lawyers and lobbyists who they believed were ready to offer “dirt” on Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.More recently, Bannon has said he was not referring to Trump Jr. but rather to Manafort. Wolff stands by his account.After the book’s release, Trump quickly disavowed “Sloppy Steve Bannon” and argued extensively there was no evidence of collusion between his presidential campaign and operatives tied to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Bannon apologized a few days later but was stripped of his job leading the pro-Trump news site Breitbart News.Bannon last year had largely avoided the scrutiny of congressional investigators, who instead focused much of their energy on trying to secure interviews with top witnesses like Manafort and former national security adviser Michael Flynn.But Bannon played a critical role in the campaign, the presidential transition and the White House — all periods of time now under scrutiny from congressional investigators looking for possible evidence of a connection between Trump’s operations and Russia.Bannon recently retained the same lawyer being used by former Trump chief of staff Reince Priebus and current White House general counsel Don McGahn. Neither Bannon nor his lawyer immediately responded to a request for comment Monday.The House Intelligence Committee is speeding toward a conclusion of its interviews in its Russia investigation. The final result could be marred by partisan infighting, raising the probability that Republicans on the panel will issue one set of findings and the Democrats will issue their own report.
Israeli TV: Abbas fury a response to Saudis revealing Trump’s pro-Israel plan-Report says clauses of 'ultimate deal' include Israeli control over security matters, permanent IDF Jordan Valley presence, and no settlement evacuations-By TOI staff-17 January 2018
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas decided to give his fiery address denouncing Israel and the United States earlier this week after Saudi officials informed him of the parameters of US President Donald Trump’s peace plan, which were overwhelmingly favorable to the Jewish state, Israeli television reported Tuesday.A close associate of the PA president was summoned to Riyadh for an urgent meeting earlier this month. There, the details of Trump’s peace plan — which provides for a “state-minus” — were presented to the Palestinians for the first time, according to Hadashot news.The plan’s main clauses were as follows: less-than-full statehood for the Palestinians, ongoing Israeli control over security matters, a permanent IDF presence in the Jordan Valley, land swaps not based on the pre-1967 lines, no settlement evacuations, and an Israeli veto regarding the final status of Jerusalem, which would be later negotiated by the parties, the TV report said.On Sunday, Abbas gave a particularly harsh address at a meeting of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Central Council, lambasting Trump and rejecting US peace overtures.“We told Trump we will not accept his project, the ‘deal of the century,’ which has become the ‘slap of the century,’” said Abbas on Sunday. “But we will slap back.”In a statement responding to the Tuesday TV report, the White House called it “regrettable that the Palestinian leadership is looking to create a false impression against an unfinished plan they have not even seen,” according to a Hebrew translation of the statement to Hadashot news.“We will present our principles directly to Israelis and Palestinians at the right time and under the right conditions,” the White House statement concluded.Abbas’s combative speech also drew harsh condemnation from Israeli leaders after he called Israel “a colonial project that has nothing to do with Judaism,” and suggested European Jews chose to undergo “murder and slaughter” in the Holocaust rather than emigrate to British-held Palestine. President Reuven Rivlin and ministers subsequently accused the PA leader of peddling anti-Semitic conspiracies.In a bid to defuse the tensions, Trump’s special envoy to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, Jason Greenblatt, is scheduled to arrive in Israel on Wednesday.Greenblatt will take part in meetings with members of the so-called Middle East Quartet — the US, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations, Channel 10 reported Tuesday.Tensions escalated between the US and the Palestinians following Trump’s December 6 recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Abbas slammed the move and said the United States had ended its historic role as the key sponsor for Israel-Palestinian peace talks. Violent riots ensued in the West Bank and Gaza in the weeks following the announcement as Abbas’s Fatah group urged “days of rage” and terror group Hamas demanded a violent new intifada uprising.Also in December, a number of news outlets reported that when Abbas had visited Saudi Arabia in September, Riyadh informed him of the outlines of a peace plan being drawn up by the Trump administration.Among the elements of the Saudi proposal outlined in those earlier reports was the establishment of the capital of a future Palestinian state in Abu Dis, a suburb of Jerusalem in the West Bank, east of Israel’s security barrier.
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