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Warning to Israel – You’re Invincibility is Slipping!

October 1, 2006

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

Israel was too slow in upgrading the armor on their Merkava tank series to keep pace with the anti-tank missile technology developed in Russia and sold to Iran and Syria. This is something I warned about in previous Prophecy Updates and Blogs beginning in 2003. The anti-tank, anti-aircraft, and anti-ship Russian, Chinese, N. Korean, and French missiles, being placed in the hands of the Islamic terrorist groups by Iran and Syria, are leveling the technological playing field between the Arabs and Israel.

The forces of Islam have always had a tremendous advantage in sheer troop numbers, but Israel has possessed a balancing technological advantage. The technological advantage has been, is, and will continue to narrow between them.

I agree with the analytical conclusions drawn by Yaakov Katz in his Jerusalem Post Article, which follows.

Begin Jerusalem Post Article

Analysis: Only an Antimissile System can save Our Tanks

Yaakov Katz, THE JERUSALEM POST

September 29, 2006

The guerrillas lay in specially dug foxholes waiting for the IDF Merkava tanks. Once the tanks were spotted, the Hizbullah fighters pulled out their antitank missiles – some of the most advanced in the world – and within seconds knocked off another Israeli tank and then another.

This is how it worked during Israel’s second war in Lebanon, which brought Military Intelligence to a better understanding of Hizbullah’s fighting tactics.

The guerrilla group would train fighters for specific missions. Unlike IDF infantrymen who are trained for face-to-face combat and to fire antitank missiles in Low Intensity Conflicts (LIC) and conventional warfare, Hizbullah trained its fighters to become experts in a single field – one of those being the antitank missile, which during the war turned into the IDF’s worst nightmare.

Despite the clear threat, the IDF was at a loss for how to stop them. Hizbullah had prepared for the war over the past six years and alongside the close to 15,000 Katyusha short-range rockets, the guerrilla group also hoarded thousands of antitank missiles, including the Soviet-built Sagger, Cornet and Fagot, the French MILAN and the US-built TOW, all supplied by Iran and Syria.

The missiles wreaked havoc and destruction within the IDF’ s armored brigade

s, killing more than 30 soldiers and disabling some 40 tanks. The damage to the tanks and the large number of casualties has some defense officials asking whether tanks are still needed to combat Israel’s current threats. Many military experts believe that

the era of conventional ground battles is a thing of the past.

While that might be true, the recent war in Lebanon demonstrated how not every threat can be eliminated by the air and in order to dig out enemy fortifications

and bunkers, a strong ground operation, including tanks, is needed.

The US Army is also continuing to use its armored corps and, according to a recent report by NBC, rocket propelled grenades (RPG) have killed nearly 40 American soldiers in Afghanistan and more than 130 in Iraq.

“Tanks are definitely still needed on the battlefield,” said a high-ranking IDF officer with Ground Forces Command. “But we need to find the right combination and utilize it properly while emphasizing its strengths.”

The tank, this officer admits, does need to undergo technological advancements to remain applicable to the current type of urban and LIC warfare going on in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and within Lebanese villages.

What could save the tank from extinction is an active protection system that can intercept incoming antitank missiles. Such a system is currently being developed by two major Israeli defense companies, Rafael (Israel’s Armament Development Authority) and Israeli Military Industries (IMI).

The General Staff is scheduled to meet in the coming weeks for its annual budget workshop, a series of meetings during which the military decides where to invest its money and from whom to procure new systems.

One of the main issues that will come up during the meeting is the future of the Merkava tank. At the moment, senior officers said there were no plans to close down the project, although the generals will decide during the workshop how many tanks they plan to order over the coming years.

What will keep the tanks alive is not only the continuation of the Merkava project, but also the investment and installation of an antimissile defense system for Israeli tanks.

As one senior Armored Corps officer said: “This system could mean life or death, not only for the crew but also for the tank.”

End Jerusalem Post Article

Isaiah 50:11 – Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks: walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled.

This shall ye have of mine hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow.

Throughout the history of Israel in the Old Testament, Israel turned to the nations around her for treaties to protect her from her enemies, rather than to her God. And, when she was strong, and did not believe she needed treaties with the nations around her to protect herself, she walked in the light of the sparks generated by the power of her own fire she thought she had created.

Israel has won every conflict or war she has fought with her Islamic neighbors since 1948, and the sparks of her many victories have caused a glorious light produced by them, making her see a halo of invincibility around herself, which she believes comes from her own power and expertise. Israel is literally walking in the light generated by self created sparks, not by faith in the ability of the light and power of her God to lead and protect her. She is going to “lie down in sorrow” in the Negev for three and one-half years because of faith in her own hands, rather than in the hand of her Messiah.

I Thessalonians 5:3,4 – For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

[4] But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.

Zechariah 13:8 – And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein.

Revelation 12:6 – And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.

Zechariah 13:9 – And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God.

Jeremiah 30:7 – Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.

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Military Intelligence Sees Possibility of Eventual Syrian Attack with Weaponry Replenished in Lebanon and Gaza by Land, Sea, and Air!

September 29, 2006

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/
For 33 years Israeli Intelligence has doubted the possibility Syria would ever attack Israel again, after being soundly defeated in 1948, 1967, and 1973. However, the rise of Iran as its partner and the recent Israeli conflict with Lebanon, is giving rise to the possibility of a future attack by Syria against Israel. My guesstimate is that an attack

is likely to occur at some point in time between 2008 and 2012.

Begin Arutz Sheva Article

Arutz Sheva – Israel National News

Military Intelligence: Syrian Front Now Cause for Concern

Thursday, September 28, 2006 / 6 Tishrei 5767

Changing its long-time assessment regarding the Syrian threat, military intelligence now believes Damascus might launch an attack or a military action against Israel.

For the first time in many years, IDF intelligence officials are signaling concern regarding the northern border with Syria, indicating President Bashar al-Assad’s administration is contemplating a military offensive against Israel. Officials are careful to point out that at present such a p

ossibility is only in the dialogue stage, explaining Syria has not taken any operational steps towards a military action, but that in many cases such thoughts do ultimately express themselves in actions.

Eisenkott Appointed as IDF Northern Commander

On Wednesday, Defense Minister Amir Peretz gave his approval for IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz’s appointment for the new northern commander, Major-General Gadi Eisenkott, presently the IDF’s Chief of Operations. The other serious contender for the post was IDF Southern Command Chief Major-General Yoav Gallant. Gallant, some explain was not a real contender since Peretz realized that while he is capable enough for the position, he has only been serving as Southern Commander for less than a year and a transfer on two fronts would cause too much havoc in the IDF. This with the knowledge that at the end of the year, Central Commander Major-General Yair Naveh will also be resigning from his post.

Eisenkott, 46, has been serving in the IDF for 27 years. He spent most of his years in the Golani Brigade. He served as military secretary to Prime Minister/Defense Minister Ehud Barak. He is viewed as a respected member of the General Staff.

Some critics oppose the appointment, explaining that Eisenkott is one of a number of senior officers who will be questioned and debriefed by the Winograd Commission investigating the war in Lebanon. This they explain may lead to further embarrassment following his new appointment.

Others explain that Eisenkott was a model of stability and professionalism during the war, an “anchor” on the General Staff who continued acting in a professional fashion despite the chaos that prevailed in senior military circles. Officials in the Northern Command expressed satisfaction over the appointment.

Knesset Speaker Calls for Peace Talks With Syria

While army intelligence is concerned over the growing threat from Damascus, Knesset Speaker (Labor) Dalia Itzik is calling “not to miss the opportunity” to enter into dialogue with Syria, seeking to avert a military conflict.

Itzik insists that Assad has repeatedly made peace overtures, exhibiting a willingness to enter into negotiations with Israel, and that if Jerusalem turns her back on such statements, perhaps a last opportunity towards dialogue will be lost forever.

Itzik continues to encourage senior government ministers to take Assad’s statements seriously and begin opening diplomatic channels that could lead to a peace agreement, stating such an accomplishment could have a widespread political impact. Itzik will appear in an exclusive extended Yom Kippur interview on her call for negotiations with Syria in the daily Ma’ariv.

Peres: The Syrian Administration Opposes Peace

Vice Premier Shimon Peres, who released a statement in London earlier this week, stated that Bashar al-Assad is providing refuge for a wanted terrorist, referring to Hamas politburo leader Khaled Meshal. It is Meshal who is preventing the release of captive soldier Gilad Shalit, Peres went on to explain, adding that even the PA (Palestinian Authority) Hamas-led administration wishes to release Shalit at this point.

“If his father Hafez [al-Assad] would only have come to Camp David with Sadat, the Golan Heights would have already been in his hands for years. They are opponents to peace,” stated Peres.

Army Intelligence Not Taking Peace Overtures Seriously

Military intelligence during the past year has discarded statements calling for peace by Assad. Both governmental and intelligence communities during the previous Sharon administration were in agreement, that calls for peace by the Syrian leader have not been sincere, and were nothing more that Syria’s ploy towards compelling Israel to retreat from the Golan Heights, which was liberated in the June 1967 Six Day War.

Itzik’s Statements UndermineAmerican Policy

Analysts point out that Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik’s calls to open a dialogue with Damascus openly undermine American policy. Her repeated statements come at a time when the United States is working to enlist support for calls to impose sanctions on Syria, seeking to isolate Damascus from the world community.

Secretary of State Rice has been signaling Jerusalem to refrain from such open statements at this time while the State Department is seeking to enlist allies to pressure Assad into backing down.

America accuses Syria of “supporting terror,” as does Israel and analysts explain that these remarks by the Knesset Speaker are most untimely and unwanted at this time, especially with the realization that Syria’s willingness to permit Hizbullah weapons to reach southern Lebanon continues to infuse life into the terror organization.

End Arutz Sheva Article

Begin DEBKAfile Article

Shin Bet chief accuses Egypt of closing its eyes to Palestinian arms smuggling to Gaza. But DEBKAfile reports its volume is dwarfed by Hizballah’s illegal imports

September 27, 2006, 9:36 PM (GMT+02:00)

Diskin informed the cabinet Wednesday, Sept 27, that since Israel pulled out of the Gaza Strip, 19 tons of explosives have passed through Sinai to the Gaza Strip.

“The Egyptians know who the smugglers are – we gave them intelligence – but they are doing nothing,” he said.

DEBKAfile’s military sources disclose that while Egypt helps the Palestinians move the tools of war into Gaza, the Syrians have established large arms dumps for the fresh war materiel incoming from Iran and Syria itself on the Syrian side of the Lebanese border.

It can be moved over to any part of Lebanon in an instant.

This device enables Damascus to keep Hizballah re-supplied while pretending to uphold the arms embargo ordered in Security Council resolution 1701.

Our sources reveal 25 of these large weapons stores have been located in Syrian army camps, air bases and security installations close to the Lebanese border. They contain miscellaneous missiles, including the latest models of surface-to-air and anti-tank rockets, all sorted and marked by type of weapon and the Hizballah units for which they are destined.

Drawing on the lessons of the Lebanon war, Iranian Revolutionary Guards supply and engineering corps have dropped the use of arms trucks which drew Israeli air attacks and have attached expert “smuggling squads” to each Hizballah unit.

Syria is also topping up Hizballah’s war losses of ammunition and shells as well s mortars, machine guns, grenades, anti-tank missiles, explosives and automatic rifles.

The weapons supply situation for the Palestinians in the south and Hizballah in north means that both are in equipped with enough war materiel to open simultaneous fronts against Israel from both ends of the country.

Senior Israeli officers say that the government in Jerusalem and the military high command have been sitting on their hands since the August 14 ceasefire instead of dealing with the dual war threat.

The Shin Bet director is not alone in sounding a warning note; a past Navy commander and Shin Bet chief, the Labor MK Ami Ayalon, bluntly contradicted his own party leader, defense minister Amir Peretz, at a briefing to the Knesset foreign affairs and security committee Tuesday, Sept 26.

He reported according from his naval intelligence sources that UNIFIL’s naval control of Lebanon’s sea lanes is totally ineffective and Hizballah’s weapons

End DEBKAfile Report

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What will the U.S. and Israel do about Iran�

��s Nuclear Facilities?

September 29, 2006

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

One of the questions I have been asked repeatedly since we started this web site is the title of this blog. I have pondered over this question since the first inklings of news reports that Iran was trying to develop nuclear weapons following their war with Iraq. My answer to the question is the same as expressed by Larry Derfner in the Jerusalem Post article which follows. Before Iran began to scatter out its nuclear facilities I thought we still had a chance to temporarily take them out with a strike using conventional weapons, but once they put them deep in the earth, and hardened them, I believe that option disappeared. Their acquiring of sophisticated Russian surface-to-air missiles, to place around their facilities, has also been a detriment to using conventional techniques to eliminate them.

Begin Jerusalem Post Article

Rattling the Cage: The big con about Iran

Larry Derfner, THE JERUSALEM POST

September 27, 2006

Despite all the skepticism, the US and Israel do have a military option in Iran: preemptive nuclear annihilation.

The US and Israel, or the US by itself, or maybe even Israel by itself, can destroy Iran and its 69 million people, probably in a matter of hours or even less, and then nobody in the world will have to worry about those crazy maniacs getting the bomb. Things would be sort of weird afterward, it’s hard to say what the consequences might be, but the Iranian threat would be behind us.

Other than that, though, there is no military option in Iran. If we didn’t learn this from the Americans’ ongoing experience in Iraq, we should have learned it from Israel’s recent experience in Lebanon.

Many people think it’s possible to wipe out Iran’s nuclear facilities, or at least cripple them, from the air. But did Israel manage to wipe out or cripple Hizbullah’s weapons from the air? Incidentally, Iran is about 150 times the size of Lebanon. And Hizbullah’s underground military bunkers were built by the Iranians; imagine what they’ve built for themselves at home.

But I don’t want to misrepresent the case for an air attack on Iran’s nuclear works; those in favor allow that it might well require commandos and maybe small infantry units to ferret out the nukes and make sure they’re destroyed.

When I hear this, I think of American soldiers roaming around Iraq looking futilely for weapons of mass destruction, then I remember that Iran is four times bigger than Iraq, with more than twice the population, and a military that dwarfs what Iraq had when the US invaded in 2003.

I think, also, of how small units of Israeli infantry went into south Lebanon at the start of this summer’s war, and how everyone soon realized that those soldiers wouldn’t be enough – which happened at about the same time everyone realized the Air Force wouldn’t be enough, either – and that instead, a massive ground invasion would be necessary.

And all that was just for tiny little Hizbullah and south Lebanon. How many troops and how big a war effort would be needed to take on Iran?

No one knows.

How long would the soldiers have to stay in Iran before the nuclear threat were removed, if it could be removed? How would Iran fight back? Would it fire missiles at Israel? Would it use chemical and biological weapons? How far beyond Iran would the war spread? How many soldiers and civilians would die?

Again, nobody knows. And on the basis of what we’ve seen in Iraq and Lebanon, nobody can even make a decent guess, least of all the calm, confident generals and politicians who are so good at promising “victory.”

But I think people know by now that before a country goes to war, it has to be prepared to weather the worst possibilities, not just the most blissful ones. I don’t think anybody will believe the same sort of pie-in-the-sky predictions about fighting war in Iran that they believed about fighting one in Iraq and in Lebanon. And I suspect the non-believers include George W. Bush and Ehud Olmert, no matter what they say publicly.

I FIGURE they know that trying to take out Iran’s nuclear facilities by conventional means requires a huge military commitment and huge risks with no guarantee of success. It means being prepared for a much bigger war than the US has been fighting in Iraq for the last 3-1/2 years, and counting.

America won’t do it. No way on earth. With the US so hopelessly out of its depth in Iraq, the American people will as soon let Bush start a war in Iran as they’d let him bring back the draft, which would be necessary to fight such a war. So forget it. America might be up for a quick little in-and-out operation, something like it did in Granada or Panama, but that’s not a military option with the likes of Iran.

And what is Israel going to do? It would be nice to have maps and satellite photos of a big, vulnerable Iranian nuclear reactor sitting out there on the ground in plain sight, so a few jets could fly over, bomb it to hell and fly back in time for dinner, just like they did in Iraq in 1981. But that isn’t an option this time, either. Iran’s nuclear facilities, wherever they all might be, are spread out, underground, thickly defended – and the element of surprise is long gone.

So with no quick, painless solution available, is Israel willing to start the kind of war necessary to even have a chance of getting rid of Iran’s nuclear potential – to start the kind of war America clearly won’t?

No, Israel isn’t willing. For a war of choice, this is too big and dangerous, and that’s what it would be – a war of choice.

Israelis may have convinced themselves that Iran will nuke us once they get the chance, but while this is a possibility – a remote one, I think – it is by no means an inevitability, and to treat it as such is hysterical, which is what Israelis, inevitably, have become over Iran.

I’m not saying Iran, especially a nuclear Iran, is nothing to worry about. Iran is plenty to worry about, but as for what to do about Iran, how to stop it from getting nuclear weapons, neither the US nor Israel nor anyone else has a conventional military way to go about it.

There are all sorts of diplomatic pressures that can be applied to Iran and its arms suppliers, but if Iran gets the bomb, which I think is likely, we are going to have to learn to live with it like we lived with Stalin and Mao having the bomb. They weren’ t any less fana

tical than the Iranians, and when it comes to genocide and conquest, the Iranians talk about it, but Stalin and Mao did it.

So there’s good reason for worry, but not for hysteria.

Still, like I said at the beginning, there is an option for preventing Iran from getting nuclear weapons by nuking it first. Now I know some of you reading this are thinking: “Yeah!” And I know you’re not kidding, you really mean it.

But I’m sorry, even if it sounds unfair to you, preemptive nuclear annihilation is only a theoretical option, not a real, live one. A country, even the US or Israel, can’t just snuff another country because of what it thinks that country might do to it in the future. Some of you may be asking: “Why not?” I’d explain, but it would probably make you angry.

That’s just the way it is – no mushroom clouds for Iran.

All you can do is dream.

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Syria and Lebanon Preparing for Jihad from the North!

September 28, 2006

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

The three articles from World Net Daily, DEBKAfile, and Middle East News Line, give a good account of initial preparations by Lebanon and Syria for an attack against Israel, which I have guesstimated is likely to start at some point in time between 2008 and 2012. The question is not IF the attack will occur, the only question is WHEN, and a lot of other prophetic questions will be answered WHEN it occurs.

The dramatic and dynamic chaotic changes per un it time after this attack occurs will be the most frightening time of the Age of the Gentiles, and a horrific way to end

it. The President of Iran has repeatedly stated he believes his role in these days is to stir up chaos.

The chaos God will stir up is so much more that the Iranian leader can begin to imagine.

Joel 2:30,31 – And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. [31] The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come.

Joel 3:14,15 – Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. [15] The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.

Daniel 12:1 – And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that

shall be found written in the book.

Matthew 24:21,22 – For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.

[22] And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.

Begin World Net Daily Article from Daily Alert

Hizballah Moving Rockets Near Israeli Border

Aaron Klein (World Net Daily)

September 27, 2006

Hizballah has been transporting rockets and heavy weaponry to Palestinian camps in south Lebanon just a few miles from the Israeli border, according to Lebanese officials

.

The office of Lebanese Prime Minister Faud Siniora sent a letter last week to Abbas Zakir, the PA’s most senior representative in Lebanon, outlining the Hizballah weapons transfers into Palestinian camps.

A senior Lebanese official said Hizballah started building a new set of bunker systems, this time in Palestinian camps.

“The Lebanese Army doesn’t have the authority to patrol inside the camps,” said the official.

“Hizballah knows it is safe there to rebuild their war bunkers, and they began doing so with Iranian help.”

End World Net Daily Article from Daily Alert

Begin DEBKAfile Report

UN Force in Lebanon is defined more by what it cannot do than what it can – NY Times. Israeli troops stand by as Hizballah rearms

September 26, 2006, 12:01 PM (GMT+02:00)

The United Nations force

created to police southern Lebanon faces not only a threatening al Qaeda presence cheek by jowl, but endless handicaps in performing its mandated functions. The New York Times correspondent reports: One month after a UN Security Council resolution ended a 34-day war… the international force members say “they cannot set up checkpoints, search cars, homes or businesses or detain suspects. If they see a truck transporting missiles, for example (in violation of the UN arms embargo), they cannot stop it… because under their interpretation of the Security Council resolution (1701) that deployed them, they must first be authorized to take such action by the Lebanese army.” And whereas the Security Council allocated 15,000 troops to expanded UNIFIL, only 5,000 are deployed. According to the NYT, the UN commanders repeat as a mantra that their job is to respect Lebanese sovereignty by supporting the Lebanese army. “They will only do what the Lebanese authorities ask.”

DEBKAfile adds: More than 40% of the Lebanese army consists of Shiites. Their loyalty goes first to Hizballah or their Shiite commanders rather than the Lebanese government.

Israeli officials and commanders have their own mantra which is that there is no Hizballah activity on the ground. The last Israeli forces can therefore pull out of South Lebanon by the end of the month.

DEBKAfile notes that the Olmert government continues to cover up the failure of its war objectives by polishing up its aftermath. The truth is that Hizballah activities are intense but do not figure in the reports of UNIFIL’ s European contingent

s, which have their own agenda. This agenda has whittled down most elements of the mission assigned the UN force by Resolution 1701, which was approved in the first place to prevent Hizballah from continuing its attacks on Israel and destabilizing the area. As for the demand to disarm Hizballah, the paper quotes local Shiites as making it clear “they will fight anybody who tries to take Hizballah’s weapons away. For the forces to remain welcome they must demonstrate they are there to protect the Lebanese from Israel – not to police the Lebanese on behalf of Israel.”

DEBKAfile adds: Hizballah would not need to fight the international force. Al Qaeda’s second-in-command Ayman Zawahiri stated in his last videotape this month that UNIFIL in Lebanon is a target for terrorist attack. Hizballah’s hands can therefore stay clean. US Intelligence Director John Negroponte reported last week that Qaeda’s expansion into Lebanon, exploiting the conflict there, is being taken seriously.

The chasm between the Sunni Muslim al Qaeda and Lebanon’s Shiite Hizballah is no bar to collaboration. However, from the Israeli side of the border, yellow-clad, Hizballah flag-waving demonstrators are photographed day by day, throwing rocks at Israeli vehicles and moving into the former locations of the destroyed Hizballah positions. DEBKAfile’s military sources report that just a month after the ceasefire went into effect, Hizballah’s arsenals are filling up again as trucks head south from central and northern Lebanon unimpeded by Israeli or international troops. Israel has still not appointed a new head of the IDF’s Northern command to replace the war commander Maj.-Gen Udi Adam who stepped down last week. As for the international force, its “robust” policing operations have more or less been relegated to the archives of the UN Security Council.

End DEBKAfile Report

Begin MENL Article

Syria prepares for war against Israel – plans human shields for Golan Assault

TEL AVIV – Middle East News Line [MENL]

Syria, buoyed by Hizbullah’s success against Israel, has ordered its military to prepare for a regional war with the Jewish state.

Israeli intelligence sources said Syrian President Bashar Assad has ordered a series of measures meant to bolster the preparedness of his military.

The sources cited increased training, exercises, procurement as well as an examination of Israeli ground and air battles in Lebanon in July and August.

“We see signs of a new strategy in the Syrian military based on the lessons from the Hizbullah war,” an intelligence source said. “It could take months until the picture becomes clearer.”

The sources said the Intelligence Corps has detected Syrian activities in the Golan Heights that could mark preparations for another war. They said Syria appeared to be planning to bring people to the Golan to serve as a human shield during any conflict with Israel.

End MENL Article

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A DISTURBING TREND – Increasing Trend among the Palestinians toward Support for Terrorist Groups – Moderation Growing Among Israelis for Negotiations with Hamas-Led PA Government.

September 27, 2006

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

If the trend described in the Jerusalem Post Article by Khaled Abu Toameh, which follows, is correct, and if it continues, then it is possible Israel could end up negotiating a “hudna” with the Hamas-Led PA government as part of the so-called quartet peace plan.

A “hudna” is the worst thing Israel could agree to accept, but it is probably the only thing that could get the backing of the most extreme terrorist groups, such as the Al Aksa Martyr’s Brigades and the Islamic Jihad inside Israel, who are the one’s primarily responsible for the Kassam rocket launches out of the Gaza Strip and West Bank. A hudna is the only thing that could stop the in-country rocket attacks except for complete destruction of the entire Palestinian population. The use of a hudna by Islam would be very advantageous to all the terrorist groups in Israel, as you can see from the article which follows the Jerusalem Post article.

Begin Jerusalem Post Article

Hizbullah inspires 63% of Palestinians

Khaled Abu Toameh, THE JERUSALEM POST

September 26, 2006

Hizbullah tactics against Israel provide an “attractive model” for Palestinians’ armed resistance, according to a poll of Israeli and Palestinian public opinion conducted by the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in Ramallah.

In the poll, which was conducted last week, nearly two-thirds of the Palestinians (63%) agreed that Palestinians should emulate Hizbullah’s methods by launching rockets at Israeli cities, compared to 35% who disagreed.

Similar levels of support for copying Hizbullah’s methods were obtained in July 2000, following Israel’s evacuation of Southern Lebanon (65% of the Palestinians supported it then, with 27% who opposed).

The latest poll also showed that a majority of Palestinians [57%] support armed attacks against Israeli civilians inside Israel.

Another 75% of the Palestinians support the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers as bargaining chips for the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.

Despite these militant views in the aftermath of the war in Lebanon, 77% of Palestinians support the call for a ceasefire between Palestinians and Israelis and 74% believe that Palestinians cannot depend on armed action only and must reach a political settlement with Israel.

Among Israelis polled, 67% supported negotiations with a Palestinian unity government that includes Hamas. Even under conditions of a
Hamas-led government, increased moderation can be seen among Israelis, with 56% supporting and 43% opposing talks with a Hamas government.

The total Palestinian sample size in the poll was 1270 adults interviewed face-to-face in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The margin of error is 3%. The Israeli data was based on telephone interviews with a representative sample of 500 Israeli Jews and 401 Israeli Arabs.

End Jerusalem Post Article

The “Hudna” Talks and the False Peace

I Thessalonians 5:3,4 – For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

[4] But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.

(See Archive Prophecy Update Numbers 3, 21, 59, 60, 66A, 67A, and 70)

The articles appearing in the various press releases often are prone to simply apply the word “truce” to “hudna,” and while that is not incorrect, one does need to understand that, according to the historical Islamic way of thinking, it has a more sinister confrontational aspect to it.

According to Umdat as-Salik, a medieval summary of Shafi’I jurisprudence, a “hudna” with a non-Muslim enemy should be limited to 10 years: “if Muslims are weak, a truce may be made for 10 years if necessary, for the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) made a hudna with the Quraysh for that long, as is related by Abu Dawud” (‘Umdat as-Salik, 09.16). What happened during that hudna is burned into the minds of Islamic terrorists as a historical pattern to follow.

The Prophet Mohammad did strike a 10 year hudna with the Quraysh tribe that controlled Mecca in the seventh century. But he used the first two years of hudna to rearm and refurbish his army, and then used a minor infraction to break the hudna and launch the attack that made a full conquest of Mecca, the holiest city of Islam.

When Yassar Arafat infamously invoked Mohammad’s “hudna” in 1994 to describe his own Oslo program of deceit “on the road to Jerusalem,” the implication was clear to his Islamic brethren. Middle East expert Daniel Pipes explained it this way: “when his circumstances change for the better, he will take advantage of some technicality to tear up the existing accords and launch a military assault on Israel.” And, indeed, this is what he did when Ariel Sharon visited the Temple Mount. He used it as an excuse to launch the current intifada on Jewish citizens in September 2000.

As for Hamas, they have proven time and time again their commitment to a “tactical hudna,” which allows them time to replenish their strength during the hudna period.

Incidentally, the root meaning of the Arabic word “hudna” simply means “quiet” or “calm.” Hamas and the other terrorist groups will take advantage of the “calm” period to rebuild their infrastructures and to recruit and place their men and women in advantageous positions for future attacks. The most extreme terrorist groups would never accept a lasting “peace treaty,” but they are likely to accept a “hudna,” which the world looks at as a “peace treaty,” but they look upon as a time of “quiet” (no rocket launches) to rebuild their forces for a fin

al victory over their enemies.

We are headed for a peace between the Palestinians and Israel. But, according to the character and practices of Islam, regardless of how it eventually arrives, it will be broken as soon as the Palestinians recover from their six year grinding to powder by the Israeli military.

And it is certainly important to know that, according to the Scripture, it must be a false peace of relatively short duration, and will be followed by a most vicious attack against Israel. The attack will internally come from inside Israel out of a newly created Palestinian state, and externally from outside Israel’s borders by nine other Islamic nations.

Regardless of the factors involved, and the terms used by both sides in this long struggle between Israel and her Islamic enemies within and without, such as hudna, intifada, unilateral, two things are certain – one, Israel will finally believe it has achieved “Peace and safety,” and two, the Islamic nations will have made the peace with an evil thought, knowing they will proceed against the Israeli population that has enclosed the Palestinians by a wall, but left their own cities outside this wall in a condition of having no walls facing the rest of the world of Islam.

Ezekiel 38:10-12 – Thus saith the Lord God; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think AN EVIL THOUGHT: [11] And thou shalt say, I will go up to the LAND OF UNWALLED villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that DWELL SAFELY, all of them dwelling WITHOUT WALLS, and having neither bars nor gates, [12] To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and UPON THE PEOPLE THAT ARE GATHERED OUT OF THE NATIONS, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.

(See Archive Prophecy Update Number 31)

Zechariah 13:8 – And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but THE THIRD shall be left therein. (See Archive Prophecy Update Numbers 28, 33, 40, 46, 71, 78, 88A, 112, 129B, and 130)

Revelation 12:6 – And THE WOMAN fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days. (See Archive Birth Pang Number 36 and Archive Prophecy Update Numbers 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10)

Zechariah 14:2 – For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and

the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. (See Archive Prophecy Update Number 132 and 133B)

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