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Still holding my Bre ath on Hudn

a Lasting plus Sudan proves it is a Horned Toe!

November 28, 2006

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

In the long run, if the Hudna (Ceasefire) lasts, Israel will end up fleeing to the Negev eventually. But on the other hand, if the Hudna ends tomorrow, Israel will eventually end up fleeing into the Negev. And then again, if Israel reoccupies the Gaza Strip, Israel will eventually end up fleeing into the Negev. However, if Iran gets a nuclear warhead, Israel will eventually end up fleeing into the Negev. But, if Iran does not develop a nuclear weapon, Israel will flee into the Negev.

And, oh yes, some three and one half years after one-third of Israel arrives in the Negev, this will happen!

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.

Isaiah 41:20 – That they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the Lord hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it.

Begin Article One

Olmert: We’re ‘disappointed’ by Kassam Rocket Fire

JPost.com Staff, THE JERUSALEM POST

November 28, 2006
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Tuesday evening that “we are a little disappointed by the continuation of Kassam rocket fire at the South by the Palestinians.”

Earlier in the evening, two Kassam rockets landed by a Sderot cemetery.

No one was wounded.

Speaking at a meeting with European Union envoys at the Finnish Embassy, Olmert added, “I hope very much that the Palestinians will honor their obligations and stop the fire.”

End Article One

Begin Extract from Article Two

Sudan’s president spews anti-Semitism

David Byers, Special to the Jerusalem Post

THE JERUSALEM POST

November 28, 2006

Sudan’s President Field Marshal Omar Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir claimed Tuesday that reports in western newspapers of hundreds of thousands dead in his country’s brutal civil war are all part of an Israeli-led worldwide conspiracy.

In a rambling video-link interview from Khartoum, in which he connected with journalists based in eight different countries, al-Bashir also claimed fatality levels in Darfur were “less than 9,000,” instead of a figure of upwards of 400,000 quoted in much of the media, and accepted by the United Nations.

Al-Bashir asserted that all talk of a serious conflict – and accusations that his Government has supported, trained and armed the brutal Arab Janjaweed militia, which has displaced, raped and robbed an estimated 2.5 million people in Darfur – were a western conspiracy engineered by Israel to divert attention from the conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Palestinian territories.

He also blamed Chad for financing and sponsoring the rebels, and denied any responsibility for supporting the Janjaweed.

However, just hours after his interview, which included answering questions of this Jerusalem Post correspondent based in Berlin, aid agencies revealed the true scale of the horror in Darfur.

Speaking to the Post from another Berlin press conference, Vincent Hoedt, who was last year the head of mission in Darfur for the Medecins Sans Frontiers agency, said parts of Darfur were now out of bounds to his agency because staff fear attack from the multitude of tribal forces engaged in the conflict.

He revealed that 17 Medicins Sans Frontiers were beaten up recently by tribes ordering the evacuation of a village, and said there had been “incredible” casualties.

The conflict, in the Darfur region of western Sudan, is mainly being fought between the Janjaweed and the other, mostly land-tilling tribes, of the region. The Sudanese Government is accused in participating in joint attacks with the Janjaweed, systematically targeting the Fur, Zaghawa, and Massaleit ethnic groups in Darfur. It started in 2003.

In statements that appeared to be more in keeping with 1920s anti-Semitism than statesmanship, Field Marshal al-Bashir added that Israeli influence was at the center of the conflict, and all the world’s disputes.

“You cannot at all rule out the Israeli role in any problem that any Arab country is facing because the security of Israel is based on weakening Arab states,” he said.

“Israel would do everything through their media and their different mechanisms – you can’t deny they have such influence in circles all over the world so they can do what they want.”

Appearing to believe that western media are controlled by their governments, Field Marshal al-Bashir claimed

that America and Britain had asked Sudan to recognize Israel and hinted negative coverage of the Darfur conflict could stop as a result.

“Since we took power, these messages have never stopped. They (America, Britain and Israel) would like to divert the Arabs from the central cause of the Arabs, which is Palestine.

“This is a camouflage for what is happening in Iraq, in Palestine, in Afghanistan.”

Field Marshal al-Bashir also refused to call in outside help from the United Nations, claiming the organization is infiltrated by western agents from the US and Britain, and praised Saddam Hussein’s regime for creating a country which contained “the best Arab citizens in terms of livelihood and stability.”

However, Mr. Hoedt – now in Amsterdam coordinating the Sudanese mission having returned from Sudan himself six months ago – said in a one-on-one interview at the end of a Berlin press conference yesterday that evidence from aid agencies’ experiences was that there must have been hundreds of thousands of casualties, although there are no exact figures. Hoedt confirmed that the aid agencies’ ability to do their work

is being hampered by growing hostility.

“We came to the conclusion that incredible numbers must have died, but (whether that is) 200,000, 300,000 or 400,000, we do not know,” he said.

Hoedt added that growing hostility towards all foreigners meant that Medecins Sans Frontiers was struggling to do its work.

“Seventeen of our staff, who were working with displaced people in southern Darfur, got beaten up when rebels evacuated the area,” he said.

“Darfur is a difficult place to work.

We do get affected by a lot of menace, a lot of robberies and threats to our security.”

End Extract from Article 2

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The Best Offense is a Good Defense in Sports and War!

November 28, 2006

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

I have heard the oft-used expression “The Best Offense is a Good Defense” used countless times by football coaches. I have long believed that the major reason Iran is so desperate to produce nuclear weapons is for a credible defensive deterrent, which would allow Islam to launch a major conventional war against Israel. Iran, and all the other Islamic nations, are acutely aware that the massive nuclear arsenals of Europe, the United States, and Israel would wipe Iran off the face of the earth, if she launched a nuclear warhead against Israel. They know that Israel will not launch weapons of mass destruction (WMD) against them, unless they are first launched against them.

It is possible for 10 Arab Nations to drive Israel into the Negev. It is not possible for 10 Arab Nations to win a WMD war against Israel – But it is possible for them to win a high tech convention war against them. It has always been known that the major warring advantage of the Arab world against Israel is “numbers,” not WMD’s. I believe the 10 most likely candidate nations for the 10 toes and 10 horns of Revelation and Daniel are Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Sudan, Lebanon, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iraq. The populations of these 10 countries total more than 318 million, while the population of Israel totals just over seven million, 20 percent of which are Muslims. I do not believe Israel will launch WMD’s unless they are first sent against her – To do so would give Russia and China a “sort” of international justification to launch against them. No one wants a thermonuclear war, and this includes Islam.

They would like to have a few people left around to worship Allah. (Please take a look at Archive Prophecy Update 187A to see my reasons why I do not believe the coming Middle East war will be a nuclear war).

Leaders of clay Islamic nations like Iraq are being courted to join forces with the leaders of iron nations like Iran and Syria to become a part of a 10 toed force united against Israel. Leaders are scurrying like ants from one capital to another to build an iron and clay Islamic Kingdom that will hold together until Messiah comes.

Daniel 2:42-44 – And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong,

and partly broken. [43] And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay. [44] And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.

Jesus is the living stone out of God, the Eternal Mountain, who destroys the Islamic Kingdom of 10 toes. The 10 will come out of sections of four ancient empires, namely, the Babylonian, the Persian, the Grecian, and the southern half of the Roman Empire. Jesus will set up his kingdom on this earth when he returns to defeat the armies of Antichrist at the final battle of Armageddon.

Daniel 2:45 – Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.

The stage for Jihad is being set by building an Arab conventional war bonding of Islamic clay and Iran around Israel, while the Arabs build a nuclear shield around themselves. Israel will be driven into the Negev by great numbers and high tech conventional weapons.

Please consider the Articles which follow. They lend credence to my frequently stated guesstimate that a high tech conventional attack will be launched into Israel by Islamic nations at some point in time between 2008 and 2012. They are merely bracing themselves defensively against an aerial retaliation by Israeli missiles and planes. As I have stated for more than 30 years, WHEN is always a guesstimate until it actually happens, but it WILL happen, and the stage is being set for the event.

Begin Jerusalem Post Article

Hizbullah: Missile supply back to 100%

JPost.com Staff, THE JERUSALEM POST

November 25, 2006

Hizbullah has been successful in restocking their missile supply after last summer’s war with Israel, diplomatic sources in Beirut told Time magazine Friday.

According to the report, Hizbullah currently has an estimated 20,000 short-range rockets. The report contradicted an Israeli estimate in which Hizbullah was said to have acquired only half the number of rockets that they had before the war.

During the war with Israel, Hizbullah fired over 3,000 rockets.

Sources in Saudi Arabia claimed that Iran and Syria were behind the rearmament, supplying the guerilla organization with enough ammo to return to its former strength.

“The arms pipeline from Iran through Syria started to function even during the war,” one source in Beirut said.

Officials in Iran and Syria continued to deny the claim that they provided Hizbullah with arms.

End Jerusalem Post Article

Begin DEBKAfile Article Number 1

DEBKAfile reports: Russia sells Iran sophisticated missile systems capable of repelling US or Israeli air or missile assaults

November 25, 2006, 10:04 AM (GMT+02:00)

The first of 29 Tor-M1 systems in the $700m deal have been delivered to Iran by Moscow despite US opposition to their sale of a weapon widely regarded as

the most advanced of its kind in the world. Some Iranian and Russian air defense experts say its full deployment at Iran’s nuclear installations will make them virtually invulnerable to American or Israeli attack in the foreseeable future. Therefore, no more than six months remain, until the Russian Tor-M1 systems are in place, for any attempt to knock out Iran’s nuclear weapons industry.

DEBKAfile’s military sources disclose that Iran’s military and Revolutionary Guards units are on top war alert for the second month. Their fighters and bombers are parked on the runways ready for takeoff, their surface missiles including Shehab are a button’s push away from firing and their war ships and submarines cruise out at sea in the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea. Tehran is determined not to be caught napping by any surprise attacks. The fact that officials in Moscow, albeit unidentified, announced the Tor-M1 missile’s delivery to Iran indicates the Russian president Vladimir Putin has decided to shrug off US objections, including a request put to him in person by President George W.

Bush when they talked in Moscow and Hanoi earlier this month.

DEBKAfile adds some information about this super-missile: The first batteries to be delivered come ready with Iranian crews trained at Russian air defense corps facilities. The advantages of the Tor-M1 system are principally its ability to simultaneously destroy two targets traveling at up to 700km/h in any weather by day or night; its powerful, jamming-resistant radar with electronic beam control, and its vertically-launched missiles’ ability to maintain high speed and maneuverability throughout their operation. According to military experts, the 3D pulse Doppler electronically beam-steered E/F-band surveillance radar feeds to a digital fire control computer range, azimuth, elevation and automatic threat evaluation data on up to 48 targets.

The 10 most dangerous targets are automatically tracked and prioritized for engagement. The maximum radar range is billed as 25 kilometers but may be more.

On the lower right side of the tracking radar, which is located at the front of the turret, is an automatic TV tracking system with a range of 20 km that enables the system to work in a heavy ECM environment. Last spring, the United States called on all countries to stop all arms exports to Iran

End DEBKAfile Article Number 1

Begin DEBKAfile Article Extract Number 2

Reporting from the Middle East, DEBKAfile notes that none of Iraq’s neighbors are hanging about waiting for a US decision.

They are making waves as though American and British troop withdrawals from Iraq are already in sight. By the time the Bush administration picks an option, the Middle East will have moved on, rendering the recommendations from the various US panels irrelevant. Some steps already in motion are:

1. Ahead of the Tehran summit this coming weekend, Syria and Iraq have agreed to restore diplomatic relations.

2. The Sunnis and Shiites are locked in battle over the domination of Baghdad, both camps gathering in all their manpower and resources from inside and outside Iraq.

3. The US military and Iraqi army are playing no part in this battle royal. They are operating on the fringes of the main combat sectors and stepping in only when their own security zones are threatened. In other words, large sections of the Iraqi capital have slipped out of the control of the Americans and the al Maliki government. This situation prevails also in other main cities.

4. It means in a nutshell that time has run out for building and training a competent Iraqi army capable of operating on its own to bolster central government, defend it and fight Sunni insurgents and al Qaeda.

5. The faint hope of driving a wedge between Tehran and Damascus – on the basis of the former’s backing for Iraq’s Shiites and the latter’s for its Sunnis – has likewise gone up in smoke. The Syrian and Iranian governments are now fully synchronized and equally determined to keep the US-British alliance from attaining any sort of success in Iraq.

6. Their collaboration against the US extends to other parts of the Middle East. In Lebanon, they have activated their pawn, Hizballah, to topple the pro-US anti-Syrian government headed by Fouad Siniora. In the Palestinian areas, Iran and Syria are pumping in hundreds of military instructors and tens of tons of explosives, missiles and cash to dethrone Mahmoud Abbas and demolish his Palestinian Authority. By escalating their missile attacks, Hamas and its radical partners are bent on forcing Israel to launch a full-blown war on the Lebanon War model to crush their strengthened terrorist infrastructure in the Gaza Strip.

Iran and Syria are therefore in full flight keeping the different Middle East pots on the boil and the pro-Western governments in jeopardy.

End DEBKAfile Article Extract Number 2

Begin YNet News Article

IDF: Gaza Terrorists have Anti-Aircraft Capabilities

Israel Air Force worried, pursuant to Hizbullah success at taking down Israeli chopper in Lebanon. Senior officer: Clear increase in attempt to smuggle weapons into Gaza

Hanan Greenberg

According to a senior Israel Air Force officer, “terror organizations in the Gaza Strip have anti-aircraft capabilities.” The IAF is a joint participant in most Gaza operations, particularly in pinpoint operations or assistance to ground forces.

IAF sources are worried that, pursuant to Hizbullah success to take down an Israel helicopter in Lebanon, terror organizations in the Strip will try to arm themselves with anti-aircraft weaponry.

“The threats of antitank and anti-aircraft missiles in Gaza are increasing and we are preparing for that,” said the officer.

He stated that the IAF has significantly increased its operations over Gaza, which is why terror organizations are trying to damage aircraft.

“We understand that they are struggling against us, that they’re learning lessons from their own experiences and from Lebanon, and we can definitely see an increased effort to smuggle armaments into Gaza.”

“We will keep operating in a fitting manner, but we can’t promise 100 percent that a helicopter won’t be damaged over Gaza,” he said.

The officer stated that he can’t point to a specific organization possessing such weaponry, since the IAF operates against all terror organizations without distinction.

Gaza armament a strategic problem

Chief of the Shin Bet Yuval Diskin warned three months ago, in a cabinet meeting, that “the intensification of terror sources in Gaza is a strategic problem which, if not treated properly, will result in a reality like in Lebanon. We don’t have to wait three years and then launch investigations.”

“Nasrallah is perceived as a national hero among terror organizations, and they are attempting to learn from him.

They understand the power of the antitank missile and guerilla fighting, such as using underground bunkers,” he added at the time.

IDF forces continue to operate against terror infrastructure in northern Gaza, particularly Qassam rockes. The IDF does not intend to extend operations at the current time, and is focusing primarily on rocket-launching areas.

“Our objective is to station ourselves in those areas and operate when necessary,” explained a military source from Southern Command. “It’s a long and ongoing process that is producing results.”

Despite continuing rocket launches from Gaza, the IDF has identified a southward migration of several launching cells and attempted launchings towards the Sufa and Kerem Shalom crossings.

Military sources emphasized that the terror organizations are not only operating in northern Gaza: “There are additional operations, primarily aerial ones, as part of the IDF’s comprehensive operation against terror.”

End YNet News Article

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Short BLOG before Trip to Little Rock

November 27, 2006

http://tribulationperiod.com/

Leaving for Little Rock in a few minutes to keep an eye appointment for my wife’s eye conditions – The following article from the Jerusalem Post is a good assessment of the “ceasefire or no ceasefire” ramificati ons now going

on in Israel. It is worth reading.

Begin Jerus alem Post Article

For

a Long-Term Halt to Violence

THE JERUSALEM POST

November 27, 2006

It is hard to oppose a cease-fire.

The shooting stops, war is averted, both sides can relax and go about their lives – what’s not to like?

We all sincerely wish things were this simple, and that Israel could afford to simply celebrate that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas have agreed on a “cease-fire.”

The supposed halt to violence could, indeed, develop into a truly substantive change. What is needed is to address the fundamental context of the fighting. If that does not happen, however – and there are no signs now that this is happening – a cease-fire, even if it held, could in the long run be worse than the status quo.

First, however, the cease-fire is not holding. Not only on Saturday, in the hours before it was to come into effect, but even into Sunday, after it was supposed to be in force, Kassam rockets continued to be fired into Israel. Hamas even took responsibility for these attacks, claiming that Israel had violated the cease-fire by continuing military operations in Judea and Samaria. Israel argues that the cease-fire was only supposed to apply in Gaza.

The reason for such Israeli insistence is clear: On Friday night, an Israeli operation destroyed a bomb factory in Nablus.

The IDF not only discovered bomb belts to be used in suicide bombings, but children’s toys, such as stuffed animals, that had been rigged with explosives.

Under these circumstances, it does not take a clairvoyant to predict that a cease-fire will be used by terrorists to recover from the IDF’s military pressure. How can allowing the terrorists a pause to refresh serve the cause of peace? Alone, it cannot. But there is a way that a cease-fire could be part of a more comprehensive policy that does bring down the likelihood of renewed bloodshed.

To stop terrorism, Israel must address both the capabilities and the strategic environment of the terrorists.

There is no point in a cease-fire if the border between Egypt and Gaza remains a conduit for a constant flow of weaponry to Hamas and other terrorist groups.

Pla inly,

in such a circumstance, any time-out is only a precursor to a renewal of intensified violence down the road.

Defense Minister Amir Peretz has been rightly critical of the blindness of those who allowed Hizbullah to transform southern Lebanon into a giant launching pad for missiles against Israel. Yet other security officials, such as Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter and Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin, have been warning for months that this is precisely what is happening now in Gaza.

A cease-fire that does not address the need for Egypt to police its border will only exacerbate this problem.

Not only will the arms keep flowing in, but Israeli military operations will no longer seek and destroy bomb factories and other elements of the terrorist infrastructure.

Terror groups will be able to freely expand their preparatory work for renewed attacks, untroubled by the IDF.

Sealing the border would make a difference, increasing the pressure for real peace, but it, too, is not enough. What is also necessary is to break the international diplomatic cycle that creates an incentive to attack Israel in the first place. This cycle is well known: Palestinians attack, Israel responds, sooner or later Israel mistakenly kills Palestinian civilians, the UN Security Council condemns Israel (with or without a US veto), accomplishing the terrorist’s purpose of further isolating us. This blame-the-victim cycle actively rewards terrorism, as Ambassador Dan Gillerman pointed out during the recent debate on a lopsidedly anti-Israel General Assembly resolution.

UN Security Council Resolution 1701 has many problems, among them the lack of monitoring and enforcement of the embargo supposedly imposed on weaponry for Hizbullah, but it does provide the beginnings of a model for breaking the cycle in the Palestinian sphere. It blames Hizbullah for provoking the war with its cross-border attack on July 12, and does, at least in theory, put the onus on Syria to end the arms flow to Hizbullah.

The same onus must be put on Egypt to shut down the smuggling of weaponry into Gaza.

Further, instead of leaping into action to condemn Israel, the UN and the Quartet should ensure that the Palestinians pay a steep diplomatic price for initiating attacks against Israel.

A cease-fire that is leveraged to advance these shifts in the strategic environment could be worthwhile. Without such a change in direction, giving the terrorists breathing space to rearm would truly be worse than useless.

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is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more detailed information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. You may use material originated by this site. However, if you wish to use any quoted copyrighted material from this site, which did not originate at this site, for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner from which we extracted it.

No Choices Left for His Father’s Son!

November 27, 2006

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

Bashar Assad’s father, who he followed as President of Syria, was one of the most ruthless rulers in the Middle East. I did not know which path Bashar would follow, one like his parent, or a gentler approach toward governing his people toward some small degree of freedom.

It did not take long to see that he was going to choose his father’s path – for better or for worse, he is now stuck with it, and will follow it to his death.

Please read the article by Khaled Abu Toameh, which immediately follows, and Archive Special Prophecy Update Number 161C which ends this BLOG.

Begin Jerusalem Post Article

Analysis: Assad’s sleight of Hand

Khaled Abu Toameh, THE JERUSALEM POST

November 22, 2006

The assassination of Lebanese Christian minister Pierre Gemayel on Tuesday was intended to remind the anti-Syrian forces in Beirut that President Bashar Assad has not forgiven them for forcing him to pull his army out of Lebanon in a humiliating manner.

Although the Syrian occupation of Lebanon formally ended with the pullout, Syrian military intelligence officers are reported to have remained behind to settle scores with all those who dared to speak out against Assad.

These officers, who operate under the guise of businessmen, have infiltrated the various Lebanese security branches and parts of the political establishment in Beirut.

With the help of remaining pro-Syrian elements such as Hizbullah, the Syrians have embarked on a systematic policy of eliminating and terrorizing their critics.

Gemayel was the fifth anti-Syrian figure to be killed in Lebanon in the past two years. Three other critics of the Syrian regime have been wounded in failed assassination attempts since the Syrian troops withdrew from Lebanon earlier this year.

Tuesday’s assassination comes in the wake of increased tensions in Lebanon over the government’s decision to endorse an international tribunal that would bring the assassins of former prime minister Rafik Hariri to justice.

In a desperate attempt to prevent a further investigation into the Hariri murder, Assad has been trying to undermine the government of Prime Minister Fuad Saniora with the help of Hizbullah.

Earlier this week, Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah openly declared that his followers would soon launch a campaign to get rid of the pro-US government in Lebanon.

Although Nasrallah made it clear that he was talking about a non-violent campaign that would force Saniora and his government to resign, many Lebanese expressed the fear that his remarks could signal the beginning of a new civil war.

Last month, Nasrallah and his masters in Damascus instructed Hizbullah ministers to resign from the government hoping that such a move would lead to its collapse.

The resignations were part of a larger scheme designed to disrupt the investigation into the Hariri assassination.

The slaying of Gemayel is yet another indication of how far Assad is prepared to go to avoid a situation in which he is held personally responsible for the Hariri assassination.

Assad’s biggest fear is that once he is implicated in the murder, he could meet the same fate as Saddam Hussein.

When Assad succeeded his father, many Middle East experts and analysts predicted that the young and charismatic leader would lead his country out of the darkness and into a new era of openness and democracy.

But it took Assad only a few months to prove to the entire world that, in his case, the apple does not fall far from the tree.

Endorsing his father’s ruthless and tyrannical tactics, Assad launched a merciless campaign against reformists and critics at home. In Lebanon, he copied his father’s policy of liquidating opponents and critics.

The timing of the Gemayel assassination is of particular interest because it comes only days after reports in the US media claimed that Washington was seeking Syria’s assistance in end

ing the violence in Iraq.

According to the reports, the Americans believe that Assad’s Syria could play a “positive” role in ending sectarian violence and bloodshed in Iraq. Gemayel’s friends are convinced that the US overtures toward Syria encouraged Assad to order the killing of another one of his foes in Lebanon.

Assad may be able to help the US achieve some of its goals in Iraq, but there is no doubt that he’s expecting Washington to pay a price, namely allowing him to get away with the Hariri murder and to send his army back into Lebanon. Unless the Americans comply, Assad will continue to stir up trouble not only in Lebanon, but also in Iraq and the Palestinian territories, where radical elements continue to enjoy Syria’s full backing.

End Jerusalem Post Article

Begin Archive Update 161C

SPECIAL PROPHECY UPDATE NUMBER 161C

March 5, 2004

Syria Makes a Very Bad Choice

I have always believed and taught that the most likely part of the old Roman Empire, which would foster the rise of the Antichrist, would be Syria.

Syria has been hanging suspended between two choices: (1) Turn toward the United States in order to avoid sanctions, and to gain support from the western world in a war on terror, or, (2) Turn toward Iran to make an alliance and continue to give support to all the terrorist groups. On February 28 Syria apparently made its choice.

The Iranian Defense Minister, Admiral Ali Shamkhani, came to Damascus and signed a new military pact with the Syrian Defense Minister, General Mustufa Tias. I believe this is a clear sign that President Assad has made his choice to put his trust in an Iran-Syria Axis to protect his administration from a coup by terrorist groups in his own country. President Assad has been active recently in communications with Washington to see what they would give him in the way of security if he should choose to give up sponsoring the many terrorist group offices in Syria, and Hizbollah in Lebanon. Really, he did not have much of a choice. Had he turned pro-west and resisted the terrorist groups, his regime would have been overthrown in a matter of weeks. Syria’s new military pact with Iran likely contains an Iranian promise to invest in additional long range Scud-C missiles, now in mass production at Syria’s underground missile facility near Hamah, which is somewhat ironic in that the northern extent of Israel’s territory, after it defeats Syria at the end of the tribulation period, will extend to Hamah. The biblical name for Hamah is Hamath.

Ezekiel 47:17 – And the border from the sea shall be Hazar-enan, the border of Damascus, and the north northward, and the border of Hamath. And this is the north side.

Genesis 15:18 – In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:

Ezekiel 47:19 – And the south side

southward, from Tamar even to the waters of strife in Kadesh, the river to the great sea. And this is the south side southward.

If you want to envision the size of the Abrahamic Land Grant promised to the descendants of Abraham through Jacob (Israel), then go southwest from the southernmost tip of the Gaza Strip along the coastline of the Mediterranean 35 miles and place a point on the shoreline. Then draw a line directly east from that point until you hit the Euphrates River of Iraq. That is the southern border of the land God promised to the seed of Abraham through his grandson, the man whom God renamed Israel, the man Jacob, the son of Isaac, the promised seed God gave through Sarah. The northern border of the land grant may be visualized by finding Hamah or Hama in north central Syria, and then drawing an east-west line through it, which ends on the Mediterranean to the west, and on the Euphrates River to the east. This is the northern border of Abraham’s God given Land Grant. As you can see, this is a very large tract of land, 95 percent of which is occupied by descendants of Abraham through Ishmael’s twelve sons, the six sons of Abraham by Keturah, and Moab and Ammon, the two sons of Abraham’ s nephew Lot by hi

s own daughters. They are identified generally as Arabs, and some 95 percent of them are of the Islamic faith. Since they believe that the promises of God come through Abraham’s son Ishmael through Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s handmaiden, you can see the basic reason for the hatred between Arabs and Jews that has only intensified with the passage of the centuries (See Prophecy Updates 67 and 68 in the Archives).

I am confident that the new military pact will undoubtedly transfer

the information necessary for the manufacture of the advanced Shihab-3 missile in Syria, as well as the financing for greater production of long-range artillery and ammunition.

The United States and Europe wanted Syria to follow Libya’s lead, but Bashar Assad was really in no political position to do so without being overthrown by the terrorist elements in his own country.

There were four things the United States wanted Syria to give up.

(1) Scrap your long-range missile program.

(2) Scrap your WMD program.

(3) Drive all the terrorist groups out of Syria.

(4) Stop supporting Hizbollah in Lebanon.

I feel confident it was a choice Bashar Assad simply could not make. Iran and Syria are of the same mind on these four issues. Had Syria chosen to do those four things, it would have cut Iran’s flow of weaponry and the movement of terrorists to Hizbollah. Syria was left without any military backup with the fall of Iraq, so Assad has chosen to shore up and expand its existing ties with Iran, and create new military ties with them for a joint defense against the west. The strong showing by the radical Shiite hardliners in Iran’s elections last month was a strong element that Assad considered in making his choice.

Iranian Shiites will continue to have a direct pipeline via Damascus airport for massive shipments of military hardware to the large Hizbollah terrorist army, which it has supported in southern Lebanon for years, as have the Syrians.

Rest assured that Israel has three very definite targets on its mind for the possibility of future air strikes, namely, the Syrian underground and surface facilities near Hamah, the Iranian nuclear complex centered ten miles south of Bushehr, and selected weapons supply depots in southern Lebanon (See Prophecy Update 160A). By no stretch of the imagination will Iraq remain a democracy any great length of time after the election of a new government. It will take less than two years after Iraqi elections for most of Iraq to become an Islamic Republic.

And, when it does, there will be a military Islamic union stretching from Iran to Lebanon through Iraq and Syria.

Contrary to today’s popular belief, the antichrist will not come out of Europe, but out of the area that includes Syria, Lebanon, and northern Iraq (See Special Prophecy Update 74B and Whole Numbered Prophecy Updates 62 to 69).

And, contrary to today’s popular belief, the 10 toes of Daniel’s statue and the 10 horns on his fourth beast, which are the same 10 nations that will make up the coalition of nations that attack Israel in the last days, will not come out of Europe, but out of the southern half of the old Roman Empire, which included lands from Morocco to Iran, and as far north as Turkey (See Prophecy Updates 54 and 78).

Daniel 2:42 – And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.

Daniel 7:24 – And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.

Revelation 17:12,13 – And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.

[13] These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.

End Archive Update 161C

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SUPPLEMENT TO THE PREVIOUS BLOG – STILL HOLDING MY BREATH 15 PLUS HOURS AFTER ISSUING PREVIOUS BLOG!

Nove

mber 26, 2006

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

A s

I indicated in the previous BLOG, it will take a minor miracle for the hudna (ceasefire agreement) to hold together very long. The Islamic Jihad and Hamas are still launching Kassams after the ceasefire

began, but the Israeli Prime Minister has issued orders of restraint to

the IDF to give the Palestinian Authority government time to stop the launches. The main question is: How long will Israel let the rocket attacks go on?

In order to give as clear a picture of this latest ceasefire agreement, I have included three newspaper articles on the scenario, one from the BBC, one from the Jerusalem Post, and one from DEBKAfile.

The stiff terms for the ceasefire by Hamas, listed in the DEBKAfile article, made it doubtful that the hudna will hold.

Begin BBC Article

Israel vows Ceasefire ‘Patience’

BBC News

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said Israel will show “patience and restraint”, despite rocket fire from Gaza hours after a ceasefire began.

Mr Olmert said he hoped the ceasefire would also be applied to the West Bank and ultimately lead to a peace deal.

At least three rockets were fired into Israel, one of which landed in the town of Sderot, without causing harm.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniya said all Palestinian factions have reaffirmed their commitment to the ceasefire.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has ordered his security forces to enforce the truce.

The US has welcomed the ceasefire, calling it a “positive step forward”.

Peace hopes

Speaking on a visit to a school in southern Israel, Mr Olmert said Israel had “the strength to show the patience and restraint to allow the ceasefire to take hold.

“I have personally told our security forces to show restraint,” he added

He said he hoped the agreement “can be extended into the West Bank and that it can lead to serious, direct negotiation which could lead to a full settlement”.

In the wake of the rocket-fire, Mr Abbas ordered the Palestinian security forces to deploy in northern Gaza and enforce the ceasefire, Palestinian security sources said.

The BBC’s Alan Johnston in Gaza says it is not clear whether this means that the security men will actually be expected to use force against militants who might be about to launch rockets.

They have been reluctant to do so in the past, he says.

Hamas’ armed wing said it launched the attacks because some Israeli troops were still in Gaza, east of the town of Jabaliya, despite the Israelis saying they had pulled out all their troops overnight.

A statement from the smaller Islamic Jihad group, which also claimed responsibility, said it would not agree to a ceasefire while Israeli military activity continued in the occupied West Bank.

Our correspondent says it quickly became clear that leaders of the two groups were work ing to try to re

in in their armed men.

Prime Minister Haniya said that in the aftermath of the early violations all the factions have recommitted themselves to the ceasefire.

“Contacts were made with the political leaderships of the factions and there is a reaffirmation of the commitment of what has been agreed to,” Reuters news agency quoted Mr Haniya as saying.

Offensive ‘suspended’

Mr Abbas telephoned Mr Olmert on Saturday night to say he had agreement from all Palestinian factions that they would stop their rocket fire.

Mr Olmert’s spokeswoman Miri Eisin told the BBC that the prime minister had agreed that Israeli forces would not initiate any offensive action after the ceasefire began.

Shortly after the truce came into effect, the Israeli army confirmed that all its troops had left Gaza.

Israel evacuated its settlements and military bases in Gaza last year after 38 years in the territory, but the military renewed ground operations after militants captured an Israeli soldier, Cpl Gilad Shalit, in a border raid in June.

End BBC NEWS Article

Begin Jerusalem Post Article

13,000-strong PA force deploys along Gaza Border

Yaakov Katz, Herb Keinon, JPost Staff and AP

November 26, 2006

A 13,000-strong Palestinian Authority security force deployed along the border with Gaza on Sunday evening as the cease-fire that went into effect early Sunday morning showed signs of holding.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert instructed the IDF earlier Sunday to show restraint despite repeated Palestinian violations of the cease-fire agreement.

Olmert, speaking at an inauguration ceremony for a new high school in southern Israel, said he wanted to give the cease-fire a chance to succeed.

Olmert “gave the security forces instructions to show restraint and to try and give the cease-fire the possibility to succeed,” said Miri Eisin, Olmert’s spokeswoman.

“Israel is a strong country which can allow itself to have the strength to both fight and also to show restraint and to give the cease-fire a chance to be implemented,” Eisin quoted Olmert as saying.

The cease-fire announcement prompted quick reactions from a number of MKs, with some expressing their support, but most voicing their disapproval.

“It’s too bad we didn’t talk much earlier,” Meretz MK Ran Cohen said to Israel’s Channel 1 Sunday evening.

“Before all of the injured and dead. We could have done the cease-fire on much better ground.”

MK Arye Eldad (National Union-NRP) said earlier in the day that the “government doesn’t have much reason to celebrate the cease-fire in the Gaza Strip.”

Eldad, referring to Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz, added that “these weak people couldn’t stop the attacks on Israel, and are therefore ready to allow Hamas the necessary time to turn Gaza into southern Lebanon.”

“Olmert and Peretz are serial failures,” Eldad concluded.

National Union-NRP chairman Benny Elon seemed to agree, saying that “Olmert has once again tricked the public with a cease-fire that blew up in his face.”

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, however, after Palestinians continued to rockets at Israel in breach of the cease-fire agreement, told Army Radio that Israel cannot allow for Kassams to be fired at its citizens, but that some irregularities were to be expected during these hours.

Livni said that Israel “is at the beginning of a new day,” and that “the coming hours will dictate the nature of the cease-fire.”

Regarding an Israeli response to the ongoing Kassam fire, Livni said that if Israel were aware of attempts to launch rockets, they must be stopped – but the Palestinians must be allowed to stop them first.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, meanwhile, met with his security chiefs Sunday and ordered them to send their forces to the Gaza border area to prevent any more rocket attacks, according to Palestinian security officials. It was not clear what action the forces would take against those launching rockets.

A total of five Kassam rockets were aimed at Israel since the cease-fire went into effect at 6 a.m.

One struck a house in Sderot at 5:30, wreaking havoc. The father of the family had managed to wake his children and shepherd them into the bomb shelter a mere 10 seconds before the rocket impact.

Another landed in the vicinity of the Sderot cemetery.

Three Kassam rockets were fired from Gaza a short while earlier despite the cease-fire agreement with Palestinian factions, which was followed by the IDF’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

One of the rockets landed in open territory in the western Negev, while the other landed in northern Sderot. No one was wounded and no damage reported as a result of any of the rocket attacks.

Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for three of Kassam rockets fired at Israel.

Hamas reported on the group’s official Web site that they had launched rockets into Israel at 7:30 a.m. and 7:55 a.m., saying they had not stopped their attacks because some Israeli troops remained inside Gaza.

The Givati infantry Brigade, which had been conducting anti-Kassam operations, left Gaza early Sunday morning.

The IDF was still holding a defensive posture, however, along the Gaza security fence.

Southern Command sources added that the IDF would not initiate any offensive action in the Gaza Strip, including a cessation of targeted killings.

One of the big questions about the cease-fire remains what would happen if terror groups continued arms smuggling by use of underground tunnels. Sources in Southern Command said Sunday morning that they were still waiting clarification regarding a planned IDF response to such a scenario.

Defense Minister Amir Peretz convened a meeting of top defense officials Sunday morning to discuss the possible consequences of Israel’s decision to accept the cease-fire agreement with the Palestinians on future IDF operations.

Peretz said, “Any rocket fire at Israel will be considered a breach of the cease-fire and will be dealt with severely,” and that, “Israel is interested in calm but not at the cost of harm inflicted on its citizens.”

The defense minister added that if Abbas and the terror factions were not able to stop the rocket attacks, Israel would see this as a clear breach of the cease-fire and would take action to protect its citizens.

“Let’s hope that’s just the problems of the beginning,” government spokeswoman Miri Eisin said. “But if Israel is attacked, we will respond. If there are Palestinian factions that are not part of the cease-fire, it’s hard to see how the cease-fire will hold.”

Palestinian Authority spokesman Ghazi Hamed also criticized the attacks, telling BBC Arabic that the rocket fire was a “blatant violation” of the ceasefire.

Hamed added that all Palestinian factions had taken part in the agreement on Saturday.

The Palestinian offer was accepted by Israel on Saturday night, and was set to halt operations in Gaza in return for an end to all Palestinian violence, including rocket fire, tunnelling and suicide bombers, the Prime Minister’s Office announced.

End Jerusalem Post Article

Begin DEBKAfile Article

DEBKAfile Exclusive: Hamas hardliner Khaled Meshaal’s deposits in Cairo a list of tough, non-negotiable ultimatums for a ceasefire and Palestinian unity

November 26, 2006, 12:46 PM (GMT+02:00)

Meshaal’s consent to finally travel to Cairo last week raised some hopes that he had come around to accepting a Palestinian unity government and discussing the release of kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilead Shalit. He soon dashed those hopes. Our sources learn he has left Cairo leaving behind a list of tough demands and headed for Yemen to lead a secret Hamas conference called to plot the next Palestinian-Israeli war.

These demands are disclosed here by our military sources:

1. To procure Shalit’s release, Israeli must free 1,400 jailed Palestinians in three stages, including all Hamas, Fatah and other terrorists, such as Marwan Barghouti, who was convicted to six life sentences for murdering six Israelis.

For the first batch of 400 women and minors, the Israeli soldier will be handed to Egypt. After the second batch of 500 (including the murderers) is released, Shalit’s parents and Israeli representatives will be allowed to see him.

2. Israel must halt all military operations in the Gaza and West Bank, including preventive detentions.

3. For his consent to a Palestinian unity government, the Hamas politburo chief wants a mechanism for opening the Palestinian Liberation Organization umbrella to Hamas membership and appointing him permanent chairman in place of Mahmoud Abbas.

Meshaal will thus acquire total control of the Palestinian movement and its resources worldwide.

4. Hamas will retain treasury, interior and foreign affairs in the unity government.

5. Within six months, Israel must withdraw to the June 4, 1967 borders and an independent Palestinian state established, else the Palestinians will wage a third intifada.

DEBKAfile’s military sources seriously question the wisdom of prime minister Ehud Olmert’s alacrity in accepting Mahmoud Abbas’ assurance of a missile ceasefire binding on all the terrorist groups. Olmert, foreign minister Tzipi Livni and defense minister Amir Peretz, who decided on acceptance, must have realized that the ceasefire on offer would not hold. First, because Meshaal instructed Hamas to hold out for its extension to the West Bank as well as the Gaza Strip; and, second, because Hamas transferred a large quantity of Qassam missiles to the Iran-sponsored Jihad Islami and the Fatah al Aqsa Brigades and other terrorist branches. They were directed to keep the missiles coming and so make a sham of the purported ceasefire declared for 06:00 hours Sunday, Nov. 26. By precipitately pulling the Israeli units away from their successful counter-missile operations in N.

Gaza, the Olmert government made way for the missile crews to return to their firing sites and keep up the barrage against Israeli civilian locations without pause. Thirteen were fired – most exploding in Sderot before 10:00 am Sunday. Their pretext? A number of suspected terrorists was detained in Hebron, West Bank, early Sunday. Olmert responded by urging “restraint” to give the Palestinians another chance.
End DEBKAfile Article

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al the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more detailed information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. You may use material originated by this site. However, if you wish to use any quoted copyrighted material from this site, which did not originate at this site, for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner from which we extracted it.