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Holding My Breath on this Hudna – Only Time will Tell!

November 26, 2006

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

After having waded through different promises of many ceasefire deals coming out of the Palestinian Authority, and watching them fade into the sunset, I am hoping against hope that the Hamas, Islamic Jihad, al-Aksa Martyrs Brigates, and other super extremist terrorist groups, might actually be on board this hudna agreement

with Fatah. I am naturally very doubtful this thing will get off the ground, and will only stop holding my breath when I see the Kassams stop flying out of Gaza. It will be a most significant event if this were to occur, and could be the first stage of a time of “peace and safety” to begin to satisfy the event prophesied in I Thessalonians 5:3,4. The only reason I give it any sort of credence is that Hamas needs some breathing time and relief from the beating Israel is giving them in Gaza.

I really do not expect the “peace and safety” mindset to begin to set in until the security barrier is completed around the West Bank next year.

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.

I will not believe the importance of this event until I see the rockets stop completely for one week.

There are a lot of terrorist fingers in rocket launches, and the odds of this one being anymore successful than the ones before it are slim.

Since it is being labeled as a significant Middle East event which was whispered about, but did not officially burst on the scene until Sunday in Israel, I am including two reports, even though there is duplication of statements – One from the BBC and one from the Jerusalem Post.

Begin BBC Article

Gaza Ceasefire Comes into Force

BBC NEWS RELEASE

A ceasefire in the Gaza Strip has come into force, with the Palestinians halting rocket attacks into Israel.

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas won a commitment from all militant groups to stop the attacks, while Israeli PM Ehud Olmert agreed to halt hostilities.

Israel said all its troops withdrew from Gaza before the ceasefire took effect, five months after its military re-entered the Strip.

BBC correspondents say the agreement is unexpected and a major development.

The United States has welcomed what a White House spokesman called “a positive step forward”.

Earlier on Saturday, at least one Hamas activist was killed in an Israel air strike on Gaza.

Two cars were targeted, and four men were reported injured.

Hamas said that three other activists were killed in cl ash

es with Israeli troops elsewhere in Gaza.

‘Chance for stability’

The ceasefire came into effect at 0600 (0400GMT) on Sunday.

The BBC’s Alan Johnston in Gaza says it seems Mr Abbas phoned his opposite number on Saturday evening to say he had agreement from all Palestinian factions that they would stop their rocket fire.

There is a signed agreement between Mr Abbas, Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya and all the Palestinian factions, a spokesman said.

A spokeswoman for the Israeli prime minister, Miri Eisin, told the BBC that Mr Olmert had agreed that Israeli forces would not initiate any offensive action after that time.

But she said Mr Olmert had made it clear that it might take some time to pull all Israeli troops out of the Gaza Strip if the ceasefire held.

However, shortly after the ceasefire took effect, the Israeli army confirmed that all its troops had left.

“There are no forces now in Gaza,” said a military spokesman quoted by Reuters news agency.

Ms Eisin said Mr Olmert believed this was a chance to achieve stability and one that Israel could not miss.

The BBC’s Simon Wilson in Jerusalem says that although there has been talk of a possible ceasefire in recent weeks, such a direct acknowledgement from the Israeli prime minister’s office comes as a surprise.

Officials have indicated in the past that they do not believe Mr Abbas has the power to enforce a ceasefire among Palestinian groups, he says.

Ground offensives

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, Corporal Gilad Shalit, in a border raid in June.

Palestinian militant groups have been firing Qassam rockets into Israel on a daily basis. They have killed two Israeli civilians in the past 10 days.

Israel has launched frequent ground offensives into Gaza Strip to try to stop the militants who

launch the rockets.

It has also shelled targets in Gaza heavily.

S ince June, Israeli troops have killed more than 400 Palest

inians in Gaza, roughly half of them civilians.

Three Israeli soldiers have died in operations. Cpl Shalit has not been found, and his fate is unknown.

End BBC Article

Begin Jerusalem Post Article

Israeli-Palestinian ceasefire agreement becomes effective

Herb Keinon and JPost staff, THE JERUSALEM POST

November 25, 2006

The ceasefire agreement between Israel and Palestinian factions became effective at 6 a.m. on Sunday morning and the IDF withdrew its forces from the Gaza Strip.

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

The dramatic announcement followed a telephone conversation between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

According to the Prime Minister’s Office, Abbas phoned Olmert and told him he had received an agreement from all the different Palestinian factions to the cease-fire, and in response “requested that Israel would stop all military operations in the Gaza Strip, and withdraw all its forces from there.”

The statement said that after speaking to his senior ministers and top security officials, Olmert told Abbas that Israel would respond favorably “since Israel was operating in the Gaza Strip in response to the [Palestinian] violence.”

Olmert, according to the statement, told Abbas that “the end of the violence could bring about the end of Israeli operations, and his hope that this would bring stability to both sides.”

According to the statement, the two “agreed to continue the dialogue to bring about an end of violence in the West Bank, and agreed to talk again soon.” No mention was made in the statement about kidnapped soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit, whose abduction on June 25 led to the IDF’s stepped-up actions in Gaza.

The agreement, according to Israeli officials, did not apply to military actions in the West Bank. The key now, the officials said, would be to see whether indeed all the different Palestinian factions have signed on – and would honor – the cease-fire agreement.

Palestinian terrorist groups announced the offer on Saturday, saying that they would stop firing rockets at Israel at 6 a.m. Sunday. “We have set 6 a.m. tomorrow morning to stop firing rockets toward Zionist towns in our occupied land in return for a mutual cessation of the aggression committed against our people,” said Abu Mujahed, spokesman for the Popular Resistance Committees.

Washington was full of praise for the cease-fire agreement.

A White House spokesman said that it viewed the joint announcement as “a positive step,” adding that the US hoped the agreement would diminish the bloodshed between the Israelis and Palestinians.

However, the armed faction of the Islamic Jihad and Abu Reish, an armed faction of Fatah, both announced early Sunday that they were not part of the ceasefire agreement.

A spokesman for Abu Reish denied the movement’s participation in Saturday’s meeting between Palestinian Authority Prime Minster Ismail Haniyeh and Palestinian factions during which the ceasefire was agreed.

In a related development, Jerusalem pointedly did not respond Saturday to Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal’s threats that Israel had six months to negotiate an agreement on a Palestinian State in Gaza and the West Bank or “face a third intifada.”

“We don’t have to comment on every remark this man says,” a diplomatic official in Jerusalem said. “This is not the way we work.”

The official said that Mashaal, with his contradictory statements, was trying to “drive the system nuts. On the one hand he wants to stress the positive, a willingness to negotiate, on the other he threatens another intifada. On the one hand he says that the release of Shalit is near, on the other hand he blames Israel that it has not taken place. We don’t need to respond to this.”

Mashaal’s comments on Saturday were the strongest confirmation of a willingness to give Abbas the chance to negotiate with Israel. But it was also the first time he has set a deadline with an explicit threat of new wave of violence.

“We give six months to open real political horizons… we agreed on the national accord to establish a Palestinian state, with the June 4, 1967 borders,” he said.

He warned that if an agreement is not reached within that time, “Hamas will become stronger and the resistance will resume … and will go on with a third intifada.”

Mashaal’s comments suggested that Hamas would be willing to call a six-month cease-fire for any talks and would accept a two-state solution, though he stopped short of using that phrase or recognizing Israel.

Mashaal spoke after three days of talks with Egyptian officials, including Egyptian intelligence Chief Omar Suleiman, who are mediating an attempt put together a new Palestinian Authority government and secure the release of Shalit.

Mashaal, at a news conference, said the talks in Cairo would continue, but did not say for how long.

Mashaal suggested there was no breakthrough on either the formation of a new, national unity government or on the release of Shalit.

Abbas has been trying to work out a package deal with Hamas that would include a prisoner swap, a comprehensive cease-fire and the creation of a more moderate government of professionals to replace the one led by Hamas.

Mashaal said “great strides” had been made in negotiations over a new Palestinian government. But he said “more time” was needed and stuck to Hamas’ resistance to a Cabinet made up of technocrats rather than politicians from the two parties – seen as a way to keep Hamas figures out of positions of influence.

“The issue is not a dispute over portfolios, it should be a Palestinian national unity government that represents Palestinian factions … it should be political government,” he said.

Hamas doesn’t want a government of professionals with absolutely no political affiliation. It wants ministers from its ranks but has agreed they would not be well-known, first-tier politicians.

Mashaal also blamed Israel for the failure to reach a deal for the release of Shalit.

“We are not the reason behind postponing the decision; the postponing of a settlement is due to the other side,” Mashaal said. He did not elaborate on what was holding up an agreement.

He said Shalit “is fine. He’s in good health,” adding mockingly, “He sends his regards.”

AP contributed to this report

End Jerusalem Post Article

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ISLAMIC “AHMADINEJADSIED” SOLDIERS OF ALLAH

November 25, 2006

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

“Onward Christian Soldiers, Marching as to War,” has its counterpart in the Islamic Battle Hymn of the Republic, the Battle Hymn of the Iranian Republic, that is – And the jest of its lyrics are: “Onward to the Battle, his soldiers Allah goes before, destroy the evil crusaders, fill the earth with gore.”

Begin Article from The Australian

Former IDF Chief of Staff: War on Terror is WWIII

Lt.-Gen. Moshe Yaalon, who was Israel Defense Forces chief of staff from 2002 to 2005, said in Canberra Tuesday that the West must wake up and understand it is fighting World War III against a movement of global jihadists.

“We are under attack, we are in defense, they are on the offense so far,” he said. Iran had become the headquarters of a global movement that wanted to impose a strict form of Islam on the rest of the world.

The West should confront the threat through diplomatic and even military action if necessary,

and Iran and Syria must be held responsible for their support of militants in Iraq, he said.

(The Australian)

End Article from The Australian

Begin Article from the U.K. Telegraph

Allah Blessed Me, Says Killer of British Tourist in Jordan

Harry de Quetteville

The self-confessed killer of a British tourist in Jordan claimed Wednesday that, “Allah gave me the strength to kill the Briton.”

Nabil Ahmad Issa al-Jaaoura, 38, is on trial for the murder of Christopher Stokes, 30, who was shot dead in September during a visit to a Roman amphitheater popular with tourists in the capital Amman.

At a military court, the defendant said he was “a soldier of Allah” and that killing a “despicable crusader” was “the closest to winning Allah’s acceptance.” (Telegraph-UK)

End U.K. Telegraph Article

Begin Article from The Peninsula

World is becoming “Ahmadinejadised” says Iran President

The Peninsula, Qatar’s Leading English Daily

Source: AFP

November 22, 2006

TEHRAN Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said the world is rapidly becoming Ahmadinejad

ised and global leaders have started following in his footsteps, press reports said yesterday.

I have traveled to all the continents except for one and I know what is going on out there. Everybody is eager to hear the Iranian peoples message, the reformist Aftab-Yazd newspaper quoted the president as saying.

The world is rapidly becoming Ahmadinejadised.

The austere hardliner said that Iran’s two big missions are constructing the country and introducing a model for humanity.

World leaders, he added, had started copying his provincial trips, during which he pledges to create jobs and fight poverty.

When I telephone other leaders, I am told that they are on trips. Their trips are the same as the provincial tours that I have initiated, he said.

So far, Ahmadinejad has gone on 21 provincial trips to look in

to local problems.

This government has risen from peoples prayers, he said of his presidential electoral victory.

Someone even told me that he had vowed to say Salavats (a one-line formula to praise the Prophet Mohammed) as many times as my electoral votes count, Ahmadinejad said, referring to his June 2005 shock win by more than 17 million votes over pragmatist cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.

Since rising to power, the president has roused nationalist sentiments and pushed through a populist economic agenda. Ahmadinejad ran on a platform of distributing the country’s oil riches, spreading justice, combating corruption and vowing a new Islamic revolution.

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Two Iranian Islamic Fanatics following a Messiah in a Well – A Warped President and a Crazy Ayatollah Prophet following the Prophecy of a Messianic Mahdi!

November 24, 2006

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

The vast majority of prophetic experts are avid followers of a series of popular rapture book writers who brought the Antichrist, and the 10 toes and horns of Daniel and Revelation, out of Post World War II Europe.

They predicted the Antichrist’s End Time Empire would come out of the growth of the original six members of the European Common Market, once it reached 10 nations. Well, it now has more than 25 toes or horns, with

no sign of a European Antichrist. Don’t worry, they will come up with modifications to justify their fractured fairy tale, and will keep on making millions with their modified books and “left behind” series, which tell the readers what they want to hear.

I wonder what the prophetic experts, following World War II, would have said if someone told them that by 2006, a crazy Iranian Prophetic Leader and a warped President, would be waiting for a great Islamic Messiah, the Mahdi, to rise out of a well in Iran, and then lead Islam to “attempt” to conquer the known world of today.

Of course, they would not have believed it then, nor do most believe it now. I warned in the first book I ever wrote in 1976, that the 10 toes and the 10 h orns of Daniel and Revelation would be made up of Islamic Arab nations, and that the Antichrist would come out of the Islamic Middle East, most likely Syria

or Lebanon. At least, in the last six years of watching Middle East events, a few of my great hoard of critics have begun to sneak into their teachings and writings the possibility the 10 horns and toes “might” be Islamic Nations. The next few years will make it even more apparent than the last six that it is more than just a possibility.

A bonding of clay and iron is stretching from Morocco eastward across North Africa to Turkey

to Afghanistan to the Persian Gulf to Sudan to Morocco.

I believe the most likely candidates for

the 10 horns and toes of Daniel and Revelation are Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Sudan, Lebanon, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran. (Please take a look at Archive Prophecy Update Numbers 233B, 234A, 235A, 236A, and 236B for a detailed exposition of the 10 toes and 10 horns)

The “Crazy-Like-A-Fox” Iranian President may soon get his ideological spiritual mentor as his Ayatollah.

Begin U.K. Sunday Telegraph Article

Ayatollah Who Backs Suicide Bombs Aims to Be Iran’s Next Spiritual Leader

Colin Freeman and Kay Biouki

Sunday Telegraph – U.K.

November 20, 2006

An ultra-conservative Iranian cleric who opposes all dialogue with the West is a frontrunner to become the country’s next supreme spiritual leader.

Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah-Yazdi, 71, who publicly backs the use of suicide bombers against Israel, is campaigning to succeed Grand Ayatollah Ali Khameini, 67, as the head

of the Islamic state.

Considered an extremist even by fellow mullahs, he was a fringe figure in Iran’s theocracy until last year’s election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a fellow fundamentalist who views him as his ideological mentor.

Mesbah-Yazdi and his supporters will stand in elections next month for the Assembly of Experts, an 86-strong group of theologians responsible for nominating a replacement for Ayatollah Khamenei, who is rumored to be ailing.

The Guardian Council, a hardline conservative body that vets candidates, is accused of vetoing reform-minded clerics and banning around half of nearly 500 applicants.

Ali Ansari, an Iran specialist at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, said that having Mesbah-Yazdi “in power would lead to a much more hard-line puritanical rule in Iran.” (Sunday Telegraph-UK)

End U.K. Sunday Telegraph Article

The link of Syrian Iron bonds with Iraqi clay to its east

to link with Iran who bonds with the Iraqi clay to its west.

Begin DEBKAfile Article

Iran invites Iraqi and Syrian presidents for weekend summit on curbing Iraq violence and regional stability

November 20, 2006, 7:26 PM (GMT+02:00)

Iraq’s Jalal Talabani says he will be in Tehran Saturday. This was disclosed by Ali al-Adeem, a lawmaker of Iraqi PM Nouri al-Maliki’s Dawa Party to AP Monday, Nov.

20. The invitation extended by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is seen as an Iranian move to grab from the United States the initiative for including Syria and Iran in a regional effort to quell the violence in Iraq.

End DEBKAfile Article

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IT IS JUST A MATTER OF TIME!

November 23, 2006

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

Revelation 16:16 – And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.

All the prophesied events are now settling in the place where they were predicted to occur by the Scriptures, namely, the Land of the Bible, the land of Abraham in the Old Testament, and the land of the Wise Men when Christ was born.

The statement made by Army General John Abizaid in the following DEBKAfile article will come to pass – It Is Just a Matter of WHEN! It is my guesstimate that the initial attack which begins it is likely to occur in Israel at some point in time between 2008 and 2012, and that it will end three and one-half later at the final battle of Armageddon. Please continue to read this introduction, which starts again after the DEBKAfile article.

Begin DEBKAfile Article

If Islamic militancy is not stopped today, “we’ll go through World War Three tomorrow,” US Middle East chief warns

DEBKAfile

November 18, 2006, 1:59 PM (GMT+02:00)

Addressing a Harvard University audience Saturday, Army Gen. John Abizaid compared the rise of militant ideologies such as the force driving al Qaeda to the rise of fascism in Europe in the 1920s and 1930s and said: “If we don’t have guts enough to confront this ideology today, we’ll go through World War Three tomorrow. If not stopped, said the general, “extremists would gain an advantage to gain a safe haven, to develop weapons of mass destruction, to develop a national place from which to operate.

And I think that the dangers associated with that are just too great to comprehend.”

End DEBKAfile Article

Continuing Introduction

Revelation 16:16 – And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.

The sixth vial Scriptures, which immediately precede Revelation 16:16, relate to the cradle of civilization associated as the abode of the demonic kings of Daniel, who stood against the angels of God.

It was the seat of Satan’s kingdom when the Old Testament was written, Babylon and Persia being among the greatest devil and demon worshippers of all the ages. It is identified as the “seat of the Beast” in Revelation 16:10, and the place where the way of the “kings of the east” will be prepared. All this makes the six Scriptures before Revelation 16:16 very intriguing, particularly as it relates to the southeastern route of the Euphrates River. It begins in Turkey, separates Syria into two parts, splits Iraq into two parts, joins the Tigris River, and then flows along the Iranian border just before emptying into the Persian Gulf.

Revelation 16:10-12 – And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain, [11] And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds. [12] And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.

I have previously identified the three frogs, which come out of the river Euphrates, as being demonic spirits associated with a satanic trinity.

And you can find who I believe “the kings of the east” are in our Archive Prophecy Updates. I believe the three frogs represent a satanic trinity symbolizing Satan, the Beast, and the False Prophet, and I also speculate they may represent demonic kings of Syria, Iraq, and Iran, through which the Euphrates runs its snake like path.

The three frogs are the very spirit of Jihad manifested in the Mahdi, the Antichrist

of the false religion of Islam.

The idea of a demonic being of Satan being the prince of a country in the Middle East is not strange in the Scriptures.

The heavenly be ing that appeared to Daniel was known to have struggled with the demonic pr

ince of Persia in route to visit Daniel.

Daniel 10:5,6, 9-14 – Then I lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a certain man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with fine gold of Uphaz: [6] His body also was like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in colour to polished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude. [9] Yet heard I the voice of his words: and when I heard the voice of his words, then was I in a deep sleep on my face, and my face toward the ground. [10] And, behold, an hand touched me, which set me upon my knees and upon the palms of my hands. [11] And he said unto me, O Daniel, a man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak unto thee, and stand upright: for unto thee am I now sent.

And when he had spoken this word unto me, I stood trembling.

[12] Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words.

[13] But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia. [14] Now I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days: for yet the vision is for many days.

Ephesians 6:12 – For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

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Testing the Resolve of Israel as the Gentile Fullness Comes In!

November 22, 2006

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

The DEBKAfile article, which follows our introduction, is just another example of the impossibility of mankind’s inability to stop the violent end of this age when the iniquity of “the fullness of the Gentiles be come in.”

Romans 11:25-27 – For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.

[26] And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: [27] For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.

The popular lyric from a well known song, “To Dream the Impossible Dream,” is precisely what Israel, and those who support her, have been doing for almost 60 years. This impossible dream is just as impossible as it was 60 years ago. It was, and is, the impossible dream of mankind being able to bring a lasting peace to the Middle East. The Scriptures are quite specific that lasting peace will not come to the Middle East till God himself comes in the person of Jesus Christ, at his Second Advent, to establish it. I have been acutely aware of that for 60 years. If you wish to accuse me of basing all my conclusions, regarding immediate and future Middle East events, on the impossible dream premise, then I must plead guilty. There will come a time when Israel has finished its security barrier wall/fence and, at that time, for a brief period, will feel it has a false peace with safety, based on its own ability to preserve it by military force.

But true, lasting, peace will only be brought in by the second coming of Messiah.

All the signs of “last days” immorality have finally reached their rock bottom pit of blasphemous ungodliness across the surface of the planet, plus all the predicted biblical genealogies are active and in their proper places in the Middle East, for the final events of this Gentile Age. So, believe it or not, like it or not, we are very close to the beginning of the tribulation period. Some believers are hoping it is in the distant future, which would allow them to live to a ripe old physical age, enjoying this life, and rejoicing in their grandchildren. I must confess that is what I wanted when we had our first child in 1956, but this present generation is not going to get its wish as I did – too much is in place and ready to pop!

Israel is facing enemies inside it in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, in Hizbollah and Syria to its north, and Iraq and Iran to its east, and if you think Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt are going to fight alongside the Israelis against other Arabs in the coming time of Jacob’s trouble, I have a platinum Timex watch I would like to sell you.

For those of you who like to wait to the last minute to do your taxes or to vote, and have applied this same mindset to the thinking mechanism in your saved soul, please consider the following admonition from the Lord as “we see the day approaching.”

Hebrews 10:19-25 – Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, [20] By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; [21] And having an high priest over the house of God; [22] Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, hav

ing our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. [23] Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) [24] And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: [25] Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

Revelation 22:11-14 – He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. [12] And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. [13] I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning

and the end, the first and the last. [14] Blessed are they that do his commandments, that

they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.

Begin DEBKAfile Article

Israel Opts for Major War Campaign in 11th Hour of Hamas Build-up

DEBKAfile Special Military Report

November 22, 2006, 5:07 PM (GMT+02:00)

DEBKAfile’s military sources disclose that Israel’s security cabinet decided Wednesday, Nov. 22, that there is no option but to launch a major offensive against Hamas and its terrorist allies in the Gaza Strip – both to pre-empt their war build-up and reduce Qassam missile attacks which climbed to 80 in the last ten days. The date remains to be set.

Operational proposals were not submitted by the army chiefs, said the announcement, but held back for presentation to a smaller forum which the Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will summon.

Our sources note that special forces and Shin Bet units have already stepped up their ground operations against the missile crews in the northern Gaza Strip. These operations will soon evolve into a broader, harsher crackdown in other parts of the territory including the Philadelphi corridor.

The prime minister was finally convinced that the time for foot-dragging

was over by intelligence data which showed Hamas hectically engaged in constructing state-of-the-art fortifications for withstanding deep incursions into the Gaza Strip. They are assisted by dozens of military advisers pouring in from Syria and Lebanon.

Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen Dan Halutz, AMAN-intelligence commander Maj.-Gen Amos Yadlin and OC Southern Command Maj.-Gen Yoav Galant warned Olmert and defense minister Amir Peretz that every day without Israeli counter-action maximizes future IDF casualties.

They said casualties will be high even if Israel does not carry out an organized incursion of the Gaza Strip but confines itself to pinpointed strikes. Military intelligence also estimates that a full-scale conflict will soon prove unavoidable because the Qassam salvos are increasing in number and range beyond Sderot and Ashkelon; Ashdod and more Negev communities are being brought into the missile orbit.

As Palestinian missile attacks on the Israeli population proliferate, Sderot’s distress becomes intolerable and the popular clamor rises to curb the menace, the IDF has switched its counter-missile tactics in the Gaza Strip. Instead of the air force, special ground forces backed by Shin Bet units are spearheading strikes which target top Hamas missile commanders.

Monday night, Nov.

20, IDF infantry, undercover and Shin Beit units surrounded the home of senior Hamas missile commander Imad Hasnin in Gaza City’ Sajaiya district. Apparently forewarned, his bodyguards opened fire on the Israeli raiders. They used the anti-tank rockets, mortars and machine guns which have turned the missile commanders’ homes into fortresses – both against Israeli attack and Fatah adherents.

The Israeli troops, backed by rooftop snipers, fought their way to the targeted house in hand-to-hand battle with the Palestinian gunmen, stormed the building and killed Hasnin.

The raid was launched after Israeli intelligence was tipped off that Hamas had expanded its Qassam production facilities by 50% in the last two weeks, tripled output and increased the missiles’ explosive power. This development means that the Palestinian missile industry has grown too big to destroy by ordinary military means, particularly when it is fed by a constant flow of smuggled explosives entering through the wide-open Philadelphi corridor from Egypt.

Instead of targeting single launchers, Israel’s military planners therefore decided to focus on liquidating missile crews and reaching their commanders at home, as the only way to strike at the heart of the Palestinian cross-border offensive against Israeli communities.

The new tactic, successfully employed Monday night, calls for large commando units trained in street combat, who also risk relatively high casualties. It also calls for an intensive, high-grade intelligence effort to precisely mark the targets and provide details of the protective measures they employ.

A senior Israeli officer in the Gaza sector told DEBKAfile that it will take several weeks before the new counter-missile assault model can dent Hamas capabilities for shooting missiles into Israel and begin reducing the barrage. Even today, Hamas is capable of firing salvos of dozens of missiles, he said, but is keeping the intensity down to about 10 launchings a day, in order to reserve the bulk of its arsenal for later stages of its showdown with Israel.

DEBKAfile’s military experts point out that the impending Gaza campaign will be the second war Israel has fought in five months. In most senses, it will be the sequel to the war offensive Hizballah launched from Lebanon in July. Hizballah may decide, or be instructed from Damascus and/or Tehran, to initiate another attack across Israel’s northern border to ease the pressure on Hamas by splitting Israeli forces on two fronts. The counter-argument to this depends on developments in Lebanon: The deeper the domestic crisis erupting in Lebanon in the wake of the assassination of Pierre Gemayel on Tuesday, Nov. 21, the less Hizballah will be free to start another war against Israel.

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