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A Brief Update on Our Last Blog

April 10, 2007

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

In the wee hours of this morning

we issued a lengthy Blog on the muffed suicide bombing

attempt in Tel Aviv.

This is a brief Update with a few more details.

Could it be th at H

amas has decided to cool it in order to get restoration of funding from Western countries, and perhaps to encourage a Hudna with Israel? I don’t know, but this mysterious turning back from Tel Aviv is certainly interesting.

Begin Jerusalem Post Article

Pessah terror attack narrowly avoided

JPost.com Staff, THE JERUSALEM POST

April 10, 2007

A large-scale terrorist attack on Tel Aviv was narrowly averted on Pessah, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) released for publication early Tuesday morning.

Reportedly, at the end of March, a Hamas terrorist traveled from Kalkilya to Tel Aviv in a car containing 100 kilograms of explosives.

Security forces recently arrested 19 terror operatives from Kalkilya on suspicion of planning the suicide car bomb attack and other major operations, the Shin Bet said.

Officials suspect that the would-be bomber planned to blow himself up in the car in a crowded place on Seder night.

However, for some unknown reason, after the man reached the Gush Dan region, he returned to Kalkilya, where his car exploded a few days later in a “work accident.”

The Shin Bet said that the terrorist was an Israeli citizen, and was granted an identity for family unification reasons following his marriage to an Israeli-Arab woman from Taiba.

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Hamas tries a New Series of Mass Suicide Murders, but muffs first Tel Aviv Attempt!

April 10, 2007

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

The cities of Nablus, Ramallah, Qalqilya, and Tulkarm in the West Bank have long been notorious for having smuggled weapons stashed in their karst limestone topography. I first reported this in early 2001. The Hamas has again built up the envirions around these cities with smuggled weapons of all types. I am including Archive Prophecy Updates 2, 11A, and 50A, to illustrate the pattern of smuggled weapon consistency in these areas.

Begin DEBKAfile Report

Hamas mounts a new suicide terror offensive against Israeli cities from the West Bank.

The first attack was planned for the Seder Feast in Tel Aviv

April 10, 2007, 7:35 AM (GMT+02:00)

In a combined operation, the Shin Bet and IDF rounded up in the West Bank town of Qalqilya 12 members of a Hamas network which managed to send a truck loaded with 100 kilos of explosives into Greater Tel Aviv on Passover Eve.

For some unknown reason, the truck, which was to have kicked off the resumed Hamas suicide offensive, turned back and was accidentally detonated in the West Bank.

Security sources report that the lethal freight came from a mountain of explosive materials which Hamas has been smuggling for months into the West Bank from the Gaza Strip for their new suicide offensive against Israeli cities – together with an unknown quantity of Qassam missiles.

That Hamas has moved on from its build-up phase to active suicide terror was disclosed by the 19 detainees in interrogation.

The suicide bomber, a Palestinian granted Israeli citizenship under Israel’s family reunification scheme, was killed when his truck which carried Israeli number plates exploded.

DEBKAfile’s military sources report that members of the Qalqilya Hamas network are still at large and that not all its stock of explosives has been run down. Hamas is also suspected of running similar networks in other West bank towns, such as Tulkarm and Nablus. The Islamist group is targeting Palestinians granted Israeli citizenship who may use Israeli license plates on their vehicles, and Israeli Arab collaborators to defy Israeli security watches on the crossings from the West Bank into Israeli towns.

In this case, the truck crossed into Israel despite the closure imposed on the West Bank for the Feast of Passover.

Two weeks ago, chief of staff Lt. Gen. Gaby Ashkenazi stated that one of the Israel military’s most urgent tasks now is to block the transfer of weapons and war materiel from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank, bringing Israel’ s heartland citie

s into close range. DEBKAfile reported at the time that he is too late. The lethal stocks are already in place.

End DEBKAfile Report

Begin Archive Special Prophecy Update Number 11A

SPECIAL PROPHECY UPDATE NUMBER 11A

February, 2001

I have received several queries concerning present military escalations between the PA and the IDF in Israel, and there seems to be concern that it will develop into a major war between the two opposing forces. And others have expressed a fear that Israel’s Arab neighbors might join the conflict.

I do not believe there is a good reason for believing that a major war will break out in Israel at this present time.

In previous prophecy updates, which you can pull up out of our prophecy archive, especially in update number 2, we have discussed how the PA smuggled in, and then hid, thousands of katyusha rockets in the zone around Tul Karm and Kalkilya. Until you see the PA start to utilize these rockets, there is no need for alarm over the possibility of a major war in the Mid-East.

The PA has also smuggled in thousands of shoulder held antitank launchers across the Jordan at night, and below and above the border with Sinai. So far we have only seen active fighting in those areas where these rockets and antitank weapons are not stored.

These weapons are being held in reserve for the time that a coordinated attack by Syria, leading several other Arab nations, can be conducted with the Palestinians creating internal chaos in central Israel.

Begin Archive Special Prophecy Update Number 50A

SPECIAL PROPHECY UPDATE NUMBER 50A

January 17, 2002

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) encircled five cities yesterday in autonomous zones of the Palestinians in Samaria. These cities were not selected at random. The recent vast shipment of weaponry taken off the seagoing vessel Karine A, on which I reported fully in prevuous Prophecy Updates, has finally stirred Israel into action on uncovering the hundreds of caches of weaponry planned to be used by the Palestinians in a future Jihad involving Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Iran. The five cities encircled by the IDF were Tulkarm, Kalkilya, Jenin, Nablus, and Ramallah. The limestone hills of this area contain caves whose mouths have been covered, and inside these are found the types of weaponry stored for future use after Israel has

been lured into a false sense of security. The Israelis gave the excuse of warnings of additional attacks by terrorist groups as the reason for blockading these cities, which is partially true, but they also want to trap terrorists to flush them out in place, and to scour the surrounding area in hopes of finding local caches of smuggled weapons.

Ple ase mark the names of the five cities I mentioned in Prophecy Update Number 2, January 2001,

as the zones where smuggled weaponry was concealed in limestone caves.

In Prophecy Update Number 2, issued early last year, I advised: “The Palestinians have also been sneaking in thousands of katyusha rockets through tunnels under the Egyptian border.

These rockets pass through the Palestinian controlled Gaza Strip, and eventually end up in the areas around Tulkarm and Kalkilya (Qalqilya).” I then explained the reason for their being placed in this strategic position overlooking 70% of the Israeli population along the coastal plain from Tel Aviv to Haifa. I then went on to state: “I expect the IDF to eventually raid these areas, but with only limited success.” I then went on to explain how other sections of the West Bank (Samaria) were receiving and storing their weapons in limestone caves that dot the interior. I concluded: “But the main weaponry smuggled into these areas consists of anti-tank launchers, which have been concealed in this zone in countless numbers from south of Jenin to Nablus to north of Ramalla.”

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TSUNAMI – ONE OF THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES!

April 9, 2007

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

Tsunami – One of the Signs of the Times!

The recent Solomon Islands Tsunami took me back unto the mid-seventies when I wrote my first book, “Tectonic Chaos.” I believe the events of massive tectonic destruction, which I predicted would be occurring across the surface of the earth during the tribulation period, are poised to begin on the immediate horizon of world events. I cannot predict the exact time the tectonic plate movements will suddenly begin, but I know it cannot be a distant event in the “far off sweet forever, far beyond the shinning river.”

I have contended for more than thirty years that God will move the world’s massive tectonic plate structure approximately one to two feet during the last three and one-half years of

the Tribulation Period. It is this destroying with the earth that will create the horrifying scenes described in Isaiah 29:6 and Luke 21:25.

Thou shalt be visited of the Lord of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire, Isaiah 29:6.

And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring, Luke 21:25.

In Luke 21:25 the word translated wave is saiou, which means a particular type of

wave. It means a wave that breaks on the shoreline, a wave of the surf. The nations of the world will be in great perplexity because of the roaring sound of the sea and surf. It is this phenomenon of sea and surf that will destroy one-third of the world’s shipping.

Un believably violent earthquake and volcanic activity will

be occurring along thousands of miles of tectonic boundaries on the ocean and sea floors during the last half of the Tribulation Period. If I am correct about the earthquake and volcanic activity along these cracks, then I am positive that what I am about to describe will definitely occur.

There are many types of waves that exist on the ocean sur¬face. The most common being those induced by the winds and tides of the earth. But the most horrifying of all waves that pound the shorelines of the world is not produced by wind or tide; it is the unbelievable tsunami produced by earthquake and volcanic eruption on the seafloor.

Tsunamis are not “tidal waves.” Tsunamis are caused by undersea earthquakes or volcanoes and have killed millions of people down through the ages. Tsunami is the Japanese word for “storm wave.” The Alaska earthquake of 1964 produced horrendous destruction along the Alaskan shoreline.

It only took the tsunami four hours to move from the epicenter to Hawaii. Tsunami travel as fast as some jet aircraft. Tsunamis are now predictable, so that the appalling death tolls of yesteryear can be avoided. A network of seismic warning stations now functions across the Pacific Ocean to give an early warning of an approaching tsunami.

A tsunami is generated when an undersea earthquake or volcanic eruption causes a sudden downward movement of an earth block. The downward displacement of water above the block produces not a surface wave, but rather a wave which moves horizontally outward through the water from the bottom to the top. Tsunamis cross the ocean as long low waves which seagoing vessels may not even notice. But as the tsunami approaches the shoreline the energy of the wave is con¬fined in shallower and shallower water. Tsunamis have been known to rise to heights in excess of two hundred fifty feet. When a tsunami crashes against a coastline it destroys everything in its path, often up to half a mile inland.

Shipping on the open se a is virtu

ally unaffected by a tsunami, but woe unto the ship that is caught in port. There is not a ship built which can withstand the force of a full blown tsunami as it roars into port.

In one day the old city of Lisbon and all the ships in port were destroyed by a wall of water that washed half a mile inland. During the last three and one-half years of the Tribulation Period most of the coastal cities of the world and the ships in port will be completely destroyed by tsunami after tsunami. This is what will produce much of the distress and perplexity among the nations of the world. Now, how does all this fit in with Revelation 8:9 regarding John’s statement: “and the third part of the ships were destroyed?”

At any given time approximately two-thirds of the world’s shipping is “under way” on the open sea, and one-third is in port or dry dock. The two-thirds on the open sea will be spared, and the one-third in port will be destroyed by tsunami during the sounding of the second trumpet.

The following Scriptures leave little doubt that God has con¬trol of the sea and the destructive forces of its waves. Those who “do business in great waters” will lose one-third of their busi¬ness on the sounding of the second trump.

Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them, Psalm 89:9.

But I am the Lord thy God, that divided the sea, whose waves roared: The Lord of hosts is his name, Isaiah 51:15.

They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; These see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep. For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof, Psalm 107:23-25.

The earth is God’s creation and all the things thereof. God does not need man’s weaponry or technology to fulfill His prophecies. God has already made all the elements necessary to destroy man, and He has molded them into forms, shapes, compounds and processes capable of fulfilling His revelation of end-time events. I know that a great war will occur. Many men will die in that war. Bullets and other weaponry will kill many of them; but that will be only a few compared to the earthquake, fire and brimstone toll exacted by the force of Almighty God upon sinful mankind. For too long biblical expositors have been concentrating on a single tree (man’s weaponry and technology) as the fulfillment of Revelation prophecies. In so doing, they have overlooked the forest of God’s creation, the earth’s natural destructive forces.

Man will not destroy himself in a nuclear holocaust of his own making. If you desire to be frightened by such a possibility, be my guest and join the crowd. I do not fear the armies with thermonuclear arsenals.

May I remind you whom you should fear with this closing passage from Luke 12:4,5.

And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.

But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him, Luke 12:4,5.

The first report of the tsunami is found below in the Reuter’s article of April 3, and the latest in the BBC article of April 9.

Begin Reuters Article

State of Emergency in Solomon Islands After Earthquake and Tsunami

By REUTERS

New York Times

April 3, 2007

HONIARA, Solomon Islands, Tuesday, April 3 (Reuters) — The Solomon Islands on Monday declared a state of emergency after the earthquake and tsunami flattened villages, causing widespread panic and killing at least 20 people, with the toll expected to rise.

A powerful magnitude 8.0 earthquake and tsunami hit the Solomons on Monday, and people throughout the region fled for the safety of higher ground.

The shallow quake hit the island of Gizo, northwest of Honiara, the capital, the hardest. It damaged shops, schools and a hospital on the low-lying waterfront, while the tsunami wave that followed sucked dozens of houses into the sea.

“There are a lot of people who are without shelter,” Fred Fakari, the Solomons National Disaster Council chairman, told Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio on Tuesday. “We understand that a lot of villages in other areas of the Western Province and Choiseul Province were totally wiped out.”

Mr. Fakari said disaster teams and international peacekeepers in the country had not yet reached the area and were hoping to arrive in Gizo on Tuesday by helicopter to begin a full damage assessment.

“We expect the number to rise, the toll to rise, as we reconcile all our reports and get down on the ground,” Mr. Fakari said.

Alex Lokopio, premier of Western Province, said an estimated 4,000 people were sheltering in the hills amid warnings that quake aftershocks could generate more tsunami waves in coming days. Islanders were in desperate need of water, food and tents, he said.

The quake struck 220 miles northwest of Honiara and generated a tsunami alert around the Pacific. The alert was lifted about nine hours later, with damage confined to the immediate area around the quake.

Kevin McCue, the Director of the Australian Seismological Center, said there was a strong chance that more quakes would follow in the coming days on an undersea trench west of the Solomons.

“This region typically has double earthquakes, six sets of them since 1907,” he said.

Begin BBC Article

Thousands homeless after tsunami

BBC NEWS

April 9. 2007

The Red Cross says up to 7,000 people are homeless one week after a tsunami triggered by an earthquake swept through the western Solomon Islands.

A Red Cross spokeswoman in the badly damaged town of Gizo said food and medical aid was arriving but many people were still camping in the hills.

Many people have been afraid to return to their homes because of fears of another tsunami, the spokeswoman said.

At least 39 people were killed when a wave several metres high hit the area.

Many homes in the fishing and diving centre of Gizo were destroyed or badly damaged by both the earthquake and the resulting wall of water.

The town’s airport has now been repaired and supplies of food, water and medicine are arriving in a steady flow.

Shops opened on Monday for the first time since the disaster, and fishermen are selling their catch in the town’s market.

But Red Cross spokeswoman Susie Chippendale, in Gizo, said tools were needed so that people could rebuild their homes and clear gardens to grow food again.

She told the BBC that more tents and mosquito nets were also needed.

“People are sleeping out in the open so they’re very vulnerable to malaria,” she said.

“There are about 2,000 [homeless people] on Gizo island and most of those have lost their homes totally.”

Others are too afraid to return to their homes because of fears of another tsunami.

Regular aftershocks have added to people’s fears.

“You can see people coming back down from the hills during the daytime and washing their clothes perhaps or peeking through their belongings and trying to retrieve some things,” she said.

“But they won’t stay there, they won’t sleep there and they won’t come back to their homes and some of them will tell you that they never want to.”

Medical clinics have been set up and health experts from Unicef have arrived to take measures to try to prevent outbreaks of diseases such as malaria and dysentery.

Gizo was only 45km (28 miles) from the epicentre of the 8.1 magnitude quake that caused the giant waves.

Many villages on outlying islands were badly damaged or entirely swept away by the tsunami.

A helicopter and Red Cross boats have been delivering aid supplies to remote communities.

Aid officials say the relief operation is going to plan and now they are looking forward to feeding and housing people in the coming months as people rebuild their lives.

FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material 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.

Only God can keep Iron and Clay United Together!

April 9, 2007

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

A Current Day Example of the impossibility of Clay and Iron Islamic Factions holding together for very long without Divine Intervention!

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.

Revelation 17:17 – For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.

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.

It will take an act of God putting it in their hearts to stay united long enough in agreement to fulfill his end time

will. The two articles which follow reveal how difficult it is to get the Islamic factions to agree on any issue for a long period of time. The “days of these kings” will be the “1260 days” that Israel is confined in the Negev Wilderness, and they will hold together during that period, but will slip apart to be consumed at Armageddon when Jesus Christ returns to “set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed.”

The two articles which follow demonstrate the frailty of the bond that now holds the iron and clay together by their recent Mecca Agreement. It reflects the frailty of any bond that holds different Arab clay and iron nations and factions together.

Begin Jerusalem Post Article

PA fears UN may order all aid workers out of lawless Gaza

Khaled Abu Toameh, THE JERUSALEM POST

April 5, 2007

Palestinian Authority officials on Thursday expressed fear that the United Nations may formally declare the Gaza Strip a dangerous zone – a move that would result in the evacuation of the remaining foreign nationals from the area and drastically hamper international humanitarian aid to the Palestinians.

PA security sources told The Jerusalem Post that 25 Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip last month in internal fighting. Another four were killed in the West Bank, the sources added.

“We’re moving very quickly toward such a scenario,” said Yasser Abed Rabbo, member of the PLO executive committee and a close aide to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. “The Gaza Strip is full of thugs and gangsters who are responsible for the ongoing anarchy. Soon the Gaza Strip may be declared a dangerous zone, which means that all international organizations would have to leave.”

The UN has yet to issue any formal statement to such effect.

Chief PA negotiator Saeb Erekat warned that a “dangerous zone” declaration would increase the suffering of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and called on the PA security forces to start working to end the state of lawlessness and anarchy.

“The Gaza Strip has become worse than Somalia,” a prominent human rights activist in Gaza City told the Post. “Thousands of gunmen continue to roam the streets and the new government hasn’t done anything to restore law and order. Every day you hear horror stories about people who are killed and wounded.

The situation is really intolerable.”

Muhammad Dahlan, who was recently appointed PA National Security Adviser, said it was time to admit that a “curse has hit” the Gaza Strip. “Anyone who does not admit that there’s a curse in the Gaza Strip does not know what he’s talking about,” he said.

Dahlan expressed concern over the wave of kidnappings in Gaza, noting that a local engineer who was abducted several months ago was still being held by his captors. He said that the National Security Council was now preparing a security plan that would end the state of anarchy in the PA-controlled areas.

“The Palestinian security establishment needs to undergo major surgery,” he added. “The situation is catastrophic and many young men prefer to work for clans and not the security forces.”

Dahlan met earlier with the British consul-general in Jerusalem, Richard Makepeace, and briefed him on the PA’s efforts to release kidnapped BBC correspondent Alan Johnston, who was snatched by masked gunmen in Gaza City three weeks ago.

Hassan Khraisheh, deputy speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, said that the commanders of the PA security forces knew where Johnston was being held, but were doing nothing to release him. “What’s the point in having 85,000 security officers if they can’t free a foreign journalist who has been held in the Gaza Strip for three weeks?” he asked.

Dozens of Palestinian journalists demonstrated outside Abbas’s office in Gaza City on Thursday to protest against the abduction of Johnston. Addressing the journalists, Abbas said he was doing his utmost to secure the release of the BBC corespondent.

“This case will be resolved very soon,” he said without elaborating. “We will not allow such things to recur.” Abbas’s bodyguards fired into the air to prevent the protesters from approaching his office.

No one was hurt.

Abbas and PA Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh agreed to form a joint “operations command” to follow up on the case of Johnston.

The new PA government is expected to hold an emergency meeting in Gaza City on Saturday to discuss ways of restoring law and order. But many Palestinians in the Gaza Strip expressed pessimism, saying it was too late to talk about ending the state of chaos.

“There are too many gangs and weapons out there,” said the human rights activist.

“No government will be able to create a new situation.”

He pointed out that at least 46 civilians had been kidnapped in the Gaza Strip in the past four weeks. The latest kidnappings took place on Thursday, when unidentified gunmen abducted three people, including one woman, in separate incidents.

Most of the kidnappings were related to family feuds and rivalries between political groups, particularly Fatah and Hamas.

Also Thursday, the bullet-riddled body of a Hamas security official, Muhammad Abu Hajileh, was discovered east of Gaza City. Abu Hajileh was a member of Hamas’s “Executive Force” in the Gaza Strip.

End Jerusalem Post Article

Begin Washington Institute for Near East Policy Article

THE WASHINGTON INSTITUTE FOR NEAR EAST POLICY

Begin Excerpted Select Paragraph Quotes from Policy Watch #1219

How Long Can the Palestinian Unity Government Last?

By Mohammad Yaghi

April 4, 2007

On March 18, the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) overwhelmingly approved a new unity government by a vote of 83 to 3. This lopsided result does not reflect the many internal and cross-factional tensions that will ultimately undercut the current Fatah-Hamas coalition. Within both factions, the center of gravity is shifting toward hardline elements that favor political confrontation over accommodation. As these elements continue to consolidate control, existing tensions between the rival parties will be exacerbated, affecting the future of the Palestinian unity government from within.

Fatah’s Two Rival Camps

Since Hamas won the January 2006 legislative elections, Fatah has been divided between two blocs: one that favors the unity arrangement with Hamas and one that prefers confrontation.

Those who believe that a unity arrangement with Hamas will maximize Fatah’s current authority include a loose coalition of imprisoned Tanzim leader Marwan Barghouti, his followers, and the old guard leaders of the Fatah Central Committee — including Ahmed Qurei (Abu Ala), Hani al-Hassan, Abbas Zaki, and Farouq Kaddoumi, the Tunis-based nominal head of Fatah and rival to President Mahmoud Abbas. Countering them are second-tier Fatah leaders who prefer that the party both remain an opposition movement and pressure Hamas to accept the conditions set down by the Quartet (the United States, Russia, the UN, and the European Union) for alleviating the political and economic boycott of the Palestinian Authority (PA). This faction is headed by Muhammad Dahlan and backed by many members of the Fatah Revolutionary Council, including Saeb Erekat, Nabil Amr, and Azzam al-Ahmad, as well as the leaders of the Preventive Security and intelligence services.

The Dahlan bloc eventually backed the unity agreement because Hamas’s better-organized forces defeated Fatah during armed clashes in Gaza. Nevertheless, it views the accord as a temporary truce to be abandoned when Fatah regains confidence, strength, and resources.

Toward this end, it seeks to undermine those who favor accommodating Hamas and has succeeded in doing so in several ways:

Dahlan’s stature within Fatah has grown in recent weeks. Abbas appointed him secretary of the National Security Council, empowering him to reform the security forces and strengthen the presidential guard.

Fatah has improved its public outreach efforts by appointing two spokesmen — Jamal Nazal in the West Bank and Abdul-Hakim Awad in Gaza — to focus primarily on criticizing

and exposing Hamas activities through media outlets and popular websites.

Four of Fatah’s six ministers are Dahlan allies.

They include Azzam al-Ahmad, who is also deputy prime minister; Minister of Transportation Sadi al-Krunz; Minister of Public Works Samih al-Abed; and Minister of Health Radwan al-Akhras. Moreover, some of Barghouti’s traditional allies are joining Dahlan’s camp in fear of Hamas ambitions to control the PA and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

In early March, Abbas appointed Fatah leadership committees for the West Bank and Gaza. The former is headed by Hussein al-Sheikh, Dahlan’s ally and Barghouti’s archrival. It is still unclear what the mandate of these committees will be, but the appointment was clearly aimed at strengthening Dahlan’s network at the expense of Barghouti’s.

Dahlan and his allies may be improving their internal position within Fatah, but they continue to face significant obstacles and will have to remain unified if they are going to take over the party.

The Resurgence of Hamas Hardliners

In a speech delivered shortly after the formation of the unity government, former Hamas foreign minister Mahmoud al-Zahar signaled that hardliners within the group do not favor the terms of the Mecca accord. Using the phrase “we in Hamas” to suggest that his opinion represents that of Hamas’s religious leadership in the Shura Council, al-Zahar countered three specific points of the unity government platform: (1) Hamas will not extend its ceasefire with Israel to the West Bank unless Israel withdraws completely from all lands occupied in 1967; (2) while Hamas would accept a Palestinian state with temporary borders — since this does not require a peace agreement with Israel — it refuses a permanent state within the 1967 borders, which would be equivalent to recognizing Israel; (3) Hamas opposes giving the PLO a mandate to negotiate with Israel until all Palestinian factions are represented in the organization, including Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Al-Zahar’s speech has several implications for the future of the unity government. First, it preserves Hamas’s right to terminate the agreement if Fatah refuses to reform the PLO and incorporate Hamas into the PA’s senior administration. Second, it indicates Hamas’s independent position on truce terms with Israel. Third, it reflects Hamas leaders’ concern that the military wing will shift loyalties to more extreme Islamist groups if it perceives its political leadership to be softening.

At its core, Hamas does not want to appear as if unity with Fatah has forced it to relinquish its goal of establishing an Islamic Palestinian state encompassing all of historic Palestine.

For example, when the Mecca accord was announced, Osama bin-Laden’s deputy, Ayman al-Zawahari, accused Hamas of selling Palestine for a few seats in the unity government. Hamas responded with an official statement: “Palestine is an Islamic endowment. No one has the right to abandon one inch of its soil, and Hamas holds firm to this principle.”

Fault Lines in the Unity Government

There are three main areas in which Hamas aspires to expand its influence and ultimately replace Fatah, each representing one of Fatah’s traditional sources of power: (1) the security forces, (2) the institutions of the PA, and (3) the PLO. Consequently, Fatah and Hamas will find implementing the Mecca accord — and the related articles of the unity government platform — to be nearly impossible.

Hamas has already succeeded in infiltrating many of the security forces. During the confrontations with Fatah, for example, the police and national security forces — traditionally loyal to Fatah — remained neutral, leaving only the presidential guard, Preventive Security, and general intelligence as active combatants against Hamas.

The Mecca accord stipulates that the senior PA positions, which Fatah dominates, be divided between the two parties.

The PA’s limited resources and the aspirations of both sides to gain positions for their followers will create struggles over every appointment. Fatah’s health minister has already dismissed numerous Hamas appointees to his ministry.

The future of the PLO. Hamas may have empowered Abbas to negotiate with Israel under the umbrella of the PLO, but it placed two significant checks on his authority. According to the unity government’s platform, “any offer on any final agreement should be presented to the new Palestinian National Council for ratification or to hold a general referendum [for] the Palestinian people inside and abroad”; also required would be an unspecified “law that organizes this referendum.” In other words, the legislative body of a refashioned PLO (where Hamas contends it should compose the majority) must endorse any agreement that Abbas reaches with Israel, either directly or through a popular referendum held not only in the PA but also among refugee populations in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and elsewhere.

Conclusion

It is difficult to envision a stable, durable Palestinian unity government. If the hardline factions within each party continue to gain strength, differences between their leadership will become irreconcilable. Fatah hardliners seek to oust Hamas and restore their lost authority, while Hamas hardliners are uncompromising in their policies against Israel and Fatah. Under such conditions, the unity government is likely to fracture along three major fault lines: the mission and composition of the security forces, the distribution of PA offices, and the future of the PLO. Meanwhile, ongoing factional violence — including frequent kidnappings and assassinations — threatens to return the streets of Gaza to a state of war. In the end, the unity government is just a tactical truce — to be undone when one party believes unity no longer serves its interests.

Mohammad Yaghi is a Lafer international fellow with The Washington Institute and a columnist for the Palestinian daily al-Ayyam.

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Demand of Hamas – Return Occupied Lands of 1948

April 7, 2007

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

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.

To those who believe there will be a false peace prior to the attack of the Antichrist against Israel from the north, it is becoming obvious that as long as Hamas controls the Palestinian Authority government, the only way it can occur is by a Hudna, a long term truce of seven to ten years, which Hamas has stated several times it is willing to offer Israel.

There have been three ways a false peace could come in between Islam and Israel, either by negotiations, force, or Hudna. Once Hamas took over the PA government, because of their uncompromising position, I chose the Hudna route as the most likely, as the year old article, which follows, attests.

Begin Archive Blogs

Hudna (Indefinite Truce) May be the Only Way to a False Peace!

April 18, 2006

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

The following two articles, one from the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, and the other from the Times, UK, were both extracted from the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs Daily Alert.

The Scriptures indicate that a false peace will come to Israel before it is attacked from the north. It is appearing more and more likely that it may be in the form of a Hudna issued by the terror groups in Israel for the production of a “quiet for quiet” indefinite period of time, which is allowable under the traditional teachings of Islam for the purpose of building up strength and coordination of future conquests.

These two articles, which follow, show little hope for what Western Powers would identify as a negotiated peace, and an indefinite truce agreement may be the best one can hope to achieve as a false peace.

Poll: Palestinians Support Hamas’ Refusal to Recognize Israel

(Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research)

A Palestinian poll conducted March 16-18, 2006, asked: Do you expect Hamas to succeed or fail in managing the PA? Succeed – 70%, Fail – 22%

Should Hamas recognize the State of Israel? Yes – 36%, No – 61%

Can the PA do without Western assistance? Yes – 31%, No – 68%

Will Hamas find alternative resources from Arab and Muslim countries

? Yes – 78%, No – 19%

Concerning armed attacks against Israeli civilians inside Israel,
I Support – 52%, Oppose – 45%

Have armed confrontations helped achieve Palestinian rights in ways that negotiations could not achieve? Yes – 67%, No – 31%

Islamic Jihad: “Our Struggle Will Only End with the End of the State of Israel”

By Stephen Farrell

“Our ideology, through the way we understand Islam, is that our struggle will only end with the end of the State of Israel. For us it is an existential struggle, it is either us or them,” said Abu Ahmad, an Islamic Jihad leader. Stark, uncompromising, and with the utter clarity of the fundamentalist, this was the Islamic Jihad worldview spelled out to The Times in Gaza just days before Monday’s bombing. Islamic Jihad claims that by continuing attacks it has recruited dozens of disillusioned hardliners from Hamas’ military wing. Times-UK
End Archive Blogs

The two articles which follow are simply stating the identical position Hamas has held since it was formed. They have not shown the slightest inclination to change that position.

Begin Jerusalem Post Article

Mashaal: No change in Hamas’s policies

JPost.com Staff, THE JERUSALEM POST

April 7, 2007

Hamas leader-in-exile Khaled Mashaal denied on Saturday that there had been any change in his organization’s policies, and declared that Hamas would neither abandon “armed resistance” nor agree to give up an “inch of Palestinian land.”

Mashaal made his statements by phone to Hamas supporters who had gathered in Ramallah to mark Israel’s assassination three years ago of Hamas leaders Sheikh Ahmad Yassin and Abdul Aziz Rantisi, Israel Radio reported.

Earlier, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s senior political advisor, Muhammad Dahlan, had told the newspaper Al-Hayat al-Jadida that there had recently been a strategic change in Hamas’s political views.

Dahlan said that it was obvious that Hamas would “need time” to bring its platform into line with the political needs of the region.

Begin Arutz Sheva Article

Hamas Warns Israel Against Possible Anti-Terror Offensive

17 Nisan 5767, 05 April 07 11:52

by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz and Hillel Fendel

(IsraelNN.com) In separate statements this week, Hamas spokesmen threatened disaster for the Israeli military and praised the steadfastness of Arabs under the “occupation of 1948.”

A Hamas terrorist spokesman threatened to “bring hell upon the heads of the enemy” in the event of an Israeli military campaign in the Palestinian Authority-controlled Gaza Strip or an IDF assassination of a PA terrorist leader. Hamas, which currently controls the PA government, is holding Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit captive. Intelligence sources assume that Shalit is located somewhere in southern Gaza.

Many Israeli military experts have long called for a large-scale offensive against the increasingly threatening Palestinian terror capabilities in

the Gaza Strip.

Of late, however, such calls have not been widely heard.

Kassam rockets have been fired at Israel at a reduced pace of late; an average of nearly one a day has been fired over the past few days.

Defense Minister Amir Peretz, touring northern Gaza on Passover Eve (Monday), said the IDF is permitted to hit Kassam launching cells and those who manufacture arms and weapons.

“Israel will not allow terror organizations in Gaza to continue arming,” Peretz said.

A spokesman for the Hamas terrorist organization identified as “Abu Obeida” said Tuesday, “The Zionist threats are not new. They express the extent of the failure and helplessness the Zionist enemy’s leadership has reached in its confrontation with Palestinian national unity.” He claimed that all the PA terrorist organizations are unified, prepared and able to prevent any Israeli military campaign in the Gaza region, adding, “The land of Gaza will become a graveyard for the invaders, who will face new resistance methods that they never knew of be

fore. They will regret the moment they thought of the foolish act of invading the Gaza Strip.”

The Hamas spokesman also threatened “a fire that will consume everything” if Israel targets the leadership of the PA Arabs. “It will be a disaster for the Zionist enemy,” Abu Obeida boasted.

Hamas Praise for Arabs in “Occupied Lands of 1948”

Meanwhile, a senior Hamas leader outside of PA-controlled Gaza expressed the organization’s view of the rest of Israel, including inside the pre-1967 borders.

In a speech delivered during a political gathering south of Damascus, Hamas political leader Musa Abu Marzouk praised the Israeli-Arabs as steadfast sons of the “Palestinian people in the occupied lands of 1948.”

“The uprising following the events of Land Day [expropriation of lands in late March 1976, which have motivated violent anti-State riots by Israeli-Arabs every year since then – ed.] proved the attachment of the Palestinian people in the occupied lands of 1948 to their national identity and their resistance to the occupation,” Abu Marzouk said.

FAIR USE NOTICE: This site

contains copyrighted material 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.