blog.Tribulationperiod.com

WHOLE “LOTTA SHAKIN GOIN” ON!

February 13, 2008

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

One might even vaguely suspect the earth, as God�

��s creation, was beginning to accelerate its groaning, in anxiety for the appearance of God’s children, the ultimate created creature of God, in glorified bodies.

Romans 8:16-23 –The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: [17] And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

[18] For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. [19] For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. [20] For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, [21] Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

[22] For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. [23] And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

The following article was found at:

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/02/14/1202760434243.html

Indonesia issues tsunami alert

February 14, 2008 – 7:28AM

Indonesia issued a tsunami alert today after a strong earthquake rocked the east of the country.

The country’s geophysics agency said an earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.6 struck 275 kilometres southwest of the M aluku isl

and chain at a depth of 10 kilometres.

It said it had “the potential to cause a tsunami”.

The US geological survey put the initial magnitude of the quake at 5.9.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre and Japan’s Meteorological Agency did not immediately issue their own tsunami warnings.

It was not immediately clear whether the warning had reached villages possibly in danger in the remote region in the far east of Indonesia.

Indonesia, the world’s largest archipelago with a population of 235 million people, is prone to seismic upheaval because of its location on the “Ring of Fire”, an arc of volcanos and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.

A magnitude-9 quake off Sumatra’s coast in 2004 triggered a tsunami that killed more than 230,000 people in a dozen countries, most of them in Indonesia.

AP

TUXTLA GUTIERREZ, Mexico 6.4 quake jolts region

February 12, 2008

A strong earthquake shook southern Mexico on Tuesday, causing panic and minor damage to buildings, and prompting an oil refinery to shut down as a precaution. There were no reports of major damage or injuries.

Begin Article from the Australian

Quake shakes Lebanon

From correspondents in Beirut

February 12, 2008

A MODERATE earthquake shook southern Lebanon overnight causing no damage but sending many panicked residents into the streets in the coastal town of Tyre, officials said.

The tremor struck at 2.20am local time and measured 4.0 on the open-ended Richter scale, Moueen Hamze, head of Lebanon’s National Centre for Scientific Research, told AFP.

“The epicenter of the quake was six kilometres east of Tyre,” Mr Hamze said, adding that no damage was reported.

The last earthquake of such magnitude to shake the country took place in 2001 with its epicenter in the Bekaa region of eastern Lebanon and was also felt in Beirut.

The Geophysical Institute of Israel measured the tremor at 4.1 and said it was also felt in northern Israel, across the border from Lebanon.

No casualties or damage were reported in the Jewish state.

Seismology experts in Israel warn of a major earthquake within years because of a major faultline in the region.

Begin Article from All Africa.Com

UN Ready to Assist After Major Quake Strikes East Africa

UN News Service (New York)

NEWS

3 February 2008

Posted to the web 4 February 2008

The United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is preparing to assist local authorities help people in the far east of the impoverished country after a major earthquake struck the region this morning.

Alan Doss, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative to the DRC and the chief of the mission, known as MONUC, has immediately asked the mission and other UN agencies operating in the region “to extend all necessary assistance” to authorities and the affected local population, according to a statement issued in Kinshasa,

the capital.

The mission said the initial assessments indicated that the earthquake has caused “a number of deaths and injured” but that an exact toll is yet to be determined. Build ings have been damaged

in the DRC and in neighbouring Rwanda and Burundi.

A daily worker at the MONUC office in Bukavu, the provincial capital of South Kivu in the eastern DRC, has been reported killed, but so far no other UN civilian or military personnel is known to have died.

Media reports say a second serious quake struck several hours later in Rwanda, causing further death and destruction.

Mr. Doss offered his condolences to the populations of all the areas in Africa’s Great Lakes region who have been affected by the earthquake.

MONUC said the epicentre of this morning’s quake, which registered 6.0 on the Richter scale, was located in Kabaré, about 20 kilometres north of Bukavu. It struck about 9:35 local time.

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BEAR NOW OUT OF HIBERNATION

WHEN THE BEAR HEADS SOUTH TOWARDS ISRAEL

GOD WILL SET HIS FACE AGAINST THE LAND OF MAGOG

February 13, 2008

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

The clock is ticking toward the time the occupants of the l and

of Magog will be drawn south to Israel, joining the forces of Islam at Armageddon in a final battle marking the end of the fullness of the Gentile Age. The land of Magog, at the time Ezekiel wrote his book, included Russia and those nations immediately to the south of its southern border, which at one time were part of the old Soviet Union.

In Ezekiel 38 he sets his face against two different things: (1) A Man called Gog, and (2) A Land that has been settled by descendents of one of the sons of Japheth, a man called Magog.

But there is no way one can legitimately claim by linguistics Gog is the chief prince of the land of Magog. Gog is clearly identified in both Ezekiel 38 and 39 as the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, who were two of the brothers of Magog, all three being sons of Japheth, who was one of the three sons of Noah.

When Ezekiel wrote, the descendents of Meshech and Tubal had settled immediately north of Israel, and the descendents of Magog were heavily concentrated to the distant northeast of Israel in, and around, the land we identify as Russia today.

Archive Prophecy Update Number 28

June, 2001

Ezekiel 38:1-3 – “And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, [2] Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him, [3] And say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:”

In Prophecy Update Number 27 we established, from the Scriptures and the Assyrian stone monuments, that the descendants of Meshech and Tubal, at the time Ezekiel wrote his prophecies, were primarily located in what we know as Syria and Lebanon. We also established that the prophecy is again a person, Gog (Antichrist), and against a land, the land of Magog. I am convinced that the Antichrist will attack Israel from Syria. Now, what about the “land of Magog?” Where were the Magogites located at the time of Ezekiel’s writings? Flavius Josephus, the noted Jewish historian makes the following statements concerning the Magogites in Antiquities of the Jews, Chapter VI, under the title, HOW EVERY NATION WAS DENOMINATED FROM THEIR FIRST INHABITANTS: “Japhet, the son of Noah, had seven sons.” “They called the nations by their own names.” “Magog founded those that from him were called Magogites, but who by the Greeks were called Scythians.” The Greek writers of the Classic Age said the Scythians occupied the area which today we identify as stretching from Moldova eastward across the Ukraine, southern Russia, and into Kazakhstan, then southward into Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan – Roughly the area north of the Black Sea, between the Black and Caspian Seas, and the area northwest, north, and northeast of the Caspian Sea. I do not believe the nations in this area will join in the initial attack against Israel, but I am certain they will come down for the final battle of Gog’s war, which is the Battle of Armageddon. The Battle of Armageddon, found in Revelation 16:16, is the final battle in Gog’s war, which began 3 and ½ years earlier.

Verse 3 fails to include the “land of Magog,” and is a message directly pointed, and personally addressed, against the Antichrist Gog, who once again is identified as the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. Popular writers in the last century brought a teaching into play that is simply not true.

They said the word “chief” was “rosh” in the Hebrew language, which is true. But they said it meant “Russian,” which is not true.

The Russian and Hebrew language have never overlapped in history to support such a claim. He is not a Russian prince. He is the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, most likely having a Syrian father. The word “rosh,” in the KJV, is translated as “chief” 90 times, as “head” 349 times, as “top” 75 times, as “beginning” 14 times, as “company” 12 times, as “captain” 10 times, as “sum” 9 times, as “first” 6 times, as “principle” 5 times, as “chief man” 4 times, and as “ruler” on two occasions. At no time, in all of history, could it legitimately be identified as someone who is a Russian.

I am convinced this chief prince of Meshech and Tubal will come from northwestern Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, or southern Turkey, but I will be very much surprised if his father is not a Syrian.

He will be the leader of a multilateral Arab force that will carry out a surprise attack against Israel from the north. I believe this is spoken of in 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.”

Although he will have the support of ten Arab nations, I believe the nations directly involved in the initial attack will be Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Iran from without, and the Palestinian terrorist groups from within. I believe the other nations, which will then immediately become involved in the Jihad, are most likely Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Turkey, and Sudan.

Begin Article from the Australian

US has unleashed arms race: Putin

February 09, 2008

RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin has accused the US of unleashing a new arms race on Russia’s borders in a speech that is likely to provide a blueprint for his successor’s policies.

Laying out his legacy three months before he is to step down, Mr Putin said Russia had to wean itself off energy exports, compete in the world economy and stand up to the West.

In an address containing long passages of tough rhetoric aimed at the West, Mr Putin said NATO expansion and US plans for a missile defence shield in eastern Europe had touched off an arms race.

“It’s not our fault, we didn’t start it. … funnelling multibillions of dollars into developing weapons systems.

“NATO itself is expanding. It’s approaching our borders.

We drew down our bases in Cuba and in Vietnam.

What did we get? New American bases in Romania, Bulgaria.

A new third missile defence region (the US defence shield) in Poland, where it’s being built,” Mr Putin told the State Council.

“It’s already clear that a new arms race is being unleashed in the world … We must not allow ourselves to be drawn into this.”
Mr Putin’s address to the State Council, which gathers minister, regional governors and MPs, will be one of his last keynote speeches before he steps down.

It was also widely regarded as a manifesto for Dmitry Medvedev, the man he has endorsed to succeed him.

Mr Medvedev, a 42-year-old first deputy prime minister and loyal Putin ally, said this week he was not issuing his own program because it would be no different from his mentor’s policies.

Mr Putin, 55, opened his speech by emphasising how far Russia had come in the eight years he had been in power.

In 2000, Russia was reeling from economic collapse, insurgents were marauding through the country and the Kremlin was being manipulated by tycoons, he said.

“Wealthy Russia had turned into a country of impoverished people. In these conditions, we started to implement our program to take the country out of crisis,” he said.

“We have been able to rid ourselves of the practice of taking state decisions under pressure from financial groups and media magnates.”

He hailed the strength of the Russian economy, pointing to a boom in investment, state coffers which are now full and gross domestic product growth of more than eight per cent a year.

But Mr Putin also said Russia needed to develop its human capital if it was to compete in the global economy and reduce its dependence on oil exports.

He proposed tax breaks for companies investing in employees’ training and healthcare and said the government should help promote scientific research and innovation.

MR Putin also touched on Russian democracy, which has come under close international scrutiny three weeks before the presidential election.

Opposition parties say the vote is a farce and slanted in Medvedev’s favour. Europe’s main election watchdog announced on Wednesday it was pulling out of monitoring the March 2 vote because of Moscow’s obstruction.

Mr Putin said democracy was a cornerstone of Russian society but that political parties who took money from foreign governments were guilty of “immoral” behaviour and “demeaning the Russian people”.

Reuters

Begin Australian Article 2

Russian warplanes fly over US carrier

February 13, 2008

WASHINGTON: Two Russian Tupolev 95 Bear bombers overflew a US aircraft carrier in the western Pacific at the weekend, prompting US fighter jets to scramble, a defence official said yesterday.

US fighter planes intercepted the Russian bombers flying unusually close to

the aircraft carrier in the western Pacific.

The official said one Tu-95 buzzed the aircraft carrier USSNimitz twice, at an altitude of about 610m, while another circled about 91km out. The official was speaking on condition of anonymity because the reports on the flights were classified as secret.

The incident on Saturday, which never escalated beyond the flyover, comes amid heightened tensions between the US and Russia over US plans for a missile defence system based in Poland and the Czech Republic.

Such Russian bomber flights were common during the Cold War, but have been rare since.

The bombers were among four Tu-95s launched from Rusia’s Ukrainka air base, about 1000km northwest of Vladivostok, in the middle of the night, including one that Japanese officials say violated their country’s airspace over an uninhabited island south of Tokyo.

US officials tracked and monitored the bombers as two flew south along the Japanese coast, and two others flew farther east, coming closer to the Nimitz and the guided missile cruiser USS Princeton.

As the bombers got to about 800km out from the US ships, four F/A-18 fighters were launched from the Nimitz, the defence official said.

The fighters intercepted the Russian bombers about 80km south of the Nimitz.

At least two US fighters trailed the bomber as it came in low over the Nimitz twice, while one or two of the other US fighters followed the second bomber as it circled.

The official said there were no verbal communications between

the US and the Russians and that the Pentagon had not heard of any protests being filed. Historically, diplomatic protests have not been filed in such incidents as they were so frequent during the Cold War era.

This is the first time Russian Tupolevs have flown over or interacted with a US carrier since 2004.

AP

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PM’S “DEFINITE MAYBE” DECISIONS!

PRIME MINISTER OLMERT – THE ILLUSIVE POLITICIAN

Some of Olmert’s Friends are for it, and Some of Olmert’s Friends are against it, and Olmert is always with his Friends.

February 12, 2008

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

I will never forget a popular comic strip about swamp characters living in a southern swamp, in which the two main characters were Albert the Alligator and Pogo Possum. In one particular war Albert Alligator had drummed up a major war plan for use against enemies of the swamp. In the final frame of the strip, after the war was over, Albert was standing alone in the midst of shallow swamp water, with a bucket for a helmet, and a wooden homemade sword in his hand lifted high toward heaven, loudly proclaiming: “WE HAVE MET THE ENEMY, AND THEY ‘IS’ US!”

I am afraid the current Israeli administration, in its ability to conduct war, is also

its own worst enemy, and is constantly proclaiming military decisions of action in its statements it never lets the IDF carry out. Threats and promises made of direct action in the Gaza

Strip against Hamas, while holding the IDF on a leash at the same time, creates ever growing evidence PM Olmert is afraid to make a decision. However, it is obvious the Jewish public is getting tired of his indecision, which I am persuaded will eventually force him to turn the IDF loose to carry out a major operation in the Gaza Strip. This is not a time to be timid in the face of Islamic fanatics like Hamas, who have always looked upon foes exhibiting weakness as an incentive to smell

the final victory.

Begin IMRA Excerpt

Monday, February 11, 2008

Olmert: IDF has the OK to act, COS Ashkenazi: IDF ready and waiting for Olmert’s OK

Dr. Aaron Lerner

IMRA

Who does one believe?

PM Olmert: “the security establishment has the tools and all of the
necessary confirmations to deal with this threat.” – puts the ball in the
IDF’s court

COS Ashkenazi: “The army is prepared to expand its activity in accordance with the (government’s) decisions that will be made.” – puts the ball in Olmert’s court.]

1) PM: I feel the pain of Sderot

The Jerusalem Post Feb 11, 2008 14:53 | Updated Feb 11, 2008 18:17
www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1202730276875&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Thursday expressed solidarity with the plight of the bombarded residents of Sderot and said that he believed “with all his heart” that their situation would eventually improve.

“[Even] here I feel the pain of the residents of Sderot, like I felt the
pain of the residents of Kiryat Shmona, like I felt that pain of the
residents of Beit She’an and like I felt that pain of the residents of
Jerusalem” Olmert said during a visit to the Jewish Museum in Berlin.

“Every city had to deal with such adversity in its time,” he said. “They
justifiably want what everybody else wants – to live in security and without a daily threat.”

“This is not something that can happen in one day,” said Olmert, “the
security establishment has the tools and all of the necessary confirmations to deal with this threat.”

“I believe with all my heart that it will change,” he added.

One did not need to come to Berlin to see that “the Jewish people can have no future without strength.

The future, the faith and the hope can be the foundations of peace.”

“That is what we’re struggling for; that is what we’re fighting for,” Olmert said.

2) Army chief: We’re ready to expand Gaza activity
Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi tells hundreds of senior IDF officers ‘army is
prepared to expand its activity in accordance with the (government’s)
decisions that will be made.’ Southern Command chief: Gaza will soon reach boiling point.

Hanan Greenberg YNET Published: 02.11.08, 21:52 / Israel News
www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3505583,00.html

IMRA: The Ashlenazi quote was completed in accordance with Hebrew version of the item: www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-505549,00.html in which it is clear that he is refering to future government decisions ]

“The army is prepared to expand its activity in accordance with the
(government’s) decisions that will be made,” IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen.
Gabi Ashkenazi said Monday.

On the heels of the harsh criticism cast against the conduct of the
military’s top brass during the Second Lebanon War in the Winograd
Comission’s final report, a determined Ashkenazi told hundreds of senior officers holding the ranked of colonel or higher that “2008 will be filled with security-related challenges, and the army must be ready to face them”.

Referring to the Winograd report’s conclusion that the army’s most
fundamental values had been compromised during the 2006 campaign, the army chief told the officers “I have complete faith in you and in the IDF’s ability to meet the challenges.

“Only we can defend the home and country,” he added.”

Southern Command Chief Major General Yoav Galant, who also addressed the conference, said Gaza would soon reach its boiling point.

Officers who heard his speech said they believed Galant was in favor of launching a large-scale operation in the Strip.

On Sunday Air Force Commander, Brig. Gen. Eliezer Shkedi said during a visit to the Druze village of Julis in the Western Galilee that “the continuing Qassam attacks will at the end of the day obligate us (to carry out) a wide scale operation in the Strip. “Terrorists on the (separation) fence and ongoing rocket fire is intolerable,” he said.

Begin DEBKAfile Reports

DEBKAfile reports: New Hamas tactics greet Israeli force in Gaza early Tuesday. One Israeli soldier slightly wounded

February 12, 2008, 7:40 PM (GMT+02:00)

DEBKAfile’s military sources report that the Golani brigade, armored forces and reservists raiding Hamas’ missile and terrorist infrastructure in the Gaza Strip early Tuesday, Feb. 12, had their first taste of Hamas tactics for blocking a major incursion. An Israeli soldier was slightly wounded.

The Palestinians report casualties. Several were detained.

Driving forward in the northern, central and southern sectors, the Israeli force encountered Hamas opposition on all three fronts from mortars and Qassam missiles designed for the battlefield with a cutoff range of 1 km. The attacks were well-coordinated by a single command.

Hamas had apparently decided to jump the gun on its blocking tactics against a major advance, in order to thwart a potential Israeli plan to seize bridgeheads inside Gaza ahead of substantial ground action.

The government’s nod for a major ground operation to stamp out the Palestinian missile offensive has been held up again

DEBKAfile’s political sources report: Prime minister Ehud Olmert holds a second round of talks with German chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin Tuesday, while defense minister Ehud Barak spends the day meeting Turkish political and military leaders

in Ankara. Both are bidding for international intervention to save themselves a hard decision to deploy the Israeli army for effective action to quell Palestinian attacks from Gaza. IDF generals resent this vote of non-confidence in the Israeli military. They say they are only being held back from dealing in earnest with the Palestinians’ Gaza-based offensive by the timorousness of government leaders.

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A WORD FOR NON-BELIEVERS

EVEN IF YOU DON’T BELIEVE BIBLE PROPHECY!

February 11, 2008

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

I have spent a large part of my life studying the Scriptures, and admit openly that anyone, believer or non-believer, is fully justified in being critical of the things I teach, if they say it is because the Scriptures dominate my reasons for predicting what I believe is going to happen in the Middle East. And there is also a secondary reason I freely admit they are quite justified in being critical of the things I teach – I have misinterpreted Scripture in the past, and until I die am quite capable of doing it again.

Now, having set forth these admissions, as a background for the next paragraph, which is for both believers and non-believers, we shall prod forward into it.

Even if were not a believer, if I did not believe there was a God, if I did not believe in the Second Advent of Christ, I would still be certain that a war of unequaled historical fury was on the immediate horizon in the Middle East. And I would still be convinced there is no way it can be prevented. Yes, I have spent a large part of my life studying the Word of God – But I have also spent a part of my adult life teaching, working, training, and attending IHL’s as I lived among many Arab and Persian military personnel, and in traveling in many Islamic countries. I have watched and been involved in their cultures while seeing the situation in the Middle East grow to what it has become over the last 55 years, and this is why I know from physical observation that the world is on a one-way path to disaster in the Middle East, which cannot be reversed.

Perhaps the simplest way for me to let you understand why I believe unbelievable slaughter and horror must eventually suddenly bust forth in the Middle East, independent from the fact the Bible states it, would be to ask you to read the article from the Observer, which follows. The hate that has grown in the hearts of Abraham’s descendents (via the wombs of Hagar and Keturah) against those descendents of Abraham through the womb of Sarah, (the blood mother of the Seed of Promise, Isaac, whose Son was Israel), has now passed the point of change. The hate has now become so fanatically ingrained in the hearts of the Sons of Hagar and Keturah by the followers of Allah over the last 60 years, that it is irreversible and still growing.

Romans 10:9,10 – That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. [10] For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Romans 10:13 – For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Begin Article from the UK Observer

Gaza’s factions take their fight into the school playgrounds

Children as young as five are learning a deep hatred as the power struggle between militias takes a disturbing new course

Peter Beaumont

The Observer

Sunday February 10 2008

This article appeared in the Observer on Sunday February 10 2008 on p45 of the World news section. It was last updated at 00:11 on February 10 2008.

The armed men who assaulted eight-year-old Shahab al-Akhras on a street corner in Rafah covered their faces with balaclavas. Shahab, who is small for his age, was wearing the hata, the black-and-white checked scarf

associated with Fatah – the party once led by the late Yasser Arafat.

The four men who pushed him into a corner and thrashed his hands on new year’s day were wearing the uniforms of Hamas’s Executive Force, these days Fatah’s deadly rival. ‘They took off my shoes and put them on the scarf and stamped on them,’ he said. ‘Then they told me to put out my arms in front of me and beat me with a stick. They said that if they saw me wearing the scarf again they would shoot me in the legs. I hate them!’

The internal struggle between the Islamist Hamas and the Fatah movement in Gaza – which Hamas thought it had won after three days of fighting last June – has resurfaced. While acts of violence continue to be committed by adults on both sides, the battleground now is over Gaza’s children.

It is not simply that both parties are seeking to influence the new generation. In Gaza the children of Fatah families in particular, who saw fathers, brothers and uncles defeated by Hamas last June, are taking responsibility for the adult world.

And challenging Hamas in the way their adults cannot – in plain view on the streets. The phenomenon is dividing schools, worrying teachers and psychologists, even members of the rival parties themselves. And it is frightening for those children who wish to remain outside of the struggle.

In the house of Fatima al-Najar, 57, the grandmother and Hamas activist who blew herself up and wounded five Israeli soldiers in 2006, her grandson Rafat, 13, rejects both parties. It does not make school easy. ‘I don’t want to belong to Hamas, or any party,’ he said. ‘But there is sometimes trouble at school between the parties. There are arguments and fights. And there is pressure from other students to join their side.

‘The first day of term they’ll hand you timetables they’ ve made up to show how good their party is, or get your books or they ask you to sit with them.

If you do that and the other side sees you sitting with people from the other party, then they won’t talk to you again. It bothers me that politics is coming into school, which should be a place just for learning.

But since the internal violence between Hamas and Fatah, it is happening so much more.

‘

Iyad Sarraj, a Palestinian psychologist, believes the insistence among the children on identifying strongly with Hamas or Fatah is a symptom of the disintegration of Palestinian society in the past two years. ‘A few days ago there was a bomb explosion near the Jawazat police station.

I had a 15-year-old relative staying with me, a boy. He said he hoped members of Hamas were injured. He said: “I hope that some were killed!” I was shocked and said these were Palestinians. He replied that he didn’t care, Hamas had done so much damage.

‘There is a preoccupation among the children,’ said Sarraj, ‘about the issue of who is Hamas and who is Fatah. You go to homes and they ask you this. Even my two-year-old son is very preoccupied with this. He asks me: ‘Are you Fatah or Hamas? I reply: “I’m Palestinian”.’

But in the seven months since Hamas’s takeover of the Gaza Strip and the routing of Fatah, that is no longer good enough for some of Gaza’s children. While their fathers might risk putting up a Fatah flag on their houses, their children go further. They fly the yellow Fatah flag on their bicycles to taunt the gunmen of the Executive Force, on occasion riding in gangs through Hamas demonstrations.

They wear the scarf and sometimes throw stones and insults, shouting ‘Shia!’ at Hamas members.

The defiance is not confined to boys. Last week The Observer encountered two teenage girls walking hand in hand in Gaza City. Both wore the colours of the Palestinian flag, tight jeans and caps rather than headscarves. Their necks were draped with the hata. They would not give their names, but when asked why they were dressed as they were, they shouted: ‘Because we’re Fatah.’

But if Fatah children are more visible on Gaza’s streets it is only because those from Hamas are at the mosque or in the home, more strictly disciplined, particularly girls.

When I ran into a group near the Unknown Soldier park in central Gaza City, they were being meekly organised for a demonstration against Israel’s blockade of Gaza, arranged in white tunics in straight lines.

Two girls were led forward shyly to recite a few lines of broken English written on sheets of paper they held in their hands. ‘There is a culture of talking politics in Palestinian society,’ said Muntasir Bahja, 32, an English teacher at the Othmar Ibn Atan secondary school in Jabaliya.

‘Both sides in the school try to organise their events and the others won’t let them. First it was Fatah and an event to mark the founding of the movement. Then Hamas tried to mark the date of the martydom of Fatima al-Najar and brought in their stuff. Then the Fatah students would not let them speak, and shouted them down. So in the end the headmaster had to say “no more”.

‘I once took my primary school age daughter out to a park, and there was this other little girl there. My daughter came to me and said the other girl kept saying how Hamas was better than Fatah. I told her to go back and talk about school things and play. But the other girl just carried on… It is damaging everything, this hatred. What will happen when these five-year-olds become 18? All these children will remember is how Fatah and Hamas fought. That is why I am worried for the future.’

Not only Iyad Sarraj and Muntasir Bahja worry at what they are seeing happening to Gaza’s divided children. Ghazi Hamid, a former spokesman for Hamas, and still closely associated with the movement, is also deeply troubled. ‘I have never seen such splits in Palestinian society. Such hatred. And it really worries me. I have eight children and they talk about what goes on in school. The children abuse each other over what party they say they follow. Because people know who I am, I am recognised in the streets. Then they shout: “Shia! Shia!” It is shameful.’

But the playground fights are merely a backdrop to a more deadly violence, whose victims are children as well as adults.

Last November a massive Fatah demonstration commemorating Arafat was attacked by Hamas supporters and many of those injured were children. The records of that day make for grim reading: Ibrahim Ahmad, 13, shot in the head; Islam Ahmad, 11, shot in the stomach; Muhanid Murshad, 12, his pelvis broken from a beating; Ahmad al-Masri, 12, shot in the arm; Muatmir Abu Touria, 15, broken jaw.

There are more. The case of Shahab al-Akhras is far from unique. Anecdotal evidence suggests teenagers are arrested and threatened, or their families are threatened. Ahmad Arawar, 16, was playing football in a sandy back alley. His story is typical.

‘The Executive Force arrested me and beat me up last year at the Arafat memorial.’ He was wearing the hata and trying to post a picture on a wall. His friend Faris Bakr, 12, said: ‘I am Fatah because it is my origin.

I’m not afraid of Hamas.’

Iyad Sarraj blames a wider issue than the simple question of competing politics – and factional fighting – for what is happening. For children who have witnessed the breakdown of family relationships or lost respect for fathers whom they have seen beaten or threatened – during Israel’s occupation and the internal fighting – Sarraj believes the factions seem to offer protection, certainty and discipline.

‘Hamas, for instance, functions as a clan,’ he said. ‘It is a new family. It offers protection to the children who follow it. It offers an identity.’

At his uncle’s house in Rafah I asked Shahab al-Akhras if he would still wear his scarf. ‘Of course I’ll wear it. I wear it every day.’ And if he saw the Hamas men who thrashed his hands again? ‘I’ll shout at them, “Shia!” And throw a stone,’ he said defiantly.

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THE PROBLEM AND THE FACTS!

February 11, 2008

MID MORNING BLOG

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

The two excerpts which follow were taken from the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs – Daily Alert

The problem in the Gaza Strip cannot cont

inue indefinitely. It is either going to end in a massive military maneuver into the Strip to attempt to eliminate the problem or a hudna (truce) for a stated period of time.

How long Israel will let it go on is the question currently being debated,

THIS IS THE PROBLEM

PA Rocket Fire Escalating

Yaakov Katz and Tovah Lazaroff

(Jerusalem Post)

Public Security Minister Avi Dichter told Sunday’s cabinet meeting that in the first five weeks of 2008, Gazans had fired 330 rockets at Israel, one-third of what they

had fired in all of 2007.

Last weekend alone 40 rockets were launched, of which 14 struck Sderot, Dichter said.

THESE ARE THE FACTS

Restraint Is Not Possible

Editorial

(Ha’aretz)

The firing of Kassam rockets against Sderot and the nearby kibbutzim is not stopping and is extracting a heavy price in terms of fear and blood.

Responsibility for the shooting from Gaza, which has been going on for seven years, falls on the Palestinians. Were it not for the shooting, Israel would not respond. For the past eight months Hamas has ruled Gaza alone, and it is no longer possible to explain away the shooting as due to a lack of control over rogue organizations.

Are the West Bank and Gaza still one entity, aspiring to establish an independent state alongside Israel

? Is it possible that in all situations, Israel will hold negotiations for the establishment of such a state while Hamas is shooting at it

? Israel left Gaza in the summer 2005 to signal the start of an end to the occupation. The ball passed to the Palestinian court, where it has been stuck after the Palestinians elected Hamas, which opposes a peace agreement with Israel.

If the limited military actions Israel is undertaking in an effort to bring an end to the Kassam rockets will not bring an end to the shooting; if the moderate states, and first and foremost Egypt and Jordan, fail to contain Hamas – Israel will have no option but to embark on a broad military operation.

The Israel Defense Forces raison d’etre is to protect the country’ s citizen

s from attack.

Israel must prove that the blood of its citizens cannot be forfeited – so that in the future, its neighbors will abide by the agreements to which they have committed.

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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.