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A DAYS WORK FOR A LOAF OF BREAD!

As Platinum and Gold Prices Rise the Dollar Purchasing Power Falls!

February 8, 2008

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

Following WW-2 the agricultural technology was able to accelerate and keep up with the world’s rapidly increasing population, but technology does have limits. During the 34 year period from 1950 to 1984, a Green Technological Revolution, modifying agricultural progress, swept across earth’s surface. Whole grain production, the bread of life, climbed a whopping 250%, and it seemed mankind was in charge of its own fate through its great scientific expertise. But, from 1984 to the present, agricultural output percentages have been declining in many regions of the planet.

David Pimentel, professor of ecology and agriculture at Cornell University, and Mario Giampietro, senior researcher at the National Research Institute on Food and Nutrition (INRAN), place in their study Food, Land, Population and the U.S. Economy the maximum U.S. population for a sustainable economy at 200 million. To achieve a sustainable economy and avert disaster, the United States must reduce its population by at least one-third, and world population will have to be reduced by two-thirds, says the study.

As the buying power of the dollar declines, if once considers an ancient weighing device with two scales, in order to get the grain weight equal to the weight of the dollars, more dollars have to be added, as the third seal in Revelation 6:6 portrays.

Revelation 6:5,6 – And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see.

And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.

[6] And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.

When a laborer went into the field to labor, during the time of Jesus’ walk on the earth, the standard wage for a day’s labor was a penny a day. Of course this is not a “penny” of our day, but a coin of that day. The value of it must be measured it what it represented – Payment for a day’s labor. The rich ate wheat bread.

The poor ate barley bread. A “measure” was approximately what a man with large hands could hold in his two hands cupped together. A measure would make a small loaf of bread. So the picture presented here is one of great inflation – A man working all day, and only being able to make enough to provide his family with one small loaf of white bread, or three small loaves of barley bread.

The expression “hurt not the oil and the wine” means to be very sparing in your use of them, because their price will be very expensive.

The world is heading for that condition in what was known as “the whole world” at the time John wrote Revelation.

The following excerpts from two articles by Chris Flood, which were taken from FT.com Markets Commodities, give evidence of a dollar that is declining in purchasing power.

Begin Excerpt 1

Wheat prices hit record high

By Chris Flood

Published: February 6 2008 13:20 | Last updated: February 6 2008 13:20

Wheat prices rose strongly on both sides of the Atlantic on Wednesday, supported by strong fundamentals and fresh speculative inflows, while platinum continued its record breaking run and oil prices rallied ahead of the latest US weekly inventories data.

Begin Excerpt 2

Wheat and platinum at record highs

By Chris Flood

Published: February 7 2008 11:30 | Last updated: February 7 2008 11:33

Wheat and platinum prices continued their record breaking runs on Thursday while gold traded above the $900 level and oil prices consolidated after falling in the previous session following a huge increase in US crude stocks.

Gains for high protein spring wheat traded at the Minneapolis Grain Exchange have been capped by their 30 cents trading limit for each of the past six sessions and that pattern continued on Thursday with the March contract hitting a record $15.23 a bushel in electronic trading. The Minneapolis exchange plans to raise the daily trading limit to 40 cents next week.

End Excerpts

I suspected for a long time, if I lived to my allotted threescore and ten years, I might see the pre-opening conditions of the third Revelation seal begin to occur in the area, which was known as “the whole world” to those that lived in New Testament times. The African continent was known to exist at the time of John’s writings, and that is where I knew the famine should start. Good ole Mr. Wills, my ninth grade teacher in Junior High School, is the one who introduced me to this in 1947. It was such a simple thing and such a certain thing, that I had no fear of being wrong about it when I wrote my first book in the seventies. It was based on food supply and population increase. (For an Exposition of what the expression “the whole world” means in many prophetic writings, See Archive Prophecy Update 135A)

Revelation 6:5,6 – And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.

[6] And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.

The population explosion, particularly in Africa, which suddenly burst on the scene, was not a great surprise to the human race. The world’s population has roughly, in a somewhat similar pattern, followed the old formula of daily penny doubling. Suppose someone proposed to give you five billion dollars if you would double a penny he gave you for forty days, and then give him all the proceeds of the doubling process on the fortieth day – Would you take the deal? A single penny on the first day would produce two cents on the second day, four cents on the third day, eight cents on the fourth day, sixteen cents on the fifth day, thirty-two cents on the sixth day, sixty-four cents on the seventh day, and only a dollar and twenty-eight cents on the eighth day. So, based on what you’ve read so far, it seems like a pretty good deal. But on day forty you would have to fork over more than five billion dollars. This principle has been the backbone of when the famine prophecy prediction would occur ever since eight people stepped off the Ark of Noah. This principle opened the famine seal, and will cause it to intensify until Armageddon.

The world’s famine outbreaks in its developing countries have been occurring closer and closer together in time since World War II, and the trend will accelerate until the Second Advent. Why? A few thousand years ago eight men and women descended in an ark “upon the mountains of Ararat,” and then began to multiply. At first, like the penny, the increase was insignificant from a numerical standpoint.

When Jesus was born the world population had only reached about 200 million.

When Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492 it had barely reached 400 million. But, like the multiplying principle of the penny, it began to accelerate noticeably about the time of the Civil War, and exploded after the Great Depression of the thirties.

In 1989 the world population reached five billion and, the same year, eleven million of the earth’s residents died of starvation.

The population of our planet passed six billion in October of 1999, and is predicted to reach ten billion in 2030.

Some say it will only reach between eight and nine billion by 2030.

But even if that is true, how can the additional three plus billion be fed, if eleven million died of starvation in 1989 with a population of only five million.

Some say, “don’t worry, agricultural technology is on the way to solving the famine problem.” No way! The latest U.N. study found ten percent of the world’s soil profile badly damaged. The three-year study accessed the soil conditions on a global scale, and involved more than 250 soil scientists. It marked the first time since World War II that soil profiles had been accessed on a global scale. As reported by Larry B. Stammer in the Los Angeles Times, the study found that “about two-thirds of all seriously eroded land is in Asia and Africa, home to most of the world’s poor. The article, using the report as its basis, proclaimed: “Despite the much acclaimed great green revolution of the past several decades, which have produced unprecedented gains in food production by the introduction of fertilizers and hybrid grains, per-capita food production has declined in some eighty developing countries in the past decade” The 1993 report, “Vital Signs, The Trends That Are Shaping Our Future,” as reported in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette of July 18, 1993, stated: “This new report shows the first clear sign that population is outpacing the available food supply for humans. The trend is mostly because of record world population growth, but also reflects a slowdown after decades of increasing food supplies. The main sources of food – farms, ranches, and oceans – all are approaching, or may have reached, their maximum per-capita output, according to the Vital Signs Report.”

The simple truth is this, in 1993, for the first time since records began to be maintained, world food utilization exceeded world food production. Utilization continued to exceed food production until 1996, and a massive endeavor was made by technology to catch up with utilization. The endeavor allowed food production to pass utilization in 1996, and it continued to exceed utilization until 1999, but the population passed six billion in October of 1999, and the production again fell below utilization, where it has remained to the present. In April of 2003, a report published by the International Committee of the Fourth International, stated that 200 million people in Africa are malnourished. The world food production has not been able to keep up with the stork in the twenty-first century, and the disparity can only increase with an increasing population growth.

The third horse rider will gallop faster and faster as he heads for Armageddon. I contend that the famine now occurring in Africa, which was a part of the prophetic world when the prophecies were written, is the beginning of the fulfillment of those prophecies, and that famine will spread out of this area into all sections of the world that were known at the time the book of Revelation was written by John. There will be a serious food shortage in the United States, but it will in no way be comparable to the famines that ravage what is referred to as the “Old World,” or the pre-Columbus w

orld. I believe the vast majority of “Old World” residents, both religious and non-religious, will take the mark of the beast to get food without hesitation, but I do not believe the mark of the beast will be put on the residents of the United States. I believe that Revelation 13:16,17 applies only to that part of today’s world that was known when John wrote Revelation.

Revelation 13:16,17 – And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: [17] And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

Followers of Islam have no idea whatsoever about even the existence of this prophecy.

The Catholic priests have not taught their masses in Europe about this, and only a handful of Catholics understand anything about it. The same is true among all the different sects of religion that are spread across the “Old World.” They will all take it without hesitation to obtain food.

I believe the antichrist’s empire will, at first, take in the vast Arab area of Islam from Morocco to Pakistan, but it will spread out quickly like water, and when the time for the final battle of Armageddon arrives, he will dominate all of the “Old World.”

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Guesstimate of Islamic Attack between 2010 and 2015 Looking Good!

February 7, 2008

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

I have never known the exact time Islamic forces would attack Israel to fulfill prophetic writings of the Old and New Testaments, only that it would definitely eventually come to pass.

I have also been convinced that Islamic forces will not start a major conventional war with Israel until Iran develops an arsenal of missiles with nuclear warheads. Iran must have these, in her way of thinking, to act as a deterrent against Israel launching its nuclear arsenal against Iran.

So one of the prime parameters, in my guesstimate formula as to when the attack was likely to occur, has been when it was likely Iran would have such an arsenal.

The nuclear program of Iran was launched in the 1950s with the help of the United States as part of the Atoms for Peace program. The support, encouragement and participation of the United States and Western European governments in Iran’s nuclear program continued until the 1979 Islamic revolution that toppled the Shah of Iran.

After the great Iranian Revolution in 1979, the Iranian government temporarily disbanded elements of the program, and then revived it with less Western assistance than during the pre-revolution era. Iran’s nuclear program has included several research sites, a uranium mine, a nuclear reactor, and uranium processing facilities that include a uranium enrichment plant.

I began doing my Geological Exposition of the End Times in 1978, and by the 1990’s I guesstimated Iran might develop a nuclear bomb early in the next century, and that the attack was likely to occur before 2008, but by 2006 I could see that was not going to be the case,

and changed my guesstimate to an attack occurring at some point in time between 2008 and 2012.

By 2007, sanctions had enough effect on Iran’s program I realized they could not possibly develop what would be considered a large enough arsenal, prior to 2010, to act as a deterrent against Israel when Iran launched a conventional in union with other Islamic nations – So I again changed my guesstimate for such an attack to occur at some point in time between 2010 and 2015. I doubt if Iran can build what it would consider a large enough arsenal by 2010, but chose that time to be on the safe side. I think it more likely that such an arsenal will not be developed prior to 2012.

Iran’s only nuclear power plant, Bushehr I, is expected to be operational in 2008 and delivering its maximum capacity to the nation’s power grid by March 2009.

Begin Haaretz Article

In about turn, U.S. says Iran may be able to make nukes by 2009

By Amir Oren, Haaretz Correspondent, and Haaretz Service

February 5, 2008

The head of American intelligence said Tuesday that it is unclear whether Tehran has returned to its production of nuclear weapons in the past six months, and warned that Iran “would be technically capable of producing enough highly enriched uranium for a weapon” by the end of next year.

Speaking two months after an American intelligence report cast doubt on Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, National Intelligence Director John Michael McConnell made his remarks during an appearance before the Senate Intelligence Committee to present an annual report on threats to the U.S.

A National Intelligence Estimate report released in December said that Iran halted its nuclear weapons development program in the fall of 2003.

“We remain concerned about Iran’s intentions and assess with moderate-to-high confidence that Tehran at a minimum is keeping open the option to develop nuclear weapons,” the report said.

“We assess with high confidence that Iran has the scientific, technical and industrial capacity eventually to produce nuclear weapons,” it said, adding that the only realistic way to prevent Iran from producing such weapons was “an Iranian political decision to abandon a nuclear weapons objective.”

McConnell expressed skepticism at the ability of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah movement to deliver security for Israel and to overcome Hamas’ efforts to stymie the political process.

He said that despite pressures on Hamas, “the group remains fairly unified, especially its military wing, and in charge in the Gaza Strip where itcontrols all PA facilities. Hamas continues to curtail freedoms and to harass Fatah members.”

McConnell said however, that the U.S. recognizes signs of Fatah’s progress in the West Bank, praising “renewed security and law enforcement cooperation with Israeli forces in taking more effective action against Hamas.”

There was no mention in the report of the Israel Air Force attack on Syria in September 2007, which foreign news sources have speculated was a strike on a nuclear facility built with North Korean assistance.

He said, however, that North Korea, which has sold ballistic missiles to Iran and other Middle Eastern countries, could “proliferate nuclear weapons abroad.”

The intelligence chief also estimated that Iran and Syria will boost their support for Hezbollah, Hamas and other Palestinian terror organizations. He accused Syria and Hezbollah of interfering with the Lebanese presidential elections.

He warned that rising tensions in Lebanon could result in a fresh civil war, and the return to armed “militias” within the country.

“Many former militias in Lebanon are reconstituting, rearming, and retraining their fighters,” he said. “The increased political and sectarian tension also raises the potential for civil war within the country.”

In addition, McConnell raised the threat of Al-Qaida in Lebanon, maintaining it continues to threaten the country’s internal security

Begin Jerusalem Post Article

Russia worried over Iran’s missile test

Associated Press, THE JERUSALEM POST

February 6, 2008

A senior Russian diplomat on Wednesday voiced concern about Iran’s launch of a rocket, saying it has raised suspicions about its nuclear program, Russian news reports said.

Russian news agencies quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov as saying that Monday’s launch of an Iranian research rocket has raised questions about the direction of Iran’s nuclear program.

The statement appeared to indicate that Moscow, which in the past has been skeptical about Iran’s missile capability, increasingly shares Western concerns about Teheran’s course.

“It adds to general suspicions of Iran regarding its potential desire to build nuclear weapons,” Losyukov was quoted as saying. “Long-range missiles are one of the components of such weapons. That causes concern.”

Iran said Monday that the rocket test-fired Monday would be used to launch research satellites into space, but the US State Department said the launch was a “troubling” show of a technology that could be used to fire long-range ballistic missiles.

Begin Jerusalem Post Article

‘Iran testing advanced centrifuge’

JPost.com Staff, THE JERUSALEM POST

February 6, 2008

Iran is testing an advanced centrifuge at its Natanz

nuclear facility, diplomats in Vienna said Wednesday.

The new centrifuge would help Iran boost its speed of uranium enrichment.

Iran had 3,000 P-1 centrifuges – a old type of centrifuge – operating by November, Reuters quoted diplomats tracking Iran’s dossier as saying that it had started mechanical tests, without nuclear material inside, of a more efficient model at Natanz.

“The Iranians have begun to run in the advanced model.

It’s not yet known what stage the testing has reached or exactly how many there are, although it appears to be several dozen,” said a Western diplomat with access to intelligence.

Reuters reported that a senior diplomat familiar with the International Atomic Energy Agency’s file on Iran confirmed that it recently began testing centrifuges based on a “P-2” design, able to enrich uranium 2-3 times as fast as the P-1.

He did not go into details, which he said would come out in a report IAEA Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei would deliver to the Vienna-based agency’s Board of Governors and the UN Security Council later this month.

It was unclear how successful Iran’s tests had been.

Begin DEBKAfile Report

DEBKAfile Reports: In a coordinated U-turn, US and Russia both treat Iran’s space launch as attesting to a nuclear weapons program

February 6, 2008, 3:55 PM (GMT+02:00)

Wednesday, Feb. 6, Moscow followed Washington in voicing concern that the launch of Iran’s Safir-1 space rocket Monday, Feb. 4, attested to the existence of a nuclear weapons program.

This diametrically contradicts the US National Intelligence Estimate of last December, which concluded Iran had shelved its covert military nuclear program in 2003.

Moscow too has evidently abandoned its persistent denial of evidence that Tehran is developing a nuclear bomb.

The two comments from the White House and the Kremlin also point to Presidents George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin having settled their dispute over harsh sanctions against Iran.

The two leaders began pulling their acts on Iran together in December 2007, as DEBKAfile first revealed, when Bush suddenly withdrew his objections to Russian fuel shipments for Iran’s Bushehr reactor. Tuesday, Feb. 5, in answer to a question, the White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Iran’s “space” missile was cause for worry. Such technology, she said, is the same as that needed to deliver a nuclear bomb.

Wednesday, Feb. 6, Russian deputy foreign minister Alexander Losyukov followed suit. He commented that Monday’s test launch of Iran’s “Safir-1 (Explorer-1) raises suspicions over Tehran’s claims of peaceful nuclear intentions and suggested its possible desire to create a nuclear weapon.

It was “of course a cause for concern.” Long-range missiles are components of a nuclear weapons system, the Russian official said – the first time any senior Russian official had admitted to suspecting Iran of underhand nuclear weapons activity.

DEBKAfile’s Washington and Moscow sources report: The statements from the two capitals indicate that Bush and Putin continue to cooperate on Iran and have decided to leave the controversial NIE behind them. The question is: Where does their collaboration go from here? Or, specifically, how does the White House propose to reward the Kremlin for adopting its hard line on Iran

?

The place to watch may be Poland and the Czech Republic, where the US president might be flexible in his push for missile interceptor bases in consideration of Moscow’ s adamant re

sistance.

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HAMASTAN – FATAHBAH – ISRAELIAD?

THE APPLE OF GOD’S EYE IS PROPHESIED TO BE ONE STATE – ISRAEL!

IT WAS NEVER GOD’S PLAN FOR THE LAND FROM DAN TO BEERSHEBA TO BE THREE STATES!

February 7, 2008

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

II Chronicles 30:4-9 – And the thing pleased the king and all the congregation.

[5] So they established a decree to make proclamation THROUGHOUT ALL ISRAEL, FROM BEERSHEBA EVEN TO DAN, that they should come to keep the passover unto the Lord God of Israel at Jerusalem: for they had not done it of a long time in such sort as it was written. [6] So the posts went with the letters from the king and his princes throughout all Israel

and Judah, and according to the commandment of the king, saying, Ye children of Israel, turn again unto the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and he will return to the remnant of you, that are escaped out of the hand of the kings of Assyria. [7] And be not ye like your fathers, and like your brethren, which trespassed against the Lord God of their fathers, who therefore gave them up to desolation, as ye see.

[8] Now be ye not stiffnecked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves unto the Lord, and enter into his sanctuary, which he hath sanctified for ever: and serve the Lord your God, that the fierceness of his wrath may turn away from you. [9] For if ye turn again unto the Lord, your brethren and your children shall find compassion before them that lead them captive, so that they shall come again into this land: for the Lord your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if ye return unto him.

Analysis: When Hamas founded a mini-state

YAAKOV AMIDROR AND DIKER, GTHE JERUSALEM POST

February 5, 2008

Hamas’s breaching of the 12-kilometer security fence separating Gaza

from Sinai on January 23, 2008, with the acquiescence of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, has triggered major shifts in the relationships between Israel, Gaza, and Egypt.

Opening Gaza’s southern border to Egypt was a well-planned strategic move that has effectively knighted Hamas as the recognized government of a new state of Gaza. Previously, the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank

and some Israelis had hoped that pressuring Hamas in Gaza via sanctions, while helping to create a stable and prosperous Palestinian society in the West Bank under Fatah leader and PA President Mahmoud Abbas, would trigger support for Abbas’ leadership in Gaza.

However, recent events in Gaza have buried this possibility for the foreseeable future. Hamas, via Gaza’s new-found access to Egyptian materials, goods and services, can now ease Gaza’s depressed economic condition, and thereby diminish the differences between Gaza and the more prosperous West Bank. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians flooded the northeastern corner of the Sinai Peninsula after January 23, spending approximately $130 million in local Egyptian markets.

The opening of the state of Gaza to Egypt reinforces Hamas control that no external pressure will be able to reverse at this juncture.

Abbas’s prospects of regaining control in Gaza are remote, at best.

Notwithstanding reports of an agreement with Egypt to include Abbas’s Presidential Guard at Gaza’s Rafah border crossing, Hamas will not give up its achievement and allow forces loyal to Abbas to control the border, despite Egypt’s preference for such an arrangement.

The radical Hamas government, which is financed, trained and armed by Iran, has proven itself as an effective military and political force. Hamas has upgraded its strategic posture by opening its southern border and forcing its Egyptian neighbor to allow free and largely unimpeded access for nearly two weeks for hundreds of thousands of Gazans who crossed Egypt’s sovereign borders and returned to Gaza at will. Hamas’s success in forcing Egypt to negotiate over the crisis has upgraded its status.

Hamas has agreed to cooperate with Egypt to close the breached border. However, the gesture is temporary and must also be considered in the context of Hamas’s stated intention to disengage completely from Israel, abandon the shekel and adopt an Arab currency and seek fuel, utilities, trade and a new open border regime with Egypt.

This crisis may also be seen in a much broader and far-reaching political and ideological context. For the first time in the history of the modern Middle East (other than the limited case of Hassan Turabi’s Sudan), Hamas – the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood and the ideological precursor to al-Qaida – has gained full control over contiguous territory and population, and has now effectively become a state government without real opponents or internal challenges for power.

Gaza’s new open border with Egypt represents the fulfillment of a long-held dream by the Muslim Brotherhood across the region, and suggests far-reaching ramifications for neighboring Arab countries including Jordan, Syria and Egypt. In fact, on January 27, a senior Muslim Brotherhood delegation from the Egyptian parliament paid an official visit to Hamas’s government compound in Gaza.

A senior Hamas delegation headed by its political leader, Khaled Mashaal, has also been invited to Saudi Arabia to discuss “developments” since the border was opened.

In the Palestinian-Israeli context, Hamas’s success enhances its political power among Palestinians and further weakens Abbas’s image as the leader of

the Palestinian people.

While Abbas is eager to return Fatah control to Gaza, recent events have ratcheted up Hamas’s control.

Hamas’s border breach has also been a signal to Egypt of the Gaza government’s strength.

The events in Gaza may signal an historic change: the end of Fatah as the ruling political power in Palestinian society.

Fatah’s continued control in Palestinian areas of the West Bank today is the direct result of the Israel Defense Forces’ control of the territory. Only the continuing IDF operations in the West Bank have prevented Hamas from staging a takeover similar to its military coup against Fatah in Gaza in 2007.

Another strategic shift is reflected in Gaza’s new status as an enemy state entity with open borders. Gaza has transformed from its prior status as part of the Palestinian Authority to its new role as a mini-state that is now an integral part of the Arab world. Hamas will now be able to more freely obtain weapons, ammunition, explosives and training via Egyptian Sinai. Since the border opening, advanced weapons have flowed unimpeded into Gaza across the Egyptian border, enabling the transfer of higher-grade weapons than can be smuggled via underground tunnels.

The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) has confirmed that Hamas smuggled large amounts of long-range rockets, anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles into Gaza since the border was breached.

This new weaponry will enable the continued upgrade of Hamas’s highly disciplined army that is largely financed and trained by Iran and is modeled after the Iranian-backed Hizbullah in Lebanon.

Terrorist operatives and groups such as al-Qaida, that have already used Egyptian Sinai as a rear base, are now able to reach Gaza more easily. Several al-Qaida-affiliated operatives, some of which infiltrated from Egypt, Sudan, and Yemen, have been active in Gaza since 2006.

Over time, al-Qaida-affiliated organizations have also emerged in Gaza, including Jaish al-Islam (Army of Islam) that was responsible for the kidnapping of BBC journalist Alan Johnston. Other groups were also formed like Jaish al-Umma (Army of the Nation), al-Qaida in Palestine, and Mujahidin Beit al-Makdes (Holy Warriors of Jerusalem), which attacked the American International School in Gaza last month.

Global jihadi leaders, such as Abu Abd al-Rahman al-Ansari of the Lebanese-based Fatah al-Islam, called for jihadi fighters around the world to exploit the breached Rafah crossing and enter Gaza.

With the open flow of Palestinians into Sinai, there are also increased prospects for attacks against Israeli targets by terrorists infiltrating across Israel’s long border with Sinai.

It must be understood that Hamas is no longer merely a well-trained guerrilla terror force. Rather, Hamas must be confronted as a state army that uses guerrilla tactics and terrorism while, simultaneously, it prepares for all-out war against Israel. With each passing day that Israel does not mobilize for a major ground operation in Gaza, it will be more difficult for the IDF to enter Gaza and destroy Hamas, whose growing Katyusha rocket arsenal has already reached Ashkelon and can strike major Israeli urban centers 20 kilometers north of Gaza, like Kiryat Gat and Ashdod.

At the same time, Hamas and other terror groups continue to fire shorter-range Kassam rockets at Sderot and other Israeli localities. Since January 1, 2008, alone more than 420 rockets have been fired into southern Israel from Gaza.

Following the opening of the Gaza-Sinai border, Israel can now complete the disengagement it undertook in September 2005 and seal its border with Gaza, prohibiting the entry or exit of persons and commercial goods, or, as has occurred recently, explosives disguised as commercial materials.

Israel and Egypt had negotiated the administration of Gaza in the framework of the 1978 Camp David accords.

However, then-Egyptian president Anwar Sadat refused to take responsibility for the Strip. Instead, Sadat insisted only on establishing an Egyptian liaison office in Gaza. However, prime minister Menachem Begin rejected the Egyptian demand.

Today, however, a newly-sealed Israel-Gaza border would force Egypt into the role of state custodian

for the Gaza Strip. The opening of the Egypt-Gaza border has demonstrated that Egypt can play a key role as a supplier of goods and services to Gazans.

Egypt can also supply utilities such as gas, electricity, and water, and raw materials such as cement. Egypt sees itself as the Arab world’s leading power, and will not stand idly by and allow Palestinians in Gaza to suffer shortages if Israel closes its border with Gaza. Egypt’s humanitarian role has been the basis of Mubarak’s justification for allowing the border to remain open and it is unlikely that Egypt will suddenly reverse this policy in the future.

While certain benefits may accrue to Israel as a result of a shift in Egypt-Gaza relations, there are also possible dangers for Israel-Egypt relations, which are a vital strategic asset for both Jerusalem and Cairo. If Egypt is forced to take responsibility for Gaza, Israel will have to more carefully weigh its military responses to Hamas terror actions originating from the Strip. Israel’s strategic flexibility could be reduced due to any direct Egyptian role in Gaza. Israel may benefit if it is no longer the responsible party for the welfare of Gaza’s citizens. But at the same time, Israel loses its ability to monitor what enters and exits over Gaza’s border with Egypt.

The Iranian role is another troubling aspect of the new situation in Gaza. Iran’s direct and robust backing of its Hamas proxy, via Mashaal and the Damascus-based Hamas leadership, has essentially created a reinforced Gaza base to export Iranian terror and expand Iranian political control in the region. It is no small irony that now, Egyptian-assisted Gaza has become a second Iranian gateway to the Arab world, in addition to Syria, from which to subvert and assert control over Arab countries and territories, as part of Iran’s grand strategy to achieve regional hegemony under a nuclear umbrella.

Maj.-Gen. (Res.) Yaakov Amidror, a former commander of the IDF’s National Defense College and the IDF Staff and Command College, is the former head of the IDF’s Research and Assessment Division, with special responsibility for preparing the National Intelligence Assessment. Dan Diker is director of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs’ Institute for Contemporary Affairs.
Reprinted by JPost with permission of the JCPA. www.jcpa.org

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TRUST IN A WALL AND FALL

TRUST IN GOD WHO NEVER FALLS

WALLS FALL BUT GOD’S WORD STANDS

ISRAEL’S CONFIDENCE IS IN WALLS AND THE U.S.

U.S. HAS CONFIDENCE IS IN ITS MAMMON AND POWER

MAMMON AND POWER PASS AWAY – GOD’S WORD ABIDES

MANKIND’S TRUST SHOULD NOT BE IN SELF, BUT IN CHRIST

February 6, 2008

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

There is coming a day, which I believe could occur between 2010 and 2015, when every wall will fall to the ground, including Israel’s security walls. Most of mankind has no concept of the tectonic horror God will soon release on this earth.

It may not occur during the time frame I have guesstimated based on what is happening currently in the Middle East, but I assure you it is not a far distant event.

Ezekiel 38:19-20 – For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath

have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel; [20] So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls

of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.

Matthew 24:21,22,35 – For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. [22] And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.

[35] Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

Malachi 4:1 – For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

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

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

Malachi 4:2,3 – But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. [3] And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I

shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts.

Great World Empires, Powers, and Kingdoms always fall, with one very great exception, which is coming soon. It is not in the far distant future – It is in the world’s immediate future – Blowing of the last trumpet.

Revelation 11:15 – And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

Psalm 2, a Psalm of David, describes perfectly the current character of all the kingdoms of this world toward the very God who created it and all the humans

who inhabit it.

Psalm 2:1-12 – Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? [2] The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, [3] Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. [4] He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have

them in derision. [5] Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.

[6] Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. [7] I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son;

this day have I begotten thee.

[8] Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. [9] Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel. [10] Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. [11] Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.

[12] Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little.

Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.

Most of the vast hoard of humanity on this planet has any trust or respect for the living Son of God. Soon most of this vast hoard will be destroyed by the greatest tectonic upheaval of the earth since God created Adam and Eve. And as it is being destroyed by the seven vials of God’s following the blowing of the seventh trumpet, the saved of God will be judged in heaven.

They will be there because they put their trust in God’s only begotten Son.

Revelation 11:18 – And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.

Revelation 16:16-21 – And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. [17] And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done. [18] And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon

the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. [19] And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. [20] And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. [21] And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.

JPost.com Staff, THE JERUSALEM POST

February 6, 2008

Israel will soon begin construction of a security fence along certain parts of the Israeli-Egyptian border, it was decided Wednesday in a meeting between the prime minister, defense minister, foreign minister and security officials.

The fence will be built in northern Nitzana and southern Eilat, regions considered to be particularly vulnerable to infiltration. Monitoring of other areas will be reinforced by additional ground forces and aerial observation measures.

The need for a fence along the open border with Egypt was highlighted recently by the breaching of the border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, which allowed hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to move freely between the two territories, as well as – Israel believes – enabling many terrorists to sneak into Sinai.

The construction of the fence is expected to last several years and may force across-the-board budget cuts of an estimated NIS 1 billion.

The government was also looking into the option of allowing Egypt to deploy additional troops along the Gaza-Egypt border, beyond the 750 troops already there. While the Foreign Ministry was generally in favor of such a move – on certain conditions – the Defense Ministry opposed it.

No decision has yet been made on the issue.

On Tuesday, government officials told the Jerusalem Post that Maj.-Gen. (res.) Amos Gilad, the powerful head of the Defense Ministry’s Diplomatic-Security Bureau, believed the Egyptians currently had enough troops deployed along the border and that what was needed were not additional troops, but an increase in motivation.

Yaakov Katz and Herb Keinon contributed to this report.

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.

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Security Barrier Wall Construction at a Standstill!

Attack on Dimona May Revive Renewed Effort to Finish It.

No Question of Need for Barriers, but Not Enough Funds Available.

February 6, 2008

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

Palestinian law suits and Environment group protests in Israel’s courts have been used as excuses by the government to slow construction on the national security barrier wall.

The government was delighted to do this because they had run out of money to complete a fence that should have been finished two years ago. Additionally, the number of suicide bombings in Israel had dropped drastically as a result of what barrier wall had been completed, and the issue was put on a back burner in the minds of the Israeli public.

However, the Dimona Suicide bomber attack was the first in more than a year, and should at least cause a short burst of building activity.

Once the security wall/fence/barrier is finally completed, Palestinians will be living inside two walled cities, while Israelis will exist outside it in a land of unwalled villages.

Daniel 11:40-41 – And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.

[41] He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.

Ezekiel 38:8-11 – After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.

[9] Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be

like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee. [10] Thus saith the Lord God; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought: [11] And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,

Begin YNet News Article

We need a fence

Dimona attack reminder that security fence not complete yet

Alex Fishman and Roni Shaked

February 5, 2008

Even terror groups were confused yesterday. So many terrorists crossed from Gaza into the Sinai and are all over the place that their masters don’t even know who is out there and where.

The Fatah in Gaza, for example, rushed to claim responsibility for the terror attack in Dimona and published the photos of two terrorists who crossed into the Sinai in order to carry out an attack in Israel. However, according to Hamas sources the bombing in Dimona originated from the opposite direction and was carried out by a Hamas cell in the West Bank town of Hebron.

Palestinian sources in Hebron reported that the suicide bomber’s mother said that he left the house early in the morning and she didn’t hear from him or see him since.

Palestinian security forces also launched an investigation and a search yesterday, and sources said they did not know who the second would-be bomber was.

If Hamas’ claim that the bombing came out of Hebron is indeed correct, this is yet another proof that we must not rest on our laurels in Judea and Samaria and we must not wait for the Palestinian Authority to handle security problems. Hamas is alive and kicking in the West Bank as well, and the Shin Bet and IDF must cut it down on a daily basis.

Monday’s terror attack is also a reminder, to those who forgot already, that the security fence south of Hebron – which was supposed to be completed two years ago – only exists on paper. The road leading from the Mount Hebron area to the southern Negev desert is completely breached.

No money for project

It turns out that an interesting coalition has been formed by the Greens, who aim to safeguard some kind of a desert ant, and the settlers, who display a political, almost genetic objection to the fence. This coalition has paralyzed the continued construction of the fence.

The government is actually quite satisfied with the paralysis because it has no money to complete the project. The conclusion: Negev residents must take into account the possibility that because of this madness once in a while they will experience infiltration from the southern Mount Hebron area to one of their communities without an advance warning. Then, either we will be lucky, or we won’t be lucky.

Besides that, in order to guarantee that there is no fence there, the arguments around here will start: Which fence should be built first, the security fence south of Hebron or the border fence between Israel and Egypt? Both of them are old, neglected, and well known vulnerabilities in Israel’s soft belly.

Our own familiarity with ourselves makes us think that a fence will not be built either here or there. In a day or two, the terror attack in Dimona will be forgotten, and we will continue to hear pompous speeches and firm decisions regarding the need for a fence – until the next attack comes around.

Begin Arutz Sheva Article

Dichter: So Many Fences, So Little Time

30 Shevat 5768, 06 February 08 12:13

by Gil Ronen

(IsraelNN.com) Public Security Minister Avi Dichter said Tuesday that Israel needs to choose between the different fences that it wants to build to protect itself from Arab terrorists, because they can’t all be built at once.

Dichter, who visited the southern town of Dimona following the suicide attack there Monday, was asked when the fence separating the Hevron area from the Beersheva area would be completed.

“This is an old dilemma,” he said. “In the end there will be a fence, but we need to decide first if we seal off the openings in the Hevron area, or complete the fence around greater Jerusalem, or build a fence on the border with Egypt.”

“The dilemmas are difficult, and the state of Israel cannot do everything at the same time,” Dichter explained.

Dichter also commended policeman Supt. Kobi Mor, who shot and killed the second suicide terrorist in the Dimona attack before he could detonate his explosive vest. Mor’s action was documented on video by a local wedding video photographer.

Israeli TV reports Tuesday showed stretches of the area between southern Judea and the Negev desert where there is no security fence, and where Arabs can cross into southern Israel with ease. The infiltration is usually carried out with the complicity of Israeli Arabs, who wait for the infiltrators in their cars, checking all the while that “the coast is clear” and security forces are not watching them. The Isr aeli drivers tr

ansport the infiltrators into Israel, for a fee.

Construction of the security fence around PA-controlled areas began in 2002 and hit a major hitch in 30 June 2004, after Israel’s Supreme Court ruled that a “better balance between security and humanitarian considerations” needed to be struck. This decision was followed by “an intensive reassessment of the route,” according to the Ministry of Defense’s website.

Two pairs of terrorists

It was not clear until Tuesday where the suicide terrorists that struck Dimona had come from. Initial reports said the two had infiltrated from Gaza. A video showing two suicide terrorists who had indeed tried to infiltrate Israel was disseminated by terrorists in Gaza and several groups, including Fatah, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Other reports said the terroists came from Hevron.
It later turned out that the confusion was caused by the fact that two pairs of terrorists had operated independently on the same day: one tried to infiltrate from Gaza and the other pair was sent by Hamas and came from the Hevron area. The terrorists from Gaza were killed by the IDF before they could kill innocent civilians, but the other pair of bombers reached Dimona.

Victim laid to rest

Dr. Lyubov Razdolskaya, 73, who was murdered in the Dimona attack, was laid to rest Tuesday afternoon, after her body was identified with the aid of DNA samples from her two sons. Her husband, Edward Gedelin, is in critical condition at Soroka hospital. He is under anesthesia and being artificially respirated.

The couple had been employed at the physics department

of Ben Gurion University for the past ten years. Their son, Michael Gedelin, is a professor in the department. He said that his parents had been on their way to the bank when the bomb went off.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak promised Tuesday to “provide solutions to terror from Hevron and to Kassams from Gaza.”

“Today Kassam rockets were once again fired at Sderot, and yesterday there was a terror attack in Dimona,” Barak told cadets at an officers’ course in Shizafon Base

in the Negev desert. “We will provide the solutions, just as your parents came up with solutions in the past, when they were fighting in the Jordan Valley.”

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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.