blog.Tribulationperiod.com

Arabs Have Warped Sense Of Gaza Retreating,

By snatching Victory from jaws of True Defeating,

Truly The Most Rudimentary Proclamation Of Deceit,

Marking a Characteristic from which a Peace Retreats,

Because the Islamic Jihad war is based on lying Conceit,

Where reality and truth its extremists simply do not Greet,

And when Messiah does arrive it will not be Allah they Meet!

Islamic radicals seem the characteristics of Cretians to Repeat!

Strong Delusion Swept Earth So Beast in Middle East Has A Seat!

The seat of the beast’s father on the Euphrates will feel Vial’s Heat!

Titus 1:12 – One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies.

Jude 1:13-15 – Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever. [14] And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, [15] To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.

Luke 21:25-28 – 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; [26] Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

[27] And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. [28] And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.

The liberals of this world seem to be incapable of grasping the reality of peace being impossible with a revived Islamic Empire once killed by the Mongolian Empire and Europe. It has revived, is reviving, and will continue to revive until Armageddon. It is the spirit of Antichrist and the beast of Revelation 13 and 17. It will continue to grow and prosper until Christ destroys it at his Second Advent. It is a lying beast and a strong delusion that almost one-fifth of the world has come to believe is the kingdom of their god Allah. It will soon be headed by the personification of the beast as a man who himself is a beast, the man of sin, the Antichrist, that “Wicked One” of II Thessalonians 2:8-12.

II Thessalonians 2:8-12 – And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: [9] Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, [10] And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. [11] And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: [12] That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

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

thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.

January 20, 2009

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

The insanity of the Hamas claim of victory is clearly proven to be a bald-faced lie in the excerpts which follow.

Begin Excerpt from DEBKAfile Exclusive Report

Gaza war’s outcome determined in first 4 minutes

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report

January 19, 2009, 9:12 PM (GMT+02:00)

The Israel air force demolished two key Hamas war systems in the first 4 minutes of its massive offensive on Gaza Saturday morning, Dec. 27, DEBKAfile’s military sources report. The bombers destroyed six mosques in Gaza City which held the terrorists’ biggest weapons arsenals and scores of “beehives” containing launchers primed for the simultaneous, automatic release of hundreds of powerful rockets against Israeli cities.

These launchers were rigged for precision-targeting in Israeli town centers.

They were oper ated by

a unit of 300 special Hamas operatives trained for their mission at a Syrian military bases under the instruction of Hizballah rocket specialists.

The aerial offensive knocked out 80 percent of the rockets Hamas had prepared to launch and saved Israel’s southern cities. The Palestinian Islamists were left only with inferior projectiles.

Therefore, 98 percent of the hundreds of missiles they managed to fire in the 22-day war missed their targets and exploded in open ground.

Answering questions about the extreme destruction wrought in Gaza and the high number of casualties – more than 1,300 – Israel commanders described combat conditions as the most complicated they had ever faced: Every second apartment building was booby-trapped and every third building concealed arms caches. Weapons were concealed under children’s beds and in basements.

Inside of fighting out in the open, Hamas gunmen by and large avoided engaging Israeli troops, relying on these death traps.

Monday, Jan. 19, the second day of the ceasefire, the second-echelon of the Hamas leadership emerged from their fortified bunkers after three weeks underground, claiming they had vanquished the Israeli enemy. The top leaders remained invisible. The homeless people picking their way through the rubble for their broken possessions were not exactly welcoming.

Begin Excerpt from YNet News

Ahmadinejad congratulates Mashaal on ‘victory’

Iranian president telephones Hamas politburo chief, stresses Palestinian organization must exert pressure for full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, prosecution of ‘Zionist criminals’

AFP and Hanan Greenberg

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has telephoned Hamas politburo chief Khaled Mashaal and congratulated him on his “victory” in the battles against Israeli soldiers in the Gaza Strip, the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) reported Monday.

Hamas has set a one-week ultimatum to the Israel Defense Forces to pull out from Gaza.

According to the report, Ahmadinejad telephoned Mashaal and told him, “This is only the beginning of victory.” He added that “pressure must be exerted for a complete withdrawal” of the IDF soldiers from the Strip and for the opening of the Gaza crossings.

The Iranian president went on to say, “the Zionist criminals must be prosecuted”.

Some 200 trucks carrying humanitarian aid were allowed into Gaza on Monday.

Some 130 of entered the Strip through the Kerem Shalom crossing and 60 through the Karni crossing. About 400,000 liters of diesel oil were sent into Gaza through the Nahal Oz terminal.

In total, some 40,000 tons of humanitarian equipment have been sent into Gaza since the start of the military operation.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said on Sunday that Israel’s three-week offensive in Gaza was a failure and had not cowed the Palestinians.

“The enemy has failed to achieve its goals,” Haniyeh said in a speech broadcast on Hamas television. Though he called the war, in which more than 1,300 Gazans and 13 Israelis died, a “popular victory” for Palestinians, he said Hamas’ decision to declare a truce on Sunday was “wise and responsible”.

On Sunday afternoon, senior Hamas official Ayman Taha announced an immediate ceasefire by the organization’s fighters and allied groups in the Gaza Strip, adding that the Islamists gave Israel a week to pull out its troops.

“Hamas and the factions announce a ceasefire in Gaza starting immediately and give Israel a week to withdraw,” Taha said. The Islamic Jihad joined the ceasefire announcement.

The declaration was made shortly after another Hamas source told Ynet that the pause is aimed at allowing the organization’s delegation in Cairo to receive clarifications on the completion of the withdrawal, the opening of the crossing and the removal of the blockade imposed on Gaza.

Begin Excerpts from Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs/Daily Alert

January 19, 2009

Begin Excerpt 1 from Reuters

Hamas Declares Victory

Nidal al-Mughrabi

As Palestinians emerged from hiding, agape at the killing of more than 1,300 fellow Gazans and at the widespread destruction of homes and government infrastructure, Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the Hamas administration, claimed a “popular victory” against Israel. (Reuters)

Begin Excerpt 2 from Reuters

Hamas Vows to Rearm after Gaza War

Nidal al-Mughrabi

Hamas vowed on Monday to rearm in defiance of any Israeli and international efforts to prevent it from replenishing its arsenal of rockets and other weapons after the Gaza war. “Manufacturing the holy weapons is our mission and we know how to acquire weapons,” said Abu Ubaida, a spokesman for Hamas’ armed wing. (Reuters)

Begin Excerpt 3 from The Australian

Stage Three Gaza Attack Aimed at Psyche

Abraham Rabinovich

Israel’s endgame in Gaza is proving as surprising and remorseless as the stunning air attack that opened the war. The unexpected armored plunge towards the heart of Gaza City on Thursday, and air attacks on two of Hamas’ top political figures, seem to have had a psychological dimension, undermining Hamas’ morale and avoiding any ambiguity about the outcome of the war. With Israeli tanks reaching within 4 km of the center of Gaza City and encountering only sporadic fire, it will be difficult for Hamas to claim heroic resistance.

Hamas politburo chief Khaled Mashal in Damascus said Israel had lost more men in battle than Hamas had.

Hamas has not given a figure for its battle dead but Israel puts it in the hundreds and its own fatalities at ten.

It was revealed Friday that Israeli naval commandos had landed at several points along the Gaza coast at night and were fighting militants. (The Australian)

Begin Excerpt 4 from Reuters

Gazans Have Had Enough – Until Next Time

Nidal al-Mughrabi

For Hamas, the ability to fire rockets up to 40 km into Israel was a progression in tactics from the suicide attacks that were a hallmark of the second intifada (uprising) against Israel that began in 2000.

But given the amount of death and destruction Israel has wrought on Hamas and Gaza as a result of the rockets, even those who initially backed the tactic are now questioning it.

“I have always been a supporter of rockets and all forms of resistance,” said Aziz, a taxi driver. “But maybe Hamas needs to renew martyrdom operations instead,” he said, referring to suicide attacks.

Hassan, a father of five, said there was little point in firing rockets if they were not effective. “Rockets – I think this issue needs to be stopped for sometime and restudied,” he said. “Once we have a missile that can reach the heart of Tel Aviv and blow up a building, maybe they can resume fire.” (Reuters)

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Assad – Before Islam pushes South,

Speaking out both sides of his Mouth,

Right hand now plans Israel to Destroy,

Left hand working with Obama as a Ploy,

Plants Hate with words in next Generation,

Crying peace with words as lying Summation,

All this ends with temporary Islam Celebration,

But the Age of Gentiles ends as told in Revelation,

So will be replaced by Kingdom of my God’s Creation,

But before it begins world will see a Tectonic Sensation!

January 19, 2009

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

Isaiah 29:6 – 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.

Luke 21:27 – And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.

The latest Gaza Strip episode is paving the way for the radical conservative group proponents of Islamic Jihad to consolidate together into a conspiracy confederation, whose goal is the total destruction of Israel as a nation in the Middle East, and the formation of a gigantic powerful Caliphate to insure control of North Africa, the Middle East, and southeast Asia. President Bashar Assad’s actions in these two excerpts which follow reveal the long range goals of Islam. I expect the conspiracy to become fully exposed when a massive Jihad is launched against Israel at a point in time between 2010 and 2015.

I expect the theme of the conspiracy will be that Osama bin Laden Jihad groups are bad, but groups like Hamas, Hizbullah, and Iran’s Revolution Guards are freedom fighters who Obama can talk to in useful diplomatic dialog to solve the Middle East problems.

I am afraid the liberal elements of America will swallow this approach hook, line, and sinker. Obama has the greatest gift of gab of any president I have known since 1932, even Bill Clinton, so with this talent he will be a sucker for any approach involving moving movement of lips, statements, and apparent results.

I expect Obama to be faked out by the conspiracy plan of the Islamic Jihad nations and groups. It is likely they will allow him to feel he is having initial success in his dealings with them, such that it will seem to his followers it is what Bush should have done in his administration. Such a plan would light up the liberal elements in America like a Christmas tree, and America would be led down a garden path with quicksand at its end. 2009 should be an interesting year, most likely opening a door to disaster at some point in time between 2010 and 2015.

Begin Excerpt from Gulf News via World News

Syrian president whips up religious fervour

01/18/2009 11:15 PM

By Sami Moubayed, Correspondent

Damascus: Speaking at the Doha Summit on Gaza on January 16, President Bashar Al Assad said, “We will take care to remind our children of the Gaza slaughter. We will save the pictures of the children of Gaza with their wounds and blood, and we will teach our children that the strong believer is better than the weak.

“We will teach them: ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth’, and he who started it is the more unjust. What is taken by force will not be returned but by force.”

Syrians, especially those from conservative districts, were thrilled by the speech.

The last sentence from the Syrian President was taken from the Holy Quran, and reminded observers of his 2005 speech, in which he whipped up religious sentiment by saying, ‘Syria is protected by God.’

This tone is new to Syrian officials, who during many years of secular Baathism, steered clear of referring to Quranic verses. More recently, however, several Syrian figures, including the Grand Mufti Ahmad Hassoun, have cast themselves as patrons of moderate Islamic revivalism, or ‘true Islam’.

This is Syria’s way of telling the world it is promoting a tolerant Islam, as opposed to the radical one projected by Osama Bin Laden.

This kind of Islam, similar to that in Turkey, is one that can accommodate with the West, and helps to curb radicalisation.

At certain mosques in the conservative city of Aleppo, clerics placed a poster with a bomb covered by a red stripe saying: ‘No to explosions!’ But clerics at mosques all over Syria have been praising jihad since the war on Gaza began, and using their heavyweight influence to raise funds for the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Donating to the Palestinians is being promoted as a national and religious duty, with most of the collections being done by mosques and clerics, with Syrian TV pitching in on one day, to raise a total of 18 million Syrian pounds (Dh1.4 million).

Syrians in the street are becoming more religious by the day, finding salvation in Islam, especially during this time of crisis for Gaza.

People are visibly pleased to see such Islamic overtures in Syrian official discourse. In addition to pleasing a domestic audience, such words send positive messages to the West, and challenge outlawed Islamic groups.

Since coming to power in 2000, Al Assad allowed the establishment of private schools (many of which have a strongly religious orientation) and began allowing mosques to open between prayers for the first time in two decades.

In April 2007, Syrians were allowed to organise public festivals celebrating the Prophet Mohammad’s (PBUH) birthday for the first time in many years. Even in the military, Al Assad has relaxed Baathist restrictions on religion.

In 2003, he lifted a long-st

anding ban on prayer in military barracks. Earlier in 2007, the military academy invited religious authorities to lecture cadets for the first time.

Al Assad then appointed a prominent independent Shaikh, Ziyad Al Ayoubi, as minister of Awqaf and offered moderate Islamists and pro-government clerics an unprecedented degree of access to the state-run broadcast media.

Begin Excerpt from the Boston Globe via World News

Syria’s Assad ready to cooperate with Obama: report

January 17, 2009

BERLIN (Reuters) – Syria is ready to cooperate with U.S. President-elect Barack Obama and wants him to get seriously involved in the Middle East peace process, President Bashar al-Assad told a German magazine.

In an interview with Der Spiegel released on Saturday, Assad also expressed some caution about future relations and said he preferred to talk

about hopes rather than expectations.

Ties between the West and Syria have been strained by U.S. accusations that Syria turned a blind eye to Islamist fighters infiltrating Iraq and in 2004 Washington imposed sanctions on Syria for backing anti-American groups in the region.

Syria has, however, regained a degree of approval in Europe after supporting a peace pact for Lebanon and forging diplomatic ties with its neighbor after years of dominating it.

Asked if he expected cooperation to be easier with Obama, Assad said:

“I would talk more about hope than expectation.

The Bush government has bestowed two wars on us. The world situation has deteriorated in the last eight years in every way, everything has got worse, including economic developments.”

“The new U.S. government must get seriously involved in the peace process. We must help, together with the Europeans.”

Responding to a comment from Der Spiegel that Obama might ask Syria to stop Iran building a nuclear bomb, Assad said:

“We would like to contribute

to the stabilization of the region. But we must be included, not isolated, as we have been until now. We are ready for any kind of cooperation.”

He added, however, that Syria would put its own interests first. “Good relations with Washington should not mean bad relations with Tehran,” he said.

Assad also said in the interview, which was conducted on Thursday, that he had been active in making suggestions to help end the conflict in Gaza.

Arab and Muslim states on Friday called on Arab countries to review their ties with Israel over its offensive in Gaza which has killed more than 1,200 Palestinians and

to suspend an Arab peace initiative.

Assad also said many European officials had tried to communicate with Hamas. “The Europeans have learned.

That is why they are talking to the Hamas leadership here in Damascus — of course not publicly.

I won’t name names. But some are people who denounce Hamas,” said Assad.

(Reporting by Madeline Chambers)

Begin Excerpt from Jerusalem Post

EU says it will host high-level talks with Israel and PA

January 19, 2009

Associated Press , THE JERUSALEM POST

The European Union said Monday it would host high-level talks with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni followed by another set of discussions with the ministers from Egypt, Jordan, Turkey and the Palestinian Authority.

The talks are aimed at discussing a permanent peace arrangement. The Czech presidency announced the meetings after Israel and Hamas each declared a cease-fire this past weekend.

The Czech government – which currently holds the EU presidency – said the talks would also attempt to boost the delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza.

The EU’s 27 foreign ministers will meet with Israel’s Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on Wednesday, and meet with the other countries

on Sunday, the EU presidency said in a statement.

The meetings were organized by the Czech government on Monday.

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EU to Bring in Peace And Safety,

In Israel unilateral ceasefire Plan,

Likely to Eventually produce Calm,

By Calling Hamas’ Demanding Hand,

If Europeans withdraw healing Balm,

It Will Be Cause Hamas and its Bands,

Still fired Rockets to Justify IDF Reentry.

Hamas wants no entry again in Century,

Which I believe leads to a peace & Safety,

Followed by a War & Chaos & Jihad Hatred!

January 19, 2009

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

The predictable way of the European Union is likely to produce a halt to Palestinian rocket launching into Israel from Gaza – It is called “throwing cheese down a rat hole” – In this case the rat hole is Gaza and the rat is Hamas.

You can influence a rat’s behavior to a certain extent by such a technique, and it will model its behavior not to do anything that upsets what is causing you to throw cheese down where it lives. I suppose it matches what we are currently doing to save the Wall Street and banking institutions in this country. Israel is currently rapidly pulling out of the Gaza Strip, the rat hold of Hamas. The one thing Hamas never wants to see happen again is what Israel has done to them over the last three weeks. The one thing the Hamas does want to see, are EU billions thrown down into their Gaza Strip rat hole. So after victory celebrated by Hamas in the streets of

the Strip, they will settle back from their multiple rocket attacks on Israel, because to fail to do so would cut them off from the money they desperately need to repair their infrastructure. After all is said and done, it is likely the “peace and safety” requirement of I Thessalonians 5:3,4 will be satisfied sometime this year, and at some point in time between 2010 and 2015 the final war of the last 1260 days of the age of the Gentiles will begin as Islam attacks Israel.

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.

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.

The Two excerpts from the Jerusalem Post and DEBKAfile detail the future events which will be played out by Israel, Hamas, and the EU in the Gaza Strip.

Begin Excerpt 1 from Jerusalem Post

IDF sets post-truce response formula for future Hamas attacks

January 19, 2009

Yaakov Katz , THE JERUSALEM POST

The IDF has created a “price list” based on which it will formulate its response to future Hamas attacks following the implementation of a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip.

On Sunday, some of the IDF units that participated in Operation Cast Lead pulled out of Gaza ahead of the possibility that the ground offensive would be renewed if Hamas did not cease its rocket attacks.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Sunday night that the remaining troops would leave Gaza “quickly” if the truce held, and IDF sources said it was likely that the withdrawal would be completed by the end of the week.

A force from the Golani Brigade came under fire from Hamas gunmen early Sunday morning and returned fire.

Throughout the day, some 15 rockets were fired into Israel but the IDF estimated that it was due to lack of communication between the Hamas leaders who decided to institute a truce and fighters who were left on the ground.

Some of the rocket fire was also attributed to the Hamas leadership ordering its field operatives

to escalate rocket attacks to show that the movement had retained some of its offensive capabilities.

The IDF plans to give Hamas a day or two to completely stop the attacks and if they continue, the military has received permission from the government to renew ground operations. Under the cease-fire, the IDF will not assassinate senior Hamas leaders who come out of hiding but will renew targeted killings if the rocket attacks continue.

“We will not return to our past policy of restraint,” a senior defense offici

al explained. “For every attack there will be a response.”

Since the weekend, the IDF has noted increased Hamas efforts to renew the smuggling of arms along the Philadelphi Corridor. The IDF does not plan to take action and believes that increased Egyptian and US involvement can succeed in curbing the illegal flow.

“There are already attempts by Hamas to rebuild their capabilities,” a security source said. “Hamas has not changed and is still motivated to rearm so if it decides it can attack.”

Despite the cease-fire that went into effect at 2 a.m. on Sunday, the IDF Southern Command does not plan to begin releasing reserv ists yet, in case there

is a need for

a renewed ground offensive in Gaza. The same applies to regular-service units, which will remain near the Gaza Strip over the coming days before returning to their respective bases.

Begin Excerpt 2 from DEBKAfile Special Report

First Israeli forces leave Gaza after Hamas declares conditional ceasefire

DEBKAfile Special Report

January 18, 2009, 9:35 PM (GMT+02:00)

Sunday, Jan. 18, Hamas leader Mussa Abu Marzuk in Damascus declared an immediate ceasefire on behalf of all the Palestinian organizations conditional on Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza within a week.

A few minutes later, two rockets exploded in two kibbutzim near the Gaza border, topping 15 fired earlier at Sderot, Ashkelon, Eshkol, Ashdod and Kiryat Gat.

DEBKAfile’s military sources report that armed Hamas units are moving to take control of the Gaza Strip as Israeli forces withdraw.

The Israeli security cabinet in a special meeting Saturday night, Jan. 17, approved a unilateral halt in military operations in the Gaza Strip from 0200 hours while leaving Operation Cast Lead forces in Gaza to test Hamas’ response.

Although prime minister Ehud Olmert assured the nation that all the Gaza operation’s goals had been reached, Hamas promised to keep on fighting and shooting rockets, while neither Washington nor Cairo guaranteed action to end the flow of weapons to Gaza.

Sunday, a large group of European leaders from the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and the Czech Republic descended on Jerusalem.

DEBKAfile’s sources report they came ostensibly to show the flag for Israel, but they were also on hand to ascertain that the Israeli military quit the Gaza Strip – even without the operation’s goals being met – and also to lean hard on Israel to open the six Gaza crossings as demanded by Hamas.

Earlier, they met Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak at Sharm e-Sheikh.

The plan the European leaders have developed with Egypt provides a $1.6 billion aid package for the Gaza Strip’s reconstruction.

The millions of tons of cement and supplies will be shipped to Israeli ports and delivered through the Gaza crossings over a period of years. Israel, they believe, will not be able to refuse to reopen the crossings, thereby bringing its embargo of the Gaza Strip to an end.

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The Hamas declares Ceasefire Rule

Gives the IDF one week to Withdraw

Israel will only do it if Ceasefire is Real

Other terror groups sign on to Calm Deal

January 18, 2009

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

Begin Excerpt 1 from Jerusalem Post

Hamas declares ceasefire, gives IDF one week to withdraw

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH, JPOST.COM STAFF, AND AP

January 18, 2009

Damascus-based Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal announced on Syrian television on Sunday afternoon that the Islamic group would implement a cease-fire in which they would halt all military activity and give IDF troops one week to pull out of the Gaza Strip.

According to the statement, Israel must end the blockade and open the border crossings.

A leader of the Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip said

that his group agreed to the Hamas truce, and said that o

ther smaller Palestinian factions have signed on, as well.

The development comes after Israel declared a unilateral cease-fire which took effect earlier Sunday morning.

The two cease-fires do not appear to be coordinated with each other, and have contradicting demands.

While Israel said it would halt all military activity, it said it would maintain its presence in Gaza until it was clear that Palestinian gunmen would honor the calm.

In addition, Israel said it would not open any border crossings until all hostilities have ceased.

Shortly after the Hamas declaration, the spokesperson for the Prime Minister’s Office reaffirmed Israel’s position and expressed hope that the calm would be maintained for the long-term.

“If in fact we see a cessation of Hamas activity towards Israel, then we could see a long-term ceasefire,” Mark Regev told Sky News.

He added that Israel “clearly does not want to” stay in Gaza, and that Israel would do everyth

ing it could to maintain the calm.

On Saturday, Hamas said it would continue to fight despite Israel’s decision unilaterally end the offensive.

However, defiant statements issued by a number of Hamas representatives were countered by sources close to the movement which said the group would honor the cease-fire.

“Hamas needs the lull,” the sources said. “They have been hit hard and they have no choice but to comply.”

Hamas representatives said they would resist any attempt by Israel or other parties to confiscate its weapons. They also warned against allowing forces loyal to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to return to the Strip.

“We will continue the resistance operations for as long as there is one Zionist soldier in the Gaza Strip,” Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said. “We will continue regardless of the price.”

Fawzi said Hamas’s conditions for accepting a cease-fire included a halt to the IDF operation, the reopening of the border crossings into the Gaza Strip and the lifting of the blockade.

The Hamas spokesman said that the decision to declare a unilateral cease-fire showed that the war was also a unilateral move on the part of Israel against the Palestinians.

“This war had nothing to do with the rockets or the presence of Hamas in the Gaza Strip,” he said. “This war against children, women and the elderly was part of the upcoming Israeli election campaign.”

Hamas also voiced opposition to the US-Israeli agreement to stop the smuggling of weapons under the border between Gaza and Egypt.

“This agreement is aimed at tightening the siege around the Gaza Strip and establishing a new base for spying on the Palestinians and Egypt.”

Begin Excerpt 2 from Jerusalem Post

PM: We reserve right to renew op

January 18, 2009

JPost.com Staff , THE JERUSALEM POST

Following the renewal of Gaza rocket-fire after the start of an Israeli unilateral cease-fire in the Strip, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that the morning’s events showed how “fragile” the truce was and emphasized that Israel would renew the military offensive in the territory if the attacks don’t stop.

“We are monitoring all of the developments, minute after minute, hour after hour,” the prime minister said at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting.

“The military forces in the Strip have their eyes wide open, are attentive to any rustle and ready for any order from their commanders,” Olmert continued. “The decision on the cease-fire leaves Israel the right to react and renew its military actions if the terror groups continue firing,” he said.

Olmert also had warm words for Likud chairman and opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu.

“I would like to praise the opposition leader for supporting the government during the operation and explaining Israel’s position to the world,” he said.

The prime minister also hailed Egypt. “Egypt’s backing of the understanding that we hold fire while the IDF remains in Gaza is not to be taken for granted, this is no trivial matter,” he said, adding that it showed Egypt’s determination to prevent arms smuggling through its border.

“All the world agrees that Hamas’s arming must be stopped,” he continued, stressing that now, after the operation, the entire world understands “that Hamas is Iran’s Gaza branch.”

Before the meeting, Shas chairman Eli Yishai, who voted against the cease-fire at Saturday night’s security cabinet meeting, said that “as long as [captured IDF soldier Gilad] Schalit is not home, the IDF mustn’ t cease i

ts fire. I am not opposed to a new-type of ground deployment in Gaza, but we must continue air strikes.”

Similarly, Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann said that “IDF troops are deployed in Gaza and I hope that they won’t be pulled out without the Gilad Schalit issue being solved.”

Infrastructures Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said the army made the most of the first stages of the operation, but that “no one expected them [Gaza terrorists] to stop firing immediately after the cease-fire had gone into effect.”

Meanwhile, Meretz MK Zehava Gal-On criticized the decision to keep IDF troops in Gaza.

“Remaining in Gaza is a prize for Hamas,” she said in a statement.

“The moment a unilateral cease-fire was agreed upon, the IDF should have pulled out of Gaza.”

“This is a continuation of the foolish move to deploy ground troops, which makes Israel responsible for what goes on there,” the statement continued.

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Israeli PRIME Minister DECLARES A GAZA VICTORY!

Says that all goals in ‘Cast Lead’ have been Attained,

A Unilateral Cessation of fire Approved by Israel Cabinet,

But

Israeli troops to remain in Gaza

to test Hamas Response,

Troop withdrawal depends on Hamas reaction to IDF Cessation,

But Hamas says it is not obligated by Israelis unilateral Declaration,

However, many expect favorable reaction since Hamas needs Breather.

I expect a period of “off again, on again, gone again, Finnegan” for a While,

But the scenario in the Gaza Strip will eventually reach a state of relative Calm!

January 18, 2009

http://www.tribulationperiod.com/

The situation in the Gaza Strip is like a long series of train derailments. Ever time the train seems to be on schedule it seems

to slip off the track again. Finneg an w

as an Irish train engineer who was notoriously unlucky in the number of derailments he experienced over a five year period, none of which were really his fault. And the Railroad owners were quite understanding, but highly annoyed at Finnegan because the extremely long telegrams he sent them describing what caused the wreck, were costing almost as much as the derailment. Finally they advised him: “Finnegan, if you don’t shorten those telegrams to the barest essentials, we are going to fire you!”

Well, sure enough, a month later he had another derailment. His telegram simply read: “Off again, on again, gone again, Einnegan,” which I expect the next news from the Gaza Strip to mimic.

Begin Excerpt from DEBKAfile Special Report

A unilateral cessation of fire approved by Israeli cabinet leaves Israel troops in Gaza

DEBKAfile Special Report

January 17, 2009, 11:15 PM (GMT+02:00)

The Israeli security cabinet in a special meeting Saturday night, Jan. 17, approved a unilateral halt in fire in the Gaza Strip from 0200 hours – but not quite an end to Operation Cast Lead just yet.

DEBKAfile: Israeli forces will hold to their positions in the Gaza Strip for a trial period counted in days to test Hamas’ response. Meanwhile, Hamas promises to keep on fighting and shooting rockets, while neither Washington nor Cairo guarantees action to end the flow of weapons to Gaza.

Begin Excerpt 2 from Jerusalem Post

PM says all Israel’s goals in Cast Lead have been attained

January 16, 2009

Herb Keinon , THE JERUSALEM POST

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert declared Operation Cast Lead a victory Saturday night and threw the ball into Hamas’s court, declaring a unilateral cease-fire that suspends the three-week operation, whose future depends on whether Hamas continues to fire on Israel.

Olmert’s announcement followed a three-hour emergency meeting of the 12-member security cabinet Saturday night that approved the cease-fire by a vote of 7-2, with one abstention.

Finance Minister Ronnie Bar-On and Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Eli Yishai voted against, while Pensioners Affairs Minister Rafi Eitan abstained.

According to what was decided Saturday night, Israel will stop its offensive, but will keep the IDF forces in place, see how Hamas responds and whether an effective mechanism will be set up on the border to stop smuggling.

If so, then discussions will begin on withdrawing

the troops. If not, the operation will continue.

“Today, we face you again and can say that the conditions have been created so that our targets, as defined when we launched the operation, have been fully achieved, and more so,” Olmert said, in a special address to the nation on Saturday night.

Those goals were defined as stopping the rocket fire on Israel and an end to the arms smuggling into Gaza.

“Hamas was hit hard, both its military capabilities and its governing infrastructure,” Olmert said.

“Its leaders are in hiding,” Olmert said of Hamas. “Many of its members have been killed.

The factories in which its missiles were manufactured have been destroyed.

The smuggling routes, through dozens of tunnels, have been bombed. The Hamas’s capabilities for conveying weapons within the Gaza Strip have been damaged.”

Olmert said that according to the assessments of all the security services,”Hamas’s capabilities have been struck a heavy blow, which will harm its ability to rule and its military capabilities for some time.”

Olmert said the cease-fire would go into effect at 2 a.m. Sunday morning.

Immediately following Olmert’s announcement, Hamas fired eight missiles at Israel.

The return of kidnapped soldier Gilad Schalit was not a condition of the cease-fire, though both Olmert and Barak pledged to continue working unceasingly for his release.

Olmert said that Hamas was completely surprised by Israel’s determination and strength throughout the operation, and that if it continued with its attacks after the cease-fire goes into effect, it will be surprised again by Israel’s response.

“I don’t suggest they test us,” he said.

“Hamas did not foresee Israel’s determination and its seriousness in bringing about a change of the reality in the region,” he said. “Hamas’s leaders did not believe that Israel would launch an operation of this scope on the eve of the elections. Hamas did not foresee the strength of the military attack, and more than anything else, it did not foresee the results,” he said.

Olmert stressed that the security cabinet met after he received a phone call from Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak describing the Egyptian cease-fire proposal.

“Hamas is not a part of the arrangement we reached,” he said. “Terrorist organizations like Hamas have no part in agreements.”

Olmert, in what sounded almost like a line-by-line recital of lessons learned from the Second Lebanon War, said that the reserves were well prepared and equipped, the home front well taken care of, and the decisions at the government level were made in an orderly fashion.

He was profuse in his praise of Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who was not at the security cabinet meeting because she was en route home from the US.

Both Olmert and Barak, who spoke after Olmert, stressed that the war was waged not against the Palestinians but rather against Hamas, with Olmert reiterating his commitment to a two-state solution.

Barak said there were likely to be continued rocket attacks on Israel and IDF forces in the immediate aftermath of the cease-fire, and that the army was prepared to deal with that eventuality.

Hamas, meanwhile, said it was not obligated by the unilateral declaration.

“The occupier must halt his fire immediately and withdraw from our land and lift his blockade and open all crossings and we will not accept any one Zionist soldier on our land, regardless of the price it exacts,” Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said.

Hamas fired rockets that landed near Ashdod and in the Eshkol and Sha’ar Hanegev areas just before the end of the security cabinet meeting.

Olmert, who last week supported the continuation of the operation, while both Livni and Barak were in favor a cease-fire, now believes that Israel has achieved the two goals it set for itself: an end to the terrorism from Gaza, and preventing arms smuggling from Iran and other terrorist organizations into Gaza.

The security cabinet was briefed by Amos Gilad, the head of the Defense Ministry’s diplomatic-military bureau, and the prime minister’s foreign policy adviser Shalom Turgeman on their talks Thursday and Friday with Egypt, and the various understandings being worked out with Egypt on how to stop the smuggling.

The understandings with Egypt are just one layer of a multilayered approach being put together to create an international mechanism to prevent the arms smuggling.

Another key component was signed Friday in the US, when Livni and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice signed a memorandum of understanding in Washington, “regarding prevention of the supply of arms and related materiel to terrorist groups.”

That agreement underscores the US commitment to help Israel fight terrorism, and pledges both increased intelligence security and intelligence cooperation, an enhancement of the existing international sanctions, and enforcement mechanisms against providing support to Hamas and other terrorist organizations.

Diplomatic officials said that the effort to stop the smuggling has three parts: an international effort to choke off the smuggling routes before the arms find their way to the tunnels under the Philadelphi Corridor; more effective Egyptian efforts in fighting the smuggling at the border; the building of some type of physical barrier – a moat, trench or some kind of underground “wall” – that could be built by US or European engineers and technicians.

Europe also committed itself over the weekend to fighting the smuggling, with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, scheduled to arrive in Israel Sunday to give their support to the agreement.

They will be coming to Israel from Sharm e-Sheikh, where Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Sarkozy are cochairing a summit to discuss the crisis.

Among other participants invited to attend are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Turkish Prime Minister Recap Tayyip Erdogan – who on Friday called for Israel to be barred from the UN – and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Brown announced Saturday that Britain was prepared to provide naval resources to help monitor and stop arms being smuggled into the Gaza Strip.

Brown said Germany, France and Britain sent a letter to Israel and Egypt saying that they were prepared to do everything they could to prevent arms trafficking. Italy also signed on the letter.

In add ition, Brown said Br

itain was also prepared to do everything it can to help with the border crossings, including European support for monitors at the crossings.

“We are prepared to provide British naval support to stop arms trafficking. Other countries are agreeing also that they will provide the support that is necessary to stop arms getting into Gaza,” Brown said. “At the same time, we’re prepared to provide European support for monitoring at the crossings.”

Just prior to the convening of the security cabinet, Noam and Aviva Schalit, the parents of Gilad Schalit, held a press conference demanding that the release of their son be incorporated in any agreement to stop the fighting.

Begin Excerpt 3 from the Jerusalem Post

Hamas vows to keep fighting Israel

January 18, 2009

Khaled Abu Toameh , THE JERUSALEM POST

Hamas said on Saturday it will continue to fight despite Israel’s decision to unilaterally declare a cease-fire in Gaza.

Despite the defiant statements issued by a number of Hamas representatives, sources close to the movement said it would honor the cease-fire.

“Hamas needs the lull,” the sources said. “They have been hit hard and they have no choice but to comply.”

Hamas representatives said they would resist any attempt by Israel or other parties to confiscate its weapons. They also warned against allowing forces loyal to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to return to the Strip.

“We will continue the resistance operations for as long as there is one Zionist soldier in the Gaza Strip,” Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said. “We will continue regardless of the price.”

Fawzi said Hamas’s conditions for accepting a cease-fire included a halt to the IDF operation, the reopening of the border crossings into the Gaza Strip and the lifting of the blockade.

The Hamas spokesman said that the decision to declare a unilateral cease-fire showed that the war was also a unilateral move on the part of Israel against the Palestinians.

“This war had nothing to do with the rockets or the presence of Hamas in the Gaza Strip,” he said. “This war against children, women and the elderly was part of the upcoming Israeli election campaign.”

Hamas also voiced opposition to the US-Israeli agreement to stop the smuggling of weapons under the border between Gaza and Egypt.

“This agreement is aimed at tightening the siege around the Gaza Strip and establishing a new base for spying on the Palestinians and Egypt.”

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