BIBLICAL JERUSALEM WALL FOUND

EARTHQUAKES

MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.

MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC GROUP) and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.

LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.

One dead as earthquake rocks the Caribbean
Staff and agencies Friday November 30, 2007 Guardian Unlimited

A strong earthquake struck the eastern Caribbean yesterday, damaging buildings on several islands and killing at least one person.France's overseas minister, Christian Estrosi, told French television that about 100 people on the French island of Martinique had required medical treatment for minor injuries.A woman died at an old people's home after suffering a heart attack during the quake, which measured 7.4 on the Richter scale, officials told the news agency AFP.Six people were injured when they jumped through windows, including one who was in a serious condition, according to local officials.Estrosi earlier said a British man had died from heart failure on the island during the quake, but local officials said this happened before it struck.

The epicentre of the earthquake was 14 miles (23km) north-west of Martinique's coastline. More than 31,000 people on the island were without electricity last night, said local officials.My house shook so hard I thought it was going to fall, said a caller to Radio Martinique. The door, the windows, everything shook. Buildings also collapsed in Barbados where a woman was trampled as workers fled an office building in the capital, Bridgetown. She is in hospital in a stable condition. Another woman broke her leg while trying to rush out of her home, according to a police report.

The quake, which struck at 2pm EST (7pm GMT), also slightly damaged some homes and water pipes in St Lucia, St Vincent and other nearby islands.The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in Hawaii said the depth of the quake, at 90 miles, was too deep to generate a destructive tsunami.I wouldn't expect major damage because the quake has some depth, said Don Blakeman, a geophysicist at the National Earthquake Information Centre in Golden, Colorado.
Scientists at the Seismic Research Unit at the University of the West Indies, in Trinidad, said the quake was the second strongest since the unit began monitoring the Caribbean tectonic plate in 1952.

STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES

LUKE 21:25-26
25 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;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
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.

Algeria flood toll rises to 15 dead, three missing: officials Sat Dec 1, 10:31 AM

ALGIERS (AFP) - A week of heavy rains in northern Algeria caused the death of 15 people, while three more people are missing feared dead, latest figures showed Saturday.In the latest incident, one person was killed and four hurt overnight when a building's floor collapsed in central Algiers, civil defence officials said.On Tuesday a child was killed in the Algiers Casbah; four people died Tuesday and Wednesday in the northwestern Mediterranean city of Oran; and on Thursday the collapse of a house in Ain Defla, 160 kilometres (100 miles) west of the capital, killed three members of the same family.East of Algiers, in the Boumerdes area, officials said two people were killed due to the floods earlier in the week.A 15-year-old boy was swept away by a flooded river and found later Tuesday at Sidi Daoud in the same region, they said.

An elderly woman was killed when her house in Oran collapsed on Monday night, said civil protection officials.On Sunday, two people died and eight were injured when a bridge at Beni Messous, in the western suburbs of Algiers, gave way during the heavy rains.
Three people are also missing feared dead in Dellys, near Boumerdes, after being carried away by floodwaters on Tuesday.The downpours, which in the north of the country have been almost continuous for days, have made it virtually impossible to use the main roads leading to Algiers.Several roads were still closed Saturday.Flooding in November 2001 in Algeria left more than 800 people dead and caused major damage in certain parts of the country.

Blast from the past? Coldest winter in 15 years, Environment Canada says Fri Nov 30, 9:55 PM

Not since the grunge era and Brian Mulroney's days as prime minister has Canada experienced a winter quite as bitter as the one expected to creep in this December, Environment Canada forecasted on Friday.In its first winter outlook of the year, the agency predicts that until February, climates across most of the country will be the coldest in 15 years, with the exception of a small pocket in southern Ontario.Environment Canada senior climatologist David Phillips said the trend in recent years of uncharacteristically warm, short winters will be wiped out by a chilly reminder of what a real Canadian winter feels like.

Although it won't necessarily be the winter from hell or face-numbing wind chills every time, Phillips said temperature-wise, we could have conditions that would be perhaps three-quarters or a degree colder than normal.Colder air this year is expected to drive down temperatures.We think that with La Nina - which encourages more Canadian air, more Siberian air, whatever you want to call it, Alaskan air - it tends to be more of that flow, he said, referring to the phenomenon of lower-than-normal temperatures in the Pacific Ocean.The cooler climate will likely also blanket some cities with snow after years without a white Christmas, he said.Last year, a number of traditionally cold and snow-covered cities such as Quebec City, Ottawa and Timmins, Ont., had their first green Christmas in decades.There are several up-sides to the mercury dipping, Phillips said. Winter sports enthusiasts might embrace the cooler winter, as would businesses that rely on the snow.I always think it's good for the economy when weather is behaving like it should, when winters are cold and summers are hot, he said, adding more people will likely book holidays to escape the harsh weather.With files from the Canadian Press

DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast(THE EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TR BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS).

Unclear EU treaty provisions causing nervousness
28.11.2007 - 17:43 CET | By Honor Mahony

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Although the ink has barely dried on the EU's new treaty, analysts are already scratching their heads as to how the document, with its unclear division of power between the EU's top politicians, is going to work in practice.Come 2009, when the Reform Treaty is supposed to click into place, there will be three big jobs to be had in Brussels - the president of the European Commission; the president of the European Council and the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. The three have overlapping job descriptions that are set to be defined only by the strength of the personalities involved, meaning that the treaty, agreed in October after years of wrangling, could be laying the ground for a political hornet's nest.

Igor Sencar, Slovenia's EU ambassador, says there are at least 40 elements in the treaty that have to considered and understood during the course of next year.Speaking at the European Policy Centre think tank in Brussels on Wednesday, Mr Sencar – whose country will run the EU during the first half of next year – says he already feels the nervousness in Brussels about the lack of clarity in the document.The questions run from pinning down the exact powers of the EU president; agreeing who the president will be; to sorting out the funding, personnel and scope of the diplomatic service as well as looking at issues such as whether the EU's police body, Europol, needs to be adjusted and how national ministers will fit into the EU decision-making process.Mr Sencar indicated that the issues will have to be dealt with by EU leaders and that a common view should be drawn up by the end of next year.

Picking holes

Meanwhile academics and commentators in Brussels are already picking holes in the proposed political set-up contained in the new treaty.Dr Andreas Maurer from the German thinktank Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik in a recently published paper notes that the future EU president, who can hold office for up to five years risks becoming EU leaders' play ball because the office lacks its own ministry.Does the new president have sufficient personnel, administrative and financial resources at his disposal to carry out duties such as leading, preparing and giving a sense of continuity to leading EU projects, such as on climate change and energy, asks the paper.It also questions whether EU leaders will really stand behind the president on major issues and points out that there could be a legitimacy problem because the president is not actually accountable to anyone – neither MEPs or MPs.The foreign minister post creates its own set of problems partly because it is not completely clear where his or her duties begin and that of the council president and commission president end.

Dr Maurer's paper notes that the new foreign minister, who will be both vice-president of the commission as well as chairing the regular EU foreign minister meetings, will have an unusually large range of duties.A crucial point will be whether the foreign minister assumes the trade and development aspects of EU foreign policy when chairing the foreign ministers' meeting.If the minister does, it will put into question the autonomy and the political profile of the commission – which traditionally has strong powers in this area.

Hierarchy between commissioners?

The foreign minister's possible portfolio in the trade and development area also have important implications for the hierarchy among commissioners.If it is decided that common foreign and security policy should influence these areas then it is likely to mean that the commissioners responsible for trade and development will become junior commissioners, answering to the foreign minister.The new set-up is also likely to cause all sorts of frictions concerning how the president interacts with the team presidencies of the EU, whereby three member states take charge of the EU in different sectors such as competitiveness or energy.

Meanwhile, European commission president Jose Manuel Barroso has already publicly expressed concern about the role of his institution in the future.The danger exists that the governments will handle problems among themselves, without taking into account the European institutions, he said in an interview last month.
Experts believe the answers to these questions will shape whether the EU will be a bloc of 27 member states or run according to the wishes of the big countries, such as France.Speaking to EUobserver, Dr Maurer said the questions are so sensitive that they are being largely left unspoken until after the Irish vote on the new treaty, probably in May or June.Ireland is to be the only country that has a referendum on document, which has to be approved by all member states before it can go into force.

David's Comment:Learning a Lesson From Chanukah
John 10:22-23 Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter. And Yeshua walked in the temple, in Solomon's porch. (NKJ)

As the secular year rapidly approaches its end, Jewish people in Israel and around the world, are preparing to celebrate Chanukah, the Festival of Lights. This non-Levitical festival commemorates the defeat of the Greco-Syrian dictator Antiochus Epiphanes 180 years before the birth of Yeshua. Antiochus was definately an anti-Christ and earned his place in the line of evil men who attempted to destroy Israel and the Jewish people. Antiochus banned circumsion and other Jewish practices. His ultimate affront was to sacrifice a pig on the altar of the Holy Temple. The Jews were frozen in fear of the tyrant and the great majority submitted to every ungodly command of Antiochus and his soldiers.

At the height of Greco-Syrian occupation a Jewish zealot, Judah Macabee and his brothers refused to bow down to the pagan occupiers and began a revolt that ended in the defeat and subsequent departure of their far stronger and better equipped oppressors. I am not too familiar with the details of the Jewish victory, but I am sure there were supernatural beings involved, and the hand of God must surely have been the primary reason behind the Jews regaining rule over their own nation. Just to leave His mark on the defeat if His enemies, the LORD performed an undeniable miracle when He supernaturally kept the Eternal Flame burning after the Temple had been cleansed and rededicated. There was only enough oil on hand for one day, but the flame burnt for the full 8 days that it took to produce a new stock of oil. Surely YHVH had His hand on the situation - the same hand that has been on the Jewish people since the time they became a people, continuing until this very day.

As we prepare to celebrate Chanukah 2007, the Annapolis Peace Summit is now behind us. The outcome will not really be known for some time. But the object of the calls for Israel to give away her legitimate hold on Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) including East Jerusalem is not very different from the object of Antiochus 2100 years ago - - to abort the plans and purposes of God as spoken through the Hebrew prophets. The ultimate plan for the Jewish people is to welcome back the Son of God with the words BARUCH HA BAH B'SHEM ADONAI - Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord - to be the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. to sit upon the Throne of David in an undivided Jerusalem, capital of the Jewish state.

Israel and Judea and Samara are the heartlands of Israel. Almost every pro Israel commentator has described the calls for Israel to give away Judea and Samaria as a veiled attempt to bring about the end of the Jewish state , thus aborting the plans of God to re-establish Jis Kingdom on the Earth. The same outcome hoped for by Pharaoh, Haman, Antiochus, Herod, Hitler, Arafat and now Armedinejhad. We, the modern day people of God, need to learn a lesson from the Chanukah story. While the unbelievers bow down, consciously or sub-consciously, to the plans of the evil one, we need to be the modern day Macabees and resist the un-Biblical demands of the Annapolis summit.

We need to rise up in prayer and intercession to meet the threat against the Kingdom of God head on ! We also need to make our voices heard in our churches, in our government halls and in our news media. This is not a short term mission, but we need to engage the enemy until the victory over his plans to destroy Israel is clearly won.As we partner with the LORD to defeat His enemies, we can look forward with renewed hope that at a Feast of Dedication not too far away we will see Yeshua walking the temple, in Solomon's porch.The Lord bless you as you bless Israel by standing in defense of her right to exist on the land given to the Jewish people by the God of Israel . Lets pray that Israel will turn back to their God. Do not be silent, but share this with your fellow Christians, share it with your pastors, and with anyone you have a chance to speak to. Lets also pray for that breakthrough to the Muslims, and please remember to pray for our son Jordan, and all of his fellow soldiers in the IDF.

Shabbat Shalom ... David & Josie

NUCLEAR WEAPONS WILL BE USED.

ISAIAH 66:15-18
15 For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
16 For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.
17 They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the LORD.
18 For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.

ISAIAH 26:21
21 For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.(WW3,1/2 earths population die).

ISAIAH 13:6-13 KJV
6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:(FROM FRIGHT)
8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.

ISAIAH 24:17-23 KJV
17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
18 And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.
19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.
21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
22 And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.
23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.

2 TIMOTHY 3:1
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous (DANGEROUS) times shall come.

JOEL 2:20,30
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.

ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.

EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.

ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.

MALACHI 4:1
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.

REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.

REVELATION 9:18
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.

A few facts and figures on uranium
The Associated PressPublished: November 29, 2007

WHAT IS IT:

Uranium is a naturally occurring radioactive element. It is usually found in extremely small quantities and is relatively harmless in that form because it gives off only a small amount of radiation.

ENRICHMENT:

Naturally occurring uranium is a mixture of three types, or isotopes: uranium-234, uranium-235, and uranium-238. But the mineral can be collected and processed into a silver-colored metal. If that metal is enriched, a process which involves increasing the amount of uranium-235, it becomes dramatically more radioactive.

WHEN IS IT WEAPONS GRADE:

Today in Health & Science
Preventing suicide among the elderlyAfrica makes 'spectacular' progress against measlesExcess sun may lower risk of a uterine cancerUranium is considered weapons-grade if it contains at least 85 percent uranium-235. When enriched to 97.5 percent, it is about 75 times more radioactive than natural uranium.

WHO PRODUCES IT:

Nearly 40,000 metric tons (45,000 U.S. tons) of uranium was mined worldwide in 2006, according to the World Nuclear Association, a trade body which represents the civilian nuclear industry. More than half of the world's production of uranium comes from mines in Canada, Australia and Kazakhstan. Russia, Namibia and Niger are also major producers.

WHO USES IT:

Uranium is used in nuclear power plants as well as on aircraft. In addition to nuclear weapons, it is used by armies to shield tanks, and parts of bullets or missiles.

CAN IT BE TRACED?

Uranium undergoes several transformations as it is concentrated and enriched, and certain processes can leave specific signatures. Scientists can theoretically use those signatures to track where the uranium was manufactured and who enriched it. In the case of weapons-grade material, however, tracing its path can be politically fraught.

It is possible, whether it's easily done or not is another matter, said Ian Hore-Lacy, a spokesman for the World Nuclear Association. He said uranium enriched to 98.6 percent was extremely unlikely to come from a civilian nuclear program.There are some research reactors which use high-enriched uranium, but I doubt if its that high, this would sound to me as if it's almost certainly military material, he said. What actual access anybody would have to military stockpiles to check it against I don't know — I suspect very little.

November 29, 2007, 8:56
Negotiators fail to lure Doomsday cult out

Authorities and Orthodox priests are failing to persuade two groups of religious fanatics to end a bizarre suicide pact in central Russia. About 30 Doomsday cultists are in an underground bunker waiting for the world’s end, while another family is locked in a local prayer house.Persuasion seems to be the only available option, as the cult, which includes children, is threatening to blow itself up if force is used.If they hadn’t threatened mass suicide we could’ve left them alone. But we realise they are very strong minded and they might just do as they say, said Father Aleksey, a local priest.It’s emerged that a family from Belarus has barricaded themselves in the cult’s prayer house in village of Nikolskoye in Central Russia.Another 30 or so people fled to a nearby underground bunker three weeks ago.Meanwhile, the cult’s leader, Pyotr Kuznetsov, is currently being held in a psychiatric hospital.

BETRAYED: The Conspiracy to Divide Jerusalem
Dr. Michael D. Evans The Annapolis Peace Summit Annapolis, Maryland

In the pre-dawn hours, my car winds its way down the streets of this historic city toward the Naval Academy and the Annapolis Summit. Precious fathers, mothers and grandmothers shiver in the cold darkness of the morning. Some of the men blow shofars and pray openly. Most hold signs printed with their pleas: Don’t touch Jerusalem, Don’t touch the Bible land,Don’t touch prophecy.

Unbidden tears slide down my cheeks for I sense how desperate and hopeless they must feel. These who love Jerusalem are overshadowed by the high and mighty of the world: President George W. Bush, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and foreign ministers from many Arab states. Among those are known terrorists who are being treated as honored diplomats.

This is the first international peace conference since the U.S. organized-Madrid Peace Summit at the end of Operation Desert Storm in 1991. It was during that debacle that I openly challenged former Secretary of State James Baker over Jerusalem. The names change, but the desire to offer up Jerusalem as the sacrifice to appease terrorists is as passionate as ever.

The Madrid Summit destroyed the economy of Israel. It caused the overthrow of the government as literally tens of thousands of Russian Jewish immigrants were forced to sleep in tents. Why? The U.S. froze $10 billion in loan guarantees that would have provided housing for these destitute men, women and children. Israel was ultimately forced to give up more than 80 villages and towns, i.e., Jericho, Hebron, and Bethlehem.

Today, the vultures gather again, sensing that more of the City of David will be laid on the altar of sacrifice. President Bush has agreed in what is being called The Final Status Plan to divide Jerusalem before the end of his term in 2008. He has also demanded that Israel halt construction in the settlements for refugees. The plan is to turn those settlements over to the PLO.

The Saudis, of course, want the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon to be able to move into Israel, not into the Palestinian Authority land holdings. The plan calls for Palestine to be a state within one year, with East Jerusalem as the capital. This Final Status Plan calls for vigorous, unceasing, aggressive negotiations that would end in the creation of a two-state region by the end of 2008.

It seems that the participants of the summit are trying to breathe life back into the Road Map plan introduced in 2003. When Mahmoud Abbas refused to implement the very first clause of the plan – to disarm the terrorist organizations – the plan died in utero.

The Saudis, of course, were overjoyed to hear President Bush’s comments during the Summit. The Road Map, an invention of Saudi Arabia and the Arab League was designed to force Israel to the bargaining table. Then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon related to me that he had asked for 14 amendments. Secretary of State Colin Powell flatly refused to include any of Sharon’s amendments. Phase Two of the plan as outlined was the dismantling of all terror organizations and their infrastructure. HAMAS, Islamic Jihad, al-Aksa Martyrs Brigade to name a few would have been forced to turn over all illegal weapons and stop terror incitement.

Needless to say, Phase Two was not implemented by Abbas. Quite the opposite occurred: HAMAS took over Gaza; Abbas’ own terror organization, Fatah and al-Aksa martyrs Brigade continue to kill Jews. (The latest murder was that of a 29-year old father of two from the village of Shavei Shomron, just days before the Summit in Annapolis.)

The acceptance of this vile plan would turn Israel into a living hell. The Jewish people would be forced to live next door to a state controlled by Islamic fanatics such as Hamas. I am reminded over and over of the scripture in Psalm 83:2-5: For behold, Your enemies make a tumult; and those who hate You have lifted up their head. They have taken crafty counsel against Your people, and consulted together against Your sheltered ones. They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more. For they have consulted together with one consent; they form a confederacy against You...

I stand here now with this document in my hand – this Agreement of Joint Understanding” to which both parties have pledged acceptance. This document, if followed, will result in the division of Jerusalem. I’ve asked myself how the U.S. government could partner with a terror organization responsible for thousands of terror attacks worldwide. How could President Bush cavalierly shake hands with the man responsible for the Munich massacre?

Is George W. Bush so consumed by his legacy that he would sacrifice Jerusalem and hundreds of thousands of innocent Jews to attain his goal? Israel would have to give up the Temple Mount and the Western Wall in East Jerusalem; evacuate most of the strategic West Bank which would leave it vulnerable to rocket attacks in Tel Aviv and at its international airport.

What does the future hold for Israel? President Bush has indicated that Israel had “painful compromises” to make during the negotiations that were to begin immediately. I can tell you that Israel seemed very alone during the Annapolis Summit. It greatly concerns me. Why? President Clinton attempted to divide Jerusalem in January 2001, before the end of his term of office. He almost succeeded. I believe those negotiations and Arafat’s subsequent rejection of Clinton’s offer led directly to the events of 9/11.

Now, President Bush is attempting to follow in Bill Clinton’s footsteps. I, for one, am appalled to have to admit that President Bush believes the Palestinian cause is the root of Islamic hatred for America. His advisors are likely telling him that this agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority will affect his legacy in a most positive way. How wrong can they possibly be? Only time will tell.

Can the Palestinian crisis be resolved? YES!

I believe that the first action that must be taken is a rehabilitation package calling for the dismantling of the 59 U.N.-maintained refugee camps. The Arab world needs to provide resettlement, employment and housing for the refugees. This would be similar to what happened to the Jewish refugees throughout Europe and the Arab world in 1948. Secondly, I would do everything to help Jordan grant citizenship to Arabs in the West bank. I believe that the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan should serve as their representative body. Jordan granted citizenship status to West Bank Palestinians until the late 1980s. The Palestinians do not need more land; they need a life free of Islamic kindergarten camps that continue to instill hatred for the Jews into children at an early age.

Elusive biblical Jerusalem wall finally found, Israeli archaeologist says The Associated PressPublished: November 29, 2007

JERUSALEM: A biblical wall that has eluded archaeologists for years has finally been found, according to an Israeli scholar.A team of archaeologists in Jerusalem has uncovered what they believe to be part of a wall mentioned in the Bible's Book of Nehemiah.The discovery, made in Jerusalem's ancient City of David, came as a result of a rescue attempt on a tower which was in danger of collapse, said Eilat Mazar, head of the Institute of Archaeology at the Shalem Center, a Jerusalem-based research and educational institute, and leader of the dig.Artifacts including pottery shards and arrowheads found under the tower suggested that both the tower and the nearby wall are from the 5th century B.C., the time of Nehemiah, according to Mazar. Scholars previously thought the wall dated to the Hasmonean period (142-37 B.C.).The findings suggest that the wall is actually part of the same city wall the Bible says Nehemiah rebuilt, Mazar said. The Book of Nehemiah (chapters 3-6) gives a detailed description of construction of the walls, destroyed earlier by the Babylonians.

Today in Africa & Middle East

Ending famine, simply by ignoring the expertsThe quest for a 'humane Shariah' in NigeriaIn Sudan, demonstrators call for execution of British teacher.We were amazed, she said, noting that the discovery was made at a time when many scholars argued that the wall did not exist.This was a great surprise. It was something we didn't plan, Mazar said.However, another scholar doubted whether the wall was biblical.The first phase of the dig, completed in 2005, uncovered what Mazar believes to be the remains of King David's palace, built by King Hiram of Tyre and also mentioned in the Bible.Ephraim Stern, professor emeritus of archaeology at Hebrew University and chairman of the state of Israel archaeological council, corroborated Mazar's claim. The material she showed me is from the Persian period, the period of Nehemiah, he said. I can sign on the date of the material she found.Another scholar disputed the significance of the discovery.

Israel Finkelstein, professor of archaeology at Tel Aviv University, called the discovery an interesting find, but said the pottery and other remains do not indicate that the wall was built in the time of Nehemiah. Because the debris was not connected to a floor or other structural part of the wall, the wall could have been built later, Finkelstein said.The wall could have been built, theoretically, in the Ottoman period, he said. It's not later than the pottery — that's all we know.

MUSLIM NATIONS

EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW)and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY)of the north quarters, and all his bands:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 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.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
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,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.

ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, and the Hagarenes;
7 Gebal, and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)

EZEKIEL 39:1-8
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.

JOEL 2:3,20,30-31
3 A fire(NUCLEAR BOMB) devoureth before them;(RUSSIA-ARABS) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.

The two faces of Vladimir Putin
JANE ARMSTRONG From Saturday's Globe and Mail
November 30, 2007 at 11:40 PM EST

MOSCOW — Marat Gelman was once a trusted adviser to President Vladimir Putin, until the President stopped listening. So Mr. Gelman returned to his first love, art. He thinks the President has reverted to his roots, too: jackboot law and order.Sitting in his luxurious, loft-styled apartment overlooking Moscow's magnificent gold-domed Christ the Saviour Cathedral, Mr. Gelman says he lost interest in politics when the Kremlin stopped listening to advice from intellectuals.They just need policemen and law enforcers now, said Mr. Gelman, who runs a Moscow art gallery.On the eve of a heavily stage-managed election expected to result in a landslide victory for Mr. Putin's United Russia party, Mr. Gelman reflects the views of many: Mr. Putin is a power-hungry autocrat whose only goal is to perpetuate his control over Russian affairs. He has crushed the opposition, co-opted the press and acquiesced in a growing cult of personality to seed the ground for his continued dominance.

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a nationwide TV broadcast in Moscow Nov, 29. Mr. Putin, ignoring criticism that he is using his post for campaign purposes, told Russians in a nationwide TV broadcast on Thursday to go vote for his United Russia party in Sunday's parliamentary elections. (Reuters)But that's just one view. Some Putin watchers believe that the two-term President is motivated first by a genuine desire to improve the lot of his long-suffering people, but also by a recognition that Russia is still too poor and too divided in the wake of the turmoil of the post-Soviet era to stand on its feet as a no-holds barred democracy.In this narrative, Mr. Putin isn't a dictator, he's simply a realist.The Putin project was to stabilize society, said Professor Piotr Dutkiewicz, director of Carleton University's institute of European and Russian studies.The Russia Mr. Putin inherited, said Prof. Dutkiewicz, was on the verge of social collapse. Russia's private and public institutions barely functioned. Millions of people lost their salaries and pensions and they were going hungry. Living standards were below those during the Second World War.So Mr. Putin set out to modernize Russia. To do this, he centralized power in the Kremlin and limited the rights of citizens. He knew his project would take time, Prof. Dutkiewicz said.

Now, eight years later, Russian law requires Mr. Putin to step aside.But Russia still isn't nearly as stable or developed as the President hoped.The country has wealth from oil and gas reserves and its large cities have growing middle classes, but there are pockets of extreme poverty and wages have not risen substantially in the provinces. Its institutions are rife with corruption and red tape.You have to be afraid, Prof. Dutkiewicz said. Russia is a huge, complex country. … If you have this unfinished project, you are starting to worry.As a result, Mr. Putin inserted his presence into the parliamentary campaign by leading the electoral list of United Russia, telling voters that a huge vote for United Russia will be viewed as an endorsement of his leadership. A massive win would give him the leverage to maintain his grip on power and finish the job.Eventually, Prof. Dutkiewicz said, more freedom will come [to Russia] if the economic situation continues to improve.In the meantime, he says it's unfair to say Russia is a dictatorship. You can't say there is no democracy in Russia, but it's a different kind than they're used to in the West. There are limits on it.

The University of Toronto's Peter Solomon agrees. Mr. Putin has tried hard to reform Russia's ineffective institutions, but Prof. Solomon thinks his recent tactics — namely, beating and jailing demonstrators — have gone too far.I think as far as the Putin group is concerned, you built the state and the institutions first, you do the democracy second. On that they may be right. On the other hand, it doesn't mean you have to beat your opponents. But Mr. Gelman is less charitable about Mr. Putin's motives. As a former spin doctor, Mr. Gelman was involved in Mr. Putin's ascent to power and helped craft the ideology of managed democracy that fuelled the President's popularity. Mr. Gelman later ran a state-owned television station that duly delivered the President's messages while ignoring opposition parties.But in recent years, Mr. Gelman has had a change of heart. He says Mr. Putin has morphed from a crisis manager to a strongman reminiscent of past Soviet autocrats. Now he is trying to persuade the country that it can't survive without him.Mr. Gelman thinks the former KGB officer lost faith in the Russian public and decided the president alone should have the final say in how Russia is managed.He doesn't trust people to manage their own affairs, and doesn't understand that people in power can't stay in power forever.Other Putin critics agree. Presidential candidate Boris Nemstov remembers the exact day Mr. Putin abandoned all pretense of being a democrat. It was Oct. 23, 2003, when police arrested Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky for fraud. One of Russia's richest businessmen, Mr. Khodorkovsky used his wealth to fund opposition parties in Russia.

Mr. Khodorkovsky's arrest was seen as a sign that Mr. Putin would tolerate no dissent in Russia. Mr. Khodorkovsky was sentenced to nine years in a Siberian jail in what many describe as a show trial.After this case, [Mr. Putin] changed completely, said Mr. Nemstov, himself a former Kremlin insider who was a deputy prime minister under Boris Yeltsin. He said Mr. Putin became the bronze Putin, a ruler who jailed oligarchs, harassed journalists, criticized the West and seized control of television stations.He destroyed the legal system. He established absolute control. He forgot about the constitution, human rights, everything, Mr. Nemstov said.Today, Mr. Putin is simply another veteran leader bent on keeping power, and doesn't care about the welfare of his people, he said.There are no dictators in the world that are thinking about their country, said Mr. Nemstov, founder of the Union of Right Forces (SPS), a right-of-centre opposition party. Mr. Nemstov was detained last Sunday during an anti-Putin march in St. Petersburg.Mr. Nemstov's party has been singled out for harassment during the campaign. Leaflets have been distributed in cities saying SPS canvassers have AIDS and prosecutors seized more than 15 million party newsletters.Mr. Nemstov says he thinks the dirty tricks will backfire. Mr. Putin made a huge mistake, he said. He had huge popularity and people believe he's strong, he's honest, he's popular. If he did nothing, people would have supported him, but now people are so disappointed about his behaviour.Mr. Nemstov might have a point. While opinion polls point to United Russia winning between 60 per cent and 70 per cent of seats in parliament, the same polls show widespread cynicism and indifference.

I don't know if I'll even vote, said Moscow architect Igor Vakhni, 31. The election is already decided, so what is the use of voting? Still, Mr. Vakhni said, Mr. Putin has been a strong leader, which Russia needs.Alexandra Kondratyeva, 67, said she will vote for Mr. Putin's party even though she doesn't like him personally and hasn't voted for him in the past.What other choice is there? Ms. Kondratyeva asked.As for Russia's immediate future, Mr. Gelman is not optimistic. He thinks that democratic reform will only happen when the Kremlin gives the nod, the way former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev finally opened up the Soviet Union.I don't think that will happen any time soon.University of Toronto's Prof. Solomon said he believes Russia's march toward democracy will take years, but it will happen.When I look at successful transitions from authoritarianism to democracy in the 20th century, almost every one had a false start, he said, citing Spain, Hungary and Poland as examples.It's usually the second or the third crack that takes.