DOW BEST IN 20 YRS - LOOKOUT - KABOOM

AUDIT THE FED HAS 279 HOUSE MEMBERS SIGNED UP AND 20 SENATE SIGNED UP.

1929 STOCK MARKET CRASH
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYrv8Q5Ji0Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWyygiyPbdA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4rXx-xXeG8&feature=related
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/47662/stock_market_crash_of_1929_the_week.html

DRUG PUSHERS AND ADDICTS

REVELATION 18:23
23 And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries (DRUGS) were all nations deceived.

REVELATION 9:21
21 Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries (DRUGS), nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.

Pfizer, Nigeria sign $75 mln settlement in drug suit: official Thu Jul 30, 4:15 pm ET

ABUJA, Nigeria (AFP) – US drugmaker Pfizer reached a 75-million-dollar (53-million-euro) final settlement with a Nigerian state Thursday over 1996 drug trials that led to the deaths of 11 children, a joint statement said.We are pleased to announce that we have reached a final agreement to settle the Trovan litigation between Pfizer and Kano State government,the statement by the two parties said.The parties agreed that settlement is in the best interest of both parties as it avoids the cost and distraction of protracted litigation and enables both of us to focus on our core missions and business,it added.The settlement is on the basis of no admission of liability by Pfizer in connection with the 1996 Troval study,the statement said.The northern state of Kano filed civil and criminal suits against Pfizer demanding 2.75 billion dollars in compensation and the prosecution of staff for what it said was an illegal test of the meningitis drug Trovan on 200 children.The trials were carried out in the state capital Kano during a triple epidemic of measles, cholera and meningitis in which more than 12,000 people died.Eleven children died after taking Trovan, which is also alleged to have caused deformities including blindness, deafness, brain damage and paralysis in 189 others.But in a statement, Pfizer maintained that the results of its clinical study showed that Trovan helped save lives and was at least as effective as the best treatment available at Kano?s Infectious Disease Hospital during what it said was Nigeria's worst meningitis epidemic in history.Pfizer Senior Vice President and Associate General Counsel Brad Lerman said: We have been a partner with the people and governments of Nigeria for more than 50 years.

He added: The company believes that a mutually agreeable resolution to the Trovan cases is the best way to continue that relationship and allow Pfizer and the Nigerian governments to focus on what matters - improving healthcare for all Nigerians.
However, a case between Nigeria's federal government and Pfizer over the same issue is still pending in court, a government lawyer in the case, Babatunde Irukera, told AFP.I believe they (the parties) will engage in discussion and resolve that one too as time goes on,he said.The joint statement by Kano State and Pfizer on Thursday said that one of the terms of the settlement was that there would be no admission of liability by Pfizer in connection with the 1996 Troval study.Under the terms of the deal Pfizer agreed to establish a healthcare/meningitis Trust Fund of up to 35 million dollars and underwrite several Kano State healthcare initiatives, totalling 30million dollars.Pfizer will also reimburse Kano for 10 million dollars in legal costs associated with the litigation, it also said.Finally, we are pleased that after several years of litigation, the settlement will bring to an end to all the court cases between Kano State and Pfizer,the statement said.

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.

Police: Landslides kill 10 people in Bangladesh By FARID HOSSAIN, Associated Press Writer – Fri Jul 31, 5:44 am ET

DHAKA, Bangladesh – Landslides caused by heavy monsoon rains killed 10 people in southeastern Bangladesh on Friday, authorities said.The pre-dawn deaths occurred in Bandarban district, a mountainous region 155 miles (248 kilometers) southeast of the capital, the area's police chief Quamrul Ahsan said.United News of Bangladesh news agency reported that huge chunks of earth buried a hillside hut killing five people from the same family in Lama village. Another five people from two families died in a landslide nearby.Landslides often caused by heavy rains are common in the mountainous region.Bangladesh is a low-lying delta nation of 150 million people. It is often buffeted by floods and cyclones

JERUSALEM DIVIDED

ZECHARIAH 12:1-5 King James Bible
1 The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.
2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
4 In that day, saith the LORD, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness.
5 And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God.

JOEL 3:2
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.

ZECHARIAH 14:1-9 King James Bible
1 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. 5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.
6 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark:
7 But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.
8 And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.
9 And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.

US financed illegal W. Bank building
Friday, 31 July 2009 09:19 News from Jerusalem

An Arab community center on the edge of the Shadma military base in Gush Etziyon was illegally built with US funds. Photo Tovah Lazaroff.The United States admitted this week for the first time that it accidentally helped fund the illegal construction of a Palestinian building in a park located on the edge of the former Shadma military base in the West Bank's Gush Etzion region.In 2007, the nearby Beit Sahour Municipality constructed the park with funding from abroad, in an area which Palestinians call Oush Ghrab (crow's nest).The park, which is used by Beit Sahour residents, hosts a building with a small kiosk for events, a stone terrace, a soccer field, a playground and the largest wooden rock climbing tower in the area.Some $281,000 was provided for the park by the United States Agency for International Development, an independent federal agency that provides economic, development and humanitarian assistance world-wide.A large white sign stating that USAID contributed to the Peace Park hangs on the gate at the entryway to the complex.A spokesperson for the US Consulate in east Jerusalem told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday that American funding was given to the project in two installments, the first in November 2007 and the second in August 2008.

The spokesperson did not know how much of the money went toward the stone building in the park, which was built illegally. When the funds were given, USAID believed that all the necessary permits had been obtained for the structure.It realized its error several months ago and has been working with the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories to see a solution.The issue was brought to the media's attention by MK Arye Eldad (National Union), who visited Shadma earlier this week in his capacity as a member of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.It is impossible that the US government that protests and demands that Israel will stop what they call illegal building will be involved in funding illegal building,said Eldad.

He wrote a letter to the US ambassador to protest the funding.

Right wing MKs, activists and settlers have fought for the last three years to keep the Israeli government from ceding to a request from the Palestinian Authority to allow Beit Sahour to use the stone and dirt hilltop that overlooks the new Nokdim and Tekoa road. The Beit Sahour Municipality would like to construct a new hospital at the site.In advance of any resolution as to jurisdiction of the site, the Beit Sahour Municipality constructed the park on the back slope of the hill, away from the Nokdim and Tekoa Road.On Wednesday, as workers heated coals and dusted off a soda bar for a night time party for teens, Johnny Badra of the Beit Sahour Municipality, who runs the park told The Jerusalem Post that the former military base stood on land that had belonged to Beit Sahour before the Six-Day War.He pointed to the nearby apartment buildings: The only buildings you can see here belong to Beit Sahour. Badra admitted that construction had started on the structure without a permit, but when the civil order came and issued a stop work order, the municipality ceased building, he said.As a result, he said, the parking lot had yet to be paved, the open air theater was still unfinished and there was a section of the building right under the roof, where one could still see the construction beams because there was no wall.Among the organizations which use the facility is an American-based non-governmental group, Paidia International Development, which runs leadership training programs there for Palestinian teens.A spokesman for the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories told the Post that some sections of the park were legal, while others still needed permits.The Beit Sahour Municipality, he said, was still in the process of obtaining the necessary permits for the park, including for the building.

He added that the municipality was also in dialogue with his office over a permit for the hospital.Settlers and right wing activists have objected to any Palestinian development on the site for both security and historical reasons.Activists, including the group Women in Green, hold weekly protest activities at the site on Fridays.We will fight for every piece of land that belongs to us,said Nadia Matar of Women in Green.But this hilltop, which overlooks the road leading into Jerusalem's Har Homa neighborhood, had particular strategic significance, she said.In the past settlers have told the Post they feared that if a hospital were built on the site, terrorists would be able to shoot at passing cars.Matar added that Israel should have learned from the 2005 Gaza withdrawal about the dangers of giving away land.jpost.

WW3 THE 3 WAVES THAT MARCH TO ISRAEL

AMOS 9:10
10 All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us.

DANIEL 11:40-45
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south( EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) and the king of the north (RUSSIA AND MUSLIM HORDES OF EZEK 38+39) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.(JORDAN)
42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.
44 But tidings out of the east(CHINA 2ND WAVE OF WW3) and out of the north(RUSSIA, MUSLIMS WHATS LEFT FROM WAVE 1) shall trouble him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.( 1/3RD OF EARTHS POPULATION)
45 And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.

REVELATION 14:18-20
18 And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.
19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
20 And the winepress was trodden without the city,(JERUSALEM) and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.(200 MILES) (THE SIZE OF ISRAEL)

The Third and Final Wave of WW3 is when all Nations march to Jerusalem, but JESUS bodily returns to earth and destroys them,sets up his KINGDOM OF RULE FOR 1000 YEARS THEN FOREVER.

US to Israel: Leave the military option against Iran to us
Friday, 31 July 2009 11:51 News from Jerusalem

It behooves the United States as the leading world power to handle it.The weeklong US-Israel marathon in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv ending Thursday, July 30 was the platform for the Obama administration's first unveiling of a new US diplomatic-military program for Iran and its nuclear threat, DEBKAfile's military and intelligence sources disclose. The three-staged program was presented by US defense secretary Robert Gates and national security adviser James Jones to prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, defense minister Ehud Barak, chief of staff Lt. Gen. Gaby Ashkenazy, Mossad chief Meir Dagan and military intelligence head Amos Yadlin.The new approach consists of three steps for thwarting Iran's drive for a nuclear bomb:
1. Diplomatic engagement as far as it will go. The American officials assured Israel they were aware of the diminishing chances of this track succeeding in view of the Islamic regime's domestic troubles, but the US administration is still determined to give it a chance up until early September.
2. If diplomacy fails, Washington will embark on the phased introduction of increasingly harsh sanctions against Iran, such as an embargo on exporting refined oil products including gasoline to Iran and a blockade on its sea ports.
3. If Iran continues to forge ahead with its nuclear and missile development, the US will resort to its military options. DEBKAfile's military sources report that the American visitors shared with Israeli leaders their specific plans of actions with details of the resources they planned to wield.

Gates and Jones wound up their presentation by stating unambiguously: Iran is a big power issue and it behooves the United States as the leading world power to handle it. So leave it to us and act like an American ally and friendly government. The role they assigned Israel was to leave its military option on the table in order to keep Tehran under pressure.Our Jerusalem sources report that the Netanyahu government will study the new Obama administration's program and decide how to approach it. On the one hand, Israel's political and defense leaders were provided with the first detailed and coherent Washington has devised for dealing with the prospective Iranian nuclear menace.It meant that Israel is not alone in the field against the Islamic Republic and has been relieved by the American plan of action of the need to resort to unilateral military action.But on the other, the intelligence estimates the US and Israel traded in their talks this week differ on Iran's timeline for assembling nuclear warheads and devices. By asking Israel to leave the Iranian nuclear threat to the United States, Gates and Jones were also telling Israel to accept US intelligence's longer estimate of this timeline. This might in the long run turn out to be inimical to Israel's security interests.debka

Whither Jerusalem? Friday, 31 July 2009 05:23 News from Jerusalem
The Shepherd Hotel in Jerusalem

The stridency of the Obama administration’s attitude about Israeli settlements in the West Bank has stunned some observers, not the least of whom is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself.Even more troubling to the Israelis is the State Department’s recent scolding of Ambassador Michael Oren about a 20-unit apartment project financed by a wealthy American philanthropist who purchased the former Shepherd Hotel property in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, adjacent to a compound of Israeli government buildings. What is stunning about this latest U.S. policy is that the project in question is in Israel’s capital, Jerusalem, in an Eastern Jerusalem neighborhood that, if the Palestinians have their way, ostensibly will be the capital of their putative state; more disturbing is the fact that U.S. diplomats have now decreed that Israeli construction in Jerusalem itself constitutes the forbidden settlement activity. Speaking to the Jerusalem Post in July, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly was clear that the U.S. considers building projects in East Jerusalem to be in violation of the settlement freeze that President Obama and Secretary Clinton have been calling for; Kelly said very pointedly that We're talking about all settlement activity, yes, in the area across the line,meaning that, henceforth, any territory beyond the 1949 Green Line is to be off limits to Jews. Mr. Netanyahu did not hesitate to immediately reject the U.S.’s suggestion to facilitate the redivision of the Jewish state’s sacred capital, tersely but directly asserting that Israel cannot accept such a ruling on East Jerusalem.In characterizing East Jerusalem—or any part of Jerusalem, for that matter—as territory that Israel occupies but over which it enjoys no sovereignty, the Obama administration is misreading, once again, the content and purpose of 1967’s U.N. Security Council Resolution 242 that suggested an Israeli withdrawal from territories it acquired in the Six Day War. Critics of Israeli policy who either willfully misread or deliberately obscure the resolution’s purpose say that the Jewish State is in violation of 242 by continuing to occupy the West Bank and Jerusalem, including what is mistakenly now referred to as Arab East Jerusalem. But the drafters of Resolution 242 were very precise in creating the statute’s language, and never considered Jerusalem to have been occupied by Israel after the Six Day War. Former U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Arthur Goldberg, one of the resolution’s authors, made this very clear when he wrote some years later that Resolution 242 in no way refers to Jerusalem, and this omission was deliberate . . . At no time in [my] many speeches [before the UN] did I refer to East Jerusalem as occupied territory.

Along with their unwavering and various demands, including a right of return of all refugees and sovereignty over the Temple Mount, the Palestinians now insist that Jerusalem must be divided to give them a capital in its eastern portion as the location of their new state. But these have always been points for future negotiations, at least before the State Department gave public expression to its new view that East Jerusalem—a patchwork community where some 200,000 Jews and 270,000 Arabs currently live―has already been assumed to be the Palestinian capital, and that Jews should no longer build or live there. That view is troubling, and not just because of the settlement issue, Israeli security concerns, and the fate of the Shepherd Hotel project; it is troubling because it reveals a pattern in which Arabs endow Jerusalem with intense significance to serve purposes of political expediency. In fact, observed scholar of Islam and Middle East Forum director Daniel Pipes, An historical survey shows that the stature of the city, and the emotions surrounding it, inevitably rises for Muslims when Jerusalem has political significance.
Conversely, when the utility of Jerusalem expires, so does its status and the passions about it.When Jordan illegally annexed the West Bank and purged Jerusalem of its Jews from 1949 to 1967, for example, Jerusalem’s stature declined. But Israel’s recapture of the territory in 1967 changed the political landscape, including an Arab desire for Jerusalem, suggesting to Dr. Pipes that “the Muslim interest lies not so much in controlling Jerusalem as it does in denying control over the city to anyone else.Ever since the Camp David meetings in 2000 when Ehud Barak opened the door to a divided Jerusalem in his negotiations with Yasser Arafat, the Palestinians have been relentless in creating a false impression of how important Jerusalem is to them, while, at the same time, they have de-Judaized Jerusalem and tried to obscure the Jewish relationship with and continuing presence in the holy city, something Middle East scholar Martin Kramer has called their desire to effect a reversal of history.

Writing in al-Hayat al-Jadida, in March of 2009, for instance, Dr. Tayseer Al-Tamimi, PA Chief Justice of religious court and Chairman of Supreme Council of Islamic Law, absurdly claimed that Jerusalem is the religious, political and spiritual capital of Palestine, meaning a Palestinian Palestine, and that the Jews have no rights to it. But the true danger of the Palestinian thinking about Jerusalem—and, indeed, about all of the Palestine that they covet, including Israel itself—was crystallized in Yasser Arafat’s own view that he expressed in a July 2000 edition of al-Hayat al-Jadida.I will not agree to any sovereign presence in Jerusalem, he wrote, referring to the thorny issue of who, Israel or the Palestinians, would have sovereignty of the Holy Basin, neither in the Armenian quarter, nor in the Al-Aqsa Mosque, neither in Via De La Rosa, nor in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. They can occupy us by force, because we are weaker now, but in two years, ten years, or one hundred years, there will be someone who will liberate Jerusalem [from them].Liberating Jerusalem, of course, does not mean transforming it into a pluralistic, open city where members of three major faiths can live freely and practice their religions openly. Liberating Jerusalem for the Palestinians would be more in keeping with the type of liberation that Transjordan’s Arab League effected when they burned and looted the Jewish Quarter in Jerusalem in 1948, expelled and killed its hapless Jewish population, destroyed some 58 synagogues, many hundreds of years old, unearthed gravestones from the history-laden Jewish cemetery on the Mount Olives and used them for latrine pavers, and barred any Jew from praying at the Western Wall or entering the Temple Mount. That same predilection to destroy religious property was on display again shortly after Camp David when a crazed Palestinian mob took sledgehammers to Joseph’s Tomb, a Jewish holy site, and completely obliterated it as Palestinian policemen stood idly by and watched.But false irredentist claims, Islamic supremacism which compels Jews and Christians to live in dhimmitude under Muslim control, and an evident cultural and theological disregard for other faiths— while troubling in the battle over sovereignty in Jerusalem—are not, according to Dore Gold, Israel’s former ambassador to the United Nations, the most dangerous aspects of a diplomatic capitulation which would allow the Palestinians to claim a shared Jerusalem. In his engaging book, The Fight for Jerusalem: Radical Islam, the West, and the Future of the Holy City, Gold points to a far more troubling aspect: in their desire to accede to Arab requests for a presence and religious sovereignty in Jerusalem, the State Department, EU, UN member states, and Islamic apologists in the Middle East and worldwide may actually ignite jihadist impulses they seek to dampen with their well-intentioned, but defective, diplomacy. Why? Because, as Gold explained,In the world of apocalyptic speculation, Jerusalem has many other associations—it is the place where the messianic Mahdi [the redeemer of Islam] is to establish his capital. For that reason, some argue that it also should become the seat of the new caliphate that most Islamic groups—from the Muslim Brotherhood to al-Qaeda—seek to establish.

When Arafat gave expression to the eventual liberation of Jerusalem as a sacred and unending ambition for the Palestinian cause, he defined it as a recapture of what had been, and should be, in his view, Muslim land, just as the eventual extirpation of Israel and the reclamation of all of Palestine would accomplish. The establishment of the Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem is the first important step in the long-term strategy to rid the Levant of Jews and reestablish the House of Islam in Palestine. Jerusalem’s recapture is seen by some as one of the signs that the Hour and the end of times are about to occur,Gold suggested.And most importantly, because of these associations, it is the launching pad for a new global jihad powered by the conviction that this time the war will unfold according to a pre-planned religious script, and hence must succeed.So far from creating a political situation in which both parties—Israelis and the Palestinians—feel they have sought and received equal benefits, such negotiations and final agreements would have precisely the opposite effect: destabilizing the region and creating, not the oft-hoped for Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace, but a incendiary cauldron about to explode into an annihilatory, jihadist rage. Those in the West who are urging Israel to redivide Jerusalem by relinquishing its holy sites,Dore cautioned, may well believe that they are lowering the flames of radical Islamic rage, but in fact they will only be turning up those flames to heights that have not been seen before.If the State Department and other Western diplomats are intent on mollifying the Arab street by pressuring Israel to divide Jerusalem as a peace offering to the Palestinians, it may well be setting into motion the exact opposite result: a jihadist, apocalyptic movement invigorated by the misguided diplomacy of the West that, once more, asks Israel to sacrifice its security and nationhood so that Islamists can realize their own imperial ambitions at the Jewish state’s expense.Richard L. Cravatts, PhD, director of Boston University’s Program in Book and Magazine Publishing at the Center for Professional Education, writes frequently on higher education, politics, culture, law, marketing, and housing.frontpage

DOCTOR DOCTORIAN FROM ANGEL OF GOD
then the angel said, Financial crisis will come to Asia. I will shake the world.

JAMES 5:1-3
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

REVELATION 18:10,17,19
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.

EZEKIEL 7:19
19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.

REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM

So-called economic recovery fragile: Harper Thu Jul 30, 2:42 pm ET

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued a warning on Thursday about how well nations are coping with the world crisis, saying the so-called economic recovery is extremely fragile.Harper's comments echoed those of his finance minister, who said on Tuesday it was too early to state that Canada had emerged from recession. Last week the Bank of Canada declared the recession to be virtually over.We're still in the middle of a global economic crisis ... I know there are some signs of optimism but the so-called recovery at this point is extremely fragile, Harper told a televised news conference in Adstock, Quebec.It's based on governments continuing with coordinated worldwide fiscal and monetary stimulus,he said.Harper also predicted that Canada's unemployment rate would continue to rise.(Reporting by David Ljunggren; editing by Peter Galloway)

Regulators shut banks in Fla., NJ, Ohio, Okla.By MARCY GORDON, AP Business Writer – Fri Jul 31, 7:26 pm ET

WASHINGTON – Regulators on Friday shut down banks in Florida, New Jersey, Ohio and Oklahoma, boosting to 68 the number of federally insured banks to fail this year amid the pressures of the weak economy and mounting loan defaults.The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was appointed receiver of the four banks.The agency shut down Integrity Bank of Jupiter, Fla., with $119 million in assets and $102 million in deposits, and First BankAmericano, based in Elizabeth, N.J., with $166 million in assets and $157 million in deposits.Also closed were Peoples Community Bank, West Chester, Ohio, with $705.8 million in assets and $598.2 million in deposits, and First State Bank of Altus, in Altus, Okla., with $103.4 million in assets and $98.2 million in deposits.First State Bank of Altus was closed Friday by the Oklahoma State Banking Department, which appointed the FDIC as receiver. Herring Bank, based in Amarillo, Texas, is assuming the deposits and about $64.4 million of the assets of First State Bank of Altus and the FDIC will retain the remaining assets for eventual sale. The failed bank's branches will reopen Saturday as offices of Herring Bank.The FDIC said that Stonegate Bank, based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., had agreed to assume all the deposits and about $52 million of the assets of Integrity Bank. The agency will retain the remaining assets for eventual sale. Integrity Bank's sole office in Jupiter will reopen Monday as a branch of Stonegate Bank.Crown Bank, based in Brick, N.J., has agreed to assume the assets and deposits of First BankAmericano. The failed bank's six branches will reopen Saturday as offices of Crown Bank.Peoples Community Bank was the largest of the four. First National Bank, based in Hamilton, Ohio, is buying the assets and deposits of the failed bank. In addition, the FDIC and First Financial Bank entered into a loss-sharing agreement covering $657.6 million of the assets of Peoples Community Bank. Its 19 branches will reopen Monday as offices of First Financial Bank.The 68 bank failures nationwide this year compare with 25 last year and three in 2007.The FDIC estimates that the cost to the deposit insurance fund from the failure of Integrity Bank will be around $46 million, that of First BankAmericano $15 million, Peoples Community Bank $129.5 million and First State Bank of Altus $25.2 million.

As the economy has soured — with unemployment rising, home prices tumbling and loan defaults soaring — bank failures have cascaded and sapped billions out of the deposit insurance fund. It now stands at its lowest level since 1993, $13 billion as of the first quarter.While losses on home mortgages may be leveling off, delinquencies on commercial real estate loans remain a hot spot of potential trouble, FDIC officials say. If the recession deepens, defaults on the high-risk loans could spike. Many regional banks hold large numbers of them.The number of banks on the FDIC's list of problem institutions leaped to 305 in the first quarter — the highest number since 1994 during the savings and loan crisis — from 252 in the fourth quarter. The FDIC expects U.S. bank failures to cost the insurance fund around $70 billion through 2013.

The May closing of struggling Florida thrift BankUnited FSB is expected to cost the insurance fund $4.9 billion, the second-largest hit since the financial crisis began. The costliest was the July 2008 seizure of big California lender IndyMac Bank, on which the insurance fund is estimated to have lost $10.7 billion.The largest U.S. bank failure ever also came last year: Seattle-based thrift Washington Mutual Inc. fell in September, with about $307 billion in assets. It was acquired by JPMorgan Chase & Co. for $1.9 billion in a deal brokered by the FDIC.

Profit reports push Dow to best July in 20 years By TIM PARADIS, AP Business Writer - JULY 31,09

NEW YORK – New hope for the economy just gave the stock market its best July in 20 years.Investors placed big bets over the last month that the profit machine at U.S. companies will continue to rev higher and that the longest recession since World War II is finally easing its grip. If that turns out to be wrong, the huge gains of July mean there will be an even bigger price to pay if companies don't deliver.The Dow surged 725 points or 8.6 percent for the month, with most of the gains arriving in bursts in the final 15 days. The extraordinary run shaped July into the best month for the blue chips since October 2002 and the best July since 1989. The Dow has risen four of the past five months.The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index, a benchmark for many mutual funds, also ran at a strong pace and July was its best performance since 1997. Even with the gains, the S&P is still down 37 percent from its peak in October 2007.The companies that fared best in July were those that signaled they were patching up their businesses after a terrible winter and fall. Caterpillar Inc.'s earnings for the April-June quarter fell but the company raised its profit forecast for the year. Its stock surged 33.4 percent for the month.Earnings reports that fueled the rally often contained a few dark spots, and many companies have been increasing their bottom line by taking a knife to costs. Eventually they will have to bring in more revenue because trimming costs can't increase profits forever.Stu Schweitzer, global markets strategist at J.P. Morgan's Private Bank in New York, said the lower expenses means companies will be better positioned to reap big earnings when the economy does grow and revenue starts to tick higher.

Economic reports are starting to support traders' bets. The government reported Friday that the economy shrank at a pace of just 1 percent in the second quarter, better than analysts anticipated. In the first three months of the year, the economy shrank at a pace of 6.4 percent, the steepest slide in nearly 30 years.Despite the improving outlook, the economy still faces significant hurdles. Analysts worry that difficulty for consumers in borrowing, unemployment and a still-weak housing market will choke off growth. Key reports next week on manufacturing, housing, employment and the service industry could also reshape the market's view about where the economy is headed.I don't think this is a one-way staircase back up to where we came from. I fully expect potholes along the way, Schweitzer said.On Friday, the Dow rose a modest 17.15, or 0.2 percent, to 9,171.61. The S&P 500 index rose 0.73, or 0.1 percent, to 987.48, while the Nasdaq composite slipped 5.80, or 0.3 percent, to 1,978.50.For now, companies aren't hemorrhaging money like they were last fall and early this year. Traders began the latest rally July 13 when they rushed to buy stocks ahead of a strong profit report from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. The bank's profit turned out to be huge, and strong report cards since then from companies like AT&T Inc. and microchip producer Intel Corp. confirmed that a range of companies were finding their footing.

Three of four companies in the S&P 500 index have reported results that topped analysts' expectations, according to Thomson Reuters. About 300 of the 500 companies have turned in their reports.That unexpected bounty has pushed major market indexes to their best levels of the year. On July 23, the Dow rose above 9,000 for the first time since January. The rally pushed the Dow back into the black for the year and it is now up 4.5 percent.The Nasdaq traded above 2,000 and the S&P 500 index neared the 1,000 mark, a level not seen since November.We're on the edge between recovery and speculation,said Rick Lake, portfolio manager of Aston/Lake Partners LASSO Alternatives Fund in Greenwich, Conn.Lake said the market's ability to bounce higher in July even after getting bad news signals that many investors are looking to jump on the rally.Major stock indexes surged off 12-year lows in early March to rally almost 40 percent by mid-June before stumbling until July's earnings reports restored hopes for a rebound in the economy.Investors have been putting money into areas that are expected to do well in a recovery. Materials companies in the S&P 500 index rose an average 12 percent for the month. Aluminum maker Alcoa Inc. jumped 13.8 percent.

By comparison, energy company stocks rose only 3.6 percent. Oil posted its first monthly drop since January as stockpiles remain high. Exxon Mobil Corp. edged up only 0.7 percent.Analysts credit some of the buying to short-covering, in which investors have to buy stock after having earlier sold borrowed shares in a bet they would fall. That can make doubts into short-term buyers and give an artificial lift to stocks.

Investors still have plenty to worry about. The GDP report found that consumers cut spending by 1.2 percent in the second quarter, after a 0.6 percent increase in the first quarter.The unemployment rate stands at a 26-year high of 9.5 percent, and the Federal Reserve predicts it will top 10 percent by the end of the year.Unemployment often recovers after the economy starts to but hesitant consumers could make it harder for the economy to grow. In downturns over the past 60 years, the S&P 500 index has hit bottom an average of four months before a recession ended and about nine months before unemployment hit its peak.In other trading Friday, bond prices rose. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note fell to 3.48 percent from 3.61 percent late Thursday.Crude rose $2.51 to settle at $69.45 a barrel.Three stocks rose for every two that fell on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume came to 5.5 billion shares compared with 6.1 billion Thursday.The Russell 2000 index slipped 1.09, or 0.2 percent, to 556.71. The Dow Jones industrial average closed the week up 78.37, or 0.9 percent, at 9,171.61. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 8.22, 0.8 percent, to 987.48. The Nasdaq composite index rose 12.54, or 0.6 percent, to 1,978.50.The Russell 2000 index, which tracks the performance of small company stocks, rose 8.25, or 1.5 percent, for the week to 556.71.The Dow Jones U.S. Total Stock Market Index — which measures nearly all U.S.-based companies — ended at 10,147.02, up 85.47, or 0.9 percent, for the week. A year ago, the index was at 12,946.89.

International deal agreed for Ukraine gas bills: EU Fri Jul 31, 3:51 pm ET

BRUSSELS (AFP) – Ukraine has reached a deal with international financial bodies and the EU for payment of Russian gas bills, the European Commission said Friday, allaying fears of another winter cut-off.The deal, which will allow Kiev to re-stock its reservoirs, involves the International Monetary Fund releasing a third tranche worth 3.3 billion dollars (2.3 billion euros) from a 16.4-billion-dollar credit line over two years.It also allows for an October influx of funding from the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, totalling 570 million euros, a Commission spokesman said.I'm extremely pleased that political agreement has been reached with Ukraine on reform of its gas sector which opens the way for a financial assistance package to be provided by the international financial institutions to Ukraine,said Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso.The agreement should provide the stability needed to significantly reduce the risk of a further gas crisis between Ukraine and Russia and therefore provide the security of supply that member states and our consumers expect.Ukraine has to pay a gas bill of around 640 million dollars on August 7, the national gas company Naftogaz said.One of the conditions for the loans is a recapitalisation of Naftogaz to the tune of two billion dollars, the Commission said.And a statement on the EBRD website made it clear that its funding was conditional on Ukraine modernising its energy sector, in particular Naftogaz.Our aim is to improve the sustainability, accountability and above all the transparency of the Ukrainian gas market, to the benefit of both Ukraine and of energy security in all of Europe,said EBRD President Thomas Mirow.Ukraine would also have to raise gas prices inside its own borders to bring them into line with international prices, said IMF deputy director John Lipsky.An IMF official said Ukraine would also have to increase its domestic gas prices to bring them into line with international prices.But the arrangement will allay fears in Europe of a repeat of last January's crisis when Russian gas supplies were cut off to much of Europe as part of a bitter dispute over payments and prices between Russia and Ukraine.

Russia provides about a quarter of the gas consumed in the EU -- and 80 percent of that is piped through Ukraine. January's dispute between Moscow and Kiev hit homes and businesses in eastern and western Europe.Price and pay disputes between Russia and Ukraine have led to serious disruptions to the natural gas supply in recent years across the European Union, which relies on Russia for around a quarter of its gas consumption.Russia has the world's largest gas reserves and is the biggest exporter.

Bulgaria Will Apply for EU’s Currency Peg in November (Update2)
By Elizabeth Konstantinova

July 31 (Bloomberg) -- Bulgaria will apply in November to join the exchange-rate mechanism, the European Union’s two-year currency stability test before the country can drop the lev and adopt the euro, Finance Minister Simeon Djankov said. We have already started preparing the necessary documentation to apply to join ERM in November,Djankov said in an interview in Sofia yesterday.There is great uncertainty about what happens in the whole region in terms of the financial crisis. It doesn’t affect our application, but may affect the speed with which it is considered.Joining the exchange-rate mechanism would bring the Balkan country, the poorest in the EU, closer to the umbrella of the euro region and the protection of the European Central Bank. Bulgaria and the Baltic states of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania, also EU members, have had to resist pressure to devalue their currencies as eastern Europe’s recession takes its toll. The lev is already linked to the euro in a currency board that keeps the Bulgarian currency at 1.9558 to the euro. Joining the exchange-rate mechanism may allow the lev to fluctuate by as much as 15 percent around a central band, though the central bank has said it will leave the lev tightly pegged to the euro through the duration of the two years.

Worse Than Expected

Djankov, 39, a former World Bank chief economist, took over the Finance Ministry and became deputy premier in Prime Minister Boiko Borissov’s new Cabinet on July 27. During his first four days, he has lowered the country’s 2009 economic forecast to a contraction of 6.3 percent and found the state budget is in worse shape than described by the ousted administration.The new government of the Balkan country has promised to stem the deepening recession, fight corruption, raise living standards and push the economy closer to western Europe by taking the euro as soon as possible.

The central bank has said it will voluntarily keep its own tighter exchange rate system, similar to that adopted by Latvia when it joined the mechanism in 2005, until formal adoption.Bulgaria, which joined the EU in 2007, had to abandon initial plans to join ERM-2 shortly after EU entry because of accelerating inflation and a record current-account deficit. Djankov forecast the inflation rate will fall to 2.8 percent at year-end after dropping for a 12th month in June to 3.7 percent.

Euro Outlooks

The EU’s eastern members, among the countries hardest hit by the global financial crisis, will see their euro-adoption plans complicated by the recession, Fitch Ratings said in an April 16 report. Its latest forecasts for euro adoption were 2015 for Bulgaria and Romania, 2014 for the Czech Republic, Hungary and Latvia and 2013 for Estonia, Lithuania and Poland.To adopt the euro, candidates need to keep their budget deficits to within 3 percent of gross domestic product, debts to 60 percent of GDP and 12-month average inflation rates to within 1.5 percentage points of the average inflation rate of the three EU nations with the slowest consumer-price growth.We are aiming for a balanced budget,Djankov said.To do that, we need about 2.5 billion lev ($1.7 billion) either in extra revenue or in spending cuts. It turned out the previous government has spent all the surplus in wasteful projects.The new government yesterday adjusted this year’s budget to correspond to the new GDP forecast, he said. The recession has led to a 16 percent slump in revenue for the state.

IMF Loan

Securing a loan from the International Monetary Fund, following Latvia, Romania, Hungary and Ukraine among others, to support the currency peg to the euro, is not an immediate priority,Djankov said. We plan to get the IMF involved in the analysis of the budget both for the remaining part of 2009 and especially in the preparation of the 2010 budget,Djankov said.The IMF analysis can quickly be used for a possible loan in 2010, if it becomes obvious that the 2010 budget cannot be done just with the cuts.
Bulgaria faces a budget deficit for the first time in eight years. The IMF forecast a shortfall of 1 percent of GDP this year and urged the previous government to cut spending 20 percent.If the markets calm down, Bulgaria might issue Eurobonds in nine months,Djankov said. The size of the IMF loan and the Eurobond issue will depend on the budget deficit.Government debt amounts to 13 percent of GDP and the Cabinet aims to keep its public debt burden below 60 percent of GDP.The Cabinet plans to cut 15 percent of all administrative costs starting next week to help save 1.2 billion lev this year, Djankov said. Plugging loopholes in excise tax collection and curbing contraband would help cover part of the remaining 1.5 billion-lev gap, he said.

More Budget Cuts

If the economic situation worsens further than we expect, we may have to do more budget cuts and do formal revision of this year budget asking parliament’s approval in October - November,Djankov said. To speed up the effect of the current budget cuts, they will be enforced as a government decision, as parliamentary approval would delay them by a month, he said.Credit-default swaps linked to Bulgarian five-year bonds dropped to 271.1 basis points from this year’s high of 698.1 basis points on March 9 and rose by 1.5 basis points from this year’s low of 269.75 on July 28, Bloomberg data show. The contracts are rising as perceptions of credit quality deteriorate.The government is also prepared to sell its 44 percent stake in the Bulgarian Stock Exchange if we find a good investor,Djankov said. Other anti-crisis measures include transferring 250 million lev to the state-run Bulgarian Development Bank to increase lending to private industries, Djankov said, and speeding up reimbursements of value-added taxes held up by the previous government for more than three months.Setting up a holding company which will hold the remaining government stake in utilities, State Railways, companies including Bulgartabak, airports and seaports, will eliminate an existing conflict of interest in the ministries that are in charge of the government stakes, he said.To contact the reporter on this story: Elizabeth Konstantinova in Sofia at ekonstantino@bloomberg.net

Russia signs oil pact, offers $150M credit to Cuba Wed Jul 29, 11:54 pm ET

HAVANA – Russia and Cuba signed agreements to search for oil in the Gulf of Mexico, and Moscow extended the island $150 million in credit for construction materials and farm machinery, state media said Wednesday.The credit will give Cuba more time to pay for Russian equipment shipped to areas most affected by three hurricanes that caused more than $10 billion in damage last summer.Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin signed the agreement, according to the Cuban government's AIN news agency. Russian media reported that Sechin met with Cuban President Raul Castro, but Cuba's press did not mention a meeting.The four accords with oil monopoly Cubapetroleo will let Russian concern Zarubezhneft explore for crude in deep waters off Cuba's coast, though details were sparse.Zarubezhneft and other Russian companies signed a memorandum of understanding in Moscow in January pledging to help Cubapetroleo with prospecting, production, refining and other oil activities.Cuba's domestic production is exclusively heavy oil with a high sulfur content. Its offshore Gulf waters could contain large quantities of lighter, sweet crude — although a test well in 2004 turned up only modest discoveries.The government has said it will team with foreign partners to begin exploration soon in deeper waters, although it has not announced a date.Cuba began offering 59 blocks in the Gulf to private interests for exploration in 1999.The Soviet Union provided billions of dollars in trade and annual subsidies to communist ally Cuba before its 1991 collapse, and the Kremlin has moved to rebuild old ties recently.

China requests EU talks in fastener trade dispute Fri Jul 31, 10:47 am ET

GENEVA (AFP) – China on Friday asked the European Union for talks under the first stage of a World Trade Organization disputes procedure over EU measures on imports of Chinese-made screws and bolts.A source close to the WTO confirmed that the global trade watchdog had been notified of the request.The move marked an escalation in the dispute following a final European Commission decision in January to go ahead with hefty anti-dumping duties on Chinese-made fasteners.If the direct talks fail to resolve the spat within 60 days, under world trade rules China can ask an independent WTO dispute settlement panel to examine and rule on the case.The Chinese mission to the WTO said in a statement that it had been instructed to send an official letter to the EC Delegation to the WTO, making a formal request for consultation under the WTO dispute settlement procedure concerning the anti-dumping measures taken by the EC against the import of fasteners originating from China.The Chinese side believes that the EC authorities concerned in the foregoing investigations failed to comply with the relevant WTO rules in the process,it added.In one of the biggest anti-dumping cases against China, the EU decided after an investigation to impose levies on imports of some Chinese fasteners, ranging from 26.5 percent to as high as 85 percent.

China retaliated by launching its own anti-dumping probe into imports of screws and bolts made in the European Union.China is the world's biggest producers of screws, bolts and washers and the European Union is its biggest market, taking 575 million euros (762 million dollars) worth of fasteners in 2007, according to the Jiaxing Association of Chinese Fastener Producers.In Brussels, a European Commission trade affairs spokesman said the EU had taken note of China's request, but that Brussels stood by the anti-dumping move.Anti-dumping measures are not about protectionism, they are about fighting unfair trade,said spokesman Lutz Guellner.The decision to impose measures was taken on the basis of clear evidence that unfair dumping of Chinese products has taken place with state distortion of raw material prices.This is harming the otherwise competitive EU industry, with potentially dire long term effects,he said.If the direct talks fail to resolve the spat within 60 days, China can ask an independent WTO dispute settlement panel to examine and rule on the case.

Fatah, West's hope for peace, faces critical test By KARIN LAUB and MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH, Associated Press Writers – Fri Jul 31, 6:19 pm ET

RAMALLAH, West Bank – Fatah, the divided and demoralized movement of the late Yasser Arafat and the West's best hope for delivering a Mideast peace deal, is trying to stage a comeback.On Tuesday, Fatah is supposed to open its first convention in 20 years, hoping to clean up its corruption-tainted image and transform itself into a vibrant alternative to the Islamic militants of Hamas.The international community, including U.S. diplomats, is watching anxiously, since Fatah is the only mainstream Palestinian champion of compromise with Israel.Yet there are signs that the movement, paralyzed by infighting and generational power struggles, is incapable of reform. And because of a bitter standoff with Hamas, it's not even certain the three-day convention in the West Bank city of Bethlehem will open on schedule.Failure or cancellation could further weaken the already poor standing of Fatah's leader, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and hurt the Obama administration's peace push.

Any blow to Fatah at this convention will be a blow to the international vision of solving the conflict,said Khaled Hroub, a Palestinian analyst.In the 20 years since the last convention, Mideast peace hopes have seesawed wildly. Arafat launched an internationally acclaimed peace effort with Israel in 1993, unleashed a violent uprising in 2000 and died in 2004. Hamas emerged as a major spoiler, seizing control of the Gaza Strip, and this year a relatively moderate Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, was replaced by a hawk, Benjamin Netanyahu.Fatah seems wholly preoccupied with its internal pre-convention maneuvers and little attention is being focused on the new party program, a thorough rewrite of the document adopted 20 years ago.The 1989 convention called for armed action against Israel. The new one firmly commits the Palestinians to peace talks, although it still mentions armed struggle as a theoretical right, said its author, veteran Fatah leader Nabil Shaath.

He said the Fatah program is setting 20 rules for its peace negotiators.

For example, it states that negotiations cannot be held as long as Israel expands Jewish settlements. Abbas has said he will not resume talks without such a freeze, and such a clause could strengthen him should he come under international pressure to bend on the issue.Shaath would not elaborate further on the program, but the Palestinians' chief demand has remained constant — a state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem. We are dedicated to the peace process, we are dedicated to negotiations, provided we are not taken for a ride,Shaath said.One thing going for Fatah is a nascent economic recovery in the West Bank, helped by a relaxation of Israeli security measures under Netanyahu.But on the larger issues, the Israeli leader has been less forthcoming. He has said no to a settlement freeze, no to a redivision of Jerusalem, and only a qualified yes to statehood.It seems unlikely the convention — and adoption of a revised program — will do much to sway Israeli public opinion. A majority in Israel support an eventual peace deal, but are reluctant to give up land now because of fears it will be used by the Palestinians to launch attacks.Still, Israeli analyst Yossi Alpher says Israelis should root for Fatah as the only viable force for a peace settlement.All those Israelis who find fault with it have to ask themselves what the alternatives are,he said.They don't look very good.
Abbas' job as party leader is not on the line, but support by his party can help shore up his political legitimacy. His term as president expired in January, and he has simply stayed on, saying the rift with Hamas left him no other option. Potential successors are not challenging Abbas now, but their relative strengths will be measured when the more than 1,500 delegates from the West Bank, Gaza Strip and the diaspora elect new party committees.Marwan Barghouti, who led the last Palestinian uprising, is running for the 21-member Central Committee from the Israeli prison where he is serving five life terms for his role in shooting attacks. A strong win could help a future bid for the presidency, once Abbas steps down.A Barghouti rival for a committee seat, Mohammed Dahlan, has had Western support but is a polarizing figure who lost influence after Hamas seized his native Gaza Strip from Fatah rule in 2007.In contrast to secretive and disciplined Hamas, Fatah is a chaotic big-tent movement that draws activists ranging from academics and entrepreneurs to scruffy militants.The convention pits old against young, West Bankers against Gazans, Palestinians from those territories against representatives of the diaspora. Since its founding, it has been the standard-bearer of the Palestinian cause, but once Arafat achieved limited autonomy for the West Bank and Gaza, the Fatah leadership came to be seen as using its power for self-enrichment.

While Hamas earned popular support with its network of clinics, schools and welfare services, some Fatah leaders drove big cars and built ostentatious villas. Fatah activists say Hamas beat Fatah in the 2006 election largely because of its clean-cut image rather than its refusal to recognize Israel.Nabil Amr, the Palestinian ambassador to Egypt, frankly acknowledged Fatah's tarnished reputation during a recent campaign stop in the northern West Bank town of Qalqiliya.Fatah is full of thieves, spies and corrupt people, enough to destroy any country, said Amr, 61, who is seeking a committee seat.But Fatah survived because it is close to the people.But in Gaza, Fatah is barely hanging on. In the past two years, Hamas has systematically dismantled the party's organization there, closing offices and arresting scores of activists.Meanwhile, the two territories that would become the Palestinian state are heavily at odds, especially since Hamas seized control of Gaza.New presidential and parliamentary elections won't be held unless Fatah and Hamas reconcile, and months of talks have gone nowhere. Now Hamas is saying it won't let Gaza's Fatah delegates travel to the convention unless 900 of its followers are freed from West Bank prisons.Syria and Egypt are mediating, but its not clear if the conference can proceed without the Gazans.

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 RUSSIA-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 (MUSLIMS) have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,(JORDAN) and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, PALESTINIANS,JORDAN) and the Hagarenes;(EGYPT)
7 Gebal,(HEZZBALLOH,LEBANON) and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA,ARABS,SINAI) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)

DANIEL 11:40-43
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south( EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) and the king of the north (RUSSIA AND MUSLIM HORDES OF EZEK 38+39) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
41 He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.(JORDAN)
42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.

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.

Iran president: No rift with supreme leader By NASSER KARIMI and LEE KEATH, Associated Press Writers – Fri Jul 31, 3:43 pm ET

TEHRAN, Iran – President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad begins his second term next week undermined by a deepening feud with his fellow hard-liners and under assault from a pro-reform opposition movement that has shown it can bring out thousands of protesters despite a fierce seven-week-old crackdown.Ahmadinejad on Friday sought shelter with his top supporter, declaring that Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is like a father to him. Ahmadinejad accused his hard-line rivals of trying to drive a wedge between him and the man who sits at the top of Iran's clerical leadership and who has final say in all state matters.On Monday, Khamenei leads a ceremony formally approving Ahmadinejad's second term, and two days later Ahmadinejad is to be sworn in before parliament, despite opposition claims that he won the June 12presidential election by fraud and that his government is illegitimate.In a sign of the growing challenge the president also faces from some in the religious establishment, an influential clerical group at the seminary in the holy city of Qom called Friday for the opposition to continue its campaign against the election results.A statement on the Web site of the Association of Teachers and Researchers also criticized arrests of protesters and abuses in prisons.Reports of inhuman torture are heard every day. They don't allow funeral and memorial ceremonies for victims, and unfortunately all this is done under the name of Islam,the group said.

The supreme leader has stuck by Ahmadinejad — in part because doing otherwise would be a blow to Khamenei's prestige after he strongly declared the election clean. Still, some hard-liners have warned they'll judge the president's administration by his loyalty to Khamenei, and that if he falls short he doesn't deserve to lead.

Sensing fragility in the president, rivals within Ahmadinejad's own camp seem to be seeking a greater say in his next administration.During Friday prayer services in Tehran, a senior ultraconservative cleric bluntly told Ahmadinejad to listen to hard-line lawmakers in the makeup of his new Cabinet.Before naming individuals for ministries, the government and parliament must coordinate,Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati said.He criticized Ahmadinejad's attempt this month to appoint a vice president opposed by hard-liners and his firing this week of his intelligence minister, Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejehi.I say to my dear brother (Ahmadinejad) in a friendly manner so no one gets upset, the appointments and dismissals indeed caused an outcry from the people,Jannati said.The sudden dismissal of a veteran ... and competent minister is not correct. It is not possible to defend this sort of activity.Ahmadinejad has frequently feuded with his own conservative camp, where some complain he keeps power among a tight circle of associates. His attempt to appoint Esfandiar Rahim Mashai this month as his top vice president angered hard-liners because of past comments by Mashai seen as too pro-Israeli. The supreme leader ordered Mashai's dismissal, but Ahmadinejad stalled, trying to retain him. The president finally obeyed the dismissal order but then named Mashai as his chief of staff.The debacle outraged hard-liners, who accused Ahmadinejad of insufficient loyalty to Khamenei.In a speech Friday in the northeastern city of Mashhad, Ahmadinejad said his rivals were trying to create a rift between him and Khamenei.What they don't understand is that the relationship between us and the supreme leader goes beyond politics and administration. It is based on kindness, on ideology, it is like that of a father and son,he said in the speech, parts of which were aired on state TV.He said the attempts by ill-wishers would fail and this path with be shut in the face of devils.The speech suggested Ahmadinejad will not yield easily to conservatives' meddling. But his rivals seem to see him as vulnerable, since the protest movement that erupted with Ahmadinejad's re-election shows no sign of flagging.Thousands of protesters held a memorial Thursday at the Behesht-e Zahra cemetery on Tehran's outskirts to commemorate those killed in the crackdown since the disputed election. Police fired tear gas and beat protesters with batons, but the march continued, with protesters chanting the name of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, who they say is the vote's real victor.

Protesters then streamed back into central Tehran — some chanting on the subway, Traitor Mahmoud, we want you to become homeless — and again clashed with security forces. Police arrested 50 people in the marches, Tehran police commander Azizollah Rajabzadeh said Friday, according to news agencies. A top Mousavi ally, former President Mohammad Khatami, vowed protests would continue. Our people ... won't let go of their demands,he said. Our nation wants freedom, independence and the advancement of Iran, and it seriously wants democracy and rule of the people with all its advantages.Activists on the Web have called for protests during Ahmadinejad's inauguration Wednesday, though Mousavi has not backed the calls. Mousavi has said upcoming religious holidays are a chance to take to the street — particularly next Friday's birthday of the Imam Mahdi, a messianic figure in Shia Islam. The government and Khamenei's clerical leadership have also come under fire over alleged abuses of detained protesters. Authorities say 30 people were killed in the seven-week-old crackdown, but human rights groups say the number is far higher. In recent days, several young protesters arrested in the sweeps turned up dead, apparently from abuse in prison.Even government allies joined the criticism. On Friday, Grand Ayatollah Nasser Makarem Shirazi, seen as a conservative among the top clerics, said detainees should be released by the Imam Mahdi holiday.Khamenei closed down one prison this week, and at least 140 detainees were freed. Also, several prominent pro-reform politicians were allowed to talk to their families for the first time in weeks. One senior reformist, Saeed Hajjarian, who uses a wheelchair after a 2000 assassination attempt, was moved from Evin prison to a detention center with better medical facilities in a nod to worries over his health, according to pro-opposition Web sites.Still, authorities are pressing ahead with trials of around 20 protesters on Saturday, and later plan to prosecute the jailed opposition politicians on charges of fomenting the unrest.Karimi reported from Tehran. Keath reported from Cairo.

2ND WAVE CHINA AND KINGS OF THE EAST MARCH TO ISRAEL

REVELATION 16:12
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.(THIS IS THE ATATURK DAM IN TURKEY,THEY CROSS OVER).

DANIEL 11:44 (2ND WAVE OF WW3)
44 But tidings out of the east(CHINA) and out of the north(RUSSIA, MUSLIMS WHATS LEFT FROM WAVE 1) shall trouble him:(EU DICTATOR IN ISRAEL) therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.( 1/3RD OF EARTHS POPULATION)

REVELATION 9:12-18
12 One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.
13 And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
14 Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.(IRAQ-SYRIA)
15 And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.(1/3 Earths Population die in WW 3 2ND WAVE)
16 And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand:(200 MILLION MAN ARMY FROM CHINA AND THE KINGS OF THE EAST) and I heard the number of them.
17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)
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.(NUCLEAR BOMBS)

N.Korea says South Korean boat seized for intrusion JULY 31,09

SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korean authorities seized a South Korean fishing boat this week because the vessel illegally intruded into the North's territorial waters, Pyongyang's state media said on Saturday.The report came two days after a South Korean military official said the North had towed the fishing boat to one of its ports.The incident comes at a time of chilling ties between the two Koreas and while analysts say Pyongyang is in the midst of a sensitive process of resolving the leadership succession in Asia's only communist dynasty.A patrol ship of the Navy of the Korean People's Army captured one ship of South Korea on July 30 when it illegally intruded deep into the DPRK territorial waters in the East Sea of Korea, the North's official KCNA news agency said.A relevant institution is conducting a concrete investigation into it at present, it added.

The South has asked its neighbor to allow the vessel and its crew of four to return.

Fishing and other light vessels from both sides have strayed into the waters of the other in recent years where crews have been returned. But hundreds of other fishermen are thought to be held by the North after being abducted off the coast.In the latest case, the boat appears to have strayed across the border on the east coast of the peninsula where it was intercepted by a North Korean patrol boat, the South Korean military official said on Thursday.North Korea, already a pariah state, has become even more isolated by the international community in recent months after a series of missile launches and its second nuclear test which resulted in tighter U.N. sanctions.
(Reporting by Cheon Jong-woo; Editing by Dean Yates)

Madonna shares spiritual awakening in Israel paper By MATTI FRIEDMAN, Associated Press Writer – Fri Jul 31, 4:57 am ET

JERUSALEM – After a long career as a singer, dancer, new-age seeker and megacelebrity, Madonna added a new item to her resume Friday — Israeli newspaper correspondent.An article in Friday's edition of Israel's biggest daily, Yediot Ahronot, bears the Material Girl's byline. It describes her spiritual awakening upon discovering Jewish mysticism, called Kabbalah, after which, she writes, all the puzzle pieces started falling into place.Madonna is bringing her Sticky & Sweet tour to Israel in September, which no doubt explains the timing of her journalism debut here. But she also has ties to Israel and Judaism through her involvement with the Los Angeles-based Kabbalah Center, whose new-age version of Judaism's ancient mystic tradition has become popular among members of Hollywood's A-list.The 50-year-old pop icon has taken the Hebrew name Esther and came to Israel on private pilgrimages in 2004 and 2007 along with other Kabbalah devotees.In the article, Madonna, who was raised Roman Catholic, describes hearing about Kabbalah for the first time at a dinner party in Los Angeles while pregnant with her daughter Lourdes, who is now 12. She had recently completed a star turn in the movie Evita, she writes, but still felt like something was missing in my life.She went to her first class, taught by a teacher named Eitan, after years of practicing yoga and reading about Buddhism, Taoism and early Christianity.I heard what he had to say and I knew at this moment my life would never be the same, she writes in the article, which the paper published both in Hebrew and in the original — and apparently unedited — English.Life no longer seemed like a series of Random events, she writes. I also began to see that being Rich and Famous wasn't going to bring me lasting fulfillment and that it was not the end of the journey.The Kabbalah Center's devotees have included other celebrities such as Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher and Britney Spears. Many mainstream Jewish scholars see the Center's self-help teachings, its sale of Kabbalah-themed merchandise and its embrace by non-Jewish pop stars as a perversion of Judaism's ancient and secretive mystic tradition.Some rabbis were particularly incensed by Madonna's song, Isaac, about the revered 16th-century Kabbalist Rabbi Isaac Luria, which featured on her 2005 album, Confessions on a Dance Floor.Jewish tradition has long held that Kabbalah is so complicated and so easily misunderstood that students may only begin to approach it with a strong background in Jewish law and only after age 40. The discipline's elements include the study of mystical texts, prayer and meditation in an attempt to draw closer to the divine.The criticism appears to have had no effect on Madonna's popularity among Israelis. Originally scheduled to give one concert in Tel Aviv, Madonna added a second after the first show quickly sold out.
Madonna's last concert in Israel was in 1993, during her Girlie Show tour.

3RD TEMPLE - ISRAELIS WAKIN UP FINALLY

AUDIT THE FED
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYiHE35kCQI&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16XF4iFQ8Gc&feature=related
BERNANKE ON DON'T AUDIT FED
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lH1FFfTdGKE&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FbnmSWMlXA&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAkFLBuP45I&feature=player_embedded

THE HOUSE HAS 279 MEMBERS SIGNED UP TO AUDIT THE FED AND 20 SENATE MEMBERS ARE SIGNED UP AS OF JULY 30,2009.I HEAR BERNANKE IS SHAKIN IN HIS BOOTS BECAUSE 79% OF AMERICANS WANT THE FED AUDITED AS WELL AS GEITHNER AT THE TREASURY.

THESE NWO NUTCASES GOOGLE AND MICROSOFT ARE TRYIN TO STOP ME FROM UPDATING THE AUDIT THE ROBBERS BILL BY ABORTING MY SITE.THESE SICKOS ARE TOTAL NUTCASE EGENICISTS BILL GATES OF MICROSOFT AND OBAMAS BUDDIES AT GOOGLE.

Bill to Audit the Fed Gains Momentum as Public Support Grows
C. Marlon Richardson Infowars July 30, 2009

In an article by Ryan McCarthy posted Thursday on the HuffingtonPost.com 75% of Americans are in favor of auditing the illusive and secretive Federal Reserve Bank. The House bill, sponsored by Ron Paul and others, has already gained support from over half of congress.In the face of slumping favorability ratings and in a last ditch attempt at damage control, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has been on a public relations campaign to quell public interest and concern over Fed bank policies starting with a town hall meeting earlier this week. Bernanke, along with others, threaten that an audit of the Fed would result in a total collapse of world financial markets and limit the Fed’s independence. When asked by the News Hour’s Jim Lehr to define the Fed’s independence, Bernanke was vague at best in describing who is responsible for setting monetary policy or who the Fed is controlled by.

75% Favor Auditing The Fed
Wednesday, July 29, 2009

So much for the ongoing secrecy of the nation’s independent central banking system. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 75% of Americans favor auditing the Federal Reserve and making the results available to the public. Just nine percent (9%) of adults think that’s a bad idea and oppose it. Fifteen percent (15%) aren’t sure.Over half the members of the House now support a bill giving the Government Accounting Office, Congress’ investigative agency, the authorization to audit the books of the Federal Reserve Board. Support for the bill has grown now that the Obama administration is proposing to give the Fed greater economic regulatory powers. The Fed which sets U.S. monetary policy was created as an independent agency to keep it free of politically-motivated interference. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke in a town forum filmed on Sunday which is airing this week on PBS stations said he is strongly opposed to the audit legislation.I don’t think the American people want Congress running monetary policy,he said. Howard Rich addressed this issue in a recent commentary and concluded it was important to locate the trillions of dollars the Fed has spent over the last year-and-a-half. The new survey finds that an overwhelming majority of Americans in every demographic category – including age, gender, political affiliation, race and income – disagree with Bernanke and favor auditing the Fed to make its secretive deliberations public.(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter.Fifty-two percent (52%) of Americans support Bernanke’s efforts to speak out more publicly than his predecessors as Fed chairman, but his favorables have gone down over the past month. A plurality (41%) think the previous Fed chairman, Alan Greenspan, did a better job, too.

While the president hopes to expand the Fed chairman’s regulatory controls, 46% of Americans say he already has too much power over the economy. Fifty-one percent (51%) oppose expanding the Fed’s regulatory powers.Despite Bernanke’s pledge that the Fed will keep interest rates and inflation down, 54% of Americans think interest rates will be higher a year from now, up 20 points from April.Perhaps helping to drive the support for regularly auditing the Fed is the growing unpopularity of Obama’s economic initiatives to date. While the Fed is an independent agency, just 20% of Americans believe the Fed chairman is truly independent of the Obama administration. Sixty percent (60%) say his decision-making is influence by the president.Scott Rasmussen, president of Rasmussen Reports, has been an independent pollster for more than a decade.

PhD Economist: Fed has Caused Soaring Unemployment, Millions of Foreclosures, Millions Losing Life Savings and More than $6 Trillion in Lost Output
Washington’s Blog Friday, July 31, 2009

In endorsing the bill to audit the Fed, PhD economist Dean Baker wrote last week:The country now has almost 25 million people who are unemployed or underemployed as a result of the Fed’s disastrous policies. Millions of people are losing their homes and tens of millions are losing their life savings. The country is likely to lose more than $6 trillion in output ($20,000 per person) due to the Fed’s inept job performance.He forgot trillions in unnecessary interest payments (and see this).The 75% of Americans who support auditing the Fed are right. Those calling for the Fed to be broken up or dissolved are even more right.

BARAK HUSEIN OBAMA IS A FORERUNNER OF THE FUTURE EU WORLD DICTATOR FOR SURE,HES A LIER,AND IS AGAINST JESUS AND HIS WORDS.BUT IN ORDER TO BE THE FUTURE DICTATOR OBAMA WOULD HAVE TO BE ELECTED LEADER OF THE EUROPEAN UNION AND SIGN THE 7 YEAR PEACE TREATY IN THE FUTURE.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raCRSjnT0Wc&feature=player_embedded

TESTING THE FAITH Did Jesus actually reveal name of the antichrist?
Viral video makes Hebrew word connection to latest White House occupant July 30, 2009
9:50 pm Eastern By Joe Kovacs 2009 WorldNetDaily

For centuries, many have wondered about the identity of a biblical leader who will do Satan the devil's bidding, trying to thwart the plans of Jesus Christ shortly before His prophesied return to Earth. That character has come to be known as the antichrist,even though the Bible never uses that word to describe any single person.

Now, after endless speculation suggesting Presidents John F. Kennedy, Franklin Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush could possibly be the End Times Bad Boy, there's a new viral video placing the current occupant of the White House into the club. An American Christian has produced a brief film for YouTube that connects one statement by Jesus in the Gospel of Luke to President Barack Obama. His 4-minute video focuses on the direct quote: I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. (Luke 10:18)When I started doing a little research, I found the Greek word for lightning is astrape, and the Hebrew equivalent is Baraq,said YouTube contributor ppsimmons, a self-described Christian with a theological education and many years in the ministry, who spoke to WND under condition of anonymity.I thought that was fascinating.As he continued looking into the rest of the words in the phrase, he focused on heaven,and found that it can refer not just to God's dwelling place, but also the heights or high places.He then recalled Isaiah 14:14, where Lucifer, another name for Satan, is quoted as saying,I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.I wondered what the word heights is,said ppsimmons, and I looked it up in the dictionary, and it's Bamah.Thus, on the video, the announcer notes,If spoken by a Jewish rabbi today, influenced by the poetry of Isaiah, He (Jesus) would say these words in Hebrew ... I saw Satan as Baraq Ubamah.Gosh, was Jesus giving us a clue or was this just a freak coincidence? thought the filmmaker at the time of his research. Find out everything you always wanted to know about the devil but were too afraid to ask (plus hundreds of other amazing Bible facts) in the best-selling book that champions the absolute truth of Scripture, Shocked by the Bible: The Most Astonishing Facts You've Never Been Told -- personally autographed!

I want to emphasize I'm not ashamed of what I put there,he told WND. I'm not proclaiming he is the antichrist, or that I'm some kind of a Hebrew expert, but the word associations are indisputable. The Hebrew word for lightning is 'Baraq' and the word for heights or high places is Bamah.The movie has a prominent disclaimer stressing the film does not declare BHO [Barack Hussein Obama] to be the antichrist, but is merely pointing out the Hebrew words and their striking correlations to Jesus' statement. Obama is far from being the first public figure to have his identity tied to Bible prophecy. For instance, President Reagan was considered by some to be a potential merely because each of his names – Ronald Wilson Reagan – has six letters, prompting some to think of 666, the number of the beast in the Book of Revelation.

Modern books such as Naming the Antichrist: The History of an American Obsession and Antichrist: Two Thousand Years of the Human Fascination with Evil have chronicled a wide variety of other suspects including Henry Kissinger, Adolf Hitler, Saddam Hussein, Italy's Benito Mussolini, Juan Carlos of Spain, Israel's Moshe Dayan, Egypt's Anwar Sadat, the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, Elvis Presley and ex-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, perhaps for his famous birthmark on his head that some thought could be the mark of the beast mentioned in Revelation.When WND asked if people should take the video seriously or with a grain of salt, its producer said, I take the middle road. I don't take it with a grain of salt, but I don't use the Bible like a Ouija board either. It's not like a magical crystal ball. Clear prophecy is one thing. Making word associations is another. Just look at it. I wouldn't take it super serious and say that's the proof we need. It's a little weird.With the video posted now in several locations on YouTube and more than 75,000 total views, there has been plenty of reaction, with comments such as: Anyone who knows multiple languages, which I do, and attempts to translate from one to the other knows that some meaning and inflection is lost in the translation. Here, we're translating three times: from Aramaic to Greek, and Greek to English, and English to Hebrew. A lot to be lost.
If I went through thousands and thousands of pieces of text about the devil (the whole bible!), I could find things to say [Fox News anchor] Glenn Beck is the antichrist.It was Michael Jackson. No wait. It was George Bush. No wait. It was Paris Hilton! What the [expletive] is wrong with you people? Grow up. I bet you don't worship the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy, too. Do you?

I BELIEVE THE SHROUD OF TURIN TO BE THE FACE OF JESUS.WHEN JESUS CAME INTO MY ROOM AT AGE 6 AND REVEALED HIMSELF TO ME,HE NEVER SAID A WORD TO ME BUT HE WAS PRAYING FOR ME AND AT THE TIME I JUST GOT OUT OF THE HOSPITAL WITH RHEUMATIC FEVER.THE BEAUTIFUL COLORS COMING FROM JESUS WERE INCREDIBLE.THEN YEARS LATER I SAW A STORY ON THE SHROUD OF TURIN AND AS SOON AS I SEEN THE IMAGE OF THE FACE I SAID TO MYSELF,THAT WAS JESUS THAT CAME TO MY ROOM AT AGE 6,THIS FACE LOOKS LIKE THE FACE ON JESUS.AND EVER SINCE THEN I BELIEVED THE SHROUD TO BE OF JESUS' RESSURRECTION CLOTH. AND NOW WITH MY HEALTH FAILING BADLY IN THE LAST YEAR I WISH JESUS WOULD COME AND HEAL ME AGAIN LIKE HE DID WHEN I WAS 6.

POPE-SHROUD Jul-27-2009 (560 words) xxxi Pope confirms visit to Shroud of Turin; new evidence on shroud emerges By Carol Glatz Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI confirmed his intention to visit the Shroud of Turin when it goes on public display in Turin's cathedral April 10-May 23, 2010.

Cardinal Severino Poletto of Turin, papal custodian of the Shroud of Turin, visited the pope July 26 in Les Combes, Italy, where the pope was spending part of his vacation. The Alpine village is about 85 miles from Turin.The cardinal gave the pope the latest news concerning preparations for next year's public exposition of the shroud and the pope confirmed his intention to go to Turin for the occasion, said the Vatican spokesman, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, in a written statement July 27.

The specific date of the papal visit has yet to be determined, the priest added.

The last time the Shroud of Turin was displayed to the public was in 2000 for the jubilee year. The shroud is removed from a specially designed protective case only for very special spiritual occasions, and its removal for study or display to the public must be approved by the pope.

The shroud underwent major cleaning and restoration in 2002.

According to tradition, the 14-foot-by-4-foot linen cloth is the burial shroud of Jesus. The shroud has a full-length photonegative image of a man, front and back, bearing signs of wounds that correspond to the Gospel accounts of the torture Jesus endured in his passion and death.The church has never officially ruled on the shroud's authenticity, saying judgments about its age and origin belonged to scientific investigation. Scientists have debated its authenticity for decades, and studies have led to conflicting results.A recent study by French scientist Thierry Castex has revealed that on the shroud are traces of words in Aramaic spelled with Hebrew letters.A Vatican researcher, Barbara Frale, told Vatican Radio July 26 that her own studies suggest the letters on the shroud were written more than 1,800 years ago.She said that in 1978 a Latin professor in Milan noticed Aramaic writing on the shroud and in 1989 scholars discovered Hebrew characters that probably were portions of the phrase The king of the Jews.Castex's recent discovery of the word found with another word next to it, which still has to be deciphered, together may mean because found or we found,she said.What is interesting, she said, is that it recalls a passage in the Gospel of St. Luke, We found this man misleading our people, which was what several Jewish leaders told Pontius Pilate when they asked him to condemn Jesus.

She said it would not be unusual for something to be written on a burial cloth in order to indicate the identity of the deceased.Frale, who is a researcher at the Vatican Secret Archives, has written a new book on the shroud and the Knights Templar, the medieval crusading order which, she says, may have held secret custody of the Shroud of Turin during the 13th and 14th centuries.She told Vatican Radio that she has studied the writings on the shroud in an effort to find out if the Knights had written them.When I analyzed these writings, I saw that they had nothing to do with the Templars because they were written at least 1,000 years before the Order of the Temple was founded in the 12th century, she said.END

N.L.E 2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78nJyYqAdyQ&feature=player_embedded

Air Force Vet Breaks Silence on What Hit Pentagon on 9-11
James P. Tucker, Jr. American Free Press Friday, July 31, 2009

A veteran Air Force mechanic called to help clean up the Sept. 11, 2001 explosion at the Pentagon says the U.S. government’s blaming a plane for the damage makes no sense. The evidence was staged, he said.He agreed to a face-to-face interview with AFP on condition he not be identified for obvious reasons: the Air Force would punish him severely (the same military harshness that gagged survivors of the 1967 USS Liberty attack for many years).The airman, a tech sergeant, is richly experienced in hazardous waste cleanup, having been deployed twice to Afghanistan in the first Persian Gulf war under President Bush the Elder and, later, under George the Younger. He has 17 years of Air Force service.The scene at the Pentagon doesn’t look right, the airman said.There was only a piece of engine and sections of landing gear on the ground. It was like they were placed there. Where were the wings? Tail section? We expected to find a lot of debris but there was very little.There were two massive engines from planes that had, according to the government, penetrated the Pentagon but the holes were too small for that to be true, the airman said. The holes in the Pentagon were of the size made by Predators—the remote-controlled spy planes used in Iraq and Afghanistan—he said.He indicated agreement with numerous construction experts interviewed by AFP who say the planes that struck the Twin Towers in New York could not have caused them to collapse as they did and bombs had to have been set off from inside.Another oddity he noted was the story of young Israeli citizens, in this country illegally, who had set up a tripod camera on the roof of the warehouse where they worked and trained their camera on the Twin Towers shortly before the attacks. Witnesses told police the boys celebrated the attacks by joyfully jumping and slapping hands. Police held the men overnight and they were returned to Israel the next day. All this was reported in the mainstream media, but the story was immediately dropped. How did these Israelis know where to be and when to film the Trade Center disaster.His first instinct is still with him. The airman told AMERICAN FREE PRESS: We attacked ourselves to set up the invasion of Iraq.If true, this is the exact definition of treason, the penalty for which is death.

AND SPEAKING OF NUTCASES I JUST LISTENED TO JEFF RENSE TONIGHT-HE HAD ON HIS SHOW A SO CALLED ECONOMIST FROM ARGENTINA.I JUST CALL HIM AN ISRAEL HATER.THIS IDIOT DR ADRIAN SALBUCHII DENYS THE HOLOCAUST AND CLAIMED ITS A MYTH.AND GUESS WHO WAS QUESTIONING THE HOLOCAUST HIMSELF A SO CALLED LIBERTARIAN JEFF RENSE.THESE ISRAEL HATERS ARE GONNA PAY BIGTIME IN WW3 WHEN GOD(KING JESUS)GETS REVENGE ON THEM FOR HATING ISRAEL.

REBUILT 3RD TEMPLE (THE EU DICTATORS TEMPLE)

ISAIAH 30:10-15
10 Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:
11 Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.
12 Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon:
13 Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant.
14 And he shall break it as the breaking of the potters’ vessel that is broken in pieces; he shall not spare: so that there shall not be found in the bursting of it a sherd to take fire from the hearth, or to take water withal out of the pit.
15 For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not.
16 But ye said, No; for we will flee upon horses; therefore shall ye flee: and, We will ride upon the swift; therefore shall they that pursue you be swift.

REVELATION 11:1-2
1 And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.
2 But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.

DANIEL 9:27
27 And he( THE ROMAN,EU PRESIDENT) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:(1X7=7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,(3 1/2 yrs in TEMPLE SACRIFICES STOPPED) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

REBUILT 4TH TEMPLE (THE TRUE MESSIAHS TEMPLE)

ZECHARIAH 6:12-13
12 And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD:
13 Even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.

ISAIAH 60:9-10
9 Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the LORD thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he hath glorified thee.
10 And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee: for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favour have I had mercy on thee.

ISAIAH 2:1-5
1 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.
3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
5 O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the LORD.

MARK 11:9-10,15-17
9 And they that went before, and they that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna; Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord:
10 Blessed be the kingdom of our father David, that cometh in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest.
15 And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves;
16 And would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple.
17 And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves.

EZEKIEL 40 TO 48 IS THIS 4TH TEMPLE TO BIG FOR THE MOUNT I BELIEVE TO BE BUILT 25 MILES FROM JERUSALEM.

FINALLY ISRAELIS ARE WAKING UP TO TRUTH AND 64% WANT THE 3RD TEMPLE REBUILT.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/132664

Temple Altar Construction Begins on Day of Destruction
by Yehudah Lev Kay Follow Israel news on and .
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/132664

(IsraelNN.com) The Temple Institute began work on the sacrificial altar Thursday, Tisha B’av, the day the Second Temple was destroyed almost 2,000 years ago.The Temple Institute has already built several of the Temple vessels such as the Ark and the menorah, and has now embarked on an ambitious project to build the altar, which will ultimately measure 3 meters wide by 3 meters long and 2 meters tall.During Thursday’s ceremony, which took place in Mitzpe Yericho just east of Jerusalem, the Temple Institute laid the cornerstone for the altar and demonstrated how tar will be used to cement the stones together. The Institute plans on bringing the altar to its proper place on the Temple Mount when the Temple is rebuilt. Today, Tisha B’av, is not just a time to mourn the destruction of the Temple, said Rabbi Yisrael Ariel, the head of the Temple Institute. It is also a time to build.Rabbi Ariel thanked the more than 100 people who came to the event despite their fasting for Tisha B’Av, and despite the hot weather. The main force behind the construction of the altar, Yonaton Tzadok, was also on hand to explain why its stones were taken straight from the Dead Sea.The altar is supposed to represent going back to our roots, to the time of creation when everything was pure, he said.We took rocks from the Dead Sea, where it is likely that they were never touched by human hands.During the ceremony, many people who came to watch were surprised when they were invited to take part and pour tar onto the cornerstones. Rabbi Ariel first asked if there were any Kohanim (priests) in the crowd, and asked them start. When a woman requested to join in, Rabbi Ariel said of course and emphasized that women are commanded to build the Temple as well.With the sun setting, Tzadok asked for volunteers to come back another day to help build the altar.Carrying rocks and pouring tar is a lot of work, he said.We could use a few hundred people to help.More information on the Temple Institute is available at http://www.templeinstitute.org/main.htm.

Survey: 64% want Temple rebuilt Thursday, 30 July 2009 09:48 News from Jerusalem The Western Wall in Jerusalem

About two thirds of the public want the Temple rebuilt, including about half of secular Israelis, a new survey conducted for Ynet and the Gesher organization revealed.The survey was held by the Panels Institute among 516 respondents that are a representative sample of the adult Jewish population. The margin of error was 4.3%.

Initially, the respondents were asked what happened on Tisha B'Av (Ninth of Av), and showed impressive knowledge. Ninety-seven percent responded that the Temple was destroyed, while only 2% said they did not know.The second question was whether respondents wanted to see the Temple rebuilt. Sixty-four percent responded favorably, while 36% said no. An analysis of the answers showed that not only the ultra-Orthodox and the religious look forward to the rebuilding of the Temple (100% and 97% respectively), but also the traditional public (91%) and many seculars – 47%.When asked whether it was at all justified to mark something that had happened 2,000 years ago, 80% said that it was, while 13% said only events related to the State of Israel should be commemorated.Another 7% categorically replied with a no.Here too an analysis of the answers revealed that the positions on Tisha B'Av transcended religious divisions – 74% of seculars and 100% of ultra-Orthodox responded that dates like Tisha B'Av should be commemorated.

Gesher Director General Rabbi Danny Tropper told Ynet in response to the survey results: We are a nation with a remarkable historic affinity. The Temple was destroyed 1,942 years ago, and almost two thirds of the population want to see it rebuilt, including 47% of seculars.I don't think this is a practical proposal, but it seems that Tisha B'Av really does constitute a day of meaningful memory to most of the people.ynet.

Obama like Romans who destroyed Jewish Temples,Thursday, 30 July 2009 05:09 News from Jerusalem

Marking the saddest day on the Jewish calendar, about a thousand Jewish protesters today read the biblical book of Lamentations in front of the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem to protest against the Obama administration's demand to freeze Jewish construction in eastern sections of the city.Today marks the fasting day of Tisha B'Av, or the 9th day of the Hebrew month of Av. It commemorates a series of tragedies that befell the Jewish people all on the same day, most significantly the destruction of the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem, which occurred about 656 years apart on the same day. Jewish tradition calls for the reading of Lamentations.The Obama administration is following in the footsteps of Rome. He is trying to do what the Romans did, passing anti-Jewish decrees at the time of the destruction of the Temple, Nadia Matar, the protest organizer, told WND.Matar told WND her group, Women in Green, a popular nationalist organization, decided to recite the Lamentations outside the U.S. consulate this year because the pressure of the world is once again against us, especially from Obama.Knesset Member Aryeh Eldad, who addressed the crowds at the protest, exclaimed, If Obama is ready to sacrifice Israel for his interests in the Muslim world, we are here to tell him this is against our interests. We will not commit suicide to please Obama.Speaking to WND, Eldad added, I suggested to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tonight to understand that if he will surrender to Obama's pressure he will lose his cabinet. Netanyahu must not take American dictations.Both male and female protesters sat down on a lawn across from the U.S. consulate, many brandishing Israeli flags, for the reading of Lamentations. Afterwards, the groups, protected by Israeli police, marched around Jerusalem's Old City walls, concluding the protest just adjacent to the Temple Mount.We surrounded the Old City walls like a bride goes around her groom at the marriage canopy (during a Jewish wedding) and the couple pledge allegiance to each other,Matar told WND.We are married to the land of Israel and the Temple Mount and Jerusalem, and we are not ever going to give it up,she said.

The Obama administration recently demanded Israel halt all Jewish settlement activity in eastern Jerusalem and the strategic West Bank – areas the Palestinians claim for a state. The U.S. demand includes construction for what is known as natural growth, or accommodating for growth of the existing Jewish population in the areas in question.
Israeli leaders accuse Obama of abrogating a deal made by President Bush to allow for natural growth.The deal was forged just prior to Israel's 2005 retreat from the Gaza Strip. It was confirmed by Sharon aide Dov Weissglas in 2005 and in several recently U.S. newspaper columns by Elliott Abrams, a former deputy national security adviser to Bush who reportedly negotiated the arrangement. The deal was in line with an official letter from Bush the year before stating Israel cannot be expected to withdraw from the entire West Bank and that the Jewish state would retain major settlement blocs there.Aside from the destruction of the Jewish Temples, a remarkably large number of massive calamities befell the Jewish people on Tisha B'Av. Jewish rebellion leader Bar Kokhba's famous revolt against Rome failed in 135 B.C. Following the Roman siege of Jerusalem, the razing of Jerusalem occurred the next year. The first crusade pogrom against Jews in Palestine began on that date in A.D. 1096.The Jews were expelled from Britain on Tisha B'Av in 1290 and were expelled from Spain that same day in 1492. The Warsaw Ghetto uprising was crushed by the Nazis on that day in May 1943, resulting in the slaughter of about 50,000 Jews.Nationalists here also mourn the removal of Jews from the Gaza Strip in 2005, which began the day after Tisha B'av.The book of Lamentations, written in poetic verse, mourns the desolations brought on Jerusalem and the Holy Land by the Chaldeans.wnd

Must we lose the two Temples again?
Wednesday, 29 July 2009 17:16 News from Jerusalem

Koran itself gives us evidence of destruction of the two Jewish Temples.
There is a persistent narrative by the Islamists to deny any past Jewish presence on what they call Haram al-Sharif. Like the cult centers of Mecca and Medina, they call it the Noble Sanctuary rather than the Temple Mount. The propaganda is spreading throughout the Arab world, and would deny any legitimacy to our claim to have experienced the destruction of two Temples on the site.All the evidence, the propaganda goes, is written by Jews and is therefore suspect. The claim for the building of the First Temple comes from the Book of Kings. It is a detailed description, but nothing of the structure has been found. The inscription on a little pomegranate showing it to have been part of a priestly scepter from the First Temple has recently been denounced as a later forgery. The parallels with temples in Syria are fine, but no proof that one existed in Jerusalem.What evidence is there that a Jewish Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians? There is a tablet in the British Museum that Nebuchadnezzar came to Jerusalem in his seventh year (597 BC) and captured the city, but he destroyed no temple and only set up a king of his own heart (Zedekiah). The tablet goes up to the year 594 and then stops. The following years are missing and the next tablet restarts in 556 BCE. The crucial year 586 is lost.In the Berlin Museum is a cuneiform tablet that the exiled king of Judah, Jehoiachin, was after some years restored to the emperor's table and treated with respect, but no mention of a temple, either built or destroyed. Cyrus, who conquered the Babylonians, allowed the Jews to return to Judah and recorded his decision on a cylinder, called the first Bill of Rights, now in the British Museum. But there is no mention there of a temple. The Book of Ezra mentions a restoration document, but it was written by a Jew, as were the books of the prophets that called for the rebuilding to be hastened.

As for the second destruction, the work of Herod the Great in rebuilding the Temple relies on the testimony of the Mishna and Josephus - both Jewish sources.Josephus was, of course, somewhat suspect to the Jews as well, having at one stage gone over to the Romans, but he remained a great exponent of Jewish values and deeds, and wrote a wonderful defense of the Jews in his work Contra Apion, so his testimony about the Temple is suspect in the eyes of the Islamists.But what about the great stones of the Temple compound, still visible today all around Haram al-Sharif, in the lower courses of the Western Wall and elsewhere? Only Herod could have forced men to move such megaliths. Well no, the propaganda goes, after the Romans conquered Jerusalem, they had to set up their temple to Jupiter, and thus built this vast platform as its base. The Roman builders were the equal of Herod when it came to monumental structures, just look at the temples of Baalbek. And there is nothing on the Temple Mount to indicate that a Jewish Temple ever stood there.Our own history is so ingrained in us, and our belief in the First and Second Temples so deeply inscribed in our hearts that it is difficult to think of an answer to these charges. But there are answers that don't depend on our own literature.Firstly Josephus. His account of his own period is good history. His description of contemporary buildings is borne out by archeology. He lived shortly after the death of Herod, and gives a vivid account of that ruler's ruthless personality as well as his achievements in construction. But as Josephus was not alive at the time, what were his sources? His main source was Herod's personal historian, Nicolaus of Damascus, a non-Jew who would have had no reason to invent the story of Herod rebuilding the Second Temple.Josephus mentions that there was a stone at the southwest corner of the Temple Mount from which one of the priests would blow the trumpet on Friday afternoons to announce the start of the Sabbath. That stone has been found, with the Hebrew inscription Lebeit hatekia (to the place of trumpeting). No such stone would have graced the corner of a Roman temple.Furthermore, the existence of the Second Temple is made clear from the New Testament and the stories of Jesus within the Temple complex. But then, the Islamists would say, those Christian documents were also written by Jews, maybe by Jews with a new belief in a savior, but still Jews who needed to aggrandize the miracles of their messiah in the context of his Jewish past.

So the external sources are slim, except for one piece of evidence that is hard and fast. And that is the large frieze on the Arch of Titus in Rome, showing the spoils of the Temple being carried by Jewish slaves through the Forum Romanum. The shapes of the menora and silver trumpets are clear. Trumpets appear everywhere in the Roman world, but there was no menora at that time at any place in the world except Jerusalem.Was this proof of a Temple on Haram al-Sharif? It's pretty good evidence, but perhaps not enough for the Islamists, so let's turn to their own sources. The Dome of the Rock was built during the caliphate of Abdul al-Malik and completed in 692 BC. It stands directly over the extensive rock which, by Muslim tradition, was the landing and departure point of Muhammad on his steed El-Burak during his Night Journey from Mecca. The evidence is the foot and hoof marks on the rock - a cultic relic from early days.These marks also indicate that it is from here, and to here, that God will come and go at the End of Days. As His direction of travel is not known, the Dome of the Rock was built facing the four winds of heaven. It has no focus except the central rock, and entrances on all four sides. Does the central rock indicate the presence of a Jewish Temple? Not necessarily, but the Koran itself now makes that clear.The prophet's night journey is described in Surah 17: Glory be to Him who made His servant go by night from the Sacred Temple [Mecca] to the farther Temple [Al-Aksa, Jerusalem], whose surroundings We have blessed...It goes on to say, We solemnly declared to the Israelites: Twice you shall commit great evil in the land... and We sent against you a formidable army which ravaged your land... and when the prophecy of your second transgression came to be fulfilled, We sent another army to afflict you and to enter the Temple, as the former entered it before...Thus the Koran itself gives us the evidence of the destruction of the two Temples that had stood on the site of Al-Aksa.Nothing could be clearer.The writer is a fellow of the W.F. Albright Institute of Archeological Research in Jerusalem.jpost.

ISRAEL WILL BECOME A NATION. LITERALLY IN THE SPRING.

GENESIS 12:1-3
1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram,(CHANGED TO ABRAHAM LATER) Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:(PALESTINE,ISRAEL)
2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

EZEKIEL 36:24
24 For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.

EZEKIEL 37:9-28
9 Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds,(ALL THE WORLD) O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.(COME TO LIFE)
10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.(ISRAEL WILL HAVE A POWERFUL ARMY)
11 Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.(BURNED BY HITLER)
12 Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.(THE DRY BONES COME TO LIFE IN ISRAEL)
13 And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves,
14 And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD.
15 The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
16 Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions:
17 And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.
18 And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these?
19 Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand.
20 And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes.
21 And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land:
22 And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all:
23 Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwellingplaces, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God.
24 And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them.
25 And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children’s children for ever: and my servant David shall be their prince for ever.
26 Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore.
27 My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
28 And the heathen shall know that I the LORD do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore.

MATTHEW 24:32
32 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:(ISRAEL WAS LITERALLY REBORN JUST BEFORE SUMMER,MAY 14,1948).

MARK 13:28
28 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is near:

DANIEL 9:24
24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.

ISRAEL WILL BE IN CONTROL OF JERUSALEM, THE SIGN OF THE START OF THE LAST GENERATION.

LUKE 21:24
24 And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.

ISRAEL SATAN COMES AGAINST

1 CHRONICLES 21:1
1 And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.

ISRAELS TROUBLE

JEREMIAH 30:7
7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble;(ISRAEL) but he shall be saved out of it.

DANIEL 12:1,4
1 And at that time shall Michael(ISRAELS WAR ANGEL) stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people:(ISRAEL) and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation(May 14,48) even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro,(WORLD TRAVEL,IMMIGRATION) and knowledge shall be increased.(COMPUTERS,CHIP IMPLANTS ETC)

ISRAELS INHERITED LAND IN THE FUTURE

And here are the bounderies of the land that Israel will inherit either through war or peace or God in the future. God says its Israels land and only Israels land. They will have every inch God promised them of this land in the future.
Egypt east of the Nile River, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, The southern part of Turkey and the Western Half of Iraq west of the Euphrates. Gen 13:14-15, Psm 105:9,11, Gen 15:18, Exe 23:31, Num 34:1-12, Josh 1:4.

ALL THIS LAND ISRAEL WILL DEFINATELY OWN IN THE FUTURE, ITS ISRAELS NOT ISHMAELS LAND.

12 TRIBES INHERIT LAND IN THE FUTURE

EZEKIEL 47:13-23,48:1-35
13 Thus saith the Lord GOD; This shall be the border, whereby ye shall inherit the land according to the twelve tribes of Israel: Joseph shall have two portions.
14 And ye shall inherit it, one as well as another: concerning the which I lifted up mine hand to give it unto your fathers: and this land shall fall unto you for inheritance.
15 And this shall be the border of the land toward the north side, from the great sea, the way of Hethlon, as men go to Zedad;
16 Hamath, Berothah, Sibraim, which is between the border of Damascus and the border of Hamath; Hazarhatticon, which is by the coast of Hauran.
17 And the border from the sea shall be Hazarenan, the border of Damascus, and the north northward, and the border of Hamath. And this is the north side.
18 And the east side ye shall measure from Hauran, and from Damascus, and from Gilead, and from the land of Israel by Jordan, from the border unto the east sea. And this is the east side.
19 And the south side southward, from Tamar even to the waters of strife in Kadesh, the river to the great sea. And this is the south side southward.
20 The west side also shall be the great sea from the border, till a man come over against Hamath. This is the west side.
21 So shall ye divide this land unto you according to the tribes of Israel.
22 And it shall come to pass, that ye shall divide it by lot for an inheritance unto you, and to the strangers that sojourn among you, which shall beget children among you: and they shall be unto you as born in the country among the children of Israel; they shall have inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel.
23 And it shall come to pass, that in what tribe the stranger sojourneth, there shall ye give him his inheritance, saith the Lord GOD.
1 Now these are the names of the tribes. From the north end to the coast of the way of Hethlon, as one goeth to Hamath, Hazarenan, the border of Damascus northward, to the coast of Hamath; for these are his sides east and west; a portion for Dan.
2 And by the border of Dan, from the east side unto the west side, a portion for Asher.
3 And by the border of Asher, from the east side even unto the west side, a portion for Naphtali.
4 And by the border of Naphtali, from the east side unto the west side, a portion for Manasseh.
5 And by the border of Manasseh, from the east side unto the west side, a portion for Ephraim.
6 And by the border of Ephraim, from the east side even unto the west side, a portion for Reuben.
7 And by the border of Reuben, from the east side unto the west side, a portion for Judah.
8 And by the border of Judah, from the east side unto the west side, shall be the offering which ye shall offer of five and twenty thousand reeds in breadth, and in length as one of the other parts, from the east side unto the west side: and the sanctuary shall be in the midst of it.
9 The oblation that ye shall offer unto the LORD shall be of five and twenty thousand in length, and of ten thousand in breadth.
10 And for them, even for the priests, shall be this holy oblation; toward the north five and twenty thousand in length, and toward the west ten thousand in breadth, and toward the east ten thousand in breadth, and toward the south five and twenty thousand in length: and the sanctuary of the LORD shall be in the midst thereof.
11 It shall be for the priests that are sanctified of the sons of Zadok; which have kept my charge, which went not astray when the children of Israel went astray, as the Levites went astray.
12 And this oblation of the land that is offered shall be unto them a thing most holy by the border of the Levites.
13 And over against the border of the priests the Levites shall have five and twenty thousand in length, and ten thousand in breadth: all the length shall be five and twenty thousand, and the breadth ten thousand.
14 And they shall not sell of it, neither exchange, nor alienate the firstfruits of the land: for it is holy unto the LORD.
15 And the five thousand, that are left in the breadth over against the five and twenty thousand, shall be a profane place for the city, for dwelling, and for suburbs: and the city shall be in the midst thereof.
16 And these shall be the measures thereof; the north side four thousand and five hundred, and the south side four thousand and five hundred, and on the east side four thousand and five hundred, and the west side four thousand and five hundred.
17 And the suburbs of the city shall be toward the north two hundred and fifty, and toward the south two hundred and fifty, and toward the east two hundred and fifty, and toward the west two hundred and fifty.
18 And the residue in length over against the oblation of the holy portion shall be ten thousand eastward, and ten thousand westward: and it shall be over against the oblation of the holy portion; and the increase thereof shall be for food unto them that serve the city.
19 And they that serve the city shall serve it out of all the tribes of Israel.
20 All the oblation shall be five and twenty thousand by five and twenty thousand: ye shall offer the holy oblation foursquare, with the possession of the city.
21 And the residue shall be for the prince, on the one side and on the other of the holy oblation, and of the possession of the city, over against the five and twenty thousand of the oblation toward the east border, and westward over against the five and twenty thousand toward the west border, over against the portions for the prince: and it shall be the holy oblation; and the sanctuary of the house shall be in the midst thereof.
22 Moreover from the possession of the Levites, and from the possession of the city, being in the midst of that which is the prince's, between the border of Judah and the border of Benjamin, shall be for the prince.
23 As for the rest of the tribes, from the east side unto the west side, Benjamin shall have a portion.
24 And by the border of Benjamin, from the east side unto the west side, Simeon shall have a portion.
25 And by the border of Simeon, from the east side unto the west side, Issachar a portion.
26 And by the border of Issachar, from the east side unto the west side, Zebulun a portion.
27 And by the border of Zebulun, from the east side unto the west side, Gad a portion.
28 And by the border of Gad, at the south side southward, the border shall be even from Tamar unto the waters of strife in Kadesh, and to the river toward the great sea.
29 This is the land which ye shall divide by lot unto the tribes of Israel for inheritance, and these are their portions, saith the Lord GOD.
30 And these are the goings out of the city on the north side, four thousand and five hundred measures.
31 And the gates of the city shall be after the names of the tribes of Israel: three gates northward; one gate of Reuben, one gate of Judah, one gate of Levi.
32 And at the east side four thousand and five hundred: and three gates; and one gate of Joseph, one gate of Benjamin, one gate of Dan.
33 And at the south side four thousand and five hundred measures: and three gates; one gate of Simeon, one gate of Issachar, one gate of Zebulun.
34 At the west side four thousand and five hundred, with their three gates; one gate of Gad, one gate of Asher, one gate of Naphtali.
35 It was round about eighteen thousand measures: and the name of the city from that day shall be, The LORD is there.

JESUS RETURNS TO EARTH BODILY LIKE HE LEFT

ACTS 1:10-11
10 And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;
11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

Whose Promised Land? Psalm 78:54-55 (ISRAELS)
54 And He brought them to His holy border, This mountain which His right hand had acquired.
55 He also drove out the nations before them,Allotted them an inheritance by survey, And made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents.

JESUS RETURNS TO EARTH BODILY TO RULE AND REIGN FROM DAVIDS THRONE FOREVER AND WE COME BACK WITH HIM ON WHITE HORSES.

ACTS 1:10-11
10 And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;
11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

ZECHARIAH 14:4
4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.

REVELATION 19:11-16
11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.
12 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.
13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
16 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.

JUDE 14-16
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.
16 These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage.

The Battle Over the Temple Mount Thursday, 30 July 2009 00:00 News from Jerusalem The Temple Mount Western Wall

One of the main obstacles in previous peace-making efforts has been the issue of dividing Jerusalem and control over the Temple Mount. Muslim denial of Judaism's historical and religious ties to Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, the Waqf's illegal construction there, and the violent response to Jewish activities there present an obstacle to peace-making efforts.Both Israel and the Palestinians lay claim to Jerusalem and its holy sites. Israel maintains security and legal control over the Temple Mount while the Muslim Waqf has religious, economic, administrative, and some security control there. Past negotiations have faltered on Palestinian denial of any Jewish religious or historical connection and rights to the Temple Mount. During the July 2000 negotiations at Camp David, Yasir Arafat refused to acknowledge Jewish ties to the Temple Mount, claiming the Jewish Temple never existed there. When talks resumed in Taba later that year, the Israelis agreed to full Palestinian sovereignty on the Temple Mount, but requested Palestinians acknowledge the sacredness of the Temple Mount to Judaism. They refused.According to then-foreign minister Shlomo Ben-Ami:What particularly outraged me on that occasion wasn't only the fact that they refused, but the way in which they refused: out of a kind of total contempt, an attitude of dismissiveness and arrogance. At that moment I grasped they are really not Sadat. That they were not willing to move toward our position even at the emotional and symbolic level. At the deepest level, they are not ready to recognize that we have any kind of title here. [Interview with Ari Shavit, Haaretz, Nov. 25, 2001]It is therefore useful to look back at the history of the conflict. Throughout history, Jerusalem’s stature as a Muslim holy city typically diminished during periods when it was securely under Muslim control. As Dr. Daniel Pipes has chronicled in an overview of the topic, the stature of the city, and the emotions surrounding it, inevitably rise for Muslims when Jerusalem has political significance. Conversely, when the utility of Jerusalem expires, so does its status and the passions about it.(See The Muslim Claim to Jerusalem,Middle East Quarterly, September 2001)

Since 1967, there has been a growing attempt by Palestinians to marshal the religious fervor of the Arab and Muslim world in order to wrest Jerusalem from Israeli control. As historian Dr. Yitzhak Reiter documented in a 2005 study entitled From Jerusalem to Mecca and Back: The Islamic Consolidation of Jerusalem,their campaign involves denying the Jewish connection to Jerusalem and the Temple Mount while advancing Jerusalem and particularly the al-Aqsa compound’s sacredness in contemporary Islam. It also involves reinventing history to create an Arab connection to Jerusalem predating the Jewish one. Even now, there are mounting accusations that the Muslim Waqf is deliberately destroying ancient Jewish artifacts and structures from the First Temple period under the guise of renovations on the Temple Mount in order to erase any archeological evidence of Jewish existence there.

BACKGROUND
1) The Centrality of the Temple Mount to Judaism
Jewish reverence for the Temple Mount (Har HaBayit) long predates the building of the Dome of the Rock and Al Aqsa Mosque in the 7th century CE, and even predates the construction of the first Jewish Temple (Beit HaMikdash) by King Solomon almost 2000 years earlier in 954 BCE and which was destroyed in 587 BCE.The Beit HaMikdash was built, according to Jewish tradition, on the Even Hashtiya, the foundation stone upon which the world was created. This is considered the epicenter of Judaism, where the Pine Presence (Shechina) rests, where the biblical Isaac was brought for sacrifice, where the Holy of Holies and Ark of the Covenant housing the Ten Commandments once stood, and where the Temple was again rebuilt in 515 BCE before being destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE. The Temple Mount is also known as Mount Moriah (Har HaMoriah), mentioned frequently in the Torah. Jerusalem, Judaism’s holiest city, is mentioned hundreds times in the Tanakh. It was the capital city of ancient Israeli kingdoms and home to Judaism’s holiest Temple. Jews from all over the ancient world would make pilgrimages to the Beit HaMikdash three times a year to participate in worship and festivities, as commanded in the Torah. Jerusalem and the Beit HaMikdash have remained the focus of Jewish longing, aspiration, and prayers. Daily prayers (said while facing Jerusalem and the Temple Mount) and grace after meals include multiple supplications for the restoration of Jerusalem and the Beit HaMikdash. Jews still maintain the 9th day of the Hebrew month of Av, the date on which both the First and Second Temples were destroyed, as a day of mourning. The Jewish wedding ceremony concludes with the chanting of the biblical phrase, If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its cunning,and the breaking of a glass by the groom to commemorate the destruction of the Temples. And Yom Kippur services and the Passover Seder conclude each year with the phrase Next Year in Jerusalem.The Western Wall (Kotel Hama’aravi, known simply as the Wall or Kotel) is the remnant of the outer retaining wall built by Herod to level the ground and expand the area housing the Second Jewish Temple. Its holiness derives from its proximity to the Temple site and specifically its proximity to the Western Wall of the Temple’s Holy of Holies (Kodesh Hakodashim---the inner sanctuary that housed the Ark of the Covenant–Aron HaBrit–and where the High Priest–Kohen Gadol-- alone was permitted to enter on Yom Kippur). According to Midrashic sources, the Pine Presence never departed from the Western wall of the Temple’s Holy of Holies.For the last several hundred years, Jews have prayed at Herod’s Western Wall because it was the closest accessible place to Judaism’s holiest site. According to Jewish tradition, the third and final Temple will be rebuilt with the coming of the Messiah.There is a controversy among Orthodox rabbis regarding the permissibility of entering the Temple Mount compound. Many prohibit entering the compound because of the risk that someone ritually unpure might tread on the site of the Holy of Holies whose precise location is not known. Others permit entering the Temple Mount, saying they have determined where one can stand without touching holy soil. This area includes Herod’s expansion of the Temple, such as Solomon's Stables, and the strip behind the Western Wall.

2) The Temple Mount as an Islamic Holy Site
Jerusalem assumed significance as an Islamic holy site during the rule of the Umayyads (661-750 CE). Facing challenge to his power from Ibn al-Zubayr, a rebel who controlled Mecca, the Syrian-based Caliph Abd al-Malik sought to consolidate his leadership by establishing a place of worship for his followers in Jerusalem in place of Mecca. He built the Dome of the Rock (Masjid Qubbat As-Sakhrah) in 688-91 CE on the spot where the Jewish Temples had stood.Two decades later, in 715 CE, the Umayyads built another mosque on the Temple Mount which they named the Masjid al Aqsa (The Furthest Mosque) to connote the furthest mosque alluded to in the Quran (17:1). This was the metaphorical spot from which Mohammed was said to have ascended to heaven in a vision (referred to in Arabic as the Mi’raj) after a night journey from Mecca (the Isra) on a winged steed named Al Buraq.Although the Quran never mentions Jerusalem or the Temple Mount, the designation of a concrete site to what had been until then just a figurative name provided Muslims with a new religious focus. Several Qur'anic verses were subsequently construed to be obliquely referring to Jerusalem. The Temple Mount was renamed by Muslims al Haram al Sharif, the Noble Sanctuary.Following the end of Umayyad rule in 750 CE, Muslim interest in Jerusalem faded until the Crusaders took over in the 12th century CE. Kurdish leader Saladin (Salah-al-Din ibn Ayyub) reconquered Jerusalem in 1187, re-establishing Muslim rule there and embarking on a building campaign, which continued under his descendents, the Ayyubids. During Ayyubid rule, there were periods when Jerusalem and its holy sites were ceded to the Christian Crusaders, who built churches on the Temple Mount. Perhaps in reaction to Crusader conquests, Jerusalem became established in Muslim consciousness as the third holiest city in Islam, after Mecca and Medina. Even so, worship at this holy site was followed by long periods of Muslim neglect and disinterest.The Western Wall, where Jews gathered to pray since the Ottoman conquest at the beginning of the 16th century, held little interest or significance for Muslims until the period of the British Mandate. Following the British government’s Balfour Declaration in 1917 which supported the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine, the Western Wall began to assume national as well as religious significance for Zionists and Jews began gathering there in larger numbers. The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al Husseini, used the Wall as a focal point for his anti-Zionist campaigns. He incited Muslims by proclaiming the Western Wall a holy Muslim site which Jews were trying to seize. The Western Wall, after having been ignored for centuries, was suddenly declared the spot to which Mohammed had tied his winged steed during his Night Journey. The Wall was renamed Al Buraq after the horse. (Before this point, there had been several sites mentioned as the place where Muhammed had tethered his steed, including the eastern wall and the southern wall, but never the western wall.) Muslim riots in 1929 against Jewish worshipers at the Wall were instigated by the claim that Jewish prayer endangered the mosques holy to Islam.While Jews were barred from entering and praying at their holy sites during Jordanian rule (1948-67), Jerusalem and the Temple Mount were largely ignored as important Muslim holy sites. But when Israel gained control of eastern Jerusalem and the Temple Mount in 1967, the area once again became a focal point for Muslim religious fervor and incitement. Despite the fact that Israeli authorities turned control of the Temple Mount over to the Jordanian Islamic Waqf as a gesture of peace, Muslims have followed the example set by Haj Amin al Husseini and have attempted to use the Temple Mount as a pretext to gain world support against Jewish authority over Jerusalem.

CONTROL OF THE TEMPLE MOUNT
During Jordan's 19-year occupation of eastern Jerusalem (1948- 1967), Jewish holy places were desecrated, vandalized and destroyed. Jews were denied access to their holy sites (including the Western Wall and Temple Mount area) in violation of Article 8 of the 1949 Israeli-Jordanian Armistice Agreement. Christian churches were prohibited from buying property in Jerusalem and Christian religious organizations were restricted from owning property near Holy places. (For more details see: Backgrounder: History of Jerusalem)Upon Israel's 1967 capture of eastern Jerusalem containing Judaism's holiest sites, Israeli Minister of Defense Moshe Dayan immediately ordered soldiers to remove an Israeli flag that had been raised over the Temple Mount. He declared:To our Arab neighbors we extend the hand of peace. To members of the other religions, Christians and Muslims, I hereby promise faithfully that their full freedom and all their religious rights will be preserved. We did not come to Jerusalem to conquer the Holy Places of others. (Meron Benvenisti, Jerusalem: The Torn City, Isratypeset, Jerusalem, 1976) Handing administrative control over the Temple Mount to Jordan's Islamic Waqf, Dayan banned Jews from holding prayer services there. Israel, however, retained sovereignty and security control of the area.Israel promised to continue the Hashemite Kingdom's special status administering Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem. But following the Oslo II Agreements in 1994, Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat attempted to replace the Jordanian Waqf's authority over the Temple Mount. He appointed Sheikh Ikrima Sabri as Mufti of Jerusalem and Hassan Tahboub as Minister of the Waqf and Religious Affairs, overshadowing the Jordanian-appointed head of the Islamic Waqf, Adnan Husseini.. Although Husseini was not dismissed from his post, his position became less relevant, and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan thus effectively lost administrative and religious control of the Waqf to the Arafat's Palestinian Authority.In 2004, the Jordanians began to reassert their control over the Jerusalem Waqf. In July 2006, Sheikh Ikrima Sabri who was aligning himself more and more with the radical Israeli-Arab was replaced by Sheikh Mohammad Hussein as Grand Mufti of Jerusalem. In March 2007, Sheikh Azzam Khatib al Tamimi became head of the Jerusalem Islamic Waqf.

REWRITING HISTORY: ERASING THE JEWISH CONNECTION TO HOLY SITES AND CREATING A FICTITIOUS ARAB HISTORY

In 1930, the Supreme Moslem Council published an English-language tourist guide to the Temple Mount entitled A Brief Guide to al-Haram al-Sharif,which stated:The site is one of the oldest in the world. Its sanctity dates from the earliest times. Its identity with the site of Solomon's Temple is beyond dispute. This, too, is the spot, according to universal belief, on which David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. But Muslim acknowledgement of a Jewish historic bond to this holy site changed following Israel’s victory in the 1967 war, when Jerusalem came under Israel’s control. Palestinian and Muslim leaders began to alter their line. While the stories they recount differ from one to another, they are consistent in their attempt to erase the Jewish connection to the Temple Mount, Jerusalem, and indeed all of Israel. Below are examples of statements by Palestinian political and religious leaders and academics as well as other Arab and Muslim leaders denying the Jewish connection to Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, especially during negotiations over Jerusalem and its holy sites.

1) Palestinian Political Leaders-Yasir Arafat

Ambassador Dennis Ross, who shaped U.S. involvement in the Middle East peace process as Special Middle East Coordinator and who presided over President Clinton's failed Israeli-Palestinian peace summit at Camp David in 2000, reported that Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat raised only one idea at the Camp David talks – namely, to deny the core of the Jewish faith by claiming that the Temple had never existed in Jerusalem, but in Nablus.Arafat feared acknowledging the existence of a Jewish connection. He told Clinton I am a religious man, and I will not allow it to be written of me [in history] that I have… confirmed the existence of the so-called temple underneath the mountain.{Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, August 12, 2000, Translation: MEMRI )Later, in an Oct. 5, 2002 interview with London’s Al Hayat, he went even further in his denial of Jewish history, changing the story once more. He alleged not only that the Jewish Temple never existed in Jerusalem, but that it had never existed in any of Palestine:For 34 years they [Jews] have dug tunnels, the most dangerous of which is the great tunnel. They found not a single stone proving that the Temple of Solomon was there, because historically the Temple was not in Palestine [at all]. They found only remnants of a shrine of the Roman Herod. (Translation: MEMRI)

Mahmoud Abbas

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, bolstered by the West as a moderate, similarly denies that a Jewish Temple existed on the Temple Mount. He was quoted as saying:
Anyone who wants to forget the past [the Israelis] cannot come and claim that the [Jewish] temple is situated beneath the Haram. They demand that we forget what happened 50 years ago to the refugees – and I speak as a living, breathing refugee – while at the same time they claim that 2000 years ago they had a temple. I challenge the assertion that this is so [that there has ever been a Jewish Temple}. But even if it is so, we do not accept it, because it is not logical for someone who wants a practical peace. (Kul Al-Arab (Israel), August 25, 2000; Translation: MEMRI)

Nabil Sha’ath

Other Palestinian political leaders have followed suit. For example, Nabil Sha’ath of the Palestinian Legislative Council and senior advisor to President Mahmoud Abbas who previously was chief negotiator in Israeli-Palestinian talks labels the Jewish temple as fictitious.He said:[The Israelis] are insisting on sovereignty over the Al-Aqsa mosque on the pretext that an Israeli Temple is buried beneath it and that, through their continued sovereignty, they can one day unearth it…Their claim was not substantiated by the excavations they carried out around and under the mosque. [Voice of Palestine Radio Station, July 26, 2000] Israel demands control of the Temple Mount based on its claim that its fictitious temple stood there. (Al-Ayyam, July 27, 2000).

Walid Awad

Walid Awad, foreign press spokesman for the Fatah Central Media Commission and formerly director of foreign publications for the PLO's Ministry of Information, stated an interview with IMRA on Dec. 25, 1996:There is no tangible evidence of Jewish existence from the so-called Temple Mount Era. . . . The location of the Temple Mount is in question. . . . It might be in Jericho or somewhere else. In an online article Jerusalem, A City Crying Out For Justice put out by Awad as the director of foreign publications for the PA Ministry of Information (the PA Web site is no longer available), Awad accuses Israel of falsifying history and archeology after 1967 in order to create a Jewish connection to Jerusalem:Immediately after Israeli soldiers occupied Arab East Jerusalem back in 1967, the Hebrew University, the Israeli Ministry of Religious Affairs, and the Department of Antiquities collectively and inPidually began a massive excavation campaign in Arab East Jerusalem in a bid to find allocate traces of Jewish existence from the so called Temple Mount Era.The fact of the matter is that almost thirty years of excavations did not reveal anything Jewish, no tangible evidence of theirs was unearthed. Much to their chagrin, what surfaced from their underground excavations turned out to be more Muslim palaces, courts and mosques. Other excavations revealed archeological ruins belonging to the Romans, Greeks and Canaanites.To give credibility to these claims, and to translate the ingenious falsified historical accounts of the city in order for them to obtain worldwide authenticity, they[Israeli archeologists and authorities] decided to manipulate connect the history of Jerusalem as they want it to be seen by the world, and to present it in a way acceptable to contemporary thinking of everyday people.Jerusalem is not a Jewish city, despite the biblical myth implanted in some minds. Nothing tangible has been found to give credibility to these claims.

2) Palestinian Religious Leaders,Sheikh Ikrima Sabri, previous Mufti of Jerusalem.
Ikrima Sabri, until recently the Palestinian Authority-appointed mufti of Jerusalem and the highest ranking Islamic clerical authority in the PA, insists Jews have no connection to any part of the Temple Mount, including the Western Wall. In 1997, he proclaimed:The Al-Buraq Wall [Western Wall] and its plaza are a Muslim religious property, and the Israeli government’s decisions do not affect it…The Al-Buraq Wall is part of the Al Aqsa Mosque. The Jews have no relation to it. (Al Ayam, Nov. 22, 1997)

In 2000, he reiterated this in an Israeli-Arab weekly::

No stone of the Al-Buraq [the Western] Wall has any relation to Judaism. [Kul Al-Arab, August 18, 2000]And a few months later, he gave an interview to a German daily in which he again asserted:There is not [even] the smallest indication of the existence of a Jewish Temple on this place in the past. In the whole city, there is not even a single stone indicating Jewish history... The Jews cannot legitimately claim [the Western] wall, neither religiously nor historically. The Committee of the League of Nations recommended in 1930, to allow the Jews to pray there, in order to keep them quiet. But by no means did it acknowledge that the wall belongs to them. [Die Welt, January 17, 2001]In 2002, Sabri wrote a booklet, entitled Palestine – the Human Factor and the Land which was published in Egypt in August 2002. In it, he used as evidence the anti-Semitic forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion to support his allegation that the Jews have for centuries been secretly plotting to take over Palestine. He denied any Jewish historic connection and right to the land, labelling the Jewish Temple built by Solomon as imaginary.

Tayseer Tamimi, Chief Religious Justice of the PA

The Palestinian Authority's chief religious official, Tayseer Tamimi frequently speaks at public events and on Palestinian TV. In a televised interview on June 9, 2009, he demonized Jews, denying Jewish heritage and ties to Jerusalem and the Temple Mount.I know of Muslim and Christian holy sites in [Jerusalem]. I don't know of any Jewish holy sites in it... Israel has been excavating since 1967 in search of remains of their Temple or their fictitious Jewish history. Reversing history and turning truth on its head, he accused Jews of falsely converting the Al Buraq wall into a Jewish site.When the Prophet [Muhammad] entered Jerusalem, after landing with his riding animal in the Night Journey from Mecca to Jerusalem, he tied it to the western wall, which is known today [by Muslims] as the al-Buraq Wall, and which the Jews usurped by falsification and deception [saying it is the Western Wall of the Temple].

He made absurd allegations about Jewish scientific attempts to destroy Arab holy sites:The [Israeli] excavations' purpose is to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque. In fact, its foundations have been removed. Chemical acids were injected into the rocks to dissolve them. The soil and the pillars [were moved] so the mosque is hanging in midair. There is an Israeli plan to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque and to build the Temple.

3) Palestinian Academics

Palestinian academics, using their credentials to lend weight to their claims–often on Palestinian educational TV– have frequently denied the Jewish historical connection to the land, replacing it with a fictitious Arab connection. According to them, the Bible has no historical veracity. Palestinians, they claim, are the direct descendents of Canaanites, while Jews, they say, are descendents of Khazars who have no claim to the land.Dr. Issam Sissalem, Professor of Middle Eastern History at the Islamic University of Gaza, frequently appears on PA television, denying any Jewish connection to the Temple Mount, Jerusalem and the Land of Israel.

About Solomon’s Temple, he asserts:This is the biggest lie in history by those liars. (PA TV, Oct. 8, 2001)There is no historical text that proves the existence [of Solomon’s Temple] or that it has a real history other than the Bible, and the Bible as we have previously mentioned… was written based on ancient legends. (PA TV, Aug. 2, 2004)

And about the Western Wall, he claims:

That's the place where Muhammad went to Heaven and is part of Al-Aqsa Mosque. The Zionist enemy falsely claims that this wall is part of the so-called temple. This is a deceitful lie. {PA TV, Oct. 8, 2001)In fact, Sissalem attempts to erase all Jewish connection to the Land of Israel:As I've already said, the ancient Hebrews were destroyed. Utterly decimated. Actually, they were foreigners in this land. They were primitive Bedouin from the Arabian Desert. This land is ours. Jerusalem, and every one of her stones, are ours. {PA TV, Oct. 8, 2001)I want to point out that we should not focus much on what is called the [Biblical] Hebrew tribes, who are in fact Bedouin – Arab tribes. There is no connection between them and these Khazar Jews [of Israel today]. (Aug. 2, 2004)The Jews lived in isolated areas, in ghettos in Poland and in Russia. They were the remains of the Khazars with no connection to our land or its history ... (PA TV, Nov. 21, 2004)

Historian and former Arafat advisor Jarar al Qidwa makes similar assertions:

Solomon’s Temple, I believe, was built by the Canaanites who were the neighbors of the Israelis, the Israelites... I want to state several words clearly: the Bible became an archival document, not representing what the Israelis and the first Jews were, but what they thought they were, what they imagined. The Temple is the fruit of their imagination. In any case, when our nation or our Canaanite forefathers came to Palestine, they built the Temple… a temple in Jerusalem.The issue of the temple is a Zionist innovation. No one said that the temple that was built in Jerusalem, neither the Canaanite nor Roman, no one said that it was in the place of the [Islamic] Al Haram.(PA TV, Aug. 2, 2004)

4) Other Arab and Muslim Claims
The attempt to erase the Jewish connection to Israel is not limited to the Palestinians. The extent to which this denial has caught on in the Arab and Muslim world was revealed in Yitzhak Reiter’s study (in Hebrew) which was based on thousands of Islamic legal rulings, proclamations and writings that he found at the Cairo book fair, Arabic websites and Islamic bookshops. (Ha’aretz columnist Nadav Shragai summarized some of Reiter’s findings in a November 27, 2005 column entitled In the beginning was Al-Aqsa.)

Below are just a few of many examples since 1967:

On December 30, 1973, King Feisal of Saudi Arabia proclaimed on Radio Riyadh

The Jews have no connection whatsoever with Jerusalem and have no sacraments there. They cliam that the Temple of Solomon is there...The Temple of Solomon does not exist in Jerusalem...Therefore the Jews have no connection or right to have any presence in Jerusalem, or any authority there.Saudi historian Muhammed Hassan Sharab declares that the Quranic Al Aqsa mosque encompasses the entire Temple Mount compound including the Western Wall and that the Temple of Solomon was never located there.

Egyptian archaeologist Abed al-Rahim Rihan Barakat, Director of Antiquities in the Dahab area of Sinai. Barakat asserts:The legend about the Jewish temple is the greatest historic crime of forgery. University of Cairo lecturer and one-time TV host Abed al-Tuwab Mustafa claims that there is no basis for the Jewish claim of a holy Temple on Mount Moriah.Lebanese historian Kamal Salibi, Professor Emeritus at the American University of Beirut theorizes that ancient Israelites never inhabited Palestine and that biblical events occurred, not in Palestine but in southwestern Arabia, between Mecca and Yemen. He expounds upon this theory in a1985 book, The Bible Came from Arabia, basing his claims on the fact that many places in Arabia bear biblical names.In the U.S., Nadia Abu El Haj, an assistant professor of Anthropology at Barnard College who is currently up for tenure, wrote a book alleging that Israeli archeology is compromised by nationalist political motives to substantiate the nation’s origin myth. Although she has no archeological expertise herself, she dismisses the vast archeological evidence supporting historical and biblical accounts of the long Jewish presence in Israel as having been manipulated in order to produce evidence for an Israelite connection to the land.

5) Claims that Al Aqsa Mosque was built by Adam
In recent years, differing new claims have arisen as to who built the Al Aqsa mosque. Almost all these claims predate Solomon’s construction of the First Jewish Temple in 954 BCE. But the allegation gaining the most currency among Muslims is that this mosque was built by Adam. Abdullah Marouf, a former Media and Public Relations Officer of the al-Aqsa mosque now runs a Web site (http://www.ouraqsa.com/english/) devoted to the Al Aqsa mosque providing English readers with the rewritten history of the structure:The first building of al-Aqsa mosque was done by Prophet Adam (PBUH), then it has been renovated and rebuilt many times, one of them was by Prophet Sulayman (Solomon) (PBUH), but his building of al-Aqsa was only a renovation of the mosque, not a first-time building. Therefore, we cannot say that Prophet Sulayman was the one who BUILT al-Aqsa mosque, but we can say that he (PBUH) RENOVATED or REBUILT the mosque.Western journalists must find it difficult to understand an Arab revisionist history that rejects and denies basic truths accepted in the Judeo-Christian tradition. And so they tend to dismiss or ignore it. But understanding Arab denial of Judaism's foundation and therefore Israel's right to exist is essential to understanding the entire Arab-Israeli peace process.

THE WAQF'S ATTEMPT TO CHANGE THE STATUS QUO
In 1967, Israel passed the Protection of Holy Places Law, granting special legal status to the Holy Sites and making it a criminal offence to desecrate or violate, or impede freedom of access to them.Other laws mandated prior agreement from the Ministry of Religious Affairs or Ministry of Education and Culture in order to carry out excavations in or near a holy site. A 1978 Antiquities Law stipulates that where such a site is used for religious reasons, paving, quarrying, and interment and other actions can only be carried out with the written agreement of the Director of the Department of Antiquities.The Muslim Waqf, however, consistently refuses to recognize Israeli sovereignty or the laws governing holy sites. Attempting to change the status quo of the Temple Mount, the Waqf has repeatedly flouted these laws with excavations and construction of new mosques. Many believe that under the guise of renovations on the Temple Mount, the Waqf is deliberately destroying archeological evidence of the site's Jewish history.In the 1970's, the Waqf illegally dug a trench for utility lines without archeological supervision. This excavation exposed a 16-foot-long, six-foot-thick wall believed to have been part of the Herodian Temple complex. The wall was dismantled and covered up.A 1983 article and editorial in Biblical Archeology Review accused the Waqf of concealing evidence of the First (Solomonic) and Second Temples with dirt, plantings and paving. The editorial demanded that qualified archeologists be given access to survey the Temple Mount site and called upon Muslim and Jewish archeologists to cooperate in preserving archeological remains there. The journal published before and after pictures of the archeological damage..The Israeli authorities repeatedly failed to enforce the antiquity laws or to stop the Waqf's unauthorized excavations because they felt it would be harmful to Arab-Israeli relations. This prompted a lawsuit against both the Waqf and Israeli authorities by The Temple Mount Faithful,an Israeli group seeking to rebuild a third Jewish temple on the site of the First and Second Temples. The Supreme Court ruled that the Waqf had indeed violated Israel's antiquities laws on 35 occasions, causing irreparable damage or destruction to antiquities, but refused to intervene because of political sensitivities and the understanding that the laws would be enforced appropriately in the future.

But in 1996, the Waqf embarked on the conversion of the area under the southeastern corner of the Temple Mount — Solomon's Stables and the eastern Hulda Gate — into what was to be the largest mosque in the country with a capacity of 7-10,000. Calling it the Marwani mosque, the Waqf claimed that this was simply a renovation of a pre-existing mosque, although archeologists stated that there was no evidence for this. Operating without any archeological oversight and with no permits, the Waqf surreptitiously brought in heavy machinery and proceeded to construct, prompting the Jerusalem municipality to obtain a court order to halt the unsupervised building. This became highly politicized when Palestinians reacted with violent riots to Israel's attempt to open a second exit from the Hasmonean tunnels (see below). Not wanting to escalate the situation, Israel's Labor government allowed the Waqf to complete its work and open the mosque.Over the next few years, the Waqf continued with its unilateral, unapproved construction and inaugerated a new mosque, called al Aqsa al Qadima. This incorporated the western Hulda gate double passageway — the only complete passageway remaining from the time of the Second Temple.In 1999, after receiving approval to open an emergency exit in the Marwani mosque, the Waqf used bulldozers to expand the Solomon's Stable mosque and excavate a massive opening (18,000 square feet by 36 feet) . As Ha'aretz columnist Nadav Shragai wrote, For the first time since 1967, a fleet of dozens of bulldozers and trucks was put to work on the Temple Mount, and 6,000 tons of earth from the Mount was dug up and removed. Workers dumped this rubble in the Kidron Valley. Amir Drori, director of the Antiquities Authority at the time, called it an archeological crime and Attorney General Elyakim Rubenstein denounced it as an assault on Jewish history. (See Media Mute on the Temple Mount Desecrations)Archeologists claimed that important artifacts from the First and Second Temples were found in this rubble, and in 2004, a project to sift the dumped material was initiated. Funded by the City of David Foundation and directed by Professor Gabriel Barkai and Tzachi Zweig, archeologists and volunteers have uncovered thousands of rare and important artifacts from the First and Second Temple periods, as well as from Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman and Early Arab periods, among them a rare bulla dating from the First Temple period.The Waqf cut off all access to the Israeli Antiquities Authority from the Temple Mount in 2000. In response to the continued unauthorized construction work by the Waqf on the Temple Mount, a non-political, volunteer committee was formed to take action. Called The Committee for the Prevention of Destruction of Antiquities on the Temple Mount, (CPDATM) it included prominent archeologists, judges, lawyers, literary and other public figures from across the Israeli political spectrum.. They called upon the Prime Minister to order the immediate halt to the illegal, unsupervised construction by the Waqf on the Temple Mount – work which, they claimed, was causing grave harm to archeology. The Waqf was accused of large-scale construction over an area of thousands of square meters, using heavy machinery, paving over extensive areas, and removing earth rich in archeological findings. The Shin Bet also warned the prime minister of Waqf plans to open additional mosques on the Temple Mount.Despite the Waqf's banning of archeologists, journalists and government officials from entering the area, aerial photographs and undercover reports and films provided a picture of what was happening . A letter by the CPDATM to then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon includes details of the damage and destruction by the Waqf. Despite numerous legal petitions by CPDATM and other groups to halt the Waqf's illegal construction, but the Supreme Court continued in its refusal to intervene.Again in the summer of 2007, the Waqf began to dig a deep trench to replace old electric cables. Although Israeli police and the antiquities Antiquities Authority approved the excavation, heavy tractors were used. The CPDATM protested the use of heavy equipment and the lack of careful archaeological supervision but the work went on, apparently damaging what was later found to be structures dating to the First and Second Temples.Ha'aretz columnist Nadav Shragai has written about the lack of supervision over the Waqf's illegal building. He points out that both the Israel Antiquities Authority and the municipal licensing and inspection department have been denied access to the Temple Mount and information about what happens there. Moreover, there appears to be a deliberate interference by police and whoever is in charge to prevent information from reaching the antiquities authority. ( See The Latest Damage to Antiquities on the Temple Mount by Nadav Shragai.)

By contrast, an attempt in 1981 by the rabbi of the Western Wall, Yehuda Meir Getz, to secretly reopen an ancient sealed gate and manually excavate an existent tunnel carved into the rock under the Temple Mount (believed to lead to the Holy of Holies and possibly the original lost Ark of the Covenant) was halted by the Israeli government, which ordered the opening sealed with reinforced concrete. (See Raiders of the Lost Ark by Nadav Shragai)The reluctance to enforce Israel's laws protecting antiquities and evidence of its Jewish heritage is rooted in the desire to prevent Arab violence and rioting.

CALLS TO JIHAD IN DEFENSE OF MUSLIM HOLY SITES
Even while they attempt to change the status quo of the Temple Mount, Muslim leaders oppose any Jewish effort to visit, investigate, excavate, repair, or renovate the area. From the 1920's onward, Arab leaders have repeatedly incited anti-Jewish violence and jihad in the name of defending Muslim holy sites, a pretense for jihad in the name of Islam.In September 1928, a small group of Jews erected a mechitza (a divider to separate men and women during prayers) for Yom Kippur prayers at the Western Wall. The British forcibly dismantled the diviider, but Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin al Husseini used this incident as a pretext to incite Muslims. He accused the Jews of attempting to seize Muslim holy sites, including the al Aqsa Mosque.A virulent propaganda campaign calling for jihad against the Jews resulted in the frequent beating and stoning of Jews worshipping at the Wall and culminated in widespread, murderous riots across Palestine in August 1929. Defend the Holy Places became the battle cry.During Jordan's occupation of Jerusalem, Jews were unable to even reach their holy sites. After Israel gained control of the Temple Mount, Judaism's holiest site, large-scale archaeological expeditions near the Western Wall area were begun by Professor Benjamin Mazar, followed by additional excavations by Meir Ben Dov and Dan Bahat. They uncovered layers of history over 2000 years — from the First Temple period to Ottoman times– which were preserved and displayed. Despite the valuable historical finds — several of them Muslim, they were met by resistance and often violent efforts to obstruct Israeli excavations under the guise of Israeli aggression toward Muslim holy sites.An ongoing tunnel project to explore the length of the Western Wall under the supervision of Ben Dov and Bahat exposed the Herodian walls and a complex of subterranean vaulted spaces that extend along it along with dramatic archeological finds — a Herodian promenade alongside the Mount, cisterns, ancient masonry, Muslim construction, and an ancient Hasmonean aqueduct. The aqueduct, which had been discovered in the previous century by British archeologists, was re-excavated in 1987, connecting to the already completed 500-meter tunnel excavation to reveal the length of the Western Wall. Called the Western Wall Tunnels, the area was open to the public in 1987. Over the next nine years, several attempts were made by Israel's Religious Affairs Ministry to open a second exit at the north end of the Hasmonean aqueduct/tunnel at the ground level near (but not within) the Temple Mount so that visitors would not have to retrace their steps through the narrow tunnel. These attempts were met by riots incited by Waqf leaders who called upon Arabs to defend their holy sites, falsely claiming that the Jews were trying to undermine Muslim shrines.In 1993, Israeli authorities started to construct an exit tunnel and staircase from the Hasmonean tunnel that exited on the Via Dolorosa — a considerable distance (more than 200 meters) from the Al Aqsa Mosque. Approval was given by the Netanyahu government to open this exit on September 24, 1996. Israel had negotiated with the Waqf, accepting limited Muslim worship in Solomon's Stables in exchange for Waqf acceptance of the new doorway. Nevertheless, Palestinian reaction was swift and violent, with Waqf members joining in.PA leader Yasir Arafat called upon Palestinians to protest this big crime against our religious and holy places. Palestinian Council member Saeb Erekat fabricated on television that the Israelis... announced that they will open this tunnel in order to build ... a new temple now in the place of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.The Palestinian Authority orchestrated violent protests, reminiscent of those in 1929. For the first time, PA police fired upon Israeli soldiers. Hundreds of people — both Israeli and Palestinian were killed or wounded. (See The Media's Tunnel Vision 1 and The Media's Tunnel Vision 2)When Knesset member Ariel Sharon visited the Temple Mount (but none of the mosques there) in September 2000, Arafat used it as a pretext to launch a violent and bloody intifada against Israel that lasted for years and in which thousands were killed or maimed.

In 2004, the Mughrabi ramp — leading from the Western Wall Plaza to the Mughrabi Gate (built over an ancient Temple gate, and the only one from which non-Muslims are permitted to enter the Temple Mount) — partially collapsed during a storm. After extensive deliberations, Israel's Antiquities Authority decided to build a temporary bridge, remove the ramp in a careful salvage excavation and replace it with a new access route. The temporary bridge was built at the end of 2005, and after an additional year of deliberations, the permit for the new construction was finally issued. The guidelines for the construction of the new bridge required that special care and attention be given not to harm religious sensitivities, the holy places, or other religious interests.The Antiquities Authority prohibits excavation on the Temple Mount itself and so the work was to be done more than 60 meters away. The Waqf was duly informed of the plans. But when the excavation and construction finally began in February 2007, Muslim leaders incited Palestinian riots with their time-proven battle cry Defend the Holy Places, charging that the excavations were being carried out in order to damage the Al Aqsa Mosque. They threatened a new intifada, while Palestinian terrorist groups vowed to respond by carrying out attacks within Israel. In the face of Palestinian violence, some Israeli officials and archeologists called for a halt in the construction. International protests followed and the construction was suspended.The battle over Jerusalem and the Temple Mount is an ongoing one and the most important issue confronting Arab and Israeli peacemakers. A thorough understanding of the forces at work is thus essential.camera

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.

Heavy rains flood Shanghai: state media Thu Jul 30, 1:19 pm ET

BEIJING (AFP) – The heaviest rains in 70 years lashed Shanghai Thursday, flooding 3,000 homes and leaving nearly 2,000 travellers stranded at the city's airports, state media reported.Between 80 to 140 millimetres (three to 5.5 inches) fell in most areas of China's largest city, official news agency Xinhua reported, adding that vehicles had been damaged by falling branches. No casualties were reported.More than 500 workers were deployed to clear the water, which was up to 30 centimetres deep on city roads, the report said.The weather delayed scores of flights to and from Shanghai's Pudong and Hongqiao airports, Xinhua said, stranding thousands of passengers.Torrential downpours have struck various parts of China during the annual summer rainy season.Earlier this month Xinhua reported that the heavy rains had displaced more than 100,000 people in Sichuan province in the southwest.

Mild season in Tornado Alley frustrates scientists By MELANIE S. WELTE, Associated Press Writer – Thu Jul 30, 3:35 pm ET

DES MOINES, Iowa – This has been an unusually mild year in Tornado Alley, which is good news, of course, for the people who live here, but a little frustrating to scientists who planned to chase twisters as part of a $10 million research project.

You're out there to do the experiment and you're geared up every day and ready. And when there isn't anything happening, that is frustrating,said Don Burgess, a scientist at the University of Oklahoma. But he was quick to add that he is pleased the relative quiet has meant fewer injuries and less damage.Nationwide, there were 826 tornadoes this year through June 30, compared with an average of 934 for the same period during the previous three years, according to the National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman, Okla. Most twisters strike in Tornado Alley, which generally extends from Texas and Oklahoma to Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa and Minnesota.During a remarkable 17-day lull from mid-May through early June, there were no tornado watches issued anywhere in the United States. And that is typically the height of the season in Tornado Alley.It was very, very unusual,said Joe Schaefer, director of the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, which, like the Severe Storms lab, operates under the National Weather Service.Meteorologists are attributing the relative calm not to anything dire, like global warming, but to the shifts in the jet stream that happen from time to time. When the jet stream runs south to north in the spring over the central states, there are usually plenty of tornadoes. When it's more west to east, as it is this year, tornadoes are less common.The serenity has proved exasperating for people like Burgess and other researchers working on Vortex2, a project funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to study tornadoes in May and June. Except for one twister in Wyoming, the researchers were left with little to examine.The relative calm follows a horrific 2008, when 1,304 tornadoes and 121 deaths were recorded by the end of June. In all of last year, there were 1,691 tornadoes and 126 deaths.

Organizers of Vortex2 had hoped that a close-up look at killer storms this year by more than 100 scientists and assistants from various universities and the government would help them forecast storms more accurately and increase warning times.There weren't any tornadoes to find,said Harold Brooks, a research meteorologist with the Severe Storms Laboratory.And when tornadoes did form, only a couple of funnel clouds would appear at a time, not the dozens that can materialize.No long tracks, massive killer tornadoes,Schaefer said.They've been coming in onesies and twosies.Even in this quiet year, there have been devastating storms. The worst tornado hit the night of Feb. 10 in Lone Grove, Okla., killing eight people in a mobile home park. Also in February, one person died when a twister destroyed a church and mobile homes in Hickory Grove, Ga. Through the end of June, tornadoes had killed 21 people nationwide.

If we get rid of the February outbreak, it's been a fairly good year,Schaefer said.
Southern states see most of the winter tornadoes. But in the spring and early summer, the focus shifts to the nation's midsection. The area is particularly fertile for tornadoes then because of hot, dry air from the west colliding with moist air that flows up from the Gulf of Mexico.In Tornado Alley, the storms often hit in late afternoon and early evening.If you've lived here long enough, you just kind of know what to look for, how the weather acts, said Jim Bruggeman, who lives in the Iowa town of Templeton.If it's really hot and humid, you know you are going to get a storm of some sort.Emergency sirens are scattered through most communities in the Midwest, and people keep water, canned food and a battery-powered radio in the basement, along with books and games to pass the time while waiting for the all-clear. Bruggeman and others said the lull in twisters is not making people blase and causing them to let down their guard. If you've lived here long enough, you go with the flow, and if it happens, we just do our thing. Everybody knows what to do, he said. Harry Hillaker, Iowa state climatologist, said it is difficult to say where this year in Tornado Alley ranks in the record books and whether anything like the 17-day lull has happened before. He said tornado reporting has improved so much in recent years, especially with the adoption of Doppler radar by the National Weather Service in the 1990s, that comparing current totals and figures from decades ago is an apples-to-oranges exercise.Organizers of Vortex2, or Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment, note that it is two-year project and said they will give it another try next spring.Betty Michels, whose house in St. Peter, Minn., was destroyed by a storm in 1998, said the lesson from that disaster is not to take chances. She said she doesn't recall the sirens going off at all this year, but if they do sound, she intends to head for the basement. Of course, she'd love it if tornadoes stayed away all summer.Oh, that'd be nice,she said.Associated Press writer Amy Lorentzen contributed to this report.

MEDIA GET U READY FOR FORCED VACCINES ON U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtGofsHaj3M&feature=player_embedded

The Alex Jones Show – L I V E – July 30th With Dr. Sherri Tenpenny -Alex talks with Dr. Sherri Tenpenny, one of the country’s most knowledgeable and outspoken physicians regarding the impact of vaccines on health. Additional guests include Bob Coen and Eric Nadler, producers of Anthrax-War, a provocative new investigative documentary covering today’s secret and dangerous world of germ weapons and the international biological warfare mafia,now available at the Infowars store. MEDIUM QUALITY FREE MP3 FILE: http://rss.nfowars.net/20090730_Thu_Alex.mp3

FEMA report detailing Palmer, TX population removal section missing
Joey G. Dauben Ellis County Observer Friday, July 31, 2009

PALMER, Texas – The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s reports of how to mitigate potential civil uprisings and disasters have sections dealing with the mass relocation and confinement of citizen populations: except in Palmer, a city 20 miles south of Dallas.The City of Palmer and the Palmer Police Dept., according to a former reporter for conservative weekly The Ellis County Press who requested the FEMA documents for three months, have the federal plans but the section instituting population relocations came up missing.I have already talked to [Palmer PD Chief Mike Zaidle] about FEMA in Palmer the section of the emergency management plan regarding moving people into camps is totally gone from the 3 inch binder, said Brandy Owen, the former reporter who penned a series of articles on the Trans Texas Corridor last year.There is a chapter or [section in] it but the section is gone from the plan.He [Zaidle] is quite aware of federalization and says he has tried to be compliant and make proper arrangements for housing people in the high school gymnasium and other places,she said.FEMA always tells him his plans are inadequate.Recently, plans were announced by the Ellis County Sheriff’s Office to team up with local church pastors for a safety seminar.Some critics of the federal government plans involving local police agencies and churches cite FEMA’s attempt to quell dissent and facilitate the confiscation of guns from private citizens.A shocking KSLA [Shreveport, La.] news report has confirmed the story we first broke last year, that Clergy Response Teams are being trained by the federal government to quell dissent and pacify citizens to obey the government in the event of a declaration of martial law,Paul Joseph Watson reported two years ago for Austin-based website Infowars.com.In May 2006, we exposed the existence of a nationwide FEMA program which is training pastors and other religious representatives to become secret police enforcers who teach their congregations to obey the government in preparation for the implementation of martial law, property and firearm seizures, mass vaccination programs and forced relocation.

A whistleblower who was secretly enrolled into the program told us that the feds were clandestinely recruiting religious leaders to help implement Homeland Security directives in anticipation of a a potential bio-terrorist attack, any natural disaster or a nationally declared emergency.When she first approached the City of Palmer, Owen said Mayor Lance Anglin fielded requests to City Administrator Doug Young.For three months I asked and checked back in with Palmer City Hall,she said.
Mayor [Anglin] turned all of his emergency plan responsibility to Young. Lots of sections are missing but specifically relocation of people.

Hate Crimes and Free Speech – The Silence Is Deafening
Chris Clancy Lew Rockwell.com Friday, July 31, 2009

My last essay on hate crimes stimulated a lot of interest. I expected to get agreement from most and a good mauling from the rest. This was not what happened.Not one of the emails I received was in favour of this legislation – not one. What I clearly detected were feelings of frustration and impotence. There’s a silent majority out there and it’s massive. Is this not a classic example of the old adage about hard cases and bad laws (i.e. minority groups and hate crime legislation)? It is sometimes said that hard cases make bad law because logic is often shortcut in a hard case, and later attempts to justify the new law thus created often compound the original inadequacy of reasoning.Answers.com

And so say all of us! Who have been the beneficiaries of this legislation? It’s not that easy to say since there’s little or no discussion. This leaves us in the realms of speculation about fact and perception. But somebody, somewhere, must be doing well out of it? Here’s my suggestion.How about those who cynically use the legislation for their own advancement – those who see a gravy train and ride it for all it’s worth – those who couldn’t give a damn about equality of opportunity or tolerance – those who almost dare others to criticise them on the pretext that they occupy (or squat on) some kind of moral high ground. In reality they have no consensus – but don’t much care – they have manoeuvred themselves into positions where they have become, in effect, bullet-proof.People dare not speak out against them or any other group – except their own.This is where the real damage is done, this is where the real anger begins and this is where groups like the British National Party get their foot in the door.But no-one is saying anything.It’s unhealthy and it’s dangerous.Without free speech things which should be said are left unsaid – they fester and rot – like sweeping food under a carpet. As time passes the stench gets so bad that someone is forced to lift the carpet and clean up the mess.Of course, free speech means that some people on the fringes get the opportunity to peddle their poison – but free speech also means that they can be challenged openly – and they will be found wanting. Such groups will always come and go but will remain where they belong – on some isolated idiot fringe. Persuasion, education and open and free discussion should be the way ahead, not legislation. We cannot legislate against the feelings or motivations of such groups any more than we can legislate in favour of everyone loving each other.Dr. Martin Luther King. Jr. put it very well here:The law cannot make you love me, but it can prevent you from lynching me. And if you don’t lynch me, you may eventually come to love me.

and here:Men often hate each other because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they can not communicate; they can not communicate because they are separated.In the absence of hate crime legislation will we all come together like some great big happy family? Of course not, to think so would be both absurd and delusional.In time people will come together if they are left alone – for no other reason that it’s in their interests so to do – not because they all suddenly learn to love each other.As an example, I was in Hong Kong a few weeks ago. The place was still buzzing in spite of the current downturn. You’ll find every race, creed and colour working and trading with each other. Whether they love or even like each other is immaterial – they were all making money.By working with, rather than against each other, they are all better off.In what direction are we going with all our legislation? Backwards – and it’s getting worse.People accused of voicing hate crimes have only one defence – the right of free speech – I defend this right regardless of how disagreeable I might find it. The government sought to introduce a bill which would have undermined this right. It was defeated in the House of Lords.The government’s response:The Ministry of Justice said the defeat was disappointing and that it would seek to overturn it when the bill returned to the Commons later this year.The whole process seems to be relentless.But no-one speaks out. We have become afraid to speak. Does that make us a nation of cowards in the sense that Attorney General Eric Holder said of his fellow Americans in a recent speech (primarily about race relations)? No, I don’t believe so. But PC madness and hate crime legislation just makes it seem like that.

DOCTOR DOCTORIAN FROM ANGEL OF GOD
then the angel said, Financial crisis will come to Asia. I will shake the world.

JAMES 5:1-3
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

REVELATION 18:10,17,19
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.

EZEKIEL 7:19
19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.

REVELATION 13:16-18
16 And he(FALSE POPE) causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:(CHIP IMPLANT)
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.(6-6-6) A NUMBER SYSTEM

WORLD MARKET RESULTS
http://money.cnn.com/data/world_markets/

HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS FRI JULY 31,2009

09:30 AM -12.10
10:00 AM +38.47
10:30 AM +30.30
11:00 AM +35.52
11:30 AM +25.38
12:00 PM +31.51
12:30 PM +28.42
01:00 PM +20.12
01:30 PM +24.26
02:00 PM +32.57
02:30 PM +45.57
03:00 PM +19.80
03:30 PM +42.70
04:00 PM +17.15 9171.61

S&P 500 987.48 +0.73

NASDAQ 1978.50 -5.80

GOLD 956.00 +18.70

OIL 69.24 +2.30

TSE 300 10,789.67 +113.24

CDNX 1179.57 +32.53

S&P/TSX/60 654.82 +6.37

MORNING,NEWS,STATS

YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow +4.31%
S&P +9.24%
Nasdaq +25.83%
TSX Advances 1,099,declines 421,unchanged 243,Volume 1,906,829,400.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 475,Declines 304,Unchanged 371,Volume 258,960,247.

Dow +12 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -21 points at low today.
Dow +62 points at high today so far.
GOLD opens at $936.20.OIL opens at $65.35 today.

AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -21 points at low today so far.
Dow +62 points at high today so far.

DAY TODAY PERFORMANCE - 12:30PM STATS
NYSE Advances 2,168,declines 1,297,unchanged 107,New Highs 90,New Lows 42.
Volume 2,618,664,848.
NASDAQ Advances 1,398,declines 1,143,unchanged 111,New highs 52,New Lows 12.
Volume 964,729,200.
TSX Advances 812,declines 503,unchanged 250,Volume 889,901,890.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 323,Declines 262,Unchanged 287,Volume 117,176,340.

WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -21 points at low today.
Dow +64 points at high today.
Dow +0.19% today Volume 265,526,966.
Nasdaq -0.29% today Volume 2,139,285,675.
S&P 500 +0.07% today Volume N/A

YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow +4.50%
S&P +9.33%
Nasdaq +25.46%
TSX Advances 1,035,declines 492,unchanged 248,Volume 1,781,189,323.
TSX Venture Exchange Advances 506,Declines 325,Unchanged 354,Volume 250,758,177.

EU banks regain confidence in lending
LUCIA KUBOSOVA 30.07.2009 @ 09:24 CET

Banks in the euro area have relaxed restrictions on borrowers from companies and households, while demand for home loans has surged for the first time since early 2006, a fresh survey by the European Central Bank has found.These developments confirm a turning-point, the Frankfurt-based bank commented on the change in bank loan behaviour in the 16-member eurozone.The report, published on Wednesday (29 July), notes that out of the 118 banks in the euro area, just 21 percent continued to tighten credit to businesses in the second quarter compared to 41 percent earlier this year and even more so in late 2008. The most important driving forces for the net tightening in the euro area continued to be expectations regarding general economic activity ...for which however the net tightening also declined considerably in the second quarter of 2009,it said. The banks' unwillingness to lend money came in tandem with the financial crisis but was consequently blamed for deepening the downturn which followed, as it forced businesses to freeze investments and lay off employees.The ECB report suggests there is a light at the end of the tunnel and predicts a further lowering of the net tightening of the credit standards for loans to enterprises in autumn.Tightening of credit for private mortgages also eased from 28percent to 22 percent in the second quarter, while tightening general consumer credit relaxed from 26 percent to 21 percent.The more generous bank policy and the record low interest rates across the euro club boosted appetite for loans, the survey found.

For loans to households, the net demand for housing loans turned positive in the second quarter of 2009,it said. Demand for business loans continued to decline but at a slower pace. Eurozone banks expect that the positive trends will continue in coming months, building on other recent indicators which showed improving business sentiment in Germany, the EU's largest economy.Along with the bloc's top politicians, the ECB had previously appealed to banks to resume lending at reasonable prices. Frankfurt also injected cheap money into the banking sector to boost lending activity.Some economists argue that the real test of bank confidence will come when demand for credit from businesses jumps significantly, however.

EU bank data move ignored legal advice
ANDREW RETTMAN 29.07.2009 @ 16:09 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - EU member states laid aside the advice of their own legal experts in cutting MEPs out of talks on a new bank data deal with the US.The legal services of the EU council (the member states' secretariat in Brussels) in July put forward a confidential paper saying that the European Parliament should have co-legislative powers on the pact under articles 95 and 300 of the EU treaty, EUobserver has learned.But EU foreign ministers on Monday (27 July) opted to give the Swedish presidency the exclusive right to handle talks, citing articles 38 and 24 instead. It's not that dramatic,an EU official said.The council often follows the opinion of its legal services, but not always.Dutch liberal MEP Sophie in 't Veld sees the move as an affront to democratic principles.It's unacceptable that the council resorts to these backroom deals, she said.It's time the EU started sharing information with its citizens, not just about its citizens.Ms in 't Veld on Tuesday formally requested to see a copy of the dud legal opinion. The Dutch deputy plans to bring a case on transparency to the European Court of Justice if she is refused access. The new data pact will give US treasury officials the right to peek into EU citizens' banking transactions to investigate potential terrorist activity.The US already has access to data circulating inside Swift, a major Belgium-based financial services firm with operations in America.But Swift will in October put online a new distributive architecture that is to segregate EU data inside servers in the Netherlands and Switzerland.Swedish officials have since Monday already held meetings with US counterparts in a race to get the new deal in place before October. The pact is to stretch to other EU companies providing financial services, such as British Telecom.

The new deal will be valid for 12 months. The EU intends to negotiate a permanent pact once the Lisbon treaty enters into life. The Lisbon-based agreement, which will involve MEPs, is to supercede the interim deal the moment it comes into force.The interim pact - which will serve as a model for the permanent agreement - is to include clauses on reciprocity, giving EU governments the right to poke around in US bank transactions.The European Commission has said it will not put forward before 2010proposals to set up an EU system along the lines of the US' Terrorist Finance Tracking Programme. But the idea is doing the rounds in Brussels. It's up to the politicians to design the boundaries between privacy, security and public interest, Swift spokesman Euan Sellar told this website. There is no intention at the Swedish presidency to bypass the European Parliament,Swedish justice ministry spokesman Martin Valfrdisson said. There is no intention to hide anything from MEPs.

EU rules out airline bans for suspected swine flu patients
LUCIA KUBOSOVA Today JULY 31,09 @ 09:14 CET

Airlines may not casually prevent potential swine flu sufferers from boarding an aircraft, the European Commission has said, pointing out that sick passengers should get extra compensation if not allowed on a plane.The message from the EU's key regulator came in a list of advice for passengers for the vacation period, published on Thursday (30 July), just as the commission itself is due to set off for the last summer break.But the warning is also indirectly addressed to airlines amid reports of some companies introducing special restrictions to passengers possibly infected by a new H1N1 virus.Virgin Atlantic has said it could bar flu sufferers from flying unless they have a certificate from their doctor to confirm they are fit to fly, according to AP.But Brussels has ruled out such declarations, maintaining that airlines can only take such measures on orders from a public authority.

If you are denied boarding because you are a suspected case of Influenza A (H1N1) and the measure is neither based on a decision of a sanitary authority or a medical certificate, you should be entitled to reimbursement or rerouting as well as compensation,the commission told potential passengers.In other words, the decision to deny boarding should not be purely based on a discretionary and unilateral decision taken by the airline.According to the World Health Organisation, travel restrictions due to H1N1 virus are not necessary as it is unstoppable and sufferers may be contagious before they show any symptoms. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) on Thursday (30 July) said there were 1,204 new cases over the past 24 hours across the EU plus Norway, Iceland, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, including 879 new cases from Germany.Altogether, the number of people infected in the 31 countries of the region has reached a total of 24,021 with 38 deaths. Globally, the total number of confirmed and reported A(H1N1) cases to date is 177,650, including 1,127 deaths.In Europe, Britain has recorded the highest rate of confirmed cases at 11,159, with 27 deaths in England and four in Scotland, although national authorities suggest the new flu might have reached a peak in the country.Among other EU states hit hard are Spain with 1,538 cases and seven deaths, as well as Germany with 5,324 patients. France and Belgium have recently recorded their first fatal cases.

Health ministers from the 27 EU member states are due to meet in October to decide on the practical details of the vaccination programme against swine flu, with Brussels estimating that some 60 million Europeans will need priority vaccination due to higher risk.So far, the virus remains relatively mild. But experts fear it could mutate to become much strong during winter, the main flu season in Europe.This may result in a fight between member states for vaccines. Germany, France and the UK have already ordered billions of euros worth of vaccine stockpiles.

EU presidency defends credentials after Turkmenistan move
ANDREW RETTMAN 30.07.2009 @ 09:07 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The Swedish EU presidency has defended its human rights credentials after adopting a new trade pact with Turkmenistan.Human Rights are important to the Swedish presidency and they are indeed an essential element of the agreement, Sweden's EU ambassador Ulrika Barklund-Larsson told EUobserver on Wednesday (29 July).More generally, human rights and the rule of law underpin the EU's relations with Turkmenistan, as with the whole Central Asian region.Ms Barklund-Larsson's remarks come after two advocacy groups attacked the way in which Sweden handled the new treaty.EU foreign ministers on Monday ratified the Interim Trade Agreement (ITA) with a four line statement that did not make any comment on the political situation in Turkmenistan, a dictatorship rich in natural gas.The ITA had been the subject of a years-long battle in Brussels amid fears the EU is selling out on ethics for the sake of energy security. The [member states'] silent adoption of the ITA is the latest example of weak positioning by the EU vis-a-vis one of the most closed regimes in the world, a regime on a par with North Korea and Burma, the Open Society Institute's Jacqueline Hale said. The fact that they failed to even mention human rights in waving through the agreement speaks miles about their lack of genuine commitment in this regard,Veronika Szente Goldston of Human Rights Watch added. EU-Central Asia relations have begun gathering momentum in recent months in tandem with plans to build an EU gas pipeline to the region.Senior EU diplomats and officials began a visit to Ashgabat and Tashkent on 29 July, with the European Commission keen to open embassies in both capitals.

Sweden is waiting for France and the UK to complete ratification of a broader Partnership and Co-operation Agreement with Turkmenistan before submitting the dossier for European Parliament approval.The EU will in October also discuss whether to remove the last remaining sanctions - an arms embargo - on Uzbekistan, imposed after a massacre in 2005. The Turkmenistan ITA contains a suspension clause which could see it put on hold in the event of a serious human rights breach. But EU officials were unable to say what kind of incident might trigger the process.