SHVUT RACHEL NEARING FINAL STATE APPROVAL

Democrats and Establishment Unions Plan to Hijack OWS This Week Kurt Nimmo Infowars.com October 3, 2011

Despite the sincerity of most Occupy Wall Street protesters and their desire to close down Wall Street and even the Federal Reserve, the movement is quickly becoming a catch-all for socialists and large unions determined to tax millionaires out of existence.On Sunday, Crain’s wrote that the ragtag collection of no-name protesters will be joined this week by experienced agitators and a coalition of labor and community groups. The United Federation of Teachers, SEIU, Workers United, Transport Workers Union Local 100 and the Communications Workers of America are all expected to exploit Occupy Wall Street this week to push their agenda.In 2009, SEIU thugs beat a Tea Party activist in St. Louis. SEIU president Andy Stern was appointed to Obama’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform.Unions are working to direct the energy of the anti-banker protests into their leftist agenda. The challenge is, how do you transfer protest into power? asked Robert Master, legislative and political director of the Communications Workers of America and a co-chair of the Working Families Party. At the end of the day, you have to figure out a way to take this energy and turn it into legislation that really changes people’s lives.

The Working Families Party is an ACORN front. ACORN enthusiastically supported the election of Obama, although this is supposedly not allowed under its non-profit 501(c)(3) tax status.In addition to establishment unions, self-described progressive community groups and other foundation dependent organizations plan to exploit Occupy Wall Street’s momentum. In addition to Make the Road New York, the Coalition for the Homeless, the Alliance for Quality Education, Community Voices Heard, United New York and Strong Economy For All, Paul Joseph Watson reports today that the Soros funded group MoveOn.org plans to attend the demonstrations.MoveOn.org endorsed Obama in 2008. It fundraised and organized for his campaign and has become perhaps the lead lobby organization for his policies in 2009, apart from Obama’s own Organizing for America, according to SourceWatch. It teamed up with the unions SEIU and AFSCME to pressure Republicans to vote for Obama’s pro-Wall Street policies. It spent $30 million during the 2008 election cycle to get establishment Democrats elected.Most of the so-called community groups listed above support the Millionaire’s Tax, an idea cooked up by the Obama administration after Warren Buffett declared the rich do not pay enough taxes and urged the government to steal more money from millionaires. As I noted yesterday, such taxation schemes invariably trickle down to the middle and working classes and usually result in unemployment as businesses either cut back or close down.After the foundation funded and Democrat supported unions and so-called community groups dilute or takeover the Occupy Wall Street movement, calls for reforming Wall Street and eliminating the Federal Reserve – at present a minority voice in the movement – will be overwhelmed by the same old progressive Democrat agenda.Like the Libertarians behind the original Tea Party movement, the Occupy Wall Street activists who sincerely demand change on Wall Street and in the dominant financial sector will be driven from the movement and replaced by socialist apparatchiks and Democrats funded by Soros and establishment foundations.

Unions and progressives have no intention of reforming Wall Street, as a quick glance at the Obama administration dominated by Goldman Sachs, the CFR, and the Trilateral Commission reveals what the Democrat version of change is all about.Michael Moore admitted that far left socialists and Democrats are working to eliminate capitalism and turn America into another third-world cesspool. Not surprisingly, he said ending the Federal Reserve is irrelevant.Of course he would say that. Moore is a tool of the bankers who will now work tirelessly behind the scenes to dilute the OWS movement and turn it into another irrelevancy and circus sideshow demanding implementation of the same old tired socialist palliatives that only allow the global elite to centralize and consolidate their grip on humanity.

Obama Machine Prepares To Hijack Occupy Wall Street-Backer of Wall Street puppet Obama – MoveOn.org – wants to support the effort Paul Joseph Watson Infowars.com Monday, October 3, 2011

The leftist juggernaut MoveOn.org, a Democratic Party front which vehemently backed Obama’s 2008 election campaign, is set to hijack the Occupy Wall Street protests this week, which is pretty ironic given the fact that the Obama administration is a creature of Wall Street itself.

Paul-Obama

After largely staying out of the protests thus far, MoveOn.org is expected to mobilize its extensive online regional networks to drum up support for the effort, reports Crain’s New York Business.The Obama front organization has supported the demonstrators by way of its website coverage, but this marks the first time that MoveOn will actively engage to organize Occupy Wall Street events which its members will attend.The hypocrisy of MoveOn.org seizing control of a protest movement dubbed Occupy Wall Street is staggering. MoveOn.org endorsed Barack Obama in the 2008 Democratic Party primaries, fundraised and organized for him, and has become perhaps the lead lobby organization for his policies,reports SourceWatch.The organization is also strongly supported by billionaire George Soros, with Soros having donated around $5 million dollars to the group in recent years.So we have a Soros-backed organization which has aggressively lobbied for Obama, whose 2008 campaign was bankrolled by Wall Street (almost $2 million donated by Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase), whose 2012 run is being bankrolled by Wall Street, and whose cabinet is filled with Wall Street operatives, now announcing its involvement in protests against Wall Street.Liberals really need to wake up and smell the coffee on this one.
People with diverse beliefs have thus far taken part in the demonstrations which have now spread across the country, from marxists to End the Fed populists. However, as we documented yesterday, the movement is quickly being consumed by the leftist machine that activated millions of Obamanoids to vote for the ultimate Wall Street puppet back in 2008.

A story which was linked prominently on the Drudge Report yesterday betrays the fact that many of the Occupy Wall Street protesters are actually Obama supporters and advocates of a totalitarian form of statist tyranny – big government communists posing as anarchists and progressives.This is the army that MoveOn.org will attempt to rouse to completely hijack the whole movement and silence the voices who are actively trying to steer the narrative of the protest towards concentrating on the genuine oligarchs of the US financial system.Here at Infowars we are not simply disregarding the Occupy Wall Street protest as a creation of the leftist machine and cynically abandoning the energy that thousands of young people are bringing to the streets.We are pointing out that the usual suspects are hard at work to subvert and divert the impact of the protest by steering it away from the real cause of our economic fallout – the Federal Reserve – an institution which Occupy Wall Street ideologues like Michael Moore have protected by their failure to acknowledge that it represents a far bigger threat than Wall Street.In addition, Alex Jones has announced the campaign to Occupy the Fed, details to follow, in a bid to focus the ‘Occupy Wall Street’ movement on the real enemies of the American people, the Federal Reserve, and not let the protest be manipulated by Democratic Party front groups who are an integral part of the Wall Street establishment.

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,(WORLD SOCIALISM) 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/
CNBC VIDEOS
http://www.cnbc.com/id/15839263/?tabid=15839796&tabheader=false

HALF HOUR DOW RESULTS TUE OCTOBER 04,2011

09:30 AM -3.43
10:00 AM -208.20
10:30 AM -205.16
11:00 AM -112.72
11:30 AM -133.05
12:00 PM -127.41
12:30 PM -118.14
01:00 PM -66.60
01:30 PM -108.82
02:00 PM -118.44
02:30 PM -151.21
03:00 PM -179.33
03:30 PM -102.34
04:00 PM +153.41 10,808.71

S&P 500 1123.95 +24.72

NASDAQ 2404.82 +68.99

GOLD 1,611.70 -46.00

OIL 76.19 -1.42

TSE 300 11,177.90 -73.90

CDNX 1333.34 -56.06

S&P/TSX/60 642.34 -3.23

MORNING,NEWS,STATS

YEAR TO DATE PERFORMANCE
Dow -120 points at 4 minutes of trading today.
Dow -208 points at low today.
Dow -1 points at high today so far.
GOLD opens at $1,655.50.OIL opens at $76.06 today.

AFTERNOON,NEWS,STATS
Dow -208 points at low today so far.
Dow -1 points at high today so far.

WRAPUP,NEWS,STATS
Dow -208 points at low today.
Dow +153 points at high today.

GOLD ALLTIME HIGH $1,902.60 (NOT AT CLOSE)
http://www.infowars.com/occupy-the-federal-reserve-movement-launched/

Rehn: Rescue fund leveraging on the table
03.10.11 @ 17:39 By Leigh Phillips

EU economy commissioner Olli Rehn said on Monday (3 October) that European finance chiefs are considering different options on how to leverage the eurozone’s multi-billion-euro rescue fund to give it further firepower.We are reviewing options on optimising the use of the [European Financial Stability Fund] in order to get more out of it and make it more effective as a financial firewall to contain contagion. Leveraging is one of the options, he said speaking to reporters in Luxembourg.
Finance ministers are meeting in Luxembourg to assess the heavily indebted Greek government’s latest announced efforts to deliver on its promises of austerity and structural adjustment made to international lenders.There are growing fears that were Spain and Italy to be cut off from market funding, the existing €440 billion rescue fund would be insufficient to bail out such large economies and even an expansion of the war-chest to €780 billion agreed by eurozone leaders in July may not be enough.As a result even more radical options, such as the leveraging of the fund were understood to be a topic of discussion, but this is the first time that a senior EU leader has officially mentioned the subject.We will discuss this with the ministers, he said. There are options including the [European Central Bank] and options not including the ECB. This is something we will discuss today.

One possibility is that the EFSF could issue triple-A-rated bonds that could then be placed with the ECB as collateral against loans that could then be distributed to indebted eurozone states.The attraction of this option is that this could be performed without having to return once again to eurozone member countries for further guarantees at a time when citizens and some political forces are growing increasingly resistant to the idea of what appear to them as ever-expanding bail-outs.The commissioner also gave his blessing to the latest round of cuts and structural adjustments announced by the Greek government, despite an acknowledgement that Athens will not be able to meet its deficit reduction targets for this year or next. With an economy in free-fall, government revenues have fallen well below projections.Greece has taken important decisions in the past weeks, also including yesterday, Rehn said.On Sunday, Athens said that it will slash a further €6.6 billion from spending in an attempt to chase after budget shortfalls. The country’s finance minister also offered further details on a plan to put some 30,000 public-sector workers into a so-called labour reserve where wages are to be reduced by 40 percent ahead of presumptive lay-offs within a year.The next day, the government presented the draft budget for 2012 to parliament. MPs are expected to vote on the bill by the end of the month.We are currently assessing whether Greece will meet its fiscal targets with the current measures, he added. Officials from the so-called EU-ECB-IMF troika have returned to the Greek capital to continue their assessment of the government’s austerity efforts.So long as the troika give the all-clear, eurozone finance ministers and the IMF board are expected to rapidly approve the dispersal of the sixth tranche of bail-out cash to the country, a sum amounting to €8 billion.Without the funds, the country will likely run out of money to pay public servants and pensions by the middle of the month.

We're reviewing figures and assessing measures. It seems Greece is likely to miss its target this year. Next year, the concrete measures agreed so far go a long way to meet the fiscal targets. We will assess the measures, he continued.The commissioner also said that ministers would have to confront not one but three major dangers.We have a very important meeting at a critical juncture today. We are facing three main challenges: stalling growth, stressed sovereigns and still vulnerable banks,he said.

Greece will not meet deficit targets this year or in 2012 Today OCT 4,11 @ 09:17 By Leigh Phillips

The Greek finance ministry on Sunday (2 October) conceded that the government will not be able to meet the deficit reduction targets imposed by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund for this year or next.Ancient Greek vase painting of Apollo. The finance ministry has conceded it cannot meet its deficit targets (Photo: Fingalo)The shortfall between spending and revenues will amount to 8.5 percent of GDP in 2011, considerably wider than the 7.6 target set by international lenders.In 2012, the government will be able to reduce the deficit to 6.8 percent of GDP, but this figure still comes short of the 6.5 percent demanded by Brussels and Washington.

The news comes as Athens unveiled further details on its plan to trim the public-sector wage bill by placing 30,000 workers into a so-called labour reserve pool. These workers will see their salaries slashed by 40 percent ahead of a presumed dismissal within a year.Officials from the EU-ECB-IMF troika accepted a plan from finance minister Evangelos Venizelos that the bulk of the workers placed in the scheme be over 60 years old and due to retire within two years, while others will come from a number of state agencies scheduled for merger or shut-down.The troika inspectors have returned to the Greek capital to complete their assessment of the government’s efforts to meet agreed austerity and structural adjustment targets. If the troika gives the all-clear, eurozone finance ministers and the IMF are expected to release the sixth, €8 billiion tranche of bail-out cash to the country.EU finance ministers are to gather in Luxembourg on Monday to discuss the eurozone crisis and specifically consider the Greek situation, but it is not expected that any decision on the release of the latest tranche of cash will be taken at the meeting.Resistance to the austerity measures has widened in recent days, with rolling strikes by transport workers and occupations by staff at seven government ministries. The blockades have made it difficult for the troika inspectors to meet with Greek government officials.Transport minister Yannis Ragoussis’ meeting with the inspectors had to be delayed and held at a secret location, according to Ana, the Greek press agency, where the minister said the government must not make concessions to those that are protesting.

First EU country imposes sanctions on Russian officials Today OCT 4,11 @ 09:21 By Andrew Rettman

The UK has become the first EU country to impose sanctions on Russian officials implicated in the murder of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, a British daily reports.
Policewoman in Russia. Browder says around 10 EU countries are considering taking action (Photo: Boris SV)Opposition MP Chris Bryant told The Guardian on Saturday (1 October) that UK immigration minister, Damian Green, from the ruling Conservative party, has confirmed they were quietly put on a visa blacklist.From conversations with Damian Green, I took it that these people would not be welcomed. It seems now as if there is a secret ban on these people, he said.America and countries in the EU are moving towards a full, open public ban on these people. If people are not welcome, they should make it clear they are not welcome, not just privately to the individual, but publicly, because it would make it absolutely clear to anybody else that if you are engaged in corruption and criminality in Russia, you are not coming to Britain,he added.The British move follows similar action by the US in August and a freeze on related bank accounts by Switzerland in April.The UK ban means the officials can still enter other EU countries.But Dutch foreign minister Uri Rosenthal has promised parliament he will look into action at EU level in November if a Russian investigation into the case comes up with nothing. The EU's foreign relations service has also said it cannot exclude EU-level steps if the Russian probe is a whitewash.US authorities have compiled a list of 60 Russian men and women said to have embezzled $230 million in Russian tax money and killed Magnitsky in 2009 when he exposed the scam.Reacting to the news, Magnitsky's former employer, UK-based venture capitalist Bill Browder told EUobserver: This [the UK ban] is a very significant development in the whole EU debate about this policy. It seems to me that it will be much harder for the EU to be inactive on EU-wide Magnitsky sanctions now that the US and UK governments have already acted.

Report: Israel, U.S. to Release Prisoners for Grapel-New details on the deal for Ilan Grapel's release: Both Israel and the U.S. will release Egyptian security prisoners.By Elad Benari First Publish: 10/4/2011, 5:43 AM

After Sunday’s report that Egypt is set to release dual U.S.-Israeli citizen Ilan Grapel after nearly four months, another report released on Monday sheds some more light on the deal that was reached to secure his release.According to the Israeli Ma’ariv newspaper, Israel has agreed to release 25 Egyptian security prisoners currently serving sentences in Israeli jails in exchange for Grapel.The report, which is based on comments made by a senior Egyptian television commentator, the United States will also release prisoners. Among the prisoners to be released are also ones classified by Egypt as high profile.The commentator added that the main part of the deal that was reached includes an American agreement to sell advanced weapons to the Egyptian Army, which until now the U.S. has refrained from doing due to Israeli pressure.Grapel, 27, was arrested on charges of being an Israeli spy by Egyptian transitional government authorities. He was accused of spying for Israel, and inciting riots following the toppling of former President Hosni Mubarak in the Tahrir Square Revolution.

Family and friends called the charges absurd, given that he was in Egypt to study Arabic culture, for which he has had long abiding passion. A number of Egyptians considered the charges to be bogus as well.According to Sunday’s report in the official Egyptian MENA news agency, the decision to release Grapel was reversed after the Obama administration agreed to increase its political and financial support to Egypt if he were to be released.Both Sunday and Monday’s reports said Grapel will return to the United States with Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, who will make an official visit to Cairo starting on Tuesday.

Panetta in Jerusalem: U.S. is Committed to Israel's Security-PM Netanyahu meets with United States Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta in Jerusalem.By Elad Benari First Publish: 10/4/2011, 2:14 AM

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu met on Monday with United States Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta in Jerusalem.Netanyahu thanked Panetta for coming to Jerusalem and told him, You’re coming to the Middle East at a time when it’s undergoing a tremendous convulsion. Probably nothing on this scale happened since the end of World War I, and during this time it’s particularly important to strengthen the security alliance between Israel and the United States.I have to commend you and of course, President Obama, for strengthening that alliance and our cooperation,added Netanyahu. I look forward to discussing with you in this meeting ways to do that. I think that’s important for our security and that’s important for peace.Netanyahu reiterated that peace has to be achieved through direct negotiations between the parties. Yesterday, Israel welcomed the Quartet statement that called for direct negotiation without preconditions.He told Panetta that when he meets Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas maybe you can tell him, encourage him to enter direct negotiations without preconditions. That’s our hope and I think it should be our common goal.Panetta thanked Netanyahu for the welcome, adding that he looked forward to the ability to discuss some of the difficult challenges that face not only Israel but the United States as well.

Panetta stressed his country’s commitment to Israel’s security.We have been strong allies, we have been strong partners,he said.We have always made a commitment to do everything we can to support the security of Israel and as the Secretary of Defense, I intend to continue that commitment. I think it’s important for us to say to this region that when it comes to the difficult issues we face we stand together to try to confront our difficult and common challenges.Prior to his arrival in Israel, Panetta warned that Israel is becoming increasingly isolated in the Middle East.
Speaking to reporters who were traveling with him, Panetta said Israel must restart negotiations with the Palestinian Authority and work to restore relations with Egypt and Turkey.

Report: Egypt, Qatar Agree to Halt Gas Supplies to Israel-Egypt reportedly made a commitment in Tehran to stop providing natural gas to Israel. So did Qatar and dozens of other countries.By Chana Ya'ar First Publish: 10/4/2011, 3:16 AM

Egypt, which currently provides about 40 percent of Israel's natural gas through its Sinai Peninsula pipeline, has reportedly agreed to halt sales to the Jewish State during a conference in Tehran, according to the Iranian FARS news agency. So has Qatar, which in the past has expressed its willingness to sell gas to Israel if the Egyptian supply were to vanish.If true, gas prices in Israel could skyrocket until the Jewish State secures another source. Due to at least six terrorist attacks and sabotage this year alone, the amount of diesel fuel used to generate electricity rose by 103 percent since January, as compared with the same period a year ago.The delegation from Cairo was among dozens of others at the 5th International Conference on the Palestinian Intifada, where participants announced the agreement to cut the supply of natural gas to Israel from their countries in a final statement issued by the Political Groups and Parties' Commission.The two-day conference was reportedly attended by more than 50 parliamentary delegations, state officials and others from Muslim and non-Muslim nations. Among the countries in attendance were Jordan, Qatar, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Oman, Afghanistan, Mexico, Hungary, Bolivia, Paraguay, Cuba, and Colombia.

The statement also included support for the Palestinian Intifada and regional uprisings and revolutions, and stressed the need to increase pressure on international courts which shrug off pursuing the crimes of the Zionist regime.In addition, a statement issued by the delegations at the conference called on Muslim countries to impose a strict ban on Israeli goods and activities of all companies and institutions with direct or indirect ties or affiliation with Israel, reported FARS.All Islamic states are required to pay serious attention to this issue and adopt the necessary measures to prevent the import of Israeli commodities, said a statement by the parliamentary commission at the conference.

Report: Shvut Rachel Nearing Final State Approval-The Jewish community of Shvut Rachel is nearing completion of the process to receive clearance for official state status.By Chana Ya'ar First Publish: 10/4/2011, 5:15 AM

The Jewish community of Shvut Rachel, located 30 miles north of Jerusalem, will reportedly receive final state approval.The State told the High Court of Justice in a brief that the 15-year-old community is nearing completion of the process to regulate its zoning status and construction. The brief was filed in response to a March 2011 petition by the leftist Peace Now movement, which pointedly asked the court to order the community destroyed.Peace Now noted the 2005 Sasson Report that designated Shvut Rachel to be an illegal outpost, and said the community was continuing to build, in violation of a state-ordered freeze on construction.The State had ordered the destruction of 29 homes following a freeze on construction in the community issued in late 2010.The petition... mentioned construction performed on State lands which [already] been inspected by a Blue Line team, noted the State brief, the group of Civil Administration inspectors tasked with reviewing land appropriations in Judea and Samaria since 1999.The political echelon now wishes to regulate construction on the premises and has therefore instructed... to promote the [community's] zoning status,said the brief.Since the matter... is pending resolution as evident in the actions taken to regulate [the construction and zoning] the requests brought forward in the petition – in particular the motion to demolish buildings – should not be granted,the brief added.

Peace Now director Yariv Oppenheimer told the Hebrew-language Yediot Acharanot newspaper in response, The Netanyahu government seeks to sanction one of the most isolated outposts in the territories... and it continues to expand the smaller, more isolated outposts.As far as [Prime Minister Binyamin] Netanyahu is concerned, the world, the rule of law and Israel's political interests are null and void when it comes to the settlers' desire to create facts on the ground and ruin any chance for separating from the Palestinians. Netanyahu was and is the settlers' lackey, and they are calling the shots.Shvut Rachel currently numbers 110 families, and is located on Highway 60 in the Shiloh area in the Binyamin region of Samaria, about a 35 minute drive from Jerusalem. The community was founded in memory of Rachela Druk, a resident of Shiloh and mother of seven who together with bus driver Isaac Rofe was killed in November 1991 when terrorists fired on their bus. Shvut Rachel was established by a group of students from the Shiloh Yeshiva in the name of the victims on the night of their funerals.Comprised mostly of young, idealistic Zionists, the oldest children are just now celebrating their Bar and Bat Mitzvahs. The community's single synagogue under the supervision of Rabbi Ben Tzion Amar, the rabbi of Shvut Rachel, alternates between several different prayer styles in order to accommodate everyone's needs.The community is especially known for its sales of organic strawberries to select outlets around the country.

Ashton Vows Aid for PA Amid US Cuts-EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton vowed to keep Ramallah on the dole as the US Congress blocks $200 million in aid payments.
By Gavriel Queenann First Publish: 10/3/2011, 6:35 PM

European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton raced to assure Palestinian Authority officials they were still on the EU dole.Ashton informed Abbas that the EU projects to the PA and the Palestinians which are carried out in the Palestinian Territories, won’t be frozen due to the PA Leader move at the UN, the Arabic-language Al-Quds newspaper reported, citing sources close to PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas.Ashton's assurances come on the heels of reports the United States Congress was blocking the transfer of $200 million to cash-strapped officials in Ramallah due to Abbas' statehood gambit at the United Nations.The Congressional freeze for the latest block of US aid dollars - which total an average $600 million per annum - was first reported on Saturday by the UK-daily The Independent.The report remained unconfirmed until Monday, when US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta criticized the Congressional move during a Tel Aviv press conference with Israeli counterpart Ehud Barak.

The administration opposes holding these funds from the Palestinians, Panetta said, insisting the funds have helped improve Israel's security.This is a critical time and it is not a time to withhold those funds, he said.PA Minister of Planning Ali Jirbawi told the PA-run WAFA news agency that the US Congress's decision to halt US aid to Ramallah has not yet been issued to Palestinian officials, but played down the significance of such a move.The Palestinian Authority is fully ready to embody the reality of a state, Jirbawi said, insisting there was a difference between financial crisis the PA faces and its readiness for statehood.However, Jihad al-Wazir, the PA's top monetary official, warned last month that a cessation of foreign aid from the United States could lead to fiscal ruin and collapse for RamallahThe Arab League on Sunday asked its member states to increase financial help to the Palestinians after the reported US block on the transfer of funds, AFP reported.The Arab League's chief called the bolstering of financial aid necessary for the Palestinians to face this threat.