JEWISH KING JESUS IS COMING AT THE RAPTURE FOR US IN THE CLOUDS-DON'T MISS IT FOR THE WORLD.THE BIBLE TAKEN LITERALLY- WHEN THE PLAIN SENSE MAKES GOOD SENSE-SEEK NO OTHER SENSE-LEST YOU END UP IN NONSENSE.
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,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:TOBOLSK)
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: and many people with thee.(AFRICAN MUSLIMS,SUDAN,TUNESIA ETC)
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;(ISRAEL) 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,(OIL IS IN 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.
EZEKIEL 39:1-8,11-21
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,(RUSSIA-ARAB MUSLIM ISRAEL HATERS) and leave but the sixth part of thee,(5/6TH OR 300 MILLION DEAD RUSSIAN/ARAB/MUSLIMS I BELIEVE) 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 ATOMIC BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
HERE WE HAVE THE HOOK IN PUTINS JAW HE CAN NOT REFUSE.PALESTINIAN OIL IN THE WEST BANK.PUTIN IS SO POWER-GAS-MONEY HUNGRY.NOW WE CAN SEE WHY GOD WILL USE THE OIL AND GAS TO DESTROY PUTIN.AND FORCE HIM TO GO AGAINST ISRAEL IN THE NEAR FUTURE TO COME TO HIS DEMISE.
Palestinians plan to drill for oil in West Bank-The project, which does not yet have Jerusalem’s approval, covers more than 400 square kilometers, most under Israeli control-By Josef Federman March 19, 2014, 2:23 am 10-The Times of Israel
AP — The Palestinian Authority on Tuesday announced plans to explore for oil in the West Bank, throwing a new element of uncertainty and confusion into troubled US-backed peace efforts.The Palestinians proclaimed the project, close to a small oil field in Israel, a key step toward their dream of developing the local economy and gaining independence in the West Bank. But Israel, which wields overall control of the area, gave no indication it has agreed to the plan, and far less ambitious attempts at economic development have repeatedly sputtered in large part because of Israeli restrictions.Mohammed Mustafa, the Palestinians’ deputy prime minister for economic affairs, said the Palestinians were seeking proposals from international firms to explore and develop oil in the northern West Bank.He said the project was among a series of initiatives drawn up by Mideast envoy Tony Blair to help develop the Palestinian economy. “The Palestinian people have the right to use their resources,” he told The Associated Press.Blair has proposed a multiyear plan for developing the Palestinian economy — an effort that is meant to complement and bolster US-led peace talks. But the former British prime minister has made little headway in carrying out the projects, which focus on eight areas of the economy, including agriculture, construction, tourism and energy.Progress has been hindered because many of the projects are to take place in the 60 percent of the West Bank that was left under full Israeli control under interim peace deals two decades ago. The Palestinians say they cannot establish a viable state without being allowed to develop this area and say Israel routinely stifles attempts to do so.According to a map released by the Palestinians, the exploration area covers more than 400 square kilometers (155 square miles) in a strip of land along the frontier with Israel. Most, if not all, of this land, remains under full Israeli control.In a statement, Blair’s office said “the energy sector is indeed one of the eight sectors” including in Blair’s initiative. “Reliable energy supply is critical for the expansion and development of all sectors of the Palestinian economy.” The statement made no reference to the project announced Tuesday and gave no details on where any West Bank oil projects might take place.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office had no comment, and Israel’s energy ministry said it was not involved.The Palestinian announcement appeared to lay the groundwork for a new area of protracted negotiations with Israel. International bodies, including the World Bank, have urged Israel to lift restrictions on Palestinian development in Israeli-controlled areas of the West Bank.In his announcement, Mustafa, a US-educated economist and former official at the World Bank, said initial studies have indicated the exploration area may hold oil reserves of 30 million to 186 million barrels. While not large in global terms, he said the project could generate proceeds of roughly $1 billion for the Palestinian government, including taxes and royalties. The government will accept bids from potential partners through June.“The existence of oil in Palestine is a highly promising opportunity for the Palestinian economy,” he said.In contrast to their energy- rich neighbors, Israel and the Palestinian areas have historically had few natural resources to exploit. In recent years, Israel has developed natural gas fields off its Mediterranean coast. It also has begun pumping oil from a small field located near the boundary with the West Bank, close to the area the Palestinians hope to exploit.Giora Eiland, acting chief executive of Israeli oil firm Givot Olam, declined to comment on the Palestinian plan, but said his company “absolutely” does not take any oil from the Palestinian side.“We only have vertical drills, and all of them are located on the Israeli side,” he said.
Erekat: Abbas showed Obama ‘very ugly’ settlement map-Palestinian Authority leader had a ‘difficult’ but ‘candid’ meeting with the US president in Washington, negotiator says-By Adiv Sterman March 18, 2014, 8:44 pm 27-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Barack Obama was presented Monday with a “very ugly map” depicting Israeli settlement construction throughout the West Bank, the chief Palestinian negotiator said, adding that the meeting between the US president and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was “difficult” yet “candid.”According to Saeb Erekat, over 10,000 housing units were built on Palestinian-owned territory since the US-brokered peace talks commenced last year, the Guardian reported.“We put a map to president Obama, showed him the extent of what happened since we began [negotiations] in July,” Erekat said during a speech at the Wilson Center think-tank in Washington Tuesday, displaying what was apparently Abbas’s map.“It is a very ugly map,” he said. “This was supposed to be land of the Palestinian state.”Erekat went on to say that no concrete US peace proposal had been presented to Abbas during his meeting with Obama, despite the fact that US Secretary of State John Kerry has been working on formulating a “framework” for Israeli-Palestinian peace.“Contrary to what people expected, that we will come out of this meeting with an official American proposal document, this has not happened,” he said.“To submit an official document we need more discussion,” Erekat added.The chief negotiator also criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s insistence on Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish state.“Israel’s name is the State of Israel. That’s how they call themselves,” he said, adding that the Palestinian Authority had already recognized Israel’s right to exist.Last week, Kerry told American lawmakers that Israel’s “Jewish state” demand from the Palestinians was a “mistake.”“We know that’s an issue that the Israelis have spoken about, but we will let those issues remain discussed behind closed doors,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Monday shortly after Abbas met Obama.During that meeting, Abbas stated that “since 1988 and into 1993, we have been extending our hands to our Israeli neighbors so that we can reach a fair and lasting peace to this problem. Since 1988, we have recognized international legitimacy resolutions and this was a very courageous step on the part of the Palestinian leadership. And in 1993, we recognized the State of Israel.”Abbas said that from the Palestinian perspective, “we don’t have any time to waste. Time is not on our side.”He discussed March 29 as the target date for the final release of Palestinian prisoners to which Israel committed as part of the agreement for a nine-month period of talks. That period, which began in July, is set to expire in April. Abbas said that the release of prisoners “will give a very solid impression about the seriousness of the Israelis on the peace process.”Israeli ministers said last week that they would have difficulty approving the release if an agreement was not reached to extend the peace talks.Israel committed to the release of 104 Palestinian prisoners when talks were launched in July. It has so far released 78 of those in three phases, with Palestinians demanding that the fourth — scheduled for later this month — also include Arab Israelis, something Israel has rejected.A major effort is underway in Washington to make sure that both sides remain at the negotiating table after the conclusion of the nine-month period, and Abbas’s statement indicated that the release would be a critical factor in a decision to continue talks.Rebecca Shimoni Stoil, AP and AFP contributed to this report.
Fate of Palestinian prisoners threatens to stymie talks-While Israel conditions inmate release on extending peace process deadline, Palestinians are making the opposite demand-By Adiv Sterman and AP March 18, 2014, 11:03 pm 20-The Times of Israel
Israel’s chief negotiator with the Palestinians on Tuesday cast doubt on whether a scheduled release of Palestinian prisoners would take place at the end of the month, threatening to plunge the already fraught US-led peace talks into a new crisis.Israel agreed to the release of 104 long-serving Palestinian prisoners in four stages as part of a package to relaunch peace talks last July. But after carrying out the first three releases, negotiator Tzipi Livni said, the last group would be released only if there is progress in negotiations. Speaking to a conference on Tuesday, Livni, who is also Israel’s justice minister, said Jerusalem had never committed to the prisoner release. “The key to the prison where the Palestinian prisoners are being held” is in the hands of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, she maintained.The fate of the roughly 5,000 Palestinian security prisoners is extremely emotional in Israel, where the prisoners are seen as terrorists because many were involved in bloody attacks on civilians. Prisoners freed in previous rounds had been convicted in grisly killings of Israelis, and their releases angered many. Israel also objects to the Palestinian demand that Arab citizens of Israel be included in the final round.The issue is equally emotional in Palestinian society after decades of fighting Israel. Palestinians view the inmates as heroes, and prisoners freed in previous rounds were embraced by Abbas and welcomed in elaborate celebrations.“In order to promote serious negotiations we all have to make decisions and prove that our faces are toward a real peace agreement,” Livni said. “The proof of that rests on the Palestinian shoulders as well.”Livni’s comments came at a sensitive time in the negotiations. US Secretary of State John Kerry has set an April target date for reaching a preliminary framework peace deal that would set the stage for months of additional talks to wrap up an agreement.But after nearly eight months of negotiations, there have been no indications that progress is being made, and the dispute over the prisoner release could snarl prospects for an extension to the looming deadline.Senior Israeli officials, quoted by the Makor Rishon daily’s diplomatic correspondent on Twitter, said that “without an explicit commitment by [Abbas] to extend the talks, there will not be a fourth wave” of releases.Earlier on Tuesday, Economy Minister Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home party), who has been outspoken in his objection to the formation of a Palestinian state, said that a release of Palestinian prisoners was unlikely at this point, since, according to him, the negotiations would most likely break down soon.“Now that it is clear that there is no progress in negotiations and instead there are missiles and radicalization on Abbas’s part, I think it’s time for the government to reconsider the fourth phase [of the prisoner release],” Bennett told Army Radio.But the Palestinian minister of prisoner affairs, Issa Karake, indicated that releasing the prisoners was a Palestinian condition for the extension of talks, saying that “if they (Israel) don’t release them they will be foiling the whole peace process.”Israel would be committing “political blackmail” if it were to delay the final phase, Karake said.According to chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, American officials have assured Ramallah that Israel will release 30 security prisoners, completing the fourth phase of its commitment to release 104 inmates jailed before the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993. At least 14 of the 30 security prisoners, he indicated, hold Israeli ID cards and several more live in Jerusalem.At a meeting with US President Barack Obama at the White House on Monday, Abbas expressed hope the prisoners would go free. He said that the release by the planned March 29 date would make a “solid impression” that Israel is serious about peace.Karake further said that during a meeting in Washington on Monday, Abbas had requested of Obama that he push for the release of jailed Fatah strongman Marwan Barghouti, who is serving out five life sentences over his part in orchestrating deadly attacks against Israelis.The talks have run into trouble over other issues as well. The Palestinians have refused Israel’s demand that they recognize it as the homeland of the Jewish people. Israel, meanwhile, has rejected Palestinian demands to commit to basing the borders of a future Palestinian state on lands captured in 1967. It also rejects the Palestinian demand to establish a capital in East Jerusalem.In Washington on Monday, US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Israel and the Palestinians were at “a tough period, a pivotal period of the negotiations.”Asked whether she shared Abbas’s hope that the prisoner release would take place, she said, “Certainly, because it’s part of what was agreed to between the parties. We would support the prisoner release, of course.” “We’re all familiar with the fact that the next tranche of prisoner releases is at the end of March. There obviously is pressure around that timeline,” Psaki said. “But again, we’re working day by day on this.”AFP contributed to this report.
Exiled Fatah strongman calls Abbas a ‘catastrophe’-Responding to criticism, Mohammad Dahlan hints that the PA president’s leadership is illegitimate, he wants a third intifada-By Lazar Berman March 19, 2014, 8:13 am 3-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Former Fatah security chief Mohammed Dahlan called Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas a “catastrophe” for the Palestinians in an interview with Egyptian TV.Speaking to Dream2 TV on March 16, Dahlan said that “the Palestinian people can no longer bear a catastrophe like Mahmoud Abbas. Since the day he came to power, tragedies have struck the Palestinian people. I may be one of the people who bear the blame for bringing this catastrophe upon the Palestinian people.”“I apologize to the Palestinian people, but we had no other option,” added Dahlan, according to a MEMRI translation.The former Gaza strongman’s attack on Abbas came in response to the PA president’s hints last week that Dahlan and several of his cohorts had assisted Israel against the Palestinians over a decade ago.“I don’t want to dwell on this ridiculous speech, in which Mahmoud Abbas disgraced himself,” said Dahlan. “He doesn’t mind if other people insult him or if he disgraces himself. He is used to people treating him with contempt. The tragedy is that he harmed Fatah and its history.”Abbas “stole the presidency,” Dahlan continued, saying he represents the destruction of the PA and all that is evil in the lives of the Palestinians.Abbas was elected in 2005, but overstayed his five-year term, blaming a split between Fatah and the Islamist group Hamas, which seized Gaza from Abbas in 2007, of preventing new elections.Dahlan also questioned the PA president’s patriotism. “When [Fatah was] in Tunisia, they used to call him the president of the Jewish Agency,” he said.He lambasted the current US-led negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, hinting that Abbas was willing to use violence to achieve far less than they could have gained through negotiations during Bill Clinton’s presidency.“Mahmoud Abbas was against the Clinton document,” he said. “I supported it. Today, Mahmoud Abbas wants a third war, in order to achieve the same Clinton document. What he is negotiating about today does not amount to 50 percent of the Clinton document.”Dahlan continued to praise the “Clinton parameters” for a peace deal, seeming to blame the press for preventing then-PA president Yasser Arafat from agreeing to those terms. “You were all against the Clinton document,” he charged.“Yasser Arafat wanted it, but you instilled fear in him. We would have gotten 100% of the land, East Jerusalem as the capital, and a reasonable solution for the problem of the refugees, 200,000 of whom would have returned, in keeping with understandings.”Dahlan seemed to include accusations that would harm Abbas’s standing in the eyes of the US, Israel, and neighboring Arab countries. Claims to the effect that Abbas wants another intifada may well have been intended for Israeli and American ears, and Dahlan’s subsequent claim that the PA president served as an informant for deposed Egyptian president Mahmoud Morsi seemed directed toward the current Egyptian regime, which imprisoned Morsi.Dahlan, who has lived in the United Arab Emirates since being ousted from Fatah over corruption allegations, wrote on his Facebook page last Thursday that Abbas’s accusatory speech was “full of lies and deception.”Fatah is known for epic internal feuds, but Abbas’s statements last week marked the first time he entered the fray so publicly.Abbas said Dahlan would never be allowed to return to Fatah and suggested there is no room in the party for those still loyal to the former Gaza strongman. Abbas’s offensive against Dahlan could backfire by drawing new attention to long-standing allegations of top-level corruption in the Palestinian leadership.In his speech, Abbas lashed out at Dahlan and hinted that he was also involved in the death of Yasser Arafat. Abbas also claimed that Dahlan, along with Khaled Islam, a former economic adviser to Arafat, and ex-PA minister Hassan Asfour, acted as spies for Israel.
“The three spies,” Abbas dubbed the trio in his speech. He said his knowledge of Dahlan’s involvement in the assassination of Shahedeh stemmed from an incident during a meeting of PA security officials in Ramallah in 2002.The relationship between Dahlan and Abbas has reached an unprecedented low in recent months. Dahlan regularly instigates against Abbas from the Gulf and has accused him of corruption. In response Abbas and PA security forces have gone after those loyal to Dahlan and have driven them from the ranks of Fatah.There was a reconciliation effort between the two sides last month, when the Palestinian information minister Majed Faraj met in Amman with Samir Masharawi, a close associate of Dahlan. According to Faraj, Abbas agreed that Dahlan’s associates and loyalists in exile could return to the West Bank, but not Dahlan himself.Abbas banished Dahlan in 2010, after Dahlan purportedly called him weak and criticized Abbas’s two adult sons. Dahlan has since spent his time shuttling between Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.Abbas has not designated a successor or said when he might retire, and there is no clear contender. A Fatah party conference where a new leadership would be elected is due in August, but it remains unclear whether it will take place.Avi Issacharoff and AP contributed to this report.
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,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:TOBOLSK)
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: and many people with thee.(AFRICAN MUSLIMS,SUDAN,TUNESIA ETC)
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;(ISRAEL) 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,(OIL IS IN 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.
EZEKIEL 39:1-8,11-21
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,(RUSSIA-ARAB MUSLIM ISRAEL HATERS) and leave but the sixth part of thee,(5/6TH OR 300 MILLION DEAD RUSSIAN/ARAB/MUSLIMS I BELIEVE) 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 ATOMIC BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
HERE WE HAVE THE HOOK IN PUTINS JAW HE CAN NOT REFUSE.PALESTINIAN OIL IN THE WEST BANK.PUTIN IS SO POWER-GAS-MONEY HUNGRY.NOW WE CAN SEE WHY GOD WILL USE THE OIL AND GAS TO DESTROY PUTIN.AND FORCE HIM TO GO AGAINST ISRAEL IN THE NEAR FUTURE TO COME TO HIS DEMISE.
Palestinians plan to drill for oil in West Bank-The project, which does not yet have Jerusalem’s approval, covers more than 400 square kilometers, most under Israeli control-By Josef Federman March 19, 2014, 2:23 am 10-The Times of Israel
AP — The Palestinian Authority on Tuesday announced plans to explore for oil in the West Bank, throwing a new element of uncertainty and confusion into troubled US-backed peace efforts.The Palestinians proclaimed the project, close to a small oil field in Israel, a key step toward their dream of developing the local economy and gaining independence in the West Bank. But Israel, which wields overall control of the area, gave no indication it has agreed to the plan, and far less ambitious attempts at economic development have repeatedly sputtered in large part because of Israeli restrictions.Mohammed Mustafa, the Palestinians’ deputy prime minister for economic affairs, said the Palestinians were seeking proposals from international firms to explore and develop oil in the northern West Bank.He said the project was among a series of initiatives drawn up by Mideast envoy Tony Blair to help develop the Palestinian economy. “The Palestinian people have the right to use their resources,” he told The Associated Press.Blair has proposed a multiyear plan for developing the Palestinian economy — an effort that is meant to complement and bolster US-led peace talks. But the former British prime minister has made little headway in carrying out the projects, which focus on eight areas of the economy, including agriculture, construction, tourism and energy.Progress has been hindered because many of the projects are to take place in the 60 percent of the West Bank that was left under full Israeli control under interim peace deals two decades ago. The Palestinians say they cannot establish a viable state without being allowed to develop this area and say Israel routinely stifles attempts to do so.According to a map released by the Palestinians, the exploration area covers more than 400 square kilometers (155 square miles) in a strip of land along the frontier with Israel. Most, if not all, of this land, remains under full Israeli control.In a statement, Blair’s office said “the energy sector is indeed one of the eight sectors” including in Blair’s initiative. “Reliable energy supply is critical for the expansion and development of all sectors of the Palestinian economy.” The statement made no reference to the project announced Tuesday and gave no details on where any West Bank oil projects might take place.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office had no comment, and Israel’s energy ministry said it was not involved.The Palestinian announcement appeared to lay the groundwork for a new area of protracted negotiations with Israel. International bodies, including the World Bank, have urged Israel to lift restrictions on Palestinian development in Israeli-controlled areas of the West Bank.In his announcement, Mustafa, a US-educated economist and former official at the World Bank, said initial studies have indicated the exploration area may hold oil reserves of 30 million to 186 million barrels. While not large in global terms, he said the project could generate proceeds of roughly $1 billion for the Palestinian government, including taxes and royalties. The government will accept bids from potential partners through June.“The existence of oil in Palestine is a highly promising opportunity for the Palestinian economy,” he said.In contrast to their energy- rich neighbors, Israel and the Palestinian areas have historically had few natural resources to exploit. In recent years, Israel has developed natural gas fields off its Mediterranean coast. It also has begun pumping oil from a small field located near the boundary with the West Bank, close to the area the Palestinians hope to exploit.Giora Eiland, acting chief executive of Israeli oil firm Givot Olam, declined to comment on the Palestinian plan, but said his company “absolutely” does not take any oil from the Palestinian side.“We only have vertical drills, and all of them are located on the Israeli side,” he said.
Erekat: Abbas showed Obama ‘very ugly’ settlement map-Palestinian Authority leader had a ‘difficult’ but ‘candid’ meeting with the US president in Washington, negotiator says-By Adiv Sterman March 18, 2014, 8:44 pm 27-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Barack Obama was presented Monday with a “very ugly map” depicting Israeli settlement construction throughout the West Bank, the chief Palestinian negotiator said, adding that the meeting between the US president and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was “difficult” yet “candid.”According to Saeb Erekat, over 10,000 housing units were built on Palestinian-owned territory since the US-brokered peace talks commenced last year, the Guardian reported.“We put a map to president Obama, showed him the extent of what happened since we began [negotiations] in July,” Erekat said during a speech at the Wilson Center think-tank in Washington Tuesday, displaying what was apparently Abbas’s map.“It is a very ugly map,” he said. “This was supposed to be land of the Palestinian state.”Erekat went on to say that no concrete US peace proposal had been presented to Abbas during his meeting with Obama, despite the fact that US Secretary of State John Kerry has been working on formulating a “framework” for Israeli-Palestinian peace.“Contrary to what people expected, that we will come out of this meeting with an official American proposal document, this has not happened,” he said.“To submit an official document we need more discussion,” Erekat added.The chief negotiator also criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s insistence on Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish state.“Israel’s name is the State of Israel. That’s how they call themselves,” he said, adding that the Palestinian Authority had already recognized Israel’s right to exist.Last week, Kerry told American lawmakers that Israel’s “Jewish state” demand from the Palestinians was a “mistake.”“We know that’s an issue that the Israelis have spoken about, but we will let those issues remain discussed behind closed doors,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Monday shortly after Abbas met Obama.During that meeting, Abbas stated that “since 1988 and into 1993, we have been extending our hands to our Israeli neighbors so that we can reach a fair and lasting peace to this problem. Since 1988, we have recognized international legitimacy resolutions and this was a very courageous step on the part of the Palestinian leadership. And in 1993, we recognized the State of Israel.”Abbas said that from the Palestinian perspective, “we don’t have any time to waste. Time is not on our side.”He discussed March 29 as the target date for the final release of Palestinian prisoners to which Israel committed as part of the agreement for a nine-month period of talks. That period, which began in July, is set to expire in April. Abbas said that the release of prisoners “will give a very solid impression about the seriousness of the Israelis on the peace process.”Israeli ministers said last week that they would have difficulty approving the release if an agreement was not reached to extend the peace talks.Israel committed to the release of 104 Palestinian prisoners when talks were launched in July. It has so far released 78 of those in three phases, with Palestinians demanding that the fourth — scheduled for later this month — also include Arab Israelis, something Israel has rejected.A major effort is underway in Washington to make sure that both sides remain at the negotiating table after the conclusion of the nine-month period, and Abbas’s statement indicated that the release would be a critical factor in a decision to continue talks.Rebecca Shimoni Stoil, AP and AFP contributed to this report.
Fate of Palestinian prisoners threatens to stymie talks-While Israel conditions inmate release on extending peace process deadline, Palestinians are making the opposite demand-By Adiv Sterman and AP March 18, 2014, 11:03 pm 20-The Times of Israel
Israel’s chief negotiator with the Palestinians on Tuesday cast doubt on whether a scheduled release of Palestinian prisoners would take place at the end of the month, threatening to plunge the already fraught US-led peace talks into a new crisis.Israel agreed to the release of 104 long-serving Palestinian prisoners in four stages as part of a package to relaunch peace talks last July. But after carrying out the first three releases, negotiator Tzipi Livni said, the last group would be released only if there is progress in negotiations. Speaking to a conference on Tuesday, Livni, who is also Israel’s justice minister, said Jerusalem had never committed to the prisoner release. “The key to the prison where the Palestinian prisoners are being held” is in the hands of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, she maintained.The fate of the roughly 5,000 Palestinian security prisoners is extremely emotional in Israel, where the prisoners are seen as terrorists because many were involved in bloody attacks on civilians. Prisoners freed in previous rounds had been convicted in grisly killings of Israelis, and their releases angered many. Israel also objects to the Palestinian demand that Arab citizens of Israel be included in the final round.The issue is equally emotional in Palestinian society after decades of fighting Israel. Palestinians view the inmates as heroes, and prisoners freed in previous rounds were embraced by Abbas and welcomed in elaborate celebrations.“In order to promote serious negotiations we all have to make decisions and prove that our faces are toward a real peace agreement,” Livni said. “The proof of that rests on the Palestinian shoulders as well.”Livni’s comments came at a sensitive time in the negotiations. US Secretary of State John Kerry has set an April target date for reaching a preliminary framework peace deal that would set the stage for months of additional talks to wrap up an agreement.But after nearly eight months of negotiations, there have been no indications that progress is being made, and the dispute over the prisoner release could snarl prospects for an extension to the looming deadline.Senior Israeli officials, quoted by the Makor Rishon daily’s diplomatic correspondent on Twitter, said that “without an explicit commitment by [Abbas] to extend the talks, there will not be a fourth wave” of releases.Earlier on Tuesday, Economy Minister Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home party), who has been outspoken in his objection to the formation of a Palestinian state, said that a release of Palestinian prisoners was unlikely at this point, since, according to him, the negotiations would most likely break down soon.“Now that it is clear that there is no progress in negotiations and instead there are missiles and radicalization on Abbas’s part, I think it’s time for the government to reconsider the fourth phase [of the prisoner release],” Bennett told Army Radio.But the Palestinian minister of prisoner affairs, Issa Karake, indicated that releasing the prisoners was a Palestinian condition for the extension of talks, saying that “if they (Israel) don’t release them they will be foiling the whole peace process.”Israel would be committing “political blackmail” if it were to delay the final phase, Karake said.According to chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, American officials have assured Ramallah that Israel will release 30 security prisoners, completing the fourth phase of its commitment to release 104 inmates jailed before the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993. At least 14 of the 30 security prisoners, he indicated, hold Israeli ID cards and several more live in Jerusalem.At a meeting with US President Barack Obama at the White House on Monday, Abbas expressed hope the prisoners would go free. He said that the release by the planned March 29 date would make a “solid impression” that Israel is serious about peace.Karake further said that during a meeting in Washington on Monday, Abbas had requested of Obama that he push for the release of jailed Fatah strongman Marwan Barghouti, who is serving out five life sentences over his part in orchestrating deadly attacks against Israelis.The talks have run into trouble over other issues as well. The Palestinians have refused Israel’s demand that they recognize it as the homeland of the Jewish people. Israel, meanwhile, has rejected Palestinian demands to commit to basing the borders of a future Palestinian state on lands captured in 1967. It also rejects the Palestinian demand to establish a capital in East Jerusalem.In Washington on Monday, US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Israel and the Palestinians were at “a tough period, a pivotal period of the negotiations.”Asked whether she shared Abbas’s hope that the prisoner release would take place, she said, “Certainly, because it’s part of what was agreed to between the parties. We would support the prisoner release, of course.” “We’re all familiar with the fact that the next tranche of prisoner releases is at the end of March. There obviously is pressure around that timeline,” Psaki said. “But again, we’re working day by day on this.”AFP contributed to this report.
Exiled Fatah strongman calls Abbas a ‘catastrophe’-Responding to criticism, Mohammad Dahlan hints that the PA president’s leadership is illegitimate, he wants a third intifada-By Lazar Berman March 19, 2014, 8:13 am 3-THE TIMES OF ISRAEL
Former Fatah security chief Mohammed Dahlan called Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas a “catastrophe” for the Palestinians in an interview with Egyptian TV.Speaking to Dream2 TV on March 16, Dahlan said that “the Palestinian people can no longer bear a catastrophe like Mahmoud Abbas. Since the day he came to power, tragedies have struck the Palestinian people. I may be one of the people who bear the blame for bringing this catastrophe upon the Palestinian people.”“I apologize to the Palestinian people, but we had no other option,” added Dahlan, according to a MEMRI translation.The former Gaza strongman’s attack on Abbas came in response to the PA president’s hints last week that Dahlan and several of his cohorts had assisted Israel against the Palestinians over a decade ago.“I don’t want to dwell on this ridiculous speech, in which Mahmoud Abbas disgraced himself,” said Dahlan. “He doesn’t mind if other people insult him or if he disgraces himself. He is used to people treating him with contempt. The tragedy is that he harmed Fatah and its history.”Abbas “stole the presidency,” Dahlan continued, saying he represents the destruction of the PA and all that is evil in the lives of the Palestinians.Abbas was elected in 2005, but overstayed his five-year term, blaming a split between Fatah and the Islamist group Hamas, which seized Gaza from Abbas in 2007, of preventing new elections.Dahlan also questioned the PA president’s patriotism. “When [Fatah was] in Tunisia, they used to call him the president of the Jewish Agency,” he said.He lambasted the current US-led negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, hinting that Abbas was willing to use violence to achieve far less than they could have gained through negotiations during Bill Clinton’s presidency.“Mahmoud Abbas was against the Clinton document,” he said. “I supported it. Today, Mahmoud Abbas wants a third war, in order to achieve the same Clinton document. What he is negotiating about today does not amount to 50 percent of the Clinton document.”Dahlan continued to praise the “Clinton parameters” for a peace deal, seeming to blame the press for preventing then-PA president Yasser Arafat from agreeing to those terms. “You were all against the Clinton document,” he charged.“Yasser Arafat wanted it, but you instilled fear in him. We would have gotten 100% of the land, East Jerusalem as the capital, and a reasonable solution for the problem of the refugees, 200,000 of whom would have returned, in keeping with understandings.”Dahlan seemed to include accusations that would harm Abbas’s standing in the eyes of the US, Israel, and neighboring Arab countries. Claims to the effect that Abbas wants another intifada may well have been intended for Israeli and American ears, and Dahlan’s subsequent claim that the PA president served as an informant for deposed Egyptian president Mahmoud Morsi seemed directed toward the current Egyptian regime, which imprisoned Morsi.Dahlan, who has lived in the United Arab Emirates since being ousted from Fatah over corruption allegations, wrote on his Facebook page last Thursday that Abbas’s accusatory speech was “full of lies and deception.”Fatah is known for epic internal feuds, but Abbas’s statements last week marked the first time he entered the fray so publicly.Abbas said Dahlan would never be allowed to return to Fatah and suggested there is no room in the party for those still loyal to the former Gaza strongman. Abbas’s offensive against Dahlan could backfire by drawing new attention to long-standing allegations of top-level corruption in the Palestinian leadership.In his speech, Abbas lashed out at Dahlan and hinted that he was also involved in the death of Yasser Arafat. Abbas also claimed that Dahlan, along with Khaled Islam, a former economic adviser to Arafat, and ex-PA minister Hassan Asfour, acted as spies for Israel.
“The three spies,” Abbas dubbed the trio in his speech. He said his knowledge of Dahlan’s involvement in the assassination of Shahedeh stemmed from an incident during a meeting of PA security officials in Ramallah in 2002.The relationship between Dahlan and Abbas has reached an unprecedented low in recent months. Dahlan regularly instigates against Abbas from the Gulf and has accused him of corruption. In response Abbas and PA security forces have gone after those loyal to Dahlan and have driven them from the ranks of Fatah.There was a reconciliation effort between the two sides last month, when the Palestinian information minister Majed Faraj met in Amman with Samir Masharawi, a close associate of Dahlan. According to Faraj, Abbas agreed that Dahlan’s associates and loyalists in exile could return to the West Bank, but not Dahlan himself.Abbas banished Dahlan in 2010, after Dahlan purportedly called him weak and criticized Abbas’s two adult sons. Dahlan has since spent his time shuttling between Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.Abbas has not designated a successor or said when he might retire, and there is no clear contender. A Fatah party conference where a new leadership would be elected is due in August, but it remains unclear whether it will take place.Avi Issacharoff and AP contributed to this report.
