Thursday, April 03, 2014

RUSSIA - UKRAINE SITUATION WEEK 05 DAY 4

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.

WORLD POWERS IN THE LAST DAYS (END OF AGE OF GRACE NOT THE WORLD)

EUROPEAN UNION-KING OF WEST-DAN 9:26-27,DAN 7:23-24,DAN 11:40,REV 13:1-10
EGYPT-KING OF THE SOUTH-DAN 11:40
RUSSIA-KING OF THE NORTH-EZEK 38:1-2,EZEK 39:1-3
CHINA-KING OF THE EAST-DAN 11:44,REV 9:16,18
VATICAN-RELIGIOUS LEADER-REV 13:11-18,REV 17:4-5,9,18

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.

DANIEL 7:23-25
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast (EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADING BLOCKS-10 WORLD REGIONS/TRADE BLOCS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings(10 NATIONS-10 WORLD DIVISION WORLD GOVERNMENT) that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(TAKE OVER 3 WORLD REGIONS)


THE RUSSIA - UKRAINE SITUATION AT 11:30AM THU APR 03,14

Swiss OSCE Chair appoints Chief and Deputy Chief Monitors for Ukraine
Bern 2 April 2014-Newsroom


BERN, 2 April 2014 – OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Swiss Foreign Minister, Didier Burkhalter today expressed satisfaction with the state of deployment of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine.Ten advance teams have successfully deployed throughout the country to all the locations foreseen (Chernivtsi, Dnepropetrovsk, Donetsk, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Kyiv, Luhansk, Lviv and Odessa). Seconded monitors are joining the advance teams this week, with all deployment going according to schedule.As of Wednesday, 2 April, 2014, the total number of staff in the Special Monitoring Mission, which in a first phase will consist of 100 and may expand up to 500 monitors, has risen to 63. More than 600 applications were submitted in response to the first vacancy note. 30 participating States are currently represented in the Mission.“I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all the participating States that volunteered to second high-quality candidates on such short notice, as well as to all those who have offered to support the Mission through financial or material contributions. Without the prompt and generous contributions of all, the Special Mission could not have been deployed in such an effective way” Burkhalter said.He was grateful to the acting Chief Monitor Ambassador Adam Kobieracki for skillfully launching the mission and overseeing the deployment of advance teams across Ukraine, the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office added.He also wished to thank the host country of the Mission, Ukraine, for the efficient cooperation, he continued.

Burkhalter announced the appointment of Ambassador Ertogrül Apakan of Turkey as Chief Monitor and of Mr. Mark Etherington of the United Kingdom and Mr. Alexander Hug of Switzerland as Deputy Chief Monitors of the Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine.Ambassador Apakan has had a longstanding diplomatic career, most recently as Permanent Representative of Turkey to the United Nations (2009 – 2012) and as Undersecretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2006 – 2009).Mark Etherington, in addition to OSCE experience as Senior Mission Liaison Officer, has been Team Leader in South Sudan and Team Leader for the UK Government Stabilisation Unit with field missions to various countries on behalf of the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office.Currently Head of Section/Senior Advisor at the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities, Alexander Hug has worked as Head of Human Rights & Gender Officer for EULEX Kosovo and has held various positions in the Balkans and Eastern Europe.“Ambassador Apakan, Mr. Etherington and Mr. Hug bring a wealth of experience and regional expertise to the Special Monitoring Mission as it enters its full deployment and operational stage”, Burkhalter said. “Under their leadership, I trust that the Special Monitoring Mission will contribute to fostering peace, stability and security and to reducing tensions on the ground in Ukraine,” he concluded.


Ukraine points finger at ex-president and Russia in sniper deaths
By Pavel Polityuk and Alessandra Prentice 49 minutes ago-APR 3,14-Yahoonews


KIEV (Reuters) - The Ukrainian authorities said on Thursday ousted President Viktor Yanukovich was involved in drawing up plans under which police snipers shot dead dozens of anti-government protesters and hinted at a Russian role in the violent crackdown.The head of Ukraine's security service blamed the killing of more than 100 protesters in mid-February on the 'Berkut' riot police, a turning point in the Moscow-backed leader's ultimately doomed struggle to keep power.He also said representatives of Russia's FSB security force had been seen at the Ukrainian security service's headquarters during the protests that began in November and that a Russian plane had flown a large amount of explosives into Ukraine.The hints of Russian involvement could further strain ties with Ukraine's former Soviet master, which annexed the Crimea region after Yanukovich's removal from power in what has become the worst East-West standoff since the Cold War."The former government of the country gave criminal orders and a huge number of people suffered in the 'mincer'," Interior Minister Arsen Avakov told a news conference in Kiev at which details of an inquiry into the killings were announced.Valentyn Nalyvaichenko, head of the state security service (SBU), added: "It was intended as a counter-terrorism operation but effectively the mass murder of people happened directly under the leadership of former president Viktor Yanukovich.The new government has been under pressure to identify and punish the killers although Yanukovich has denied ordering the killings.In the final bloody days of the protests, rooftop snipers picked off protesters and medical workers on February 20. Many died on the spot from shots to the neck and scores of bodies were left strewn on the ground in central Kiev.One day after the killings, which followed three months of mainly peaceful protests over Yanukovich's decision to spurn closer trade and political ties with the European Union, the president fled Kiev. He was deposed by parliament on February 22.Earlier on Thursday, the prosecutor general said 12 members of the Berkut had been detained on suspicion of shooting peaceful participants in the protests.Acting Attorney General Oleh Makhnitsky said the detainees were members of a special force in the Berkut called the 'Black Unit' and Nalyvaichenko said members of a special unit within SBU had also been involved.In late February the Interior Ministry disbanded the Berkut, whose name means golden eagle.

FIVE TONNES OF RUSSIAN EXPLOSIVES

Nalyvaichenko said the presence of members of Russia's FSB, a successor of the KGB, at the SBU's headquarters in Kiev implied there had been active Russian involvement in events in Ukraine."We have reasonable grounds to believe that these groups ... participated in the planning and implementation of the so-called anti-terrorist operation," he said.The FSB denied any involvement. Russia's RIA news agency quoted it as saying: "Let these statements be on the conscience of the Ukrainian Security Services." Nalyvaichenko also said that planes loaded with 5,100 kilograms of Russia-made explosives and other materials had landed at an aerodrome near Kiev from the Russian city of Chkalovsk in January."They brought the means of organizing the shooting and destruction of our protesters on Maidan," he said, referring to the central Kiev square which became the heart of the protests.Russia has denied any involvement in Kiev's unrest, suggesting that the protests were partly funded by the West."We caution against forming hasty and politicized conclusions based on material and hypotheses that have 'suddenly' surfaced'," Konstantin Dolgov, a Russian Foreign Ministry official responsible for human rights issues, said on Twitter.Dolgov said Russia was closely following the "sniper issue, which exposes the cynical and provocative killing during the Maidan rebellion."The findings of Ukrainian security chief's investigation and the Berkut arrests go some way towards meeting demands for justice over the killings. But many Ukrainians, disillusioned with what they see as a corrupt and mismanaged political system, want more dramatic change."The authorities want to appease us with these arrests. (But) they've not done enough and we see only cosmetic changes and we want radical reforms," said Ivan Kochmar, a 37-year-old resident of Kiev.-(Editing by Timothy Heritage and Giles Elgood)


 03 Apr. 2014 - Remarks by NATO Deputy Secretary General Ambassador Alexander Vershbow
at the Vilnius Conference 2014 ‘’NATO’s Open Door: Ten years after the ‘’big bang’’ ‘--These remarks were delivered at the Minsters’ roundtable on the “Relevance of NATO’s Open Door Policy”

NATO’s open door is the theme of many meetings these days, and understandably so. At our Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Brussels earlier this week, we celebrated the “big bang” enlargement of 10 years ago, and also the “smaller bangs” that came before it in 1999 and after it in 2009. I believe we have every reason to celebrate, because NATO’s open door policy has been a great success.It has been a great success, first of all, for our 12 new members. They enjoy greater security than they could ever achieve alone. They have a seat at the table where key decisions are made to shape our strategic environment; they have Allies with whom to share the common burden of defence; and of course, they have the ultimate security guarantee of Article 5 of our founding treaty, which has been highlighted in the context of the crisis with Russia over Ukraine these past few weeks.As an Alliance, we have been strengthened by the strong commitment of our 12 new members to our defining values – freedom, democracy, human rights, and the rule of law. We have benefitted from the capabilities of our new Allies, and from their contributions to our operations and exercises. And we have benefited from their fresh ideas to help forge the consensus that is the basis of everything we do.But the benefits of the admission of new members into NATO go well beyond the Alliance. Alongside the enlargement of the European Union, it has helped to erase many of the painful Cold War dividing lines on our continent. And it has brought us much closer to our goal of a Europe whole, free and at peace.Today, the prospect of joining our Alliance continues to act as a strong incentive for aspirant nations to demonstrate responsibility and commitment; to stay on the path of democratic reform and reconciliation; and to find new solutions to old disputes.Finally, I would maintain that NATO enlargement has also been good for Russia. And I want to use this opportunity to refute the argument that some in Russia and elsewhere have made that NATO’s enlargement policy was deliberately designed to weaken Russia, and to “encircle” it, and that this policy played a part in prompting Russia to effectively annex parts of Georgia six years ago and to literally annex Crimea last month.The reality is that we have gone out of our way to reach out to Russia, and to reassure Russia. In the 1990s, we established a special forum for NATO allies to consult with Russia and conduct joint actions. We made unilateral commitments not to deploy nuclear weapons on the territory of the new members, not to permanently station substantial combat forces further east, and not to build NATO infrastructure beyond what might be required for reinforcement. Our forces worked shoulder to shoulder in implementing peace agreements in the former Yugoslavia. And we worked hard to engage Russia in dialogue and cooperation on issues of common concern, such as counter-terrorism and counter-piracy – with some considerable success.Moreover, rather than threaten Russia, NATO’s enlargement – along with that of the European Union -- has spread stability, democracy and the rule of law all across Europe. Russia’s western borders have never been more secure. And large parts of Central and Eastern Europe have seen unprecedented economic development and cross-border trade and investment, from which Russia has also benefitted.It is regrettable that all that progress has now been put at risk by Russia’s readiness to use force to redraw borders and create new dividing lines. In the face of this challenge, it is now more important than ever to uphold the principle that every nation is free to choose its own fate. We must stick to our vision of a Europe whole, free and at peace. And we must keep our NATO door open to help to make that vision a reality.Our next NATO Summit in Wales in September will be an important opportunity to demonstrate that determination. We will show solidarity, unity of purpose, and our unbreakable commitment to Article 5 of our founding Treaty. But we will also show a similarly strong commitment to Article 10, which affirms that our Alliance is open to the inclusion of new members who can contribute to our common security.We want to offer an unambiguous Euro-Atlantic perspective to interested countries, and to make clear that any decisions on their inclusion in our Alliance are for NATO members alone to take, on the basis of their individual merits and their ability to meet the obligations and responsibilities of membership. No third nation has a veto over such decisions.NATO will continue to stand up for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine and all our other partners. We will continue to respect their security choices. And we will keep working with those countries that wish to move from partnership with NATO to membership in NATO -- so that they too, in time, are ready to step through our open door.In conclusion, let me say to you, to our Russian friends and their hyperactive propaganda machine: NATO enlargement has not exhausted itself. It has been a resounding success, it has made Europe -- including Russia -- more secure‎, and it remains a central pillar of NATO's future.


OTHER RUSSIA-UKRAINE NEWS I DONE
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2014/04/nato-bans-all-activity-with-russia.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2014/04/russia-ukraine-situation-week-05-day-2.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2014/03/russia-ukraine-situation-week-05.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2014/03/merchant-ship-shot-at-in-strait-of.html 
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2014/03/us-gives-russia-free-military-equipment.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2014/03/russia-says-un-crimea-is-legit-its-my.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2014/03/european-and-obama-meet-in-brussels-on.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2014/03/china-india-brazil-side-with-russia-and.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2014/03/obama-trys-to-rally-world-to-oust-putin.html
http://israndjer.blogspot.ca/2014/03/i-can-do-what-ever-i-want-russia.html
 

CONFUSION-IS PEACE PROCESS ON OR OFF - WHO KNOWS -ABBAS PULLS AN ARAFAG TRICK

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.

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.

ISAIAH 31:5
5 As birds flying,(PLANES) so will the LORD of hosts defend Jerusalem;(WITH PLANES) defending also he will deliver it; and passing over he will preserve it.(NUKE OR BOMB ISRAELS ENEMIES)

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)

ISAIAH 14:12-15
12  How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer,(SATAN) son of the morning!(HEBREW-CRECENT MOON-ISLAM) how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
13  For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
14  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.(SATAN HAS PROUD I PROBLEMS)
15  Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

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

Israeli Teens' Initiative to Defend Zionism Goes Viral-Counter-letter to statement by leftist draft-dodgers attacking the IDF picks up steam.-By Yael Ron-First Publish: 4/2/2014, 3:50 PM-Israelnationalnews

A controversial letter sent to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu several weeks ago, by high school seniors declaring their disdain for the IDF for ideological reasons, has finally received a response. Uri Marco, a senior at the Amit Amihai Yeshiva in Rehovot, gathered some friends and wrote a second letter: a letter defending Zionism, the IDF, and Jewish nationalism. "We, the undersigned, support and strengthen the Israel Defense Forces  - who protect our country - and God-willing, [we] are going to serve with great love and great joy in the IDF, out of a desire to contribute to the people who settle in the Land of Israel," the letter said."As every Jew knows, there are enemies who try to destroy, kill and exterminate all the Jews, so we must act to protect ourselves from them, out of the logical right to ensure our own survival," the letter continues."Some argue that the so-called 'Palestinian people' is under some siege or living under an occupation, and that we carry out human rights abuses and war crimes against them, but these claims are not true at all, because the same people are rebels in the Israeli government [a reference to Arab MKs, who openly oppose Zionism from within the Knesset - ed.], undermine the sovereignty of the State of Israel, endanger Israeli citizens, damage their property and threaten their lives, and don't even recognize the rights of the Jewish nation to live in the Land of Israel! Soldiers must cope daily with problems caused by this hate." Over 200 high school seniors have signed the counter-letter, which ends with the traditional prayer for the safety of IDF soldiers. The letter is being distributed over social networking platforms as well, in a move Marco says is designed to show the world that Israel's youth still believes in the Zionist cause. "When they [leftist students] sent us their letter, we also decided we write a letter - not a letter in reply, not a response, but a general letter which praises the army for its devotion and hard work," Marco stated. "The letter also clarified the importance of the Land of Israel and the importance of the military as the guardian of the Jewish people and homeland."

1 THESSALONIANS 5:3
3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

ISAIAH 33:8
8  The highways lie waste, the wayfaring man ceaseth: he hath broken the covenant,(7 YR TREATY) he hath despised the cities, he regardeth no man.(THE WORLD LEADER-WAR MONGER CALLS HIMSELF GOD)

JERUSALEM DIVIDED

GENESIS 25:20-26
20  And Isaac was forty years old (A BIBLE GENERATION NUMBER=1967 + 40=2007+) when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padanaram, the sister to Laban the Syrian.
21  And Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.
22  And the children (2 NATIONS IN HER-ISRAEL-ARABS) struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the LORD.
23  And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels;(ISRAEL AND THE ARABS) and the one people shall be stronger than the other people;(ISRAEL STRONGER THAN ARABS) and the elder shall serve the younger.(LITERALLY ISRAEL THE YOUNGER RULES (ISSAC)(JACOB-LATER NAME CHANGED TO ISRAEL) OVER THE OLDER ARABS (ISHMAEL)(ESAU)
24  And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.
25  And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau.(THE OLDER AN ARAB)
26  And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau's heel; and his name was called Jacob:(THE YOUNGER-ISRAELI) and Isaac was threescore (60) years old when she bare them.(1967 + 60=2027)(COULD BE THE LAST GENERATION WHEN JERUSALEM IS DIVIDED AMOUNG THE 2 TWINS)(THE 2 TWINS WANT JERUSALEM-THE DIVISION OF JERUSALEM TODAY)(AND WHOS IN CONTROL OF JERUSALEM TODAY-THE YOUNGER ISSAC-JACOB-ISRAEL)(AND WHO WANTS JERUSALEM DIVIDED-THE OLDER,ESAU-ISHMAEL (THE ARABS)

ISAIAH 28:14-19 (THIS IS THE 7 YR TREATY COVENANT OF DANIEL 9:27)
14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
16 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
19 From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.

Arab League Calls Urgent Meeting Over Failing Israel-PA Talks-Mahmoud Abbas reportedly requests meeting to 'examine developments' in talks, bid for statehood.-By AFP and Arutz Sheva Staff-First Publish: 4/2/2014, 4:19 PM-Israelnationalnews

The Arab League has called an emergency meeting of foreign ministers for April 9 to discuss the floundering US-brokered peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA), League chief Nabil al-Arabi said on Wednesday.The meeting will discuss Israel's refusal to release more terrorists, Arabi told AFP.  PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas requested the meeting, Arabi.said, adding it would "examine developments in the light of Israel's refusal to release a fourth tranche of prisoners and extend talks."The League has backed Abbas's stubbornness throughout talks, and rejected recognition of Israel as a Jewish state last month. In February, the League also stated that there would be no peace without a Palestinian state with partitioning Jerusalem, and claimed that recent Israeli actions are intended to foil the peace process. The League recently mulled the idea of turning over the Temple Mount - Judaism's holiest site - to the UN, to avoid Israel allowing Jewish worship there. So far, the Arab League has continued to back the position of PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas, who has consistently said that unless all his preconditions are met, there will be no peace with Israel. The PA has already formally refused to recognize Israel as a Jewish state throughout talks, stating that "the Arab states will never recognize a Jewish state."  In addition, the PA Chairman will reportedly only agree to extend talks if Israel allows a "right of return" for Palestinian Arabs, frees terrorist leaders, and enacts a total freeze on construction in Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria. On Tuesday, Abbas took his defiance a step further: approaching the UN and other international agencies for legitimacy on the one hand - breaking a condition of talks - whilst encouraging US Secretary of State John Kerry to continue talks on the other. Kerry has since cancelled a planned meeting with Abbas set for Wednesday.

Arafat-style, Abbas is playing with fire-In applying to join 15 international organizations, the PA president is trying to pressure Israel and the US. The gambit may backfire-By Avi Issacharoff April 2, 2014, 1:33 am 7-The Times of Israel

“It was expected that the fourth phase [of prisoner releases] would be executed on the 29th of March, and it is deeply regrettable that so far the decision has not been taken to release them. The leadership committed to not approach international organizations during the nine months [of negotiations] for the sake of the release of those prisoners… I presented to the leadership the matters relevant to the prisoners and we decided that if the prisoners will not be released then we will approach 63 international organizations and request to join them. On this matter we unanimously voted and therefore signed a document for joining 15 international agreements.”That was how Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas chose to explain his signature on papers to join 15 international charters on Tuesday evening.Confused? You’re not alone.The signing ceremony was one of those superfluous performances, full of pomp, by the PA.In a live broadcast on official television, surrounded by all the members of the Palestinian leadership, Abbas chose to bring to a vote the matter of applying to international bodies — as though there were any chance that even one of the members of the leadership would vote against the push; as though it wasn’t an overly scripted and staged performance, a set up in which the result could be easily predicted.At times like this, Abbas is all too reminiscent of Yasser Arafat.The man who helped Abbas with the ceremony was the head of the Palestinian negotiation team, Saeb Erekat, who had been threatening Israel for months with this international push.But look deeper, and you’ll see Abbas announced that he was immediately signing up for 15 international organizations, but not the big-ticket United Nations organizations. Look deeper still, and you’ll note that the applications were not actually filed.The president of the Palestinian Authority may have put his name to the applications, but he hadn’t submitted them officially as of Tuesday night. And Abbas stressed in his speech that he intends to continue negotiations with Israel and the United States until the April 29 deadline.The gap between the defiant signature ceremony and the announcement of continued negotiations didn’t confuse the Palestinian media, however. Abbas’s media has already declared the peace talks a failure and it stressed the appeal made by Abbas to the Palestinian public, to go out and begin peaceful resistance.And herein lies a difficult and immediate problem for Abbas. What appears to be an attempt to pressure Israel and the US could easily inflame the Palestinian street, and could push Abbas and the Palestinian leadership once again up a tree from which it would be hard to climb down.Maintaining the negotiations at this stage is not only in the interest of Israel, but also in the interest of the PA, which knows that erupting anger on the Palestinian street could be directed at Ramallah and Abbas first, even before Israel.On Tuesday evening a “spontaneous” rally was held in support of Abbas and his “historic” decision. It’s hard to say if the decision really is historic. It is even harder to say where such demonstrations may lead.

Ministers threaten retaliation over Abbas’s UN move-‘Annexation’ and ‘financial sanctions’ on the table, tourism minister says; Feiglin: Cancel ‘infernal’ Oslo accords-By Spencer Ho and AFP April 2, 2014, 11:04 am-The Times of Israel

Israel could retaliate for the Palestinian Authority’s moves to join UN agencies by annexing territory or with financial sanctions, right-wing ministers warned Wednesday.“If they are now threatening [to go to UN institutions], they must know something simple: They will pay a heavy price,” Tourism Minister Uzi Landau told Israel Radio. “One of the possible measures will be Israel applying sovereignty over areas that will clearly be part of the State of Israel in any future solution.”Israel could also hurt the Palestinians economically by acting “to block financial aid to them,” the minister added.Landau’s remarks were referring to the so-called settlement blocs, areas of the West Bank that Israel hopes to retain in any future peace deal. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday made a public show of beginning steps to join several UN agencies, abandoning a pledge to freeze such action for the duration of peace talks, which are scheduled to end April 29.Abbas made his announcement just hours after Israel reissued tenders for hundreds of homes in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo, and as Washington was working around the clock to resolve a major dispute over Palestinian prisoners.Deputy Knesset Speaker Moshe Feiglin (Likud) called for Israel to “announce the cancellation of the infernal [Oslo] agreements and to exercise Israeli sovereignty over all the territory.”Deputy Minister Ofir Akunis characterized Abbas’s move as “extortion.”“The Palestinians are removing their mask to reveal their true face… that the last thing that interests them is a diplomatic solution,” he said.“The only thing that interests them is dancing in the streets with heinous murderers,” he added, referring to demands that Israel release Palestinian prisoners, some of whom were convicted of murdering Israelis.He added that the US also understands that “nothing satisfies Abbas and that Palestinian extortion knows no bounds.”The standoff came soon after US Secretary of State John Kerry left Israelafter a lightning visit on Tuesday.He had been due to fly back to the region on Wednesday for talks in Ramallah with Abbas, but he canceled his visit following the Palestinian leader’s announcement, while attempting to remain optimistic.“It is completely premature tonight to draw… any final judgement about today’s events and where things are,” he said in Brussels.The top US diplomat had hoped to convince the Palestinians to extend the faltering talks beyond their April 29 deadline, with the sides discussing a proposal which would have included a limited freeze on settlement construction.

Full list of treaties, conventions where Abbas seeks membership-Paperwork was submitted to UN and other officials on Wednesday-By Raphael Ahren April 2, 2014, 3:50 pm-The Times of Israel

Here is a full list of the international treaties and conventions the Palestinians have applied to join.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas signed the relevant documentation at a televised ceremony in Ramallah on Tuesday night. On Wednesday morning, PA Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki handed the letters to UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Robert Serry and to representatives from Switzerland and the Netherlands.

• The Four Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 and the First Additional Protocol
• The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations
• The Vienna Convention on Consular Relations
• The Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in armed conflict
• The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
• The Hague Convention (IV) respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land
• The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
• The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties
• The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
• The Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
• The United Nations Convention against Corruption
• The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide
• The International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid
• The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
• The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

Despite Kerry’s claim, Abbas has applied to join UN-related groups-Secretary had asserted ‘none of the agencies… Abbas signed tonight involve the UN’; Palestinians hand over letters of accession to UN envoy-By Raphael Ahren April 2, 2014, 3:28 pm 5-The Times of Israel

Contrary to an assertion by US Secretary of State John Kerry, the 15 international treaties and conventions to which Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas applied for membership on Tuesday do include groups affiliated to the United Nations.At a televised ceremony on Tuesday evening, Abbas signed letters seeking accession to the UN Convention against Corruption, the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, The International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid, The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, and other UN treaties. (Read the full list of the treaties, conventions, etc., here.)

He indicated that he anticipated that membership would be smoothly granted.On Wednesday morning, Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki handed the letters to UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Robert Serry and to representatives from Switzerland and the Netherlands.“These treaties and conventions will help to protect and promote basic rights of the Palestinian people and will enable the State of Palestine to be a responsible actor on the international stage,” said Ashraf Khatib, a communications adviser for the PLO’s Negotiations Affairs Department. “These treaties are vital to continued Palestinian institutional building, good governance and the upholding of human rights, all of which form the basis for an independent and sovereign State of Palestine. Palestine will pursue this non-violent track, including all possible diplomatic venues, in a way which serves the best interests of its people and the cause of a just peace.”On Tuesday, at a press conference in Brussels, Kerry had denied that any of the 15 agencies where Abbas applied are affiliated with the UN. He spoke amid suggestions that Abbas’s move was a breach of the understandings with the US and Israel under which peace talks were resumed last July.“Let me make it absolutely clear: None of the agencies that President Abbas signed tonight involve the UN. None of them,” Kerry said. “And President Abbas has given his word to me that he will keep his agreement and that he intends to negotiate through the end of the month of April.”Abbas applied to join treaties and conventions, as opposed to UN branches, agencies or programs, such as, for example UNESCO — the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization — which admitted “Palestine” as a full member in 2011.The 15 treaties and conventions the PA sought to join “are mostly conventions/minor agreements,” according to Grant Rumley, a visiting fellow at Mitvim — The Israeli Institute for Regional Foreign Policies, where he focuses on Palestinian negotiation strategies. “Rights of the child, women’s rights, Vienna convention on treaties, 4th Geneva convention, etc. They all look primed to pressure Israel on the settlement construction front, but they are certainly not ‘silver bullets’ for the peace process, like the ICC [International Criminal Court].”Ashraf said Tuesday that the Palestinians would not walk away from the negotiations before their scheduled end of April deadline. “The PLO is committed to negotiations until the 29th April, as agreed,” Ashraf stated.

Is Pollard Open to Terrorist Release Deal, after All?-Campaign spokesman hints Pollard is willing to be freed in peace talk deal; conflicts with reports about waiving hearing to protest deal.-By Ari Yashar-First Publish: 4/2/2014, 1:58 PM-Israelnationalnews

The highly emotionally-charged subject of Jonathan Pollard's ongoing imprisonment and potential release has developed a new wrinkle, as Aaron Troodler, a spokesman for the campaign to free Pollard, hinted that Pollard would be willing to be freed in the US deal proposed Tuesday.That deal would have Pollard, now in his 29th year in an American jail on charges of spying for Israel, released in the next two weeks, in exchange for the release of 400 Israeli-held Arab terrorists, including arch-terrorist Marwan Barghouti, and a partial building freeze in Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem.Troodler told The Daily Beast on Tuesday that "Pollard would not reject the commutation of his sentence. The deal that is currently being discussed is by no means a quid pro quo, rather it’s a gesture being made by the United States to Israel. The fact is this is not a tit for tat. It’s part of a larger agreement."

Conflicting reports

The statement conflicts with earlier reports that Pollard waived a parole hearing on Tuesday in protest of the proposed deal, given his opposition to the proposal that would set Arab terrorists free.Housing and Construction Minister Uri Ariel (Jewish Home) criticized the deal on Tuesday, noting that Pollard himself has opposed a deal like this before, saying he isn't prepared to be released if it meant freedom for Arab terrorists.Attorney Ze'ev Desberg, who himself lost a sister and brother-in-law to Arab terrorism, stated on Tuesday that it was Pollard's right to refuse to cooperate in the deal that would free terrorists.It remains to be seen what Pollard's exact position is on the deal. He has been suffering from a worsening health condition during his extraordinarily long period in jail; just in March he was released from the hospital back to his cell, while still in excruciating pain, according to his wife Esther.However, the deal, which is meant to save the failing peace talks, may be rendered irrelevant by Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's unilateral request to join 15 international UN institutions on Tuesday, in breach of talk conditions and previous treaties.In response to the move, US Secretary of State John Kerry cancelled a meeting with Abbas on Wednesday, even as he claimed "it is completely premature tonight to draw... any final judgement about today's events and where things are."

Palestinian U.N. moves designed to avoid U.S. retaliation
By Noah Browning 48 minutes ago-APR 3,14-Yahoonews


RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - When Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas signed onto 15 international conventions on Tuesday, he shocked the U.S. sponsors of troubled Middle East peace talks. But the move was carefully limited to avoid American retaliation.Abbas's action may have been designed more as a symbolic act of defiance to shore up his tenuous standing among Palestinians frustrated at the diplomatic impasse with Israel over their goal of statehood than a knife in the heart of peacemaking.As a non-member state in the United Nations, Palestinians can join 63 international agencies and accords. However, by only signing conventions dealing with social and human rights instead of seeking full membership in U.N. bodies, the Palestinians' foreign minister said they would not provoke U.S. sanctions."Frankly speaking, I don't expect any consequences coming from the U.S. Congress regarding this step at all," Riad al-Malki told reporters on Wednesday."We did not talk about us becoming members of the U.N. specialized agencies in order for the Congress to activate their decision. We are talking about and we are still talking about letters of submission to protocols and conventions, and that's it."Peace negotiations are near collapse amid mutual accusations of bad faith. In the latest such episode, Abbas inked the 15 conventions in search of more leverage against Israel after it refused to free a batch of Palestinian prisoners under terms of a previous agreement. Israel, in turn, said it would not release those detainees without a Palestinian commitment to continue negotiations beyond an initial end-of-April deadline.U.S. officials criticized what they called "unhelpful, unilateral actions" by both sides.Abbas's limited self-rule administration in the Israeli-occupied West Bank is dependent on U.S. support. Around $500 million in annual aid to the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority helps keep its bloated public sector and security forces afloat.But Congress has repeatedly docked payments as punishment for Palestinian political decisions it disagrees with, including an earlier bid for statehood recognition. A 1990 law also bars U.S. funding to U.N. bodies which recognize a Palestinian state.The law put the United States in the awkward position of losing its right to vote in the cultural and educational body UNESCO last year after Palestinians acceded to it in 2011.U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry pleaded with a congressional foreign affairs committee last month to reassess its U.N. divestment policies - a sign of how badly his State Department wishes to avoid diplomatic damage arising from Palestinian moves."On the next issue of the U.N. waiver, please, I've got to tell you, this is a very one-sided event against us...whether or not the United States loses its vote and gets punished for (Abbas) going (to U.N. agencies) is irrelevant to him. He'll go, because it's a tool for him to be able to do things he hopes that, you know, make life miserable for Israel," Kerry said."They'll go again if they think it's in their best interests. And who will pay the price? The United States of America. We won't be able to vote."

"CLEVER"

Palestinians seek an independent state in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem - lands captured by Israel in a 1967 war. While all parties say negotiations are the best path to peace, Palestinians say they may eventually resort to international bodies to force the militarily vastly more powerful Israel to make concessions for peace.The U.N. General Assembly voted to recognize Palestine as a non-member state in 2012, entitling them to join the accords which Abbas signed up on Tuesday, including conventions against discrimination against women and for the rights of disabled people as well as the Geneva Conventions.They burden the Palestinians with few binding commitments on their government, which has been accused of corruption and abuses of detainees and journalists.Nor do they court retaliation by immediately empowering them to lodge legal complaints against Israel or rattle U.S. foreign policy, a senior U.N. official told Reuters." The nuclear option for Abbas would be to go for the International Criminal Court and International Atomic Energy Agency. Those are the ones that matter," the official said."(The latest signing is) actually quite a clever move. Abbas is saying that the Palestinians want to be part of the global community and improve its state building mechanisms by signing up to a load of well-meaning conventions. He can turn around and say, 'Why should Israel feel threatened by us signing a convention protecting women's rights?'"Peace moves by Abbas, a veteran negotiator who has chosen diplomacy over the violent militancy espoused by his predecessors and Palestinian rivals such as the Islamist Hamas, which controls Gaza, have not been welcomed by his countrymen.Campaigns for recognition at the United Nations, while mostly symbolic, have been praised by many Palestinians.The 78-year old president - who saw his term expire over five years ago but remains in office because of a stalemate with Hamas over conditions for the next elections - may have been keen to shore up his appeal after Israel over the weekend failed to free a fourth and final group of over two dozen Palestinian prisoners as part of a pledge to restart peace talks last year."That's when he reached his endpoint and said, 'I've got to do another measure that's going to improve my popularity,' and going to the U.N. has so far been successful in terms of boosting his popularity," said Diana Buttu, a former legal adviser to Palestinian peace negotiators."But as a measure, it's a weak one. He didn't go all the way to hold Israel accountable and he didn't abandon negotiations."(Additional reporting by Crispian Balmer in Jerusalem, editing by Mark Heinrich)

Palestinian official: Talks can continue, but only on borders-As US battles to save peace process, senior Fatah negotiator says ‘door still open,’ challenges Israel to produce map based on pre-1967 lines-By Stuart Winer and Rebecca Shimoni Stoil April 3, 2014, 9:30 am 25-The Times of Israel

Palestinian negotiators would be willing to continue peace talks with Israel, but only to discuss defining the borders of a future state, a senior Palestinian official said in comments published Thursday.The statement by top Fatah official Mohammed Shtayyeh came as the US scrambled to keep talks alive after each side accused the other of making unilateral moves to torpedo negotiations over the last few days.Speaking to Sky News Arabic on Wednesday, Shtayyeh, who resigned as a member of the Palestinian negotiating team in December, said the Palestinians were prepared to give talks another chance during April, but should they fail, they will seek to join 63 international organizations including the International Criminal Court.Returning to the negotiations “will be on the border only,” he said, challenging Israel to present a map based on the 1967 lines.Shtayyeh said that serious talks about the borders, a core issue, would prove that Israel and the US are sincere about reaching an agreement.Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians were scheduled to last until late April, but broke down earlier in the week after Israel balked at releasing a fourth round of prisoners, which Ramallah says was agreed to before the talks.Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas responded on Tuesday by applying for membership in 15 international bodies, many of which are UN-related, seemingly contravening an agreement not to turn to the United Nations as long as talks continued.The moves drew harsh responses from the US, with the White House accusing the sides of taking “tit-for-tat actions.”US mediator Martin Indyk convened emergency talks late Wednesday night between the two sides’ chief negotiators, Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and the PA’s Saeb Erekat.There was no word on the outcome of the meeting as of Thursday morning.A source close to the talks quoted by the Walla news website said the chances of success were “slim, but we’ll keep trying.”Shtayyeh said that while Abbas’s dramatic televised signing of the applications to join 15 international agencies on Tuesday night was in response to Israel’s stalling over the fourth phase of a series of promised prisoner releases, the “door for negotiations was still open till the end of the month.”He blamed the cancellation of a visit to the region by US Secretary of State John Kerry on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s duplicity over the prisoner release, saying the prime minister had assured Kerry nine times that he would indeed release the prisoners, but then reneged on the assurance.Yasser Abed Rabbo, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s executive committee, endorsed the Palestinian condition that talks focus on defining the borders of a state, but warned against meaningless gestures.“We can’t return to the empty routine, a search for a framework for talks — this empty routine which is negotiating about negotiating,” he said on Wednesday, according to Reuters.Despite the move to join international agencies, Abed Rabbo insisted that Abbas remained committed to the US peace efforts.“The Palestinian leadership… wants the political process to continue. But we want a real political process, without tricks,” he said.Livni termed Abbas’s applications to join the 15 treaties and conventions, which were formally submitted to UN and other officials on Wednesday morning, “a breach of [his] commitment” not to apply to UN bodies while the negotiations were continuing. “It harms Palestinian interests,” she said of the move. “If they want a state, they must understand it must pass through the negotiating room.”Israeli officials were quoted earlier Wednesday saying Abbas had “torpedoed” a nascent, complex, three-way deal under which Israel would have freed a final batch of 26-30 long-term Palestinian terror convicts and also released 400 more Palestinian security prisoners not guilty of violent crimes, peace talks would have extended beyond the current April 29 deadline, and the US would have released American-Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard.Still, Livni said she believed talks would continue despite the crisis. ”We repeat and pledge that we will continue to fight for peace and stand like a fortified wall against the extremists, in the government as well, who are attempting to pass extreme legislation,” she said.Deputy Foreign Minister Ze’ev Elkin lambasted Livni for meeting with Erekat, saying it was “a disgrace to the State of Israel.”“The time has come to stop being the go-to sucker of the Middle East,” he said. “I call on the prime minister and Minister Livni to end the entire negotiation process so long as Abbas doesn’t withdraw his request from the United Nations, and unilaterally implement the many measures Israel has in order to convince the Palestinian leadership that it doesn’t pay for them to fight us in the international arena.”State Department Deputy Spokeswoman Marie Harf refused to implicate Abbas’s move as the sole factor in Kerry’s decision to cancel his Wednesday meeting.Harf would not answer questions Wednesday as to whether the State Department had been warned before Abbas made his Tuesday treaties and conventions move.“Over the last 24 hours there have been unhelpful actions taken on both sides,” Harf said, described a growing “sense over the last 36 hours that we didn’t think it was a conducive environment for the secretary to travel there right now.”Harf said that the coming days represented a critical stage for the talks. “This is one of the points in which both sides must make tough choices,” Harf warned, adding that the two sides “have made courageous decisions in the past” but that “we can’t make the tough decisions for them, they need to do it for themselves.”Acknowledging that “it’s an easy story to write that making Middle East peace is hard,” Harf also emphasized that “talks are not at a dead end. There is still a chance to move the process forward.” During the past eight months, the negotiations had succeeded in “narrowing gaps” between the parties, she argued, but would not specify on which topics.Israel’s Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman, meanwhile, said he did not know “if this is a real crisis or an imagined one” but that ”the ball is in the Palestinians’ court.” Should the Palestinians choose not to resume negotiations, Israel need not run after them with conciliatory gestures, he said. ”If you don’t want negotiations, that’s your decision,” he said.Liberman also said he would not vote for any deal that included freeing Israeli-Arab prisoners, who were reportedly slated to be part of 104 freed in exchange for peace talks.Netanyahu issued no immediate official response to Abbas’s move. But unnamed officials in Jerusalem were quoted by Channel 2 news saying Abbas’s application to join the 15 international treaties and conventions represented a “major breach” of his understandings with Israel and the US over peace negotiations, and that it indicated that there was now “almost no chance” of a Pollard-for-prisoners deal enabling the continuation of peace talks.Netanyahu was reported by Channel 2 to have mustered a cabinet majority in the course of Tuesday for a Pollard-for-prisoners deal, and to have been “shocked” to see the televised ceremony in which Abbas signed off on the various letters of accession. Palestinian officials denied that applying to join the treaties and conventions marked a breach of understandings, and said the PA was committed to continuing talks until the April 29 deadline. “This is the fulfillment of Palestine’s right and has nothing to do with negotiations or the reaching of an agreement,” the PLO’s negotiations department said in a statement.AFP contributed to this report.

Canada's Trudeau Accuses Harper of Pandering to Jewish Vote-Liberal party leader claims Prime Minister supports Israel to gain Jewish votes, calls for better ties with Iran.-By Dalit Halevy, Ari Yashar-First Publish: 4/3/2014, 4:36 PM-Israelnationalnews

In advance of the upcoming 2015 Canadian prime ministerial elections, Liberal party leader Justin Trudeau has claimed that Prime Minister Stephen Harper's policies reflect an effort to pander to the Jewish vote. Trudeau accused Harper of pursuing a staunchly pro-Israel foreign policy so as to gain Jewish votes, during an interview last Thursday with the Farsi-language weekly newspaper Salaam Toronto. The paper is read by Iranian-Canadians, and is widely recognized as being supportive of the Liberal party."Until the prime minister was chosen to be prime minister, he practically didn't travel abroad, and his position on foreign policy was from the point of view of 'can it advance my election campaign or not,'" claimed Trudeau to the paper, reports Shalom Toronto."His (Harper's) position on issues tied to Israel or to the United Nations is very much based on what can affect his standing in the ballot box," charged Trudeau.The Liberal party leader attacked Harper further, saying the crisis in Ukraine troubled him because of the presence of a large Ukrainian community in Canada that is worried about the crisis. Trudeau claimed Harper's visit with Minister of Foreign Affairs John Baird to Ukraine was meant as a photo opportunity to gain more votes.Trudeau attacked Baird as well, saying his trips abroad were used to represent his Conservative party, and not Canada. In doing so, the Liberal leader charged Baird with harming Canada's openness and accountability.

Supporting ties with Iran

Speaking to the Iranian-Canadian paper, Trudeau slammed Canada's tough stance on Iran's nuclear program, saying "the Iranian people are different from the Iranian government. The current Canadian government isn't going to the root of the issue at all and doesn't under this. The most obvious example of this was the decision last year to close the (Canadian) embassy (in Tehran)."The embassy was in fact closed in September, 2012. While Trudeau recognized the security concerns that led to the decision, he espoused an approach of dialogue "with regimes we have opposing opinions with." He argued for keeping open communications with Iran, ostensibly to protect Iranian-Canadians in the Islamic regime."My approach to Canada is different," argued Trudeau, saying after he became leader of the Liberal party he traveled to Washington DC and took positions that "surprised many." The Liberal leader, after accusing Harper of calculated political decisions, claimed he hadn't voiced his opposition to Harper's opinions earlier so as to preserve a unified Canadian voice in the international arena.Trudeau, who is leading in polls for the election race, has in recent months argued that Canada should take a more "balanced line" regarding the Middle East, potentially signifying a shift away from support for Israel.While Trudeau has accused Harper of playing a political game for support with local Jews, he himself has spoken in favor of drawing closer to the large Muslim population in Canada.

Palestinian envoy threatens Israel with ICC membership-Without progress on peace talks, Riyad Mansour says Ramallah will look to join further international treaties and UN agencies
By AP, AFP and Times of Israel staff April 3, 2014, 2:52 am


The Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations said his government may seek to join the International Criminal Court and more UN agencies if there is no progress in peace talks with the Israelis.Riyad Mansour told a news conference Wednesday that the 15 international conventions the Palestinians are seeking to join were just a first group, and more could follow depending on Israel’s actions.In a surprise move, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday resumed a campaign for further international recognition of a state of Palestine, signing applications for the Palestinians to join 15 international treaties and conventions.The Palestinians had promised to suspend such efforts during nine months of peace negotiations with Israel, which are scheduled to end on April 29, but Mansour said Israel failed to release Palestinian prisoners as promised.The UN confirmed Wednesday that its special envoy on Mideast peace, Robert Serry, had received requests from Palestinian officials to join the various international conventions and treaties.Once these applications have been officially received at the UN headquarters, “we will be reviewing them to consider the appropriate next steps,” said Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.The requests come as peace talks between the Palestinians and Israelis are floundering, with Israel making a new bid to expand settlements in East Jerusalem and the Palestinians taking fresh steps towards seeking recognition of their desired state.“We hope a way can be found to see the negotiations through,” UN spokesman Haq said, noting that Serry had met Wednesday with chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat and Israeli Justice Minister and chief negotiator Tzipi Livni.Envoys from the “quartet” — the US, EU, UN, and Russia — also spoke with the relevant parties by telephone, he said.But Mansour said the requests were “a formality” and that their membership in the treaties would come into effect “30 days after the Secretary-General receives the letter of accession.”“What we did is legal,” he insisted, saying “it is our right” to join UN treaties and agencies, since the Palestinians obtained the status of an observer state in November 2012.

The Palestinian Authority has also asked Switzerland if it can join the Fourth Geneva Convention from August 1949 and the first additional protocol. And it has asked the Netherlands if it can join the Hague Convention of 1907 on laws and customs governing war.“Our inclusion in the Geneva convention will be effective immediately because we are under occupation,” Mansour claimed, adding that these applications are just a first wave, with more coming depending on “the interest of the Palestinian people” as well as “the behavior of Israel.”US Secretary of State John Kerry, who cancelled plans to fly in for talks with Abbas in Ramallah after the PA leader signed the treaty applications on Tuesday night, telephoned Abbas on Wednesday and was reported to have asked him to “keep the doors of negotiations open.” The US State Department said that Kerry spoke with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well as to the Palestinian leader on Wednesday morning.Kerry’s special envoy Martin Indyk, meanwhile, convened emergency talks Wednesday night between Livni and Erekat.Livni termed Abbas’s applications to join the 15 treaties and conventions, “a breach of [his] commitment” not to apply to UN bodies while the negotiations were continuing. “It harms Palestinian interests,” she said of the move. “If they want a state, they must understand it must pass through the negotiating room.”Israeli officials were quoted earlier Wednesday saying Abbas had “torpedoed” a nascent, complex, three-way deal under which Israel would have freed a final batch of 26-30 long-term Palestinian terror convicts and also released 400 more Palestinian security prisoners not guilty of violent crimes, peace talks would have extended beyond the current April 29 deadline, and the US would have released American-Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard.Still, Livni said she believed talks would continue despite the crisis. “We repeat and pledge that we will continue to fight for peace and stand like a fortified wall against the extremists, in the government as well, who are attempting to pass extreme legislation,” she said.Deputy Foreign Minister Ze’ev Elkin lambasted Livni for meeting with Erekat, saying it was “a disgrace to the state of Israel.”“The time has come to stop being the go-to sucker of the Middle East,” he said. “I call on the prime minister and Minister Livni to end the entire negotiation process so long as Abbas doesn’t withdraw his request from the United Nations, and unilaterally implement the many measures Israel has in order to convince the Palestinian leadership that it doesn’t pay for them to fight us in the international arena.”State Department Deputy Spokeswoman Marie Harf said that she was not aware of the plans for Livni and Erekat to meet, and refused to implicate Abbas’s move as the sole factor in Kerry’s decision to cancel his Wednesday meeting.Harf had told reporters Tuesday that Kerry would still travel to the region, but shortly after she concluded her press briefing, overseas members of Kerry’s team confirmed that the trip had been canceled. Harf would not answer questions Wednesday as to whether the State Department had been warned before Abbas made his Tuesday treaties and conventions move.“Over the last 24 hours there have been unhelpful actions taken on both sides,” Harf said, described a growing “sense over the last 36 hours that we didn’t think it was a conducive environment for the secretary to travel there right now.”Similarly, Harf would not detail which Israeli actions the State Department defined as so “unhelpful” as to justify a cancellation of Kerry’s trip. Although the Palestinians had complained in recent days that Israel did not release prisoners last weekend as agreed, Kerry’s Tuesday morning meeting with Netanyahu went ahead as planned even after the proposed release date had passed.Harf said that the coming days represented a critical stage for the talks. “This is one of the points in which both sides must make tough choices,” Harf warned, adding that both sides “have made courageous decisions in the past” but that “we can’t make the tough decisions for them, they need to do it for themselves.”Acknowledging that “it’s an easy story to write that making Middle East peace is hard,” Harf also emphasized that “talks are not at a dead end. There is still a chance to move the process forward.” During the past eight months, the negotiations had succeeded in “narrowing gaps” between the parties, she argued, but would not specify on which topics.Israel’s Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman, meanwhile, said he did not know “if this is a real crisis or an imagined one” but that “the ball is in the Palestinians’ court.” Should the Palestinians choose not to resume negotiations, Israel need not run after them with conciliatory gestures, he said. “If you don’t want negotiations, that’s your decision,” he said.Liberman also said he would not vote for any deal that included freeing Israeli-Arab prisoners.Netanyahu issued no immediate official response to Abbas’s move. But unnamed officials in Jerusalem were quoted by Channel 2 news saying Abbas’s application to join the 15 international treaties and conventions represented a “major breach” of his understandings with Israel and the US over peace negotiations, and that it indicated that there was now “almost no chance” of a Pollard-for-prisoners deal enabling the continuation of peace talks.Netanyahu was reported by Channel 2 to have mustered a cabinet majority in the course of Tuesday for a Pollard-for-prisoners deal, and to have been “shocked” to see the televised ceremony in which Abbas signed off on the various letters of accession.Channel 2′s diplomatic correspondent Udi Segal said that Kerry, who claimed on Tuesday that Abbas had not breached peace understandings because he had not sought to join UN-related agencies, seemed to be trying to “whitewash” the PA president’s move. While Kerry claimed on Tuesday that “None of the agencies that President Abbas signed tonight involve the UN,” most of the treaties and conventions are in fact related to UN agencies.Israeli Middle East analyst Ehud Ya’ari noted that the Palestinians had “heavier” diplomatic weapons in their armory that they had not yet chosen to use. He described Abbas’s move as “muscle-flexing” in response to Israel’s failure to release the fourth and final group of Palestinian terror convicts who had been set to go free last weekend. Israeli officials had balked at a PA demand for several Israeli-Arabs to be included in that group, and also insisted that Abbas first commit to extending peace talks past April — a demand Abbas refused.

Frustrated Kerry urges leadership from Israel PM, Abbas-By Hazel Ward 16 minutes ago-APR 3,14-Yahoonews

Jerusalem (AFP) - A frustrated US secretary of state demanded Thursday action from recalcitrant Israeli and Palestinian leaders, saying it was time for them to demonstrate leadership in the crisis-hit peace talks.But John Kerry acknowledged in Algiers that negotiators from the two sides had made "progress" in lengthy overnight talks in Jerusalem, also attended by the Americans.More than a year of intensive Kerry shuttle diplomacy appeared to be on the brink of collapse this week after Israel announced a fresh wave of settlement tenders and the Palestinians resumed moves to seek international recognition for their promised state.Washington expressed disappointment, describing them as "unhelpful, unilateral actions," but insisted diplomacy still had a chance.Speaking Thursday morning during a visit to Algeria, Kerry threw down the gauntlet to both sides, telling them it was time for compromise at what he called a "critical moment" in the peace talks."You can facilitate, you can push, you can nudge, but the parties themselves have to make fundamental decisions to compromise," he said."The leaders have to lead, and they have to be able to see a moment when it's there," he added, showing signs of frustration after his months-long peace efforts appeared to be in tatters.But Kerry said negotiators had made progress in trying to chart a path forward during a meeting that ran until 4:00 am."There is still a gap and that gap needs to close fairly soon."- 'Progress, but gap remains' -Ahead of the talks between US special envoy Martin Indyk, chief Israeli negotiator Tzipi Livni and her Palestinian counterpart, Saeb Erakat, Kerry had spoken by phone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, a US official said.Kerry said he would speak to both leaders again on Thursday."We are urging them to find the compromise that is critical to being able to move forward," he said. "The fight right now, the disagreement.. (is about) what you need to do in order to be able to continue to negotiate."The current crisis was triggered by Israel's refusal to release 26 Palestinian prisoners at the weekend.In response the Palestinians formally requested accession to several international treaties in a bid to unilaterally further their statehood claim.The overnight marathon meeting "focused on the necessity of releasing the prisoners," a Palestinian official told AFP on condition of anonymity.The official said that the applications for accession to several international treaties were "irreversible”.Each side accused the other of violating undertakings given when the current talks were launched under Kerry's sponsorship last July.“The ball is in Israel’s court now. It should release the prisoners,” former Palestinian negotiator Mohammed Shtayeh told AFP.The moves dealt a hammer blow to Kerry's frenetic efforts to broker an extension of the negotiations beyond their original April 29 deadline.
Despite the treaty move, Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Malki insisted that Abbas remained committed to the US peace efforts."This action does not detract from the importance of negotiations. We are still committed to these talks," he said Wednesday after presenting the requests.UN Middle East peace envoy Robert Serry confirmed receiving them, with a spokesman for the secretary general saying they would review them to consider the "appropriate next steps."The first treaty the Palestinians applied to was the Fourth Geneva Convention, which holds huge symbolic importance as it provides the legal basis of their opposition to Israeli settlements in the occupied territories.In Israel, there was surprise and anger over the Palestinian move."The Palestinians have returned to a diplomatic intifada," one political official told Yediot Aharonot newspaper on Thursday, using the Arabic word for uprising.Pro-government Israel HaYom daily said security officials did not believe the Palestinians wanted a breakdown of the talks."The Palestinians currently have no vested interest in a breakdown of the negotiations. Messages in that vein were relayed in talks that were held between security officials from both sides," it said.It also said efforts were underway to compile a list of more prisoners who could be freed should the sides agree to extend the talks.It added that top officials agree that the potential repercussions for Israeli security interests of a collapse in talks "will be far greater than the price that Israel will be required to pay for extending the negotiations for another period of time."

Gaza Snipers Target IDF Civilian Workers-Shots fired at workers near security fence, damage caused but none injured. Worker shot to death just last December.-By Ari Yashar-First Publish: 4/3/2014, 5:38 PM-Israelnationalnews

Arab snipers in Gaza shot at IDF civilian workers working near the security fence on Thursday. None were injured in the attack, although engineering equipment was damaged by the gunfire.The shooting comes just three weeks after terrorists in Gaza unleashed a barrage of rockets on Israel, raining down at least 100 missiles in three days.The unprecedented escalation was the largest-scale attack since the 2012 Operation Pillar of Defense, and led to calls to retake Gaza by IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz, as well as Intelligence and Strategy Minister Yuval Steinitz,and Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman.An IDF civilian worker, 22-year-old Salah Shukri Abu Latif from the Israeli Arab town of Rahat, was shot dead by Gaza snipers last December as he was working on the security fence, repairing damage caused by a record-breaking snowstorm.Since that incident, the Defense Ministry has forbidden all work on the fence without wearing full protective gear, including a helmet and ceramic bulletproof vests. Any workers not wearing the protective gear are to be sent home immediately and not employed by the IDF according to the new guidelines."Before that shooting, a citizen could have said that he couldn't work with the ceramic (vest) or the helmet, and they gave them a dispensation, but today there is an order that workers must be sent home even if they have to be paid money," noted a captain in the Gaza Division to Maariv.The captain added that "today, already in briefings we tell them (workers) that the first time they are caught without protective gear they simply will go home. It harms our work, but the Ministry of Defense has agreed to pay the price in order to protect the lives of the workers."

FALSE POPE FROM THE VATICAN

REVELATION 13:11-13
11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth;(FALSE VATICAN POPE) and he had two horns like a lamb,(JESUS IS THE LAMB OF GOD) and he spake as a dragon.(HES SATANICALLY INSPIRED,HES A CHRISTIAN DEFECTOR FROM THE FAITH)
12 And he (FALSE RELIGIOUS LEADER) exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him,(WORLD DICTATOR) and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.(THE WORLD DICTATOR CREATES A FALSE RESURRECTION AND IS CROWNED LEADER OF THE NEW WORLD ORDER).
13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,

REVELATION 17:1-5,9,15-18
1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication,(VATICAN IN POLITICS) and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
4 And the woman (FALSE CHURCH) was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour,(VATICAN COLOURS)(ANOTHER REASON WE KNOW THE FALSE POPE COMES FROM THE VATICAN) and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.(THE VATICAN IS BUILT ON 7 HILLS OR MOUNTAINS)
15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.(VATICAN-CATHOLICS ALL AROUND THE WORLD OVER 1 BILLION)
16 And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast,(WORLD DICTATOR) these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.
17 For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.
18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

04/ 3/2014 - VATICAN INSIDER - Israeli diplomat strike ends, giving Pope’s visit the all clear
Jerusalem-Israel’s government and unions have reached an agreement which has led to the re-opening of its embassies and consulates worldwide-Maurizio Molinari


in jerusalem-The Israeli Foreign Ministry strike is over. After a year of financial disputes and union battles and strikes that culminated in the complete suspension of all diplomatic activities in the past eleven days, Israel’s government and unions have reached an agreement, leading to the reopening, as of today, of all Israeli embassies and consulates across the world.“The foreign fighters of Israel will return to the global front line,” union representatives said. The white smoke came after an agreement was signed between the Foreign Ministry staff, union representatives and Finance Ministry officials.The agreement is a compromise between the demands put forward by about 1200 employees and the offers made by the Finance Ministry. Pension plans for diplomats and their spouses were strengthened and diplomats working abroad have been guaranteed improved service conditions and financial assistance for going abroad, especially to hardship countries. Also, the period of time required before junior officials can be assigned abroad has been shortened.At the same time, Israel’s diplomats commit themselves to ensuring enduring “industrial peace” and they accept that the decision as to where they are deployed is not just up to them but also the Foreign Ministry. This unprecedented Israeli union strike has caused serious harm to the country’s foreign policy, forcing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to cancel a rare trip to Latin America. There had also been fears that the strike would affect Pope Francis’ end of May visit to the Holy Land but the Vatican had assured it would be going ahead as scheduled.

04/ 2/2014 - VATICAN INSIDER - The Pope’s trip will go ahead despite the Israeli diplomat strike-Francis will be speaking in Italian during his upcoming visit to the Holy Land-Maurizio Molinari

jerusalem-Even if the Israeli diplomat strike drags on until the end of May, the Pope’s visit to the Holy Land is definitely going ahead. This is the prevailing view in Jerusalem, an opinion that a number of sources have confirmed, given that the details of the Pope’s visit were defined before the union unrest. The impossibility of following the Israeli ceremonial protocol usually reserved for such occasions may cause logistical difficulties but the belief is that the other ministries involved and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office should be able to guarantee the Holy See the administrative support required for the visit. Even though this may irritate diplomats.

Francis will speak exclusively in Italian

The Holy See has informed Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Authority that Pope Francis will speak exclusively in Italian during his end of May visit. A number of possibilities were considered but the final decision requires governments to guarantee translations from the language of Dante. Sources close to the bilateral commissions in charge of preparations explained that “Pope Francis only speaks in Spanish in contexts where this language is used by everyone.” This is why Italian is the chosen language for his Middle East trip.

Contact with people despite security

Preparations for the Pope’s visit are in full swing and the Vatican has informed Jordanians, Palestinians and Israelis that the Pope wants to have “contact with people”, leading to much head-scratching among the security services. Some of the governments involved tried imposing limitations on the Pope’s movements but the Holy See is strongly determined in defending the Pope’s chosen approach. The moments when the Pope is expected to embrace the crowds of faithful are the mass in Amman’s stadium and the prayer gathering in Bethlehem’s Manger Square.

That trip Bergoglio made back in 1973

Few know that Bergoglio has already been to Israel. He went on a pilgrimage to the country 43 years ago. But the day after he arrived, the Yom Kippur War broke out - it was October 1973 – posing serious security issues that made it hard to respect the original schedule.

The embrace at the Nuncio’s residence

Pope Francis will meet Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople at the Apostolic Delegation on the Mount of Olives, in the same building and the same room where Paul VI met Athenagoras in 1964. The embrace between the latter two thawed a thousand-year-old freeze in relations between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. That visit was also the Pope’s first trip abroad. Of the three monotheistic religions, the Vatican embassy in East Jerusalem is the only foreign embassy located in The Holy City.

KNOWLEGE AND WORLD TRAVEL (IMMIGRATION) INCREASED

DANIEL 12:4
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 FROM FLEEING WARS) and knowledge shall be increased.(COMPUTERS MICROCHIPS ETC)

Lebanon marks 'devastating' milestone with millionth refugee
By Issam Abdallah 1 hour ago-APR 3,14-Yahoonews


TRIPOLI, Lebanon (Reuters) - The number of Syrian refugees who have fled to Lebanon officially topped 1 million on Thursday, highlighting the growing humanitarian catastrophe caused by Syria's civil war and the huge burden placed on its poorly prepared neighbors.The United Nations refugee agency UNHCR marked what it called a devastating milestone by formally registering a 18-year-old student from the city of Homs as the millionth refugee at a ceremony in Lebanon's Mediterranean city of Tripoli.After three years of conflict sparked by protests against President Bashar al-Assad's autocratic rule, Syria's war has caused one of the greatest upheavals seen in the Middle East - and one which shows no sign of abating.With a population of just 4 million, Lebanon now has the highest per capita concentration of refugees worldwide, an influx which the government has described as an existential threat in a country scarred by its own volatile history. School- aged refugees eclipse the number of Lebanese children in the country's state schools, the UN says, and 2,500 new refugees are registered every day."The extent of the human tragedy is not just the recitation of numbers," UNHCR representative Ninette Kelley told reporters in Tripoli. "Each one of these numbers represents a human life who ... have lost their homes, their family members, their sense of future."Syrians have also fled to Turkey, Iraq, Jordan and Egypt, and the official total of 2.6 million refugees - which understates the scale of the exodus - means Syrians will soon overtake Afghans as the world's biggest refugee population.Many millions more have been displaced inside Syria, and the pace has only accelerated in the last 12 months.In April 2013, two years after the Syrian crisis erupted, there were 356,000 refugees in Lebanon. That number has nearly tripled in the last 12 months."The influx of a million refugees would be massive in any country. For Lebanon, a small nation beset by internal difficulties, the impact is staggering," UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said in a statement.

BLOODSHED AND LACK OF FUNDS

Alongside the wave of refugees spilling over from Syria have come outbreaks of violence in Lebanon, where sectarian divisions reflect those of its larger neighbor.Bombings and rocket attacks from the capital of Beirut to the Bekaa Valley and deadly street fights in Tripoli between Sunni Muslims who mainly support Syria's rebels and Alawites who back Assad have all shaken Lebanon's stability.The bloodshed has contributed to a sharp fall in economic growth just as the refugee arrivals have put extra demand on services such as power, water, education and health facilities.The World Bank says Lebanon's small economy is losing $900 million a year as a direct result of the crisis.A regional appeal for $1.7 billion in 2014 to help the refugees is only 14-percent funded, forcing UNHCR and other aid agencies to focus help on only the most pressing cases.The human cost of that funding shortfall was highlighted in March when refugee Mariam al-Khawli, who fled Syria with her husband and four children two years ago, set herself on fire in frustration at living for six months without the food and cash lifeline provided by the United Nations.Khawli's family relied on the aid because her husband has a lung abscess and cannot work and three of her children have blood conditions. Her doctor said Khawli now has 70 percent burns and will need months of treatment if she survives.The United Nations says the need to support Lebanon is growing more urgent, not only for humanitarian reasons but because the security of the Middle East is at stake."International support to government institutions and local communities is at a level that, although slowly increasing, is totally out of proportion with what is needed," Guterres said."Support to Lebanon ... is also badly needed to stop the further erosion of peace and security in this fragile society, and indeed the whole region."(Writing by Dominic Evans; Editing by Louise Ireland)

Six commissioners head for EU election campaign trail
Today @ 08:11-APR 3,14-EUOBSERVER-By Benjamin Fox


BRUSSELS - Six EU commissioners will officially hit the campaign trail later this month as part of their candidacies for May's European elections. Economic affairs chief Olli Rehn, justice commissioner Viviane Reding, industry boss Antonio Tajani, administration commissioner Maros Sefcovic, EU budget chief Janusz Lewandowski, consumer protection commissioner Neven Mimica are all standing for the EU assembly.In a statement on Wednesday (2 April), European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso granted electoral leave to the Commissioners between 19 April and 25 May, with the exception of Rehn whose electoral leave will start next week on 7 April.Under the rules of the EU executive's Code of Conduct the leave period is unpaid and during that period the commissioners are forbidden from using the commission's resources. All commissioners on electoral leave will return to work on 26 May, the day after the votes of Europeans are counted.Of the seven commissioners hoping to win over voters, Finnish economic affairs official Olli Rehn, who has been the commission's point-man throughout the eurozone crisis, is the most well known. Despite being defeated by Belgian Guy Verhofstadt as the pan-EU Liberal party's candidate for commission president, Rehn is widely expected to win a seat running on the ticket of Finland's liberal centre party.In the meantime, Estonian transport commissioner Siim Kallas will take over Rehn's responsibilities.Elsewhere, In a reshuffle of portfolios, Sefcovic will have his duties taken over by Barroso.Meanwhile, Reding's portfolio will be taken over by Johannes Hahn, the Austrian commissioner for regional policy, while internal market chief Michel Barnier will take over Tajani's post.Latvian development commissioner Andris Piebalgs will take responsibility for Lewandowski's role, and Hungary's Laszlo Andor will add Mimica's consumer portfolio to his employment brief.All the candidates have been placed at the top of their party's election list and are almost certain to be elected in May.Meanwhile, trade commissioner Karel De Gucht will also try to get an MEP post. But he is just the 12th and last candidate for the Verhofstadt-led Flemish liberal party in Belgium and will not actively campaign, leaving him free to continue his EU duties.If elected, those who decide to take up their seat in the 751-member Parliament will be expected to resign from the commission by the end of June.But some argue that commissioners elected as MEPs should immediately stand down from the EU executive to avoid any conflicts of interest.

EU politicians 'overwhelmed' by power shift to social media
02.04.14 @ 17:27-EUOBSERVER-By Honor Mahony

BRUSSELS - Power is moving to the internet and only politicians and political parties that adapt to this new reality will survive in the future is the stark message sent to MEPs on the eve of EU elections."Power is shifting from hierarchies to citizens and networks of citizens," Alec Ross, a US social media expert, told an audience in the European Parliament on Wednesday (2 April).With membership of political parties on the decrease coupled with the expected low turnout for the May EU vote, Ross, who worked for former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, said both EU institutions and MEPs need to attract voters online.Figures show that young voters - voting for the first or second time in their lives - in Western Europe spend an average of five hours a day online. In central and eastern Europe the average is six hours."If you [MEPs and political parties] do not want to see your support go increasingly down, then what you need to do is be more and more aggressive about meeting new voters where they are, which is online," said Ross.

EU leaders ‘overwhelmed’

He added that the traditional binary construct of left/right ideology has been replaced by open versus closed information and political systems.However EU leaders often feel "overwhelmed" by this new power shift as they can no longer control the message, which in yesteryear was usually sent to voters twice a day through their newspaper and the daily TV news in the evening.Now the message risks getting distorted, mocked or trashed by those who receive it.But it is not just a case of hastening online to open a twitter or facebook account and then hoping something good will come of it.MEPs - 400 of the 766 are currently on twitter - should be active, honest and write their twitter updates themselves, said Matthias Luefkens, in charge of digital issues at PR firm Burson Marsteller.They also need a social media team to follow up on questions or issues raised by voters on twitter or facebook.For example, UK leader David Cameron was lampooned when his Twitter account featured a photo of him discussing policy on the phone with US President Barack Obama. His social media team deflated the ridicule by reacting with humour.Luefkins was critical of Martin Schulz's move to rename his Europe Parliament President twitter account - with its over 80,000 followers - as his account for running for the EU commission presidency.He noted that Swedish Foreign minister Carl Bildt, a prolific tweeter, was recently able to answer over 60 questions in half an hour, many more than the average press conference.He praised Finnish Europe minister Alex Stubb - who regularly posts 'selfies' of himself with voters - as really knowing "how to engage his audience".Ross, for his part, said that it is really easy to create "insurgencies" online. He noted that the populist Tea Party in the US has virtually taken over the Republican Party in part because of its "ability to organise online"."The Tea Party is now mainstream Republicanism but as recently as ten years ago, it would have been viewed as right-wing extremism".And this says Ross shows the “downside” of social media."Social media tends to punish moderation and compromise. [It] tends to reward voices at the extreme."In Europe, an equivalent in terms of "insurgency" would be the Italian populist Beppe Grillo's Five Star Party, which is currently polling on about 25 percent.Here Ross' criticism overlapped with Andrew Keen, a well-known critic of the effects of the internet, who said there was little of substance being discussed online. Rather, said Keen, social media is for "narcissists" of which those who appeared the most "authentic" were the most influential.Building networks.Joe Trippi, a US political strategist, said that the most important step for politicians was to build up networks.Voters do not trust politicians, he said, but they trust their peers, colleagues and family and will accept political, social and cultural recommendations from this group.To this comes the fact that social platforms are different. Twitter is used more by political elites; but an increasing "non-elite" is on Facebook, where one third of the EU's eligible voters are present.Trippi said that Obama was helped to a second term in office because of the huge social media network his campaign team had built up during in five years previously. The Republicans, who dismissed the role of in the internet in 2008, are still catching up.Heather Smith from Let's Rock the Vote, a US organisation that tries to get people aware and interested in going to the polls, spoke of the importance of demystifying the voting process.But she was rather scathing of the European Parliament's attempts to explain the vote so far. "I thought it was bad in the US," she said of the assembly's website.

Wednesday, April 02, 2014

6 LEV TAHOR MEMBERS ARRESTED OVER IMMIGRATION ISSUES

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.

Lev Tahor members arrested for immigration issues-CTV Windsor: Lev Tahor members arrested by CBSA-Members of Lev Tahor were arrested by CBSA over suspected immigration issues. Christie Bezaire explains.Allison Jones, The Canadian Press-Published Wednesday, April 2, 2014 2:21PM EDT-Last Updated Wednesday, April 2, 2014 8:26PM EDT

CHATHAM, Ont. -- Six members of an ultra-orthodox Jewish sect were arrested Wednesday by the Canada Border Services Agency over suspected immigration issues, their lawyer said.Some families in the Lev Tahor community are at the centre of an ongoing child custody case, including one family that fled to Guatemala, but according to a community member those arrested are not involved in the child welfare case.CBSA agents went looking for seven Lev Tahor members who had either been ordered removed from Canada or had their status expired, said the group's lawyer, Guidy Mamann.The children's aid society in Chatham, Ont., says the Canada Border Services Agency has arrested seven members of an ultra-orthodox Jewish sect who are believed to be in violation of immigration law.Five of those people, as well as one other person who was found to have alleged immigration issues, were apprehended, Mamann said. He is working with CBSA to make sure the other two people authorities had been seeking comply, he said.Members of the community told local radio station Blackburn News that those arrested are Israeli citizens and their visas had expired. One member of the community told The Canadian Press some of those arrested were American citizens.The seven people being sought by CBSA are known to have 28 children, said Stephen Doig, the executive director of Chatham-Kent Children's Services. An unknown number of children whose parents were both apprehended were taken into care.The children were all back in the community hours later, being looked after by relatives or alternate caregivers, Mamann said Wednesday evening.He is also hopeful that some of the adults who were apprehended will be released by CBSA in short order. But if they are not they must be brought before the Immigration and Refugee Board within 48 hours of their detention being processed by CBSA.CBSA said in a statement that a number of warrants were executed in Chatham for suspected Immigration and Refugee Protection Act violations and "several" people were arrested, though it does not mention the Lev Tahor community by name.

When a teacher in the community was reached by telephone in the immediate wake of the arrests, the sound of wailing children could be heard in the background."You take his mother, you take his sister, you take his father and now child protection wants to take him," Joel Helbrans said later. "It broke all the families." Mamann, who was meeting with Lev Tahor's spiritual leader Rabbi Shlomo Helbrans when reached for an interview, said the community was terrified during the CBSA arrests."It's a frightening experience to look up and see 20-some-odd armed officers going from house to house looking for adults and children," he said."These kids witnessed with their own eyes, with their own eyes, that some of their brothers and sisters, some of their friends, some of their neighbours, were taken by children's aid and never came back. So if you were a child what could you possibly be thinking?"Mamann, a Toronto- based lawyer who was hired recently, said he is providing a legal strategy for the group that has been lacking."That's why there have been all kinds of difficulties that could have easily been avoided had somebody from the group really understood the legal processes," he said."These people are really fish out of water. They get scared, they run. That's not a legal strategy."Fourteen children in the Lev Tahor community are at the centre of an ongoing child custody case.Eight were apprehended last month after leaving Chatham with their families ahead of a custody hearing. Six were detained in Trinidad and Tobago, en route to Guatemala, and were returned to Canada. Two others were found in Calgary.Six other children, who are also part of the child custody case, remain in Guatemala where they fled with their parents and another adult.A Quebec court ordered late last year that 14 Lev Tahor children be placed in foster care after the community of about 200 people left their homes in Ste-Agathe-des-Monts, Que., in the middle of the night, days after a child welfare agency started a court case against a couple of the families.The community settled in Chatham, where a judge ordered last month that 13 Lev Tahor children be turned over to child protection authorities in Quebec.The judge didn't include one girl who is both under 18 and a mother of an infant in his order. He delayed enforcement of that order so the families could have a chance to appeal.That appeal was scheduled to be heard March 5 in Chatham, but instead Chatham-Kent Children's Services brought an emergency motion that resulted in the order to place the kids in temporary care.The appeal was at that time scheduled to be heard April 4.The Lev Tahor community, which came to Canada in 2005 after Rabbi Helbrans was granted refugee status here, was under investigation for issues including hygiene, children's health and allegations that the kids weren't learning according to the provincial curriculum.A spokesman for the community has said Lev Tahor children are given religious education, but he has denied all allegations of mistreatment. The allegations have not been proven in court.Read more: http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/lev-tahor-members-arrested-for-immigration-issues-1.1757629#ixzz2xmRaZPY0
 

FORT HOOD SHOOTER OR 2 ON THE LOOSE - SHOOTING - BREAKING NEWS

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.

REPORTS SAY THERES MULTIPLE INJURIES AT FORT HOOD AS A SHOOTER OR 2 ARE SHOOTING UP THE PLACE FOR THE LAST HOUR OR SO.NO REPORTS OF ANY DEAD.BUT THE CITIZENS ARE TOLD TO STAY IN THEIR ARMY BARRACKS TO PROTECT THEMSELVES FROM THIS SHOOTER OR SHOOTERS.THERE MORE THAN 40,000 MEMBERS ON THE BASE.

AT LEAST 1 DEAD AND 14 INJURED.AND THE SHOOTER DEAD ALSO.

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