Girl, 4, and woman drown in Texas flooding
Just amazing' amount of rain in short period MSNBC
Floods force hundreds from homes
June 18: Flash flooding caused by heavy rain strikes two mobile home parks, forcing residents to climb to their roofs. NBC's Charles Hadlock reports from Haltom City, Texas.MSNBC
Updated: 9:03 a.m. ET June 18, 2007
HALTOM CITY, Texas - Torrential overnight rainfall flooded a handful of North Texas towns Monday, killing two people and stranding people and their pets on the roofs of their homes awaiting rescue.Creeks swollen by as much as 8 inches of rain inundated parts of the towns of Gainesville and Sherman near the Oklahoma state line.A 4-year-old girl, Alexandria Collins, was swept away to her death while firefighters were trying to rescue her and her mother from their home in Haltom City, a Fort Worth suburb. Her body was found more than two hours later.We were in the boat when the boat capsized,” her mother, Natasha Collins, tearfully told KXAS-TV of Dallas. “The current swept her from my arms.A woman died in Sherman, about 60 miles northwest of Dallas near the Oklahoma state line, after her car stalled in rising water and was swept away, Sherman police Sgt. Bruce Dawsey said. A firefighter was struck by lightning but went back to work helping with rescues, he said.
Nursing home evacuated
About 125 residents of a Sherman nursing home were being evacuated, and an unknown number of people were being rescued from an office building where the roof started caving in, Dawsey said.In Gainesville, aerial video showed dozens of people seeking refuge from the high water on a railroad crossing. Families awaited rescue on their roofs, some having hacked their way to the outside from their attics. Some were joined by their dogs.About 100 mobile homes in Haltom City were inundated and many were washed off their foundations, emergency officials said.When I looked out the window, water was up to the bottom of the window and the current was so fast houses were washing away, said Haltom City resident Rachel Hawkes. You could hear people screaming but we couldn’t get out to help.
About 37,000 people live in Sherman and about 16,500 in Gainesville.
Road closures
Authorities closed Interstate 35 from Gainesville to the Oklahoma state line for several hours, the Texas Department of Public Safety said. Some other roads in the region also were closed by high water.The National Weather Service said rain fell at a rate of an inch every 15 minutes in some places early Monday.We get heavy rains in North Texas, but the rate, the amount, the duration and the coverage of this are just amazing, said Gary Woodall, the warning-coordination meteorologist for the weather service office in Fort Worth.The weather service forecast a chance of isolated thunderstorms in the area Monday and Tuesday but said overall the weather was expected to improve.
EU to Offer Direct Aid to Fatah, Keep Ban on Hamas (Update3)
By James G. Neuger and Stephanie Bodoni
June 18 (Bloomberg) -- European Union governments will back Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas with direct financial aid while continuing an economic boycott of Hamas, the movement now in control of the Gaza Strip, the EU said. Direct aid to Abbas's Fatah government on the West Bank would end the financial embargo imposed on the Palestinian leadership after Hamas, a sworn enemy of Israel, became part of a short-lived Palestinian unity government last year. We promised political support and the only way you can provide political support is with financial support, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told a press conference in Luxembourg after chairing a meeting of EU diplomats. We are expressly ready to provide aid. The EU has been the main donor to the Palestinians, providing 700 million euros ($940 million) in 2006. The money went for welfare support and through United Nations agencies, bypassing Hamas.
The EU will earmark the funds once the new Palestinian prime minister, Salam Fayyad, assesses the government's needs and allocates $562 million in Palestinian customs and tax revenue that Israel agreed to unblock. Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who traveled to Luxembourg to meet the EU ministers, said Israel is sincere about yesterday's pledge to release the funds that it had withheld while Hamas was in the government.
Weaken Extremists
The message is clear: We are not looking for excuses not to transfer the money, Livni said. We believe that time is of the essence.Livni said Israel is determined to strengthen the Fatah government, which favors a negotiated settlement of the question of Palestinian statehood, and undercut the breakaway Hamas regime. The goal is to weaken extremists and build a genuine alternative to Hamas with the moderates, she said. This is an opportunity to say to the Palestinians that there is an alternative
Direct EU payments could flow to an account set up by Fayyad when he was finance minister last year, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said. Aid to Hamas-controlled Gaza will be funneled through the UN or through temporary arrangements that were used to pay Palestinian energy bills and provide humanitarian support in the past year. Part of the money will be direct, Solana said. The part that will have to go to Gaza -- we will have to see how it goes.Gaza, a seaside stretch of desert with 1.5 million Palestinians, depends on Israel for water, electricity and access to ports for trade.
In order to help the Palestinian people in Gaza we will need some mechanism that cannot be direct support, Solana said. Separately, Israel's tax authorities today halted the release of shipments to the Gaza Strip to prevent goods from building up on the Israeli side of the border crossing, which has been closed since June 13. To contact the reporters on this story: Stephanie Bodoni in Luxembourg at sbodoni@bloomberg.net ; James G. Neuger in Luxembourg at jneuger@bloomberg.net .
INTERESTING HOW THE KILLERS ARE KILLING THEMSELVES OFF. GAZA IS IN TURMOIL AND THE TROOPS WILL SOON BE COMING IN I PREDICT TO GUARENTEE ISRAELS SECURITY, AS WELL AS STOP HAMAS AND FATAH FROM KILLING EACH OTHER.
Justice Minister Offers Opinion: Open the Gaza Gates
by Hillel Fendel
With 300 Arabs at the Erez Crossing hoping to escape Gaza, followed by possibly thousands more, Justice Min. Friedmann says Israel should let the non-dangerous ones in.Hundreds of Fatah-supporters are still crowded on the Gaza side of the Erez Crossing into Israel, hoping to escape the vengeance of Hamas. Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann announced Monday morning that in his opinion, Israel should ease their passage [to Ramallah], as long as they are not Hamas people or endanger Israeli security.
The Fatah would-be refugees say they are caught between Hamas and Israel, and fear for their lives. Hamas wants to kill them, and Israel fears that thousands of people fleeing not Hamas dangers but economic difficulties will also soon try to pour into Judea and Samaria.Manhigut Yehudit, the Likud Party's Jewish Leadership faction headed by Moshe Feiglin, disagrees sharply with Friedmann. The Government of Israel, by allowing Fatah terrorists to enter the territory of the State of Israel,continues to play fast and loose with the lives of its citizens. Gaza must have one land-based departure point only - towards Egypt.
Similarly, Professors for a Strong Israel released this statement: The drums of war between the Palestinian terror groups are barely silent, and the Kadima ministers are already making their foolish distinctions between good terrorists and bad ones, allowing passage to terrorists running from Gaza who in the future will act against us from Ramallah... They are more interested in the humanitarian needs of the enemy's civilians than those of the residents of Sderot.Several dozen Fatah VIPs and their families, journalists and others were allowed out of Gaza over the weekend, but the IDF shot in the air when hundreds of others tried to follow them.
Hamas has begun a house-to-house search for Fatah leaders in Gaza - although this follows it granting amnesty to several leaders who were caught at the end of last week. During the height of the battles last week, both Hamas and Fatah executed leaders of the opposite group. A drama took place at the Erez Crossing on Friday, when a known Palestinian Authority photographer attempted to pass into Israel. Hamas men pursued him, shooting at his taxi. The photographer then jumped from the taxi and began running towards the Israeli side of the crossing, where he was saved.
U.S. to Lift PA Funding Freeze -- in Judea and Samaria
by Hana Levi Julian
The United States is expected to push hard and fast this week Israel and the Palestinian Authority toward America’s goal five years ago to establish a PA state, now that PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah terrorist faction is clearly divided from Hamas. U.S. Consul General Jacob Walles left no doubt when speaking to reporters on Sunday that his government intended to move ahead to strengthen whatever control over the PA Abbas has managed to retain in the wake of the civil war.The new emergency PA government installed by Abbas in Ramallah (north of Jerusalem) is expected to receive an infusion of American funding and other support, possibly within the next few days.
This government is going to receive the full support of the United States, said Walles, “very quickly both diplomatically and also economically.U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is expected to announce resumption of funding to the PA, said American sources, sometime during Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s visit to Washington this week.
U.S. Hoping to Head Off a 3-State Solution
“It is true now that [the PA chairman’s government] does not have a great ability to influence events in Gaza, admitted Walles in Jerusalem on Sunday. He said that the U.S. would, however, continue to include Gaza in the working definition of the PA entity, at least for now. The Consul-General added that the U.S. will not abandon Gazas 1.8 million PA residents, although he also acknowledged that the issue of helping them had become more complicated since the Hamas takeover of the area.
But I think ways can be found in order to ensure that this (helping Gaza residents) happens. We dont want to see the Palestinian people in Gaza suffer any more as a result of what’s happened there, he said.The American official also said his government eventually hopes to work with Israel to persuade the Arabs of Gaza to abandon their support of the Hamas terrorist network, but realizes this might have to be a long-term project. It is clear that Abbas has yet to prove his ability to control the terrorist factions that permeate the population in PA-controlled areas of Judea and Samaria. Were not going to lose sight of the need to begin a process between Israel and the Palestinians to resolve the fundamental problems, he said, but before we can do that, I think we need to get the house in order first.More to the point, he added, the new PA government would first have to “ensure law and order and security in the West Bank.
PM Olmert Ready to Take More Risks For Peace
Prime Minister Omert was upbeat about the results of the civil war when speaking to Jewish leaders in New York Sunday night, saying, I personally believe that under the new circumstances, with a much greater cooperation between us and the Palestinian government, we can take perhaps more risks than we took in the past.Olmert explicitly stated that Israel can now hand over to the PA up to half of the $700 million in tax revenues that has been withheld since PA residents elected Hamas to become the ruling faction in their government.We will defreeze monies that we kept under our control because we didn't want these monies to be taken by Hamas to be used as part of a terrorist action, promised the prime minister. Fatah forces surrendered some 50,000 weapons, ammunition, military vehicles and other materiel to Hamas terrorists in Gaza last week after Abbas' loyalists lost the PA civil war.
Abbas PA Gov't Sworn In, Haniyeh Denies He's Out
by Hana Levi Julian
A new, Fatah-led Palestinian Authority government was sworn into power on Sunday in PA-controlled areas of Judea and Samaria. But Hamas still rules the new, Fatah-free Gaza. Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas swore in an “emergency government in Ramallah (north of Jerusalem) on Sunday, installing 11 new ministers who are to serve for as long as the PA chairman deems it necessary. According to the PA chairmans aide, Nabil Amar, all of the new ministers are “independent technocrats.
The ceremony took place a day after Abbas issued a decree allowing the formation of a government without prior approval from the Palestinian Legislative Council. The PA chairman had already officially dissolved the Hamas-Fatah “unity government”, led by Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, last Thursday. The emergency government will be led by newly-appointed Prime Minister Salem Fayyad, a professional economist and finance minister in the previous PA government, whose bank account was used to channel foreign aid into Fatah-controlled PA coffers. According to media reports, Fayyad will keep his job as finance minister and will also take on the additional role of foreign minister.
Abdul Razek al-Yihya was sworn in as the new Interior Minister. al-Yihya served as interior minister in the PLO government of the late Yasser Arafat and was involved in negotiations with Israel. The new interior minister faces an uphill battle, having to coordinate security and civilian affairs in the PA-controlled areas of Judea and Samaria, while trying to resurrect the Fatah-linked security forces the few that remain in Gaza.
The rest of the Fatah-appointed PA cabinet ministers are as follows:
Riyad al-Maliki Justice and Information Minister.
Ziyad al-Bandak Municipal Affairs Minister.
Ashraf al-Ajarmi Prisoners, Youth and Sports Minister.
Kamel al-Hasuna Communications, Economy and Public Works Minister.
Hulud Deibas Tourism and Women’s Affairs Minister.
Namis el-Alami Education Minister.
Samir Abdullah Planning Minister.
Fat’hi Abu Marli Health Minister.
Jamal Bawatna Religious Affairs Minister.
Bawatna is also the mufti of the Ramallah district.
Mashhur Abu Dakka Transportation Minister.
Who Rules the PA and in Which Area?
Abbas declared that the new emergency government has authority in Judea and Samaria and in Gaza. He also announced Sunday he was outlawing the Islamist Hamas terrorist organization and disbanding its armed militia. Fatah security men have been attacking Hamas-linked stores and other buildings in Judea and Samaria, burning several of them, since last week. The incidents have taken place primarily in the Samaria cities of Ramallah and Shechem. Local residents said that Fatah members kidnapped several Hamas men last week in Shechem. There were also reports over the weekend that Fatah security men executed a resident for allegedly collaborating with Israel. It was not clear whether the man was associated with Hamas, although it seemed unlikely. Hamas issued a statement in response to the attacks, accusing Fatah of “ethnic cleansing against its members. Fatah spokesman Abu Odai responded by charging Hamas with trying to divert attention from Gaza, where he said Hamas had “murdered 400 Fatah activists.Hamas has led the government after being elected by Palestinian Authority residents to take the helm in a landslide victory at the polls in the PA elections held in January 2006.
Haniyeh insists that mandate is still in force.
The deposed prime minister issued a statement saying The national unity government asserts here that we are fulfilling our duty according to the law. Haniyehs words were echoed by Hamas representative Abu Osama Abd el-Moti, stationed in Iran, who promised that the resistance to Israels presence will get stronger. El-Moti added that Hamas has no intention of establishing a government in the Gaza Strip, and responding to Israels and Fatahs dictates.Hamas is insisting that the new Fatah emergency government is irrelevant, the result of an American-Israeli conspiracy, calling it the peak of illegal political thuggery.Spokesman Ismail Radwan told reporters, The Islamic Resistance Movement considers this government illegitimate and illegal. We will not work with it.Nonetheless, there were glimmers on Sunday that Haniyeh has begun to realize the partys over, dismissing several senior officers in the PA security forces in Gaza. Kamal el-Sheikh, chief of the PA police was one of the first to go, as was the commander of the Preventive Security Services, Rashid Abu Shabak, who had already seen the writing on the wall and tendered his resignation last month.
Monday, June 18, 2007
HAMAS TAKES GAZA
1-Hamas gives amnesty, killings persist. 2-Barak poised to gain Israel defense post. 3-Billy Graham's wife Ruth dies at 87. 4-GAZA ON FIRE: LESSONS FOR WASHINGTON. 5-Arab Media Reports Syria Making Preparations for War with Israel. 6-PA Government Dissolved, Abbas Declares State of Emergency. 7-US sticks to European missile shield plan. 8-Giscard calls on EU leaders to be honest on new treaty. 9-MKs Discuss Transferring Border Crossings to Int’l Force.
Hamas gives amnesty, killings persist By SARAH EL DEEB, Associated Press Writer
JUNE 15,07
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Cheering Hamas supporters wearing green headbands and waving flags surged through Gaza's streets Friday as Islamic militants in black masks took over one of President Mahmoud Abbas' offices and rifled through his bedroom. Hamas offered amnesty to its defeated foes as violence tapered off from five days of bloodshed that claimed more than 90 lives. Bu Fatah leader Abbas made the split complete by firing the Hamas prime minister, leaving Palestinians struggling to adjust to a new political reality that has crushed their long-standing hopes for their own state. Safe in the West Bank, Abbas moved quickly to cement his rule there after losing control of Gaza to Hamas forces. He replaced Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, a Hamas member, with Finance Minister Salam Fayyad, a respected economist, to head a new moderate government.Hamas, overwhelmingly elected in a 2006 parliament vote, denounced Abbas' move as a coup. Hamas' supreme leader, Syrian-based Khaled Mashaal, later said Abbas has legitimacy as an elected president and promised to cooperate, but warned Fatah against going after Hamas loyalists in the West Bank.
But Fatah gunmen and security forces allied with Abbas in the West Bank were prowling that territory looking for Hamas supporters and wrecking a Hamas radio station.The sparring made little difference on the ground: The two Palestinian territories, on either side of Israel, are now separate entities with two governments one run by Hamas and backed by radical Islamic states, and the other controlled by the Western-supported Fatah.Abbas received immediate pledges of support from Israel, the U.S., Egypt, Jordan, the U.N. and Saudi Arabia.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak by phone that he would take steps to bolster Abbas. Officials in Olmert's office said he would consider releasing hundreds of millions of dollars in tax receipts frozen after Hamas came to power.Though the moderate government that Abbas plans to appoint will have no say in Gaza, it stands a stronger chance than the Hamas-Fatah coalition it replaces of restoring foreign aid to the West Bank.The yearlong aid embargo imposed after the Hamas election victory has crippled the Palestinian economy, and many Gazans feared they would become even more isolated and impoverished.
In a West Bank hotel, several Fatah loyalists who fled Gaza sat in the lobby chain-smoking and worked the phones to set up new lives, hearing from relatives in Gaza that their homes had been searched. In Gaza City, a government worker who ran the operations room in the main police compound, called his old office and pleaded with the new Hamas rulers to care for the computers. He gave only his first name, Hani, because he feared for his safety despite Hamas' amnesty offer.Several thousand Hamas supporters in Gaza cheered as a small armored personnel carrier seized from Abbas' forces rolled into the Palestinian legislature compound, where a victory march was held.
A jubilant crowd chanted slogans and waved green Hamas flags as gunmen fired in the air. Many wore green hats and headbands. Excited children climbed over the vehicle, and bearded armed men strutted around the parliamentary building, grinning from ear to ear.Hamas was both cocky and conciliatory. It released nine senior Fatah leaders and many lower-ranking activists, saying it was granting amnesty to its rivals. Hamas spokesman Abu Obeideh also promised to get BBC journalist Alan Johnston, held since March, released quickly. He said Hamas has made contact with the captors and is taking serious and practical steps to win his release.
Yet Hamas gunmen also entered the seaside compound used by Abbas on visits to Gaza, rifling through the president's belongings in his bedroom, next to his office. They lifted the mattress and searched drawers.One gunman sat at the desk of the Fatah leader, who is also known as Abu Mazen, picked up the phone and pretended to call Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Hello, Rice? the gunman said. Here we are in Abu Mazen's office. Say hello to Abu Mazen for me.Gaza's streets, deserted during the fighting, were crowded with cars, pedestrians and triumphant Hamas fighters, some driving in jeeps and firing in the air. Haniyeh, the prime minister fired by Abbas, promised to restore security to the anarchic territory. He urged Gazans to display self-restraint and end the widespread looting of houses and other property of Fatah officials. Looters stripped the home of Fatah strongman Mohammed Dahlan of everything from windows and doors to flowerpots. This was the house of the murderer Dahlan that was cleansed by the holy warriors, read graffiti sprayed on the wall. Donkey carts outside the house waited to take more loot. Dahlan was in Egypt when the fighting erupted, and reached the West Bank on Thursday. Gaza City's Shifa Hospital was still grappling with battle casualties. More than 90 people were killed in the fighting and dozens wounded. The morgue was overflowing, with four bodies lined up on the floor, and some of the wounded were sleeping on cardboard on the floor.
Two men were killed in revenge slayings Friday, including a Fatah gunman thrown from a roof in what Hamas described as a family grievance — the gunman, they said, had killed a member of a Hamas -allied family. Another Fatah loyalist was shot dead in southern Gaza. Since Hamas' victory late Thursday, about a dozen Fatah gunmen had been killed in gangland-style executions, Fatah said.
Before word came of Hamas' amnesty offer, 97 Fatah officials fled in a fishing boat to Egypt. Others reached Israel via the Erez crossing and headed to the West Bank. An Egyptian security delegation left Gaza after failing in its mediation efforts between the warring Palestinian factions. Hamas' military takeover of Gaza formalized the separation between Gaza and the West Bank, and was a major setback to dreams of Palestinian statehood. With a larger middle class, more foreign passport holders and more contact with the outside world, many West Bank residents have long felt they have little in common with Gaza.
I expect to have economic development here and poverty there in Gaza, Salah Haniyeh, a government employee, said as he watched masked Fatah gunmen parading in pickup trucks through the West Bank city of Ramallah. Across the West Bank, Fatah gunmen backed by Abbas-allied security forces expanded an anti-Hamas sweep. Dozens of Hamas supporters had been seized by gunmen or arrested by police since Thursday. In the city of Nablus, a Hamas stronghold, Fatah gunmen set up checkpoints and barred access to the Hamas-run municipal building. Gunmen also vandalized a Hamas media office in Nablus, trashing computers and furniture. We will go after them (Hamas) everywhere, said Mouin Hijazi, a Nablus leader of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a violent Fatah offshoot. We won't allow them to continue existing in the West Bank.In Gaza, an immediate concern was how long the coastal strip would be sealed. Gaza's main passenger and cargo crossings, with Egypt and Israel, were closed this week, and it was not clear when they would reopen. Extended closure could quickly lead to a humanitarian crisis. A Hamas spokesman said Palestinian police, now under Hamas command, would take up positions at the crossings, but it was unlikely Israel would agree to such a deployment because Hamas militants frequently attacked the passages in the past.
John Ging, head of U.N. aid operations in Gaza, said his agency would resume work Saturday. The U.N. Relief and Works Agency provides emergency food rations and health care to hundreds of thousands of Gazans. He called for a quick reopening of the Gaza crossings.
Barak poised to gain Israel defense post By JOSEF FEDERMAN, Associated Press Writer Fri Jun 15, 3:36 PM ET
JERUSALEM - The Israeli Cabinet on Friday approved the appointment of Ehud Barak as defense minister, an Israeli official said, capping the political comeback of the former prime minister six years after a humiliating election defeat. The appointment follows Barak's election this week as leader of the dovish Labor Party. Barak, a former military chief, has made no secret that he coveted the defense post as a step toward returning to the nation's top job.The Cabinet ministers approved Barak's appointment in a special vote conducted over the telephone, the official said. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert wanted the vote taken before he heads to the United States on Saturday, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.Barak's appointment is expected to receive final approval in the Israeli parliament, or Knesset, on Monday, the official said.Shortly after Friday's vote, the current defense minister, Amir Peretz, announced his resignation.Defense Minister Amir Peretz will resign immediately after the Knesset vote on Monday, his office said in a statement. Until then, he will fulfill his duty as usual.In a statement, Olmert's office confirmed his plans to make Barak the defense minister: Only after the expected Knesset authorization on Monday will he be appointed.
Barak's presence in the Cabinet is expected to give a boost to Olmert, who was widely criticized for his performance during last year's war against Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon.While calling for Olmert to resign over the war, Barak is expected to keep Labor in the government coalition for now to help burnish his leadership credentials.Earlier this week, Barak called for unity and pledged to restore Israel's military might and deterrent power.Barak served as prime minister from 1999 until he was crushed by hard-liner Ariel Sharon in a 2001 election, months after the outbreak of the second Palestinian uprising and his failure to secure final peace deals with Syria and the Palestinians.Barak, 65, disappeared from politics after his political drubbing, earning millions on the lecture circuit and advising businesses.Seen as arrogant and overbearing when he was premier, Barak says he learned from his mistakes and would make a far better leader this time.Peretz, a former union leader with scant military experience, was trounced as Labor's leader in a first round of voting on May 28. Like Olmert, he has been widely criticized for his performance during the war. Peretz is expected to receive a lower-profile Cabinet post.
Billy Graham's wife Ruth dies at 87
Mike Baker- Associated Press Writer OneNewsNow.com
June 15, 2007
MONTREAT, N.C.- Ruth Graham, who surrendered dreams of missionary work in Tibet to marry a suitor who became the world's most renowned evangelist, died Thursday. She was 87. Graham died at 5:05 p.m. at her home at Little Piney Cove, surrounded by her husband and all five of their children, said a statement released by Larry Ross, Billy Graham's spokesman.Ruth was my life partner, and we were called by God as a team, Billy Graham said in a statement. No one else could have borne the load that she carried. She was a vital and integral part of our ministry, and my work through the years would have been impossible without her encouragement and support.I am so grateful to the Lord that He gave me Ruth, and especially for these last few years we've had in the mountains together. We've rekindled the romance of our youth, and my love for her continued to grow deeper every day. I will miss her terribly, and look forward even more to the day I can join her in Heaven.Ruth Graham had been bedridden for months with degenerative osteoarthritis of the back and neck- the result of a serious fall from a tree in 1974 while fixing a swing for grandchildren- and underwent treatment for pneumonia two weeks ago. At her request, and in consultation with her family, she had stopped receiving nutrients through a feeding tube for the last few days, Ross said.A public memorial service is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday at the Montreat Conference Center. A private interment service will be held the next day in Charlotte.
As Mrs. Billy Graham, Ruth Graham could lay claim to being the first lady of evangelical Protestantism, but neither exploited that unique status nor lusted for the limelight.Behind the scenes, however, she was considered her husband's closest confidant during his spectacular global career- one rivaled only by her father, L. Nelson Bell, until his death in 1973.She would help my father prepare his messages, listening with an attentive ear, and if she saw something that wasn't right or heard something that she felt wasn't as strong as it could be, she was a voice to strengthen this or eliminate that, said her son, Franklin, who is now the head of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.Every person needs that kind of input in their life and she was that to my father.Bell, a missionary doctor, headed the Presbyterian hospital in Qingjiang, China, that had been founded by the father of author Pearl Buck. Ruth grew up there and spent three high school years in what's now North Korea.What she witnessed in her family home, she practiced for herself- dependence on God in every circumstance, love for his word, concern for others above self, and an indomitable spirit displayed with a smile, said the Grahams' youngest daughter, also named Ruth.
Despite her reluctance to be a public personality herself, Ruth Graham met many of the powerful and famous through her husband- who was a spiritual adviser to presidents for decades. President Bush and first lady Laura Bush called her a remarkable woman of faith who inspired people around the world with her humor, intelligence, elegance, and kindness.She met Billy Graham at Wheaton College in Illinois. He recalled in 1997 memoirs, If I had not been smitten with love at first sight of Ruth Bell I would certainly have been the exception. Many of the men at Wheaton thought she was stunning.
Billy Graham courted her, managing to coax her away from the foreign missions calling and into marriage after both graduated in 1943. In 1945, after a brief stint pastoring a suburban Chicago congregation, he became a roving speaker for the fledgling Youth for Christ organization.From that point onward she had to endure her husband's frequent absences, remarking, I'd rather have a little of Bill than a lot of any other man.Ruth Graham moved the couple into her parents' home in Montreat, where they had relocated after fleeing wartime China. She stayed in western North Carolina mountain town the rest of her life.The young couple later bought their own house across the street from the Bells. Then in 1956, needing protection from gawkers, the Grahams moved into Little Piney Cove, a comfortably rustic mountainside home she designed using logs from abandoned cabins. It became Billy's retreat between evangelistic forays.
Though the wife of a famous Baptist minister, the independent-minded Ruth Graham declined to undergo baptism by immersion and remained a loyal, lifelong Presbyterian. When in Montreat, a town built around a Presbyterian conference center, Billy Graham would attend the local Presbyterian church where his wife often taught the college-age Sunday School class.Due to her husband's travels, she bore major responsibility for raising the couple's five children: Franklin (William Franklin III), Nelson, Virginia, Anne and Ruth.Ruth Graham was the author or co-author of 14 books, including collections of poetry and the autobiographical scrapbook Footprints of a Pilgrim.In 1996, the Grahams were each awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for outstanding and lasting contributions to morality, racial equality, family, philanthropy, and religion.Crime novelist Patricia Cornwell began her writing career with a Ruth Graham biography that depicted many deeds of personal charity. Cornwell said as a youth in Montreat she thought Ruth Graham was the loveliest, kindest person ever born. I still do.She helped establish the Ruth and Billy Graham Children's Health Center in Asheville, and the Billy Graham Training Center near Montreat.Ruth Graham will be buried at the new Billy Graham Library in Charlotte- a source of apparent discord within the family last year. This week, Billy Graham said he and Ruth had decided after much prayer and discussion they would be laid to rest at the foot of a cross-shaped walkway in the library's prayer garden.American Family News Network.
GAZA ON FIRE: LESSONS FOR WASHINGTON JUNE 15,07
* FYI: Joel will be on the Glenn Beck Show tonight on CNN Headline news at 7pm, 9pm and midnight eastern, for a replay of Glenn's recent special on the epicenter and Bible prophecy
By Joel C. Rosenberg
(WASHINGTON, D.C., June 15, 2007) -- Washington politicians take note: Gaza is what can happen when you precipitously pull your military forces out of a Middle Eastern war zone without making sure there is in place a truly democratic government and adequately trained and armed security forces capable of insuring law and order. In the summer of 2005, then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon insisted on a unilateral withdrawal of all Israeli forces from Gaza saying the occupation wasn't working and the Israeli people were tired and ready to come home. Such a bold move would be a sign of goodwill, Sharon insisted, to the Palestinian people and the entire Arab and Islamic world, evidence of Israel's goodwill and desire for peace. But even close allies of Sharon -- chief among them Bibi Netanyahu and Natan Sharansky, both of whom were serving at the time in Sharon's cabinet -- warned that such a unilateral withdrawal would be read by Israel's enemies not as a sign of goodwill but as signs of weakness and surrender. Gaza would not become a model of peace and prosperity, they cautioned, but the scene of a full blown civil war that could give rise to Hamastan, a deadly new base camp for radical Islamic jihadists.
Sadly, that is exactly what has happened. With at least 113 Palestinians dead so far and hundreds more wounded in raging street battles between Hamas and Fatah, Hamas now appears to have gained full control of the Gaza Strip. There have been reports that Hamas commanders are executing Fatah leaders in front of their families. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has dissolved the government and declared a state of emergency. There is also a growing fear in the Arab world -- particularly in Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt and Iraq -- that radical Islamic jihadists could seize control of their governments as well. How will the disaster in Gaza play out over the next few weeks? It's too early to say for certain, but even at this early stage two things are clear: 1) Iran's efforts to surround Israel and prepare to wipe Israel off the map has just been significantly advanced and thus the prospect for a full-blown war in the Middle East this summer or fall now seems more likely, not less; and 2) U.S. politicians had better think twice about a precipitous withdrawal of American military forces in Iraq before the Iraqis are ready unless they want a repeat of the nightmare now unfolding in Gaza.
Arab Media Reports Syria Making Preparations for War with Israel
by Hana Levi Julian JUNE 15,07
A Qatari newspaper, Al Watan, reported Friday that Syria is making concrete preparations for war with Israel, saying that the Syrian government has removed the Government and State Archives from the Damascus area. According to the paper, this move indicates preparations for war. Syrian parliament member Muhammad Habash confirmed on Al-Jazeera Arabic world news satellite TV last week that Syria is indeed engaged in active preparations for a war with Israel. The conflict, said the Syrian MP, is expected to break out during the summer months. Officials close to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert reported Sunday that their efforts to begin negotiations with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad have gone unanswered. They also said that Mr. Assads failure to reply signaled that his claims of wanting peace were not honest and were meant to improve his own status in the international community. Last week, the head of Mossad, Israels international intelligence agency, Meir Dagan, warned that Syrian President Assad was putting up a smoke screen by claiming he wants to open peace talks with the Jewish State.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi has also raised the issue numerous times. The IDF is preparing for an escalation on both the Palestinian and the northern fronts, he said bluntly during a speech to the IDF Officers Training School earlier in the year.The IDF held a large-scale exercise ten days ago simulating a Syrian invasion to Israels north. Infantry units, tank divisions and the Air Force took part in the exercise, which took place at the Shizafon IDF installation, in the southern Negev.
Asked about the exercise by Army Radio, Defense Minister Amir Peretz said that the IDF was indeed preparing for the possibility of war with Syria, but said this does not mean that Israel would initiate such a war. Our preparedness is not an indication of any decision by either us or Syria to go to war - these are purely defensive measures, he said.
PA Government Dissolved, Abbas Declares State of Emergency
by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz JUNE 15,07
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), the head of Fatah, announced on Thursday night that he is dissolving the government of the PA. By Rice called Abbas and expressed her government's support for the forces of Fatah. dismissing the PA's legislative head, Ismail Haniyeh, and other Hamas officials, Abbas formally ended the power-sharing agreement between Hamas and Fatah. The agreement had been in effect for just a few months and was marked by intermittent violence between the two groups from the start. A spokesman for Abbas, Tayeb Abdel-Rahim, said, The President is determined to go back to the Palestinian public, when the situation allows that. Abu Mazen is intending to form a new government, Abdel-Rahim explained.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called Abbas and expressed her government's support for the forces of Fatah, which she defined as moderate.
Earlier Thursday, the Islamist Hamas terrorist group completed its takeover of Gaza, sending the surviving local Fatah leaders fleeing across the border to Egypt and by boat into the Mediterranean Sea. In what was the Fatah-run General Security Services building in Gaza City, Hamas gunmen claimed to have found documents proving strong ties between Fatah and the United States Central Intelligence Agency. Spokesmen for Hamas said they would show the documents on local television on Thursday night.All Fatah traitors who refuse to surrender will be killed, a Hamas spokesman recently made clear. Hamas gave Fatah gunmen a Friday deadline to turn over all their weapons, but Fatah terrorists have been blowing up their own weapons caches and headquarters in various parts of Gaza to prevent their falling into Hamas' hands.
The Executive Committee of the PLO recommended that Abbas ask for international protection against Hamas. During a meeting in Ramallah on Thursday, the committee PLO leaders wanted to protect the Hamas activists from angry Fatah members, they said.authorized Abbas to take whatever decision he judges appropriate, according to one committee member. Abbas said he plans to declare a state of emergency in Hamas-controlled Gaza. In Judea and Samaria, Fatah gunmen arrested dozens of Hamas activists during the day Thursday. According to spokesmen of Abbas' Fatah, the sweeping arrests were for the detainees' own protection. PLO leaders wanted to protect the Hamas activists from angry Fatah members, they said.Senior Fatah terrorist Abu Udai, however, seemed to disagree, telling the Bethlehem-based Maan news service that Hamas is now a legally prohibited movement... Its activities are banned, and Hamas members will be punished if they participated in any Hamas activity. On Tuesday, Abu Udai threatened to wipe out the entire leadership and all the activists of Hamas in the West Bank.
US sticks to European missile shield plan
15.06.2007 - 09:20 CET | By Renata Goldirova
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – NATO and Washington have poured cold water on Moscow's offer to use a Russia-operated radar base in Azerbaijan as an alternative to a possible American site in central Europe, saying the proposal will not halt the ongoing US negotiations with Prague and Warsaw. I don't think that the offer by president Putin – the proposal he made in Heiligendam on the Azeri radar site - is going to replace or be an alternative for the bilateral negotiation between the US and Poland and the US and the Czech Republic, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said after a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council on Thursday (14 June).US defence secretary Robert Gates was also very explicit in telling his Russian counterpart Anatoly Serdyukov that the Azeri radar is an additional capability and the White House intended to proceed with the radar in the Czech Republic.The Russian defence minister himself made no public appearance and no comment in response.
Precisely one week ago, president Vladimir Putin tabled a proposal to build a joint site in the Russia-rented radar station Gabala in Azerbaijan, saying he had already secured agreement from Baku.
Earlier, Mr Putin threatened to target Russian weapons at European territory if the US places 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar base in the Czech Republic – something the Pentagon claims is meant to defend the US and Europe from rogue states such as Iran, but the Kremlin sees as hostile to itself. Despite remaining differences in opinion, the two sides seem to have moved away from the icy rhetoric of previous weeks, which had revived fears of the Cold War when Washington and Moscow both had missiles aimed at each other. I am quite satisfied with the atmosphere and the tone in today's meeting, the NATO chief said, adding we need professional dialogue, civilised debate and that's exactly what we had today.Mr Gates, for his part, added that the door for US-Russia cooperation remains open and that military experts will study Moscow's offer in detail.
Bolt-on system - the way forward
Meanwhile, the 26 NATO countries have agreed to a study which will assess political and military implications of the US missile system in Europe, including the possibility of tying NATO's defence capacities onto the US anti-missile shield. The move was triggered by the fact that while many western and central European countries would benefit from the system primarily designed to protect American soil, countries such as Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria and Romania would be exposed to a possible threat of missile attack. [The] NATO roadmap on missile defence is clear, it is practical and agreed by all, the Secretary General said. According to Mr Scheffer the indivisibility of security remains a guiding principle - meaning all NATO countries should enjoy the same protection. We can never have grade A and B allies in the Alliance because all allies are created equal.The study is to be wrapped up by February next year so that in April – when NATO ministers meet in Bucharest – the final political decision on the way forward is nailed down.
Giscard calls on EU leaders to be honest on new treaty
14.06.2007 - 17:41 CET | By Honor Mahony
EUBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The architect of the draft EU constitution has called on national governments to be honest about what they are trying to achieve with negotiations on a new-look treaty for the bloc and not deceive EU citizens.Writing in French daily Le Monde, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing said EU leaders should not be afraid to tell citizens that they are essentially trying to preserve the text of the constitution that was rejected by French and Dutch voters two years ago.If governments agree on a simplified treaty preserving the essential institutional advances, they should not be afraid to say so and write so.Pointing to the likelihood that the original constitution will be divided up with its innovative elements tacked on to the current Nice and Maastricht treaties and technical parts put into a non-descript treaty, the former French president noted that the public would then be led to adopt, without knowing it, the proposals that we dare not present to them directly.While noting that it might be a good exercise in presentation he went on to criticise that it will reinforce the idea among European citizens that European construction is a machinery organised behind their backs by jurists and diplomats.His words come exactly a week before EU leaders are due to gather in Brussels for a crunch summit on a new treaty.
They go to the heart of what most member states have been trying to do but have been less forthright about saying: preserving as much of the text as possible, taking out overtly constitutional elements – such as the EU symbols - and making the minimum changes necessary to allow the French and Dutch leaders to go back to their respective parliaments with a text that feels different.The chopped up text – currently it is an unwieldy 448-article document – would then go for ratification by national parliaments, presented as the more palatable amended treaties of Nice and Maastricht rather than the more emotive draft EU constitution, that would make a referendum in the UK and other EU sceptical countries impossible to avoid.
Deconstructing Giscard's text
There is likely to be as much chagrin behind Mr Giscard words for the fact that EU leaders are taking his constitution apart as for the fact that they could be deceiving EU citizens.He spent a year and half presiding over the 2002 to 2003 convention that drew up the text and its shape, style and content was largely a result of his wishes.At times he intimated he wanted to go even further, drawing parallels between the convention on the future of the EU and the Philadelphia Convention that prepared a constitution for the United States and comparing himself to Benjamin Franklin, one of America's founding fathers.
MKs Discuss Transferring Border Crossings to Int’l Force
by Hana Levi Julian 28 Sivan 5767, June 14, '07
(IsraelNN.com) Knesset members have begun to discuss the possibility of transferring control of border crossings with Gaza to an international force, in view of the fact that the Islamist Hamas terrorist organization has almost completed its total takeover of the region. Kadima MK Otniel Schneller recommended Thursday that a multi-national force take control of the Erez and Karni crossings, through which goods are delivered, and Palestinian Authority Arabs, diplomatic officials and other VIPs travel. Israel should prepare itself for a situation in which the Gaza Strip is run as an independent terrorist entity which is cut off from the Palestinian Authority, said MK Schneller.
Bringing international forces into areas between the Israeli border and the populated areas in the Strip will aid in a secure separation as well as contribute to the security of Israeli residents who live in the vicinity of Gaza, he added. Meretz Knesset members Zahava Gal-On and Avshalom Vilan both urged the government to open emergency talks with the United Nations, as well as the Arab League, to also discuss the possibility of deploying such a force inside Gaza as a means of restoring calm. MK Yuval Steinitz, meanwhile, slammed the idea. The Likud legislator maintained that only the IDF can destroy the terrorist infrastructure and stop arms smuggling into the Strip.Knesset Member Steinitz added that he believes it is useless to talk about an international force in Gaza, saying that attempts to rely on international forces are doomed to failure.The Hamas terrorist organization agrees. Spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told reporters Hamas rejects any dispatch of foreign forces to the Gaza Strip. The movement would regard those forces as occupation forces no different than the Israeli occupation, regardless of their nationality.PA Chairman and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas had discussed the idea in a phone conversation with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert earlier in the week.
Hamas gives amnesty, killings persist By SARAH EL DEEB, Associated Press Writer
JUNE 15,07
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Cheering Hamas supporters wearing green headbands and waving flags surged through Gaza's streets Friday as Islamic militants in black masks took over one of President Mahmoud Abbas' offices and rifled through his bedroom. Hamas offered amnesty to its defeated foes as violence tapered off from five days of bloodshed that claimed more than 90 lives. Bu Fatah leader Abbas made the split complete by firing the Hamas prime minister, leaving Palestinians struggling to adjust to a new political reality that has crushed their long-standing hopes for their own state. Safe in the West Bank, Abbas moved quickly to cement his rule there after losing control of Gaza to Hamas forces. He replaced Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, a Hamas member, with Finance Minister Salam Fayyad, a respected economist, to head a new moderate government.Hamas, overwhelmingly elected in a 2006 parliament vote, denounced Abbas' move as a coup. Hamas' supreme leader, Syrian-based Khaled Mashaal, later said Abbas has legitimacy as an elected president and promised to cooperate, but warned Fatah against going after Hamas loyalists in the West Bank.
But Fatah gunmen and security forces allied with Abbas in the West Bank were prowling that territory looking for Hamas supporters and wrecking a Hamas radio station.The sparring made little difference on the ground: The two Palestinian territories, on either side of Israel, are now separate entities with two governments one run by Hamas and backed by radical Islamic states, and the other controlled by the Western-supported Fatah.Abbas received immediate pledges of support from Israel, the U.S., Egypt, Jordan, the U.N. and Saudi Arabia.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak by phone that he would take steps to bolster Abbas. Officials in Olmert's office said he would consider releasing hundreds of millions of dollars in tax receipts frozen after Hamas came to power.Though the moderate government that Abbas plans to appoint will have no say in Gaza, it stands a stronger chance than the Hamas-Fatah coalition it replaces of restoring foreign aid to the West Bank.The yearlong aid embargo imposed after the Hamas election victory has crippled the Palestinian economy, and many Gazans feared they would become even more isolated and impoverished.
In a West Bank hotel, several Fatah loyalists who fled Gaza sat in the lobby chain-smoking and worked the phones to set up new lives, hearing from relatives in Gaza that their homes had been searched. In Gaza City, a government worker who ran the operations room in the main police compound, called his old office and pleaded with the new Hamas rulers to care for the computers. He gave only his first name, Hani, because he feared for his safety despite Hamas' amnesty offer.Several thousand Hamas supporters in Gaza cheered as a small armored personnel carrier seized from Abbas' forces rolled into the Palestinian legislature compound, where a victory march was held.
A jubilant crowd chanted slogans and waved green Hamas flags as gunmen fired in the air. Many wore green hats and headbands. Excited children climbed over the vehicle, and bearded armed men strutted around the parliamentary building, grinning from ear to ear.Hamas was both cocky and conciliatory. It released nine senior Fatah leaders and many lower-ranking activists, saying it was granting amnesty to its rivals. Hamas spokesman Abu Obeideh also promised to get BBC journalist Alan Johnston, held since March, released quickly. He said Hamas has made contact with the captors and is taking serious and practical steps to win his release.
Yet Hamas gunmen also entered the seaside compound used by Abbas on visits to Gaza, rifling through the president's belongings in his bedroom, next to his office. They lifted the mattress and searched drawers.One gunman sat at the desk of the Fatah leader, who is also known as Abu Mazen, picked up the phone and pretended to call Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Hello, Rice? the gunman said. Here we are in Abu Mazen's office. Say hello to Abu Mazen for me.Gaza's streets, deserted during the fighting, were crowded with cars, pedestrians and triumphant Hamas fighters, some driving in jeeps and firing in the air. Haniyeh, the prime minister fired by Abbas, promised to restore security to the anarchic territory. He urged Gazans to display self-restraint and end the widespread looting of houses and other property of Fatah officials. Looters stripped the home of Fatah strongman Mohammed Dahlan of everything from windows and doors to flowerpots. This was the house of the murderer Dahlan that was cleansed by the holy warriors, read graffiti sprayed on the wall. Donkey carts outside the house waited to take more loot. Dahlan was in Egypt when the fighting erupted, and reached the West Bank on Thursday. Gaza City's Shifa Hospital was still grappling with battle casualties. More than 90 people were killed in the fighting and dozens wounded. The morgue was overflowing, with four bodies lined up on the floor, and some of the wounded were sleeping on cardboard on the floor.
Two men were killed in revenge slayings Friday, including a Fatah gunman thrown from a roof in what Hamas described as a family grievance — the gunman, they said, had killed a member of a Hamas -allied family. Another Fatah loyalist was shot dead in southern Gaza. Since Hamas' victory late Thursday, about a dozen Fatah gunmen had been killed in gangland-style executions, Fatah said.
Before word came of Hamas' amnesty offer, 97 Fatah officials fled in a fishing boat to Egypt. Others reached Israel via the Erez crossing and headed to the West Bank. An Egyptian security delegation left Gaza after failing in its mediation efforts between the warring Palestinian factions. Hamas' military takeover of Gaza formalized the separation between Gaza and the West Bank, and was a major setback to dreams of Palestinian statehood. With a larger middle class, more foreign passport holders and more contact with the outside world, many West Bank residents have long felt they have little in common with Gaza.
I expect to have economic development here and poverty there in Gaza, Salah Haniyeh, a government employee, said as he watched masked Fatah gunmen parading in pickup trucks through the West Bank city of Ramallah. Across the West Bank, Fatah gunmen backed by Abbas-allied security forces expanded an anti-Hamas sweep. Dozens of Hamas supporters had been seized by gunmen or arrested by police since Thursday. In the city of Nablus, a Hamas stronghold, Fatah gunmen set up checkpoints and barred access to the Hamas-run municipal building. Gunmen also vandalized a Hamas media office in Nablus, trashing computers and furniture. We will go after them (Hamas) everywhere, said Mouin Hijazi, a Nablus leader of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a violent Fatah offshoot. We won't allow them to continue existing in the West Bank.In Gaza, an immediate concern was how long the coastal strip would be sealed. Gaza's main passenger and cargo crossings, with Egypt and Israel, were closed this week, and it was not clear when they would reopen. Extended closure could quickly lead to a humanitarian crisis. A Hamas spokesman said Palestinian police, now under Hamas command, would take up positions at the crossings, but it was unlikely Israel would agree to such a deployment because Hamas militants frequently attacked the passages in the past.
John Ging, head of U.N. aid operations in Gaza, said his agency would resume work Saturday. The U.N. Relief and Works Agency provides emergency food rations and health care to hundreds of thousands of Gazans. He called for a quick reopening of the Gaza crossings.
Barak poised to gain Israel defense post By JOSEF FEDERMAN, Associated Press Writer Fri Jun 15, 3:36 PM ET
JERUSALEM - The Israeli Cabinet on Friday approved the appointment of Ehud Barak as defense minister, an Israeli official said, capping the political comeback of the former prime minister six years after a humiliating election defeat. The appointment follows Barak's election this week as leader of the dovish Labor Party. Barak, a former military chief, has made no secret that he coveted the defense post as a step toward returning to the nation's top job.The Cabinet ministers approved Barak's appointment in a special vote conducted over the telephone, the official said. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert wanted the vote taken before he heads to the United States on Saturday, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.Barak's appointment is expected to receive final approval in the Israeli parliament, or Knesset, on Monday, the official said.Shortly after Friday's vote, the current defense minister, Amir Peretz, announced his resignation.Defense Minister Amir Peretz will resign immediately after the Knesset vote on Monday, his office said in a statement. Until then, he will fulfill his duty as usual.In a statement, Olmert's office confirmed his plans to make Barak the defense minister: Only after the expected Knesset authorization on Monday will he be appointed.
Barak's presence in the Cabinet is expected to give a boost to Olmert, who was widely criticized for his performance during last year's war against Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon.While calling for Olmert to resign over the war, Barak is expected to keep Labor in the government coalition for now to help burnish his leadership credentials.Earlier this week, Barak called for unity and pledged to restore Israel's military might and deterrent power.Barak served as prime minister from 1999 until he was crushed by hard-liner Ariel Sharon in a 2001 election, months after the outbreak of the second Palestinian uprising and his failure to secure final peace deals with Syria and the Palestinians.Barak, 65, disappeared from politics after his political drubbing, earning millions on the lecture circuit and advising businesses.Seen as arrogant and overbearing when he was premier, Barak says he learned from his mistakes and would make a far better leader this time.Peretz, a former union leader with scant military experience, was trounced as Labor's leader in a first round of voting on May 28. Like Olmert, he has been widely criticized for his performance during the war. Peretz is expected to receive a lower-profile Cabinet post.
Billy Graham's wife Ruth dies at 87
Mike Baker- Associated Press Writer OneNewsNow.com
June 15, 2007
MONTREAT, N.C.- Ruth Graham, who surrendered dreams of missionary work in Tibet to marry a suitor who became the world's most renowned evangelist, died Thursday. She was 87. Graham died at 5:05 p.m. at her home at Little Piney Cove, surrounded by her husband and all five of their children, said a statement released by Larry Ross, Billy Graham's spokesman.Ruth was my life partner, and we were called by God as a team, Billy Graham said in a statement. No one else could have borne the load that she carried. She was a vital and integral part of our ministry, and my work through the years would have been impossible without her encouragement and support.I am so grateful to the Lord that He gave me Ruth, and especially for these last few years we've had in the mountains together. We've rekindled the romance of our youth, and my love for her continued to grow deeper every day. I will miss her terribly, and look forward even more to the day I can join her in Heaven.Ruth Graham had been bedridden for months with degenerative osteoarthritis of the back and neck- the result of a serious fall from a tree in 1974 while fixing a swing for grandchildren- and underwent treatment for pneumonia two weeks ago. At her request, and in consultation with her family, she had stopped receiving nutrients through a feeding tube for the last few days, Ross said.A public memorial service is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday at the Montreat Conference Center. A private interment service will be held the next day in Charlotte.
As Mrs. Billy Graham, Ruth Graham could lay claim to being the first lady of evangelical Protestantism, but neither exploited that unique status nor lusted for the limelight.Behind the scenes, however, she was considered her husband's closest confidant during his spectacular global career- one rivaled only by her father, L. Nelson Bell, until his death in 1973.She would help my father prepare his messages, listening with an attentive ear, and if she saw something that wasn't right or heard something that she felt wasn't as strong as it could be, she was a voice to strengthen this or eliminate that, said her son, Franklin, who is now the head of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.Every person needs that kind of input in their life and she was that to my father.Bell, a missionary doctor, headed the Presbyterian hospital in Qingjiang, China, that had been founded by the father of author Pearl Buck. Ruth grew up there and spent three high school years in what's now North Korea.What she witnessed in her family home, she practiced for herself- dependence on God in every circumstance, love for his word, concern for others above self, and an indomitable spirit displayed with a smile, said the Grahams' youngest daughter, also named Ruth.
Despite her reluctance to be a public personality herself, Ruth Graham met many of the powerful and famous through her husband- who was a spiritual adviser to presidents for decades. President Bush and first lady Laura Bush called her a remarkable woman of faith who inspired people around the world with her humor, intelligence, elegance, and kindness.She met Billy Graham at Wheaton College in Illinois. He recalled in 1997 memoirs, If I had not been smitten with love at first sight of Ruth Bell I would certainly have been the exception. Many of the men at Wheaton thought she was stunning.
Billy Graham courted her, managing to coax her away from the foreign missions calling and into marriage after both graduated in 1943. In 1945, after a brief stint pastoring a suburban Chicago congregation, he became a roving speaker for the fledgling Youth for Christ organization.From that point onward she had to endure her husband's frequent absences, remarking, I'd rather have a little of Bill than a lot of any other man.Ruth Graham moved the couple into her parents' home in Montreat, where they had relocated after fleeing wartime China. She stayed in western North Carolina mountain town the rest of her life.The young couple later bought their own house across the street from the Bells. Then in 1956, needing protection from gawkers, the Grahams moved into Little Piney Cove, a comfortably rustic mountainside home she designed using logs from abandoned cabins. It became Billy's retreat between evangelistic forays.
Though the wife of a famous Baptist minister, the independent-minded Ruth Graham declined to undergo baptism by immersion and remained a loyal, lifelong Presbyterian. When in Montreat, a town built around a Presbyterian conference center, Billy Graham would attend the local Presbyterian church where his wife often taught the college-age Sunday School class.Due to her husband's travels, she bore major responsibility for raising the couple's five children: Franklin (William Franklin III), Nelson, Virginia, Anne and Ruth.Ruth Graham was the author or co-author of 14 books, including collections of poetry and the autobiographical scrapbook Footprints of a Pilgrim.In 1996, the Grahams were each awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for outstanding and lasting contributions to morality, racial equality, family, philanthropy, and religion.Crime novelist Patricia Cornwell began her writing career with a Ruth Graham biography that depicted many deeds of personal charity. Cornwell said as a youth in Montreat she thought Ruth Graham was the loveliest, kindest person ever born. I still do.She helped establish the Ruth and Billy Graham Children's Health Center in Asheville, and the Billy Graham Training Center near Montreat.Ruth Graham will be buried at the new Billy Graham Library in Charlotte- a source of apparent discord within the family last year. This week, Billy Graham said he and Ruth had decided after much prayer and discussion they would be laid to rest at the foot of a cross-shaped walkway in the library's prayer garden.American Family News Network.
GAZA ON FIRE: LESSONS FOR WASHINGTON JUNE 15,07
* FYI: Joel will be on the Glenn Beck Show tonight on CNN Headline news at 7pm, 9pm and midnight eastern, for a replay of Glenn's recent special on the epicenter and Bible prophecy
By Joel C. Rosenberg
(WASHINGTON, D.C., June 15, 2007) -- Washington politicians take note: Gaza is what can happen when you precipitously pull your military forces out of a Middle Eastern war zone without making sure there is in place a truly democratic government and adequately trained and armed security forces capable of insuring law and order. In the summer of 2005, then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon insisted on a unilateral withdrawal of all Israeli forces from Gaza saying the occupation wasn't working and the Israeli people were tired and ready to come home. Such a bold move would be a sign of goodwill, Sharon insisted, to the Palestinian people and the entire Arab and Islamic world, evidence of Israel's goodwill and desire for peace. But even close allies of Sharon -- chief among them Bibi Netanyahu and Natan Sharansky, both of whom were serving at the time in Sharon's cabinet -- warned that such a unilateral withdrawal would be read by Israel's enemies not as a sign of goodwill but as signs of weakness and surrender. Gaza would not become a model of peace and prosperity, they cautioned, but the scene of a full blown civil war that could give rise to Hamastan, a deadly new base camp for radical Islamic jihadists.
Sadly, that is exactly what has happened. With at least 113 Palestinians dead so far and hundreds more wounded in raging street battles between Hamas and Fatah, Hamas now appears to have gained full control of the Gaza Strip. There have been reports that Hamas commanders are executing Fatah leaders in front of their families. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has dissolved the government and declared a state of emergency. There is also a growing fear in the Arab world -- particularly in Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt and Iraq -- that radical Islamic jihadists could seize control of their governments as well. How will the disaster in Gaza play out over the next few weeks? It's too early to say for certain, but even at this early stage two things are clear: 1) Iran's efforts to surround Israel and prepare to wipe Israel off the map has just been significantly advanced and thus the prospect for a full-blown war in the Middle East this summer or fall now seems more likely, not less; and 2) U.S. politicians had better think twice about a precipitous withdrawal of American military forces in Iraq before the Iraqis are ready unless they want a repeat of the nightmare now unfolding in Gaza.
Arab Media Reports Syria Making Preparations for War with Israel
by Hana Levi Julian JUNE 15,07
A Qatari newspaper, Al Watan, reported Friday that Syria is making concrete preparations for war with Israel, saying that the Syrian government has removed the Government and State Archives from the Damascus area. According to the paper, this move indicates preparations for war. Syrian parliament member Muhammad Habash confirmed on Al-Jazeera Arabic world news satellite TV last week that Syria is indeed engaged in active preparations for a war with Israel. The conflict, said the Syrian MP, is expected to break out during the summer months. Officials close to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert reported Sunday that their efforts to begin negotiations with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad have gone unanswered. They also said that Mr. Assads failure to reply signaled that his claims of wanting peace were not honest and were meant to improve his own status in the international community. Last week, the head of Mossad, Israels international intelligence agency, Meir Dagan, warned that Syrian President Assad was putting up a smoke screen by claiming he wants to open peace talks with the Jewish State.
IDF Chief of Staff Lt-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi has also raised the issue numerous times. The IDF is preparing for an escalation on both the Palestinian and the northern fronts, he said bluntly during a speech to the IDF Officers Training School earlier in the year.The IDF held a large-scale exercise ten days ago simulating a Syrian invasion to Israels north. Infantry units, tank divisions and the Air Force took part in the exercise, which took place at the Shizafon IDF installation, in the southern Negev.
Asked about the exercise by Army Radio, Defense Minister Amir Peretz said that the IDF was indeed preparing for the possibility of war with Syria, but said this does not mean that Israel would initiate such a war. Our preparedness is not an indication of any decision by either us or Syria to go to war - these are purely defensive measures, he said.
PA Government Dissolved, Abbas Declares State of Emergency
by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz JUNE 15,07
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), the head of Fatah, announced on Thursday night that he is dissolving the government of the PA. By Rice called Abbas and expressed her government's support for the forces of Fatah. dismissing the PA's legislative head, Ismail Haniyeh, and other Hamas officials, Abbas formally ended the power-sharing agreement between Hamas and Fatah. The agreement had been in effect for just a few months and was marked by intermittent violence between the two groups from the start. A spokesman for Abbas, Tayeb Abdel-Rahim, said, The President is determined to go back to the Palestinian public, when the situation allows that. Abu Mazen is intending to form a new government, Abdel-Rahim explained.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called Abbas and expressed her government's support for the forces of Fatah, which she defined as moderate.
Earlier Thursday, the Islamist Hamas terrorist group completed its takeover of Gaza, sending the surviving local Fatah leaders fleeing across the border to Egypt and by boat into the Mediterranean Sea. In what was the Fatah-run General Security Services building in Gaza City, Hamas gunmen claimed to have found documents proving strong ties between Fatah and the United States Central Intelligence Agency. Spokesmen for Hamas said they would show the documents on local television on Thursday night.All Fatah traitors who refuse to surrender will be killed, a Hamas spokesman recently made clear. Hamas gave Fatah gunmen a Friday deadline to turn over all their weapons, but Fatah terrorists have been blowing up their own weapons caches and headquarters in various parts of Gaza to prevent their falling into Hamas' hands.
The Executive Committee of the PLO recommended that Abbas ask for international protection against Hamas. During a meeting in Ramallah on Thursday, the committee PLO leaders wanted to protect the Hamas activists from angry Fatah members, they said.authorized Abbas to take whatever decision he judges appropriate, according to one committee member. Abbas said he plans to declare a state of emergency in Hamas-controlled Gaza. In Judea and Samaria, Fatah gunmen arrested dozens of Hamas activists during the day Thursday. According to spokesmen of Abbas' Fatah, the sweeping arrests were for the detainees' own protection. PLO leaders wanted to protect the Hamas activists from angry Fatah members, they said.Senior Fatah terrorist Abu Udai, however, seemed to disagree, telling the Bethlehem-based Maan news service that Hamas is now a legally prohibited movement... Its activities are banned, and Hamas members will be punished if they participated in any Hamas activity. On Tuesday, Abu Udai threatened to wipe out the entire leadership and all the activists of Hamas in the West Bank.
US sticks to European missile shield plan
15.06.2007 - 09:20 CET | By Renata Goldirova
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – NATO and Washington have poured cold water on Moscow's offer to use a Russia-operated radar base in Azerbaijan as an alternative to a possible American site in central Europe, saying the proposal will not halt the ongoing US negotiations with Prague and Warsaw. I don't think that the offer by president Putin – the proposal he made in Heiligendam on the Azeri radar site - is going to replace or be an alternative for the bilateral negotiation between the US and Poland and the US and the Czech Republic, NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said after a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council on Thursday (14 June).US defence secretary Robert Gates was also very explicit in telling his Russian counterpart Anatoly Serdyukov that the Azeri radar is an additional capability and the White House intended to proceed with the radar in the Czech Republic.The Russian defence minister himself made no public appearance and no comment in response.
Precisely one week ago, president Vladimir Putin tabled a proposal to build a joint site in the Russia-rented radar station Gabala in Azerbaijan, saying he had already secured agreement from Baku.
Earlier, Mr Putin threatened to target Russian weapons at European territory if the US places 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar base in the Czech Republic – something the Pentagon claims is meant to defend the US and Europe from rogue states such as Iran, but the Kremlin sees as hostile to itself. Despite remaining differences in opinion, the two sides seem to have moved away from the icy rhetoric of previous weeks, which had revived fears of the Cold War when Washington and Moscow both had missiles aimed at each other. I am quite satisfied with the atmosphere and the tone in today's meeting, the NATO chief said, adding we need professional dialogue, civilised debate and that's exactly what we had today.Mr Gates, for his part, added that the door for US-Russia cooperation remains open and that military experts will study Moscow's offer in detail.
Bolt-on system - the way forward
Meanwhile, the 26 NATO countries have agreed to a study which will assess political and military implications of the US missile system in Europe, including the possibility of tying NATO's defence capacities onto the US anti-missile shield. The move was triggered by the fact that while many western and central European countries would benefit from the system primarily designed to protect American soil, countries such as Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria and Romania would be exposed to a possible threat of missile attack. [The] NATO roadmap on missile defence is clear, it is practical and agreed by all, the Secretary General said. According to Mr Scheffer the indivisibility of security remains a guiding principle - meaning all NATO countries should enjoy the same protection. We can never have grade A and B allies in the Alliance because all allies are created equal.The study is to be wrapped up by February next year so that in April – when NATO ministers meet in Bucharest – the final political decision on the way forward is nailed down.
Giscard calls on EU leaders to be honest on new treaty
14.06.2007 - 17:41 CET | By Honor Mahony
EUBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The architect of the draft EU constitution has called on national governments to be honest about what they are trying to achieve with negotiations on a new-look treaty for the bloc and not deceive EU citizens.Writing in French daily Le Monde, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing said EU leaders should not be afraid to tell citizens that they are essentially trying to preserve the text of the constitution that was rejected by French and Dutch voters two years ago.If governments agree on a simplified treaty preserving the essential institutional advances, they should not be afraid to say so and write so.Pointing to the likelihood that the original constitution will be divided up with its innovative elements tacked on to the current Nice and Maastricht treaties and technical parts put into a non-descript treaty, the former French president noted that the public would then be led to adopt, without knowing it, the proposals that we dare not present to them directly.While noting that it might be a good exercise in presentation he went on to criticise that it will reinforce the idea among European citizens that European construction is a machinery organised behind their backs by jurists and diplomats.His words come exactly a week before EU leaders are due to gather in Brussels for a crunch summit on a new treaty.
They go to the heart of what most member states have been trying to do but have been less forthright about saying: preserving as much of the text as possible, taking out overtly constitutional elements – such as the EU symbols - and making the minimum changes necessary to allow the French and Dutch leaders to go back to their respective parliaments with a text that feels different.The chopped up text – currently it is an unwieldy 448-article document – would then go for ratification by national parliaments, presented as the more palatable amended treaties of Nice and Maastricht rather than the more emotive draft EU constitution, that would make a referendum in the UK and other EU sceptical countries impossible to avoid.
Deconstructing Giscard's text
There is likely to be as much chagrin behind Mr Giscard words for the fact that EU leaders are taking his constitution apart as for the fact that they could be deceiving EU citizens.He spent a year and half presiding over the 2002 to 2003 convention that drew up the text and its shape, style and content was largely a result of his wishes.At times he intimated he wanted to go even further, drawing parallels between the convention on the future of the EU and the Philadelphia Convention that prepared a constitution for the United States and comparing himself to Benjamin Franklin, one of America's founding fathers.
MKs Discuss Transferring Border Crossings to Int’l Force
by Hana Levi Julian 28 Sivan 5767, June 14, '07
(IsraelNN.com) Knesset members have begun to discuss the possibility of transferring control of border crossings with Gaza to an international force, in view of the fact that the Islamist Hamas terrorist organization has almost completed its total takeover of the region. Kadima MK Otniel Schneller recommended Thursday that a multi-national force take control of the Erez and Karni crossings, through which goods are delivered, and Palestinian Authority Arabs, diplomatic officials and other VIPs travel. Israel should prepare itself for a situation in which the Gaza Strip is run as an independent terrorist entity which is cut off from the Palestinian Authority, said MK Schneller.
Bringing international forces into areas between the Israeli border and the populated areas in the Strip will aid in a secure separation as well as contribute to the security of Israeli residents who live in the vicinity of Gaza, he added. Meretz Knesset members Zahava Gal-On and Avshalom Vilan both urged the government to open emergency talks with the United Nations, as well as the Arab League, to also discuss the possibility of deploying such a force inside Gaza as a means of restoring calm. MK Yuval Steinitz, meanwhile, slammed the idea. The Likud legislator maintained that only the IDF can destroy the terrorist infrastructure and stop arms smuggling into the Strip.Knesset Member Steinitz added that he believes it is useless to talk about an international force in Gaza, saying that attempts to rely on international forces are doomed to failure.The Hamas terrorist organization agrees. Spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri told reporters Hamas rejects any dispatch of foreign forces to the Gaza Strip. The movement would regard those forces as occupation forces no different than the Israeli occupation, regardless of their nationality.PA Chairman and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas had discussed the idea in a phone conversation with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert earlier in the week.
Saturday, June 16, 2007
EX TERRORIST REVEALS TRUTH OF ISLAM
WALID SHOEBAT AN EX PALESTINIAN TERRORIST WAS ON THE 700 CLUB ON THU JUNE 14,07 HERES THE TRUTH HE SAID ABOUT ISLAM.
P.R =Pat Robertson
W.S=Walid Shoebat
p.r- well our next guest is a former Palestinian Terrorist. Hes now a born again Christian. Hes written a facinating new Book that is titled Why we want to kill You. Welcome Walid.
w.s-Thank you.
pr-You know the Western commentators say that these people (ISLAMIC RADICALS) are poor and brought up in sub standard conditions, and they envy the West and their angry because of Western Afluence and therefore they want to protest. Is that why they (Islamists) blow themselves up.
ws-If the reason for suicide Bombing is poverty, and lack of hopelessness. Why would you never find in the Palestinian areas Christians who commit suicide Bombings. The argument could be is wait a minute Christians are not acustomed to suicide bombings. Well you have the second largest Terror Organization after the P.L.O, its the P.F.L.P (Popular Front to Liberate Palestine). Which is run by a Christian Terrorist by the Name of George Habush. Whenever George needs a Suicide bomber they get a Muslim, 100 percent of the time..
pr-The Hindus don't have suicide bombers and the buddist don't have suicide bombers.
ws-Thats a very good point. At a University speech one Professor objected to my speech, he said The reason for Terrorism is poverty. So I asked the crowd do we have anybody from India, and one student said i'm from India. I said do use blow yourselves up because of poverty in India. He said we have lots of poverty in India, none of us blow ourselves up, but they sure come from Pakistan and blow us up.
pr-You showed something in here though, the promise of Islam, and there are people in America that don't believe this. The 72 Virgins and the perpetual erection and all this stuff. What do they teach? What do they say that these young men are going to get.
ws-Heres the eliment that Westerners don't understand. Why this Jihad is going on? And why their killing and why their dying. Its a message of Salvation that Islam is offering. Christianity offers a message of Salvation that by the death of one Person Christ, by the drop of his Blood that we are saved. In Islam, there is no assurance of Salvation. The only way one can asure himself for salvation is by their own death. By the first drop of the blood of the Martyr. He now can enter into Heaven and intercede for 70 members of his or her family.
When the person dies they invite other members to a wedding to celebrate the death. This is what the Western comunity can't understand. The entire Community will come and join in this wedding celebration. The Friday Prayer at the Mosque will be dedicated to the martyr. The house of the Martyr becomes a museum, where the entire community comes to visit. Celebarations all over the streets for the Martyr because now hes entered into Paradise.
This is the problem with Islam is because Islam rejects the intercession of Jesus Christ. However, Islam does offer the intercession of the Martyr. The intercession of the Sin.
pr-He gets 72 Virgins, pure black eyed virgins who have never been touched by anyone.
ws-Its not just 72 Virgins Pat.
pr-Oh its not 72.
ws-Its 72 mansions.
pr-72 mansions.
ws-In each mansion, 72 beds, and in each bed 72 Virgins.
pr-that math stagers me.
(my comment here they commit suicide for a sexual pleasure Islam does, simply its suicide for eternal sex).
ws-72x72x72
pr-That guys gonna wear himself out before his (laughter)
ws-It really does't make any sense. But the main issue is not that, the main issue is the Salvation issue, they want to be saved. and in order to be saved you die. And because the Koran itself says do not think the ones who die for the cause of allah are dead, but are alive with allah recieving his blessings.
pr-People in America, you point out in this book are dupped by the so called moderate Muslims. This is fundemental teaching of the Koran and of the Islamic world isn't it. Your not talking about some groups.
ws-Jaffa Tyare, The time of Mahomid, relative of the Prophet Mohamid died in his suicide act as he attacked the enemy. He had wings they called him a flying Jaffa. So suicide missions were at the Time of Mohomid the Prophet of Islam. The Americans are being decieved by this moderate Islam.
There are liberal Muslims who don't care about fundamental views of Islam, but however by far the fundementalist view is not Islamic as a religion has almost been taught to us as Jihad. Because when your read in the Bible about Anti-Christ , He honors the God of War, He honors the God of fortresses. In Islam, Allah is a God of War. He doesn't honor the desire of Women. In Islam they do not honor the desire of Women either. So Islam is a very anti-Christ system. Attemps to change times and laws in the Bible regarding the Anti-Christ system. And if you look at Islam, What do they want to do. Change the Laws of the World.
So all this interpretation we have in the west about, what is this about changing the laws. They think its the cosmos, no, its simply what it says literally in the Bible.
DANIEL 11:36-40
36 And the king shall do according to his will;(EU PRESIDENT) and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.
37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers,(THIS EU DICTATOR IS A EUROPEAN JEW) nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.
38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces:(HES A MILITARY GINIUS) and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
39 Thus shall he do in the most strong holds (CONTROL HEZBOLLAH,AL-QUAIDA MURDERERS ETC) with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he
shall cause them to rule over many,(HIS ARMY LEADERS) and shall divide the land for gain.
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south(EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR PROTECTING ISRAELS SECURITY) and the king of the north(RUSSIA) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
pr-You pointed out that Allah in the Koran is a deciever, he has the atributes of Satan himself.
ws-Well the 99 names of Allah are very well known in Islam. one name is the most Proud one. When I read the Bible as a Muslim and I saw the most proud one in the Bible is Satan or the one who causes death.
pr-The root sin of the World is Pride, (thats why Satan got booted out of Heaven in the first place he wanted to be like God.) I will exalt myself upon the throne of God.
ws-Thats the problem were Muslims can not see the truth in the Bible.
pr-They say in Islam Allah is the proud one.
ws-El is the most proud one. So the Most Proud one is Allah.
pr-But thats really Satan.
ws-Exactly, and its worse then that because hes the one that causes death. Another one the great deciever. This is names of Allah in the Koran.
pr-The Great deciever. In America we don't hear this.
ws-In the Koran Allah is the greatest of all decievers. So,It is ok, thats why Islam has deception in War. Thats why Islam offers Hoodnah or Peace treaty to none Muslims up to 10 years. But they must break the peace treaty somewhere.
pr-The Hoodnah was Oslo.
ws-You Americans called it the Oslo Peace Accord. We (Islam) called it the Oslo hoonah Accord. So the Hoodnah is a treaty. Its actually not a Peace treaty. Its a ceasefire. In Islam we are allowed to have a cease fire for 2 reasons. 1-to gain concessions. 2-to decieve the enemy and destroy them in the end.
pr-What about the Bush administration, Condi Rice. Bush comes out and says this is a Religion of Peace. Condi Rice has a celebration at the end of Ramadan, and honors these people. Are they decieved.
ws-Its a deception. CAIR says we condemn Terrorism. What we need to do as Americans is to say, Wait condemning Terrorism is not a verb. Its an act. How are you condemning Terrorism by act. If you look at all the Islamic Organizations, The American Muslim council, All of them, by far, if you look at the demonstrations What do they say. kybar are were the Jews were destroyed in Saudi Arabia by the prophet Mohomid, and their chanting in demonstrations saying Don't forget Jews what the prophet Mohomid did to you in Saudi Arabia, in Kybar, in Medina.
pr-If you want to stop Islam. What would you do?
ws-The Islamic Movement is a cancer. A Cancer that will not only destroy itself, but also destroy us in the process. We must isolate the Cancer and have it destroy itself. We have to get out of Oil, because thats the only reason why were so involved in the Middle East because of Oil interests. If we get out of oil, because oil is the wine that is causing the intoxication of the Nations. And were selling out on Israel, were selling out on Christians for the reason of this oil. Get an alternative sourse of energy. I think both Republicans and (Lukewarm) Democrats should be happy.
Both Liberals and Conservatives should be happy. Then we can isolate the Middle East and get rid of the problem. So I think isolating it and then crushing a major Terror organization. Because what were doing in the West is building the confidence of Islamists. Were forcing Israel to pull out of Gaza, so were supporting regimes that is not pro America a tall. So building the confidence is what we done in the past even in Afghanistan. We needed the Mohadin against the Communists that was a mistake.
pr-CIA funded this.
ws-And when they defeated Russia, guess what, they can defeat America. Israel wanted to destroy Hizballah and Hamas. When we say Israel must pull out of Lebanon, so we twisted Israels arm to pull out of Lebanon, that built more amd more confidence. Its just like the stock market.
pr- And Democratic elections to, I remember the first thing, oh we got a Democratic election in the West Bank and Hamas won.
ws-Hamas won, infact 113,000 Arabs in the mideast were asked the question. Do you prefurr Hamas or the P.L.O. Pat 73.2% chose Hamas over the PLO. what this is saying. This is a survey being done by Arabia network. 113,000 Muslims chose Radical Islam. In Pakistan 56% want Radical Islam. In Jordan, Iraq, Egypt they all want Radical Islam.
Hamas will be victorious, Ive been saying this since 1993. Lebanon will turn Muslim fundamentalist. Palestine that were creating, a state is not a state, its a state of Physcocis that will end up in a state of Fundamentalist. Turkey will end up electing fundamentalists. Turkey was the eastern part of the Roman Empire. We as Christian are awaiting the Revival of the Roman Empire. Do we not forget what will happen from the Eastern part of the Roman Empire.
pr-Do you think they will try another 911 on America.
ws-Pat they already tryed. They have not succeeded. 10 Airplanes to blow up. Sears Tower, trains they want to blow up. Its not they have not succeeded they want to do a grand finally. If you look at every Terror operation that they attempted to do and they succeeded in 911. Is a grand finally. To destroy this country. they must try to cripple and destroy this country.
pr-I understand theres a contract out that the Muslims can kill 10 million Americans.
ws-theres contracts galore. Islam is simply a religion that was wounded. And wants to heal its wound. Westerners don't understand the reason they hate us so much is because we have dismantled the Califate in Turkey and the Ottamen Empire. They want to revive the Califate. This is the whole call to revive the Califate. It is a wounded beast that wants to heal its wound. And rise again to dominate as in the glory days when Islam dominated the East. It has nothing to do with Israel, poverty. It uses poverty just to say America is at fault. Zionist conspirasies and all.
pr-Thank you Walid Shoebat, everyone get his Book why we want to kill you.
I CANT FINISH IT IVE BEEN SHUT DOWN AT LEAST 10 TIMES TRYIN TO PUT THIS IMPORTANT STORY ON.
P.R =Pat Robertson
W.S=Walid Shoebat
p.r- well our next guest is a former Palestinian Terrorist. Hes now a born again Christian. Hes written a facinating new Book that is titled Why we want to kill You. Welcome Walid.
w.s-Thank you.
pr-You know the Western commentators say that these people (ISLAMIC RADICALS) are poor and brought up in sub standard conditions, and they envy the West and their angry because of Western Afluence and therefore they want to protest. Is that why they (Islamists) blow themselves up.
ws-If the reason for suicide Bombing is poverty, and lack of hopelessness. Why would you never find in the Palestinian areas Christians who commit suicide Bombings. The argument could be is wait a minute Christians are not acustomed to suicide bombings. Well you have the second largest Terror Organization after the P.L.O, its the P.F.L.P (Popular Front to Liberate Palestine). Which is run by a Christian Terrorist by the Name of George Habush. Whenever George needs a Suicide bomber they get a Muslim, 100 percent of the time..
pr-The Hindus don't have suicide bombers and the buddist don't have suicide bombers.
ws-Thats a very good point. At a University speech one Professor objected to my speech, he said The reason for Terrorism is poverty. So I asked the crowd do we have anybody from India, and one student said i'm from India. I said do use blow yourselves up because of poverty in India. He said we have lots of poverty in India, none of us blow ourselves up, but they sure come from Pakistan and blow us up.
pr-You showed something in here though, the promise of Islam, and there are people in America that don't believe this. The 72 Virgins and the perpetual erection and all this stuff. What do they teach? What do they say that these young men are going to get.
ws-Heres the eliment that Westerners don't understand. Why this Jihad is going on? And why their killing and why their dying. Its a message of Salvation that Islam is offering. Christianity offers a message of Salvation that by the death of one Person Christ, by the drop of his Blood that we are saved. In Islam, there is no assurance of Salvation. The only way one can asure himself for salvation is by their own death. By the first drop of the blood of the Martyr. He now can enter into Heaven and intercede for 70 members of his or her family.
When the person dies they invite other members to a wedding to celebrate the death. This is what the Western comunity can't understand. The entire Community will come and join in this wedding celebration. The Friday Prayer at the Mosque will be dedicated to the martyr. The house of the Martyr becomes a museum, where the entire community comes to visit. Celebarations all over the streets for the Martyr because now hes entered into Paradise.
This is the problem with Islam is because Islam rejects the intercession of Jesus Christ. However, Islam does offer the intercession of the Martyr. The intercession of the Sin.
pr-He gets 72 Virgins, pure black eyed virgins who have never been touched by anyone.
ws-Its not just 72 Virgins Pat.
pr-Oh its not 72.
ws-Its 72 mansions.
pr-72 mansions.
ws-In each mansion, 72 beds, and in each bed 72 Virgins.
pr-that math stagers me.
(my comment here they commit suicide for a sexual pleasure Islam does, simply its suicide for eternal sex).
ws-72x72x72
pr-That guys gonna wear himself out before his (laughter)
ws-It really does't make any sense. But the main issue is not that, the main issue is the Salvation issue, they want to be saved. and in order to be saved you die. And because the Koran itself says do not think the ones who die for the cause of allah are dead, but are alive with allah recieving his blessings.
pr-People in America, you point out in this book are dupped by the so called moderate Muslims. This is fundemental teaching of the Koran and of the Islamic world isn't it. Your not talking about some groups.
ws-Jaffa Tyare, The time of Mahomid, relative of the Prophet Mohamid died in his suicide act as he attacked the enemy. He had wings they called him a flying Jaffa. So suicide missions were at the Time of Mohomid the Prophet of Islam. The Americans are being decieved by this moderate Islam.
There are liberal Muslims who don't care about fundamental views of Islam, but however by far the fundementalist view is not Islamic as a religion has almost been taught to us as Jihad. Because when your read in the Bible about Anti-Christ , He honors the God of War, He honors the God of fortresses. In Islam, Allah is a God of War. He doesn't honor the desire of Women. In Islam they do not honor the desire of Women either. So Islam is a very anti-Christ system. Attemps to change times and laws in the Bible regarding the Anti-Christ system. And if you look at Islam, What do they want to do. Change the Laws of the World.
So all this interpretation we have in the west about, what is this about changing the laws. They think its the cosmos, no, its simply what it says literally in the Bible.
DANIEL 11:36-40
36 And the king shall do according to his will;(EU PRESIDENT) and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.
37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers,(THIS EU DICTATOR IS A EUROPEAN JEW) nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.
38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces:(HES A MILITARY GINIUS) and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
39 Thus shall he do in the most strong holds (CONTROL HEZBOLLAH,AL-QUAIDA MURDERERS ETC) with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he
shall cause them to rule over many,(HIS ARMY LEADERS) and shall divide the land for gain.
40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south(EGYPT) push at him:(EU DICTATOR PROTECTING ISRAELS SECURITY) and the king of the north(RUSSIA) shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.
pr-You pointed out that Allah in the Koran is a deciever, he has the atributes of Satan himself.
ws-Well the 99 names of Allah are very well known in Islam. one name is the most Proud one. When I read the Bible as a Muslim and I saw the most proud one in the Bible is Satan or the one who causes death.
pr-The root sin of the World is Pride, (thats why Satan got booted out of Heaven in the first place he wanted to be like God.) I will exalt myself upon the throne of God.
ws-Thats the problem were Muslims can not see the truth in the Bible.
pr-They say in Islam Allah is the proud one.
ws-El is the most proud one. So the Most Proud one is Allah.
pr-But thats really Satan.
ws-Exactly, and its worse then that because hes the one that causes death. Another one the great deciever. This is names of Allah in the Koran.
pr-The Great deciever. In America we don't hear this.
ws-In the Koran Allah is the greatest of all decievers. So,It is ok, thats why Islam has deception in War. Thats why Islam offers Hoodnah or Peace treaty to none Muslims up to 10 years. But they must break the peace treaty somewhere.
pr-The Hoodnah was Oslo.
ws-You Americans called it the Oslo Peace Accord. We (Islam) called it the Oslo hoonah Accord. So the Hoodnah is a treaty. Its actually not a Peace treaty. Its a ceasefire. In Islam we are allowed to have a cease fire for 2 reasons. 1-to gain concessions. 2-to decieve the enemy and destroy them in the end.
pr-What about the Bush administration, Condi Rice. Bush comes out and says this is a Religion of Peace. Condi Rice has a celebration at the end of Ramadan, and honors these people. Are they decieved.
ws-Its a deception. CAIR says we condemn Terrorism. What we need to do as Americans is to say, Wait condemning Terrorism is not a verb. Its an act. How are you condemning Terrorism by act. If you look at all the Islamic Organizations, The American Muslim council, All of them, by far, if you look at the demonstrations What do they say. kybar are were the Jews were destroyed in Saudi Arabia by the prophet Mohomid, and their chanting in demonstrations saying Don't forget Jews what the prophet Mohomid did to you in Saudi Arabia, in Kybar, in Medina.
pr-If you want to stop Islam. What would you do?
ws-The Islamic Movement is a cancer. A Cancer that will not only destroy itself, but also destroy us in the process. We must isolate the Cancer and have it destroy itself. We have to get out of Oil, because thats the only reason why were so involved in the Middle East because of Oil interests. If we get out of oil, because oil is the wine that is causing the intoxication of the Nations. And were selling out on Israel, were selling out on Christians for the reason of this oil. Get an alternative sourse of energy. I think both Republicans and (Lukewarm) Democrats should be happy.
Both Liberals and Conservatives should be happy. Then we can isolate the Middle East and get rid of the problem. So I think isolating it and then crushing a major Terror organization. Because what were doing in the West is building the confidence of Islamists. Were forcing Israel to pull out of Gaza, so were supporting regimes that is not pro America a tall. So building the confidence is what we done in the past even in Afghanistan. We needed the Mohadin against the Communists that was a mistake.
pr-CIA funded this.
ws-And when they defeated Russia, guess what, they can defeat America. Israel wanted to destroy Hizballah and Hamas. When we say Israel must pull out of Lebanon, so we twisted Israels arm to pull out of Lebanon, that built more amd more confidence. Its just like the stock market.
pr- And Democratic elections to, I remember the first thing, oh we got a Democratic election in the West Bank and Hamas won.
ws-Hamas won, infact 113,000 Arabs in the mideast were asked the question. Do you prefurr Hamas or the P.L.O. Pat 73.2% chose Hamas over the PLO. what this is saying. This is a survey being done by Arabia network. 113,000 Muslims chose Radical Islam. In Pakistan 56% want Radical Islam. In Jordan, Iraq, Egypt they all want Radical Islam.
Hamas will be victorious, Ive been saying this since 1993. Lebanon will turn Muslim fundamentalist. Palestine that were creating, a state is not a state, its a state of Physcocis that will end up in a state of Fundamentalist. Turkey will end up electing fundamentalists. Turkey was the eastern part of the Roman Empire. We as Christian are awaiting the Revival of the Roman Empire. Do we not forget what will happen from the Eastern part of the Roman Empire.
pr-Do you think they will try another 911 on America.
ws-Pat they already tryed. They have not succeeded. 10 Airplanes to blow up. Sears Tower, trains they want to blow up. Its not they have not succeeded they want to do a grand finally. If you look at every Terror operation that they attempted to do and they succeeded in 911. Is a grand finally. To destroy this country. they must try to cripple and destroy this country.
pr-I understand theres a contract out that the Muslims can kill 10 million Americans.
ws-theres contracts galore. Islam is simply a religion that was wounded. And wants to heal its wound. Westerners don't understand the reason they hate us so much is because we have dismantled the Califate in Turkey and the Ottamen Empire. They want to revive the Califate. This is the whole call to revive the Califate. It is a wounded beast that wants to heal its wound. And rise again to dominate as in the glory days when Islam dominated the East. It has nothing to do with Israel, poverty. It uses poverty just to say America is at fault. Zionist conspirasies and all.
pr-Thank you Walid Shoebat, everyone get his Book why we want to kill you.
I CANT FINISH IT IVE BEEN SHUT DOWN AT LEAST 10 TIMES TRYIN TO PUT THIS IMPORTANT STORY ON.
PERES NEW PRES OF ISRAEL WATCHOUT
1-WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS. 2-Strong quake shakes Guatemala. 3-Rains blamed for 76 deaths in China. 4-Iraq bombers topple Samarra minarets. 5-Hamas seizing control of Gaza Strip. 6-Greece wants bigger EU role in Mideast peace. 7-Barak Wins Labor Race; Fraud Allegations at Arab Polling Station. 8-Minister Cohen Calls for Reinstating Religious Affairs Ministry. 9-Military plan against Iran is ready. 10-Ruth Bell Graham reported near death. 11-Pres. Race: Rivlin & Avital Withdraw, Peres to Become President.
EARTHQUAKES
MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC GROUP) and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.
LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS (USGS)
Update time = Sat Jun 16 12:01 AM EDT
JUNE 13,07
MAP 6.8 OFFSHORE GUATEMALA
MAP 3.1 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 5.4 KEPULAUAN TALAUD, INDONESIA
MAP 4.0 REVILLA GIGEDO ISLANDS REGION
MAP 3.3 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.9 RAT ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 2.6 KODIAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 3.5 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 2.7 SOUTH OF ALASKA
MAP 2.6 HAWAII REGION, HAWAII
MAP 3.4 KENAI PENINSULA, ALASKA
MAP 2.6 PUERTO RICO REGION
MAP 2.5 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.0 VIRGIN ISLANDS REGION
MAP 2.7 BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA
MAP 3.4 CHANNEL ISLANDS REGION, CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.9 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.6 OFFSHORE BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
MAP 2.9 OFFSHORE NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.4 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
JUNE 12,07
MAP 4.7 TONGA
MAP 2.7 RAT ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 3.0 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 5.1 MACQUARIE ISLAND REGION
MAP 3.3 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 4.1 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 3.2 PUERTO RICO REGION
MAP 3.2 VIRGIN ISLANDS REGION
MAP 4.4 SAN JUAN, ARGENTINA
MAP 4.7 SOUTHEAST OF EASTER ISLAND
MAP 2.9 PUERTO RICO REGION
MAP 3.5 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.0 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.9 DOMINICAN REPUBLIC REGION
MAP 4.8 NEW BRITAIN REGION, PAPUA NEW GUINEA
MAP 4.7 BOUGAINVILLE REGION, PAPUA NEW GUINEA
MAP 2.6 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 2.7 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.7 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.8 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 2.6 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.0 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.0 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.2 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 4.6 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.6 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.5 OREGON
MAP 2.7 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 4.7 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 3.3 GULF OF ALASKA
MAP 2.7 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 4.8 NIAS REGION, INDONESIA
MAP 3.0 DOMINICAN REPUBLIC REGION
MAP 2.8 RAT ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 2.8 RAT ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 5.0 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 2.7 BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
MAP 4.7 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 3.1 ALASKA PENINSULA
JUNE 11,07
MAP 3.5 DOMINICAN REPUBLIC REGION
MAP 2.7 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 3.2 KODIAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 4.9 FIJI REGION
MAP 3.6 RAT ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS,
MAP 3.7 ALASKA HINDU KUSH REGION, AFGHANISTAN
MAP 4.1 WESTERN MEDITERRANEAN SEA
MAP 2.8 PUERTO RICO REGION
MAP 2.7 VIRGIN ISLANDS REGION
MAP 2.8 ALASKA PENINSULA
MAP 3.1 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 3.8 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 3.1 PUERTO RICO REGION
MAP 4.5 OFF THE EAST COAST OF KAMCHATKA, RUSSIA
MAP 4.6 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 4.6 PERU-ECUADOR BORDER REGION
MAP 2.6 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.9 UTAH
MAP 3.2 KODIAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 5.2 NEAR THE COAST OF ECUADOR
Strong quake shakes Guatemala By RODRIGO ESTRADA, Associated Press Writer
JUNE 13,07
GUATEMALA CITY - A powerful earthquake shook Guatemala and parts of El Salvador Wednesday, causing some residents of the capital cities to rush from buildings into the streets for safety, officials said. The 6.8-magnitude quake snarled traffic in Guatemala City but there were no immediate reports of major damage or injuries.Aid workers across Guatemala reported only minor damage to homes in a couple of rural communities, according to Francois de la Roche, Latin America's director for humanitarian and emergency affairs for the aid organization World Vision.
I didn't notice it at first but then felt this long, swaying motion back and forward, de la Roche said in a telephone interview from Antigua, Guatemala.The quake struck at 1:29 p.m. and was centered 70 miles southwest of Guatemala City off the Pacific coast, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Guatemala's seismology institute said the quake lasted 49 seconds.In Guatemala City, people fled buildings into the streets, throwing traffic into chaos in the sprawling city.It rattled a lot of nerves, said Benedicto Giron, spokesman for the National Disaster Reduction Center.
Outside the capital, landslides were reported in the southwest province of Escuintla, but they apparently caused no casualties, Giron said. He added, however, that phone service was knocked out in some areas and information was only trickling in slowly.The quake was also felt strongly in neighboring El Salvador, where people ran into the streets in the capital of San Salvador, but the Red Cross there said it had no reports of damage or injuries.It was also felt in the Mexican city of Tapachula along the Guatemalan border.The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center based in Hawaii said no tsunami was expected from the quake.The region is prone to earthquakes. Almost 23,000 people died in a 1976 earthquake in Guatemala.Associated Press writers Ioan Grillo and Mark Stevenson contributed to this report from Mexico City.
STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES
LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
Rains blamed for 76 deaths in China Wed Jun 13, 1:24 AM ET
SHANGHAI, China - A southern Chinese province was rushing to shore up dams eroded by weeks of heavy rains and high waters that already have killed at least 76 people, state media reported Wednesday. Authorities in Guangdong also have diverted waters from the Hanjiang River into low-lying areas, forcing more than 10,000 people to evacuate inundated villages, the Xinhua News Agency said.Further downpours are expected through the week, according to local forecasters.
For centuries, China has relied on dams, dikes and reservoirs to control the waters of its rivers, but many were poorly built and are now feared in serious danger of collapse.Flooding and rain-triggered landslides this year have affected sections of six provinces where more than 13 million people reside. More than 788,000 people have been evacuated to high ground while economic losses have topped $606 million, Xinhua said.Half of those losses are in agriculture, sending prices for leafy greens and other vegetables soaring by 40 percent in southern cities, Xinhua said.Further to the north, authorities have warned of potentially disastrous flooding this year in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.
Iraq bombers topple Samarra minarets By CHARLES J. HANLEY, AP Special Correspondent JUNE 13,07
BAGHDAD - Suspected al-Qaida bombers toppled the towering minarets of Samarra's revered Shiite shrine on Wednesday, dealing a bold blow to Iraqi hopes for peace and reopening old wounds a year after the mosque's Golden Dome was destroyed. The attack stoked fears of a surge in violence between Muslim sects. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government rushed to contain Shiite wrath against Sunnis: It clamped a curfew on Baghdad and asked for U.S. troop reinforcements in Samarra, 60 miles north of here, and for a heightened American military alert in the capital.But sketchy reports of sectarian strife began to come in. Police told of at least four Sunni mosques in Baghdad and south of the capital attacked by arsonists and bombers, and of a smaller Shiite shrine bombed north of here.
The Samarra attack also threatened to deepen Iraq's political crisis, as the 30-member bloc of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr immediately suspended its participation in parliament in protest.The Golden Dome bombing in February 2006, at one of Iraqi Shiism's holiest sites, was also blamed on Sunni militants linked to al-Qaida. That attack unleashed a bloodbath of reprisals of Shiite death squad murders of Sunnis, and Sunni bombing attacks on Shiites. At least 34,000 civilians died in last year's violence, the United Nations reported.Wednesday's stunning attack came in near-simultaneous explosions at about 9 a.m., completely bringing down the two slender golden minarets, 100 feet tall, that had flanked the dome's ruins. No casualties were reported.How the attackers evaded the Askariya shrine's guard force, strengthened considerably after the 2006 bombing, was a mystery.Al-Maliki said policemen at the shrine were detained for questioning 15 of them, according to a senior U.S. military official. The prime minister also said an unspecified number of other suspects were arrested in Samarra and were being interrogated in connection with the shrine attack.
The blasts shook the Tigris River-side city of Samarra, sending a cloud of dust billowing into the air, said Imad Nagi, a storeowner 100 yards from the shrine. After the dust settled, I couldn't see the minarets any more. So, I closed the shop quickly and went home.Nearby blacksmith shop owner Farouq al-Samaraie said, I didn't expect there would be another explosion at Askariya mosque because it was already attacked last year.Resident Abdul-Khali Mohammed predicted violence in the capital: The Shiite militias now will seize this opportunity to kill Sunni families in Baghdad.An indefinite curfew was immediately imposed on Samarra, and, as Iraqi army and police reinforcements and U.S. troops poured in, the streets emptied by mid-afternoon, witnesses said.A few hundred U.S. soldiers had been stationed around Samarra but had left shrine security to Iraqi forces.In Baghdad, the prime minister ordered an indefinite curfew, beginning at 6 p.m. Wednesday, on vehicle traffic and large gatherings in the capital. Al-Maliki, whose office said the curfew would be lifted Saturday, then traveled to Samarra with U.S. ground forces commander Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno and visited the mosque ruins.An official close to the prime minister, citing intelligence reports, said Wednesday's bombing was likely the work of al-Qaida, whose militants have recently moved into Samarra from surrounding areas.
A U.S. statement, from Ambassador Ryan Crocker and U.S. Iraq commander Gen. David Petraeus, unequivocally blamed al-Qaida, saying the terror group sought to sow dissent and inflame sectarian strife.Such an attack by the Sunni extremist group al-Qaida in Iraq, increasingly at odds with more nationalist Iraqi insurgents, might have been intended to provoke Shiite retaliation that would help reunite various Sunni elements.In Washington, presidential spokesman Tony Snow said there will be aggressive outreach on all sides to try to prevent reprisal attacks. What happened after the original bombing of the mosque in Samarra I don't think the Iraqi government or the United Statesgovernment quite understood what was going to happen, in terms of a sectarian reaction, Snow said. Petraeus told ABC News that that although he initially had a terrible sinking feeling after the attack, he believes there is reason to be optimistic in the fight against al-Qaida in Iraq. There is even some hope, perhaps, that al-Qaida may have overplayed its hand, as it did in Anbar Province, as it has in some neighborhoods in Baghdad, and in some other areas where, as you know, Sunni Arabs have rejected al-Qaida and have actually sought to join coalition forces and Iraqi governmental institutions to fight against it.
Last year's surge in execution-style killings, largely blamed on Shiite militias, had begun to decline in Baghdad in February, at the start of a major U.S.-Iraqi security push to pacify the city. But violence has been on the rise elsewhere in Iraq and the Baghdad numbers have begun to rise again. On Wednesday, in what has become a routine report, Baghdad police said they found 25 handcuffed, blindfolded and bullet-riddled bodies in various locations, many with signs of torture. The al-Maliki aide and other Iraqi officials spoke on condition of anonymity, either because of the sensitivity of the matter or because they were not authorized to deal with the media. In a nationally televised address, al-Maliki said he had ordered security forces to bolster protection of religious shrines and mosques across Iraq. The Shiite prime minister also warned against reprisal sectarian attacks. In Shiite southern Iraq, the reaction to Wednesday's attack was swift. In Najaf, radical cleric al-Sadr called for a three -day mourning period and peaceful demonstrations. He criticized the government for not protecting the site, and said the U.S. occupation is the only enemy of Iraq and that's why everyone must demand its departure, or a timetable for its departure. More than 3,000 al-Sadr loyalists staged a protest in Najaf, chanting, No, no to America!, No, no to Israel! and No, no to sedition! Later, in Baghdad, the 30-member Sadrist bloc in parliament issued a statement saying it would boycott the 275-seat house until the government takes realistic steps to rebuild the shrine. The action by the Sadrists, whose support for al-Maliki has recently waned, is likely to weaken the Shiite-dominated government and delay adoption of a series of laws needed to build national reconciliation in Iraq. Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, issued a statement calling on believers to exercise self-restraint and avoid any vengeful act that would target innocent people or the holy places of others.In neighboring Shiite Iran, which has been accused of funding and arming Shiite militias in Iraq, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad blamed U.S. forces for failing to prevent the mosque attack, and threatened to halt regional cooperation to stop Iraq's spiraling violence.
The mosque contains the tombs of the 10th and 11th imams Ali al-Hadi, who died in 868, and his son Hassan al-Askari, who died in 874. Both are descendants of the Prophet Muhammad, and Shiites consider them to be among his successors. The shrine also is near the place where the 12th imam, Mohammed al-Mahdi, disappeared. Al-Mahdi, known as the hidden imam, was the son and grandson of the two imams buried in the Askariya shrine. Shiites believe he will return to Earth to restore justice to humanity.Associated Press writers Sameer N. Yacoub, Lauren Frayer and Hamid Ahmed in Baghdad and Abdul-Hussein al-Obeidi in Najaf contributed to this report.
Hamas seizing control of Gaza Strip By SARAH EL DEEB, Associated Press Writer JUNE 13,07
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Hamas fighters launched a fierce offensive on Gaza City Wednesday, firing mortars and rockets at Fatah's main security bases and the president's compound as the Islamic group appeared close to taking control of the entire Gaza Strip. Fatah's forces were crumbling fast, with some fighters seen fleeing their security posts and hundreds of others surrendering, hands raised, to masked Hamas gunmen.A Hamas military victory in Gaza could split Palestinians into a Hamas-controlled Gaza and a Fatah-run West Bank, and push the prospect of statehood even further away. It could also set the stage for a bloody confrontation with Israel, which might intervene to prevent attacks from Gaza.In the southern town of Khan Younis, Hamas militants surrounded a security headquarters and warned everyone inside to leave or they would blow it up, witnesses said. The building was then destroyed by a bomb planted in a tunnel underneath it, said Ali Qaisi, a presidential guard spokesman.An Associated Press reporter saw defeated Fatah fighters streaming out of the building after turning over their weapons to Hamas militants. Hamas took weapons, clothes and vehicles and flew a green Islamic flag over the building, then celebrated by firing in the air and passing out candy.Security forces later said they had lost control of the town.Khan Younis is finished, said Ziad Sarafandi, a senior security official.
At least 20 people were killed in fighting Wednesday. A Hamas militant was killed in a clash early Thursday in the southern town of Rafah, hospital officials said, bringing the total in four days of infighting to over 60. Among those killed Wednesday was a man shot when Hamas gunmen fired on a peaceful protest against the violence, witnesses said.Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah called the fighting madness and pleaded with the exiled leader of Hamas to halt the violence.Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas issued a joint statement after nightfall, calling on all sides to halt fighting, and to return to language of dialogue and respect of agreements, according to a statement from Abbas' office. The call was broadcast on Palestinian TV.Hamas radio denied the two had agreed to a truce, and clashes intensified in the hour after their statement was broadcast.Hamas and Fatah nominally share power in a coalition government, while Fatah runs most of Gaza's security forces. But no one was listening to the elected leaders' pleas for calm as the focus of power passed to street militias.Hamas gunmen neutralized the main strongholds of the Fatah-linked security forces, ruling the streets and taking control of large parts of Gaza in the process.Abbas' forces desperately trying to cling to their besieged bases in Gaza lashed out at the president, saying he left them with no directions and no support in the fight.Hamas and Fatah have waged a sporadic power struggle since Hamas won parliament elections last year, ending four decades of Fatah dominance of Palestinian affairs. But the battle is now verging on civil war, as Hamas wages a systematic assault on security forces.U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he discussed the possible deployment of a multinational force in Gaza with the Security Council on Wednesday after the Israeli and Palestinian leaders raised the idea.
With fighting raging on rooftops and streets in nearly all corners of Gaza, residents huddled in fear in their homes.Hamas, already in control of much of northern Gaza, seized Khan Younis on Wednesday and began a coordinated assault on the southern town of Rafah, security officials said. Hamas militants blew up a security building near Rafah after a long gunbattle, said Col. Nasser Khaldi, a senior police official. What can I say? This is a fall, a collapse, he said. Fayez Abu Taha, 45, a businessman in Rafah, said he was trapped in his apartment building with his family after Hamas fighters took over a nearby rooftop and Fatah responded by taking over the roof of his building.
I don't know what they are battling for now, he said. I can see the bullets flying from my windows. Coming and going.The rout of the security forces was so bad that 40 Palestinian security officers broke through the border fence in Rafah and fled into Egypt seeking safety, Egyptian police said.
In the afternoon, Hamas forces attacked the three main compounds of the Fatah-allied forces in Gaza City the headquarters of the Preventive Security, the Intelligence Service and the National Forces in what could usher in the final phase of the battle. Hamas fighters, firing rockets and mortar shells, took over the rooftops in nearby houses and cut off the roads to prevent reinforcements from arriving. They called on the beleaguered Fatah forces to surrender. Hamas gunmen in high-rise buildings also fired at Abbas' Gaza office and house and his guard force returned fire. Abbas was in the West Bank at the time of the fighting. During the battle at the Preventive Security Service base, both sides fired wildly from high-rise rooftops. Dr. Wael Abdel Jawad, a physician trapped in his apartment, said he heard Fatah fighters shouting at colleagues on an adjacent roof to send them more ammunition. All of us are terrified here. Shooting came through the windows of our apartment, children are screaming. We are hearing from a nearby mosque the call by Hamas to surrender, he said. Those fighters on rooftops are like Don Quixote, tilting at windmills. They don't know where to shoot, he said. In another dramatic battle in Gaza City, hundreds of members of the Fatah-allied Bakr clan, which had fought fiercely for two days, surrendered to masked Hamas gunmen and were led, arms raised, to a nearby mosque. Footage broadcast on Hamas' Al Aqsa TV showed some of the Bakr women trying to enter the mosque. Hamas gunmen later drove off with some of the Bakr fighters, witnesses said.
Two women from the clan tried to leave the area to take a sick girl to a hospital and were shot and killed by jittery Hamas gunmen, a clan member said. After nightfall, Hamas militants blew up the house of one of the Bakr clan's leaders, witnesses said. Early Thursday, Fatah officials said their forces withdrew from some bases in central Gaza and destroyed them, rather than allow them to fall into Hamas hands. In Washington, U.S. officials condemned the fighting. Violence certainly does not serve the interest of the Palestinian people, and it's not going to bring the peace and prosperity that they deserve, White House spokesman Tony Snow said. They are shooting at anyone and everyone who is Fatah, said Youssef Abu Siyam, a Preventive Security officer in Rafah. The fighting spilled into the Fatah-dominated West Bank. Hamas and Fatah gunmen exchanged fire in the city of Nablus and a nearby refugee camp after Fatah gunmen tried to storm a pro-Hamas TV production company. Hamas said 12 of its fighters were wounded. Hamas charged that Fatah-linked security forces were rounding up Hamas activists in the West Bank early Thursday. On Wednesday, Abbas spoke by phone with the Damascus-based Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal to try to stop the crisis, said Abbas aide Nimr Hamad. This is madness, the madness that is going on in Gaza now, Abbas told reporters.
The U.N. Relief and Works Agency, which provides aid to Palestinian refugees, said it would curtail its operations after two of its Palestinian workers were killed by crossfire. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri, said the clashes could have been avoided if Abbas had given the Hamas-led Cabinet control over the security forces, which he blamed for a wave of kidnappings, torture and violence in Gaza. AP reporter Diaa Hadid contributed to this report.
Greece wants bigger EU role in Mideast peace
12 June 2007, 17:00 CET Eu Business
(DAMASCUS) - The European Union should play a bigger role in the Middle East peace process, Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis said during a visit to Damascus on Tuesday.The European Union should be much more involved, Bakoyannis told journalists. And our message is strong and clear: we need to encourage all the parties for a new process for peace in the Middle East.But with rumours swirling of a possible Israeli peace overture to Syria, from which the Jewish state captured the strategic Golan Heights in 1967, Bakoyannis denied she had any message from Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.She described her talks with the Syrian leadership as very interesting and hailed Greece's relations with Syria as very good, despite Washington's efforts to sideline Damascus for its alleged sponsorship of terrorism.The minister repeated EU backing for an Arab League peace plan that offers Israel normalised relations with all Arab nations in return for land captured in 1967, a viable Palestinian state and the return of refugees.We have to give the Arab League's proposals a chance, she said. We have to encourage the European Union to be more involved in the region so that we can attempt peace which is the goal and we should spend more effort to do that.
Barak Wins Labor Race; Fraud Allegations at Arab Polling Station
by Ezra HaLevi (INN) JUNE 13,07
Former Prime Minister Ehud Barak narrowly won the Labor Party primaries Monday, once again becoming chairman of the party. Barak garnered a total of 34,542 votes - 51.3 percent. His opponent, former Shabak (General Security Service) chief MK Ami Ayalon, received 32,117 votes 47.7 percent. 65 percent of Labors eligible voters cast their ballots in this second round of primaries. Barak pledged to work to strengthen the IDF and restore Israels deterrence. It is widely believed that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will appoint Barak as Defense Minister in the near future, replacing outgoing Labor Chairman Amir Peretz. The former prime minister left politics for the private business sector after his loss to Ariel Sharon in 2001. His return to politics is considered a comeback he was placed fourth in early opinion polls among Labor voters.
Comeback or Fraud?
Ayalons camp accuses Barak of election fraud in the Arab and Druze sectors, where Barak received an overwhelming majority of the votes. In Shfaram, for example, Barak suddenly received 2,000 more votes than he had in the previous round. In Um el-Fahm, Barak received three times as many votes as Ayalon despite the towns hostility toward Barak for sending police into the town to quell Israeli-Arab riots in October, 2000. In that incident, several rioters were shot dead. A local electioneer, speaking with Army Radio, did not deny the possibility of fraudulent voting carried out by an election worker who then voted on behalf of his whole clan, for example.Labor Secretary-General MK Eitan Cabel said the allegations had been reviewed and been found to be not substantive. Ayalon said that he does not plan on appealing the results, though he does plan to pursue a police investigation into the fraud itself. Ayalon supporters say they have evidence of enough fraudulent voting to change the outcome of the election. Barak associates called the allegations the whining of losers.
There were several reports of violence at Labor voting stations.
Victory Speech
There is no governing without the public's trust, Barak said in his victory speech. In these times of anxiety, distrust and a general feeling that we have lost our way and our leadership, the Labor Party must position itself at the head of a democratic alternative leadership of Israel Today begins the long journey toward bringing back level-headed, responsible, and experienced leadership to the State of Israel. He also issued a call to Kadima party members who left when Shimon Peres lost to Amir Peretz to come home.Likud Knesset Member Silvan Shalom has challenged Barak to break up the government coalition and face new general elections. Barak said prior to his election that he will not remain in a government headed by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert but wants a replacement from within the coalition instead of elections. This is the true public test of him [Barak], MK Shalom stated. Can he be trusted on his promises to the public or was he elected to be faithful to those who want to hold onto their positions in the government?
IsraelNationalRadio.com Commentator Jay Shapiro noted: The percentage of Labor voters who turned out to vote was highest in the Arab sector - and the Arabs voted overwhelmingly for Barak. He won the election by a slim majority, and the Arab vote was the deciding one. So the new head of the Labor party who will probably move into the present government and probably will be the Minister of Defense is a man who created the situation in the north that resulted in the war last summer and the growing threat in the north even today. The leader of the Labor party owes his election to the Arabs. None of this bodes well for Israeli democracy or for the State of Israel in general.
Minister Cohen Calls for Reinstating Religious Affairs Ministry
by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz (INN) JUNE 13.07
In the wake of a sharply critical ombudsman's report on state religious services, the Minister for Religious Affairs in the Prime Minister's Office, Shas Knesset Member Yitzchak Cohen, suggested reviving the defunct Religious Affairs Ministry. During a meeting of the Knesset's State Control Committee on Monday, representatives discussed the State Comptroller's report on the municipal religious councils and on the national Religious Affairs Authority. According to the report: many municipalities have failed to transfer funds earmarked for the use of their respective religious councils; the councils themselves have displayed serious administrative failures; the Religious Affairs Authority did not administer the religious councils appropriately; the Authority was often staffed by politically motivated appointees, primarily from the Likud party. The Comptroller recommended reforms in state-provided religious services.
In light of the report, Minister Cohen said, The situation has yet to improve. We have not yet healed the religious councils, [but] in terms of reform, we have successes in broad areas. However, we believe that the transfer of the religious councils to the municipalities was a correct step. At the same time, Cohen noted that the debt owed the councils by the municipalities is around 150 million shekels, and the employees of the councils and the rabbis are not getting paid. To improve the situation, Minister Cohen recommended that the state provide 75% of the religious councils' funding, while the municipalities provide the remainder, as is common regarding health and social services.Minister Cohen added that the only reason he is heading a ministry that is not a ministry is due to a whim of the [now-defunct] Shinui party [during the Sharon administration] to dismantle the ministry. The Ministry of Religious Affairs must be reinstated.MK Orlev noted that the issue has been on the public agenda since 2002.
On the other hand, Meir Shpiegler, Director of the Religious Affairs Authority, claimed that the establishment of the body that he heads has led to intensified supervision and control of the regional religious councils. Such oversight, he noted, includes a review of expenditures by accountants. Shpiegler confirmed, however, that there are rabbis who have not been paid their salaries, just as there are mayors and other officials in similar situations. Knesset Member Zevulun Orlev (National Religious Party), Chairman of the State Control Committee, summed up the discussion, saying that there is no agreed-upon reform for religious services at the moment. He noted that the issue has been on the public agenda since 2002, when budgetary cutbacks began to take effect. Unless there is a governmental decision on the matter, complete with a time table for implementation, according to MK Orlev, there will be no solution to the problem.
Military plan against Iran is ready
By YAAKOV KATZ JUNE 11,07
Predicting that Iran will obtain a nuclear weapon within three years and claiming to have a strike plan in place, senior American military officers have told The Jerusalem Post they support President George W. Bush's stance to do everything necessary to stop the Islamic Republic's race for nuclear power. Bush has repeatedly said the United States would not allow Iran to go nuclear.Israel successfully launches Ofek 7 spy satellite
JPost special: US candidates talk tough on Iran
A high-ranking American military officer told the Post that senior officers in the US armed forces had thrown their support behind Bush and believed that additional steps needed to be taken to stop Iran.
Predictions within the US military are that Bush will do what is needed to stop Teheran before he leaves office in 2009, including possibly launching a military strike against its nuclear facilities. On Sunday, Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut said the US should consider a military strike against Iran over its support of Iraqi insurgents. I think we've got to be prepared to take aggressive military action against the Iranians to stop them from killing Americans in Iraq, he said. And to me, that would include a strike over the border into Iran, where we have good evidence that they have a base at which they are training these people coming back into Iraq to kill our soldiers.According to a high-ranking American military officer, the US Navy and Air Force would play the primary roles in any military action taken against Iran. One idea under consideration is a naval blockade designed to cut off Iran's oil exports. The officer said that if the US government or the UN Security Council decided on this course of action, the US Navy would most probably not block the Strait of Hormuz - a step that would definitely draw an Iranian military response - but would patrol farther out and turn away tankers on their way to load oil.
On Sunday, the Israel Air Force held joint exercises with visiting US pilots, but IDF sources dismissed speculation that the drills were connected to an attack on Iran. The US officer said that perhaps even more dangerous to Israel and the Western world than Iranian nukes was the possibility that a terrorists cell associated with al-Qaida or global jihad would acquire a highly radioactive dirty bomb or a vial of deadly chemical or biological agents. The officer said al-Qaida was gaining a strong foothold in the Middle East and that Israel was being surrounded by global jihad elements in Lebanon, Jordan and Sinai. Iran is a state-sponsored type of terrorism that can be dealt with, he said, adding that it was far more difficult to strike at the source of an isolated terrorist cell. To combat this threat, the US Navy has come up with a plan for a 1,000-ship navy - a transnational network composed of navies from around the world that would raise awareness of maritime threats and more effectively thwart sea-based terrorism and the illicit transfer of arms by sea. The idea is to allow free trade and to prevent criminal and terror activity at sea, the officer said. A smaller-scale example of the US Navy's vision is NATO's Active Endeavor antiterrorism operation based in Naples. Israel plans to send an officer to be stationed there in the coming months. NATO launched Operation Active Endeavor in wake of 9/11 and has succeeded in bringing together a number of Mediterranean countries to work together in Naples to share information on naval terrorism and suspicious vessels in the region.
Ruth Bell Graham reported near death
Famed evangelist, gathered with children, says wife 'close to going home to heaven'
June 13, 2007 - 3:51 p.m. Eastern - 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
Ruth Bell Graham
Ruth Bell Graham, the wife of evangelist Billy Graham, slipped into a coma this morning after suffering from pneumonia and is near death, according to a family spokesman. Four of the couple's five children are at their home in Montreat, N.C., and son Ned Graham is on his way, said A. Larry Ross. Billy Graham issued a statement today saying he and his wife, who turned 87 Sunday, had decided to be buried next to each other at the Billy Graham Library in Billy Graham's hometown of Charlotte. We have held this decision privately and only decided to announce it now that she is close to going home to heaven, Billy Graham said. Ruth is my soul mate and best friend, and I cannot imagine living a single day without her by my side. I am more in love with her today than when we first met over 65 years ago as students at Wheaton College.
Graham, 88, said Ruth and I appreciate, more than we can express, the prayers and letters of encouragement we have received from people across the country and around the world.Our entire family has been home in recent days and it has meant so much to have them at our side during this time, he said. We love each one of them dearly and thank God for them.In December, the Washington Post reported the family was divided over the Grahams' burial place, indicating Ruth objected to a site at a museum being built in Charlotte that was favored by son Franklin. Billy Graham responded to the story, stating he and Ruth would make the decision together privately.
Pres. Race: Rivlin & Avital Withdraw, Peres to Become President
by Hillel Fendel (INN) JUNE 13,07
Shimon Peres will be Israel's ninth President, following Ruby Rivlin's surprise withdrawal from the presidential race after the results of the first round became known. With the news that Peres had received 58 votes, third-place finisher Labor MK Collette Avital (21 votes) withdrew her candidacy, as expected, leaving Peres and Rivlin to battle it out in the second round. However, Rivlin, who had expected to receive many more than the 37 votes he garnered, then surprised the nation by announcing his withdrawal from the race. Given the fact that most or all of Avital's votes were expected to go to former Laborite Peres, a Peres victory seemed to be a foregone conclusion.With a breaking voice, MK Ruby Rivlin thanked all the 70 MKs who had said they would support my candidacy... and informed the country that he was withdrawing from the race. With teary eyes, he asked the Knesset to support Shimon Peres.Even Peres's victory, practically his first in public electoral life, was thus tainted by the fact that he did not win outright; his opponents merely withdrew.
Three MKs abstained in the first round, and one vote was disqualified.
In what is virtually certain to be a two-round contest, the Knesset will elect Israel's 9th president today. Underdog Ruby Rivlin still hopes to beat Shimon Peres. Israel's three largest parties are fielding candidates in today's election: Kadima is running with Vice Premier Shimon Peres, Labor - three-time MK Collette Avital, and the Likud with five-term MK Ruby Rivlin. The 120 Knesset Members will vote in a secret ballot for the new President, beginning at noon. If no one candidate receives at least 61 MKs, which is virtually certain, a second round will be held. Any candidate has the option of bowing out at that point, and tremendous pressure will likely be exerted upon the third-place finisher - likely to be Avital - to do so. If in the second round as well, no one receives 61 votes, the rules change slightly, and become complex. If in the second round three candidates run, then the two higher-placing candidates run against each other, and whoever receives more votes than the others is declared Israel's president. If, however, only two candidates ran in the second round, then in the third round, only the highest-placing candidate runs - and the MKs must vote either for or against.Behind the scenes, the lobbying of the MKs continues to be feverish. For Peres, famous throughout Israel as a perennial "loser" of elections, today's election is a last-ditch effort to change his historic reputation. His support in Kadima is mostly strong, and he is also expected to garner most or all of the votes of the Pensioners and Meretz parties. Shas has officially announced its support for him.Rivlin, on the other hand, known to be right-wing politically, is well-respected in the Knesset for his fairness and affability. The Likud, National Union/NRP, Yisrael Beiteinu and UTJ are expected to support him nearly unanimously. MK Avital's support comes only from Labor, and even there it is fairly weak.
In each voting round, every MK will be called by name and will step up to the curtained ballot box in front of the Knesset podium. Behind the curtain, he or she will take a slip of paper with his/her chosen candidate's name, place it into the supplied envelope, and then step out from behind the curtain and place the envelope into the ballot box. Many questions remain unanswered as the MKs near the moment of decision - and some will remain unanswered even after the election. For instance, does Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef's ruling in favor of Peres obligate all 12 Shas MKs - or did some of them receive "private" rulings allowing them to vote for Rivlin? Nissim Ze'ev, the most right-wing Shas MK, denied this possibility today, saying that Rabbi Yosef's ruling was unambiguous and firm and that he does not believe anyone will go against the rabbi's will. Despite this, skepticism still reigns in the Knesset as to whether every Shas MK will vote for Peres.It is widely believed that in the previous election seven years ago, when Moshe Katzav defeated Peres in the second round, Shas MKs did not fulfill their semi-pledges to vote for Peres, thus giving Katzav the victory. It is also not clear how many Kadima MKs who say they will vote for Peres will actually do so. Many of them are former Likud members and have strong loyalties to Peres. MK Ze'ev Elkin, a Peres man, says he knows of some party colleagues who plan to defy the party decision.In addition, what will Labor do after Avital drops out? Many Labor MKs are friends and long-time party allies of Peres, but many of them are furious at him for having quit the party to join Kadima. The Arab MKs, too, are a question mark. Even Prime Minister Olmert himself, though he instructed his party to vote for Peres, may not want to see such an active president beside him at the helm of leadership. Some of the answers will be provided within a few hours - and others will remain forever secret.
EARTHQUAKES
MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC GROUP) and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.
LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS (USGS)
Update time = Sat Jun 16 12:01 AM EDT
JUNE 13,07
MAP 6.8 OFFSHORE GUATEMALA
MAP 3.1 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 5.4 KEPULAUAN TALAUD, INDONESIA
MAP 4.0 REVILLA GIGEDO ISLANDS REGION
MAP 3.3 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.9 RAT ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 2.6 KODIAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 3.5 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 2.7 SOUTH OF ALASKA
MAP 2.6 HAWAII REGION, HAWAII
MAP 3.4 KENAI PENINSULA, ALASKA
MAP 2.6 PUERTO RICO REGION
MAP 2.5 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.0 VIRGIN ISLANDS REGION
MAP 2.7 BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA
MAP 3.4 CHANNEL ISLANDS REGION, CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.9 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.6 OFFSHORE BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
MAP 2.9 OFFSHORE NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.4 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
JUNE 12,07
MAP 4.7 TONGA
MAP 2.7 RAT ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 3.0 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 5.1 MACQUARIE ISLAND REGION
MAP 3.3 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 4.1 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 3.2 PUERTO RICO REGION
MAP 3.2 VIRGIN ISLANDS REGION
MAP 4.4 SAN JUAN, ARGENTINA
MAP 4.7 SOUTHEAST OF EASTER ISLAND
MAP 2.9 PUERTO RICO REGION
MAP 3.5 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.0 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.9 DOMINICAN REPUBLIC REGION
MAP 4.8 NEW BRITAIN REGION, PAPUA NEW GUINEA
MAP 4.7 BOUGAINVILLE REGION, PAPUA NEW GUINEA
MAP 2.6 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 2.7 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.7 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.8 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 2.6 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.0 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.0 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.2 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 4.6 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.6 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.5 OREGON
MAP 2.7 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 4.7 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 3.3 GULF OF ALASKA
MAP 2.7 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 4.8 NIAS REGION, INDONESIA
MAP 3.0 DOMINICAN REPUBLIC REGION
MAP 2.8 RAT ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 2.8 RAT ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 5.0 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 2.7 BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO
MAP 4.7 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 3.1 ALASKA PENINSULA
JUNE 11,07
MAP 3.5 DOMINICAN REPUBLIC REGION
MAP 2.7 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 3.2 KODIAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 4.9 FIJI REGION
MAP 3.6 RAT ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS,
MAP 3.7 ALASKA HINDU KUSH REGION, AFGHANISTAN
MAP 4.1 WESTERN MEDITERRANEAN SEA
MAP 2.8 PUERTO RICO REGION
MAP 2.7 VIRGIN ISLANDS REGION
MAP 2.8 ALASKA PENINSULA
MAP 3.1 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 3.8 UNIMAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 3.1 PUERTO RICO REGION
MAP 4.5 OFF THE EAST COAST OF KAMCHATKA, RUSSIA
MAP 4.6 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 4.6 PERU-ECUADOR BORDER REGION
MAP 2.6 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.9 UTAH
MAP 3.2 KODIAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
MAP 5.2 NEAR THE COAST OF ECUADOR
Strong quake shakes Guatemala By RODRIGO ESTRADA, Associated Press Writer
JUNE 13,07
GUATEMALA CITY - A powerful earthquake shook Guatemala and parts of El Salvador Wednesday, causing some residents of the capital cities to rush from buildings into the streets for safety, officials said. The 6.8-magnitude quake snarled traffic in Guatemala City but there were no immediate reports of major damage or injuries.Aid workers across Guatemala reported only minor damage to homes in a couple of rural communities, according to Francois de la Roche, Latin America's director for humanitarian and emergency affairs for the aid organization World Vision.
I didn't notice it at first but then felt this long, swaying motion back and forward, de la Roche said in a telephone interview from Antigua, Guatemala.The quake struck at 1:29 p.m. and was centered 70 miles southwest of Guatemala City off the Pacific coast, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Guatemala's seismology institute said the quake lasted 49 seconds.In Guatemala City, people fled buildings into the streets, throwing traffic into chaos in the sprawling city.It rattled a lot of nerves, said Benedicto Giron, spokesman for the National Disaster Reduction Center.
Outside the capital, landslides were reported in the southwest province of Escuintla, but they apparently caused no casualties, Giron said. He added, however, that phone service was knocked out in some areas and information was only trickling in slowly.The quake was also felt strongly in neighboring El Salvador, where people ran into the streets in the capital of San Salvador, but the Red Cross there said it had no reports of damage or injuries.It was also felt in the Mexican city of Tapachula along the Guatemalan border.The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center based in Hawaii said no tsunami was expected from the quake.The region is prone to earthquakes. Almost 23,000 people died in a 1976 earthquake in Guatemala.Associated Press writers Ioan Grillo and Mark Stevenson contributed to this report from Mexico City.
STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES
LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
Rains blamed for 76 deaths in China Wed Jun 13, 1:24 AM ET
SHANGHAI, China - A southern Chinese province was rushing to shore up dams eroded by weeks of heavy rains and high waters that already have killed at least 76 people, state media reported Wednesday. Authorities in Guangdong also have diverted waters from the Hanjiang River into low-lying areas, forcing more than 10,000 people to evacuate inundated villages, the Xinhua News Agency said.Further downpours are expected through the week, according to local forecasters.
For centuries, China has relied on dams, dikes and reservoirs to control the waters of its rivers, but many were poorly built and are now feared in serious danger of collapse.Flooding and rain-triggered landslides this year have affected sections of six provinces where more than 13 million people reside. More than 788,000 people have been evacuated to high ground while economic losses have topped $606 million, Xinhua said.Half of those losses are in agriculture, sending prices for leafy greens and other vegetables soaring by 40 percent in southern cities, Xinhua said.Further to the north, authorities have warned of potentially disastrous flooding this year in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.
Iraq bombers topple Samarra minarets By CHARLES J. HANLEY, AP Special Correspondent JUNE 13,07
BAGHDAD - Suspected al-Qaida bombers toppled the towering minarets of Samarra's revered Shiite shrine on Wednesday, dealing a bold blow to Iraqi hopes for peace and reopening old wounds a year after the mosque's Golden Dome was destroyed. The attack stoked fears of a surge in violence between Muslim sects. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government rushed to contain Shiite wrath against Sunnis: It clamped a curfew on Baghdad and asked for U.S. troop reinforcements in Samarra, 60 miles north of here, and for a heightened American military alert in the capital.But sketchy reports of sectarian strife began to come in. Police told of at least four Sunni mosques in Baghdad and south of the capital attacked by arsonists and bombers, and of a smaller Shiite shrine bombed north of here.
The Samarra attack also threatened to deepen Iraq's political crisis, as the 30-member bloc of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr immediately suspended its participation in parliament in protest.The Golden Dome bombing in February 2006, at one of Iraqi Shiism's holiest sites, was also blamed on Sunni militants linked to al-Qaida. That attack unleashed a bloodbath of reprisals of Shiite death squad murders of Sunnis, and Sunni bombing attacks on Shiites. At least 34,000 civilians died in last year's violence, the United Nations reported.Wednesday's stunning attack came in near-simultaneous explosions at about 9 a.m., completely bringing down the two slender golden minarets, 100 feet tall, that had flanked the dome's ruins. No casualties were reported.How the attackers evaded the Askariya shrine's guard force, strengthened considerably after the 2006 bombing, was a mystery.Al-Maliki said policemen at the shrine were detained for questioning 15 of them, according to a senior U.S. military official. The prime minister also said an unspecified number of other suspects were arrested in Samarra and were being interrogated in connection with the shrine attack.
The blasts shook the Tigris River-side city of Samarra, sending a cloud of dust billowing into the air, said Imad Nagi, a storeowner 100 yards from the shrine. After the dust settled, I couldn't see the minarets any more. So, I closed the shop quickly and went home.Nearby blacksmith shop owner Farouq al-Samaraie said, I didn't expect there would be another explosion at Askariya mosque because it was already attacked last year.Resident Abdul-Khali Mohammed predicted violence in the capital: The Shiite militias now will seize this opportunity to kill Sunni families in Baghdad.An indefinite curfew was immediately imposed on Samarra, and, as Iraqi army and police reinforcements and U.S. troops poured in, the streets emptied by mid-afternoon, witnesses said.A few hundred U.S. soldiers had been stationed around Samarra but had left shrine security to Iraqi forces.In Baghdad, the prime minister ordered an indefinite curfew, beginning at 6 p.m. Wednesday, on vehicle traffic and large gatherings in the capital. Al-Maliki, whose office said the curfew would be lifted Saturday, then traveled to Samarra with U.S. ground forces commander Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno and visited the mosque ruins.An official close to the prime minister, citing intelligence reports, said Wednesday's bombing was likely the work of al-Qaida, whose militants have recently moved into Samarra from surrounding areas.
A U.S. statement, from Ambassador Ryan Crocker and U.S. Iraq commander Gen. David Petraeus, unequivocally blamed al-Qaida, saying the terror group sought to sow dissent and inflame sectarian strife.Such an attack by the Sunni extremist group al-Qaida in Iraq, increasingly at odds with more nationalist Iraqi insurgents, might have been intended to provoke Shiite retaliation that would help reunite various Sunni elements.In Washington, presidential spokesman Tony Snow said there will be aggressive outreach on all sides to try to prevent reprisal attacks. What happened after the original bombing of the mosque in Samarra I don't think the Iraqi government or the United Statesgovernment quite understood what was going to happen, in terms of a sectarian reaction, Snow said. Petraeus told ABC News that that although he initially had a terrible sinking feeling after the attack, he believes there is reason to be optimistic in the fight against al-Qaida in Iraq. There is even some hope, perhaps, that al-Qaida may have overplayed its hand, as it did in Anbar Province, as it has in some neighborhoods in Baghdad, and in some other areas where, as you know, Sunni Arabs have rejected al-Qaida and have actually sought to join coalition forces and Iraqi governmental institutions to fight against it.
Last year's surge in execution-style killings, largely blamed on Shiite militias, had begun to decline in Baghdad in February, at the start of a major U.S.-Iraqi security push to pacify the city. But violence has been on the rise elsewhere in Iraq and the Baghdad numbers have begun to rise again. On Wednesday, in what has become a routine report, Baghdad police said they found 25 handcuffed, blindfolded and bullet-riddled bodies in various locations, many with signs of torture. The al-Maliki aide and other Iraqi officials spoke on condition of anonymity, either because of the sensitivity of the matter or because they were not authorized to deal with the media. In a nationally televised address, al-Maliki said he had ordered security forces to bolster protection of religious shrines and mosques across Iraq. The Shiite prime minister also warned against reprisal sectarian attacks. In Shiite southern Iraq, the reaction to Wednesday's attack was swift. In Najaf, radical cleric al-Sadr called for a three -day mourning period and peaceful demonstrations. He criticized the government for not protecting the site, and said the U.S. occupation is the only enemy of Iraq and that's why everyone must demand its departure, or a timetable for its departure. More than 3,000 al-Sadr loyalists staged a protest in Najaf, chanting, No, no to America!, No, no to Israel! and No, no to sedition! Later, in Baghdad, the 30-member Sadrist bloc in parliament issued a statement saying it would boycott the 275-seat house until the government takes realistic steps to rebuild the shrine. The action by the Sadrists, whose support for al-Maliki has recently waned, is likely to weaken the Shiite-dominated government and delay adoption of a series of laws needed to build national reconciliation in Iraq. Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, issued a statement calling on believers to exercise self-restraint and avoid any vengeful act that would target innocent people or the holy places of others.In neighboring Shiite Iran, which has been accused of funding and arming Shiite militias in Iraq, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad blamed U.S. forces for failing to prevent the mosque attack, and threatened to halt regional cooperation to stop Iraq's spiraling violence.
The mosque contains the tombs of the 10th and 11th imams Ali al-Hadi, who died in 868, and his son Hassan al-Askari, who died in 874. Both are descendants of the Prophet Muhammad, and Shiites consider them to be among his successors. The shrine also is near the place where the 12th imam, Mohammed al-Mahdi, disappeared. Al-Mahdi, known as the hidden imam, was the son and grandson of the two imams buried in the Askariya shrine. Shiites believe he will return to Earth to restore justice to humanity.Associated Press writers Sameer N. Yacoub, Lauren Frayer and Hamid Ahmed in Baghdad and Abdul-Hussein al-Obeidi in Najaf contributed to this report.
Hamas seizing control of Gaza Strip By SARAH EL DEEB, Associated Press Writer JUNE 13,07
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Hamas fighters launched a fierce offensive on Gaza City Wednesday, firing mortars and rockets at Fatah's main security bases and the president's compound as the Islamic group appeared close to taking control of the entire Gaza Strip. Fatah's forces were crumbling fast, with some fighters seen fleeing their security posts and hundreds of others surrendering, hands raised, to masked Hamas gunmen.A Hamas military victory in Gaza could split Palestinians into a Hamas-controlled Gaza and a Fatah-run West Bank, and push the prospect of statehood even further away. It could also set the stage for a bloody confrontation with Israel, which might intervene to prevent attacks from Gaza.In the southern town of Khan Younis, Hamas militants surrounded a security headquarters and warned everyone inside to leave or they would blow it up, witnesses said. The building was then destroyed by a bomb planted in a tunnel underneath it, said Ali Qaisi, a presidential guard spokesman.An Associated Press reporter saw defeated Fatah fighters streaming out of the building after turning over their weapons to Hamas militants. Hamas took weapons, clothes and vehicles and flew a green Islamic flag over the building, then celebrated by firing in the air and passing out candy.Security forces later said they had lost control of the town.Khan Younis is finished, said Ziad Sarafandi, a senior security official.
At least 20 people were killed in fighting Wednesday. A Hamas militant was killed in a clash early Thursday in the southern town of Rafah, hospital officials said, bringing the total in four days of infighting to over 60. Among those killed Wednesday was a man shot when Hamas gunmen fired on a peaceful protest against the violence, witnesses said.Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah called the fighting madness and pleaded with the exiled leader of Hamas to halt the violence.Abbas and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas issued a joint statement after nightfall, calling on all sides to halt fighting, and to return to language of dialogue and respect of agreements, according to a statement from Abbas' office. The call was broadcast on Palestinian TV.Hamas radio denied the two had agreed to a truce, and clashes intensified in the hour after their statement was broadcast.Hamas and Fatah nominally share power in a coalition government, while Fatah runs most of Gaza's security forces. But no one was listening to the elected leaders' pleas for calm as the focus of power passed to street militias.Hamas gunmen neutralized the main strongholds of the Fatah-linked security forces, ruling the streets and taking control of large parts of Gaza in the process.Abbas' forces desperately trying to cling to their besieged bases in Gaza lashed out at the president, saying he left them with no directions and no support in the fight.Hamas and Fatah have waged a sporadic power struggle since Hamas won parliament elections last year, ending four decades of Fatah dominance of Palestinian affairs. But the battle is now verging on civil war, as Hamas wages a systematic assault on security forces.U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he discussed the possible deployment of a multinational force in Gaza with the Security Council on Wednesday after the Israeli and Palestinian leaders raised the idea.
With fighting raging on rooftops and streets in nearly all corners of Gaza, residents huddled in fear in their homes.Hamas, already in control of much of northern Gaza, seized Khan Younis on Wednesday and began a coordinated assault on the southern town of Rafah, security officials said. Hamas militants blew up a security building near Rafah after a long gunbattle, said Col. Nasser Khaldi, a senior police official. What can I say? This is a fall, a collapse, he said. Fayez Abu Taha, 45, a businessman in Rafah, said he was trapped in his apartment building with his family after Hamas fighters took over a nearby rooftop and Fatah responded by taking over the roof of his building.
I don't know what they are battling for now, he said. I can see the bullets flying from my windows. Coming and going.The rout of the security forces was so bad that 40 Palestinian security officers broke through the border fence in Rafah and fled into Egypt seeking safety, Egyptian police said.
In the afternoon, Hamas forces attacked the three main compounds of the Fatah-allied forces in Gaza City the headquarters of the Preventive Security, the Intelligence Service and the National Forces in what could usher in the final phase of the battle. Hamas fighters, firing rockets and mortar shells, took over the rooftops in nearby houses and cut off the roads to prevent reinforcements from arriving. They called on the beleaguered Fatah forces to surrender. Hamas gunmen in high-rise buildings also fired at Abbas' Gaza office and house and his guard force returned fire. Abbas was in the West Bank at the time of the fighting. During the battle at the Preventive Security Service base, both sides fired wildly from high-rise rooftops. Dr. Wael Abdel Jawad, a physician trapped in his apartment, said he heard Fatah fighters shouting at colleagues on an adjacent roof to send them more ammunition. All of us are terrified here. Shooting came through the windows of our apartment, children are screaming. We are hearing from a nearby mosque the call by Hamas to surrender, he said. Those fighters on rooftops are like Don Quixote, tilting at windmills. They don't know where to shoot, he said. In another dramatic battle in Gaza City, hundreds of members of the Fatah-allied Bakr clan, which had fought fiercely for two days, surrendered to masked Hamas gunmen and were led, arms raised, to a nearby mosque. Footage broadcast on Hamas' Al Aqsa TV showed some of the Bakr women trying to enter the mosque. Hamas gunmen later drove off with some of the Bakr fighters, witnesses said.
Two women from the clan tried to leave the area to take a sick girl to a hospital and were shot and killed by jittery Hamas gunmen, a clan member said. After nightfall, Hamas militants blew up the house of one of the Bakr clan's leaders, witnesses said. Early Thursday, Fatah officials said their forces withdrew from some bases in central Gaza and destroyed them, rather than allow them to fall into Hamas hands. In Washington, U.S. officials condemned the fighting. Violence certainly does not serve the interest of the Palestinian people, and it's not going to bring the peace and prosperity that they deserve, White House spokesman Tony Snow said. They are shooting at anyone and everyone who is Fatah, said Youssef Abu Siyam, a Preventive Security officer in Rafah. The fighting spilled into the Fatah-dominated West Bank. Hamas and Fatah gunmen exchanged fire in the city of Nablus and a nearby refugee camp after Fatah gunmen tried to storm a pro-Hamas TV production company. Hamas said 12 of its fighters were wounded. Hamas charged that Fatah-linked security forces were rounding up Hamas activists in the West Bank early Thursday. On Wednesday, Abbas spoke by phone with the Damascus-based Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal to try to stop the crisis, said Abbas aide Nimr Hamad. This is madness, the madness that is going on in Gaza now, Abbas told reporters.
The U.N. Relief and Works Agency, which provides aid to Palestinian refugees, said it would curtail its operations after two of its Palestinian workers were killed by crossfire. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri, said the clashes could have been avoided if Abbas had given the Hamas-led Cabinet control over the security forces, which he blamed for a wave of kidnappings, torture and violence in Gaza. AP reporter Diaa Hadid contributed to this report.
Greece wants bigger EU role in Mideast peace
12 June 2007, 17:00 CET Eu Business
(DAMASCUS) - The European Union should play a bigger role in the Middle East peace process, Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis said during a visit to Damascus on Tuesday.The European Union should be much more involved, Bakoyannis told journalists. And our message is strong and clear: we need to encourage all the parties for a new process for peace in the Middle East.But with rumours swirling of a possible Israeli peace overture to Syria, from which the Jewish state captured the strategic Golan Heights in 1967, Bakoyannis denied she had any message from Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.She described her talks with the Syrian leadership as very interesting and hailed Greece's relations with Syria as very good, despite Washington's efforts to sideline Damascus for its alleged sponsorship of terrorism.The minister repeated EU backing for an Arab League peace plan that offers Israel normalised relations with all Arab nations in return for land captured in 1967, a viable Palestinian state and the return of refugees.We have to give the Arab League's proposals a chance, she said. We have to encourage the European Union to be more involved in the region so that we can attempt peace which is the goal and we should spend more effort to do that.
Barak Wins Labor Race; Fraud Allegations at Arab Polling Station
by Ezra HaLevi (INN) JUNE 13,07
Former Prime Minister Ehud Barak narrowly won the Labor Party primaries Monday, once again becoming chairman of the party. Barak garnered a total of 34,542 votes - 51.3 percent. His opponent, former Shabak (General Security Service) chief MK Ami Ayalon, received 32,117 votes 47.7 percent. 65 percent of Labors eligible voters cast their ballots in this second round of primaries. Barak pledged to work to strengthen the IDF and restore Israels deterrence. It is widely believed that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will appoint Barak as Defense Minister in the near future, replacing outgoing Labor Chairman Amir Peretz. The former prime minister left politics for the private business sector after his loss to Ariel Sharon in 2001. His return to politics is considered a comeback he was placed fourth in early opinion polls among Labor voters.
Comeback or Fraud?
Ayalons camp accuses Barak of election fraud in the Arab and Druze sectors, where Barak received an overwhelming majority of the votes. In Shfaram, for example, Barak suddenly received 2,000 more votes than he had in the previous round. In Um el-Fahm, Barak received three times as many votes as Ayalon despite the towns hostility toward Barak for sending police into the town to quell Israeli-Arab riots in October, 2000. In that incident, several rioters were shot dead. A local electioneer, speaking with Army Radio, did not deny the possibility of fraudulent voting carried out by an election worker who then voted on behalf of his whole clan, for example.Labor Secretary-General MK Eitan Cabel said the allegations had been reviewed and been found to be not substantive. Ayalon said that he does not plan on appealing the results, though he does plan to pursue a police investigation into the fraud itself. Ayalon supporters say they have evidence of enough fraudulent voting to change the outcome of the election. Barak associates called the allegations the whining of losers.
There were several reports of violence at Labor voting stations.
Victory Speech
There is no governing without the public's trust, Barak said in his victory speech. In these times of anxiety, distrust and a general feeling that we have lost our way and our leadership, the Labor Party must position itself at the head of a democratic alternative leadership of Israel Today begins the long journey toward bringing back level-headed, responsible, and experienced leadership to the State of Israel. He also issued a call to Kadima party members who left when Shimon Peres lost to Amir Peretz to come home.Likud Knesset Member Silvan Shalom has challenged Barak to break up the government coalition and face new general elections. Barak said prior to his election that he will not remain in a government headed by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert but wants a replacement from within the coalition instead of elections. This is the true public test of him [Barak], MK Shalom stated. Can he be trusted on his promises to the public or was he elected to be faithful to those who want to hold onto their positions in the government?
IsraelNationalRadio.com Commentator Jay Shapiro noted: The percentage of Labor voters who turned out to vote was highest in the Arab sector - and the Arabs voted overwhelmingly for Barak. He won the election by a slim majority, and the Arab vote was the deciding one. So the new head of the Labor party who will probably move into the present government and probably will be the Minister of Defense is a man who created the situation in the north that resulted in the war last summer and the growing threat in the north even today. The leader of the Labor party owes his election to the Arabs. None of this bodes well for Israeli democracy or for the State of Israel in general.
Minister Cohen Calls for Reinstating Religious Affairs Ministry
by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz (INN) JUNE 13.07
In the wake of a sharply critical ombudsman's report on state religious services, the Minister for Religious Affairs in the Prime Minister's Office, Shas Knesset Member Yitzchak Cohen, suggested reviving the defunct Religious Affairs Ministry. During a meeting of the Knesset's State Control Committee on Monday, representatives discussed the State Comptroller's report on the municipal religious councils and on the national Religious Affairs Authority. According to the report: many municipalities have failed to transfer funds earmarked for the use of their respective religious councils; the councils themselves have displayed serious administrative failures; the Religious Affairs Authority did not administer the religious councils appropriately; the Authority was often staffed by politically motivated appointees, primarily from the Likud party. The Comptroller recommended reforms in state-provided religious services.
In light of the report, Minister Cohen said, The situation has yet to improve. We have not yet healed the religious councils, [but] in terms of reform, we have successes in broad areas. However, we believe that the transfer of the religious councils to the municipalities was a correct step. At the same time, Cohen noted that the debt owed the councils by the municipalities is around 150 million shekels, and the employees of the councils and the rabbis are not getting paid. To improve the situation, Minister Cohen recommended that the state provide 75% of the religious councils' funding, while the municipalities provide the remainder, as is common regarding health and social services.Minister Cohen added that the only reason he is heading a ministry that is not a ministry is due to a whim of the [now-defunct] Shinui party [during the Sharon administration] to dismantle the ministry. The Ministry of Religious Affairs must be reinstated.MK Orlev noted that the issue has been on the public agenda since 2002.
On the other hand, Meir Shpiegler, Director of the Religious Affairs Authority, claimed that the establishment of the body that he heads has led to intensified supervision and control of the regional religious councils. Such oversight, he noted, includes a review of expenditures by accountants. Shpiegler confirmed, however, that there are rabbis who have not been paid their salaries, just as there are mayors and other officials in similar situations. Knesset Member Zevulun Orlev (National Religious Party), Chairman of the State Control Committee, summed up the discussion, saying that there is no agreed-upon reform for religious services at the moment. He noted that the issue has been on the public agenda since 2002, when budgetary cutbacks began to take effect. Unless there is a governmental decision on the matter, complete with a time table for implementation, according to MK Orlev, there will be no solution to the problem.
Military plan against Iran is ready
By YAAKOV KATZ JUNE 11,07
Predicting that Iran will obtain a nuclear weapon within three years and claiming to have a strike plan in place, senior American military officers have told The Jerusalem Post they support President George W. Bush's stance to do everything necessary to stop the Islamic Republic's race for nuclear power. Bush has repeatedly said the United States would not allow Iran to go nuclear.Israel successfully launches Ofek 7 spy satellite
JPost special: US candidates talk tough on Iran
A high-ranking American military officer told the Post that senior officers in the US armed forces had thrown their support behind Bush and believed that additional steps needed to be taken to stop Iran.
Predictions within the US military are that Bush will do what is needed to stop Teheran before he leaves office in 2009, including possibly launching a military strike against its nuclear facilities. On Sunday, Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut said the US should consider a military strike against Iran over its support of Iraqi insurgents. I think we've got to be prepared to take aggressive military action against the Iranians to stop them from killing Americans in Iraq, he said. And to me, that would include a strike over the border into Iran, where we have good evidence that they have a base at which they are training these people coming back into Iraq to kill our soldiers.According to a high-ranking American military officer, the US Navy and Air Force would play the primary roles in any military action taken against Iran. One idea under consideration is a naval blockade designed to cut off Iran's oil exports. The officer said that if the US government or the UN Security Council decided on this course of action, the US Navy would most probably not block the Strait of Hormuz - a step that would definitely draw an Iranian military response - but would patrol farther out and turn away tankers on their way to load oil.
On Sunday, the Israel Air Force held joint exercises with visiting US pilots, but IDF sources dismissed speculation that the drills were connected to an attack on Iran. The US officer said that perhaps even more dangerous to Israel and the Western world than Iranian nukes was the possibility that a terrorists cell associated with al-Qaida or global jihad would acquire a highly radioactive dirty bomb or a vial of deadly chemical or biological agents. The officer said al-Qaida was gaining a strong foothold in the Middle East and that Israel was being surrounded by global jihad elements in Lebanon, Jordan and Sinai. Iran is a state-sponsored type of terrorism that can be dealt with, he said, adding that it was far more difficult to strike at the source of an isolated terrorist cell. To combat this threat, the US Navy has come up with a plan for a 1,000-ship navy - a transnational network composed of navies from around the world that would raise awareness of maritime threats and more effectively thwart sea-based terrorism and the illicit transfer of arms by sea. The idea is to allow free trade and to prevent criminal and terror activity at sea, the officer said. A smaller-scale example of the US Navy's vision is NATO's Active Endeavor antiterrorism operation based in Naples. Israel plans to send an officer to be stationed there in the coming months. NATO launched Operation Active Endeavor in wake of 9/11 and has succeeded in bringing together a number of Mediterranean countries to work together in Naples to share information on naval terrorism and suspicious vessels in the region.
Ruth Bell Graham reported near death
Famed evangelist, gathered with children, says wife 'close to going home to heaven'
June 13, 2007 - 3:51 p.m. Eastern - 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
Ruth Bell Graham
Ruth Bell Graham, the wife of evangelist Billy Graham, slipped into a coma this morning after suffering from pneumonia and is near death, according to a family spokesman. Four of the couple's five children are at their home in Montreat, N.C., and son Ned Graham is on his way, said A. Larry Ross. Billy Graham issued a statement today saying he and his wife, who turned 87 Sunday, had decided to be buried next to each other at the Billy Graham Library in Billy Graham's hometown of Charlotte. We have held this decision privately and only decided to announce it now that she is close to going home to heaven, Billy Graham said. Ruth is my soul mate and best friend, and I cannot imagine living a single day without her by my side. I am more in love with her today than when we first met over 65 years ago as students at Wheaton College.
Graham, 88, said Ruth and I appreciate, more than we can express, the prayers and letters of encouragement we have received from people across the country and around the world.Our entire family has been home in recent days and it has meant so much to have them at our side during this time, he said. We love each one of them dearly and thank God for them.In December, the Washington Post reported the family was divided over the Grahams' burial place, indicating Ruth objected to a site at a museum being built in Charlotte that was favored by son Franklin. Billy Graham responded to the story, stating he and Ruth would make the decision together privately.
Pres. Race: Rivlin & Avital Withdraw, Peres to Become President
by Hillel Fendel (INN) JUNE 13,07
Shimon Peres will be Israel's ninth President, following Ruby Rivlin's surprise withdrawal from the presidential race after the results of the first round became known. With the news that Peres had received 58 votes, third-place finisher Labor MK Collette Avital (21 votes) withdrew her candidacy, as expected, leaving Peres and Rivlin to battle it out in the second round. However, Rivlin, who had expected to receive many more than the 37 votes he garnered, then surprised the nation by announcing his withdrawal from the race. Given the fact that most or all of Avital's votes were expected to go to former Laborite Peres, a Peres victory seemed to be a foregone conclusion.With a breaking voice, MK Ruby Rivlin thanked all the 70 MKs who had said they would support my candidacy... and informed the country that he was withdrawing from the race. With teary eyes, he asked the Knesset to support Shimon Peres.Even Peres's victory, practically his first in public electoral life, was thus tainted by the fact that he did not win outright; his opponents merely withdrew.
Three MKs abstained in the first round, and one vote was disqualified.
In what is virtually certain to be a two-round contest, the Knesset will elect Israel's 9th president today. Underdog Ruby Rivlin still hopes to beat Shimon Peres. Israel's three largest parties are fielding candidates in today's election: Kadima is running with Vice Premier Shimon Peres, Labor - three-time MK Collette Avital, and the Likud with five-term MK Ruby Rivlin. The 120 Knesset Members will vote in a secret ballot for the new President, beginning at noon. If no one candidate receives at least 61 MKs, which is virtually certain, a second round will be held. Any candidate has the option of bowing out at that point, and tremendous pressure will likely be exerted upon the third-place finisher - likely to be Avital - to do so. If in the second round as well, no one receives 61 votes, the rules change slightly, and become complex. If in the second round three candidates run, then the two higher-placing candidates run against each other, and whoever receives more votes than the others is declared Israel's president. If, however, only two candidates ran in the second round, then in the third round, only the highest-placing candidate runs - and the MKs must vote either for or against.Behind the scenes, the lobbying of the MKs continues to be feverish. For Peres, famous throughout Israel as a perennial "loser" of elections, today's election is a last-ditch effort to change his historic reputation. His support in Kadima is mostly strong, and he is also expected to garner most or all of the votes of the Pensioners and Meretz parties. Shas has officially announced its support for him.Rivlin, on the other hand, known to be right-wing politically, is well-respected in the Knesset for his fairness and affability. The Likud, National Union/NRP, Yisrael Beiteinu and UTJ are expected to support him nearly unanimously. MK Avital's support comes only from Labor, and even there it is fairly weak.
In each voting round, every MK will be called by name and will step up to the curtained ballot box in front of the Knesset podium. Behind the curtain, he or she will take a slip of paper with his/her chosen candidate's name, place it into the supplied envelope, and then step out from behind the curtain and place the envelope into the ballot box. Many questions remain unanswered as the MKs near the moment of decision - and some will remain unanswered even after the election. For instance, does Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef's ruling in favor of Peres obligate all 12 Shas MKs - or did some of them receive "private" rulings allowing them to vote for Rivlin? Nissim Ze'ev, the most right-wing Shas MK, denied this possibility today, saying that Rabbi Yosef's ruling was unambiguous and firm and that he does not believe anyone will go against the rabbi's will. Despite this, skepticism still reigns in the Knesset as to whether every Shas MK will vote for Peres.It is widely believed that in the previous election seven years ago, when Moshe Katzav defeated Peres in the second round, Shas MKs did not fulfill their semi-pledges to vote for Peres, thus giving Katzav the victory. It is also not clear how many Kadima MKs who say they will vote for Peres will actually do so. Many of them are former Likud members and have strong loyalties to Peres. MK Ze'ev Elkin, a Peres man, says he knows of some party colleagues who plan to defy the party decision.In addition, what will Labor do after Avital drops out? Many Labor MKs are friends and long-time party allies of Peres, but many of them are furious at him for having quit the party to join Kadima. The Arab MKs, too, are a question mark. Even Prime Minister Olmert himself, though he instructed his party to vote for Peres, may not want to see such an active president beside him at the helm of leadership. Some of the answers will be provided within a few hours - and others will remain forever secret.
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