80% AMERICANS SUPPORT ISRAEL

DAY 3 OF PASSOVER IN ISRAEL TODAY 6PM.

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

80 percent of American Christians say they have a moral and biblical obligation to support the State of Israel

More than 80 percent of American Christians say they have a moral and biblical obligation to support the State of Israel, and half say Jerusalem should remain its undivided capital, according to a survey released on Thursday.While evangelical Christians are the strongest supporters of the Jewish state, strong pro-Israel convictions cut across all key Christian denominations in the US, according to the poll carried out on behalf of the Washington-based Joshua Fund, an evangelical organization.Eight-two percent of respondents said they had a moral and biblical obligation to love and support Israel and pray for the peace of Jerusalem, 10% disagreed and 8% did not know.Eighty-four percent of Protestants agreed with the statement (including 89% of Evangelicals), compared to 76% of Catholics.Half of the American Christians surveyed opposed Israel dividing Jerusalem with the Palestinians in a peace agreement, 33% were unsure and 17% thought it should be divided.

Fifty-three percent of Protestants supported a united Jerusalem, as did 44% of Catholics.Evangelical Christians were most supportive of a united Jerusalem, with 62% in favor and 11% against.A plurality of the US Christians (44%) surveyed said they did not know whether a future Palestinian state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip would be a peaceful moderate democracy or a terrorist state, 32% said that it would be a terrorist state and 24% said that it would be a peaceful democracy.

The survey found clear differences between Protestants and Catholics on the issue.

Protestants were more likely to say a Palestinian state would be a terror state by a 10-point margin; Catholics were evenly split. Evangelical Protestants said a such entity would be a terrorist state by a 20-point margin, but non-evangelical Protestants said it would be a peaceful and moderate democracy by six percentage points.

The belief that a Palestinian state would be a terrorist state was strongest among Republican and conservative Evangelicals.Nearly half (49%) of American Christians surveyed were interested in visiting Israel, including about quarter of both Catholics and Protestants who were strongly interested.Forty-seven percent of those polled were not interested in visiting.There are 50 million-60million evangelicals Christians in the US.Two-thirds of respondents said that if Iran developed nuclear weapons, it would eventually try to use them to attack Israel, 23% were unsure and 13% said Iran would not attack.Finally, 45% said they would be more likely to support a US presidential candidate who would protect America from Islamic terrorism, protect Israel from a nuclear attack from Iran, oppose the division of Jerusalem and refuse to pressure Israel to make concessions on issues of national security, compared to 29% who said such positions had no effect on their vote and 9% who would be less likely to support such a candidate.

The survey will be officially released on Thursday at a conference at the Jerusalem International Convention Center (Binyenei Ha'uma) organized by The Joshua Fund that is expected to be attended by 2,000 evangelical Christians from around the world.The non-profit organization aims to raise more than $100 million over the next three years to help Israeli victims of terrorism, and to fund humanitarian projects in Israel in education, health, welfare and immigrant absorption, and $20m. for Christians in the West Bank, Gaza, Iraq and Sudan, said Joel C. Rosenberg, the group's founder and president.Our support for Israel is unwavering and unconditional, he said.

AMERICA (POLITICAL BABYLON)

EZEKIEL 39:21
21 And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them.

ISAIAH 18:1-2
1 Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia:
2 That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled!

JEREMIAH 50:11,37,12
11 Because ye were glad, because ye rejoiced, O ye destroyers of mine heritage, because ye are grown fat as the heifer at grass, and bellow as bulls;(BACKSLIDERS)
37 A sword is upon their horses, and upon their chariots, and upon all the mingled people that are in the midst of her; and they shall become as women: a sword is upon her treasures; and they shall be robbed.(A NATION OF MINGLED PEOPLE)
12 Your mother shall be sore confounded; she that bare you shall be ashamed:(MOTHER ENGLAND) behold, the hindermost of the nations shall be a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.

JEREMIAH 51:13,7,53
13 O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness.
7 Babylon hath been a golden cup in the LORD's hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad.
53 Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me shall spoilers come unto her, saith the LORD.

REVELATION 18:3,5,7
3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.
5 For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.
7 How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.

JEREMIAH 50:3,24
3 For out of the north(RUSSIA)there cometh up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein: they shall remove, they shall depart, both man and beast.
24 I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not aware: thou art found, and also caught, because thou hast striven against the LORD. (RUSSIA A SNEAK ATTACK)

REVELATION 18:10
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.

Preparing For A Nuclear attack on D.C. - A Hypothetical Scenario

ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.

A nuclear device detonated near the White House would kill roughly 100,000 people and flatten downtown federal buildings, while the radioactive plume from the explosion would likely spread toward the Capitol and into Southeast D.C., contaminating thousands more.

The blast from the 10-kiloton bomb — similar to the bomb dropped over Hiroshima during World War II — would kill up to one in 10 tourists visiting the Washington Monument and send shards of glass flying the length of the National Mall, in a scenario that has become increasingly likely to occur in a major U.S. city in recent years, panel members told a Senate committee yesterday.It's inevitable, said Cham E. Dallas, director of the Institute for Health Management and Mass Destruction Defense at the University of Georgia, who has charted the potential explosion's effect in the District and testified before a hearing of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. I think it's wistful to think that it won't happen by 20 years.The Senate committee has convened a series of hearings to examine the threat and effects of a terrorist nuclear attack on a U.S. city, as well as the needed response.Yesterday's panel stressed the importance of state and local cooperation with federal authorities in the wake of an attack, assistance from the private business sector to aid recovery and the dire need to boost the capabilities of area hospitals.

They recommended expanding emergency personnel by training physicians like pharmacists and dentists to aid in all-hazards care, monitoring the exposure of first responders to radiation and clearly disseminating information to the public.The scenarios we discuss today are very hard for us to contemplate, and so emotionally traumatic and unsettling that it is tempting to push them aside, said Sen. Joe Lieberman, Connecticut independent and committee chairman. However, now is the time to have this difficult conversation, to ask the tough questions, and then to get answers as best we can and take preparatory and preventive action.Ashton B. Carter, co-director of the Preventive Defense Project at Harvard University, said the likelihood of a nuclear attack on U.S. soil is undetermined, but it has increased with the proliferation of weapons by Iran and North Korea and the failure to secure Russia's nuclear arsenal following the Cold War.For while the probability of a nuclear weapon one day going off in a U.S. city cannot be calculated, it is almost surely larger than it was five years ago, Mr. Carter said.Mr. Carter described a more destructive blast effect. He said the ground-based detonation of a 10-kiloton bomb would result in near-total devastation within a circle about two miles in diameter, or the length of the Mall.The zone of destruction is projected to be less than that of Hiroshima, where the bomb was dropped from an airplane and detonated above the city.

A similar blast in a more densely populated city than the District, such as Chicago or New York, would result in an injury toll up to eight times higher. A plume a few miles long could also dole out lethal doses of radiation, Mr. Carter said.However, the experts emphasized that the explosion would not impact most of a major city and that in many cases, residents could remain safe by not evacuating immediately and clogging area roadways.It is also expected that, due to lack of information getting to the public, many people will try to flee by car or on foot, often in the wrong direction, again exposing themselves to high levels of radiation, as vehicles provide virtually no protection, Mr. Carter said.

Mr. Dallas said a major problem facing most cities is a lack of available hospital beds for victims of burns that would result from a nuclear blast. He said up to 95 percent of such victims would not receive potentially life-saving care.We're completely underprepared, he said. Most of them will die.Mr. Dallas said the District also faces a unique challenge because of the way the city is configured geographically: A wind blowing west to east would gradually spread radiation from the explosion into the low-income neighborhoods of Southeast, where there are limited health care options available and only one hospital.Area officials have spent millions of dollars in recent years to develop evacuation plans and stockpile emergency supplies after a 2006 study by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said local preparation for a disaster was not sufficient.Darrell L. Darnell, director of the District's Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency, said the city is continuing to develop its emergency preparedness capabilities and has numerous methods of informing residents of actions they should take, including through text messages, voice alerts and Web sites like www.dc.gov and http://72hours.dc.gov.

We are confident that the District is prepared to respond to a catastrophic incident affecting the District, Mr. Darnell said.
Still, Mr. Dallas said the majority of victims in a nuclear explosion will likely have to fend for themselves in the first hours after an attack.These people are going to be on their own, he said after the hearing. There's no white horse to ride to the rescue.

DANIEL 7:23-24
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast(THE EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TR BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise:(10 NATIONS) and another shall rise after them;(#11 SPAIN) and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.(BE HEAD OF 3 KINGS OR NATIONS).

Last Updated: 20/04/2008 12:45
Lisbon treaty website launched

A new website providing information on the Lisbon Treaty was today launched to educate voters in advance of June’s crucial referendum.
Established by the Referendum Commission, the independent body set up to boost public awareness on the issue, the site sets out what the treaty is about and how the EU will be changed if ratified. The website launch comes just days after German Chancellor Angela Merkel and EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso visited the country to highlight the importance of a Yes vote. The body will also set out the plans for its public information campaign at a
briefing on Wednesday and reveal the results of a poll assessing the level of knowledge on the treaty. Environment Minister John Gormley made an order setting up the Referendum Commission on March 6th. It has been allocated a budget of €5 million for its work.

It does not advise voters which side to take when voting, but merely informs them about the issues and encourages them to cast their ballot. Mr Justice Iarfhlaith O’Neill, Judge of the High Court was appointed as chairperson on the nomination of the Chief Justice. The other members are the Clerk of the Dail Kieran Coughlan, the Clerk of the Seanad Deirdre Lane, the Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly and the Comptroller and Auditor General John Purcell.

The website address is www.lisbontreaty2008.ie

Meanwhile the Government’s summary guide to the Reform Treaty is currently being distributed to all households in the State. Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern said the 48-page booklet in both Irish and English sets out in a clear and factual manner the treaty’s proposed changes. The distribution of this guide is part of the Government’s efforts to ensure that the public are as well informed as possible regarding the content of the Treaty, which will be the subject of a referendum in June, he said. In addition to this guide, the Government has published a White Paper, explaining the Treaty’s content in more detail. Earlier this week, the European Union published the consolidated version of the EU Treaties, incorporating the changes to be made by the Reform Treaty, once ratified. That document shows exactly how the Reform Treaty will amend the existing Treaties. It shows the legal framework that will apply if the Reform Treaty is ratified by all Member States.Mr Ahern added that in the coming weeks the government will facilitate the best informed public debate for any referendum in our history.I am confident that when people are informed about this Treaty, they will dismiss the myths being promoted by Treaty opponents and give a resounding Yes on polling day. A reading of the Government guide will confirm that there is nothing to fear and much to gain from ratifying a Treaty whose provisions are firmly in Ireland’s and in Europe’s interests, Mr Ahern said. 2008 ireland.com

Irish farmers link EU treaty vote with trade talks
18.04.2008 - 09:21 CET | By Honor Mahony

Irish farmers were out in force on the streets of Dublin on Thursday (17 April) to protest against forthcoming world trade talks in Switzerland and warn the government that the nature of the trade deal would affect how the group votes on the EU treaty in June.Over 10,000 farmers protested in front of parliament in a rally that coincided with a visit by European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso to the Irish capital to persuade voters of the merits of the treaty.Padraig Walshe, president of the Irish Farmers Association, said that decisions taken by EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson in Geneva in May, where a breakthrough on the Doha round of trade liberalisation talks is expected, would have a direct bearing on the treaty referendum.Don't come back from Geneva having sold us out. Thousands of workers in the food industry will lose their jobs, hundreds of businesses will have to close down. Don't expect us to do your bidding in the referendum, he said, according to the Irish Independent.Sell us out and we will have our say on the 12th of June, said Mr Walshe to the crowd.The agricultural sector continues to represent an important part of Irish society and the government is keen to woo them into the yes camp for the treaty vote, due to take place on 12 June.

Farmers fear that any concessions the EU makes during the trade talks in order to broker a deal - both the EU and the US are facing pressure from poorer regions to cut back their agricultural subsidies and tariffs - will result in them being worse off.Mr Barroso told the Forum on Europe in Dublin that he was very attentive to the concerns of the farmers in Ireland.The Irish Times reports him as saying that it was in Europe's interests to get a deal soon at the World Trade Organisation.He pointed out that Ireland has four percent of the global market in traded services, so a trade deal would be important for the country.Mr Barroso also reassured Irish voters on tax issues - the government is strongly against any moves towards an EU tax - and said that on June 12th the Irish people will be sending a message to the rest of Europe and the wider world.

International Relations | 19.04.2008
EU Presidency Will Not Invite Dalai Lama to Brussels

Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: The EU is concerned about Tibet, but will not invite the Dalai Lama to Brussels.The EU's Slovenian presidency said that it would not invite the Dalai Lama to Brussels to meet with the bloc's foreign ministers, as Paris has proposed, but would not rule out other contacts with the Tibetan leader. Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel told a special Chinese envoy in Ljubljana that the Slovenian presidency did not intend to invite the Dalai Lama to the council meeting (of EU foreign ministers) in Brussels, the presidency said in a statement on Saturday, April 19.The Slovenian presidency, however, added that contacts with him him [the Dalai Lama] on other levels were not excluded.French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said on April 1 that the 27 EU foreign ministers would invite the Dalai Lama once a decision had been made by the Slovenian EU presidency.At the time, Rupel said that inviting the Dalai Lama to Brussels was doable but would need to be discussed by foreign ministers from the other EU nations.

Beijing's opposition

Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel spoke to a Chinese envoy in Ljubljana.China has opposed foreign nations providing support to what it has said was the Dalai Lama's attempts to split Tibet from China, in reaction to reports that he may go to Japan and Europe.On Friday, Rupel received special Chinese envoy Guan Chengyuan, who had a letter laying out Beijing's position on developments in Tibet and EU nations' reaction to them.In response, Rupel said that substantive and open dialog with the Dalai Lama could form part of the solution to the problem, according to the statement.Slovenia and the EU understand the urgency of restoring stability in China, but at the same time believe that the Chinese authorities could take more positive steps to address the situation in Tibet, the EU presidency said.

Protests in China

Meanwhile, protests were held on Saturday in at least five Chinese cities against independence for Tibet, official media reported.
Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Demonstrators protested in front of the Carrefour supermaket in Wuhan, China.Demonstrators gathered outside branches of French retailer Carrefour amid claims that it had links to exiled Tibetans and in the wake of widespread calls for a boycott of French goods. Carrefour has vehemently rejected the claims.A small group of young people protested outside the French embassy in Beijing's Sanlitun district Saturday and a nearby French school. Large numbers of police had earlier sealed off streets in the district.Protests were held in Beijing, Hefei and in Wuhan in the central Chinese province of Hubei, in Qingdao in Shandong province and in Kunming in the south-west province of Yunnan, Xinhua news agency reported.

Anti-French sentiment in China has been on the rise since the chaotic Paris leg of the Olympic torch relay, where pro-Tibet protesters tried to wrestle the flame from Jin Jing, a young wheelchair-bound fencer.The resentment has been amplified by French President Nicolas Sarkozy linking his appearance at the Olympic Games opening ceremony to progress on human rights in Tibet, following China's crackdown in the region.

EU concerned

Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Activists all over the world have protested against the Chinese crackdown in Tibet.Last month, Tibet saw the biggest anti-Chinese protests in years on the anniversary of a 1959 uprising that sent the Dalai Lama fleeing into exile in India.Exiled Tibetan leaders say more than 150 people have died in the crackdown. China says Tibetan rioters have killed 18 civilians and two policemen.Rupel said that the EU was concerned about the lack of information about the events and reports from international non-governmental organizations of harsh measures by the authorities and that many people remained unaccounted for.The EU is concerned upon receiving such information, Rupel said. A positive step would be to allow free access to Tibet and to enable full transparency.DW staff (tt)

Europol to become EU agency in 2010
+ - 15:50, April 19, 2008

The Hague-based Europol, a police coordination office, will formally become a European Union (EU) agency on Jan. 1, 2010, the European Commission said Friday. Europol will become a full EU body, with the tools to support law enforcement agencies in the member states even more effectively. As a result, European police forces will cooperate more closely, said European Commission Vice President Jacques Barrot. The decision to confer EU agency status on Europol was made after 15 months of intense discussions among EU member states. With this decision, Europol will be funded by the EU budget. The new status will allow EU to adapt Europol's legal framework more rapidly, avoiding the lengthy ratification process of protocols to the Europol Convention. Source: Xinhua

EU tightens anti-terrorism laws By Oana Lungescu BBC News, Brussels APR 19,08

Gilles de Kerchove says the internet is being used to radicalise people.European Union ministers have agreed to punish incitement to terrorism through the internet. At a meeting in Luxembourg, EU justice and interior ministers tightened existing laws. Public provocation to commit terrorist attacks, as well as recruiting and training people for terrorism will be punishable offences throughout the EU. The ministers also agreed on an action plan to prevent terrorist groups from getting explosives. EU officials said the decision to punish propaganda, recruitment and training for terrorism through the internet filled an important gap in European legislation.

Early warning system

They described the internet as a virtual training camp for militants, used to inspire and mobilise local groups. Earlier this month, the EU anti-terrorism co-ordinator, Gilles de Kerchove, said the threat of terrorism in Europe had not diminished and about 5,000internet sites were being used to radicalise young people. National courts will now be able to ask internet service providers to remove such sites. Britain, Spain and Italy already punish public incitement to terrorism. But under pressure from Nordic countries and civil rights campaigners, ministers made clear that the new provisions may not be used to restrict freedom of expression. In a separate move to combat terrorism, they agreed to establish an early-warning system on stolen explosives and detonators by the end of the year. They also resolved to create a database giving police permanent access to information on incidents involving explosive devices.

MUSLIM NATIONS

EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW)and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY)of the north quarters, and all his bands:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.

ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, and the Hagarenes;
7 Gebal, and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)

EZEKIEL 39:1-8
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.

JOEL 2:3,20,30-31
3 A fire(NUCLEAR BOMB) devoureth before them;(RUSSIA-ARABS) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.

Source: U.S. Strike on Iran Nearing APR 14,08

Contrary to some claims that the Bush administration will allow diplomacy to handle Iran’s nuclear weapons program, a leading member of America’s Jewish community tells Newsmax that a military strike is not only on the table – but likely.Israel is preparing for heavy casualties, the source said, suggesting that although Israel will not take part in the strike, it is expecting to be the target of Iranian retribution.Look at Dick Cheney’s recent trip through the Middle East as preparation for the U.S. attack, the source said.Cheney’s hastily arranged 9-day visit to the region, which began on March 16, included stops in Israel, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman, Turkey, and the Palestinian territories.Tensions in the region have been rising.While Israel was conducting the largest homefront military exercises in its history last week, Israel’s National Infrastructure Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer warned Tehran about expected attacks on the Jewish state.An Iranian attack will prompt a severe reaction from Israel, which will destroy the Iranian nation, he said.He predicted that in a future war, hundreds of missiles will rain on Israel, but added that Iran is definitely aware of our strength.In addition to long-range missiles Iran has been developing to strike Israel, Israel’s military strategists see the Iranians using terror groups they back like Hamas operating from Palestine and Hezbollah from Lebanon to launch attacks.Iran has supplied Hezbollah with an arsenal that now contains tens of thousands of missiles, according to the Washington Post.

Israel’s recent war exercises, including preparations for chemical and biological weapons attacks, drew a sharp response from Syria which held its own military drills. The Syrian government accused Israel of preparing for a war which Damascus predicted would be begin anytime between May 1 and the end of June.Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently told foreign journalists that Israel needs to confront the threat posed by Iran. Privately he has been telling associates his number one priority is have the Israeli military strike Iran if the U.S. is unwilling.The Israeli newspaper Haaretz disclosed that Israel is concerned that North Korea has transferred technology and nuclear materials to Iran to aid Tehran’s secret nuclear weapons program.Iran remains intransigent to international pressure that it offer full transparency relating to its nuclear program. On Sunday the head of Iran’s nuclear program abruptly canceled a meeting with the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, dealing a blow to the U.N. monitor's efforts to investigate allegations that Iran tried to make nuclear arms, an agency official said, according to an AP report.But a senior diplomat had told the AP that IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] head Mohamed ElBaradei likely planned to use the meeting with Gholam Reza Aghazadeh, the head of Iran's nuclear program, to renew a request for more information on allegations Tehran had tried to make atomic arms.A number of signs indicate that, contrary to the belief President Bush is a lame duck who will not act before he leaves office, the U.S. is poised to strike before Iran can acquire nuclear weapons and carry out the threat of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to wipe Israel off the map:

According to intelligence sources, the administration now rejects the National Intelligence Estimate report issued in December that asserted Iran had halted its nuclear weapons program in late 2003.

The French daily Le Monde reported in March that newly surfaced documents show that Iran has continued developing nuclear weapons. In late 2006, U.S. intelligence reportedly intercepted a phone conversation in Iran’s Defense Ministry in which the nuclear weapons program was discussed.

The commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East, Admiral William Fallon, resigned in March amid media reports that he broke with President Bush’s strategy on Iran and did not want to be in the chain of command when the order comes down from the President to launch a strike on the Islamic Republic.

Democrats suggested he had been forced out because of his candor in opposing Bush’s Iran plans, and Esquire magazine contended that Fallon’s departure signaled that the U.S. is preparing to attack Iran.

According to a Tehran-based Iranian news network, Press TV, Saudi Arabia is taking emergency steps in preparing to counter any radioactive hazards that may result from an American attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

The Saudi newspaper Okaz disclosed that the Saudi government has approved nuclear fallout preparations, and the Iranian network reported that the approval came a day after Cheney met with the kingdom’s high-ranking officials, further stating that the U.S. is now informing its Arab allies of a potential war.

The American commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, has stepped up criticism of Iran, telling Congress last week that Iranian support for Shiite militias posed the most serious threat to Iraq’s stability. He told senators : Iran has fueled the violence in a particularly damaging way. Last week, the U.S. said Iran was providing insurgents with missiles that were killing Americans and hitting targets within the U.S. occupied Green Zone in Baghdad.

MSNBC Commentator Pat Buchanan said Petraeus’ remarks to Congress lay the groundwork for a U.S. attack on Iran.

President Bush said in a speech at the White House on April 10 that Iran, along with al-Qaida, are two of the greatest threats to America.

He said Iran can live in peace with its neighbors, or continue to arm and train and fund illegal militant groups which are terrorizing the Iraqi people … If Iran makes the wrong choice, America will act to protect our interests and our troops and our Iraqi partners.He later told ABC News that if Iran continues to help militants in Iraq, then we’ll deal with them.Members of Congress are said to have been briefed by the administration about the rising Iran threat.Iran did little to cool tensions when it announced that it had begun installing 6,000 new centrifuges at its uranium enrichment plant in Natanz.Centrifuges can enrich uranium to a low level to produce nuclear fuel or a high level for use in weapons.The announcement of the new centrifuges by President Ahmadinejad came on April 8, Iran’s National Day of Nuclear Technology, which marked the second anniversary of Iran’s first enrichment of uranium.Iran already has about 3,000 centrifuges operating in Natanz, and the new announcement was widely seen as a show of defiance to international demands to halt a nuclear program that the U.S. and its allies insist is aimed at building nuclear weapons.

NOTICE IN EZEKIEL 38 IT MENTIONS LIBYA.

Putin in Libya to close $2.5b arms deal

Only few weeks before he leaves office, Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Libya on Wednesday for a two-day visit likely to be dominated by discussions on energy cooperation, arms deals and debt negotiations.Putin's visit may bring closure to several large arms deals totaling $2.5 billion, which are aimed at bolstering Libya's aging weapons arsenal, Russian media outlets reported. The deals will include anti-aircraft systems, MiG and Sukhoi aircraft, helicopters, submarines and warships, the Russian news agency Interfax said.The media are always interested in arms deals… but the main issue for Russia will be Libya as a trading partner, which is something that almost every country in the world is interested in, because Libya, with a high oil price, has a lot of money to spend, Oliver Miles, a former British ambassador to Libya, and currently deputy chairman of the Libyan British Business Council, told The Media Line.

Last week, the state-run Russian gas company, Gazprom, revealed it was negotiating with its Italian partner, Eni, about a potential asset swap involving projects in Libya. The heads of the two companies have met with Putin recently, although the content of their discussions has not been fully disclosed.International competition over foreign investments in Libya has been heightened as a result of the country's recent moves to open up.There are many things that we in Britain, for example, or the French, or other exporting countries, would wish to sell to the Libyans, and naturally we see the Russians as competitors, Miles said.Regarding the military aircraft deal, Miles explained there was direct competition between France and Russia, which are probably the most likely suppliers of military aircraft to Libya.The former ambassador explained that a French-Libyan deal for the purchase of military aircraft was considered a done deal at the time of French President Nicolas Sarkozy's recent visit to Libya.This competition also hit the news last month, when reports indicated that Algeria had decided to terminate a contract to purchase 35 MiG29 aircrafts from Russia.Algeria began refusing deliveries from May 2007, and in October it stopped payments on other military contracts, pending the return of the MiGs to Russia.The reasons for the termination of the Algerian contract are likely to lie in the realm of politics, said head of the Russian Federal Agency for Industry, Andrei Dutov.

The French media recently indicated that two months ago Sarkozy tried to persuade Algeria to purchase French aircraft with similar technical features as the MiG29.Russian arms export monopoly, Rosoboronexport, signed a contract to deliver the MiG29 fighters in March 2006 as part of an $8-billion military-technical cooperation agreement with Algeria.

The March to War: Israel Prepares for War against Lebanon and Syria by Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya Global Research, April 19, 2008

By the start of 2007, reports about major upgrades to the Syrian military, including advances in missile technology, with Iranian help were widespread in Israel. [1] The impression of an imminent war existed across much of the Middle East. Syria, Hezbollah, and Iran were reported in Israel to be preparing for a war to spark in the Levant. [2]It was also claimed in Israel that Damascus had sent secret messages to Tel Aviv that should Israel continue to reject Syria’s peace overtures, a war would breakout in the Golan Heights and that Syrian reservists were forbidden from leaving Syria because of the possibility of combat. [3] In June, 2007, an inner circle of the Israeli government that would form a war cabinet in a Middle Eastern war scenario was categorically informed that a war with Syria would absolutely involve Iranian military intervention. [4]It is now 2008 and the spectre of war has remerged in the Middle East. Syrian President Basher Al-Assad revealed that his country is uneasy and prepared for the worst once again. Despite Tehran’s position that the U.S. would not dare launch a war against Iran, the Iranian military is on standby. The Lebanese military and Hezbollah have also been placed on alert. While war is not a preferable option, if Israel declares war on Syria and Lebanon or if America declares war on Iran, Syria would be prepared, the Syrian President told a gathering of Arab intellectuals according to Al-Akhbar, a Lebanese newspaper, on April 16, 2008. [5] We should analyze the situation from the perspective of American interests, because the last war in Lebanon has shown that at some point Israel wanted to stop the fighting, but was forced by the [Bush Jr. Administration] to pursue it further, Basher Al-Assad continued. [6] Thus the threat of war lives on in the Middle East in 2008…

Miscalculations in the Levant: Setting the Stage for War?

Hereto, Tel Aviv has been deliberately promoting tensions with Syria and Lebanon. In 2007, Major-General Moshe Kaplinsky, the former deputy chief of staff for the Israeli military, stated during a press briefing that war between Syria and Israel was unlikely as an answer to growing rumours of war that started since late-2006 and the commencement of 2007. The Israeli flag officer however did not rule out an eventual Israeli-Syrian conflict. Major-General Kaplinsky along with many other Israeli commanders and officials repeatedly stressed that a miscalculation on the border could spark a conflict between Syria and Israel sometime in the future. [7]Not long after the 2006 Israeli defeat in Lebanon, Tel Aviv started crafting the justifications for more wars in its surrounding neighbourhood, the Levant. [8] The Israeli definitions of miscalculation have been extremely vague and ominous.Tel Aviv has been involved in the process of creating a military carte blanche, allowing for flexibility in its regional approach towards Lebanon and Syria.Miscalculations in the eyes of Tel Aviv range from the domestic affairs of the Lebanese and the events in the occupied Palestinian Territories to the most audacious and bellicose of definitions, such as the reaction of the Syrians to Israeli hostilities.

The secretive air assault, later revealed by the codename Operation Orchard, made by the 69th Squadron of the Israeli Air Force (IAF) against an unheard of facility in Deir ez-Zoir Governorate of Syria on September 6, 2007 could have become a miscalculation on the part of Syria had it responded to Israeli provocations. The Israeli definition of a miscalculation also means any arbitrary fire into Israel. The Jerusalem Post defined a miscalculation that could spark a war with Syria as an incident along the border, in the form of a terrorist attack that escalates into a larger conflict. [9] Such an incident could easily be sparked through conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. A false flag operation could also bring such an incident about. On July 18, 2007 there was rocket fire from South Lebanon into Israel by an unknown group, something that could have been used as a pretext for war. In Syria, Lebanon, and the Arab World the incident was believed to be the work of the Israelis and their allies in an effort to justify a future war.

Tel Aviv’s Orwellian talk of Peace

In May, 2008 the head of the Mossad, the intelligence service of Israeli, said that talks of peace with Syria would lead to war. [10] Le Nouvel Observateur reported in July 2007 that the Israeli Foreign Minister, Tzipi Livni, ruled out the resumption of peace talks with Syria while stressing that she believed Damascus posed a problem that must be tackled on a regional scale. [11] When asked about the prospects of peace with Syria, Tzipi Livni responded, Absolutely not. Syria is pursuing the dangerous game it plays in the region [Middle East], and added that Syria remains a threat to Israel. [12] These statements reveal the conduct of Tel Aviv and its hidden agenda. Within the context of a public declaration of peace during the summer of 2007, they also reveal Tel Aviv’s duplicity. While Tzipi Livni stated that there would be no peace between Israel and Syria, Ehud Olmert stated in a televised interview with the Al-Arabiya News Channel, that he personally wanted peace with Syria. Prime Minister Olmert addressed President Basher Al-Assad, the head of Syria, directly, saying you know that I am ready for direct talks with you and added that I am ready to sit with you and talk about peace, not war. Several days later, Ehud Olmert also stated in Orwellian fashion that he wanted peace with the Syrians, but that peace did not equate to immediate peace negotiations between Syria and Israel and could mean a continuation of the status quo.Olmert’s statement is doublespeak. Hereto, according to the Israelis, the threat of war exists as a result of the status quo between Syria and Israel. This statement is very important to keep in mind because it indicates that Israel did not want to return the Golan Heights, but wanted something else from Syria as the condition of peace. This is where Tehran comes into the picture.

Israeli officials were further incriminated by the fact that in 2007Prime Minister Olmert also said he was not concerned by an imminent war with Syria, but that he was unhappy with the public discussion about peace between Syria and Israel. One should question the logic behind Ehud Olmert’s irritation regarding public overtures of peace between Syria and Israel. [13] Realpolitik is definitely being played by Israel in regards to Damascus in a consorted effort to de-link Syria from Iran and its other allies. In this regard, Damascus publicly insisted that there be no secret talks between Syrian and Israeli officials as to the conditions for peace. [14] The rationale for the Syrian insistence on transparency was to deprive Israeli of any means to covertly try to divide Syria from its Middle Eastern allies by generating suspicions of betrayal. The international press extensively reported Ehud Olmert’s statements in 2007 about wanting peace with the Syrians. Israeli officials also repeatedly claimed that the Syrians were the ones rejecting peace. [15] These claims are made despite the fact that all public records show exactly the opposite. Syria’s leadership have been calling for peace negotiations between Israel and Syria since the premierships of Ehud Barak and Ariel Sharon. Israeli claims of pursing peace for the most part have been part of an international public relations campaign attempting to portray the aggressor as the victim. In the case of Syria peace means that Tel Aviv will not go to war with Damascus if it distances itself from Tehran. De-linking Syria from Iran: Israel’s Real Condition for Peace with Syria.The return of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, which was was formerly called the Syrian Heights in Israel, to Syria was always the recognized condition for establishing Israeli-Syrian peace.

Dr. Alon Liel, a former director-general within the Israeli foreign affairs ministry and a former Israeli ambassador to South Africa, who was heavily involved with previous Israeli negotiations with Syria, has indicated the real issue holding Tel Aviv from accepting peace. Dr. Alon Liel went on record: he confirmed that 85% of negotiations between Syria and Israel were agreed upon by both Damascus and Tel Aviv. [16] The major issues for establishing peace between Damascus and Tel Aviv were all resolved in 2000; water rights for Israel from Syrian territory, guaranteed Israeli access to the Golan Heights upon its return to Syria, and security guarantees between both parties. [17] Peace, in the sense of an agreement by both sides, however was unachievable in 1993, 1995, 1996, and 2000 due to Tel Aviv’s internal politics. The situation became more so after 2001 with the start of an aggressive U.S. policy in the Middle East. Israel isn’t going to hand over [or return] the Golan [Heights] to an ally of Iran, Alon Liel has insisted as being the problem in regards to peace between both sides. [18]Tel Aviv has imposed broader demands on Syria as the price of peace. It is in the strategic interests of the U.S. and Israel to isolate Iran, even at the cost of peace with Syria. [19] In this regard, Syrian internal affairs and foreign relations are decisive factors for Israel in regards to negotiations. Syria and Iran are part of a strategic alliance in the Middle East resisting the interests of America, Britain, Israel, France, and Germany. Other Middle Eastern players resisting the same foreign interests are additionally allied or associated with Syria and Iran within one tangible bloc, the Resistance Bloc. [20] It is in this context that one understands Israel is no pursuing peace with Syria, but is threatening the Syrians with war if they do not abandon Iran and their allies.

On the eve of major Israeli exercises in which Israel and Syria fought a fictitious war, the Israeli Deputy Prime Minister, Haim Ramon, stated on a radio interview that Syrian anxiety had no basis and that Israel was pursing peace with Damascus, but added unfortunately Syria is stuck deep in the evil axis of connections with [Hezbollah]. [21] If this is not indicative enough, Haim Ramon also concluded that Damascus has made a strategic choice to preserve its alliance with Iran rather than pursue peace, which to Tel Aviv would mean a termination of Syrian-Iranian ties. Furthermore, on March 23, 2003 Shimon Peres stated that peace talks with Syria cannot begin while it keeps supplying Lebanon with weapons. [22] This was a reference to the important role of Damascus as a middle man between Tehran and the Levant.

Neutralizing Syria: Prerequisite for Neutralizing Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran

Damascus is pivotal to the framework of resistance in the Middle East against Israeli, Anglo-American, and Franco-German interests. Syria acts as a bridge between Iran and Iraq at one end of the Middle East and the Levant on the other. Lebanon, the Palestinian Territories, Iraq, and Iran are all tied together through Syria. [23] In this regard, Damascus serves as the central link that holds together the forces resisting a new regional order in the Middle East, also known as the Project for the New Middle East.What the Israelis have been trying to do, in coordination with the U.S., Britain, France, and Germany is to remove Syria from these alliances and thus splinter or break the link between Iran and the Levant. The main goal is to pressure Syria into making a peaceful political surrender (just as Libya did to Britain and the U.S. in 2003), and to distance itself from Iran and the Arab resistance within Palestine and Lebanon to Israel. Shlomo Ben-Ami, a former Israeli foreign minister, hinted in October 2007 that if Syria would not dissociate itself peacefully from Iran, a military solution was inevitable: Driving a wedge between Syria and Iran, drying up [Hezbollah] by cutting its lines of arms supply, allowing the vital task of stabilizing Lebanon to succeed [meaning empowering client forces in Beirut], and forestalling what now looks as a most realistic scenario of a triple front war of Israel against Syria, Hamas and [Hezbollah] are the strategic fruits concomitant to a Syrian-Israeli peace.[24]Removing Syria from the Resistance Bloc is a prerequisite for Israel, America, and their partners for tackling Iran. With Syria removed from Iran’s influence, the entire Levant could be controlled and the resistance in the Palestinian Territories and Lebanon under such players as Hamas and Hezbollah could be significantly weakened. Under such a framework, the Levant could be integrated into the economic order of the so-called Western Powers under the Washington Consensus and within the Mediterranean Union: this is where Israeli, Anglo-American, and France-German Middle East interests merge.

In 2006, the ultimate objective of the Israeli attack on Lebanon was to remove Syria from its alliance with Iran and insert Damascus within the orbit of a new regional order. With this understanding in mind, the 2006 Israeli attacks on Lebanon were revealed to have been planned to also target Syria.[25] War however became a far costlier option for America, Britain, Israel, and their partners and that is why political channels were pursued with Damascus after the 2006 defeat of Tel Aviv in Lebanon. Haaretz released a revealing report in August, 2007 about the true nature of the diplomatic mission of Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, to Damascus. The intentions of her visit to Damascus were stated to help establish peace between Syria and Israel and better ties with America, but the conditions were not fully disclosed.Syria was being courted to abandon Iran, just as Italy was courted to abandon Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire by London and Paris before the First World War: The chairman of the [U.S.] House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Tom Lantos, who accompanied Pelosi, said Assad should be given a final opportunity to disengage from the axis of evil. According to Lantos, in a few years, Sunni Muslims and not Iran under Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be in control in the region, and it is to the advantage of Damascus to know which side to be on.[26]

For Tel Aviv and its partners, if the goal of removing Damascus from its alliance with Tehran can not be achieved through diplomatic dialogue, economics, threats, or pressure then the original course of action, warfare, within a major three-front confrontation is the other alternative against Syria, Lebanon, and the Palestinian Territories. These hostilities would also be linked to confrontation with the Iranians and could result in an broader conflict in the Middle East and Central Asia. Ehud Olmert declared I believe that we can expect a calm summer, a calm autumn and a calm winter [which runs from November, 2007 to March, 2008], when tensions were rising between Syria and Israel in 2007. [27] It is worth noting that tensions began to rise again in the Levant after Olmert’s timeframe of calm.The threats of war in 2007 were partly scare tactics to pressure Syria into yielding and conceding to the geo-strategic interests of America, Britain, Israel, France, and Germany. [28] Up to now, all efforts to remove the Syrians from their alliances have failed. Clearly, Israel has been preparing for war on a broader regional level. Simultaneously, Tel Aviv has been preparing to shift blame for any possible outbreak of a regional war on the Syrians, the Lebanese, the Palestinians, even the Russians, and foremost on the Iranians.

Operation Orchard: Fabricating a Syria-Iran-North Korea Nuclear Axis

On September 6, 2007 Israeli warplanes violated Syrian airspace and mysteriously attacked an unheard of facility. The Syrian military reported that Israeli aircraft illegally entered Syrian airspace from over the Mediterranean Sea and headed towards northeastern Syria. Air defense units confronted [the Israeli warplanes] and forced them to leave [Syria] after they drooped [sic; dropped] some ammunition in deserted areas without causing any human or material damage, the Syrian military initially claimed. [29] The Syrians immediately also stated that Israel was trying to create pretexts for another war in the Middle East. [30] The U.S. government also entered the commotion by claiming that the White House was aware of the operation and the Pentagon had assisted the Israelis. The White House also claimed that the Israelis had destroyed a facility that was linked to a clandestine nuclear program in Syria. Damascus also maintained that the attacks and the claims about a secretive nuclear program were preludes to U.S. involvement in an Israeli war against Syria. [31]In this context, Syria restrained itself, fearing that Tel Aviv wanted to entice Damascus into a war. Professor Eyal Zisser, the director of the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel Aviv University, noted Any misunderstanding could lead to conflagration. However, the Syrian announcement was surprising in its moderation. [32] The operation was also reported as being a possible test-run for an Israeli attack on Iran. The U.S. and Israel also asserted that the Russian-made air defence systems in Syria did not function. [33] The attacks could have also been a form of pressure to force the Syrians to go to the Annapolis Conference to detect if a war was intended against their country.The attack was described as an Israeli success by the Bush Jr. Administration and the mainstream media. A propaganda campaign was launched: Through media disinformation and political statements, efforts were placed on establishing the threat of a Syria-Iran-North Korea nuclear proliferation axis.[34]

The alleged nuclear facility was a Syrian project aided by North Korea and Iran according to the U.S. and Israeli governments. Trying to pin Syria for having weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programs is not a fresh approach. In fact just barely a month after the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq the U.S. and Britain actively started trying to portray Syria in an Iraq-like manner claiming that Damascus also had hidden weapons of mass destruction (WMD) stockpiles.In early-April, 2008 it became clear that Israel and the U.S. had been planning on releasing details about Operation Orchard and the alleged nuclear facility attacked by Israel in Syria to further demonize Damascus and to further construct a weapons of mass destruction (WMD) link between Syria, North Korea, and Iran. [35] The Jerusalem Post subsequently reported on April 14, 2008 that Israeli experts suggested that the full disclosure about an Israeli attack in 2007 in the U.S. Congress could even embarrass the Syrians to the point of militarily responding against Israel. [36]

The Assassination of Imad Mughniyeh in Damascus: Antecedent to War?

On February 12, 2008 Imad Fayez Mughniyeh, a top Hezbollah security official, was assassinated in Damascus by means of a remote detonated car bomb. The intelligence services of America, Israel, Britain, France, Germany, Jordon, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia were all suspected of some form of involvement. According to The Daily Star, an English-language newspaper based in Lebanon, Saudi Arabia had helped Israel in assassinating Imad Mughniyeh and a Saudi military attaché was arrested in Damascus due to links to a Syrian collaborator in the assassination. [37]More than a month following the Mughniyeh assassination, U.S. Vice-President Cheney made a regional tour of the Middle East. We must not, and will not, ignore the darkening shadows of the situations in Gaza, in Lebanon, in Syria and in Iran and the forces there that are working to derail the hopes of the world, Vice-President Cheney vowed dramatically in a insinuation that conflict was brewing and the U.S. was prepared to aid Israel. [38]It did not take long for pundits to point toward Mughniyeh’s murder as being used in a ploy to launch war in the Middle East. Israel’s intelligence and information apparatus started exerting themselves in a misinformation campaign to create doubts about the murder of Imad Mughniyeh. Tel Aviv’s aims were to shift the blame on the Syrians in a psychological operation (PSYOP) intended to inseminate doubts and mistrust between Hezbollah, Syria, and Iran, in order to strain their alliance and weaken the Resistance Bloc.According to Israel’s Channel 10, sometime after the assassination of Mughniyeh, Tel Aviv sent Hezbollah a letter through a third party, threatening another disproportionate war against Lebanon. Tel Aviv also wasted no time in threatening Syria if Hezbollah launched retaliatory attacks on Israel. [39] In this context, Reuters also reported that an unnamed senior Israeli official had spelled out conflict with the Syrians as a reprisal for hostile Lebanese and Palestinian actions against Israel. [40] The root of these so-called hostile actions by Lebanese and Palestinian groups are of retaliatory nature to hostile actions initiated by Tel Aviv. In many cases, these attacks against Israel are invited by Tel Aviv as a means to create the justifications of postponing peace, annexing territory, and launching war.

In mid-April, 2008, Israeli jets and helicopters created insecurity among residents of Haifa when they scrambled across Israel to intercept an unidentified light plane entering Israeli airspace. [41] Tel Aviv’s security and military forces have been on high alert since the Mughniyeh Assassination. [42] On March 18, 2008 an Israeli warship was also dispatched into Lebanese waters, where it was intercepted by an Italian warship, in a move that many in Lebanon saw as a taunt by Israel. Israel has advertised very publicly that it expects retaliation from Hezbollah. [43] This retaliation could also give Israel an excuse for launching another war. The Israeli government also used the opportunity to raise domestic tensions amongst its own citizens. Israeli officials also warned about possible attacks from across the Lebanese border by Iranian-manufactured explosive-packed drones or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) sent by Hezbollah. [44]

Creating Pretexts for War in Lebanon

Israel has overtly claimed, as part of a concerted public relations campaign, that Hezbollah increased the range of its rocket arsenal. [45] The public advertisement of the increase in the rocket range of Hezbollah by Tel Aviv stands outside the standardized protocol of Israeli officials who consistently work domestically to keep public confidence in the strength of the Israeli military and security apparatus. Although there was a genuine probability of truth to the Israeli statements, the main objective behind their very publicly advertised declarations were to further build excuses for further Israeli aggression, such as pre-emptive strikes, in Lebanon or the so-called Israeli Northern Front and regionally in the Middle East.In reality, Hezbollah’s rocket range was probably upgraded or already capable of hitting deep into Israeli territory before Tel Aviv decided to divulge its knowledge. Hezbollah had already threatened to strike Tel Aviv in 2006 if Beirut were to be attacked by Israeli bombs. The timing of the information by Israeli officials about Hezbollah’s rocket range is linked to painting the picture of a growing threat amongst its own citizens and to gain their support for combat.In the case of Hezbollah, like those of the Palestinian Resistance and Syria, the increased range of their projectiles have been attentively linked to Iran, itself the ultimate target. Starting in March, 2008 the mainstream media in Israel and worldwide reported that the Israeli government had warned that most of Israel, up to the city of Dimona in the Negev Desert, was within the striking range of Hezbollah from Lebanon. Haaretz correspondents in addition reported that Hamas militants who recently returned to the Gaza Strip after training in Iran [held] a detailed plan for upgrading the capabilities of the rockets being developed in the [Gaza] Strip, according to senior Palestinian Authority sources.[46] As a note, the Palestinian Authority sources being referred to are the unelected Fatah officials in the West Bank who themselves collaborate with Israel. These types of reports have also helped boost the case for war.

The basis for war against Lebanon is an intricate parcel of a broader conflict in the Middle East, which in turn is itself a component of an even larger conflict in Eurasia. The fact that various Palestinian resistance groups have trained in Lebanon, Syria, and Iran is also being used as a justification for war and as a means to tie all three republics closer together as a single enemy axis by Israel. Aside from those in the Palestinian Territories, in the event of a major war the Palestinian groups based in Lebanon and Syria have made it clear that they will fight alongside the Lebanese and Syrians. Palestinians in Egypt and Jordon have also elucidated towards such a course of action too.

With 2008 efforts to implicate Hezbollah in regards to attacks on American and British troops in Iraq have resurfaced. These reports were originally made by London in an effort to link Hezbollah to the roadside bombs in Basra at the start of the Anglo-American occupation of Iraq, but were dismissed. The main British objective of involving Hezbollah as an enemy in Iraq was the foreknowledge that Lebanon would be attacked by Israel in 2006.On April 8, 2008 General David H. Petraeus, the commander of Coalition troops in Iraq, accused both Iran and Hezbollah of helping the Iraqi forces that attacked the Green Zone in Baghdad. [47] He testified to the U.S. Senate about Hezbollah’s alleged involvement in killing American and Coalition troops: Together with the Iraqi Security Forces, we have also focused on the Special Groups [meaning those forces fighting against American and Coalition forces]. These elements are funded, trained, armed, and directed by Iran’s Qods [Jerusalem] Force, with help from Lebanese Hezbollah.[48] The allegations by General Petraeus were part of the conscious effort to justify a greater American role in the next conflict against the Lebanese.

The Mediterranean Front

It is clear to the Pentagon, NATO, and Tel Aviv that the Levant stands to ignite a Mediterranean battle-front in the event of a war against Iran. To this end, the marshaling of a relatively invisible NATO war fleet in the Eastern Mediterranean is rigidly tied to war plans against Tehran. [49] The naval build-ups in the Persian Gulf and the Eastern Mediterranean have been ongoing since 2001 with the strategic aim of preparing the logisitical framework for war against Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestinian resistance, Syria, and Iran.Paris and Berlin have intense vested interest in the Anglo-American wars in the Middle East. As has been repeatedly uttered by French, German, and E.U. officials the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East are the eastern borders of the European Union. [50] To this end Nicolas Sarkozy’s Mediterranean Union is a declaration of these Franco-German interests that are very much tied to the wars in the Middle East and the establishment of a settlement between the Arabs and Israel in the Levant. [51] The 2006 Israeli siege against Lebanon, with the active support of American military personnel and planners in Israel, was a phase of this military schedule as well as a dress rehearsal by both sides for a larger Middle Eastern war. Both sides were given the opportunity to re-evaluate their tactics and strategies for such an upcoming war, should it spark. History will see what comes to pass. Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya is a writer and geopolitical analyst based in Ottawa who specializes on the Middle East and is currently Research Associate at the Centre for Research on Globalization.Also see: The March to War: Syria Preparing for US-Israeli Attacks

NOTES

[1] Ze’ev Schiff, Syria rearms, moves troops closer to Golan Heights border, Haaretz, February 22, 2007; Ze’ev Schiff, Israel's message in talks with Gates: Syria is preparing for war, Haaretz, April 22, 2007; Yitzhak Benhorin, Syria arming intensely, minister says, Yedioth Ahronoth, May 4, 2007.

[2] Herb Keion, Syria, Iran, Hizbullah planning war, The Jerusalem Post, June 6, 2007; Yakkov Katz, War with Syria this summer unlikely, The Jerusalem Post, July 11, 2007; Roee Nahmias, Syria’s top general to pilots: Be prepared for war, Yedioth Ahronoth, October 23, 2007.

[3] Smadar Peri, Syria plans war of attrition in the Golan Heights, Yedioth Ahronoth, August 2, 2007; Aluf Been, IDF, government preparing for possible Syrian strike on Golan Heights, Haaretz, April 2, 2007; Yakkov Katz, IDF prepares for Syrian attack on Golan, The Jerusalem Post, April 27, 2007; Smadar Peri, Arab official: Syrian general mulling war with Israel, Yedioth Ahronoth, August 14, 2007.

[4] Ronn Sofer, Syria not planning offensive, security officials say, Yedioth Ahronoth, June 11, 2007.

[5] Roee Nahmias, Assad: US wants Israel to declare war on Syria, Yedioth Ahronoth, April 17, 2008; Assad: Syria is preparing for war, The Jerusalem Post, April17, 2008; We are prepared for Israel war, Press TV, April 17, 2008.

[6] Ibid.

[7] Amos Harel, IDF deputy chief: Summer war with Syria not likely, Haaretz, July 11, 2007.

[8] The Levant in its cotemporary definition is a geographic sub-region of the Middle East that includes Lebanon, Palestine/Israel, Syria, and Jordon. The Turkish province of Hatay, where the city of Alexandretta (Iskenderon) is located, has traditionally been considered a part of the Levant along with small portions of Turkey. The exact boundaries of the Levant are abstract, but the categorization of Levantine countries, in the geographic sense of the word, is unambiguous. The Levant is roughly bordered by Iraq to the east, the Mediterranean Sea to the west, the mountain range of the Taurus in the north, and Arabia to the south.

[9] Yakkov Katz, IDF wary of possible war with Syria, The Jerusalem Post, July 11, 2007.

[10] Itamar Eichner, Talks with Syria could lead to war, says Mossad chief, Yedioth Ahronoth, May 14, 2007.

[11] Tzipi Livni, Tzipi Livni : Nous allons aider Mahmoud Abbas..., interview by Henri Guirchoun, Le Nouvel Observateur, July 12, 2007.

[12] Ibid.; Tzipi Livni: Absolument pas. La Syrie poursuit le jeu dangereux qui est le sien dans la région. (…) et demeure une menace…

[13] Hern Keinon, Olmert: Israel, Syria don’t want war, The Jerusalem Post, July 12, 2007.

[14] Assad sets Golan pullout as condition for future talks, The Daily Star (Lebanon), July 18, 2007.

[15] Syria dismisses Olmert offer to hold peace talks, The Jerusalem Post and Associated Press (AP), July 10, 2007.

[16] Yaakov Lappin, Israel-Syria pact 85 percent done, Yedioth Ahronoth, July 18, 2007.

[17] Adam Entous, Syria may be flexible on key Israeli demand: UN, Reuters, July 12, 2007.

[18] Lappin, Israel-Syria pact, Op. cit.

[19] Adam Entous, Israel says awaits clear Syrian message on Iran, Reuters, July 18, 2007.

[20] The Resistance Bloc is a group of players that can be categorized within one grouping for resisting foreign programs and interests in the Middle East. Iran, Syria, both the Lebanese Resistance and the Lebanese National Opposition, the Hamas-led Palestinian government in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian Resistance, the Iraqi Resistance, and various elements of opposition in the Arab World all fall into this regional grouping opposed to Anglo-American, Franco-German, and Israeli interests.

[21] Deputy PM Ramon: Israel has no intention of attacking Syria, The Jerusalem Post, April 3, 2008.

[22] Aviram Zino, Peres: Israel will not cede Golan Heights for Syria-controlled Lebanon, Yedioth Ahronoth, March 23, 2008.

[23] It is interesting to note that the outline of this bloc also falls within the perimeters of the so-called Shia Crescent, an artificial and misleading concept about Shiite ascendancy in a crescent starting from Iran, going through Iraq and Syria, and ending in Lebanon and Palestine. This concept is a brethren-term of the very terminology that conceptualized the Sunni Triangle in Iraq, which did not exist until the campaign to occupy Iraq started. Both terms are psychological devices and concepts described as a means to re-categorize and divide the Middle East.

[24] Shlomo Ben-Ami, The way to Damascene conversion, Yedioth Ahronoth, October 21, 2007.

[25] Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya, The Premeditated Nature of the War on Lebanon: A Stage of the Broader Middle East Military Roadmap, Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG), September 10, 2007.

[26] Aluf Ben, Israel seeks to reassure Syria: No summer attack, Haaretz, April 3, 2007; it should also be noted that the grounds were paved for war against Berlin and Vienna in 1914 by London and Paris by first de-linking Rome from Germany and Austro-Hungary and this is precisely what Washington, D.C. and Tel Aviv have been trying to do in regards to Damascus and Tehran.

[27] Barak Ravid, Olmert: Israel, Syria have no interest in military conflict, Haaretz, August 11, 2007.

[28] Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya, The March to War: Détente in the Middle East or Calm before the Storm? Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG), July 12, 2007.

[29] Air Defense Units Confront Israeli Aircrafts over Syrian airspace forcing them to Leave, Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), September 6, 2007.

[30] Syria: Israel Is Spreading False Reports In Order To Justify War, Reuters, September 30, 2007

[31] Syrian paper warns nuclear rumors may be prelude to US attack, Associated Press (AP), September 16, 2007.

[32] Alastair MacDonald, Syria-Israel bombing incident shrouded in mystery, Reuters, September 7, 2007.

[33] Report: Russia sent technicians to Syria, Jerusalem Post, October 2, 2007.

[34] Sarah Baxter et al., Israelis blew apart Syrian nuclear cache, The Sunday Times (U.K.), September 16, 2007; Alexander Kogan, The secretive Syrian-N. Korean alliance, The Jerusalem Post, September 18, 2007.

[35] Amos Harel and Barak Ravid, Israel, U.S. plan to release details on Syria attack, Haaretz, April 9, 2008.

[36] Yakkov Katz and Herb Keinon, Status of Syria strike hearing unclear, The Jerusalem Post, April 14, 2008.

[37] Riyadh accused of role in Mughniyeh assassination, The Daily Star (Lebanon), April 10, 2008.

[38] Cheney backs Israel over security, British Broadcasting Corporation News (BBC News), March 23, 2008.

[39] Israel threatened to attack Damascus, The Jerusalem Post, March 15, 2008; Adam Entous and Daniel Williams, Israel secretly warned Syria about Hezbollah, ed. Dominic Evans, Reuters, March 14, 2008; Jon Brain, Israel calms fears of Syria conflict, British Broadcasting Corporation News (BBC News), April 3, 2008.

[40] Ibid.

[41] Hanan Greenberg and Ahiya Raved, Light plane causes scare in north, Yedioth Ahronoth, April 12, 2008.

[42] Ron Ben-Yishai, Revenge for Mugniyah could ignite conflict in north, Yedioth Ahronoth, April 3, 2008.

[43] Yoav Stern, Nasrallah: Mughniyah’s blood will lead to elimination of Israel, Haaretz, March 14, 2008; Police to beef up forces over Purim, fearing Hezbollah strike, Associated Press (AP), March 17, 2008; Avi Issacharooff et al., Hezbollah deputy chief: We have proof Israel killed Mughniyah, Haaretz, March 23, 2008; IDF chief: Army prepared for any scenario, Yedioth Ahronoth, April 18, 2008.

[44] Yakkov Katz, Hizbullah may send bomb-laden UAVs, The Jerusalem Post, April 6, 2008.

[45] Israel: Hezbollah increases rocket range, Associated Press (AP), March 27, 2008.

[46] Avi Issacharoff and Amos Harel, Hamas gets Iranian plans for improved Qassams, Haaretz, March 31, 2008.

[47] Andrew Gray and David Morgan, U.S. sees Iran and Syria Lebanon gambit in Iraq, ed. Philip Barbara, Reuters, April 8, 2008.

[48] General David H. Petraeus, April 8, 2008 SFRC Testimony (Testimony, U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Washington, D.C., April 8, 2008).

[49] Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya, The March to War: Naval build-up in the Persian Gulf and the Eastern Mediterranean, Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG), October 1, 2006.

[50] Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya, The Mediterranean Union: Dividing the Middle East and North Africa, Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG), February 10, 2008.

[51] Ibid.; Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya, The Mediterranean Union: NATO’s Role in Conquering the Middle East and North Africa, Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG), February 18, 2008.Global Research Articles by Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya

CONCERN OVER PAKISTAN MISSLE TEST

DAY 2 PASSOVER IN ISRAEL TODAY AT 6PM.

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.

Scientists say Midwest quakes poorly understood By DAVID MERCER, Associated Press Writer Sat Apr 19, 9:56 AM ET

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Scientists say they know far too little about Midwestern seismic zones like the one that rumbled to life under southern Illinois Friday morning, but some of what they do know is unnerving. The fault zones beneath the Mississippi River Valley have produced some of the largest modern U.S. quakes east of the Rockies, a region covered with old buildings not built to withstand seismic activity.And, when quakes happen, they're felt far and wide, their vibrations propagated over hundreds of miles of bedrock.

Friday's quake shook things up from Nebraska to Atlanta, rattling nerves but doing little damage and seriously hurting no one. It was a magnitude 5.2 temblor centered just outside West Salem in southeastern Illinois, a largely rural region of small towns that sit over the Wabash fault zone. The area has produced moderately strong quakes as recently as 2002.But it hasn't been studied to nearly the degree of quake-prone areas west of the Rockies, particularly along the heavily scrutinized Pacific coast.We don't have as many opportunities as in California, said Genda Chen, associate professor of engineering at the University of Missouri-Rolla, which sits near the well-known and very active New Madrid fault zone.We cannot even borrow on the knowledge they learn on the West Coast because quakes that happen in California — where tectonic plates beneath the Earth's surface collide — are so different from Midwestern quakes that happen far away from the edges of the nearest plates.

It isn't entirely clear, for instance, whether the Wabash faults are related to the New Madrid faults or not.Some scientists say they are related, noting that the Wabash faults, which roughly parallel the river of the same name in southern Illinois and Indiana, are a northern extension of the New Madrid zone. Others say they're not.The New Madrid fault zone produced a series of quakes in 1811 and 1812 that reached an estimated magnitude 7.0, putting them among the strongest known quakes to have occurred east of the Rockies. The quakes changed the course of the Mississippi River and were felt in New England.That distance of well over a thousand miles sounds impressive, but experts say quakes that happen in the Midwest commonly radiate out for hundreds of miles because of the bedrock beneath much of the eastern United States.

Our bedrock here is old, really rigid and sends those waves a long way, said Bob Bauer, a geologist with the Illinois State Geological Survey who works in Champaign.He compared the underground rock, which in much of the Midwest lies anywhere from a few thousand feet to just a few feet below the earth's surface, to a bell that very efficiently transmits seismic waves like sound.California is young bedrock, he explained. It's broken up ... like a cracked bell. You ring that, the waves don't go as far.The question of whether Friday's quake was centered along a branch of the New Madrid zone or not is of more than academic interest. The area even now produces smaller, very regular quakes, and experts say it still has the potential to produce a quake that could devastate the region.

The Wabash faults have the potential to do the same, at least based on distant history, said Columbia University seismologist Won-Young Kim.The strongest quake produced in recent history by the Wabash was a magnitude 5.3 in southern Illinois in 1968, but researchers have found evidence that 4,000 to 6,000 years ago, much stronger quakes shook the region, Kim said, as strong as magnitude 7.0 or more.A similar quake is still possible, if the region is given time to build up enough energy, Kim said. But knowledge about the area is too thin to say whether that's likely, he added.

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.

Chinese officials expand search for 18 missing fishermen after tropical storm Neoguri Sun Apr 20, 2:03 AM
By Tini Tran, The Associated Press

BEIJING - Rescue officials expanded their search Sunday for 18 Chinese fishermen still missing after tropical storm Neoguri brushed over southern Hainan island this weekend. Five rescue ships and two helicopters have been deployed in the search mission, said an official with the Hainan provincial disaster relief office who gave his surname as Wu. Three fishing boats went missing in the storm and rescuers have so far found 44 of their crew, Wu said, adding that China has contacted officials in Vietnam and the Philippines to see whether ships from those countries have rescued any of the 18 men still missing. China's first typhoon of the year hit land Saturday afternoon but weakened to a tropical storm and moved into the western part of Guangdong province. Torrential rains were still lashing southern Guangdong province Sunday, but an emergency alert for wind storms had been lifted, according to a report by the China News Agency.

Neoguri had initially hit Hainan's northeastern coast with gusts of up to 61 kilometres an hour, blacking out the city of Wenchang and stranding about 3,000 passengers at the island's main airport in Haikou, the official Xinhua News Agency reported earlier. About 21,800 boats with 80,000 fishermen were ordered to return to port ahead of the storm, Xinhua said. Hainan is famous for its beaches, resorts, orchards and fishing industry.

April storm hands Calgary a snowy weekend
Sat Apr 19, 9:45 PM

SASKATCHEWAN (CBC) - More than 35 weather warnings were in effect in Calgary and southern Alberta Saturday as snow continued to blanket the region for a second day.The spring snowfall began Friday morning and hit Calgary with more than 10 centimetres by evening. Another 10 to 15 cm were forecast for the city and the Foothill Regions by Sunday morning.The RCMP is warning people to drive carefully on icy and slick highways in the area.Calgary police reported responding to 30 crashes involving injuries and 211 collisions involving vehicle damage between 6 a.m. Friday and 6 a.m. Saturday. Several cars slid into the ditch along icy Deerfoot Trail.Sunshine Village in Banff, Alta., reported more than 50 cm of snow falling around the resort on Friday. A concert there by Canadian country singer Aaron Pritchett scheduled for the weekend will be rescheduled because of the snow.Last week, a surprise storm dumped 23 cm of snow on Calgary.

Snow, cold blanket western Canada, while east sees summer-like temperatures Sat Apr 19, 11:07 AMBy The Canadian Press

Weather conditions at opposite ends of the country this weekend will be as different as well, east is from west. A massive spring snowstorm is moving its way across the Prairies, with Environment Canada forecasting up to 25 centimetres of snow for Calgary by Sunday, and 30 to 50 centimetres in some areas near the Alberta-Saskatchewan border. In B.C., unseasonably cold weather has fruit growers in the Okanagan Valley worried about the fate of their spring crops. However, parts of Eastern Canada, recovering from one of the worst winters in recent memory, are now basking in almost summer-like temperatures. Daytime highs surpassing 20 degrees Celsius are being seen from Ontario through to the Maritimes, with several daily records set in New Brunswick Friday. A smog alert was even issued for parts of southern, central and eastern Ontario on Friday, and is to continue through early Saturday afternoon.

FAMINE

REVELATION 6:5-6
5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.(A DAYS WAGES FOR A LOAF OF BREAD)

Oil conference opens as prices hit high SUN APR 20,08

ROME - The chief executive of Eni SpA said Sunday that the share of profits taken by governments of oil-rich countries is cutting international oil companies' profits, in some cases below their capital costs. The average government take is now moving to overcome the critical barrier of 90 percent, which means that oil companies' profitability is decreasing, Paolo Scaroni, the CEO of Italy's largest oil and gas company by revenue, said in a speech at the International Energy Forum.Major Western oil companies have been forced to renegotiate contracts as hydrocarbon-rich countries aim for a bigger slice of profits on the back of surging crude prices.International oil companies need to profoundly rethink their business model in order to survive and prosper, Scaroni said.

Government ministers from oil-rich nations and international oil company executives were meeting in Rome for a three-day energy conference that ends Tuesday. While the energy ministers of most OPEC states will be present, the group was not expected to announce any policy shifts during the International Energy Forum, which being is held as crude oil prices have reached a new high of $117 a barrel.Italy's outgoing Development Minister Pier Luigi Bersani told the conference in his opening remarks Sunday that the high price of oil will have an impact on inflation for all of 2008.The price of oil has had an impact on the inflation dynamic in many countries and it is reflected in part also on food stuffs in general, Bersani said.This dynamic will persist for all of 2008.On the sidelines of the conference, Eni signed a memorandum of understanding with Qatar Petroleum International to pursue key joint projects in Africa and the Mediterranean focusing on natural gas and crude oil. It also envisions cooperation in the petrochemical industry and power generation.

REVELATION 17:1-2
1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.(VATICAN IN POLITICS)

Pope to bless ground zero in NYC, pray for peace By RACHEL ZOLL, AP Religion Writer SUN APR 20,08

NEW YORK - Pope Benedict XVI has reached out in compassion to beleaguered clergy, victims of clergy sex abuse and members of other religious groups during his first U.S. trip. On the final day of his journey, he turns his focus to the people of New York, in a prayer service Sunday at the site of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Benedict has invited 24 people with ties to ground zero to join him: survivors, relatives of victims and four rescue workers. He will pray for peace, hope and healing, including for those who became ill after breathing toxic air in the ruins.More than 2,700 people were killed in the terrorist strike.God of peace, bring your peace to our violent world, the pope is expected to pray. Turn to your way of love those whose hearts and minds are consumed with hatred.The site where the World Trade Center was destroyed is normally filled with hundreds of workers building a 102-story skyscraper, a memorial and transit hub. It bears little resemblance to the debris-filled pit where crews toiled to remove twisted steel and victims' remains.Benedict will travel down a ramp now used mostly by construction trucks to a spot by the north tower's footprint. He will kneel in silent prayer and bless the ground with holy water, acknowledging the many faiths of the victims at the scene of incredible violence and pain.The remains of more than 1,100 people have never been identified.

Benedict will be joined by New York Cardinal Edward Egan and Mayor Michael Bloomberg. New York Gov. David Paterson and New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine have also been invited. The land is owned and managed by the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey.Benedict has addressed terrorism several times during his six-day visit.In a private meeting with President Bush, the two leaders touched on the need to confront terrorism with appropriate means that respect the human person and his or her rights, according to a joint U.S.-Holy See statement.Benedict has been critical of harsh interrogation methods, telling a meeting of the Vatican's office for social justice last September that, while a country has an obligation to keep its citizens safe, prisoners must never be demeaned or tortured.Addressing the United Nations on Friday, Benedict warned diplomats that international cooperation needed to solve urgent problems is in crisis because decisions rest in the hands of a few powerful nations.The pope also insisted that the way to peace was by ensuring respect for human dignity.The promotion of human rights remains the most effective strategy for eliminating inequalities between countries and social groups, and increasing security, the pope said.Those whose rights are trampled, he said, become easy prey to the call to violence and they then become violators of peace.Later Sunday, the pope will celebrate Mass at Yankee Stadium, before returning to Rome.On the Net: Official papal visit site: http://www.uspapalvisit.org/

INVENTION OF THE ATOMIC BOMB.

2 PETER 3:10-11
10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,

ISRAEL WILL BECOME A NATION. LITERALLY IN THE SPRING.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ISRAEL SATAN COMES AGAINST

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

ISRAELS TROUBLE

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

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

ISRAELS INHERITED LAND IN THE FUTURE

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

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

12 TRIBES INHERIT LAND IN THE FUTURE

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

Israel at 60: A vibrant nation still in search of itself By STEVEN GUTKIN and JOSEF FEDERMAN, Associated Press Writers
Sat Apr 19, 12:47 PM ET

JERUSALEM - The story of Israel at 60 is the tale of a little town named Sderot whose children play indoors because of Palestinian rockets, of a world-class tech industry that pioneered Wi-Fi and instant messaging, of a nation filled with pride and fierce patriotism, yet living in fear of annihilation from abroad and of a demographic time bomb at home. Six decades after fighting six Arab armies to realize the ancient dream of a Jewish return to Zion, Israel is still searching for its identity and place in the world, lacking recognized borders and a way of sharing the land with its Arab inhabitants, the Palestinians.This existential struggle plays itself out every day in the Holy Land, whether in the furious construction of Israeli homes on disputed territory, or the touch-and-go attempts to make peace with moderate Palestinians while clashing daily with the militants in the Gaza Strip.Geut Aragon has a piece of shrapnel permanently lodged in her brain from a rocket that struck her home in Sderot, the southern town near Gaza, three months ago. She keeps her two young sons indoors.

Since they were born they know nothing else, Aragon says. Sirens, sheltered rooms — they don't play like regular children. Although she still suffers from headaches and dizziness, she vows to stay in Sderot and even plans to celebrate on independence day, May 8, the Jewish calendar date for Israel's declaration of statehood on May 14, 1948.Just a 90-minute drive away, in a Jerusalem studio, cutting-edge technology is putting together Wild Bunch, Israel's first feature-length 3-D animated film for Hollywood. It has nothing to do with rockets, religion or revenge. It's a family comedy about a flower meadow taken over by genetically modified corn.Erel Margalit, the Israeli venture capitalist behind the film, says he wants to make the ancient city of Jerusalem a modern day hub of creativity.The plight of Sderot and the innovation at Jerusalem's Animation Lab illustrate the central struggle of Israel at 60: its quest for normalcy in a neighborhood that's anything but normal.

Rising from the ashes of the Nazi genocide of 6 million Jews, Israel finds itself unable to resolve the contradictions at the core of its existence. European or Middle Eastern? Religious or secular? A specifically Jewish state or a multicultural state for all its citizens, 20 percent of whom are Arab? Israel has given the world Natalie Portman of Star Wars fame, an annual gay parade in the streets of Jerusalem, and microscopic cameras that can be swallowed in a pill. It also has Ovadiah Yosef, a politically powerful rabbi who says Hurricane Katrina was God's retribution to the U.S. for supporting Israel's 2005 withdrawal from Gaza.It's a vibrant democracy where untrammeled free speech fills the airwaves 24/7 and where Arabs serve in Parliament and government. But it has occupied another nation for 41 years, and has suffered constant censure from the U.N. and human rights monitors.Israelis from the country's founding generation are now well into their twilight years, and many miss the selflessness of bygone times when nobody was jealous of somebody else, says 88-year-old Tamar Eshel, a former member of the Haganah, the pre-state Jewish army.

In 1948, Britain still ruled Palestine and was blocking Jewish immigration. Eshel was then in France, forging passports for Holocaust survivors and matching up complete strangers to look like families and stand a better chance of getting past the British restrictions. One cold night there was sudden singing and dancing. It turned out that by pure chance she had matched up a boy with his real parents.Her voice still shakes with emotion at the memory. Everybody there who lost their nearest people suddenly had hope that some miracle would happen to them, too.Days later Israel declared statehood, and hundreds of thousands of Jews began pouring in freely.Yet for all they have achieved since, this independence day finds Israelis in a grumpy mood, at least where politics are concerned. The sabras, or native-born Israelis who followed the founding generation into power, have generally fared badly, and the present prime minister, Ehud Olmert, is no exception, badly tarnished by the shortcomings revealed in Israel's 2006 war against Hezbollah and his failure to stop Hamas' rockets.For an Israeli prime minister to be judged soft on security is politically crippling. Yet many Israelis would agree with Arnold Roth's stoic assessment of the risks of living in Israel.No one ever promised us an easy life, and as much as we want our children to be happy and productive and safe, history tells us this does not come easily, said Roth, an immigrant from Australia who moved here with his wife and four children, and then had three more kids. He and his wife sort of kidded with one another that if the conflict with the Arabs continued up until the times when our sons reached army age we'd hide them in the closet. We never for a moment imagined that the real danger would be to our daughter, he said. His teenage daughter, Malki, was killed seven years ago by a Palestinian suicide bombing at a Jerusalem pizzeria.

More than 1,100 Israelis and 4,800 Palestinians have been killed since the outbreak of the second Palestinian intefadeh — or uprising — eight years ago. This helps explain Israel's construction of a massive barrier of steel, barbed wire and concrete to keep out West Bank militants. The barrier and other measures severely restrict the movement of Palestinians, and draw accusations that they amount to a land grab. But while more and more Israelis reach the realization that the occupation is a long-term millstone around their necks, they manage to block out the conflict most of the time and concentrate on making their lives better. Tel Aviv, celebrating its centenary next year as the world's first city founded by Jews for Jews, has renovated its old sea port with a new boardwalk, shops and restaurants. Israel, once famous for the Uzi assault rifle, may now be just as famous for exporting supermodel Bar Refaeli and In Treatment, an Israeli TV show about a psychotherapist and his patients that was remade into an HBO hit. Even more ambitious are its green-technology dreams, notably a government plan, in partnership with Renault-Nissan and Israeli-American entrepreneur Shai Agassi, to install the world's first electric car network here by 2011, with a half million recharging stations crisscrossing the New Jersey-sized country.

Dispirited though they may be about their political predicament, Israelis don't lose sight of the astonishing fact that nearly 2,000 years after the Romans extinguished Jewish sovereignty in the Holy Land, their reborn republic is still standing tall again, peopled by Jews from dozens of countries as disparate as Russia and Ethiopia, Chile and Denmark, Australia and Azerbaijan. Robert Aumann, a Nobel-prizewinning economist, recalls moving to Israel from the United States five decades ago, feeling I was coming home to live the Jewish people's biblical connection to the Promised Land. Today, he says, We're here, we've accomplished great things and we're here to stay.For Holocaust survivors, with the gas chambers, ghettoes and death marches to look back on, Israel is their own private miracle. For many, many years we Jewish people did not have any homeland. Finally after 2,000 years we have our own. Nobody else will tell us that you are a Jew and you should get out, says Jack Handeli, a Greek Jew who was sent to Auschwitz when he was 15. But conflict is never far away. Every mall has metal detector, bus stops in southern Israel have rocket-proof shelters, every school has armed guards, and military service is mandatory for both men and women. Israel feels its enemies both near and far — less than a mile from Sderot, and 1,000 miles away in Iran, with its nuclear ambitions, its support for anti-Israel militants and its president's calls for Israel's destruction. Israel's conflict with the Palestinians is the biggest obstacle to its quest for normalcy. The fighting has only intensified since the Jewish state's creation resulted in the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Arabs, and has become a rallying point for Muslims throughout the world.

Israelis argue that the Palestinians have had ample opportunity to reach peace, most notably at the end of the Clinton administration when Israel offered most of the West Bank for a Palestinian state. But even as negotiations have gone on, Israel has continued to build in settlements in the West Bank — and refused to take down small settlement outposts built without its permission — and this has seriously deepened Palestinians' distrust of Israel's professed willingness to share the land. The West Bank road system is designed to keep Jewish and Arab motorists apart, and hundreds of checkpoints keep Palestinians from moving about freely. Olmert recognizes that settlements are binding the West Bank so closely to Israel that at some point the Palestinians — 3.7 million in the West Bank and Gaza plus 1.6 million in Israel proper and Israeli-controlled east Jerusalem — will simply wait until they can outvote the Jewish population, now 5.4 million. The day will come when the two-state solution collapses, and we face a South African-style struggle for equal voting rights, Olmert told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz in November. As soon as that happens, the state of Israel is finished.Olmert's comment caused a stir in Israel, where many people wince at any comparison to apartheid, even as it gains currency among Israel's critics. Although Israeli public opinion has turned in favor of a Palestinian state, Olmert's attempt to wrap up a peace deal by year's end appears hopelessly optimistic. The Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip following Israel's withdrawal from the territory has many Israelis wary of ceding more territory to a Palestinian leadership that can't control its militants. Their fear: today Sderot, tomorrow Tel Aviv. At the same time, Olmert's hands are tied by his coalition with the hard-line Shas party and by the settlers, armed, politically connected and determined to resist expulsion. Years of peace summits, secret negotiations and shuttle diplomacy have already produced the parameters for what most agree is the only solution: a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza; land swaps to make up for Israeli sovereignty over major West Bank settlements; Jerusalem as a shared capital and compensation for Palestinian refugees. All this will require excruciating compromises that neither Israelis nor Palestinians, with their shared sense of victimhood, might be prepared to make. The Palestinians still refer to Israel's creation as the naqba, or catastrophe, and it guides their national ethos, just as the Holocaust dominates Israeli thinking.

Israel's 84-year-old president, Shimon Peres, whose life has mirrored the history of Israel, says his country must do everything to strengthen the Palestinians who are willing to make a deal. Their weakness is our weakness, he told The Associated Press in his Jerusalem office, which features his Nobel peace Prize certificate and a picture of him seated beside Israel's founding father, David Ben-Gurion. And we shouldn't use the weakness as an excuse. We should help to overcome it.Associated Press Writer Beth Marlowe contributed to this report. It will be followed next week by a similar report on the Palestinians 60 years after the creation of Israel.

NUCLEAR WEAPONS WILL BE USED.

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

ISAIAH 66:15-18
15 For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
16 For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.
17 They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the LORD.
18 For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.

ISAIAH 26:21
21 For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.(WW3,1/2 earths population die).

ISAIAH 13:6-13 KJV
6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:(FROM FRIGHT)
8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.

ISAIAH 24:17-23 KJV
17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
18 And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.
19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.
21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
22 And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.
23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.

2 TIMOTHY 3:1
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous (DANGEROUS) times shall come.

JOEL 2:20,30
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.

ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.

EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.

ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.

MALACHI 4:1
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.

REVELATION 9:18
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.

HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION.(THESE VERSES ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)

LUKE 17:34-37
34 I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.
35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
37 And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.(Christians have new bodies,this is the people against Jerusalem during the 7 yr treaty)(Christians bodies are not being eaten by the birds).

MATTHEW 24:37-51
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?
46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
47 Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.
48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;
49 And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;
50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Smith concern over Pakistan missile test
Email Print Normal font Large font April 20, 2008 - 9:25AM

Australia fears Pakistan's missile testing could provoke instability in the region, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith says.
Pakistan's military on Saturday said it test fired a nuclear-capable ballistic missile with a range of 2,000km.Mr Smith on Sunday said Australian officials had not confirmed the test but are assuming it happened.Any testing which occurs within that region does have the potential to cause tension or instability, he told Network Ten.Mr Smith said nuclear rivals Pakistan and India had in recent years been having good talks about such issues.We certainly hope that dialogue continues, he said.We of course would prefer that the testing didn't occur but we certainly hope that it doesn't lead to any tension or instability in the region.2008 AAP

Pakistan-Missile Test Pakistan test fires long-range nuclear capable ballistic missile Islamabad, April 19, IRNA

Pakistan on Saturday carried out a successful test fire of its long ballistic missile which can carry nuclear and all kind of warheads, the state-run television reported. The surface-to-surface ballistic Missile Hatf VI (Shaheen II), can hit target at 2000-kilometre, PTV reported. The missile test was part of continuous process of validation and technical improvement, which Pakistan follows to consolidate and verify its various land based strategic missile systems. Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani was the chief guest at the missile test, who said Pakistan will maintain minimum defence deterrence. He congratulated the scientists and engineers on the successful test, an army statement said. Hatf VI (Shaheen II) is Pakistan's longest range ballistic missile system with a range of 2000 kilometers. It is a two-stage solid fuel missile, which can carry nuclear and conventional warheads with high accuracy. The test was also witnessed by the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Tariq Majeed, and other top military generals and the staff of Pakistan's Strategic Organizations on achieving an important milestone in Pakistan's quest for sustaining strategic balance in South Asia. Gilani made it clear that Pakistan's strategy of credible minimum deterrence was fully in place and was a guarantee of peace in the region. He said the defence need of the country would always remain his government priority and the strategic programme particularly, which enjoyed complete national consensus, would continue to be consolidated and strengthened in line with the needs of national security. The missile test was part of the continuous process of validation and technical improvement which Pakistan follows to consolidate and verify its various land based strategic missile systems, officials said.

FUTURE ON THIS DAY EU DICTATOR MURDERED

ON THIS DAY IN THE FUTURE (THE FIRST DAY OF PASSOVER) THE EU DICTATOR GETS MURDERED AND COMES BACK TO LIFE AND GETS WORLD CONTROL FOR THE LAST 3 1/2 YEARS OF THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION PERIOD.

ALSO DURING THE PASSOVER IN THE FUTURE THE VATICAN GETS NUKED BY THE EU DICTATOR FOR GETTING TO STRONG.

POPE MEETS JEWISH LEADERS IN NY

THIS STORY I HAVE TO PUT ON YET. THE VATICAN AND ISRAEL WILL HAVE TALKS IN MAY ABOUT THE 1993 AGREEMENT THAT LETS THEM HAVE CONTROL OF THE HOLY SITES AND ACTION IN THE PEACE PROCESS JUST LIKE I SAID.

Israel, Vatican closer to diplomatic pact

Jerusalem, Apr. 18, 2008 (CWNews.com) - Israeli and Vatican negotiators moved closer to a long-awaited juridical agreement in cordial talks at the Israeli foreign ministry this week, the AsiaNews service reports. The next bargaining session is set for May 28 in Rome, with ranking officials from the Israeli foreign ministry and the Vatican Secretariat of State scheduled to take part. The two sides have agreed to accelerate the pace of discussions, hoping to complete the legal-economic accord that was promised as part of the fundamental agreement that opened the way for diplomatic relations in 1993. Among the issues under discussion are the tax status of Church institutions in Israel, the immigration rules affecting Catholic clergy and religious, and the control of some properties-- notably including the Cenacle, the site of the Last Supper-- to which the Church claims legitimate title.

04/17/2008 12:36 ISRAEL - HOLY SEE
Cordiality and signs of mutual trust between the Jewish state and the Vatican by Arieh Cohen

This is what is emerging from the meeting of the Bilateral Permanent Working Commission, which renews its commitment to accelerate the conclusion of an agreement. Among the objectives, the restitution of the Cenacle. The plenary meeting in Rome on May 28. Tel Aviv (AsiaNews) - With the joint communique released at the end of its work, yesterday, April 16, at the office of the Israeli foreign ministry, the Bilateral Permanent Working Commission of the Holy See and the state of Israel announced that it will hold its next plenary session on May 28, at the Vatican.

Plenary is the name given to the session presided over by the highest levels (just beneath the ministerial level) of the respective foreign dicasteries and also including other officials, in addition to those who take part in the working sessions that are held in the meantime, between one plenary session and the other. The plenary sessions have been resumed only since May 21, 2007, after a five year interval (since March 12, 2002 ), and it seems that the two parties intend to hold them every six months, as they have done since the first session of this new series. As on other occasions, the communique for the current working meeting says that it was characterised by an atmosphere of great cordiality (which a participant who spoke with AsiaNews fully confirmed) and that, in such an atmosphere, the delegations renewed their shared determination to speed up their work in order to conclude the Agreement as soon as possible. The desired Agreement, previously requested by the Fundamental Agreement of December 30, 1993, should above all reconfirm the historical tax exemptions for the Church, and effect the restitution to the Church of some ecclesiastical properties lost over the years, in particular, among others, the church-shrine of Caesarea Maritima (in addition to, naturally, the holy Cenacle).

The announcement of the date of the upcoming plenary session, says one expert on Church-state relations in Israel, interviewed by AsiaNews, would be a good sign of the seriousness of the negotiations, and could be seen as an indication that the delegations have developed relationships of mutual trust, and methods of straightforward collaboration aimed at reaching a common goal.

DAY 1 OF PASSOVER IS IN ISRAEL TODAY AT 6PM. HOW GOD USED MOSES TO FREE ISRAEL FROM EGYPT.

Saturday April 19, 09:35 AM
Pope gets warm welcome in NY synagogue

A New York synagogue gave Pope Benedict a warm welcome, with the chief rabbi hailing his work for inter-faith dialogue and congregants playing down recent tensions between Catholics and Jews.
A heartfelt shalom. Willkommen, said Arthur Schneier, chief rabbi of the Park East Synagogue, using the Hebrew word for peace and German word for welcome.The visit on the eve of Passover, the holy day marking the exodus from Egypt, was only the third by a pope to a Jewish house of worship. Benedict visited one in Cologne, Germany in 2005, and his predecessor Pope John Paul visited the Rome synagogue in 1986.It is with joy that I come here, just a few hours before the celebration of your Pesah, to express my respect and esteem for the Jewish community in New York City, the German-born pontiff said, using the Hebrew word for Passover.I encourage all of you to continue building bridges of friendship with all the many different ethnic and religious groups present in your neighbourhood.

Catholic-Jewish relations were strained in February when the Vatican published a new prayer, partly drafted by Benedict, for Good Friday services in the old Latin rite that called for the conversion of the Jews.Several Jewish leaders criticised the prayer and the Vatican issued a statement that the text in no way intends to indicate a change in the Catholic Church's regard for the Jews.

Schneier, a Holocaust survivor who came to the United States from Budapest in 1947, made no mention of the controversy and instead stressed their common past in wartime Europe.In our lifetime, we have both experienced the ravages of war, the Holocaust, man's inhumanity to man, and tasted the joy of freedom, he said in the synagogue, a New York City landmark built in 1890. I thank God that both of us have survived.He added: Our presence together is a message that inter-religious dialogue is viable and vital to the resolution of conflict. Your message of conciliation has already been heard around the globe.Catholic-Jewish relations had come a long way since the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), Schneier said, adding: Your presence here gives us hope and courage for the road we still have to travel together.Members of the modern Orthodox congregation also played down the recent exchange over the Good Friday prayer.He wants this trip to make a point and that point is that the religions should be talking and communicating and not isolating one from the other, said Harvey Feuerstein, 70, a Manhattan lawyer on the synagogue's board or trustees.Barry Zimmerman, 70, a retired Manhattan chemist, shrugged off the recent disagreements with the remark: Popes have made worse comments in the past.Ken Lipper, a Manhattan real estate executive, said after the short ceremony: He said that he was here to pay his respects to all of the Jews ... I was very impressed.In the synagogue, two youths gave Benedict unleavened matzo bread and a copy of the Passover Haggadah text. The pope told them he would eat the matzo on Saturday, according to the Jewish ritual.

Agence France-Presse Washington, April 18, 2008
Muslim leaders urge Pope to lead Catholic-Muslim dialogue

US Muslim leaders have said they urged Pope Benedict XVI at a meeting to help establish a permanent dialogue between the two faiths. I told the pope: I met you two yeas ago at the Vatican and asked you then to lead efforts to establish permanent dialogue with Muslims,Imam Hassan Al-Qzwini, the religious director of the Islamic Center of America said at an impromptu news conference after the pope met with representatives of five faiths. I repeated that call today. Muslims and Catholics form over 50 per cent of the world's population and we are in desperate need of dialogue, he said.

Muzammil Siddiqi, chairman of the Islamic Law Council of North America, said he had also called for more dialogue with the Church, and urged the Pope to use is influence to bring stability
to Lebanon.He said he would do his best, Siddiqi said. Benedict met with leaders of the Buddhist, Hindu, Jain, Jewish and Muslim faiths at an inter-religious meeting at the John Paul II Inter-cultural Center in Washington. Today in classrooms throughout the country, young Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and indeed children of all religions sit side by side, learning with and from one another, he told them. May others take heart from your experience, realising that a united society can indeed arise
from a plurality of peoples, provided that all recognize religious liberty as a basic civil right.Benedict began a six-day visit to the United States on Tuesday. On Wednesday he became the
first pope in 30 years to visit the White House, where he and President George W Bush discussed the plight of Christians in war-torn Iraq, among other issues. http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=0716ad1b-f72f-4... Posted from http://www.teranews.com

19/04/2008 1.26.14 Pope Benedict XVI's Address at Ecumenical Prayer Meeting

Pope Benedict XVI's Address at Ecumenical Prayer Meeting
18 April 2008 St. Joseph's Church, New York City

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,My heart abounds with gratitude to Almighty God – the Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all (Eph 4:6) – for this blessed opportunity to gather with you this evening in prayer. I thank Bishop Dennis Sullivan for his cordial welcome, and I warmly greet all those in attendance representing Christian communities throughout the United States. May the peace of our Lord and Savior be with you all!Through you, I express my sincere appreciation for the invaluable work of all those engaged in ecumenism: the National Council of Churches, Christian Churches Together, the Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, and many others. The contribution of Christians in the United States to the ecumenical movement is felt throughout the world. I encourage all of you to persevere, always relying on the grace of the risen Christ whom we strive to serve by bringing about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name (Rom 1:5).

We have just listened to the scriptural passage in which Paul – a prisoner for the Lord – delivers his ardent appeal to the members of the Christian community at Ephesus. I beg you, he writes, to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called … eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Eph 4:1-3). Then, after his impassioned litany of unity, Paul reminds his hearers that Jesus, having ascended into heaven, has bestowed upon men and women all the gifts necessary for building up the Body of Christ (cf. Eph 4:11-13).Paul’s exhortation resounds with no less vigor today. His words instill in us the confidence that the Lord will never abandon us in our quest for unity. They also call us to live in a way that bears witness to the one heart and mind (Acts 4:32), which has always been the distinguishing trait of Christian koinonia (cf. Acts 2:42), and the force drawing others to join the community of believers so that they too might come to share in the unsearchable riches of Christ (Eph 3:8; cf. Acts 2:47; 5:14).

Globalization has humanity poised between two poles. On the one hand, there is a growing sense of interconnectedness and interdependency between peoples even when – geographically and culturally speaking – they are far apart. This new situation offers the potential for enhancing a sense of global solidarity and shared responsibility for the well-being of mankind. On the other hand, we cannot deny that the rapid changes occurring in our world also present some disturbing signs of fragmentation and a retreat into individualism. The expanding use of electronic communications has in some cases paradoxically resulted in greater isolation. Many people – including the young – are seeking therefore more authentic forms of community. Also of grave concern is the spread of a secularist ideology that undermines or even rejects transcendent truth. The very possibility of divine revelation, and therefore of Christian faith, is often placed into question by cultural trends widely present in academia, the mass media and public debate. For these reasons, a faithful witness to the Gospel is as urgent as ever. Christians are challenged to give a clear account of the hope that they hold (cf. 1 Pet 3:15).

Too often those who are not Christians, as they observe the splintering of Christian communities, are understandably confused about the Gospel message itself. Fundamental Christian beliefs and practices are sometimes changed within communities by so-called prophetic actions that are based on a hermeneutic not always consonant with the datum of Scripture and Tradition. Communities consequently give up the attempt to act as a unified body, choosing instead to function according to the idea of local options. Somewhere in this process the need for diachronic koinonia – communion with the Church in every age – is lost, just at the time when the world is losing its bearings and needs a persuasive common witness to the saving power of the Gospel (cf. Rom 1:18-23).
Faced with these difficulties, we must first recall that the unity of the Church flows from the perfect oneness of the Trinitarian God. In John’s Gospel, we are told that Jesus prayed to his Father that his disciples might be one, just as you are in me and I am in you (Jn 17:21). This passage reflects the unwavering conviction of the early Christian community that its unity was both caused by, and is reflective of, the unity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This, in turn, suggests that the internal cohesion of believers was based on the sound integrity of their doctrinal confession (cf. 1 Tim 1:3-11). Throughout the New Testament, we find that the Apostles were repeatedly called to give an account for their faith to both Gentiles (cf. Acts 17:16-34) and Jews (cf. Acts 4:5-22; 5:27-42). The core of their argument was always the historical fact of Jesus’s bodily resurrection from the tomb (Acts 2:24, 32; 3:15; 4:10; 5:30; 10:40; 13:30). The ultimate effectiveness of their preaching did not depend on lofty words or human wisdom (1 Cor 2:13), but rather on the work of the Spirit (Eph 3:5) who confirmed the authoritative witness of the Apostles (cf. 1 Cor 15:1-11). The nucleus of Paul’s preaching and that of the early Church was none other than Jesus Christ, and him crucified (1 Cor 2:2). But this proclamation had to be guaranteed by the purity of normative doctrine expressed in creedal formulae – symbola – which articulated the essence of the Christian faith and constituted the foundation for the unity of the baptized (cf. 1 Cor 15:3-5; Gal 1:6-9; Unitatis Redintegratio, 2).

My dear friends, the power of the kerygma has lost none of its internal dynamism. Yet we must ask ourselves whether its full force has not been attenuated by a relativistic approach to Christian doctrine similar to that found in secular ideologies, which, in alleging that science alone is objective, relegate religion entirely to the subjective sphere of individual feeling. Scientific discoveries, and their application through human ingenuity, undoubtedly offer new possibilities for the betterment of humankind. This does not mean, however, that the knowable is limited to the empirically verifiable, nor religion restricted to the shifting realm of personal experience. For Christians to accept this faulty line of reasoning would lead to the notion that there is little need to emphasize objective truth in the presentation of the Christian faith, for one need but follow his or her own conscience and choose a community that best suits his or her individual tastes. The result is seen in the continual proliferation of communities which often eschew institutional structures and minimize the importance of doctrinal content for Christian living.

Even within the ecumenical movement, Christians may be reluctant to assert the role of doctrine for fear that it would only exacerbate rather than heal the wounds of division. Yet a clear, convincing testimony to the salvation wrought for us in Christ Jesus has to be based upon the notion of normative apostolic teaching: a teaching which indeed underlies the inspired word of God and sustains the sacramental life of Christians today.Only by holding fast to sound teaching (2 Thess 2:15; cf. Rev 2:12-29) will we be able to respond to the challenges that confront us in an evolving world. Only in this way will we give unambiguous testimony to the truth of the Gospel and its moral teaching. This is the message which the world is waiting to hear from us. Like the early Christians, we have a responsibility to give transparent witness to the reasons for our hope, so that the eyes of all men and women of goodwill may be opened to see that God has shown us his face (cf. 2 Cor 3:12-18) and granted us access to his divine life through Jesus Christ. He alone is our hope! God has revealed his love for all peoples through the mystery of his Son’s passion and death, and has called us to proclaim that he is indeed risen, has taken his place at the right hand of the Father, and will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead (Nicene Creed).

May the word of God we have heard this evening inflame our hearts with hope on the path to unity (cf. Lk 24:32). May this prayer service exemplify the centrality of prayer in the ecumenical movement (cf. Unitatis Redintegratio, 8); for without it, ecumenical structures, institutions and programs would be deprived of their heart and soul. Let us give thanks to Almighty God for the progress that has been made through the work of his Spirit, as we acknowledge with gratitude the personal sacrifices made by so many present and by those who have gone before us. By following in their footsteps, and by placing our trust in God alone, I am confident that – to borrow the words of Father Paul Wattson – we will achieve the oneness of hope, oneness of faith, and oneness of love that alone will convince the world that Jesus Christ is the one sent by the Father for the salvation of all.I thank you all.