KING JESUS IS COMING FOR US ANY TIME NOW. THE RAPTURE. BE PREPARED TO GO.
ZECHARIAH 12:1-5 King James Bible
1 The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.
2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
4 In that day, saith the LORD, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness.
5 And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God.
JOEL 3:2 (WW3 OCCURS WHEN JERUSALEM IS DIVIDED)
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people (ISRAEL) and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.(JERUSALEM)(WW3 STARTS BECAUSE JERUSALEM IS DIVIDED AND ISRAELIS UPROOTED FROM THEIR GOD GIVIN LAND BRINGS 3 DEAD BILLION IN WW3)
PSALS 137:5-6
5 If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning.
6 If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.
ISAIAH 31:5
5 As birds flying,(PLANES) so will the LORD of hosts defend Jerusalem;(WITH PLANES) defending also he will deliver it; and passing over he will preserve it.(NUKE OR BOMB ISRAELS ENEMIES)
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.(1/2-3 BILLION DIE IN WW3)
ZECHARIAH 14:1-4 King James Bible
1 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.
LUKE 1:31-32
32 He (JESUS) shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:(IN JERUSALEM)
33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob (ISRAEL) for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.(THATS RULING FOREVER FROM JERUSALEM JESUS DOES)
ISAIAH 9:6-7
6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given:(JESUS 1ST COMING) and the government shall be upon his shoulder:(JESUS 2ND COMING AS RULING KING FROM JERUSALEM FOREVER AT THE END OF THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION) and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of his (JESUS) government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David,( IN JERUSALEM) and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.
THE EU SIGNS THE FINAL 7 YR CONTRACT WITH ISRAEL-MANY ARAB MUSLIMS
DANIEL 9:26-27
26 And after threescore and two weeks(62X7=434 YEARS+7X7=49 YEARS=TOTAL OF 69 WEEKS OR 483 YRS) shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;(ROMAN LEADERS DESTROYED THE 2ND TEMPLE) and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.(THERE HAS TO BE 70 WEEKS OR 490 YRS TO FUFILL THE VISION AND PROPHECY OF DAN 9:24).(THE NEXT VERSE IS THAT 7 YR WEEK OR (70TH FINAL WEEK).
27 And he ( THE ROMAN,EU PRESIDENT) shall confirm the covenant (PEACE TREATY) with many for one week:(1X7=7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,(3 1/2 yrs in TEMPLE ANIMAL SACRIFICES STOPPED) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
JEREMIAH 6:14
14 They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
JEREMIAH 8:11
11 For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
1 THESSALONIANS 5:3
3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
ISAIAH 33:8
8 The highways lie waste, the wayfaring man ceaseth: he hath broken the covenant,(7 YR TREATY) he hath despised the cities, he regardeth no man.(THE WORLD LEADER-WAR MONGER CALLS HIMSELF GOD)
ISAIAH 28:14-19 (THIS IS THE 7 YR TREATY COVENANT OF DANIEL 9:27)
14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
16 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
19 From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.
(Reporting by Jeffrey Heller; Editing by Alison Williams)
The Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams met Tuesday evening for their third round of peace talks since direct negotiations resumed last month after a three-year hiatus.Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas,
speaking to a delegation from Israel's Jewish-Arab Hadash party earlier
Tuesday, said that the Palestinians were embarking on the negotiations
seriously and that if Israel kept an honest position it would be
possible to reach an agreement.Hadash
chairman MK Mohammed Barakeh, who led the Israeli delegation on Tuesday
to Ramallah, told Haaretz that despite the low expectations on both
sides, the Palestinian president stressed his intention to see the
process through to the end. Abbas also told the delegation that progress
was made during talks held in the past and that he therefore believes
it’s possible to find solutions to all the core issues.
“I know how to read the political map in Israel, and this time, Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu can’t claim he doesn’t have a majority to pass an agreement in the Knesset,” Barakeh quoted Abbas as saying. “The agreement will pass this Knesset by a huge majority if Netanyahu wants it to.”Abbas also told Barakeh that recent events in the Middle East ought to increase both sides’ motivation to make progress in the talks, because an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement is one of the keys to regional stability.U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry hosted the two sides in Washington to officially kick off the negotiations last month, after spending months engaging in shuttle diplomacy between the two sides before they agreed to return to the table ending a three-year freeze in negotiations.Special U.S. envoy Martin Indyk was expected to join the talks in Jerusalem on Tuesday evening. The second round of talks, which lasted five hours, was held just between the Israeli and Palestinian negotiators without American presence.That meeting dealt mainly with technical matters such as how the talks should be conducted and what order issues should be discussed. At that session, Israel resubmitted its “21 Points” document, first presented in Amman two years ago. That document contains the main issues that Israel wants discussed during the talks, but does not specify its position on the matters.Six of these are considered core issues: borders, security, Jerusalem, refugees, settlements and water. Others are derivatives of the core issues, such as control of airspace, recognition of Israel as a Jewish state, and the demand that any agreement end the conflict and all mutual claims.Meanwhile, in an interview with Israel Radio on Tuesday morning, Tzipi Livni told Israeli Radio that Jerusalem would have to make some "dramatic decisions" to reach a final peace agreement that will end the conflict with the Palestinians. refused to comment on talks, saying that holding negotiations far from the media is meant to build trust between the two sides. But she predicted there would be "dramatic decisions in the end," and lamented the lack of support from hardline elements in the coalition.Livni also told Israel Radio that hawkish parties in the coalition were making the talks more difficult because of their opposition to establishment of a Palestinian state, the centerpiece of any peace deal."It is no secret that in this coalition there is at least one party ... who objects to the idea of two states for two peoples, which is something I support with all my heart," Livni said, referring to but not naming Economy Minister Naftali Bennett's Habayit Hayehudi party. "It is definitely very problematic in regard to the negotiations," she said.Habayit Hayehudi, the coalition's third largest, is allied with the settler movement and objects to conceding territory to the Palestinians.Livni also berated the dovish Labor party for declining the prime minister's offer to join the coalition after elections early this year. She said their refusal paved the way for the current hawkish coalition. She said it would be easier if there was "a more solid majority in the government to the [peace] process and decisions."Livni and the prime minister’s representative, attorney Isaac Molho, are heading the Israeli negotiating team, while the Palestinian side is being led by Erekat and Mohammad Shtayyeh.
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According to Bible prophecy, leaders in Europe will seek to impose a dangerous, ill-considered, unworkable “peace treaty” on Israel in the last days. It may be too soon to say we are there yet, but there is no question European leaders are turning increasingly anti-Israel and seeking to impose a final status agreement on the Jewish and Palestinian people.Here is the latest example: On the eve of new Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, the European Union has made a sweeping and highly aggressive move to use its legal and financial muscle to force Israel to divide its capital city of Jerusalem and abandon all of its activities in the Biblical heartland of Judea and Samaria, commonly known these days as the “West Bank” of the Jordan River.Specifically, the EU barring all of its 28 member countries from doing any business or any other activity with any Israeli company, NGO, college, school or other entity that operate in East Jerusalem or the West Bank. There is grave concern among Israelis that this could effectively become a boycott or a full embargo against any Israeli company that is based in “Israel-proper” but has a factory or offices or affiliates that operate in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. If so, this could have a devastating financial consequence given the level of business Israel currently does with Europe. [To read the full text of the EU directive, please click here.] -There is no legal basis for the EU’s move, as noted below. Understandably, therefore, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior officials are speaking out strongly against this “foreign dictate.”
THE EU DIRECTIVE
“A dramatic new directive published by the European Union bars its 28 members from all cooperation with Israeli entities in the West Bank and East Jerusalem,” reports the Times of Israel. “The directive, sent out on June 30 and set to take effect on Friday, extends to ‘all funding, cooperation, and the granting of scholarships, research grants and prizes’ to Israeli entities in East Jerusalem and the West Bank….It also requires that any contracts between EU member countries and Israel henceforth include a clause stating that East Jerusalem and the West Bank are not part of the State of Israel.”“Sandra de Waele, the deputy EU ambassador to Israel, said the measure was designed to ensure that EU financial support ‘not benefit [Israeli] entities’ beyond the Green Line, because it was the EU’s position that such entities were illegal,” the Times reported. “She said there had been concern that these entities had indeed been benefiting from EU funds. She stressed that the directive would not affect private businesses. A senior Israeli official told Haaretz that the ruling was an ‘earthquake’ which unprecedentedly turns ‘understandings and quiet agreements that the Union does not work beyond the Green Line’ into ‘formal, binding policy….’”“The European Union has been reported to be mulling sanctions against Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem for some time, with new rules for labeling products produced over the Green Line on the table,” the Times noted. “The directive, to be in effect until 2020, is designed in part to stave-off a general boycott of Israel and to ensure that Israel’s participation in EU projects is ‘not put in question,’ the EU told Haaretz. Reportedly, the clause is already affecting negotiations over a proposed Israeli-EU youth project.”
NETANYAHU SPEAKS OUT
“As prime minister, I won’t allow hundreds of thousands of Israelis living in the West Bank, Golan Heights, and in Jerusalem — our united capital — to be harmed,” Netanyahu said, according to a separate article by the Times of Israel. “I expect those who really want peace and regional stability to deal with this matter [of West Bank settlements] after they solve more pressing problems in the region like the Syrian civil war and Iran’s race to get a nuclear weapon….We will not accept any foreign dictates about our borders. This matter will only be determined through direct negotiation between the [two] sides” of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
EU DIRECTIVE’S FLAWED LEGAL BASIS
“This unprecedented and hostile EU fixation with Israel and its settlements, to the almost total exclusion of the other pressing issues in the Middle East, Europe, and throughout the world, is based on a series of long-standing and deliberately misleading and flawed legal and political assumptions regarding the illegality of Israel’s settlements and the status of the pre-1967 armistice lines as Israel’s border,” notes Ambassador Alan Baker, former legal advisor to the Israeli Foreign Ministry and Israeli ambassador to Canada, in an analysis for the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.“These assumptions are all the more misleading and misguided in that they totally negate or deliberately flout the historic and legal rights granted by the international community, including Europe, to Israel and the Jewish people in a series of international agreements and commitments,” Baker argues. “The assumptions totally ignore the indigenous rights of the Jewish people in the area, as protected by international declarations. Similarly, they negate the very positions supported by the European states that endorsed UN Security Council Resolution 242 from 1967 calling for ‘secure and recognized boundaries,’ and negate the EU’s own commitments as signatory and witness to the Oslo Accords, to honour the content of those accords, and not to predetermine and undermine specific negotiating issues including the final status of the territories, borders, settlements, Jerusalem, and other issues. As such, the present EU policy, including the commission notice, specifically undermines the negotiating process by taking sides, and by pre-determining the negotiating issues of settlements, Jerusalem and borders. As such, this fixation prejudices and obviates any claim by the EU to impartiality, and precludes the EU from performing any function within the negotiating process.”
FINAL THOUGHTS
It is one thing to defend the right of the Palestinian people to have full autonomy and govern their own daily affairs. I wholeheartedly support and defend that right, as well. But the EU is trying to impose a final agreement on Israel and the Jewish people in defiance of international law and their own previously stated policies. The EU move is wrong-headed, reveals Europe’s increasingly anti-Israel attitude, and should make Israeli leaders wary about any EU involvement in the peace process.
http://flashtrafficblog.wordpress.com/2013/07/21/eu-leaders-issue-anti-israel-directive-aimed-at-dividing-jerusalem-forcing-jews-out-of-biblical-heartland/
ZECHARIAH 12:1-5 King James Bible
1 The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.
2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
4 In that day, saith the LORD, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness.
5 And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God.
JOEL 3:2 (WW3 OCCURS WHEN JERUSALEM IS DIVIDED)
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people (ISRAEL) and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.(JERUSALEM)(WW3 STARTS BECAUSE JERUSALEM IS DIVIDED AND ISRAELIS UPROOTED FROM THEIR GOD GIVIN LAND BRINGS 3 DEAD BILLION IN WW3)
PSALS 137:5-6
5 If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning.
6 If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.
ISAIAH 31:5
5 As birds flying,(PLANES) so will the LORD of hosts defend Jerusalem;(WITH PLANES) defending also he will deliver it; and passing over he will preserve it.(NUKE OR BOMB ISRAELS ENEMIES)
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.(1/2-3 BILLION DIE IN WW3)
ZECHARIAH 14:1-4 King James Bible
1 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.
2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.
LUKE 1:31-32
32 He (JESUS) shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:(IN JERUSALEM)
33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob (ISRAEL) for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.(THATS RULING FOREVER FROM JERUSALEM JESUS DOES)
ISAIAH 9:6-7
6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given:(JESUS 1ST COMING) and the government shall be upon his shoulder:(JESUS 2ND COMING AS RULING KING FROM JERUSALEM FOREVER AT THE END OF THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION) and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of his (JESUS) government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David,( IN JERUSALEM) and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.
THE EU SIGNS THE FINAL 7 YR CONTRACT WITH ISRAEL-MANY ARAB MUSLIMS
DANIEL 9:26-27
26 And after threescore and two weeks(62X7=434 YEARS+7X7=49 YEARS=TOTAL OF 69 WEEKS OR 483 YRS) shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;(ROMAN LEADERS DESTROYED THE 2ND TEMPLE) and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.(THERE HAS TO BE 70 WEEKS OR 490 YRS TO FUFILL THE VISION AND PROPHECY OF DAN 9:24).(THE NEXT VERSE IS THAT 7 YR WEEK OR (70TH FINAL WEEK).
27 And he ( THE ROMAN,EU PRESIDENT) shall confirm the covenant (PEACE TREATY) with many for one week:(1X7=7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,(3 1/2 yrs in TEMPLE ANIMAL SACRIFICES STOPPED) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
JEREMIAH 6:14
14 They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
JEREMIAH 8:11
11 For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
1 THESSALONIANS 5:3
3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
ISAIAH 33:8
8 The highways lie waste, the wayfaring man ceaseth: he hath broken the covenant,(7 YR TREATY) he hath despised the cities, he regardeth no man.(THE WORLD LEADER-WAR MONGER CALLS HIMSELF GOD)
ISAIAH 28:14-19 (THIS IS THE 7 YR TREATY COVENANT OF DANIEL 9:27)
14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
16 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
19 From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.
Israel will make 'dramatic decisions' for peace, negotiator says
JERUSALEM |
(Reuters) - U.S.-brokered peace talks
between Israel and the Palestinians will result in dramatic Israeli
decisions, the chief Israeli negotiator predicted on Tuesday.Tzipi Livni coupled her
forecast with acknowledgement that at least one partner in Israel's
right-wing coalition opposed the goal set by the United States, which is
brokering the talks, to create a Palestinian state alongside a secure
Israel.Livni, speaking on Israel
Radio, said "there will be dramatic decisions" by Israel at the end, and
negotiators had agreed not to disclose details about their
deliberations in order to build trust."We are arguing, but we are arguing inside the room," she said.Israeli
and Palestinian sources said the negotiating teams planned to convene
for a third round of talks, in Jerusalem, on Tuesday.The
negotiations were renewed last month, in Washington, after a three-year
standoff over Israeli settlement expansion in the West Bank and East
Jerusalem, areas captured in the 1967 Middle East war and which
Palestinians seek for a state along with the Gaza Strip.A
second round of talks was held at an undisclosed location in Jerusalem
on August 14, despite Palestinian consternation over Israel's approval
in the run-up to the meeting of plans for 3,100 new homes for settlers.Israel
has rejected criticism of its construction plans, saying the new homes
would be erected in settlements within blocs it intends to keep in any
future peace deal. Most countries view all settlements Israel has built
on occupied land as illegal.No
details were given after last week's session on the subject matter,
widely believed to have focused on setting an agenda for discussing core
issues such as borders, security and the future of settlements,
Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees."It
is no secret that there is at least one party (in the Israeli
government) that sees negotiations as wrong, that opposes two states for
two peoples," Livni said, referring to the pro-settler Jewish Home
faction.She called on the main
opposition Labor Party to "lend its support now" to the government's
efforts, suggesting such political backing could help achieve a
land-for-peace deal.In a one-line
response to Livni's reference to his party's opposition to a two-state
solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Jewish Home's leader,
Naftali Bennett, wrote on his Facebook page: "Get over it."(Reporting by Jeffrey Heller; Editing by Alison Williams)
Israel and Palestinians return to the negotiating table || Abbas: Knesset could approve peace deal by 'huge majority if Netanyahu wants it to'
Livni says Israel will have to make 'dramatic decisions' to reach a final status agreement; Abbas to Israel's Hadash party: A peace deal can be reached if Israel stays honest.
Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat (right), with the US's John Kerry (center) and Israel's Tzipi Livni.
Photo by AP
“I know how to read the political map in Israel, and this time, Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu can’t claim he doesn’t have a majority to pass an agreement in the Knesset,” Barakeh quoted Abbas as saying. “The agreement will pass this Knesset by a huge majority if Netanyahu wants it to.”Abbas also told Barakeh that recent events in the Middle East ought to increase both sides’ motivation to make progress in the talks, because an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement is one of the keys to regional stability.U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry hosted the two sides in Washington to officially kick off the negotiations last month, after spending months engaging in shuttle diplomacy between the two sides before they agreed to return to the table ending a three-year freeze in negotiations.Special U.S. envoy Martin Indyk was expected to join the talks in Jerusalem on Tuesday evening. The second round of talks, which lasted five hours, was held just between the Israeli and Palestinian negotiators without American presence.That meeting dealt mainly with technical matters such as how the talks should be conducted and what order issues should be discussed. At that session, Israel resubmitted its “21 Points” document, first presented in Amman two years ago. That document contains the main issues that Israel wants discussed during the talks, but does not specify its position on the matters.Six of these are considered core issues: borders, security, Jerusalem, refugees, settlements and water. Others are derivatives of the core issues, such as control of airspace, recognition of Israel as a Jewish state, and the demand that any agreement end the conflict and all mutual claims.Meanwhile, in an interview with Israel Radio on Tuesday morning, Tzipi Livni told Israeli Radio that Jerusalem would have to make some "dramatic decisions" to reach a final peace agreement that will end the conflict with the Palestinians. refused to comment on talks, saying that holding negotiations far from the media is meant to build trust between the two sides. But she predicted there would be "dramatic decisions in the end," and lamented the lack of support from hardline elements in the coalition.Livni also told Israel Radio that hawkish parties in the coalition were making the talks more difficult because of their opposition to establishment of a Palestinian state, the centerpiece of any peace deal."It is no secret that in this coalition there is at least one party ... who objects to the idea of two states for two peoples, which is something I support with all my heart," Livni said, referring to but not naming Economy Minister Naftali Bennett's Habayit Hayehudi party. "It is definitely very problematic in regard to the negotiations," she said.Habayit Hayehudi, the coalition's third largest, is allied with the settler movement and objects to conceding territory to the Palestinians.Livni also berated the dovish Labor party for declining the prime minister's offer to join the coalition after elections early this year. She said their refusal paved the way for the current hawkish coalition. She said it would be easier if there was "a more solid majority in the government to the [peace] process and decisions."Livni and the prime minister’s representative, attorney Isaac Molho, are heading the Israeli negotiating team, while the Palestinian side is being led by Erekat and Mohammad Shtayyeh.
EU leaders issue anti-Israel directive aimed at dividing Jerusalem & forcing Jews out of Biblical heartland.
In Uncategorized on July 21, 2013 at 11:12 am- BY JOEL ROSENBERG
Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with EU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine
Ashton, during their meeting in Jerusalem, on June 20, 2013. (photo
credit: Amos Ben Gershom/ GPO/Flash90/Times of Israel)
According to Bible prophecy, leaders in Europe will seek to impose a dangerous, ill-considered, unworkable “peace treaty” on Israel in the last days. It may be too soon to say we are there yet, but there is no question European leaders are turning increasingly anti-Israel and seeking to impose a final status agreement on the Jewish and Palestinian people.Here is the latest example: On the eve of new Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, the European Union has made a sweeping and highly aggressive move to use its legal and financial muscle to force Israel to divide its capital city of Jerusalem and abandon all of its activities in the Biblical heartland of Judea and Samaria, commonly known these days as the “West Bank” of the Jordan River.Specifically, the EU barring all of its 28 member countries from doing any business or any other activity with any Israeli company, NGO, college, school or other entity that operate in East Jerusalem or the West Bank. There is grave concern among Israelis that this could effectively become a boycott or a full embargo against any Israeli company that is based in “Israel-proper” but has a factory or offices or affiliates that operate in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. If so, this could have a devastating financial consequence given the level of business Israel currently does with Europe. [To read the full text of the EU directive, please click here.] -There is no legal basis for the EU’s move, as noted below. Understandably, therefore, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior officials are speaking out strongly against this “foreign dictate.”
THE EU DIRECTIVE
“A dramatic new directive published by the European Union bars its 28 members from all cooperation with Israeli entities in the West Bank and East Jerusalem,” reports the Times of Israel. “The directive, sent out on June 30 and set to take effect on Friday, extends to ‘all funding, cooperation, and the granting of scholarships, research grants and prizes’ to Israeli entities in East Jerusalem and the West Bank….It also requires that any contracts between EU member countries and Israel henceforth include a clause stating that East Jerusalem and the West Bank are not part of the State of Israel.”“Sandra de Waele, the deputy EU ambassador to Israel, said the measure was designed to ensure that EU financial support ‘not benefit [Israeli] entities’ beyond the Green Line, because it was the EU’s position that such entities were illegal,” the Times reported. “She said there had been concern that these entities had indeed been benefiting from EU funds. She stressed that the directive would not affect private businesses. A senior Israeli official told Haaretz that the ruling was an ‘earthquake’ which unprecedentedly turns ‘understandings and quiet agreements that the Union does not work beyond the Green Line’ into ‘formal, binding policy….’”“The European Union has been reported to be mulling sanctions against Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem for some time, with new rules for labeling products produced over the Green Line on the table,” the Times noted. “The directive, to be in effect until 2020, is designed in part to stave-off a general boycott of Israel and to ensure that Israel’s participation in EU projects is ‘not put in question,’ the EU told Haaretz. Reportedly, the clause is already affecting negotiations over a proposed Israeli-EU youth project.”
NETANYAHU SPEAKS OUT
“As prime minister, I won’t allow hundreds of thousands of Israelis living in the West Bank, Golan Heights, and in Jerusalem — our united capital — to be harmed,” Netanyahu said, according to a separate article by the Times of Israel. “I expect those who really want peace and regional stability to deal with this matter [of West Bank settlements] after they solve more pressing problems in the region like the Syrian civil war and Iran’s race to get a nuclear weapon….We will not accept any foreign dictates about our borders. This matter will only be determined through direct negotiation between the [two] sides” of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
EU DIRECTIVE’S FLAWED LEGAL BASIS
“This unprecedented and hostile EU fixation with Israel and its settlements, to the almost total exclusion of the other pressing issues in the Middle East, Europe, and throughout the world, is based on a series of long-standing and deliberately misleading and flawed legal and political assumptions regarding the illegality of Israel’s settlements and the status of the pre-1967 armistice lines as Israel’s border,” notes Ambassador Alan Baker, former legal advisor to the Israeli Foreign Ministry and Israeli ambassador to Canada, in an analysis for the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.“These assumptions are all the more misleading and misguided in that they totally negate or deliberately flout the historic and legal rights granted by the international community, including Europe, to Israel and the Jewish people in a series of international agreements and commitments,” Baker argues. “The assumptions totally ignore the indigenous rights of the Jewish people in the area, as protected by international declarations. Similarly, they negate the very positions supported by the European states that endorsed UN Security Council Resolution 242 from 1967 calling for ‘secure and recognized boundaries,’ and negate the EU’s own commitments as signatory and witness to the Oslo Accords, to honour the content of those accords, and not to predetermine and undermine specific negotiating issues including the final status of the territories, borders, settlements, Jerusalem, and other issues. As such, the present EU policy, including the commission notice, specifically undermines the negotiating process by taking sides, and by pre-determining the negotiating issues of settlements, Jerusalem and borders. As such, this fixation prejudices and obviates any claim by the EU to impartiality, and precludes the EU from performing any function within the negotiating process.”
FINAL THOUGHTS
It is one thing to defend the right of the Palestinian people to have full autonomy and govern their own daily affairs. I wholeheartedly support and defend that right, as well. But the EU is trying to impose a final agreement on Israel and the Jewish people in defiance of international law and their own previously stated policies. The EU move is wrong-headed, reveals Europe’s increasingly anti-Israel attitude, and should make Israeli leaders wary about any EU involvement in the peace process.
http://flashtrafficblog.wordpress.com/2013/07/21/eu-leaders-issue-anti-israel-directive-aimed-at-dividing-jerusalem-forcing-jews-out-of-biblical-heartland/
Full text of the European Union’s settlement guidelines
New directives prohibit Israeli companies located beyond the 1967 lines from receiving prizes, grants, or financing
July 18, 2013, 5:23 pm
5-The Times of Israel
Below is the full text, preserving the original spelling and grammar.
Commission Notice:
GUIDELINES
on the eligibility of Israeli entities and their activities in the territories occupied by Israel since June 1967 for grants, prizes and financial instruments funded by the EU from 2014 onwards.
on the eligibility of Israeli entities and their activities in the territories occupied by Israel since June 1967 for grants, prizes and financial instruments funded by the EU from 2014 onwards.
Section A. GENERAL ISSUES
1. These guidelines set out the conditions
under which the Commission will implement key requirements for the award
of EU support to Israeli entities or to their activities in
the territories occupied by Israel since June 1967. Their aim is to
ensure the respect of EU positions and commitments in conformity with
international law on the non-recognition by the EU of Israel’s
sovereignty over the territories occupied by Israel since June 1967.
These guidelines are without prejudice to other requirements established
by EU legislation.
2. The territories occupied by Israel since
June 1967 comprise the Golan Heights, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank,
including East Jerusalem.
3. The EU does not recognise Israel’s
sovereignty over any of the territories referred to in point 2 and does
not consider them to be part of Israel’s territory, irrespective of
their legal status under domestic Israeli law. The EU has made it clear
that it will not recognise any changes to pre-1967 borders, other than
those agreed by the parties to the Middle East Peace Process (MEPP). The
EU’s Foreign Affairs Council has underlined the importance of limiting
the application of agreements with Israel to the territory of Israel as
recognised by the EU.
4. These guidelines do not cover EU support in
the form of grants, prizes or financial instruments awarded to
Palestinian entities or to their activities in the territories referred
to in point 2, nor any eligibility conditions set up for this purpose.
In particular, they do not
cover any agreements between the EU, on the one hand, and the Palestinian Liberation Organisation or the Palestinian Authority, on the other hand.
cover any agreements between the EU, on the one hand, and the Palestinian Liberation Organisation or the Palestinian Authority, on the other hand.
Section B. SCOPE OF APPLICATION
5. These guidelines apply to EU support in the
form of grants, prizes or financial instruments within the meaning of
Titles VI, VII and VIII of the Financial Regulation which may be awarded
to Israeli entities or to their activities in the territories occupied
by Israel since June
1967. Their application is without prejudice to specific eligibility conditions which may be laid down in the relevant basic act.
1967. Their application is without prejudice to specific eligibility conditions which may be laid down in the relevant basic act.
6. These guidelines apply:
(a) for grants – to all applicants and
beneficiaries, irrespective of their role (sole beneficiary, coordinator
or co-beneficiary). This includes entities participating in the
action on a no-cost basis and affiliated entities within the meaning of
Article 122(2) of the Financial Regulation. This does not include
contractors or sub-contractors selected by grant
beneficiaries in conformity with procurement rules. As regards third parties referred to in Article 137 of the Financial Regulation, in the cases where the costs of financial support to such third parties are eligible under a call for proposals the authorising officer responsible may, where appropriate, specify in the call for proposals and in the grant agreements or decisions that the eligibility criteria set out in these guidelines also apply to the persons that may receive financial support by the beneficiaries.
beneficiaries in conformity with procurement rules. As regards third parties referred to in Article 137 of the Financial Regulation, in the cases where the costs of financial support to such third parties are eligible under a call for proposals the authorising officer responsible may, where appropriate, specify in the call for proposals and in the grant agreements or decisions that the eligibility criteria set out in these guidelines also apply to the persons that may receive financial support by the beneficiaries.
(b) for prizes – to all participants and winners in contests;
(c) for financial instruments – to dedicated
investment vehicles, financial intermediaries and sub-intermediaries and
to final recipients.
7. These guidelines apply to grants, prizes
and financial instruments managed, as the case may be, by the
Commission, by executive agencies (direct management) or by bodies
entrusted with budget implementation tasks in accordance with Article
58(1)(c) of the Financial Regulation (indirect management).
8. These guidelines apply to grants, prizes
and financial instruments funded from appropriations of the 2014
financial year and subsequent years and authorised by
financing decisions adopted after the adoption of the guidelines.
Section C. CONDITIONS OF ELIGIBILITY OF ISRAELI ENTITIES
9. As regards the place of establishment of Israeli entities:
(a) In the case of grants and prizes, only
Israeli entities having their place of establishment within Israel’s
pre-1967 borders will be considered eligible.
(b) In the case of financial instruments, only
Israeli entities having their place of establishment within Israel’s
pre-1967 borders will be considered eligible as final recipients.
10. The place of establishment is understood
to be the legal address where the entity is registered, as confirmed by a
precise postal address corresponding to a concrete physical location.
The use of a post office box is not allowed.
11. The requirements set out in section C:
(a) apply to the following types of legal
persons: Israeli regional or local authorities and other public bodies,
public or private companies or corporations and other private
legal persons, including non-governmental not-for-profit organisations;
(b) do not apply to Israeli public authorities at national level (ministries and government agencies or authorities);
(c) do not apply to natural persons.
Section D. CONDITIONS OF ELIGIBILITY OF ACTIVITIES IN THE
TERRITORIES OCCUPIED BY ISRAEL
TERRITORIES OCCUPIED BY ISRAEL
12. As regards the activities/operations of Israeli entities:
(a) In the case of grants and prizes, the
activities of Israeli entities carried out in the framework of EU-funded
grants and prizes will be considered eligible if they do not take place
in the territories referred to in point 2, either partially or
entirely.
(b) In the case of financial instruments,
Israeli entities will be considered eligible as final recipients if they
do not operate in the territories referred to in point 2, either in
the framework of EU-funded financial instruments or otherwise.
13. Any activity or part thereof included in
an application for an EU grant or prize which does not meet the
requirements set out in point 12(a) will be considered as ineligible and
will not be considered as part of the application for the purpose of
its further evaluation.
14. The requirements set out in section D:
(a) apply to activities under point 12 carried
out by the following types of legal persons: Israeli regional or local
authorities and other public bodies, public or private companies
or corporations and other private legal persons, including
non-governmental not-for-profit
organisations;
organisations;
(b) apply also to activities under point 12
carried out by Israeli public authorities at national level (ministries
and government agencies or authorities);
(c) do not apply to activities under point 12 carried out by natural persons.
15. Notwithstanding points 12-14 above, the
requirements set out in section D do not apply to activities which,
although carried out in the territories referred to in point 2, aim
at benefiting protected persons under the terms of international
humanitarian law who live in these territories and/or at promoting the
Middle East peace process in line with EU policy.
Section E. IMPLEMENTATION ARRANGEMENTS
16. Each Israeli entity referred to in points
11(a)&(b) and 14(a)&(b), which applies for an EU grant, prize or
financial instrument, shall submit a declaration on honour as follows:
(a) In the case of grants and prizes, the declaration will state that the application of the Israeli entity is in accordance with the requirements under points 9(a) and 12(a) of these guidelines, while also taking into account the applicability of point 15 thereof. For grants,
this declaration will be drafted in accordance with Article 131(3) of the Financial Regulation.
(a) In the case of grants and prizes, the declaration will state that the application of the Israeli entity is in accordance with the requirements under points 9(a) and 12(a) of these guidelines, while also taking into account the applicability of point 15 thereof. For grants,
this declaration will be drafted in accordance with Article 131(3) of the Financial Regulation.
(b) In the case of financial instruments, the
declaration will state that the application of the Israeli entity as a
final recipient is in accordance with the requirements under points
9(b) and 12(b) of these guidelines.
17. The declarations under point 16 are
without prejudice to any other supporting documents required in the
calls for proposals, rules of contests or calls for the selection of
financial intermediaries or dedicated investment vehicles. They will be
included in the package of
application documents for each concerned call for proposals, rules of contests and call for the selection of financial intermediaries or dedicated investment vehicles. Their text will be adapted to the requirements relevant for each EU grant, prize or financial instrument.
application documents for each concerned call for proposals, rules of contests and call for the selection of financial intermediaries or dedicated investment vehicles. Their text will be adapted to the requirements relevant for each EU grant, prize or financial instrument.
18. The submission of a declaration under
point 16 that contains incorrect information may be considered as a case
of misrepresentation or a serious irregularity and may lead:
(a) for grants – to the measures set out in Article 131(5) and 135 of the Financial Regulation,
(b) for prizes – to the measures set out in Article 212(1)(viii) of the Rules of Application of the Financial Regulation10 and,
(c) for financial instruments – to the
measures set out in Article 221(3) of the Rules of Application of the
Financial Regulation.
19. The Commission will implement these
guidelines in their entirety, and in a clear and accessible manner. It
will notably announce the eligibility conditions set out in Sections
C and D in the work programmes11 and/or financing decisions, calls for
proposals, rules of
contests and calls for the selection of financial intermediaries or dedicated investment vehicles.
contests and calls for the selection of financial intermediaries or dedicated investment vehicles.
20. The Commission will ensure that the work
programmes and calls for proposals, rules of contests and calls for the
selection of financial intermediaries or dedicated investment vehicles
published by the bodies entrusted with budget implementation tasks under
indirect
management contain the eligibility conditions set out in Sections C and D.
management contain the eligibility conditions set out in Sections C and D.
21. In order to clearly articulate EU
commitments under international law, taking into account relevant EU
policies and positions, the Commission will also endeavour to have the
content of these guidelines reflected in international agreements or
protocols thereto or Memoranda of Understanding with Israeli
counterparts or with other parties.
22. The award of EU support to Israeli
entities or to their activities in the form of grants, prizes or
financial instruments requires engagement with Israeli entities referred
to in points 11 and 14, for example, by organising meetings, visits or
events. Such engagement will not take place in the territories referred
to in point 2, unless it is related to the activities referred to in point 15. 
The sinkhole is at the southeast corner of Roy and St. Denis streets. (Google Map)
