EUROPE DAY MAY 9,08

Last update - 22:14 08/05/2008 FM Livni: Israel ready to make sacrifices for peace By Haaretz Service

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said Monday that Israel's leadership must make difficult decisions during its negotiations with the Palestinians, adding that Israel is prepared to make sacrifices to reach peace.During celebrations marking Israel 60th anniversary at the President's Residence in Jerusalem, Livni said the state's leadership need to look in the eyes of Israelis and tell them that this is the right thing to do.Livni is serving as Israel's chief negotiator for talks with the Palestinians, alongside former Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia. Diplomats from more than 80 states participated in the ceremony on Thursday, alongside a number of Israeli regional leaders, including Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupoliansky and Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal. President Shimon Peres said during the ceremony that relations between Israel and the Palestinians was much more calm and tranquil, adding that the most difficult step now was putting these conditions on paper.

He said he hoped one day Israelis and Palestinians could live together side by side and called for an end to the hatred and misunderstandings as soon as possible.On Wednesday, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert voiced hope that the solution for the Middle East conflict was within reach, speaking at an official memorial ceremony for Israel's victims of terror at the national military cemetery on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem. There is nothing we desire more than to end the conflict with our neighbors, and there is nothing that would benefit both sides more than the end of the conflict, Olmert said.

EU congratulates Israel on its anniversary, aims for closer ties 08.05.08 18:30

The European Union on Thursday congratulated Israel on the 60th anniversary of its independence, with officials vowing to forge even closer ties with the Middle Eastern state, dpa reported.The head of the bloc's executive, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, said Israel's significance for Europeans went beyond normal forms of cooperation with a close neighbour.Both the European Union and the state of Israel were born out of the same great convulsion of the Second World War and the Shoah, Barroso said in a message.In its 60 years as an independent state, Israel has had to contend with many challenges. Yet through it all it has continued to adapt, develop and prosper.We now take almost for granted impressive Israeli achievements in fields such as science and technology, industry, agriculture, education and the arts. In retrospect, we can only wonder at how all this was achieved under such difficult circumstances, Barroso added.

The commission chief noted that the EU and Israel were already cooperating on a range of issues such as climate change, counter-terrorism and the fight against racism and anti-Semitism.The EU is Israel's main trading partner and Israel is the only non-European country to participate in the EU's Research and Development programme, noted External Affairs Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner.Hundreds of project proposals by Israeli researchers have received EU funding, for example developing innovative cancer diagnostic techniques, hydrogen cars, machine translation techniques. Also, Israeli students are benefiting from scholarships under the EU's Erasmus Mundus exchange programme, Ferrero-Waldner told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.And Israel is now close to being granted special status within the EU's neighbourhood policy, officials in Brussels said.Such a special status might include deals in the area of air transport, higher education, trade in agricultural products and services, social security, customs, information society, environment as well as consumer protection.

The EU and Israel are closer now than they were ever before, the commissioner said.

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.(TRADE 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).

NUMBERS 12 + 13 RATIFY THE LISBON TREATY.

Lithuanian, Latvian MPs Approve New EU Treaty
By VOA News 08 May 2008

The parliaments of Lithuania and Latvia have approved the European Union's new reform treaty.The treaty, which must be approved by all 27 EU states to take effect, will give the bloc a long-term president and a more powerful foreign policy chief, while streamlining its decision-making. In Vilnius Thursday, well more than half of the country's 141 lawmakers endorsed the charter by a vote of 83 to 23. In Riga, 70 of 100 Latvian legislators approved the document -- a simplified version of the bloc's draft constitution that was rejected by French and Dutch lawmakers in 2005.Legislators in Germany and Denmark approved the charter late last month.Today's vote brings to 13 the number of EU states that have given final approval to the draft.Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.

Europe Day MAY 8,08

On May 9, 1950, Robert Schuman presented his proposal for the creation of an organized Europe, indispensable to the maintenance of peaceful relations.This proposal, known as the Schuman Declaration, is considered the beginning of the creation of what is now the European Union (EU). In the words of Schuman, Europe will not be made all at once, or according to a single plan. It will be built through concrete achievements which first create a de facto solidarity.The ninth of May has become a European symbol which, along with the emblem and the anthem, identifies the political entity of the European Union. Europe Day is an occasion for activities and festivities that bring Europe closer to its citizens and peoples of the Union closer to one another.Growing from six member states in 1951 to 27 in 2007, the European Union embraces more than 490 million people with the accession of Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, the Slovak Republic, and Slovenia. The other EU member states are Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands (sometimes referred to as the founding members), Denmark, Ireland, and United Kingdom which joined in 1973, Greece in 1981, Portugal and Spain in 1986, and Austria, Finland, and Sweden in 1995. Last year, Bulgaria and Romania became the newest members. Croatia and Turkey are formal candidate countries with which accession negotiations started in October, 2005.

To update the political and legal structure of the Union, the Treaty of Lisbon was signed in December, 2007, and awaits ratification in 2008 to amend the existing treaties. Important institutions and bodies of the EU include the European Commission, the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union, the European Council, the European Court of Justice and the European Central Bank. EU citizens elect the Parliament every five years.

We congratulate the member states and peoples of the European Union led by Their Excellencies, President Jose Manuel Barroso of the European Commission, President Hans-Gert Pottering of the European Parliament, and President Janez Jansa of the European Council, and the European Commission in the Philippines headed by H.E., Ambassador Alistair B. MacDonald, on the occasion of Europe Day.

EUROPEAN UNION ARMY

DANIEL 7:23-25
23 Thus he said, The fourth beast (EU,REVIVED ROME) shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,(7TH WORLD EMPIRE) which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.(TRADING BLOCKS)
24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings(10 NATIONS) that shall arise: 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 NATIONS)
25 And he (EU PRESIDENT) shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.(3 1/2 YRS)

DANIEL 8:23-25
23 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king (EU DICTATOR) of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences,(FROM THE OCCULT) shall stand up.
24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power:(SATANS POWER) and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.
25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes;(JESUS) but he shall be broken without hand.

DANIEL 11:36-39
36 And the king (EU DICTATOR) shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.
37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers,(THIS EU DICTATOR IS JEWISH) nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.(CLAIM TO BE GOD)
38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces:(WAR) and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.
39 Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god,(DESTROY TERROR GROUPS) whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many,(HIS ARMY LEADERS) and shall divide the land for gain.

REVELATION 19:19
19 And I saw the beast,(EU LEADER) and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse,(JESUS) and against his army.(THE RAPTURED CHRISTIANS)

German foreign minister favours EU army
08.05.2008 - 17:43 CET | By Honor Mahony

Germany's foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, has indicated he would like to see a European army established.Speaking at a Social Democrat security policy conference in Berlin on Monday (5 May), Mr Steinmeier said he favoured the setting up of a European armed force and that he would like to see moves in this direction speeded up.German daily Tagespiegel reported Mr Steinmeier as referring to the fact that the EU's new treaty, currently undergoing ratification across the European Union, allows for the possibility of a group of member states to move ahead in defence policy.He noted that from Berlin's point of view, France is the key partner for this. Mr Steinmeier said he had already spoken with his French counterpart, Bernard Kouchner, on concrete steps to improve common areas in the military field.These include the areas of transport, helicopter capacity and procurement.The end result of a consolidation of military capacities must be a European army, said Mr Steinmeier, according to German news agency DPA.

At the same conference, other leading politicians from the Social Democratic party - which currently forms part of the governing coalition with the Christian Democrats in Germany - also spoke out in favour of the idea. Former defence minister and head of the SPD group Peter Struck said: There will still be opposition to the idea of a European army as there once was against the single currency, the euro.But single states are no longer able to handle the threats of today, he continued.The German politicians' comments appear to be in line with the views of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who has in the past made several statements on the need for common European defence.The French president has more recently not spoken on the issue. This is being seen as a deliberate ploy not to upset the EU treaty ratification process, particularly in neutral Ireland - the only country to have a referendum on the charter and where military issues are highly sensitive with the electorate.

An email from a Dublin-based UK official after a briefing by an official in the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs that was leaked to the press last month suggested that one of the reasons for having the treaty referendum before summer rather than in autumn was due to a fear of unhelpful developments during the French presidency – particularly related to EU defence.In addition Britain, as the other serious military power in the EU along with France, has also reacted coolly to Mr Sarkozy's push for more integration in EU defence. London has also yet to ratify the EU treaty.But Mr Sarkozy is expected to return to the issue in the second half of this year, during his stint at the EU helm.The EU treaty, which has to be ratified by all 27 countries to come into force, allows for a group of member states who are politically willing to go forward to structured cooperation in defence.

EU DICTATOR (WORLD LEADER)

REVELATION 17:12-13
12 And the ten horns (NATIONS) which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.

REVELATION 6:1-2
1 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.
2 And I saw, and behold a white horse:(PEACE) and he that sat on him had a bow;(EU DICTATOR) and a crown was given unto him:(PRESIDENT OF THE EU) and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.(MILITARY GENIUS)

REVELATION 13:1-10
1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.(THE EU AND ITS DICTATOR IS GODLESS)
2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.(DICTATOR COMES FROM NEW AGE OR OCCULT)
3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death;(MURDERERD) and his deadly wound was healed:(COMES BACK TO LIFE) and all the world wondered after the beast.(THE WORLD THINKS ITS GOD IN THE FLESH, MESSIAH TO ISRAEL)
4 And they worshipped the dragon (SATAN) which gave power unto the beast:(JEWISH EU DICTATOR) and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?(FALSE RESURRECTION,SATAN BRINGS HIM TO LIFE)
5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.(GIVEN WORLD CONTROL FOR 3 1/2YRS)
6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God,(HES A GOD HATER) to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.(HES A LIBERAL OR DEMOCRAT,WILL PUT ANYTHING ABOUT GOD DOWN)
7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints,(BEHEAD THEM) and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.(WORLD DOMINATION)
8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.(WORLD DICTATOR)
9 If any man have an ear, let him hear.
10 He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.(SAVED CHRISTIANS AND JEWS DIE FOR THEIR FAITH AT THIS TIME,NOW WE ARE SAVED BY GRACE BUT DURING THE 7 YEARS OF HELL ON EARTH, PEOPLE WILL BE PUT TO DEATH (BEHEADINGS) FOR THEIR BELIEF IN GOD (JESUS) OR THE BIBLE.

DANIEL 9:26-27
26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come (ROMANS IN AD 70) shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;(ROMANS DESTROYED THE 2ND TEMPLE) and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
27 And he( EU ROMAN, JEWISH DICTATOR) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:( 7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,( 3 1/2 YRS) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

Nicolas Sarkozy: A new style of EU Presidency? Published: Thursday 8 May 2008Joachim Fritz-Vannahme, Bertelsmann Stiftung
Le style c'est l'homme as the French say, yet Nicolas Sarkozy's style does not suit all European policymakers, explains Joachim Fritz-Vannahme in a February paper for the Bertelsmannstiftung.

In the paper, entitled The Sarkozy Mystery, Fritz-Vannahme questions the way the EU will be governed under the French Presidency, asking whether France will become more European, or if EU policymaking will become more French.Since his mandate started, the sum total of what he (Sarkozy) has achieved is actually not that bad, at least in the area of foreign and European policy, says Fritz-Vannahme. Yet when it comes to foreign policy, Sarkozy's will to reconcile France and Europe in fact becomes debatable, he writes. Sarkozy's style represents a marked contrast to his predecessors’ approaches, insists the author, underlining that he has managed to normalise the strained relationship with George W. Bush and American policymaking in general in very little time. The French President's EU priorities have not all been welcomed by his European counterparts, the paper says, saying European policymakers are particularly sceptical about his Mediterranean Union proposal.

Fritz-Vannahme claims Sarkozy's expressed hope for common policies on immigration, defence, energy and environment has raised eyebrows, particularly those of Le Monde journalist Thomas Ferenczi, who described it as French resumption. But the complexity of these issues means they cannot be solved quickly, argues the author.Regarding the French President's attempt to position himself as the leader of a common European defence policy, it remains to be seen whether (Sarkozy's) proposals are feasible says the author, referring to the setting up of an EU intervention force with 10,000 troops.On Middle East issues, Sarkozy's policies tend to converge with the American and Israeli positions, the author says.Concerning Iran, foreign minister Bernard Kouchner raised the idea of a possible war, he adds.The author suggests that the French President will have to how a willingness to compromise on agricultural policy.

Perceived as not easy to deal with due to his plethora of ideas and his linguistic agility, Fritz-Vannahme nevertheless concludes that Sarkozy's contradictions may also be a reason for hope.

Euro area lacking single voice abroad, Brussels says
08.05.2008 - 09:24 CET | By Lucia Kubosova

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - In a review of ten years of the euro, the European Commission argues the single currency has often suffered from political attacks in countries where it is used, as well as from lacking sufficient weight on the world stage, which Brussels suggests the 16-member to be eurozone could overcome with a single chair at international financial institutions.The euro - established by the then EU leaders ten years ago this month and launched on 1 January 1999 - has been an unarguable political and economic success, EU economic and monetary affairs commissioner Joaquin Almunia told the European Parliament on Wednesday (7 May).

He added however that the public image of the single currency does not always enjoy the reputation it should do, partly because it frequently becomes a scapegoat for economic problems of individual member countries. In a report adopted by the EU executive on Wednesday, Brussels highlighted the key economic achievements of the euro area, such as sustained price stability, a fall in average interest rates from nine to five percent, better fiscal policies and creation of 16 million jobs since 1999.But economic growth has on average been around two percent per year since the introduction of the single currency, broadly the same rate as in the 10 preceding years, the paper acknowledged.Growth has been weak in countries where structural reforms in product and labour markets have been lagging. Such slow pace of reform perhaps reflects the fact that the single currency has provided a shield against adverse shocks, which generally act as a stimulus to reform, noted the paper.

Brussels argues that This paradox can only be resolved by strengthening the co-ordination of structural reform in the euro area. The commission itself will soon gain more powers to boost its surveillance of the national reform performances.Under the EU's Lisbon treaty - set to come into force early next year if ratified in all 27 member states, the commission will be allowed to send direct warnings to countries seen as failing in reforms, without having to wait for the bloc's finance ministers' approval.Apart from improvements on the internal front, the EU executive also calls for a better coordination of eurozone members when speaking to the outside world, with Mr Almunia noting it is absolutely necessary for them to have one single presence in international financial bodies.At the moment, it is individual countries rather than the eurozone as a bloc who are represented at institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the G7 group of leading industrialised nations, with the biggest countries enjoying the highest status. And although continually urging for a single voice and chair at international bodies for the eurozone, the commission is aware it is not yet politically acceptable.

We're aware that it's not for today, tomorrow or probably the day after either. Politically, it's delicate, but we have to do it as a medium- to long-term goal because otherwise we're a political dwarf and an economic giant, a senior official said on Tuesday.The euro area currently includes 15 countries, with Slovakia set to join on 1January 2009 after it received a green light from Brussels on Wednesday.

Commissioner attacks protectionist mirage of Obama, Clinton
08.05.2008 - 09:17 CET | By Leigh Phillips

The EU's trade chief has hit out at the more protectionist positions on trade that have increasingly been deployed by the Democratic presidential candidates in the United States.Britain's Financial Times is reporting that trade commissioner Peter Mandelson in an interview with the BBC on Thursday (8 May) attacked rhetoric coming from US candidates on the imposition of new tariffs and criticising the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

It is irresponsible to be pretending to people you can erect new protection, new tariff barriers around your economy in this 21st century global age and still succeed in sustaining peoples' living standards and jobs, he is reported as saying. It is a mirage and they know it.The two remaining presidential candidates scrapping it out for the nomination of the Democratic Party, senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, have stepped leftwards in their rhetoric on trade in comparison to the strongly pro-free-trade agenda of the last Democratic administration under Ms Clinton's husband, Bill Clinton, who signed NAFTA.Senator Clinton has said she wants to see a renegotiation of NAFTA, and that if that is not possible, then the US would be forced to withdraw from the trade agreement, rhetoric that has been matched by her opponent.The two politicians also support the imposition of tariffs on Chinese goods in retaliation for what they view as the undervaluation of the Chinese renminbi.

However, both candidates have surrounded themselves with advisors close to Wall Street and who are veterans of the Clinton administration. Analysts reckon much of the rhetoric on trade is just that, and that if elected, either candidate would hew closely to the liberalising trade agenda that has characterised administrations of both stripes since Jimmy Carter.Indeed, a minor scandal erupted from within the Obama campaign in March, when it emerged that one of the senator's senior economic advisors had secretly reassured Canadian officials that Obama's attacks on NAFTA should be viewed as more about political positioning than a clear articulation of policy plans.But Mr Mandelson believes even the rhetoric itself is dangerous.It is very irresponsible in my view to pretend to people that we can disengage from international trade, we can create barriers around our economy and then be surprised when people retaliate by doing the same, he said. It is going to lead us into a vicious spiral of beggar-thy-neighbour policies which will take us decades back in terms of trade growth.

EU-US trade, worth some €1.89 trillion, represents around 37 percent of world trade, but the EU regularly engages in trade spats, with the European Commission regularly complaining about regulatory barriers for EU exports to the US.The latest development that is expected to spiral into a sharp dispute at the WTO is a complaint from the European Biodiesel Board, which, as its market is steadily squeezed with governments beginning to back away from their previously robust support for biofuels, says that US subsidies are creating a severe injury to their European counterparts.Additionally, towards the end of April, the commission published a report on US trade barriers that complained of the use of national security as a fig leaf for what are in reality trade protectionist measures. Shipping container security screening and related additional US customs routines are causing significant additional costs and delays to shipments of EU machinery and electrical equipment to the US, read the report.The EU hopes to finalise a deal on world trade ahead of the US presidential elections, lest negotiations have to start all over again from scratch under a new president.On Tuesday, Mr Mandelson told reporters in Brussels he believes a breakthrough in trade talks can be achieved in the next few weeks.Meanwhile, EU-US trade concerns are likely to be raised at the upcoming meeting of the Transatlantic Economic Council (TEC) on 13 May, a government-to-government mechanism set up in 2007 with the aim of avoiding trade-related disputes and advancing economic integration between the two sides.

HAPPY 60TH BIRTHDAY ISRAEL !

Shalom to all our wonderful Intercessors ,

Isaiah 27:6 .................. Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit

As I watched the 60th birthday celebration for Israel on the television last night with our friends, I realised what a monumental victory this is for Israel. 60 years !! WOW, this is just amazing. In 60 years Israel has gone from a swamp infested, mosquito ridden land, to a cultivated, modern, economically thriving, successful, growing nation that exports fruits, flowers, herbs and other quality merchandise to the nations of the world, and has seen almost 7 million Jewish people return to the land of their forefathers as was prophesied. As I pondered on this victory I also saw what a tremendous victory it is in the face of our enemies. They know it as much as we do what a victory this is. To the glory and name of the God of Israel this land makes her statement to the world, Um Israel Chai (the people of Israel live)

The best though is still yet to come. Spectacular miracles, signs and wonders greater than what were displayed in Egypt are still yet to be manifest to the people of Israel and before the face of her enemies. However, as we all know before we will celebrate future birthdays of Israel we remain at war, there will be war, and we need to remain vigilant in our call as intercessors to stand before the Lord, and ask for His forgiveness as a nation, to plead for His mercy and to remind Him of His covenant, and promises that He may fulfill them for His great name sake, and Messiah can return.

ALIYAH - Isaiah 11: 11-12 ...... It shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set His hand again for the second time to recover the remnant of His people, which shall be left, He shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth

We are heading towards another summer in Israel, when generally, it is trend during the months of July and August for
thousands of Jews make Aliyah (return to their homeland). As you are aware from previous bulletins and news reports, there has been a breakthru in Aliyah from North America and Canada. This breakthru has seen a big increase each year over the last 3 - 4 years.

There are various reasons that Jewish people home. One is anti-Semitisim, one is the results of the Jewish Agency campaigns that are done to encourage Jews to return, one is the excellent package deals that are offered, one is Zionism, but I believe the under-current of all of these and any other reasons Jews come home is that the God of Israel has ordained it. It is written, therefore it is and will happen.

I have actually heard some Jewish people here say they do not know why they came back - so that gave an opportunity to explain about Aliyah from a Biblical perspective. It is the Spirit of the Lord drawing His people home, there is a clarion call going out, He is whistling for His people to come home, this sound is a spiritual sound, but it has gone forth for now is the appointed time for the second exodus and ingathering of His people to be here in the land in preparation for Messiah's return.

Almost half of those that returned last summer from North America and Canada were young adults and professional people.

Please pray for thousands more, a multiplication of last years numbers to be brought back into Israel this summer of 2008 - especially from North America and Canada. But also of course from all the nations in Europe, and in South Africa, South America, England, Wales and Scotland, Iran, Ethiopia, India, Australia and even the ends of the earth, New Zealand.

Please pray for the Birthright Programs that are targeting 18 - 25 year old young adults, that the programs would have the desired effect, that is, during their time here, their souls would make a connection with their Jewish heritage, Jewish roots, to the land, and their God.

Pleaese pray for David's nephew Jonathan Buchan (19) who is here for one year on a Birthright program (his brother Daniel, who I had you pray for two years ago and was also here on a Birthright program, will now be making Aliyah this coming September from Australia). Please pray for Jonathan as he spends time also with our boys, Stefan and Jordan and when he is in our home on the various Shabbats for quality times to share, and that he too, will conceive the seeds of Zionism while here in his homeland.

Please pray for Jewish people who are living in volatile anti-Semitic nations to be roused to leave and return to their homeland.

Please pray for all hindrances to be removed, all the stones to be taken out of the way for His people to return

Please pray for all the religious Jews in the nations to have a desire to return and live permanently in Israel and to set their eyes towards Zion.

Please pray that all Jews still scattered in the nations, will sense an restlessness in their spirits and will be not at peace until they make Aliyah

Jeremiah 31: 8-9 Behold I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth, with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child, and her that travails with child together. They shall come with weeping and with supplications, I will lead them. I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way wherein they shall not stumble for I am father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.

PRAYER FOR ISRAEL

Israel is currently at one of her most crucial times of her entire history. President Bush representing the Quartet continues to walk and move with great intention to see a Palestinian state. He is pressing the Israeli government extremely hard to arrive at a peace agreement with the Palestinian Authority before his time as President is completed at the end of this year. Israel's Prime Minister Olmert and Foreign Minister Livni seem to be totally under the influence of Bush and Rice and look to be ready to give up large parts of Judea and Samaria, East Jerusalem and Golan Heights.

Earlier this week the police launched another corruption and bribery investigation on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. So far Olmert has survived all of the previous investigations but this one seems to be far more serious than the previous ones. There is expectation of charges being laid against which could bring about his immediate resignation as Prime Minister. This would basically bring the peace process to a halt or at least delay it.

Please pray that this present government will be removed and that the Lord will raise up a godly government.Please pray that the Lord will give us the shepherds that He promised for Israel (I will restore your judges as at the first and your counsellors as at the beginning......... I will give you shepherds according to My heart who will feed you with knowledge and understanding)Pray that all evil will be exposed, everything that his hidden in Olmert's life will come out into the light.Pray that Israel will NOT agree to a Palestinian state in our land.Pray that ALL works of darkness will be exposed

OUT OF ZION MINISTRIES - Isaiah 2:3 ... For Out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem

Thank you all for praying for David's trip to Canada and his recent ministry trip to Germany. His word will not return void. The word of the Lord is going forth in the hearts of many Messianic Jews from Israel to the nations, a fulfillment of the calling on Jewish people to be a light to the nations.

Please pray that as His word is going forth it will plant seed, the seed will be watered, it bring forth fruit and reap a harvest of hearts having revelation of the true meaning of the Holy scriptures concerning Israel, the Jewish roots of Christianity , the connection of the church with Israel, the calling on the church towards Israel, the Church's relationship and responsibility towards Israel, a deep love for the Jewish people and the land of Israel.

ISRAELI FRIENDS - Smadar and Israeli Levi, Shlomo and Yehudit Zayit, Mel and Gita Cornfield, Tami, Neeva, Uriah, Hana Sherbo

Please continue to pray with us for our friends that they will know redemption, that God will be merciful to each one of them, that He will give them understanding as we speak to them from the scriptures and the prophecies in connecting with all that is taking place in Israel today and the reasons why.

OUR IDF SOLDIERS -

Pray daily for all our IDF soldiers, especially those in combat units, and also our IAF. They are doing daily combat assign-ments, usually in the middle of the night.
Pray for success, divine supernatural protection, wisdom, pray they will all come out from an assignment as whole as they go in, pray the hosts of angels will go before them, surround them, have charge over them, pray that the angels will deflect all weaponry and explosives that are thrown into their midst, pray that the eyes of our enemies will be opened to the supernatural protection around our soldiers and flee.

INTERCESSORS FOR THE RESTORATION OF ISRAEL - 2008 PRAYER SUMMIT : 25 MAY - JUNE 2, 2008

Arise O God ...... and let your enemies be scattered

We are just two weeks away until we launch into our IRI 2008 prayer summit.

David and I are just doing final preparations and we are with expectation that the Holy Spirit will guide and lead us all in worship, prayer and intercession and that as His word goes forth He will be watching over it to perform it .

Please would you pray for each one coming for travelling mercies, for prepared hearts. For anointing on all we do and for angelic protection as we travel around the country. Pray also pray for our guest speakers each night for anointed messages. Please pray for our worship leader Shirley Fryer coming from Wales, for anointing as she leads us in worship and for her hands to be blessed with every note she will play.

Blessings and love from Zion ...
Josie. David & Josie Silver Out of Zion Ministries Mt Carmel
Israel www.out-of-zion.com

CHRONOLOGY-Vladimir Putin's years as Russian leader
Reuters - Tuesday, May 6 02:42 pm(Reuters)

- Vladimir Putin, who hands over the Russian presidency to his protege Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday, rose from obscurity to dramatically change the face of Russia in his eight-year rule.

Following are key events during his two terms in office:

August 9, 1999 - The ailing and unpopular President Boris Yeltsin names 46-year-old Putin, the low-profile head of the FSB security service, as his new prime minister and preferred successor.

September 1999 - More than 300 civilians die in apartment block blasts blamed on Chechen rebels in cities including Moscow.

September 23, 1999 - Putin orders bombing raids against Chechen capital Grozny followed by a full-scale land offensive. Within months Russian troops retake Chechnya and install a loyal administration. Putin's popularity rating rockets to 48 percent in November from 5 percent in August.

December 31, 1999 - Yeltsin announces his early resignation. Putin becomes acting president.

March 26, 2000 - Putin wins the presidential election with 53 percent of the vote.

May 2000 - Putin appoints liberal economist Mikhail Kasyanov as his prime minister. A series of bold market reforms including tax reform, the adoption of a new land code and liberalisation of monopolies are introduced. The Russian economic recovery, helped by high oil prices, takes off.

May 2000 - The Kremlin launches a campaign against the media empire of tycoon Vladimir Gusinsky, one of a handful of oligarchs who wielded huge influence over the Kremlin at the end of the Yeltsin presidency.

The jewel of Gusinsky's empire, NTV television, ends up in the hands of state-controlled gas giant Gazprom. The campaign against Gusinsky launches a process which puts Russia's biggest media outlets under the control of the Kremlin and its allies.

August 2000 - Nuclear submarine Kursk with 117 sailors and officers on board sinks in the Barents Sea. There are no survivors. The incident exposes Putin to a barrage of media reports alleging he mishandled the crisis.

September 2002 - Nearly 130 hostages die in a Moscow theatre seized by Chechen rebels. The government introduces a set of anti-terrorism laws restricting the media.

October 2003 - Russia's richest businessmen and owner of the YUKOS oil major, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, is arrested on fraud and tax evasion charges. He is sentenced to 9 years in prison in May 2005, later reduced to eight years. The trial becomes a signal to the business community to stay away from politics.

September 1, 2004 - More than 330 people, half of them children, killed in attack by Chechen rebels on a school in the southern town of Beslan. Putin orders a crackdown on the rebels and demands more powers he says are needed to fight terrorism.

Within two years, rebel leaders Aslan Maskhadov and Shamil Basayev are killed. Large-scale rebel resistance ceases.

Parliament approves new laws changing the rules of parliamentary elections and scrapping gubernatorial elections. Critics say the changes give Putin sweeping powers.

March 14, 2004 - Putin is re-elected with 71 percent of vote.

July 2006 - Russia hosts the G8 summit in St Petersburg, the high point in Putin's drive to revive Russia as a key global player.

January 2007 - Putin, addressing an international conference in Munich, accuses the United States of a desire to dominate the world. The speech irks Western governments already concerned about how Moscow uses its growing energy might.

Early 2007 - The Russian government says Gross Domestic Product has passed the level it was at in 1990, a key landmark on Russia's path to economic recovery.

December 2007 - Putin presents his long-time ally Dmitry Medvedev as his preferred successor and agrees to become his prime minister. Putin's support makes Medvedev's victory in the March 2 presidential election certain.
http://uk.reuters.com/news/globalcoverage/russia
(Writing by Oleg Shchedrov; editing by Keith Weir)

* * * * FLASH TRAFFIC: WASHINGTON UPDATE * * * *
WHAT IS NEXT FOR VLADIMIR PUTIN?
Medvedev slated to become President Wednesday.
By Joel C. Rosenberg

(Washington, D.C., May 6, 2008) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered hundreds of state-of-the-art tanks, fighter jets and ballistic missiles to be paraded through Red Square last Friday, a chilling signal to Russia's neighbors and enemies, though Putin insists he bears no evil intent. This is not sabre-rattling, Putin told reporters ahead of Russia's traditional Victory Day parade. We are not threatening anyone and don't plan to.Oh really? Why then is Russia selling billions of dollars of weapons -- including missiles, fighter jets, submarines, nuclear technology and enriched uranium -- to Israel's enemies, and ours? Why is Russia building strategic alliances with enemies like Iran, Libya, Sudan and Syria? Why has Russia repeatedly threatened neighbors like Georgia and Ukraine? Why is Russia building vast new military and political alliances in Central Asia and Far East Asia? Tomorrow, May 7th, Putin will ostensibly hand over the reigns of the presidency to Dmitry Medvedev, the baby-faced former law professor whom Putin hand-picked and personally anointed to take his place as president. But it seems unlikely that Putin will actually give up much -- if any -- real political power.

Putin says he plans on ascending to the role of Prime Minister. In the past, that has been a less powerful position, but in Putin's hands I expect it to become a vastly more powerful role. As I have written in the past, Putin seems intent on fashioning himself as the new Czar of Russia. He is centralizing power and wealth unto himself. He is silencing political and religious opposition. He is rebuilding the offensive capabilities of the Russian military. And he seems to be itching for a military adventure of some kind, an opportunity to show Russia's new might and reclaim the glory of Mother Russia.

No wonder he has triggered the following headlines:

CZAR VLADIMIR
CBS News.com, October 3, 2007

CZAR VLADIMIR
New York Post, October 7, 2007

PUTIN, THE CZAR
Pravda (Moscow), November 26, 2007

CZAR PUTIN
CNN Special Report, November 20, 2007

PUTIN FOR CZAR?
Khaleej Times (Dubai), December 2, 2007

A CZAR IN THE MAKING:
The Cold War is dead, but Vladimir Putin is very much with us
Air Force Magazine, December 2007

And let us not forget that on December 4, 2007, Time magazine named Putin its Person of the Year. The title of the cover story that followed? A TSAR IS BORN.Now, could Medvedev eventually find a way to ice his benefactor out of the way and seize full control of Russia himself? It is conceivable, perhaps, but as of this writing seems unlikely. For starters, Medvedev is in every way Putin's junior. He is twelve years younger that Putin, just 42 at the time of his landslide victory in a rigged (read: sham) election in March 2008. Medvedev is three inches shorter than his mentor, clocking in at 5'4 as compared to Putin's already diminutive 5'7. What's more, while Medvedev has spent the last several years running Gazprom for Putin - the behemoth state-run gas monopoly that supplies 30% of Europe's gas and has a market capitalization of $345 billion - he has precious little experience in the cut-throat, winner-take-all worlds of FSB intelligence or Kremlin palace politics.

Then, of course, no sooner did Putin select Medvedev for the job of president than his puppet blurted out that Putin would and should run the country anyway. In order to stay on this path [of foreign and economic policy strength], it is not enough to elect a new president who shares this ideology, Medvedev told reporters. It is not less important to maintain the efficiency of the team formed by the incumbent president. That is why I find it extremely important for our country to keep Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin at the most important position in the executive power, at the post of the chairman of the government.Putin, for his part, has made no bones about how long he plans to stay in power or whether he will be subservient to Medvedev. I formulated the objectives for the development of Russia from 2010 to 2020, Putin has told reporters, and if I see that I can realize these goals in this position [of Prime Minister], then I will work as long as this is possible. When asked if he will hang President Medvedev's portrait in his office? I do not have to bow to [Medvedev's] portraits, Putin stated without apparent humor.

One area to keep an eye on: Putin has been working quietly but steadily in recent years on creating a merger between Russia and neighboring Belarus. Is it possible that Putin could turn himself into a Czar of a new Russian-Belarus superstate? Or is this just a head-fake for a larger, even more ambitious power grab? One of Putin's main characteristics is to never disclose his plan until the last moment, says Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of Russia in Global Affairs, a foreign policy journal. He allows all sorts of misimpressions to thrive, while he bides his time and decides what he wants to do.

ISRAELS 60TH MIRACLE BIRTHDAY TODAY

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.

Earthquake 100 miles away wakes up residents of Tokyo May 704:11 PM US/Eastern

TOKYO (AP) - A strong earthquake struck off the coast of Japan early Thursday, the national Meteorological Agency said, waking up people 100 miles away in Tokyo. Two people suffered minor injuries from falling furniture, public television broadcaster NHK reported. An 18-year-old man was hit when his stereo speakers fell onto his bed, and a 25-year-old man was hit by objects rattled off shelves.

There were no other immediate reports of injuries or damage from the magnitude 6.8 earthquake, NHK said. No tsunami warning was issued. The earthquake occurred at 1:45 a.m. offshore at a depth of about 25 miles, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The epicenter was about 100 miles northeast of Tokyo. A second quake with a magnitude of 5.3 struck the same area about 30 minutes later, and more aftershocks could follow, Tamotsu Aketagawa, an official who monitors earthquakes for the country's Meteorological Agency, told The Associated Press. Since it was a very large-scale earthquake, we would expect to see some modest aftershocks, he said. Japan is one of the most earthquake-prone countries in the world because it sits atop four tectonic plates. Tokyo has not been hit by a major quake since 1923, when 140,000 people died in the Great Kanto Earthquake.

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.

MYANMAR STORY
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=7717511&ch=4226714&src=news

Estimated 80,000 cyclone dead in one Myanmar district: official MAY 7,08

LABUTTA, Myanmar (AFP) - An estimated 80,000 people have died in the remote Myanmar district of Labutta since a powerful cyclone struck last weekend, a local military official told AFP on Thursday. Labutta sits in the Irrawaddy delta, which bore the brunt of the storm's fury when it struck overnight Friday.Dozens of the 63villages surrounding the town of Labutta have been wiped out, said Tin Win, leader of a ward within the town.So far the estimated death toll in those villages is about 80,000, he told AFP.

US pressing to deliver aid to Myanmar By PAULINE JELINEK, Associated Press Writer MAY 7,08

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon readied people and equipment for an aid mission to cyclone-stricken Myanmar, but the top U.S. diplomat in the Asian nation said its military junta was paranoid about accepting American help. The U.S. military was putting people and airplanes into position Wednesday in nearby Thailand. But Myanmar's government had not accepted the U.S. offer to send aid, U.S. defense and diplomatic officials said. The top American diplomat in Yangon, Charge d'Affaires Shari Villarosa, said the country's military junta is paranoid about the United States but is not blocking American aid in retaliation for past criticism.It's a very paranoid regime, she told reporters in a conference call. She said lower reaches of the Myanmar regime appear to recognize the magnitude of the problem, but the senior leadership is isolated and has not yet announced a decision on how to handle outside aid, large amounts of which are moving into the area.President Bush's national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, called the cyclone a humanitarian disaster of enormous proportions.Notably, the White House's language about the junta appears to have grown less confrontational as the scope of the calamity grows.

On Monday, first lady Laura Bush described the junta as very inept on several fronts and accused leaders of failing to give citizens some lifesaving warnings about the storm. President Bush said Tuesday that his message to military rulers was: Let the United States come help you.Hadley put it this way on Wednesday: The junta should please open its doors.He said he would keep his comments limited because he did not want to politicize the matter.The green light has not been given for people to go in, Hadley said. And it is simply going to compound the humanitarian disaster.The White House said Tuesday the U.S. will send more than $3 million to help victims of the cyclone in Myanmar, up from an initial emergency contribution of $250,000.Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice joined the growing call for Myanmar's leaders to accept the contributions, regardless of the policies of the donors.It should be a simple matter, Rice told reporters at the State Department. This is not a matter of politics, this is a matter of a humanitarian crisis and it should be a matter that the government of Burma wants to see its people receive the help that is available to them.Her spokesman, Sean McCormack, said the department was asking Myanmar's neighbors and traditional friends, including China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia and Thailand to help make the case for accepting aid.

An Air Force C-130 landed in neighboring Thailand and another was on the way, Air Force spokeswoman Megan Orton said Wednesday at the Pentagon.When they accept, or if they accept — and we know what supplies they need — those planes will be there to transport those, she said.A rapid deployment unit designed to be the first people inserted into an operation already works out of Thailand and is at the ready as well. This is just a positioning of the planes and people, Orton said.There also are Navy ships in the region that have been alerted they could be called to help. But officials were not optimistic.Three U.S. officials said it was possible the Myanmar government would only accept money from the United States and would want to buy its own aid supplies — or that it would accept U.S. assistance only as part of the broader United Nations effort. Villarosa said there were shortages of food and water and that the death toll could hit or exceed 100,000 as humanitarian conditions worsen. She said she met with three ministers this week and is pressing hard to allow U.S. aid into the country. The junta is blocking aid from other nations, and does not appear to be singling out the United States because of the White House focus on human rights and other abuses in Myanmar, she said. Asked if the U.S. would air drop aid without the Myanmar junta's permission, Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman said: If you're not asked and it's not requested, it's considered an invasion. Navy and Marine Corps officials said they were in a holding position, awaiting word on whether they would be needed.

The Navy has three ships participating in an exercise in the Gulf of Thailand that could help in any relief effort — the USS Essex, the USS Juneau and the USS Harper's Ferry. The Essex is an amphibious assault ship with 23 helicopters aboard, including 19 capable of lifting cargo from ship to shore, as well as more than 1,500 Marines. One official said that if there is a U.S. relief operation, the Essex group would likely leave some of its assets behind so the multinational exercise can still be held, while moving other equipment forward to help Myanmar. Because it would take the Essex more than four days to get into position, another official said, the Navy is considering sending some of its helicopters ahead. The aircraft would be able to arrive in a matter of hours, and the Essex could follow, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity because that effort was still in the planning stages. The Treasury Department, meanwhile, took action Wednesday to help facilitate the flow of funds for humanitarian assistance to Myanmar. Without this step, sending money to the country is generally prohibited under a U.S. sanctions program. This license will clear the way for additional humanitarian aid to make it to the Burmese people swiftly and efficiently, said Adam Szubin, director of the department's Office of Foreign Assets Control. Associated Press writers Anne Gearan, Matthew Lee, Ben Feller, Jeannine Aversa and Foster Klug contributed to this report.
On the Net: State Department: http://www.state.gov.

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.

Hitting age 60, Israel gets nostalgic for the old days
By MATTI FRIEDMAN – MAY 6,08

JERUSALEM (AP) — As Israel celebrates its 60th birthday, Israelis have their gaze set firmly backward.Turn on the TV and you'll see grainy archive footage and old-timers reminiscing about desert wars and pioneering days on the kibbutz. Radio stations are busy with musical retrospectives and the hottest new CD features contemporary singers covering Israeli favorites from decades past.The love affair with the past comes at a time of unease — Israelis have much to be proud of but aren't sure what they have to look forward to.

It's no secret that in our country the present isn't great and the future is always scary, so if you want to feel good, it's more fun to look back and ignore the problems, said Shaanan Streett, frontman for the Israeli hip-hop group Hadag Nahash. The name roughly translates as the fish is a snake.It's just like when people turn 60, he said. Their relatives throw a party and show slides of them when they were younger and better looking.In one typical anniversary project, a newspaper and television station decided to pay homage to photographs from Israel's history by recreating them with their original participants. One 1949 shot of soldiers jubilantly hoisting an improvised Israeli flag against a backdrop of barren hills became a color photograph of a group of elderly men around a flagpole.The new photographs — deflated, drained of traces of heroism and myth — came across to many as an unintentional tribute to the country's current state of mind.As it celebrates its 60th birthday Thursday, Israel has never been richer or stronger. It has weathered assaults that would have crippled some societies and has even thrived.

But Israelis are increasingly alienated from a political system that suffers from deadlock and corruption and seems devoid of leaders able to garner the public's respect. An end to Israel's conflict with its Arab neighbors, which appeared around the corner a decade ago, is now widely seen as a naive dream. And having jettisoned its Spartan, socialist ideals, the country has yet to agree on a positive vision to replace them.The nostalgia exists because we have an emptiness today — that's the root, said lawyer Eliad Shraga. Shraga, a reserve paratroops officer, fought in Israel's Lebanon invasion in 1982 and then in Israel's war with Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon two years ago. For nearly two decades, he has headed a group called the Movement for Quality Government in Israel.When I see what's happening with my prime minister, I miss people like David Ben-Gurion and Menachem Begin, like Golda Meir, people who lived in two-room apartments and made do with very little, Shraga said. Even if you didn't agree with them, you knew they were ethical.Less than a week before the anniversary, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was questioned by police on corruption suspicions. The new inquiry is the fifth into Olmert's activities since he took office. Embezzlement allegations forced his finance minister to step down, and another of his political allies was convicted of sexual misconduct. And that's an abbreviated list.When we think about ethics and leadership, it's not just our imagination — things really were different once, Shraga said.

The failure of peace talks with the Palestinians in 2000 and the violence that ensued have left Israelis deeply cynical about prospects for resolving the conflict. Olmert is holding talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, but polls have shown that a majority of Israelis doubt anything will come of them.Today, most Israelis don't believe in peace anymore. This wasn't the case when the country turned 50, said historian Tom Segev.While they indulge in nostalgia, most Israelis don't really long for a return to the past, Segev says. They live better today than they ever have, he said, adding: Anyone can leave the country if they want to, but they don't.People don't believe in politicians, they're not interested in the news or in ideology, but in life, he said. There isn't anything more normal than that, and that normalcy is precisely the Zionist dream.In an anniversary poll published in the daily Yediot Ahronot, 91 percent of Israelis said it was fairly good or very good to live in Israel. Those who said life in Israel was fairly bad or very bad numbered only 9 percent. The poll, carried out by the Dahaf Institute, included 500 respondents and had a 4.5 percent margin of error.

Ruth Gefen-Dotan was 23 when Israel was founded, and remembers men on her kibbutz fashioning mortars out of irrigation pipes to battle Arab forces. Over the years, her son and a half-dozen members of her extended family have died in the military.Now 83, she lives at Ayelet Hashachar, a kibbutz in northern Israel. If there is something that has changed for the worse, she said, it's that people put me first instead of us.We have to understand that things are in our hands. Everyone must give what they can, she said.

But that's as nostalgic as Gefen-Dotan allows herself to be.

I look at my kibbutz — it was destroyed in the fighting in 1948, and everything here was yellow and dead. Today I'm sitting in a flowering garden full of children and young people, she said. What am I supposed to miss?

Israel Celebrates Its 60th Anniversary Amid New-Found Security By Jim Teeple Jerusalem 06 May 2008

One of the most dramatic events of the 20th century was the founding of the modern state of Israel 60 years ago. VOA's Jim Teeple reports that on Israel's 60th birthday many Israelis say they feel more secure and confident about their future than they have in years.

Tourist stroll along Ben Yehuda Street
Ben Yehuda Street is a relaxed place these days. Strollers take time to browse and the area is packed with tourists.A few years ago, Ben Yehuda Street and downtown Jerusalem were no place for strollers. The violence sparked by the second Palestinian revolt or Intifada killed about a thousand Israelis and some four thousand Palestinians. Now for many Israelis - like those who work at Cafe Joe on King George Street - the Intifada is a distant memory. The cafe's new building with large glass windows and outdoor tables could not have been built when suicide bombers struck at will.

Moshe Yeffet, the owner, and Yossi, the manager, say improved security has made them confident about the future. God knows, but we feel comfortable and we feel good about security, but we put our faith in God, Yeffet said.

High walls and checkpoints guarantee their security.

This wall is part of Israel's 700-kilometer security barrier. It runs mostly along the border between Israel and the occupied West Bank. The barrier keeps West Bank Palestinians from entering Jerusalem. Palestinians say the barrier is illegal. And the checkpoints restrict their travel in the West Bank and Israel.

But Israel says the measures have stopped the bombings.

Attacked at birth by Arab armies, the Jewish state has survived against tremendous odds. The country has fought six wars against its Arab neighbors and has peace treaties with only two.

Gershon Cohen
Gershon Cohen runs a small publishing house in Jerusalem. He says from the beginning, although outnumbered, Israelis had the confidence that helped them make history. In 1948, I was 19-years-old and we were in the army in Jerusalem. The Jewish citizens were about 70,000 here, in all of Israel about a half million and we never believed we would lose the war. Now we are seven million. We have a good economy and we are enlarging. That is what I believe and continue to believe it is getting better and better, he said.

Yehezhel Dror
Yehezkel Dror is one of Israel's leading political scientists. He says Israel has achieved much. But the future is far from sure, Israel's achievements are a heroic success. It is hard to find a precedent of a moving population setting up a state and a special type of state. The success of 60 years does not provide enough momentum to choose a future.

Iran could have an impact on Israel's future.

Iran is developing nuclear technology and its President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said Israel should be wiped off the map. Israeli leaders say Iran with a nuclear bomb is out of the question for the Jewish state. Whether Israel makes peace with the Palestinians who live in Arab east Jerusalem, the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip could also determine its future.Gershon Cohen says, in any case, Israel is not going away, We want to find a final solution with the Arabs, but if not we have to believe we will win everywhere and everyplace.And so Israelis go about their daily business as if threats do not exist, on land that Jews have considered their homeland for three thousand years. Jews from around the world come here to pray at the Western Wall in Jerusalem - Judaism's holiest site. Political scientist Yehezkel Dror says Jews who choose to live in Israel share a profound commitment to each other. He says this is perhaps Israel's greatest achievement, It means today that you feel yourself part of the Jewish people and Judaism, and regard yourself as a Jew with commitments to Jews everywhere.

JERUSALEM DIVIDED

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
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 and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.

ZECHARIAH 14:1-9 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. 5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.
6 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark:
7 But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.
8 And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.
9 And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.

An unnoticed prophecy about dividing of Israel Posted: May 07, 2008 1:00 am Eastern By Joseph Farah

There is a Bible story familiar to practically everyone that relates directly to efforts by the international community to divide Israel for the purpose of creating a Palestinian state.

It can be found in 1 Kings 3.

The young king Solomon dreams of a conversation with the Lord in which he asks for wisdom to judge God's people. God grants the desires of Solomon's heart as well as bestowing upon him a long life, great riches and honor.Immediately after Solomon claims this promise with sacrifices, peace offerings and a feast to all his servants, he gets to judge the most famous case of his life.Two harlots come before him – each claiming a baby as their own.

And the one woman said, O my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house; and I was delivered of a child with her in the house. And it came to pass the third day after that I was delivered, that this woman was delivered also: and we were together; there was no stranger with us in the house, save we two in the house. And this woman's child died in the night; because she overlaid it. And she arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while thine handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom. And when I rose in the morning to give my child suck, behold, it was dead: but when I had considered it in the morning, behold, it was not my son, which I did bear.And the other woman said, Nay; but the living is my son, and the dead is thy son. And this said, No; but the dead is thy son, and the living is my son. Thus they spake before the king.Then said the king, The one saith, This is my son that liveth, and thy son is the dead: and the other saith, Nay; but thy son is the dead, and my son is the living. And the king said, Bring me a sword. And they brought a sword before the king. And the king said, Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other.

Then spake the woman whose the living child was unto the king, for her bowels yearned upon her son, and she said, O my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it. But the other said, Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it.Then the king answered and said, Give her the living child, and in no wise slay it: she is the mother thereof.And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king: for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to do judgment.That's the story everyone knows. But is there special meaning for today in these words? Could this story relate directly to the two-state solution being planned by the internationalist busybodies who seek to split Israel in half? Is it possible that this familiar old Bible story actually contains a prophecy yet to be fulfilled? Assume for the moment that King Solomon in this story represents the King of all creation, the Lord of the universe. The first woman in the story represents the Jewish people. Her baby represents Israel. Let's further assume the second mother represents the Arabs.

Notice the second woman had her baby three days after the first woman. The Jewish state was first created 3,000 years ago. The Arabs are trying, 3,000 years later, to create an Arab Palestinian state where none has previously existed.The Bible tells us in both the Old Testament and the New Testament that one day is like a thousand years to God. There is the reference in Psalms 90:4: For a thousand years in Thy sight are like yesterday when it passes by. And there is the reference in 2 Peter 3:8: But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.So, three days, or 3,000 years, ago the Jewish people gave birth to the nation of Israel. Today, three days, or 3,000 years, later, Palestinian Arabs who are mostly recent migrants to the land with no established history there and no prior national claim arrive and try to steal the baby.It's also worth noting that a tactic used by the Arabs is to sacrifice their own children as suicide bombers in their effort to liberate the land.Further, did they not, perhaps even unknowingly, kill their own baby when they rejected a state of their own with the 1947 partition plan?

Like the first mother, haven't the Jewish people expressed a willingness to give up half the land in a division plan just to keep their precious baby alive? And haven't the Arabs, like the bitter second mother, agreed to the division plan – the splitting of the child in two, knowing it would result only in the death of the baby.If my analogy is true, though, it's not going to happen. The baby will not be killed. Because like King Solomon, God Almighty has already decided the baby belongs to the Jews.

FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU
Is Israeli leader hyping breakthrough in negotiations?
Claims come as prime minister questioned in very serious criminal probe May 06, 2008 1:35 pm Eastern By Aaron Klein 2008 WorldNetDaily

Ehud Olmert
JERUSALEM – Is Prime Minister Ehud Olmert hyping declared breakthroughs in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations due to his implication in what is being described as a very serious criminal investigation? That question is being openly asked by pundits here in the Israeli media amid claims by Olmert's office of significant progress on the issue of borders during talks he held yesterday with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.Olmert met with Abbas for nearly two hours in Jerusalem yesterday, one day after U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Israel to lift anti-terror roadblocks in the West Bank.Rice also made statements strongly critical of Jewish construction in the West Bank, most of which the U.S. has slated to become part of a Palestinian state according to negotiations started at last November's U.S.-sponsored Annapolis conference.Following the Israeli-Palestinian talks, Olmert's spokesmen briefed reporters on major progress achieved mainly on the issue of permanent borders of a future Palestinian state and on joint security arrangements.

Mark Regev, a spokesman for Olmert's office, told the media these were the most serious talks the sides have ever conducted.The reports of negotiation breakthroughs were headline news in Israel.
But the descriptions by Olmert's office were not shared by the Palestinian side.It's not accurate to say there was significant progress or any breakthrough at yesterday's meeting, senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told WND.The major issues are still being debated and negotiated, Erekat said.A senior source in the office of chief negotiator Ahmed Qureia told WND things are not moving as we want them.The source, speaking on condition his name be withheld, said the Palestinians were frustrated by a lack of progress during recent talks and were surprised by Israeli claims of significant progress.

Abbas' spokesman, Nabil Abu Rdeneh, told Israel's Haaretz daily newspaper today divisions remains on the border issue, despite an in-depth debate on the topic.Palestinian officials speaking to WND said they were very concerned by a criminal investigation into Olmert that has been reported as serious. The media here has quoted senior law enforcement officials stating the investigation could remove the prime minister from office.The officials said they fear hype about breakthroughs during yesterday's negotiations was an attempt by Olmert to underscore the importance of his remaining in office to continue Israeli-Palestinian talks. That sentiment was shared by scores of Israeli media pundits commenting today on television and radio.The Israeli media has been placed under a total gag order regarding the criminal investigation, but some details emerged that the case involves a U.S. citizen testifying he was involved in bribing Olmert while the politician served as mayor of Jerusalem in the 1990s.Highlighting the seriousness of the charges, Olmert has been questioned twice by the police in recent days. The prime minister strongly denied any wrongdoing.

The New York Post today published some details of the case, including the name of the U.S. citizen, Long Island businessman Morris Talansky.That name was confirmed today by WND, reaching Talansky by cell phone in Jerusalem. Talansky refused to comment on the investigation other than to state he, indeed, is involved.The Post reported Talansky allegedly passed money to Olmert in the '90s. Talansky's name repeatedly appears – sometimes under the nickname The Laundry Man – in logs of financial dealings kept by Olmert's former chief of staff, Shula Zakan, a source told the Post. A source with knowledge of Talansky's business dealings told WND today Olmert served as an advisor and facilitator on Talansky projects, including a failed attempt to build parking garages in Jerusalem. The Post described Talansky as a Long Island mogul and millionaire financier.But several prominent Jewish New York moguls and financiers speaking to WND described Talansky as a wheeler and dealer.He has new projects quite often and is constantly looking for financing, said one top New York financier. Sometimes his projects don't get the funds and then he moves on to another idea.

Another financier, a multimillionaire, rejected the description of Talansky as a financier.Financier? He's the one always looking for financing, he said.

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 jumps over $123 on drop in diesel, heating oil supplies By JOHN WILEN, AP Business Writer Wed May 7, 6:11 PM ET

NEW YORK - Oil futures extended their seemingly relentless advance Wednesday, rising to a new record near $124 a barrel as investors captivated by the market's upward momentum looked past the government's report of an increase in crude and gasoline supplies. At the pump, gas prices rose for the first time since last week.

Light, sweet crude for June delivery hit a new trading record of $123.93 in after-hours activity on the New York Mercantile Exchange after settling up $1.69 at a record close of $123.53 a barrel.

Analysts attributed oil's rise to continued buying from the surge that pushed prices past $120 for the first time earlier this week. The fact that prices didn't decline sharply after the inventory report was released signaled to some investors that the market was ripe for another rally.It shows you that this market ... at times just ignores bearish news, said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Alaron Trading Corp. in Chicago. It's just momentum.Earlier, oil prices waffled as traders were torn between relief that crude and gasoline supplies are rising and worries about rising demand and falling distillate stockpiles.The Energy Department's Energy Information Administration said in a weekly report that inventories of distillate fuels, which include diesel and heating oil, fell unexpectedly while gasoline demand rose slightly last week. Traders chose to focus on those numbers and shrug off crude inventories, which rose much more than analysts predicted, and gasoline supplies, which increased when analysts forecast a decline.But the distillate numbers appeared to be merely an excuse for the market to keep surging upward.

Some evidence that investors were buying simply to keep up with the market's momentum came from the fact that a stronger dollar had little or no impact on trading. The dollar's protracted decline against the euro and other foreign currencies has played a major role in oil's rise by attracting investors looking for a hedge against inflation. When the dollar reverses course and strengthens, the effect usually reverses, sending oil prices lower — but not on Wednesday.June heating oil futures rose 9.38 cents to settle at $3.4473 a gallon after earlier rising to a new trading record of $3.4535.At the pump, meanwhile, the average national price of a gallon of regular gas rose Wednesday for the first time since last week, adding 0.8 cent to $3.618, according to a survey of stations by AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. Gas prices are back within a cent of the record $3.623 a gallon set last week, and are expected to rise to an average of $3.73 a gallon next month, according to the latest Energy Department forecast.Some analysts predict prices could rise to a national average of $4 in coming weeks; prices are already that high in some areas, including parts of Hawaii and California.Diesel fuel also rose Wednesday, adding half a cent to a national average of $4.242 a gallon, within a penny of the record of $4.251 set May 1. While high gas prices are hitting consumers at the pump, high diesel prices are hurting them in grocery and retail stores.

We must pass some of these costs through to our customers, which ultimately translate(s) into higher prices on the store shelves, said Mike Card, president of trucking firm Combined Transport Inc., of Central Point, Ore., in Senate testimony on Wednesday.Gas prices tend to lag the futures market, and fell slightly in recent days due to a nearly $10 decline in oil prices last week. But crude futures have rebounded sharply since then, and gas prices are responding by also rising. Analysts and the EIA expect gas prices to decline over the summer after peaking in late May or June; that's the pattern gas prices follow most years. Of course, this is anything but a normal year — crude oil prices have nearly doubled in the past 12 months.All bets are off if oil keeps going up, Flynn said. Gas prices could keep rising.In other Nymex trading Wednesday, June gasoline futures rose 1.27 cents to settle at $3.1182 a gallon after earlier rising to their own new trading record of $3.1323, while June natural gas futures rose 17.7 cents to settle at $11.327 per 1,000 cubic feet.In London, June Brent crude futures rose $2.01 to settle at $122.32 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

France pledges not to hinder Turkey's EU accession process
07.05.2008 - 09:27 CET | By Elitsa Vucheva

France – one of staunchest opponents of Turkey's EU membership bid –has said it will not hinder the country's accession process during its time at the head of the 27-nation bloc, starting in July.France has no intention of breaking up Turkey's negotiation process, French secretary of state for European affairs Jean-Pierre Jouyet was quoted as saying on Tuesday (6 May) after meeting Turkish foreign minister Ali Babacan in Ankara.France's president, Nicolas Sarkozy, has repeatedly voiced his opposition to Turkey's EU accession, saying that the country does not belong to Europe.Mr Jouyet underlined, however, that the French presidency of the EU in the second half of this year would be objective, impartial and balanced, according to French news agency AFP.Mr Babacan said he too expected that France's time at the head of the EU would not slow down his country's EU accession process.We expect our accession process to continue normally, without problems, during the French presidency... We expect concrete progress, he told a press conference.Turkey launched EU accession negotiations in 2005, but has so far opened talks on only six out of the 35 chapters needed in order for the accession negotiations to be closed.Its possible membership of the bloc is dividing member states, with France and Germany seen as the main opponents to Turkey's EU bid. They favour offering a pared down version of membership which they call privileged partnership.

A decisive year
Also speaking in the margins of Tuesday's EU-Turkey meeting, Slovenian foreign minister Dimitrij Rupel, chairing the talks, said this year would be a decisive year for the reform process in Turkey and called on Ankara to fully use it.For his part, EU enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn also stressed that the negotiations are on track, but their pace could be faster. That depends on ... consistent and far-reaching legal and democratic reforms to create a more open society.He welcomed recent reforms in the country - particularly the recently adopted amendment of a controversial article in the penal code foreseeing up to three years in prison for insulting Turkishness, but said they now needed to be implemented.Mr Rehn also expressed concern that a closure case against Turkey's ruling centre-right Justice and Development party (AKP) could threaten the political stability in the country.

The country's Constitutional Court in March agreed to hear a case filed by Turkey's top prosecutor, aiming to shut down the AKP accused of having become the centre of anti-secular activities.From the point of view of the EU, we want to see Turkey soon overcome this crisis, he said.The EU also said an investigation into the indiscriminate use of force during a crackdown on demonstrating workers in Istanbul on 1 May is needed.

EU DICTATOR (WORLD LEADER)

REVELATION 17:12-13
12 And the ten horns (NATIONS) which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.

REVELATION 6:1-2
1 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.
2 And I saw, and behold a white horse:(PEACE) and he that sat on him had a bow;(EU DICTATOR) and a crown was given unto him:(PRESIDENT OF THE EU) and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.(MILITARY GENIUS)

REVELATION 13:1-10
1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.(THE EU AND ITS DICTATOR IS GODLESS)
2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.(DICTATOR COMES FROM NEW AGE OR OCCULT)
3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death;(MURDERERD) and his deadly wound was healed:(COMES BACK TO LIFE) and all the world wondered after the beast.(THE WORLD THINKS ITS GOD IN THE FLESH, MESSIAH TO ISRAEL)
4 And they worshipped the dragon (SATAN) which gave power unto the beast:(JEWISH EU DICTATOR) and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?(FALSE RESURRECTION,SATAN BRINGS HIM TO LIFE)
5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.(GIVEN WORLD CONTROL FOR 3 1/2YRS)
6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God,(HES A GOD HATER) to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.(HES A LIBERAL OR DEMOCRAT,WILL PUT ANYTHING ABOUT GOD DOWN)
7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints,(BEHEAD THEM) and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.(WORLD DOMINATION)
8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.(WORLD DICTATOR)
9 If any man have an ear, let him hear.
10 He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.(SAVED CHRISTIANS AND JEWS DIE FOR THEIR FAITH AT THIS TIME,NOW WE ARE SAVED BY GRACE BUT DURING THE 7 YEARS OF HELL ON EARTH, PEOPLE WILL BE PUT TO DEATH (BEHEADINGS) FOR THEIR BELIEF IN GOD (JESUS) OR THE BIBLE.

DANIEL 9:26-27
26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come (ROMANS IN AD 70) shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;(ROMANS DESTROYED THE 2ND TEMPLE) and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
27 And he( EU ROMAN, JEWISH DICTATOR) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week:( 7 YEARS) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,( 3 1/2 YRS) and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

Brussels turns to gods for help with climate change
06.05.2008 - 09:40 CET | By Teresa Küchler

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Brussels officials have turned to religious VIPs to help spread the gospel of an environmentally friendly society and increase awareness of climate change in their parishes, as well as promoting tolerance between different confessions in Europe. Twenty high-level representatives – 19 men and one woman - from European Christian, Jewish and Muslim congregations met in Brussels on Monday (5 may) to discuss the sensitive issues of climate change and reconciliation between peoples. The meeting was co-chaired by European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, Slovenian Prime Minister and current president of the European Council, Janez Jansa, and the president of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Poettering. Mr Barroso told a press conference that churches, mosques and temples could all play an important role in identifying and implementing solutions to the challenge of climate change. Thanks to their moral authority, their outreach and their structure, they are well placed to make a valuable contribution, mobilising our societies for a sustainable future, the president said.Prime Minister Jansa, referring to both the Bible and the Koran, said: Earth was created and given to man, and man has to be respectful of what he has been given, and called for what the late Pope John Paul II described as an ecological conversion.

The success in the fights against climate change relies to a great extent on changes in our habits, in our philosophies in our world outlook and the consumer society that has created superficial needs - needs that justify consumption.Mr Jansa also announced that Slovenia plans to set up a Euro-Mediterranean university that will be a meeting place for students from the Christian, Muslim and Jewish world. The school's charter is to be signed in Ljubljana in June. Bishop Adrianus Van Luyn, the president of the Council of European Bishops' Conferences (COMECE), suggested that the EU appoint a High Representative for Future Generations.

Who was not invited?
On the second topic of the meeting, Reconciliation through Intercultural Dialogue, President Barroso underlined the importance of combining freedom of expression and respect for other faiths, in an attempt to sooth both Islamic outrage in recent years and others' fear of Islam. Islam today is part of Europe. One should not see Islam as outside Europe. We already have an important presence of Islam and Muslims among our citizens, Mr Barroso said, adding that the inter-faith dialogue proved that the preachers of a clash of civilisations are wrong.The grand mufti of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Dr Mustafa Ceric pointed to the EU's policy on Turkey.

Following this logic, Europe has to prove that Islam is part of Europe by not delaying the acceptance of Turkey to the EU, the cleric said. Others criticised the invitation list for Monday's inter-faith meeting.Flanked by a female priest colleague, Swedish archbishop Anders Weyrud [Lutheran] told EUobserver he was disappointed there was only one woman among the religious dignitaries, pastor Letizia Tomassone, the vice-president of the federation of evangelical churches of Italy, who had also raised the point during the inter-religious meeting. We have neglected both nature and women, that was one of the messages we tried to get across at this meeting, the archbishop said. From its headquarters just across the street from the inter-religious meeting, a spokesperson from the church of scientology, a faith that is growing rapidly in Europe, told EUobserver that Brussels should also look at minority religions in Europe when deciding who to put on the invitation list for upcoming meetings. We want to have an open and transparent dialogue with the institutions, just as with the leaders who were invited to the [European] commission today. It has to be a full dialogue, with minority religions also represented, and not a selective dialogue, Mr Fabio Amicarelli said.

Meanwhile some MEPs have in the past questioned the presence of religious figures in strictly political fora in Brussels. The parliament's Party Working Group on the Separation of Religion and Politics in a letter to Hans-Gert Poettering last year wrote: It is unbecoming for any of the EU institutions to provide an exclusive platform to any particular grouping, including religions, in particular as the majority of European citizens are not religious or no longer practice their religion.Thus millions of individual citizens do not have a voice in the dialogue, the letter concluded.
According to a recent Eurobarometer survey, some 48 percent of European citizens claim to be non-confessional.

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.

MEDVEDEV TAKES OVER PRESIDENCY OF RUSSIA.
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=7722357&ch=4226714&src=news

Russia's Medvedev takes power and pledges freedom By Michael Stott and Oleg Shchedrov Wed May 7, 4:44 PM ET

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Dmitry Medvedev was sworn in as Russian president on Wednesday and nominated his predecessor Vladimir Putin as prime minister, ushering in an unprecedented period of dual rule. Medvedev, a 42-year-old former corporate lawyer and longtime Putin ally, stressed freedom and the rule of law in his first remarks after taking the oath of office in a solemn, emotional ceremony in the Kremlin's glittering St Andrew's Hall.I believe my most important aims will be to protect civil and economic freedoms, he told guests at the inauguration, broadcast live on state television.We must fight for a true respect of the law and overcome legal nihilism, which seriously hampers modern development.Shortly afterwards, the government led by Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov followed protocol by resigning. This cleared the way for Medvedev to nominate Putin as prime minister as the carefully choreographed transition unfolded.The new leader, who arrived at the Kremlin alone in an armored black stretch Mercedes limousine flanked by 11 motorcycle outriders, inherits a booming $1.3 trillion economy fuelled by high oil prices -- and a sobering set of challenges.

They include rampant corruption, rising inflation, a falling population, sickly industry and agriculture and increasingly tense relations with former Soviet neighbors and the West.A White House spokeswoman said U.S. President George W. Bush wished Medvedev well in his new role and was looking forward to working with him. The two leaders will probably meet at the Group of Eight summit in Japan this summer, she said.Putin has been accused by domestic critics and Western governments of trampling on human rights and reining in freedoms won after the collapse of Soviet communism in the 1990s. He has reasserted the state's grip on the Russian economy and business.Before Medvedev was sworn in, a somber-looking Putin entered the Kremlin alone, bid farewell to the presidential guard and thanked the Russian people for their trust over his two four-year terms.Putin encouraged his audience to support Medvedev, saying his policies had proved right.During the inauguration ceremony in the Grand Kremlin Palace, stirring passages from Russian composers Tchaikovsky and Glinka were meshed with pomp and circumstance for the event, which was designed in the 1990s to evoke the imperial power of Russia's past and bury memories of its drab Soviet period.Patriarch Alexiy II, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, then led a service in the Kremlin's Cathedral of the Annunciation to bless the new president. Medvedev was later handed the codes that control Russia's nuclear weapons.Putin named Medvedev as his preferred successor last December, ensuring his overwhelming victory in the March polls. The two men have worked together since the early 1990s.

The former KGB spy will retain major political influence both in his new role as prime minister and as head of the ruling United Russia party which controls parliament. Putin remains by far Russia's most popular politician.Hello bosses. You are all bosses here and I am not, Putin told party leaders at a meeting in the Kremlin after Medvedev was sworn in.United Russia parliamentary boss Boris Gryzlov said the party would support his candidacy as premier. Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov said his party would vote against.

COMMON VIEWS

Putin has said he sees no problem working with Medvedev, with whom he says he shares common views on Russia's future. But their double-headed government has alarmed many Russians, who are accustomed to a single strong leader. They question how the arrangement would work in a crisis. Putin's opponents don't think there will be a problem but interestingly, it's Putin's allies who are the most worried about what could go wrong, one Western ambassador said.

Analysts await Medvedev's first appointments for clues about whether he will be his own man or rely on Putin's allies. Top posts in the presidential administration and the FSB spy service will be particularly closely scrutinized. Some Russia-watchers believe Medvedev's past as chief of the giant state gas company Gazprom and head of the presidential administration shows he has the right stuff for the Kremlin. The media are all immensely underestimating Medvedev and making the same mistake as they made eight years ago, said Florian Fenner, managing partner at UFG Asset Management which has $1.8 billion in Russian assets. The only real issue they have is inflation. Cabinet names are expected to come after Putin's nomination as prime minister is confirmed by parliament on Thursday. (Additional reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; editing by Jon Boyle)

May 6, 2008 23:35 | Updated May 7, 2008 16:57
Israel: Iran could have nukes by '09
By YAAKOV KATZ AND HERB KEINON Print Subscribe

With Iran racing forward with its nuclear program, Israel now believes the Islamic Republic will master centrifuge technology and be able to begin enriching uranium on a military scale this year, The Jerusalem Post has learned. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, center, visits the Natanz Uranium Enrichment Facility some 322 kilometers south of the capital Teheran, Iran.
Photo: AP.Slideshow: Pictures of the week The new assessment moves up Israel's forecasts on Teheran's nuclear program by almost a full year - from 2009 to the end of 2008. According to the new timeline, Iran could have a nuclear weapon by the middle of next year.

Iran, a senior defense official said on Tuesday, had encountered numerous technical obstacles on its way to enriching uranium but was now on track to master the technology needed to enrich uranium within six months. Israel is also concerned that Teheran is developing a cruise missile that can evade interception by the Arrow, the IDF's anti-ballistic missile defense system. Iran is suspected of having smuggled Ukrainian X-55 cruise missiles and using them as models for an independent, domestic project. A cruise missile, which flies at low altitudes to dodge radar detection and interception, could be used to carry a nuclear warhead. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Tuesday that Israel had the ability to create the tools needed to ensure its continued existence. Hinting at Iran, Olmert said that nothing in the world could undermine or bring an end to Israel's existence. In a speech to a Keren Hayesod group, Olmert said, I am asking that you take this with you and tell it to your communities everywhere - the people of Israel are strong, the State of Israel is strong, there is no enemy that can destroy us.We will not place ourselves in a position where anyone will, in an effective manner, threaten us with destruction, because if there was one thing that has changed since the establishment of the State of Israel 60 years ago until today, it is not that here the Jews are safe in every situation, in every condition and that there will not be any dangers, Olmert said. There are also dangers here, like in many other places.

But here, my friends, the Jewish people can fight, and when it needs to, it fights, and when it fights, it wins.Last week, Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz said during a visit to the US that Teheran would likely achieve control of the technology to enrich uranium for an atomic bomb within a year. In the past, the consensus in the intelligence community was that Iran had encountered technical difficulties with fuel enrichment and that its attainment of nuclear capability was much further off, Mofaz said, but a recent IDF Military Intelligence assessment showed that the Islamic Republic could go nuclear before the end of the decade.

Also Tuesday, NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer warned that more nations would follow the examples of Iran and North Korea and work to develop nuclear weapons. He said that the possibility that Syria was building a weapons-capable nuclear reactor before the IAF destroyed it on September 6 showed that NATO must find an answer to ballistic missile threats. The nuclear ambitions of Iran and North Korea threaten to set in motion a domino effect that will be difficult to contain, de Hoop Scheffer said in a speech at a missile defense conference at the Czech Foreign Ministry. If there is a serious suspicion that in Syria there was a facility in the making, it only increases the arguments... for finding a collective answer to a ballistic missile defense threat, the NATO chief said.

CIA Director Michael Hayden said last month that the alleged Syrian nuclear reactor would have produced enough plutonium for one or two bombs within a year of becoming operational. The number of states that possess ballistic missiles is already growing, slowly and surely, de Hoop Scheffer said. The proliferation of ballistic missiles is a reality that concerns us all.AP contributed to this report.