A MESSAGE OF HOPE FROM DR. JACK VAN IMPE
Revelation chapter 2:1 - 29
Chapters 2 and 3 contain seven letters to the seven literal, local churches mentioned in chapter 1, verse 11. These letters have a number of applications. First, they are seven actual letters to seven actual churches situated in seven different cities. Second, they are letters to seven individuals within the seven churches. Third, they are messages applicable to all churches in all ages, for the seven churches picture seven periods, or stages, of church history. In each period, the Lord speaks to the churches in a judgmental way, portraying their failures, then He calls them to repentance and zealousness.
Ephesus
Verse 1: Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks [or the seven churches represented throughout history];
The first church addressed is the church of Ephesus, covering the time period from approximately 33 A.D. (the birth of the church at Pentecost) until 100 A.D. when John, who wrote the Book of Revelation, died. The letter is to the angel or, literally, the messenger of the church of Ephesus, and is from the One who holds the seven stars in his right hand and who [walks] in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. This, of course, is the glorified Christ, as we learned in chapter 1, verse 20. How thrilling to note that the Lord both holds the churches (all believers) in His hand and walks in the midst of them, as well! This is the Christian's security. The Savior's walk among us is to bring us closer to himself. Next, Christ speaks...
Verse 2: I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:
Notice that, in each of the seven letters, the Lord begins by commending the local assembly for whatever He can find in them that is good before scolding them for their sins. The Ephesus church began in all purity, as can be observed from a study of the Book of Acts. Then false prophets entered in. This is exactly the warning Paul had sounded during his last gathering in Ephesus: For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch, and remember (Acts 20:29-31). The leaders of the church judged these false prophets in earlier days, but became lax as they lost their first love.Today many think it is wrong to judge heresy or wickedness. Not so! The same Christ who said, Judge not, that ye be not judged (Matthew 7:1) also declared, Judge righteous judgment (John 7:24). A believer is never to judge a person as far as character and motives are concerned. However, he should definitely judge one when that individual's doctrine is heretical or his life is filled with wickedness. This is why John said, Try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world (1 John 4:1), and why Paul stated in 1 Timothy 5:19 and 20: Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses. Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear. The church at Ephesus had slipped from its original moorings and was on the way down. Is it any wonder that Mohammedanism swept through the land and destroyed the compromising church that once was mighty under Paul?
Verse 3: And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.
Part of the reason this church (who had borne, and had patience, and for His name's sake had laboured, and had not fainted) failed may have been that they were too busy serving and not taking time for sweet fellowship at the feet of Jesus. When one is so active that he has no time for the Bible and prayer, he is too busy. Many have fallen to the indictment of...
Verse 4: Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
How true of multitudes today! When they were first saved they loved Jesus, loved to pray, loved to read the Word, loved to attend the services at God's house and loved to witness. Ah, but they have lost that first love!
Verse 5: Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick (or your local church) out of his place, except thou repent.
It happened! After the conquest of Mohammedanism, the church of Ephesus became nonexistent. Do not let this happen to your church or to you! Before God finishes His pronouncement of commendations and condemnations upon the church of Ephesus, he adds...
Verse 6: But this thou host, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
Who were the Nicolaitans and what was it about them that so angered Almighty God? The term comes from two Greek words which mean victory over the laity-a religious dictatorship that allowed little or no freedom to its members. This is precisely what the Holy Spirit had in mind when He told the church elders not to be lords over God's heritage, but...ensamples [examples] to the flock (1 Peter 5:3). How this message needs to be emphasized in our day as religious leaders try to impose their man-made rules on each and every member! After presenting this series of commendations and warnings, the Spirit of God adds...
Verse 7: He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
How can one be an overcomer? By trusting in the merits of the shed blood of Jesus Christ: Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? (1 John 5:5).
Smyrna
Verse 8: And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive;
We saw in chapter 1, verse 11, that this first and the last, or Alpha and Omega, is the Lord Jesus Christ. He now begins His message to the church of Smyrna.
Verse 9: I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.
The Smyrna period of church history takes us from 100 A.D. to 312 A.D. These people probably suffered the greatest persecution in all Christianity. Their works, faithfully performed in the name of Jesus, brought great tribulation and accompanying poverty, materially. However, great riches were laid up for them in heaven. In addition, their relentless, dedicated efforts brought the Word of God to the entire Roman Empire. During the second and third centuries, the Smyrna church members were fed to the lions at Rome while multitudes cheered. Church history informs us that five million may have been martyred during this era. Every Christian ought to read Foxe's Christian Martyrs of the World. He will quickly discover the foolishness of complaining in this day of luxury and ease.Believe it or not, the church flourished and grew during the Smyrna period! Perhaps a little persecution would do us some good today. We might learn to love other brothers in Christ who have a different religious label than ours. God forgive us for our sectarianism!Much of Smyrna's heartache came through false professors of religion-those who said they were Jews as defined in Romans 2:29 (circumcised of the heart and the spirit rather than the letter) but who, in reality, were not! They did not really believe and were actually members of the synagogue of Satan! Beware of those who claim to be Christians but deny the deity of Christ. They, too, are of the synagogue of Satan: [For] every Spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God (1 John 4:3). The same is true of those who mix law and grace. Paul said, I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed (Galatians 1:6-9).Because of the false brethren propagating false doctrine and despising the true believers, persecution came from within and from without. In the face of such satanic opposition, Christ's message was.
Verse 10: Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
When the hour of trial arrived, the believers were not to fear. They were to keep their eyes on eternal rewards as mentioned in James 1:12: Blessed is the man that endureth [testing]: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. Many Bible scholars believe that the ten days of persecution consisted of ten literal periods of suffering. I agree, since church history emphatically supports this assertion. Still, the church of Smyrna was guaranteed final victory through the Lord's promises, power, and provision...
Verse 11: He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.
Pergamos
Verse 12: And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges;
Again, chapter 1, verse 16, proves that the speaker is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Verse 13: I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and host not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth.
The letters to the first three churches begin with a commendation. To each Christ says, I know thy works. God sees what we do for Him. How sad when backsliding destroys the many good deeds performed in His name! We see this strange twist at Pergamos. Here the bad works outweigh the good ones.This church period, extending from 312 A.D. to 606 A.D., was one of materialism, self-indulgence, and worldliness. Wickedness spread like a brushfire. The name Pergamos has in it the same root from which we get our English words bigamy and polygamy. Pergamos signifies a mixed marriage of the church and the world. This happened because the Babylonian religion established its headquarters at Pergamos and infiltrated Christianity. No wonder this local church is charged with dwelling in the area of Satan's seat or literally, throne. They were perched on the doorstep of the devil's headquarters! Of necessity, the believer in Christ is in the world. However, he must constantly guard against becoming involved in its ungodliness. The church of Pergamos became part and parcel of Satan's worldly establishment. They called themselves by Christ's name (Christians) and made verbal and written assent to the faith, even though they saw the danger of martyrdom in the example of Antipas. Nevertheless, they backslid.
Verse 14: But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.
The first grievance against the church of Pergamos was the fact that they had embraced the pleasure of the world or become a worldly church. Secondly, they had given heed to false doctrine-The theology of Balaam. Remember Balaam? He had a smart donkey! How sad to be famous because of one's donkey. The animal was so smart it could outtalk Balaam. What was the doctrine of Balaam taught to Balac? First, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and second, to commit fornication. Balac had hired Balaam to curse Israel, and Balaam, the false prophet, was unable to get the anointing of Satan upon his spirit for the task. So he figured out a plan of destruction for the Jews. He said, Let the choice of the women of Balac's kingdom display themselves before the eyes of God's people. As expected, the Jewish men became enamored with the beauty of the daughters of Balac's kingdom, committed fornication with them, married them, and were eventually drawn into idolatry. How wrong! Those who name the name of Jesus are not to become involved with the world in any manner, [for] ye cannot drink the cup of the...Lord's table, and of the table of devils (1 Corinthians 10:21).
Verse 15: So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate.
Not only were the people of the first church of Pergamos worldly, sinful, and idolatrous, but they also shared in the wicked practice of Nicolaitanism as did the church at Ephesus. This, again, is ecclesiastical Hitlerism. It is when the minister or leader says, I am the head, and you have no choice in the matter, allowing laymen no voice in the affairs of the church. Concerning the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, the condemnatory statement, which thing I hate, is uttered by the Lord God himself. The solution?
Verse 16: Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
This is serious business. The Christian is not to close his mind, heart, and ears to God's warning.
Verse 17: He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.
As previously noted, the overcomer is the true believer in Jesus (see 1 John 5:4). He is given the hidden manna (the Word of God) and is presented a white stone. During ancient court trials, the jurors would lay down white stones to signify a decision of acquittal. Praise the Lord, through the blood of Jesus, the white stones of acquittal have been presented and every Christian has a new name written down in glory!
Thyatira
Verse 18: And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, who hath eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass;
Once again we see that the speaker is the Son of God. The description of His eyes and feet were discussed in chapter 1, verses 14 and 15.
Verse 19: I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first.
To this point, all four churches have been complimented for their works. Thyatira, however, was loaded with meritorious service and unusual deeds. She was known for her good works, love, service, faith, patience, and last works. The term last works means that this church outdid herself. Her works became greater toward the end of her lifetime than they were at the beginning.Historically, Thyatira covers the years 606 A.D. to 1520 A.D. However, many scholars believe that this church is found in the world until she is destroyed by the revived Roman Empire in chapters 17 and 18. Although Thyatira had many admirable qualities, she nevertheless had some deep-rooted problems as well.
Verse 20: Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.
Who was Jezebel? In the Old Testament she was perhaps the most wicked woman of her day. She became so hated that she was thrown from a window and the dogs ate her flesh. The sin of this self-appointed prophetess was to bring Baalism into Israel as a new religion. She is accused of seducing God's servants to commit fornication and to eat things sacrificed to idols. This constituted the breaking of two of God's commandments to His people Israel: (1) Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them and (2) Thou shalt not commit adultery (Exodus 20:4,5,14). God called upon Thyatira to turn from her wicked ways.
Verse 21: I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.
The long-suffering and loving God gave Thyatira approximately 1,000 years to do what was right, but she resisted. How like many twentieth-century Christians, constantly rejecting the wooings of the blessed Holy Spirit. The result.
Verse 22: Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.
Judgment always comes: Be sure your sin will find you out (Numbers 32:23). The Lord promises to cast this church and her bed partners-those who have partaken of her abominable iniquity, including idolatry and unfaithfulness to the Bridegroom, Jesus Christ-into the Great Tribulation. At that point, the church which sits upon seven hills (chapter 17, verse 9) will be destroyed. The details concerning this event are discussed in chapters 17 and 18.The obvious lesson here is that God hates sin. Sentimentalists say, Oh, the blessed, loving Jesus would never condemn anyone. Really? We know that God is love (1 John 4:8) and God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world (John 3:17). Nevertheless, when His love is repeatedly spurned and one deliberately follows a course of sin, God's holiness demands that the sinner be punished. Remember Christ himself is speaking the following verse:
Verse 23: And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.
How sad that the church of Thyatira, so highly praised for good works in the opening passages, must be horribly judged because of having undone every good thing that had been originally performed in the name of the Savior. Likewise, today it is possible for the Christian to lose every reward he has earned, so look to yourselves, that [you] lose not those things which [you] have wrought [or earned] (2 John 8). The only good news concerning Thyatira was that a remnant remained faithful in spite of the deterioration of this local church.
Verse 24: But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden.
The Lord Jesus informed John that those who did not succumb to Jezebel's theological follies or fall into the fornication and idolatry propagated by this false Babylonian religion, would not have any other burden. They had experienced enough heartache.
Verse 25: But that which ye have already hold fast till I come.
Here the faithful remnant was admonished to continue in the truth of God's Word until Jesus returned.
Verse 26: And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:
Verse 27: And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; and as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.
Verse 28: And I will give him the morning star.
Christ has promised faithful believers three rewards upon His return to the earth: (1) rulership over the nations during the Millennium: For they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years (chapter 20, verse 4); (2) sharing in this glorious time of perfect righteousness resulting from Christ's personal enforcement and order (see Psalm 2:8,9); and (3) the abiding presence of the blessed Savior throughout time and eternity as Christ himself, the bright and morning star, is given (chapter 22, verses 14 and 16).If your life is not what it once was for Christ, don't be a loser when rewards are distributed. Instead, about-face! Live for Him! Heed the warning of the next verse.
Verse 29: He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
Monday, January 19, 2009
REVELATION VERSE BY VERSE CHAPTER 1
A MESSAGE OF HOPE FROM DR. JACK VAN IMPE JAN 8,09
The Book of Revelation is the culmination of Bible prophecy - the point at which all the prophecies of the ages converge and find their ultimate fulfillment. Revelation discloses the future of the Jew, Gentile, and the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Within its pages are specific details concerning the Savior's return, the establishment of His Millennial Kingdom and, finally, the eternal state of both the saved and the lost.The word revelation comes from the Greek apokalupsis, meaning an uncovering or unveiling. For this reason, the Book of Revelation is also known as the Apocalypse. In either case, the definition reflects the fact that God has made known to mankind those eternal, supernatural truths and realities which man, on his own, could never realize or discover.The Book of Revelation is the final work of the New Testament and the Revelation of Jesus Christ which details world history from the time of John (the Early Church Age) to eternity. It constitutes God's last special revelation to mankind this side of heaven. Simply stated, Bible prophecy and Revelation are history written in advance. They form God's description of future facts and events. Such prophecy is completely trustworthy because God is Omniscient, He knows all things, whether they be actual or merely possible, and He knows them perfectly from all eternity. Acts 15:18 states: Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world. Thus, the Almighty is able to fully and accurately describe the future in advance of its actual occurrence.
Current international events reflect exactly the conditions and happenings predicted throughout the Bible for the last days of this age. Yet, comparatively little prophetic teaching and preaching are currently taking place. This is probably due to the fact that this field of endeavor involves a great amount of research and study (see II Timothy 2:15). Millions more prefer not to have prophecy explained to them because they would rather live by the world's standards and dictates. As individuals who are seeking satisfaction and rewards in this life, they are obviously not anxiously anticipating Christ's return.As we walk through the Book of Revelation together, remember that this special message has been given to reveal God's truth, not conceal it; and to clarify God's eternal purpose, not mystify it. I will not present an elaborate outline or engage in the use of heavy theological terminology. My goal is a simple verse-by-verse analysis. I trust that, as a result, each reader will gain a clear understanding of the blessed truths that the Book of Revelation contains.
Chapter 1
Verse 1: The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John.
We begin our study by immediately recognizing that the noun is revelation, singular, not revelations, plural. This term comes from the Greek word Apokalupsis and means an unveiling or uncovering. It is often used in the epistles as a manifestation (Romans 8:19), a coming (1 Corinthians 1:7), a revealing (2 Thessalonians 1:7), and an appearing (1 Peter 1:7). The Book of Revelation, then, concerns the unveiling or appearing of our precious Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not the unfolding of the story of St. John the Divine, or even of prophetical truth, but rather the message of the appearing of Christ. This appearing takes place at the Rapture (chapter 4, verse 1), as well as at the hour of His return to earth when every eye shall see Him (chapter 1, verse 7).Secondly, we see that this revelation was given to Jesus Christ, as is everything, for Jesus said, All things are delivered unto me of my Father (Matthew 11:27). They are presented unto Him to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass. The term shortly in the original means rapidity of action once there is a beginning. This certainly pictures the present hour when signs pointing to His return are beginning to appear with alarming frequency. These truths, then, are sent and signified by Christ's angel unto John, the writer of the book, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Notice that the first four letters of the word signified spell SIGN. Why? The Book of Revelation is a study of signs. There is the sign of the Holy Spirit presented as seven spirits (verse 4) and the sign of the seven golden candlesticks and the seven stars (verse 20). Thus, through signs, we come to an understanding of this gloriously revealed portion of Scripture.
Verse 2: [John] bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.
This statement is self-explanatory.
Verse 3: Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.
Verse three proves that the apocalypse is not some deep, mysterious, confusing book. God would not be an omniscient, all-knowing God if He promised a special blessing to those who read, hear, and keep what they read and hear, if they were unable to comprehend the truth. No, the Book of Revelation is understandable and fills the heart with joy once one sees its glorious message concerning the Savior.One reason that readers and hearers are to keep that which they have heard is because the time of Christ's return is at hand. The words at hand mean imminent. Near and imminent are not synonymous. Imminent means impending. Hence, the event could happen immediately or within ten minutes, ten months, or even ten years. Imminence is always the meaning of at hand when speaking about the return of the Lord. For example, Romans 13:12 says, The night is far spent, the day is at hand [imminent]. Philippians 4:5 declares, Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. And 1 Peter 4:7 says, But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer. Thus, the next event on God's calendar, the return of Christ for His Church, may happen momentarily. That is why we, as Christians, should keep our eyes fixed heavenward, looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ (Titus 2:13).
Verse 4: John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven spirits which are before his throne;
John now focuses his attention on seven local churches located in a land area called Asia. This is not Asia as we know it today, but probably a portion of Turkey. Only seven churches are mentioned, although there were undoubtedly more in existence. Seven is God's number of perfection. The number also pictures seven different sets of conditions reflecting the history of God's people through the Church Age.God's salutation, found in nineteen of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament, is presented here as well: Grace be unto you, and peace. It is not peace and grace but grace and peace, because this is God's program for sinners. They cannot have peace until He has shown them His lovely grace. God must show His unmerited favor and love, called grace, before one can experience peace. This grace is shown through the sacrifice of Calvary and is freely bestowed upon all who believe and receive Christ. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast (Ephesians 2:8,9).For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men (Titus 2:11). When grace has done its job, peace follows: Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1). This peace was made through the blood of his cross (Colossians 1:20). Thus, Romans 15:13 states: Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.Only Jesus can give this peace. An unsaved psychiatrist is unable to do the job. Psychiatrists need the same peace that they strive to give. Thus, we must turn our problems over to the Son of God.We also find that the message of grace and peace is from the entire Trinity. First, the Father which is, which was, and which is to come; then from the seven Spirits which are before the throne (a designation of the blessed Holy Spirit in all of His holiness, for seven means perfection)...
Verse 5: And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
The question is often asked, Why is Christ the first begotten from the dead, when Lazarus and others were raised first? The answer is simple. Others were raised to life, but they died again. They were raised from physical death to physical life only to eventually die a second time. Jesus Christ was raised from the dead to immortality—never to die again! He is the first to have been resurrected with a new never-dying body. This is why Christ should be the first that should rise from the dead (Acts 26:23)...and why He only hath immortality (1 Timothy 6:16).Five times Christ is called the first begotten or the firstborn from the dead. Another five times He is called the only begotten. The term only begotten refers to His incarnation, whereas first begotten (or firstborn) refers to His resurrection. For instance, he bringeth in the first begotten into the world (Hebrews 1:6). [Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn [first begotten] of every creature (Colossians 1:15). And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn [first begotten] from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence (Colossians 1:18).Romans 8:29 declares, For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn [yea, the first begotten] among many brethren. Think these verses through carefully so that no cultist can trip you up on the terms first begotten and firstborn, in his attempts to make the eternal Christ have a beginning. No, praise God, Christ is from of old, from everlasting (Micah 5:2). Yea, He is one with the everlasting Father (Isaiah 9:6).The Lord Jesus Christ is also called the prince of the kings of the earth. This, of course, refers to the future, when the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6) returns to earth as the KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS (Revelation 19:16). This glorious event will be the fulfillment of Psalm 2:6, which states: [I have] set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. At that time the Lord Jesus shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth (Psalm 72:8).
Verse 6: And [He] hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
Verses 5 and 6 contain three glorious statements concerning Christ's work on our behalf: (1) He loved us; (2) He washed us from our sins in His own blood; and (3) He hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father. The order is beautiful. Let's examine it in detail.
First, the Lord Jesus had to love us in order to wash us and make us kings and priests. However, it is even more thrilling when one sees that His love is in the present tense, meaning that He continues loving those He has washed. This is why John 13:1 triumphantly declares, [Jesus], having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. Can you understand such love? Oh, that you may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge (Ephesians 3:18,19). This love is forever. That is why Paul declared in Romans 8:37-39: Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.The love which Jesus Christ has bestowed upon each born-again believer should manifest itself in daily living, for He said to His own, A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another (John 13:34,35). This love for you and me brought Christ from heaven's glory to the cruel cross of Golgotha's hill. Love made Him shed His blood for the remission of our sins.
Secondly, He washed us! Some do not like the teaching about the blood. They want to earn heaven by their own meritorious works. However, being whitewashed is not the same as being washed white. There is a vast difference! It is not less toil that solves the difficulty, it is no toil. Listen to God: Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration (Titus 3:5).When one trusts in the merits of Christ's shed blood, his sins are gone, As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us (Psalm 103:12). Isaiah 38:17 declares, Thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back. God says, I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins (Isaiah 44:22). Yes, He has cast all our sins into the depths of the sea (Micah 7:19). Oh, come to Jesus and He will lift all your load. Here's proof! To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins (Acts 10:43). It matters not how far astray the wayward son or daughter has gone, the blood of Jesus Christ [God's] Son cleanseth us from all sin (1 John 1:7).Thirdly, because of His love and the washing of regeneration, Christ is able to make us kings and priests unto God and his Father. Priest is the title of every believer. It is also the reason one does not need a minister to help him get closer to God. If you have been born again, you are a priest in the eyes of the Almighty. You can bring your own petitions to God. One is not heard any more rapidly because he has been ordained by men, for all born-again believers are on the same level. All are members of a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that [we] should shew forth the praises of him who hath called [us] out of darkness into his marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9). What a calling! Thank you, Jesus. John adds, To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen
We want to continue in our study of the book of Revelation by finishing chapter 1.
Verse 7: Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.
This verse announces the Lord's return to earth. Notice that every eye sees Him. That is why this great event is described as the revealing or revelation of Christ and occurs when He comes as the KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS (Revelation 19:11-16). Thus, our text is actually a preview of what will happen when He returns with His saints in chapter 19. Isn't it thrilling to know that when the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west (Matthew 24:27), every eye will witness the spectacle of the ages? Notice also that the Israelites-a special group-will observe this momentous event, for they shall look upon [Him] whom they have pierced (Zechariah 12:10).Furthermore, when He comes in power and great glory to smite the nations, all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. This is because He comes for judgment and none will escape. As John envisions the hour when the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints (Jude 14), he victoriously cries, Amen! Amen! The Greek for even so is Amen, and Amen is the Hebrew for even so. John is literally shouting the praise or praises of God in two languages as he says, Amen and Amen, He is coming!
Verse 8: I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
This text speaks of the eternal Christ. Alpha and Omega are the beginning and ending letters of the Greek alphabet. Christ is saying, I am the beginning and ending of all things. He uses the title I am, which is a verb indicating being, but not becoming. He always was. He was before all things and created all things. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made (John 1:3). For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist (Colossians 1:16,17). He also controls all things by upholding all things by the word of his power (Hebrews 1:3), and He will consummate all things as well (see Ephesians 1:10). Yes, Jesus Christ is Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending.The terminology, I am... the Lord which is, and which was, and which is to come, expresses Christ's oneness with the Father (see verse 4). In fact, He adds the term, the Almighty, a name used for the Father in connection with His person. This term is used forty-eight times in the Old Testament. This verse clearly refutes the doctrine of anti-trinitarianism, which is anti-God, anti-Christ, and anti-Holy Spirit.
Verse 9: I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.
John realizes that he is an old man and highly revered, yet he wants no praise from men for his sufferings. He immediately identifies himself as a brother in Christ and a companion in heartache and suffering. He tells of the tribulation he endured during his incarceration at Patmos, but he rejoices that the other blood-bought sons of God will miss the Tribulation. How true! The Saviour stated: In the world ye shall have tribulation (John 16:33). However, this does not include the Tribulation hour out of which the saints are kept (see Revelation 3:10). John's persecution came because of his devotion to Christ. This is always true when one takes a stand for the Saviour. Jesus said in John 15:18-20, If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you.
Verse 10: I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,
Beginning with this verse, we enter into the revelation experience with John and observe firsthand all that is presented to him through the remainder of the book.
Joseph A. Seiss says that John was carried forward through the centuries until he saw a vision of the great and terrible day of the Lord-the Tribulation hour. A majority of scholars, however, believe that the phrase, on the Lord's day, refers to the first day of the week. Thus, on Resurrection day-Sunday, the first day of the week-John is visited by the One who had so loved him while on earth-Jesus himself. As He appears, John hears the trumpet-like voice of Christ...
Verse 11: Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.
Alpha and Omega are the titles we discussed in verse 8. Verse 11 pictures the eternal Christ giving instructions to His beloved servant concerning the seven churches mentioned in verse 4 and to be discussed in chapters 2 and 3. Then, John adds...
Verse 12: And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks.
When the trumpet-like voice of Christ sounded in verse 11, John turned to see the voice that spoke to him. This is different! One does not normally see a voice. Yet John turned to see the voice. As he looks in that direction, he sees seven golden candlesticks or lampstands. Verse 20 clearly explains the meaning of verse 12 as follows: The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks [means this:] The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.The fact that the seven churches are pictured as seven lampstands is significant because believers are the light of the world (Matthew 5:14). Sad, as we shall see, is the fact that the history of the seven churches often diminished that light. Oh, pray that it shall not be so in your life. Jesus said, Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven (Matthew 5:16).Now that we have observed verse 12 in light of verse 20, let's take a closer look at the glorious Saviour who appears in the midst of the lampstands or churches.
Verse 13: And [I saw] in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.
The Lord is clothed with the garments of the Old Testament high priest because He is risen and in heaven, performing His ministry of intercession. For this reason, he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them (Hebrews 7:25). Thus, sixty years after Christ's death and resurrection, John sees Him as the High Priest in the heavenlies. Paul also testified to this blessed fact by stating: Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession (Hebrews 4:14). Next our precious Lord is described in detail.
Verse 14: His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;
John's description speaks of antiquity and coincides with the vision Daniel had in chapter 7, verses 9 through 13. This Ancient of days, the eternal One, Jesus Christ, is also pictured in terms of whiteness because of His righteousness, for He is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens (Hebrews 7:26). The Greek also emphasizes the fact that His eyes shot out fire. Christ is righteously angry concerning the sin of the churches depicted in Revelation, chapters 2 and 3.
Verse 15: And his feet [were] like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice [was] as the sound of many waters.
Christ's feet picture judgment and relate to the events that take place when He returns to the earth in chapters 19 and 20. His voice as the sound of many waters also depicts judgment.
Verse 16: And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.
The seven stars of this verse are the angels or messengers of the seven churches (see verse 20), while the two-edged sword is the Word of God as described in Hebrews 4:12: The word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Then the expression, his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength, takes our minds back to the transfiguration scene in Matthew 17:2 and thus pictures the glory of Christ, who is to be the Judge during the Great Tribulation hour, Armageddon, and the Great White Throne assembly of Revelation 20:11-15. Because of it, John is stunned, astonished, and humbled at the experience and cries...
Verse 17: And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:
Verse 18: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.
The sight of Christ glorified was breathtaking, and the one who laid his head upon Jesus at the Last Supper now falls prostrate at His feet. As John falls before his blessed Lord in fear, Jesus lovingly says, Fear not. He is saying the same to us today. In the midst of wars, rumors of wars, heartaches, and death, the blessed Lord says, Let not your heart be troubled (John 14:1). This message to John is from the first and the last, the Alpha and Omega, the eternal One, Jesus Christ. The One that liveth (resurrection), and was dead (crucifixion) and who cries, behold, I am alive for evermore (ascension), Amen. He also has the keys of hell and of death. Because of this tremendous fact, Christians are not to fear, for through death ... [Christ destroyed] him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage (Hebrews 2:14, 15). Not only have we been delivered from the fear of death but from the fear of Hades as well.Let me explain: Hades was the place where the souls and the spirits of all humans went until the cross. Sheol (Old Testament) and Hades (New Testament) were one and the same. In Sheol and Hades were two compartments, one for the wicked and the other for the righteous. In Luke 16:22, 23, the rich man and Lazarus went to their respective places- one to suffering and the other to comfort. The thief on the cross went to the comfort side, or paradise, as promised by Christ when He said, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise (Luke 23:43). This is where Christ went upon His death (Acts 2:27, 31). There He ministered to His people and led captivity captive (Ephesians 4:8-10), literally releasing them for their entrance into the third heaven of 2 Corinthians 12:2.Presently the comfort side of Hades has been emptied by Him who has the keys of death and Hades (hell), but the torment side is still full. This will be emptied for the Judgment Day when....death and [Hades deliver] up the dead which [are] in them: and they [are] judged... (Revelation 20:13).
Verse 19: Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter;
This verse gives us the order of the Book of Revelation, which is written chronologically, or as the events happen. One immediately recognizes the three tenses past, present, and future. Write the things which thou hast seen-past, chapter 1; the things which are-present, chapters 2 and 3; and the things which shall be hereafter-future, chapters 4 through 22.
Verse 20: [God explains to John:] The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.
Since we have discussed the closing verse of this chapter in connection with verse 12, let us move on to the study of the seven candlesticks, or the history of the seven churches, which we will cover in our next newsletter.
The Book of Revelation is the culmination of Bible prophecy - the point at which all the prophecies of the ages converge and find their ultimate fulfillment. Revelation discloses the future of the Jew, Gentile, and the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Within its pages are specific details concerning the Savior's return, the establishment of His Millennial Kingdom and, finally, the eternal state of both the saved and the lost.The word revelation comes from the Greek apokalupsis, meaning an uncovering or unveiling. For this reason, the Book of Revelation is also known as the Apocalypse. In either case, the definition reflects the fact that God has made known to mankind those eternal, supernatural truths and realities which man, on his own, could never realize or discover.The Book of Revelation is the final work of the New Testament and the Revelation of Jesus Christ which details world history from the time of John (the Early Church Age) to eternity. It constitutes God's last special revelation to mankind this side of heaven. Simply stated, Bible prophecy and Revelation are history written in advance. They form God's description of future facts and events. Such prophecy is completely trustworthy because God is Omniscient, He knows all things, whether they be actual or merely possible, and He knows them perfectly from all eternity. Acts 15:18 states: Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world. Thus, the Almighty is able to fully and accurately describe the future in advance of its actual occurrence.
Current international events reflect exactly the conditions and happenings predicted throughout the Bible for the last days of this age. Yet, comparatively little prophetic teaching and preaching are currently taking place. This is probably due to the fact that this field of endeavor involves a great amount of research and study (see II Timothy 2:15). Millions more prefer not to have prophecy explained to them because they would rather live by the world's standards and dictates. As individuals who are seeking satisfaction and rewards in this life, they are obviously not anxiously anticipating Christ's return.As we walk through the Book of Revelation together, remember that this special message has been given to reveal God's truth, not conceal it; and to clarify God's eternal purpose, not mystify it. I will not present an elaborate outline or engage in the use of heavy theological terminology. My goal is a simple verse-by-verse analysis. I trust that, as a result, each reader will gain a clear understanding of the blessed truths that the Book of Revelation contains.
Chapter 1
Verse 1: The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John.
We begin our study by immediately recognizing that the noun is revelation, singular, not revelations, plural. This term comes from the Greek word Apokalupsis and means an unveiling or uncovering. It is often used in the epistles as a manifestation (Romans 8:19), a coming (1 Corinthians 1:7), a revealing (2 Thessalonians 1:7), and an appearing (1 Peter 1:7). The Book of Revelation, then, concerns the unveiling or appearing of our precious Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not the unfolding of the story of St. John the Divine, or even of prophetical truth, but rather the message of the appearing of Christ. This appearing takes place at the Rapture (chapter 4, verse 1), as well as at the hour of His return to earth when every eye shall see Him (chapter 1, verse 7).Secondly, we see that this revelation was given to Jesus Christ, as is everything, for Jesus said, All things are delivered unto me of my Father (Matthew 11:27). They are presented unto Him to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass. The term shortly in the original means rapidity of action once there is a beginning. This certainly pictures the present hour when signs pointing to His return are beginning to appear with alarming frequency. These truths, then, are sent and signified by Christ's angel unto John, the writer of the book, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Notice that the first four letters of the word signified spell SIGN. Why? The Book of Revelation is a study of signs. There is the sign of the Holy Spirit presented as seven spirits (verse 4) and the sign of the seven golden candlesticks and the seven stars (verse 20). Thus, through signs, we come to an understanding of this gloriously revealed portion of Scripture.
Verse 2: [John] bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.
This statement is self-explanatory.
Verse 3: Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.
Verse three proves that the apocalypse is not some deep, mysterious, confusing book. God would not be an omniscient, all-knowing God if He promised a special blessing to those who read, hear, and keep what they read and hear, if they were unable to comprehend the truth. No, the Book of Revelation is understandable and fills the heart with joy once one sees its glorious message concerning the Savior.One reason that readers and hearers are to keep that which they have heard is because the time of Christ's return is at hand. The words at hand mean imminent. Near and imminent are not synonymous. Imminent means impending. Hence, the event could happen immediately or within ten minutes, ten months, or even ten years. Imminence is always the meaning of at hand when speaking about the return of the Lord. For example, Romans 13:12 says, The night is far spent, the day is at hand [imminent]. Philippians 4:5 declares, Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. And 1 Peter 4:7 says, But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer. Thus, the next event on God's calendar, the return of Christ for His Church, may happen momentarily. That is why we, as Christians, should keep our eyes fixed heavenward, looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ (Titus 2:13).
Verse 4: John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven spirits which are before his throne;
John now focuses his attention on seven local churches located in a land area called Asia. This is not Asia as we know it today, but probably a portion of Turkey. Only seven churches are mentioned, although there were undoubtedly more in existence. Seven is God's number of perfection. The number also pictures seven different sets of conditions reflecting the history of God's people through the Church Age.God's salutation, found in nineteen of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament, is presented here as well: Grace be unto you, and peace. It is not peace and grace but grace and peace, because this is God's program for sinners. They cannot have peace until He has shown them His lovely grace. God must show His unmerited favor and love, called grace, before one can experience peace. This grace is shown through the sacrifice of Calvary and is freely bestowed upon all who believe and receive Christ. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast (Ephesians 2:8,9).For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men (Titus 2:11). When grace has done its job, peace follows: Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1). This peace was made through the blood of his cross (Colossians 1:20). Thus, Romans 15:13 states: Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.Only Jesus can give this peace. An unsaved psychiatrist is unable to do the job. Psychiatrists need the same peace that they strive to give. Thus, we must turn our problems over to the Son of God.We also find that the message of grace and peace is from the entire Trinity. First, the Father which is, which was, and which is to come; then from the seven Spirits which are before the throne (a designation of the blessed Holy Spirit in all of His holiness, for seven means perfection)...
Verse 5: And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
The question is often asked, Why is Christ the first begotten from the dead, when Lazarus and others were raised first? The answer is simple. Others were raised to life, but they died again. They were raised from physical death to physical life only to eventually die a second time. Jesus Christ was raised from the dead to immortality—never to die again! He is the first to have been resurrected with a new never-dying body. This is why Christ should be the first that should rise from the dead (Acts 26:23)...and why He only hath immortality (1 Timothy 6:16).Five times Christ is called the first begotten or the firstborn from the dead. Another five times He is called the only begotten. The term only begotten refers to His incarnation, whereas first begotten (or firstborn) refers to His resurrection. For instance, he bringeth in the first begotten into the world (Hebrews 1:6). [Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn [first begotten] of every creature (Colossians 1:15). And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn [first begotten] from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence (Colossians 1:18).Romans 8:29 declares, For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn [yea, the first begotten] among many brethren. Think these verses through carefully so that no cultist can trip you up on the terms first begotten and firstborn, in his attempts to make the eternal Christ have a beginning. No, praise God, Christ is from of old, from everlasting (Micah 5:2). Yea, He is one with the everlasting Father (Isaiah 9:6).The Lord Jesus Christ is also called the prince of the kings of the earth. This, of course, refers to the future, when the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6) returns to earth as the KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS (Revelation 19:16). This glorious event will be the fulfillment of Psalm 2:6, which states: [I have] set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. At that time the Lord Jesus shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth (Psalm 72:8).
Verse 6: And [He] hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
Verses 5 and 6 contain three glorious statements concerning Christ's work on our behalf: (1) He loved us; (2) He washed us from our sins in His own blood; and (3) He hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father. The order is beautiful. Let's examine it in detail.
First, the Lord Jesus had to love us in order to wash us and make us kings and priests. However, it is even more thrilling when one sees that His love is in the present tense, meaning that He continues loving those He has washed. This is why John 13:1 triumphantly declares, [Jesus], having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. Can you understand such love? Oh, that you may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge (Ephesians 3:18,19). This love is forever. That is why Paul declared in Romans 8:37-39: Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.The love which Jesus Christ has bestowed upon each born-again believer should manifest itself in daily living, for He said to His own, A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another (John 13:34,35). This love for you and me brought Christ from heaven's glory to the cruel cross of Golgotha's hill. Love made Him shed His blood for the remission of our sins.
Secondly, He washed us! Some do not like the teaching about the blood. They want to earn heaven by their own meritorious works. However, being whitewashed is not the same as being washed white. There is a vast difference! It is not less toil that solves the difficulty, it is no toil. Listen to God: Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration (Titus 3:5).When one trusts in the merits of Christ's shed blood, his sins are gone, As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us (Psalm 103:12). Isaiah 38:17 declares, Thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back. God says, I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins (Isaiah 44:22). Yes, He has cast all our sins into the depths of the sea (Micah 7:19). Oh, come to Jesus and He will lift all your load. Here's proof! To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins (Acts 10:43). It matters not how far astray the wayward son or daughter has gone, the blood of Jesus Christ [God's] Son cleanseth us from all sin (1 John 1:7).Thirdly, because of His love and the washing of regeneration, Christ is able to make us kings and priests unto God and his Father. Priest is the title of every believer. It is also the reason one does not need a minister to help him get closer to God. If you have been born again, you are a priest in the eyes of the Almighty. You can bring your own petitions to God. One is not heard any more rapidly because he has been ordained by men, for all born-again believers are on the same level. All are members of a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that [we] should shew forth the praises of him who hath called [us] out of darkness into his marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9). What a calling! Thank you, Jesus. John adds, To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen
We want to continue in our study of the book of Revelation by finishing chapter 1.
Verse 7: Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.
This verse announces the Lord's return to earth. Notice that every eye sees Him. That is why this great event is described as the revealing or revelation of Christ and occurs when He comes as the KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS (Revelation 19:11-16). Thus, our text is actually a preview of what will happen when He returns with His saints in chapter 19. Isn't it thrilling to know that when the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west (Matthew 24:27), every eye will witness the spectacle of the ages? Notice also that the Israelites-a special group-will observe this momentous event, for they shall look upon [Him] whom they have pierced (Zechariah 12:10).Furthermore, when He comes in power and great glory to smite the nations, all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. This is because He comes for judgment and none will escape. As John envisions the hour when the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints (Jude 14), he victoriously cries, Amen! Amen! The Greek for even so is Amen, and Amen is the Hebrew for even so. John is literally shouting the praise or praises of God in two languages as he says, Amen and Amen, He is coming!
Verse 8: I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
This text speaks of the eternal Christ. Alpha and Omega are the beginning and ending letters of the Greek alphabet. Christ is saying, I am the beginning and ending of all things. He uses the title I am, which is a verb indicating being, but not becoming. He always was. He was before all things and created all things. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made (John 1:3). For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist (Colossians 1:16,17). He also controls all things by upholding all things by the word of his power (Hebrews 1:3), and He will consummate all things as well (see Ephesians 1:10). Yes, Jesus Christ is Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending.The terminology, I am... the Lord which is, and which was, and which is to come, expresses Christ's oneness with the Father (see verse 4). In fact, He adds the term, the Almighty, a name used for the Father in connection with His person. This term is used forty-eight times in the Old Testament. This verse clearly refutes the doctrine of anti-trinitarianism, which is anti-God, anti-Christ, and anti-Holy Spirit.
Verse 9: I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.
John realizes that he is an old man and highly revered, yet he wants no praise from men for his sufferings. He immediately identifies himself as a brother in Christ and a companion in heartache and suffering. He tells of the tribulation he endured during his incarceration at Patmos, but he rejoices that the other blood-bought sons of God will miss the Tribulation. How true! The Saviour stated: In the world ye shall have tribulation (John 16:33). However, this does not include the Tribulation hour out of which the saints are kept (see Revelation 3:10). John's persecution came because of his devotion to Christ. This is always true when one takes a stand for the Saviour. Jesus said in John 15:18-20, If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you.
Verse 10: I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,
Beginning with this verse, we enter into the revelation experience with John and observe firsthand all that is presented to him through the remainder of the book.
Joseph A. Seiss says that John was carried forward through the centuries until he saw a vision of the great and terrible day of the Lord-the Tribulation hour. A majority of scholars, however, believe that the phrase, on the Lord's day, refers to the first day of the week. Thus, on Resurrection day-Sunday, the first day of the week-John is visited by the One who had so loved him while on earth-Jesus himself. As He appears, John hears the trumpet-like voice of Christ...
Verse 11: Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.
Alpha and Omega are the titles we discussed in verse 8. Verse 11 pictures the eternal Christ giving instructions to His beloved servant concerning the seven churches mentioned in verse 4 and to be discussed in chapters 2 and 3. Then, John adds...
Verse 12: And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks.
When the trumpet-like voice of Christ sounded in verse 11, John turned to see the voice that spoke to him. This is different! One does not normally see a voice. Yet John turned to see the voice. As he looks in that direction, he sees seven golden candlesticks or lampstands. Verse 20 clearly explains the meaning of verse 12 as follows: The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks [means this:] The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.The fact that the seven churches are pictured as seven lampstands is significant because believers are the light of the world (Matthew 5:14). Sad, as we shall see, is the fact that the history of the seven churches often diminished that light. Oh, pray that it shall not be so in your life. Jesus said, Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven (Matthew 5:16).Now that we have observed verse 12 in light of verse 20, let's take a closer look at the glorious Saviour who appears in the midst of the lampstands or churches.
Verse 13: And [I saw] in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.
The Lord is clothed with the garments of the Old Testament high priest because He is risen and in heaven, performing His ministry of intercession. For this reason, he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them (Hebrews 7:25). Thus, sixty years after Christ's death and resurrection, John sees Him as the High Priest in the heavenlies. Paul also testified to this blessed fact by stating: Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession (Hebrews 4:14). Next our precious Lord is described in detail.
Verse 14: His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;
John's description speaks of antiquity and coincides with the vision Daniel had in chapter 7, verses 9 through 13. This Ancient of days, the eternal One, Jesus Christ, is also pictured in terms of whiteness because of His righteousness, for He is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens (Hebrews 7:26). The Greek also emphasizes the fact that His eyes shot out fire. Christ is righteously angry concerning the sin of the churches depicted in Revelation, chapters 2 and 3.
Verse 15: And his feet [were] like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice [was] as the sound of many waters.
Christ's feet picture judgment and relate to the events that take place when He returns to the earth in chapters 19 and 20. His voice as the sound of many waters also depicts judgment.
Verse 16: And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.
The seven stars of this verse are the angels or messengers of the seven churches (see verse 20), while the two-edged sword is the Word of God as described in Hebrews 4:12: The word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Then the expression, his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength, takes our minds back to the transfiguration scene in Matthew 17:2 and thus pictures the glory of Christ, who is to be the Judge during the Great Tribulation hour, Armageddon, and the Great White Throne assembly of Revelation 20:11-15. Because of it, John is stunned, astonished, and humbled at the experience and cries...
Verse 17: And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:
Verse 18: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.
The sight of Christ glorified was breathtaking, and the one who laid his head upon Jesus at the Last Supper now falls prostrate at His feet. As John falls before his blessed Lord in fear, Jesus lovingly says, Fear not. He is saying the same to us today. In the midst of wars, rumors of wars, heartaches, and death, the blessed Lord says, Let not your heart be troubled (John 14:1). This message to John is from the first and the last, the Alpha and Omega, the eternal One, Jesus Christ. The One that liveth (resurrection), and was dead (crucifixion) and who cries, behold, I am alive for evermore (ascension), Amen. He also has the keys of hell and of death. Because of this tremendous fact, Christians are not to fear, for through death ... [Christ destroyed] him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage (Hebrews 2:14, 15). Not only have we been delivered from the fear of death but from the fear of Hades as well.Let me explain: Hades was the place where the souls and the spirits of all humans went until the cross. Sheol (Old Testament) and Hades (New Testament) were one and the same. In Sheol and Hades were two compartments, one for the wicked and the other for the righteous. In Luke 16:22, 23, the rich man and Lazarus went to their respective places- one to suffering and the other to comfort. The thief on the cross went to the comfort side, or paradise, as promised by Christ when He said, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise (Luke 23:43). This is where Christ went upon His death (Acts 2:27, 31). There He ministered to His people and led captivity captive (Ephesians 4:8-10), literally releasing them for their entrance into the third heaven of 2 Corinthians 12:2.Presently the comfort side of Hades has been emptied by Him who has the keys of death and Hades (hell), but the torment side is still full. This will be emptied for the Judgment Day when....death and [Hades deliver] up the dead which [are] in them: and they [are] judged... (Revelation 20:13).
Verse 19: Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter;
This verse gives us the order of the Book of Revelation, which is written chronologically, or as the events happen. One immediately recognizes the three tenses past, present, and future. Write the things which thou hast seen-past, chapter 1; the things which are-present, chapters 2 and 3; and the things which shall be hereafter-future, chapters 4 through 22.
Verse 20: [God explains to John:] The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.
Since we have discussed the closing verse of this chapter in connection with verse 12, let us move on to the study of the seven candlesticks, or the history of the seven churches, which we will cover in our next newsletter.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
HAMAS BREAKS CEASEFIRE - CLAIMS TRUCE
THE ONLY REASON HAMAS IS DOING THIS IS SO THEY CAN REARM WITH WEAPONS,WHAT A PLOY AND POOR ISRAEL GOT SUCKED INTO THE DECEPTION. ISRAEL HAS TO TAKE THEM RIGHT OUT OF COMMISSION TO HAVE DONE THEIR JOB PROPERLY.
Netanyahu: Job Not Finished; Shin Bet: Hamas Can Rearm in Months
by Gil Ronen JAN 18,09
(IsraelNN.com) Likud head MK Binyamin Netanyahu, who is considered likely to lead Israel after the coming elections, said Sunday afternoon that the IDF has dealt Hamas some very hard blows on the head, but regrettably the job has not been finished.Hamas still controls Gaza and it will continue to smuggle new missiles in through the Philadelphi Route, Netanyahu said. I believe that in the face of Hamas's terror and its Iranian backing, we must show no weakness and we must show a resolute, iron fist, until the enemy is vanquished.Netanyahu spoke at the bedside of a wounded soldier, Or Malka, in Soroka Hospital in Be'er Sheva. Malka was wounded by shrapnel which penetrated his forehead and is suffering from hearing loss.Or's mother, Pnina, said The IDF deserves all the respect. We are not afraid, I just hope that Gilad Shalit returns and all of the soldiers return safely.Or's brother Yochai told Netanyahu that their cousin was killed in an Arab attack at the Erez crossing and that he, too, was wounded during his military service. We are a strong and united nation, Yochai said. This war has united the nation. We need to understand that we have no other country.
Diskin: smuggling will resume
Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) head Yuval Diskin estimated Sunday morning that despite the serious impairment of Hamas's smuggling abilities, some tunnels used for weapons smuggling remain intact. He told ministers at the weekly cabinet meeting that Hamas would be able to rebuild the tunnels within a few months' time, and could then renew the arms smuggling into Gaza.Diskin said that the populace in Gaza is very critical of Hamas for the destruction it has brought upon Gaza. He said that ever since Israel declared a ceasefire, Hamas's leadership has shown a great degree of confusion.
Ashkenazi sends message to troops
IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi sent a message to the troops on Sunday, following Israel's declaration of a ceasefire in Gaza, in which he wrote: The objectives which were presented at the start of the Cast Lead campaign have been completely met; Hamas's structure and terrorist infrastructure have been hit hard.He added, The campaign is not over and the coming days require us to stay organized, prepared and ready until quiet returns to our communities and cities.
Israelis begin gradual Gaza pullout: army JAN 18,09
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israeli troops have begun a gradual withdrawal from Gaza after a deadly 22-day war against the Palestinian territory's Islamist rulers Hamas, an army spokesman said on Sunday.I can confirm that there is a gradual withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, an army spokeswoman told AFP.The pullout comes after Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert ordered a unilateral halt late Saturday to a massive operation designed to put an end to Hamas rocket-firing that claimed the lives of more than 1,300 Palestinians.Hamas has separately called a week-long truce to give the Israelis time to withdraw.
Hamas announces ceasefire after Israel declares truce By Nidal al-Mughrabi JAN 18,09
GAZA (Reuters) – Hamas said Sunday it would cease fire immediately along with other militant groups in the Gaza Strip and give Israel, which already declared a unilateral truce, a week to pull its troops out of the territory.A spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in response: We'll play this day by day. We'll see how this goes. We want to leave Gaza. We'll do so as soon as we can.Ayman Taha, a Hamas official in Cairo for talks with Egypt on the conflict, said the group and other factions were announcing a Gaza ceasefire starting immediately and Israel, which launched its offensive on December 27, had a week to withdraw.Hamas, he said, was demanding the opening of all Gaza border crossings for the entry of all materials, food, goods and basic needs.The Islamist group said previously it would not stop its attacks as long as Israeli soldiers remained in the Gaza Strip.During the 22-day-long offensive, Israeli attacks killed more than 1,300 Palestinians, including some 700 civilians, Gaza medical officials said. Israel said hundreds of gunmen were among the dead. Ten Israeli soldiers were killed as well as three Israeli civilians hit by rockets.Some 17 rockets hit southern Israel after the ceasefire Olmert declared went into effect at 2 a.m. ( 7 p.m. EST). Israel responded with two air strikes against launching sites and medical workers said a Palestinian civilian was killed.At least three rockets struck southern Israel after Hamas said it was halting attacks, police said.A statement issued by Hamas in Syria, which also announced the week-long ceasefire, said Palestinian factions were willing to respond to efforts by Egypt and others to broker an agreement for the final lifting of Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip.
EGYPT MEETING
Israel tightened the blockade, deepening hardship in the Gaza Strip, after Hamas seized the territory from forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in 2007. Egypt has largely kept its Rafah crossing with the enclave closed.If this ceasefire holds, and I hope it does, you'll see the crossings open to an enormous amount of humanitarian support, Olmert spokesman Mark Regev told Britain's Sky News.
In the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, the leaders of Britain, the Czech Republic, Egypt, France, Germany, Jordan, Spain and Turkey, along with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, met to coordinate policy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.They gathered to back Egyptian efforts to turn a shaky ceasefire into a solid mutual agreement leading to Israeli withdrawal.In the northern Gazan town of Beit Lahiya, Palestinian ambulances picked up more than 95 bodies, most of them gunmen, that had lain in the rubble of buildings and open areas, Hamas police and health officials said.The civilian death toll and destruction in the Gaza Strip brought strong international pressure on Israel to stop the offensive it launched with the declared aim of ending rocket attacks that had killed 18 people over the previous eight years.Olmert said Saturday that Israel would not bring its troops home until Hamas ceased fire completely and he threatened to respond strongly to any attacks on the soldiers or cross-border rocket salvoes. He cited internationally backed understandings with Egypt, Gaza's southern neighbor, on preventing Hamas from rearming through smuggling tunnels as a reason behind Israel's decision to call off its attacks. After the start of the Israeli-declared ceasefire, Palestinians rushed to remove bodies and survey damage to homes damaged or destroyed in the fighting.
Israel has said it tried to avoid harming non-combatants but that Hamas operated in heavily populated areas. (Additional reporting by Adam Entous and Ori Lewis in Jerusalem and Alaa Shahine in Cairo, Writing by Jeffrey Heller; Editing by Alison Williams)
World leaders race to consolidate Mideast truce By JAMEY KEATEN and SARAH EL DEEB, Associated Press Writers JAN 18,09
SHARM EL-SHEIK, Egypt – European and Arab leaders racing to consolidate a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas pressed Sunday for an end to weapons smuggling into Gaza and for the opening of the territory to desperately needed humanitarian aid.A summit meeting in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheik concluded that the next steps will include a humanitarian summit organized by Egypt in the coming days and the search for a way to open Gaza's sealed border crossings to allow in humanitarian aid.
Britain's leader announced at the gathering that his country was tripling its humanitarian aid to Gaza. The government said in a statement the additional 20 million pounds, or about $29 million, would go toward rebuilding damaged homes and helping those injured in the violence.A unilateral Israeli cease-fire began before dawn Sunday. Hamas also announced it would halt fighting from its side for one week while demanding that Israeli troops leave the territory.The U.N. chief, Ban Ki-moon, stressed the need for Hamas to stop rocket fire and for Israel to exercise restraint to sustain the halt.The crucial question left unresolved was how to stop weapons smuggling across the Egyptian border to Gaza's Hamas rulers.France, Britain, Germany and the United States have all offered help in stopping the flow of weapons, but Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has firmly rejected any deployment of international monitoring forces on its side of the Gaza border.We have pledged to help Israel and Egypt with all the technical, military, naval and diplomatic ways to help end the smuggling of weapons into Gaza, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said at a news conference after the summit.Preventing Hamas from rearming is a key demand of Israel in any lasting deal. It launched its offensive on Dec. 27 with the argument that Hamas had used a six-month truce earlier in the year to restock its arsenal. That truce unraveled as Hamas intensified its rocket fire into southern Israel. Hamas, for its part, complained that Israel maintained a blockade of Gaza despite that period of calm.Egypt, maintaining that it can police its own border with Gaza, has rejected the idea of any international monitoring force in its territory.On Sunday, Mubarak again stressed that Egypt will not accept any foreign observers on its land.
The Arab League chief, who also attended the summit, said the way to stop smuggling through the tunnels under the border was by opening Gaza's crossing points with Israel to allow in commercial goods. Besides weapons, Gazans also use the tunnels to smuggle desperately needed food and fuel.Smuggling is a problem because of the suffocation in Gaza, said Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa. What else could they do but smuggle the items they need because of the siege? And so, the smuggling is connected to the opening of the crossings and ending the siege.While, acknowledging the difficult task ahead, Sarkozy said now was the time to speed efforts toward the ultimate goal of Mideast peacemaking: the creation of a Palestinian state.In our minds, this is the beginning of our journey, he said. We should continue and we should accelerate our efforts in order to achieve a settlement based on the creation of two states, a Palestinian state living side-by-side with an Israeli state that has the right to its security.Gaza Strip militants conditioned any longer-term truce on a complete Israeli troop withdrawal from the territory. And in a sign of how fragile the immediate situation was, Palestinian militants continued to hit southern Israel with rockets Sunday.The three weeks of fighting killed more than 1,250 Palestinians, more than half of them civilians. Thirteen Israelis died during the offensive, including four killed by rocket fire.
Sarkozy also stressed the need for Israel to quickly pull its forces out of Gaza.
Israel should state immediately and clearly that if rocket fire will stop, the Israeli army will leave Gaza. There is no other solution to achieve peace, Sarkozy said. Laying out some of the specifics, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that in addition to increasing humanitarian aid money, his country would help transport the injured to hospitals, rebuild Gaza's shattered buildings and clear away unexploded bombs. Brown appealed for other nations to join Britain. Today, humanitarian tragedy must not be met just by sympathy but by the immediate mobilization of aid, he said. With its new pledge, total British aid to Gaza since the conflict began stands at nearly 27 million pounds, or about $40 million. The U.N. secretary-general said he would send a humanitarian needs assessment team to Gaza this week that would compile a report within 10 days so an urgent appeal can be made.
ALL THIS PRESSURE ON ISRAEL,WERES THE PRESSURE ON HAMAS TO STOP SHOOTING ROCKETS INTO ISRAEL,WERES THE PRESSURE ON IRAN TO STOP THE NUKES,WHY AREN'T THESE QUESTIONS ANSWERED BY THE WORLD.AND ONE LAST QUESTION WERE IS GILAD SHALIT AND HOW COME NO PRESSURE FROM THE WORLD TO GET HAMAS TO GIVE HIM BACK TO ISRAEL AFTER 2 1/2 YEARS CAPTURED,WE KNOW WHY BECAUSE HAMAS HAS BEHEADEDED POOR GILAD A LONG TIME AGO ALREADY THATS WHY! SO WERES THE OUTRAGE FROM THE WORLD AGAINST HAMAS,INSTEAD OF ISRAEL GETTING PICKETED WORLDWIDE FOR DEFENDING THEMSELVES AGAINST HAMAS MURDERERS ROCKETS FOR THE LAST 8 YEARS.
Brown calls for immediate Israeli withdrawal from Gaza JAN 18,09
SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (AFP) – Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Sunday he saw a clear path to peace following a summit on Gaza in Egypt and called for an immediate withdrawal of Israeli soldiers.We believe that three weeks of tragedy must be followed by immediate action to secure a permanent peace settlement, he said.
Building on the Arab peace initiative, building on what I see is the willingness (for) peace on all sides and building also on the fact that while amidst suffering and grief and tears, I believe I can see a clear path to peace and I believe that most courageous leaders in this region can also see a clear path to peace.He called too for an end to rocket attacks by Gaza militants.This fragile ceasefire has got to be followed immediately, if it is to be sustainable, by humanitarian access... by troop withdrawals, by an end to arms trafficking, he said.Today a humanitarian tragedy must be met not just by sympathy but by an immediate mobilisation of aid. That is why today we will treble our humanitarian aid, he said.Egyptian President Honsi Mubarak said after the meeting that Egypt will host an international meeting to muster the necessary resources to rebuild Gaza.
U.S. welcomes Gaza ceasefire, Iran says not enough By Peter Millership Peter Millership – Sun Jan 18, 9:33 am ET
LONDON (Reuters) – The United States welcomed Israel's ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and said it expected all parties to stop hostile actions immediately while the United Nations expressed relief.Iran said the ceasefire was not enough and that Israel's military must withdraw, Turkey urged Western countries to engage with Hamas, and the pope urged the world to pray for peace in Gaza and the hundreds killed in the conflict.The goal remains a durable and fully respected ceasefire that will lead to stabilization and normalization in Gaza, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said after Israel called off its three-week offensive in the area.The United States commends Egypt for its efforts and remains deeply concerned by the suffering of innocent Palestinians, she added. We welcome calls for immediate coordinated international action to increase assistance flows and will contribute to such efforts.Hamas announced an immediate ceasefire by its fighters and allied groups in Gaza on Sunday, senior Hamas official Ayman Taha told Reuters, adding that the Islamists gave Israel a week to pull out its troops.U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the Israeli ceasefire and urged Israel to withdraw all of its troops.
I am relieved that the Israeli government has decided to cease hostilities, Ban told reporters. This should be the first step leading to the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, he said, adding he wanted the withdrawal as soon as possible.He said Hamas militants also needed to do their part to bring an end to the violence by halting their rocket attacks against southern Israel. Hamas militants must stop firing rockets now, he said.U.S. President-elect Barack Obama welcomed Israel's ceasefire and will say more on the situation in Gaza after he is inaugurated on Tuesday, his spokeswoman said.Israel declared a unilateral ceasefire which took effect at 2 a.m. (0000 GMT) on Sunday. Within hours, five rockets were fired at the Israeli town of Sderot, causing no casualties. Hamas announced its ceasefire later on Sunday.
EGYPT TALKS
European leaders and Ban will attend talks in Egypt on Sunday aimed at bolstering the ceasefire.Israel must allow full access to humanitarian workers, and to relief supplies, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said en route to the summit. We must also end Gaza's economic isolation by reopening the crossings that link it to the outside world.The priority now is to ensure that no more civilians die as a result of this conflict, the Czech EU presidency said in a statement welcoming the ceasefire.It is vital, therefore, that all required humanitarian assistance, including food, fuel and medical aid is freely and rapidly delivered into, and distributed within Gaza.Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said the ceasefire announcement showed the victory of the Islamic resistance and the heroic people of Gaza against Israel, the official IRNA news agency reported.The mere halt in air, sea and land attacks, without the withdrawal of the (Israeli) forces from the occupied positions, would not be enough for the cessation of confrontation, Mottaki said. It is necessary that the Zionist forces leave the occupied regions, he said, calling their presence provocative.Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan criticized world leaders for leaving Hamas out of the peace process, saying it was a democratically elected political party. He also warned that the situation in Gaza could take on a very different dimension if Western countries did not show appropriate sensitivity toward Hamas. This political party Hamas won an election with nearly 75 percent of the vote. The West, which has shown no respect for this embracing of democracy, is responsible for this situation, Erdogan told a news conference. Pope Benedict, in his strongest comments yet on the situation in Gaza, on Sunday condemned the violence that he said had killed hundreds of innocent victims. Speaking at his weekly Sunday noon prayer, the pope also asked his listeners in St Peter's Square and around the world to pray for the success of all efforts to end the tragedy and bring about lasting peace. (Reporting by Thomas Grove, Hashem Kalantari, Fredrik Dahl, Philip Pullella, Louis Charbonneau and Jim Wolf)
Pope backs Gaza peace efforts Sun Jan 18, 7:15 am ET
VATICAN CITY (AFP) – Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday backed efforts to end the Gaza war and offered prayers for the innocent victims of the conflict.The pope called for support for all those trying to stop the tragedy in the Gaza Strip, just hours ahead of a summit on the crisis at Sharm El-Sheik, in Egypt.He gave support to those who, on one side and the other, believe that there is a place for everyone in the Holy Land.The pontiff expressed hope that all sides could help their populations pick themselves up from the ruins and the terror and courageously pick up again the thread of dialogue, in justice and in truth.Speaking during weekly prayers at the Vatican, he also prayed for the hundreds of children, elderly and women killed in the conflict between Israel and Hamas -- innocent victims of an unheard of violence.
He called for Catholics to pray for the efforts of numerous people of good will who are working to stop the tragedy.Egypt was to host a summit of top European leaders and UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Sunday to seek a lasting truce in the Gaza Strip after Israel declared a unilateral ceasefire.The 22-day-long campaign to stop Hamas firing rockets into Israeli territory has killed at least 1,300 people, including more than 400 children, wounded another 5,300, and left large swathes of the enclave in ruins.
On the Israeli side three civilians and 10 soldiers were killed in combat and rocket attacks.The pope on Saturday sent aid to the Gaza Strip for Catholics there to distribute to Palestinian victims of the conflict.
Arab peace plan 'not dead' despite Gaza war: Blair Sun Jan 18, 6:48 am ET
RIYADH (AFP) – Middle East Quartet envoy Tony Blair said on Sunday that an Arab initiative for peace in the region was not dead despite Israel's lethal 22-day war on the Gaza Strip.The Arab peace initiative is not dead unless we make it so, Blair said in Riyadh, where he held talks with Saudi King Abdullah, a key force behind the initiative, late Saturday.Rather than create new obstacles, the Israeli war on the impoverished enclave ruled by the Hamas Islamist movement could be used to bolster the overall Middle East peace process, Blair indicated.Israel's unilateral ceasefire, which took effect early on Sunday, was fragile now in the short-term, never mind the long-term, said the former British prime minister.But it is only going to endure if we adopt a strategy which revitalises the whole peace process, he said.Blair was referring to a Saudi-inspired peace plan presented at an Arab summit in Beirut in 2002, and relaunched at a Riyadh summit in 2007.The initiative calls for a full normalisation of relations between Arab states and Israel in exchange for a full withdrawal by Israel from Arab land, the creation of a Palestinian state and an equitable solution for Palestinian refugees.Asked about the role of Hamas, Blair stressed the need for it to reconcile with other Palestinian groups, particularly the Fatah faction of Palestinian president which controls the West Bank.The only way forward is on the basis of Palestinian unity. But it's got to be on the right terms consistent with the Arab initiative and the two-state solution, he stressed.Blair arrived in Riyadh on Sunday and had a one-hour meeting with King Abdullah to discuss how to proceed on the broader peace process, help rebuild Gaza and address immediate humanitarian needs.He called for global help on the immediate humanitarian needs of the Palestinians, and the reconstruction work.However, he added: We've got to make sure that this time the reconstruction happens within a framework that means we're not having to reconstruct again in a couple years time or less.Blair will also meet with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal before heading to the United Arab Emirates for talks.Israel's campaign, aimed at destroying ruling Hamas' military capabilities, killed at least 1,245 people, wounded 5,300, and left large swathes of the territory in ruins.
Gaza rockets hit southern Israel: Israeli TV Sun Jan 18, 2:10 am ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Palestinian rockets fired from the Gaza Strip hit the southern Israeli town of Sderot on Sunday, the first such attack since a unilateral Israeli ceasefire went into effect, Channel 10 television reported.Seconds after Israel Radio announced that a rocket alarm had sounded in Sderot, a Channel 10 reporter in the town said he heard two explosions. Channel Two television said six rockets had been fired at southern Israel.Earlier, Israeli forces and Palestinian militants waged a brief gun battle in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military and Hamas sources said. Hamas has rejected the ceasefire, saying it would continue fighting as long as Israeli troops remained in the territory.(Writing by Jeffrey Heller, Editing by Ori Lewis)
Netanyahu: Job Not Finished; Shin Bet: Hamas Can Rearm in Months
by Gil Ronen JAN 18,09
(IsraelNN.com) Likud head MK Binyamin Netanyahu, who is considered likely to lead Israel after the coming elections, said Sunday afternoon that the IDF has dealt Hamas some very hard blows on the head, but regrettably the job has not been finished.Hamas still controls Gaza and it will continue to smuggle new missiles in through the Philadelphi Route, Netanyahu said. I believe that in the face of Hamas's terror and its Iranian backing, we must show no weakness and we must show a resolute, iron fist, until the enemy is vanquished.Netanyahu spoke at the bedside of a wounded soldier, Or Malka, in Soroka Hospital in Be'er Sheva. Malka was wounded by shrapnel which penetrated his forehead and is suffering from hearing loss.Or's mother, Pnina, said The IDF deserves all the respect. We are not afraid, I just hope that Gilad Shalit returns and all of the soldiers return safely.Or's brother Yochai told Netanyahu that their cousin was killed in an Arab attack at the Erez crossing and that he, too, was wounded during his military service. We are a strong and united nation, Yochai said. This war has united the nation. We need to understand that we have no other country.
Diskin: smuggling will resume
Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) head Yuval Diskin estimated Sunday morning that despite the serious impairment of Hamas's smuggling abilities, some tunnels used for weapons smuggling remain intact. He told ministers at the weekly cabinet meeting that Hamas would be able to rebuild the tunnels within a few months' time, and could then renew the arms smuggling into Gaza.Diskin said that the populace in Gaza is very critical of Hamas for the destruction it has brought upon Gaza. He said that ever since Israel declared a ceasefire, Hamas's leadership has shown a great degree of confusion.
Ashkenazi sends message to troops
IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi sent a message to the troops on Sunday, following Israel's declaration of a ceasefire in Gaza, in which he wrote: The objectives which were presented at the start of the Cast Lead campaign have been completely met; Hamas's structure and terrorist infrastructure have been hit hard.He added, The campaign is not over and the coming days require us to stay organized, prepared and ready until quiet returns to our communities and cities.
Israelis begin gradual Gaza pullout: army JAN 18,09
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israeli troops have begun a gradual withdrawal from Gaza after a deadly 22-day war against the Palestinian territory's Islamist rulers Hamas, an army spokesman said on Sunday.I can confirm that there is a gradual withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, an army spokeswoman told AFP.The pullout comes after Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert ordered a unilateral halt late Saturday to a massive operation designed to put an end to Hamas rocket-firing that claimed the lives of more than 1,300 Palestinians.Hamas has separately called a week-long truce to give the Israelis time to withdraw.
Hamas announces ceasefire after Israel declares truce By Nidal al-Mughrabi JAN 18,09
GAZA (Reuters) – Hamas said Sunday it would cease fire immediately along with other militant groups in the Gaza Strip and give Israel, which already declared a unilateral truce, a week to pull its troops out of the territory.A spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in response: We'll play this day by day. We'll see how this goes. We want to leave Gaza. We'll do so as soon as we can.Ayman Taha, a Hamas official in Cairo for talks with Egypt on the conflict, said the group and other factions were announcing a Gaza ceasefire starting immediately and Israel, which launched its offensive on December 27, had a week to withdraw.Hamas, he said, was demanding the opening of all Gaza border crossings for the entry of all materials, food, goods and basic needs.The Islamist group said previously it would not stop its attacks as long as Israeli soldiers remained in the Gaza Strip.During the 22-day-long offensive, Israeli attacks killed more than 1,300 Palestinians, including some 700 civilians, Gaza medical officials said. Israel said hundreds of gunmen were among the dead. Ten Israeli soldiers were killed as well as three Israeli civilians hit by rockets.Some 17 rockets hit southern Israel after the ceasefire Olmert declared went into effect at 2 a.m. ( 7 p.m. EST). Israel responded with two air strikes against launching sites and medical workers said a Palestinian civilian was killed.At least three rockets struck southern Israel after Hamas said it was halting attacks, police said.A statement issued by Hamas in Syria, which also announced the week-long ceasefire, said Palestinian factions were willing to respond to efforts by Egypt and others to broker an agreement for the final lifting of Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip.
EGYPT MEETING
Israel tightened the blockade, deepening hardship in the Gaza Strip, after Hamas seized the territory from forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in 2007. Egypt has largely kept its Rafah crossing with the enclave closed.If this ceasefire holds, and I hope it does, you'll see the crossings open to an enormous amount of humanitarian support, Olmert spokesman Mark Regev told Britain's Sky News.
In the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, the leaders of Britain, the Czech Republic, Egypt, France, Germany, Jordan, Spain and Turkey, along with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, met to coordinate policy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.They gathered to back Egyptian efforts to turn a shaky ceasefire into a solid mutual agreement leading to Israeli withdrawal.In the northern Gazan town of Beit Lahiya, Palestinian ambulances picked up more than 95 bodies, most of them gunmen, that had lain in the rubble of buildings and open areas, Hamas police and health officials said.The civilian death toll and destruction in the Gaza Strip brought strong international pressure on Israel to stop the offensive it launched with the declared aim of ending rocket attacks that had killed 18 people over the previous eight years.Olmert said Saturday that Israel would not bring its troops home until Hamas ceased fire completely and he threatened to respond strongly to any attacks on the soldiers or cross-border rocket salvoes. He cited internationally backed understandings with Egypt, Gaza's southern neighbor, on preventing Hamas from rearming through smuggling tunnels as a reason behind Israel's decision to call off its attacks. After the start of the Israeli-declared ceasefire, Palestinians rushed to remove bodies and survey damage to homes damaged or destroyed in the fighting.
Israel has said it tried to avoid harming non-combatants but that Hamas operated in heavily populated areas. (Additional reporting by Adam Entous and Ori Lewis in Jerusalem and Alaa Shahine in Cairo, Writing by Jeffrey Heller; Editing by Alison Williams)
World leaders race to consolidate Mideast truce By JAMEY KEATEN and SARAH EL DEEB, Associated Press Writers JAN 18,09
SHARM EL-SHEIK, Egypt – European and Arab leaders racing to consolidate a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas pressed Sunday for an end to weapons smuggling into Gaza and for the opening of the territory to desperately needed humanitarian aid.A summit meeting in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheik concluded that the next steps will include a humanitarian summit organized by Egypt in the coming days and the search for a way to open Gaza's sealed border crossings to allow in humanitarian aid.
Britain's leader announced at the gathering that his country was tripling its humanitarian aid to Gaza. The government said in a statement the additional 20 million pounds, or about $29 million, would go toward rebuilding damaged homes and helping those injured in the violence.A unilateral Israeli cease-fire began before dawn Sunday. Hamas also announced it would halt fighting from its side for one week while demanding that Israeli troops leave the territory.The U.N. chief, Ban Ki-moon, stressed the need for Hamas to stop rocket fire and for Israel to exercise restraint to sustain the halt.The crucial question left unresolved was how to stop weapons smuggling across the Egyptian border to Gaza's Hamas rulers.France, Britain, Germany and the United States have all offered help in stopping the flow of weapons, but Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has firmly rejected any deployment of international monitoring forces on its side of the Gaza border.We have pledged to help Israel and Egypt with all the technical, military, naval and diplomatic ways to help end the smuggling of weapons into Gaza, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said at a news conference after the summit.Preventing Hamas from rearming is a key demand of Israel in any lasting deal. It launched its offensive on Dec. 27 with the argument that Hamas had used a six-month truce earlier in the year to restock its arsenal. That truce unraveled as Hamas intensified its rocket fire into southern Israel. Hamas, for its part, complained that Israel maintained a blockade of Gaza despite that period of calm.Egypt, maintaining that it can police its own border with Gaza, has rejected the idea of any international monitoring force in its territory.On Sunday, Mubarak again stressed that Egypt will not accept any foreign observers on its land.
The Arab League chief, who also attended the summit, said the way to stop smuggling through the tunnels under the border was by opening Gaza's crossing points with Israel to allow in commercial goods. Besides weapons, Gazans also use the tunnels to smuggle desperately needed food and fuel.Smuggling is a problem because of the suffocation in Gaza, said Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa. What else could they do but smuggle the items they need because of the siege? And so, the smuggling is connected to the opening of the crossings and ending the siege.While, acknowledging the difficult task ahead, Sarkozy said now was the time to speed efforts toward the ultimate goal of Mideast peacemaking: the creation of a Palestinian state.In our minds, this is the beginning of our journey, he said. We should continue and we should accelerate our efforts in order to achieve a settlement based on the creation of two states, a Palestinian state living side-by-side with an Israeli state that has the right to its security.Gaza Strip militants conditioned any longer-term truce on a complete Israeli troop withdrawal from the territory. And in a sign of how fragile the immediate situation was, Palestinian militants continued to hit southern Israel with rockets Sunday.The three weeks of fighting killed more than 1,250 Palestinians, more than half of them civilians. Thirteen Israelis died during the offensive, including four killed by rocket fire.
Sarkozy also stressed the need for Israel to quickly pull its forces out of Gaza.
Israel should state immediately and clearly that if rocket fire will stop, the Israeli army will leave Gaza. There is no other solution to achieve peace, Sarkozy said. Laying out some of the specifics, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that in addition to increasing humanitarian aid money, his country would help transport the injured to hospitals, rebuild Gaza's shattered buildings and clear away unexploded bombs. Brown appealed for other nations to join Britain. Today, humanitarian tragedy must not be met just by sympathy but by the immediate mobilization of aid, he said. With its new pledge, total British aid to Gaza since the conflict began stands at nearly 27 million pounds, or about $40 million. The U.N. secretary-general said he would send a humanitarian needs assessment team to Gaza this week that would compile a report within 10 days so an urgent appeal can be made.
ALL THIS PRESSURE ON ISRAEL,WERES THE PRESSURE ON HAMAS TO STOP SHOOTING ROCKETS INTO ISRAEL,WERES THE PRESSURE ON IRAN TO STOP THE NUKES,WHY AREN'T THESE QUESTIONS ANSWERED BY THE WORLD.AND ONE LAST QUESTION WERE IS GILAD SHALIT AND HOW COME NO PRESSURE FROM THE WORLD TO GET HAMAS TO GIVE HIM BACK TO ISRAEL AFTER 2 1/2 YEARS CAPTURED,WE KNOW WHY BECAUSE HAMAS HAS BEHEADEDED POOR GILAD A LONG TIME AGO ALREADY THATS WHY! SO WERES THE OUTRAGE FROM THE WORLD AGAINST HAMAS,INSTEAD OF ISRAEL GETTING PICKETED WORLDWIDE FOR DEFENDING THEMSELVES AGAINST HAMAS MURDERERS ROCKETS FOR THE LAST 8 YEARS.
Brown calls for immediate Israeli withdrawal from Gaza JAN 18,09
SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (AFP) – Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Sunday he saw a clear path to peace following a summit on Gaza in Egypt and called for an immediate withdrawal of Israeli soldiers.We believe that three weeks of tragedy must be followed by immediate action to secure a permanent peace settlement, he said.
Building on the Arab peace initiative, building on what I see is the willingness (for) peace on all sides and building also on the fact that while amidst suffering and grief and tears, I believe I can see a clear path to peace and I believe that most courageous leaders in this region can also see a clear path to peace.He called too for an end to rocket attacks by Gaza militants.This fragile ceasefire has got to be followed immediately, if it is to be sustainable, by humanitarian access... by troop withdrawals, by an end to arms trafficking, he said.Today a humanitarian tragedy must be met not just by sympathy but by an immediate mobilisation of aid. That is why today we will treble our humanitarian aid, he said.Egyptian President Honsi Mubarak said after the meeting that Egypt will host an international meeting to muster the necessary resources to rebuild Gaza.
U.S. welcomes Gaza ceasefire, Iran says not enough By Peter Millership Peter Millership – Sun Jan 18, 9:33 am ET
LONDON (Reuters) – The United States welcomed Israel's ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and said it expected all parties to stop hostile actions immediately while the United Nations expressed relief.Iran said the ceasefire was not enough and that Israel's military must withdraw, Turkey urged Western countries to engage with Hamas, and the pope urged the world to pray for peace in Gaza and the hundreds killed in the conflict.The goal remains a durable and fully respected ceasefire that will lead to stabilization and normalization in Gaza, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said after Israel called off its three-week offensive in the area.The United States commends Egypt for its efforts and remains deeply concerned by the suffering of innocent Palestinians, she added. We welcome calls for immediate coordinated international action to increase assistance flows and will contribute to such efforts.Hamas announced an immediate ceasefire by its fighters and allied groups in Gaza on Sunday, senior Hamas official Ayman Taha told Reuters, adding that the Islamists gave Israel a week to pull out its troops.U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the Israeli ceasefire and urged Israel to withdraw all of its troops.
I am relieved that the Israeli government has decided to cease hostilities, Ban told reporters. This should be the first step leading to the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, he said, adding he wanted the withdrawal as soon as possible.He said Hamas militants also needed to do their part to bring an end to the violence by halting their rocket attacks against southern Israel. Hamas militants must stop firing rockets now, he said.U.S. President-elect Barack Obama welcomed Israel's ceasefire and will say more on the situation in Gaza after he is inaugurated on Tuesday, his spokeswoman said.Israel declared a unilateral ceasefire which took effect at 2 a.m. (0000 GMT) on Sunday. Within hours, five rockets were fired at the Israeli town of Sderot, causing no casualties. Hamas announced its ceasefire later on Sunday.
EGYPT TALKS
European leaders and Ban will attend talks in Egypt on Sunday aimed at bolstering the ceasefire.Israel must allow full access to humanitarian workers, and to relief supplies, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said en route to the summit. We must also end Gaza's economic isolation by reopening the crossings that link it to the outside world.The priority now is to ensure that no more civilians die as a result of this conflict, the Czech EU presidency said in a statement welcoming the ceasefire.It is vital, therefore, that all required humanitarian assistance, including food, fuel and medical aid is freely and rapidly delivered into, and distributed within Gaza.Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said the ceasefire announcement showed the victory of the Islamic resistance and the heroic people of Gaza against Israel, the official IRNA news agency reported.The mere halt in air, sea and land attacks, without the withdrawal of the (Israeli) forces from the occupied positions, would not be enough for the cessation of confrontation, Mottaki said. It is necessary that the Zionist forces leave the occupied regions, he said, calling their presence provocative.Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan criticized world leaders for leaving Hamas out of the peace process, saying it was a democratically elected political party. He also warned that the situation in Gaza could take on a very different dimension if Western countries did not show appropriate sensitivity toward Hamas. This political party Hamas won an election with nearly 75 percent of the vote. The West, which has shown no respect for this embracing of democracy, is responsible for this situation, Erdogan told a news conference. Pope Benedict, in his strongest comments yet on the situation in Gaza, on Sunday condemned the violence that he said had killed hundreds of innocent victims. Speaking at his weekly Sunday noon prayer, the pope also asked his listeners in St Peter's Square and around the world to pray for the success of all efforts to end the tragedy and bring about lasting peace. (Reporting by Thomas Grove, Hashem Kalantari, Fredrik Dahl, Philip Pullella, Louis Charbonneau and Jim Wolf)
Pope backs Gaza peace efforts Sun Jan 18, 7:15 am ET
VATICAN CITY (AFP) – Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday backed efforts to end the Gaza war and offered prayers for the innocent victims of the conflict.The pope called for support for all those trying to stop the tragedy in the Gaza Strip, just hours ahead of a summit on the crisis at Sharm El-Sheik, in Egypt.He gave support to those who, on one side and the other, believe that there is a place for everyone in the Holy Land.The pontiff expressed hope that all sides could help their populations pick themselves up from the ruins and the terror and courageously pick up again the thread of dialogue, in justice and in truth.Speaking during weekly prayers at the Vatican, he also prayed for the hundreds of children, elderly and women killed in the conflict between Israel and Hamas -- innocent victims of an unheard of violence.
He called for Catholics to pray for the efforts of numerous people of good will who are working to stop the tragedy.Egypt was to host a summit of top European leaders and UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Sunday to seek a lasting truce in the Gaza Strip after Israel declared a unilateral ceasefire.The 22-day-long campaign to stop Hamas firing rockets into Israeli territory has killed at least 1,300 people, including more than 400 children, wounded another 5,300, and left large swathes of the enclave in ruins.
On the Israeli side three civilians and 10 soldiers were killed in combat and rocket attacks.The pope on Saturday sent aid to the Gaza Strip for Catholics there to distribute to Palestinian victims of the conflict.
Arab peace plan 'not dead' despite Gaza war: Blair Sun Jan 18, 6:48 am ET
RIYADH (AFP) – Middle East Quartet envoy Tony Blair said on Sunday that an Arab initiative for peace in the region was not dead despite Israel's lethal 22-day war on the Gaza Strip.The Arab peace initiative is not dead unless we make it so, Blair said in Riyadh, where he held talks with Saudi King Abdullah, a key force behind the initiative, late Saturday.Rather than create new obstacles, the Israeli war on the impoverished enclave ruled by the Hamas Islamist movement could be used to bolster the overall Middle East peace process, Blair indicated.Israel's unilateral ceasefire, which took effect early on Sunday, was fragile now in the short-term, never mind the long-term, said the former British prime minister.But it is only going to endure if we adopt a strategy which revitalises the whole peace process, he said.Blair was referring to a Saudi-inspired peace plan presented at an Arab summit in Beirut in 2002, and relaunched at a Riyadh summit in 2007.The initiative calls for a full normalisation of relations between Arab states and Israel in exchange for a full withdrawal by Israel from Arab land, the creation of a Palestinian state and an equitable solution for Palestinian refugees.Asked about the role of Hamas, Blair stressed the need for it to reconcile with other Palestinian groups, particularly the Fatah faction of Palestinian president which controls the West Bank.The only way forward is on the basis of Palestinian unity. But it's got to be on the right terms consistent with the Arab initiative and the two-state solution, he stressed.Blair arrived in Riyadh on Sunday and had a one-hour meeting with King Abdullah to discuss how to proceed on the broader peace process, help rebuild Gaza and address immediate humanitarian needs.He called for global help on the immediate humanitarian needs of the Palestinians, and the reconstruction work.However, he added: We've got to make sure that this time the reconstruction happens within a framework that means we're not having to reconstruct again in a couple years time or less.Blair will also meet with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal before heading to the United Arab Emirates for talks.Israel's campaign, aimed at destroying ruling Hamas' military capabilities, killed at least 1,245 people, wounded 5,300, and left large swathes of the territory in ruins.
Gaza rockets hit southern Israel: Israeli TV Sun Jan 18, 2:10 am ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Palestinian rockets fired from the Gaza Strip hit the southern Israeli town of Sderot on Sunday, the first such attack since a unilateral Israeli ceasefire went into effect, Channel 10 television reported.Seconds after Israel Radio announced that a rocket alarm had sounded in Sderot, a Channel 10 reporter in the town said he heard two explosions. Channel Two television said six rockets had been fired at southern Israel.Earlier, Israeli forces and Palestinian militants waged a brief gun battle in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military and Hamas sources said. Hamas has rejected the ceasefire, saying it would continue fighting as long as Israeli troops remained in the territory.(Writing by Jeffrey Heller, Editing by Ori Lewis)
SHORT LIVED CEASEFIRE I PREDICT
MEANWHILE 10,600 ROCKETS HAVE BEEN SHOT BY HAMAS INTO ISRAEL SINCE 2001 AND NO FUSS FROM THE WORLD,WERE IS THE OUTRAGE AGAINST HAMAS FOR DESTROYING GOD'S AND ISRAELS PROPERTY AND PEOPLE FOR THE LAST 8 YEARS.
I CAN GUARENTEE AS SOON AS DAYLIGHT COMES IN ISRAEL THE CEASEFIRE WILL BE DONE WITH AS HAMAS CAN'T CONTROL THEIR LUSTFUL DESIRES TO ELIMINATE ISRAEL FROM THE FACE OF THE EARTH.
Israel holds its fire: Statement by PM Ehud Olmert 17 Jan 2009
Beginning at 2:00 a.m., Israel will cease its actions against the terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip and will remain deployed in the Gaza Strip and its environs.
Translated from Hebrew]
Citizens of Israel,
Exactly three weeks ago as the Sabbath ended, we sat here before you - my friend Ehud Barak, the Vice Prime Minister Tzipi Livni and myself - and detailed the considerations and goals which guided us in launching a military operation in the Gaza Strip. Today, we face you again and can say that the conditions have been created so that our targets, as defined when we launched the operation, have been fully achieved, and more so:
• Hamas was badly stricken, both in terms of its military capabilities and in the infrastructure of its regime. Its leaders are in hiding. Many of its members have been killed. The factories in which its missiles were manufactured have been destroyed. The smuggling routes, through dozens of tunnels, have been bombed. The Hamas's capabilities for conveying weapons within the Gaza Strip have been damaged. The scope of missile fire directed at the State of Israel has been reduced. The areas from which most of the missiles were launched are under the control of IDF forces. The estimate of all the security services is that the Hamas's capabilities have been struck a heavy blow which will harm its ability to rule and its military capabilities for some time.
• The IDF and the Israel Security Agency have succeeded in conducting an outstanding operation, utilizing all the elements of Israel's force - on land, at sea and in the air. The military operation was characterized by determination, sophistication, courage and an impressive ability in intelligence and operations, which led to significant and numerous achievements. The current campaign proved again Israel’s force and strengthened its deterrence capability vis-a-vis those who threaten us.
• The reserves soldiers, who are the foundation for the IDF’s strength, proved that the spirit of volunteerism and a willingness to sacrifice still very much exist. These forces were made ready in a thorough manner, equipped with all they needed and thus could demonstrate their professionalism and fierceness of spirit.
• During all the days of fighting, the Israeli home front demonstrated its strength, despite hundreds of rockets and mortar shells indiscriminately fired at a population which numbers one million residents; it was the home front that created an unshakable foundation which strengthened us and gave us the ability to continue fighting. Two years of preparation on the home front proved that we learned our lessons and were properly organized. The Government and the heads of the regional local authorities under attack demonstrated the patience, endurance and that same strong spirit which allowed the political echelon to make the right decisions, knowing that the home front could withstand the consequences of those decisions.
• As a decision-making body, the Government of Israel demonstrated unity with regard to goals, and acted professionally and in coordination to achieve those goals. The decisions were all made in a responsible and educated manner, following clarification and in-depth discussions. As an executive branch, the Government met the demands and needs of the population and the fighting forces.
• Alongside the successes, we must also remember the fallen and those who sacrificed their lives to achieve a better reality in the South. The campaign claimed the lives of three residents of the South and ten of our soldiers. Tonight our hearts are with their families. We send our wishes for a speedy recovery to the residents of the South and to the IDF soldiers injured during the operation.
• Today, and in large part due to the success of the military operation, the entire international community is ready to mobilize in order to achieve maximum stability, and knows that, for this to occur, the process of Hamas's strengthening must stop. To this end, we reached a number of understandings - the importance of which cannot be underestimated - which will ensure that the strengthening of Hamas will decrease. We formulated understandings with the Egyptian government with regard to a number of central issues, the realization of which will bring about a significant reduction in weapons smuggling from Iran and Syria to the Gaza Strip.
• On Friday we signed a memorandum of understanding with the American government, in the framework of which the United States will mobilize to take the necessary steps, together with the other members of the international community, to prevent weapons smuggling by terrorists in Gaza. I wish to thank and express my great appreciation to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Vice Prime Minister for her efforts to reach this agreement, for her contribution to the diplomatic steps and for the widespread diplomatic effort she made over the past several weeks, which were an important contribution to the international backing given to the Israeli effort against the terrorist organizations headed by Hamas.
• Today I received a letter from the Prime Minister of Great Britain, Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister of Italy, Silvio Berlusconi, the Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel and the President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, in which all four expressed their profound commitment to assisting in any way in order to ensure that weapons will not succeed in reaching the murderous terrorist organizations in Gaza.
I have no doubt that were it not for the determined and successful military action, we would not have reached diplomatic understandings, which together create a full picture of impressive accomplishment.
Citizens of Israel,
The Government decided to launch the operation in Gaza only after long thought and great consideration, and only after all attempts through other means to stop the firing and other acts of terror by Hamas failed. Israel, which withdrew from the Gaza Strip to the last millimeter at the end of 2005 - with no intention of returning - found itself under a barrage of missiles. Hamas violently took control of the Gaza Strip and began attacking the communities in the South more intensely. Hamas's methods are incomprehensible. It placed its military system in crowded residential neighborhoods, operated among a civilian population which served as a human shield and operated under the aegis of mosques, schools and hospitals, while making the Palestinian population a hostage to its terrorist activities, with the understanding that Israel - as a country with supreme values - would not act. The external Hamas leadership, which lives in comfort and quiet, continued to set extremist policies while ignoring the population’s ongoing suffering and out of a conspicuous unwillingness to ease its situation.
Hamas in Gaza was built by Iran as a foundation for power, and is backed through funding, through training and through the provision of advanced weapons. Iran, which strives for regional hegemony, tried to replicate the methods used by Hizbullah in Lebanon in the Gaza Strip as well. Iran and Hamas mistook the restraint Israel exercised as weakness. They were mistaken. They were surprised.
The State of Israel has proven to them that restraint is an expression of strength which was exercised in a determined and sophisticated manner when that which we had avoided became unavoidable.
During the operation, the State of Israel demonstrated great sensitivity in exercising its force in order to avoid, as much as possible, harming the civilian population not involved in terror. In cases where there was any doubt that striking at terrorists would lead to harming an innocent civilian population - we abstained from acting. There are not many countries which would act thusly.
We have no disagreement with the residents of Gaza. We consider the Gaza Strip a part of the future Palestinian state with which we hope to live a life of good neighborliness, and we wish for the day when the vision of two states is realized.
During the operation, we made widespread and concerted efforts to see to the humanitarian needs of the Palestinian population. We allowed for the transfer of equipment, food and medicine to prevent a humanitarian crisis. In addition, I appointed Minister Isaac Herzog, the Minister of Social Welfare and Social Affairs, to head up this effort, and tonight the Cabinet instructed him to invest all his efforts in preparing a comprehensive plan so that in the next few days, we will be able to provide an appropriate and comprehensive answer to the civilian population’s needs in the Gaza Strip. I wish to express my great appreciation to the international organizations which acted and continue to act tirelessly to assist us in providing the Palestinian population with appropriate living conditions. Israel will continue to cooperate with them, especially in the coming days and weeks on behalf of the Gazan population.
Citizens of Israel,
Today, before the Government meeting, I spoke with the President of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, who presented Egypt’s initiative to me, along with his request for a ceasefire. I thanked the President for Egypt’s commitment to finding a solution to this crisis and for the important role it plays in the Middle East. I presented the President’s statement to the Cabinet, along with the totality of our achievements in the operation, as well as the completion of the goals. The Cabinet decided to accept my proposal to declare a ceasefire.
Beginning at 2:00 a.m., Israel will cease its actions against the terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip and will remain deployed in the Gaza Strip and its environs.
It must be remembered that Hamas is not part of the arrangements we came to. These are agreements involving many countries, and a terrorist organization like Hamas is not and need not be a part of them. If our enemies decide that the blows they have already suffered are not enough and they wish to continue fighting, Israel will be ready for that scenario and will feel free to continue responding with force.
Hamas was surprised a number of times during the past several weeks. It did not predict the State of Israel’s determination or the seriousness of its intentions to bring about a change in the reality in the region. Hamas's leaders did not believe that the State of Israel would launch a military operation on such a scale on the eve of elections; it did not predict the force of the military attack and moreover - it did not predict the outcome.
Hamas still does not fully appreciate the difficult blow it received. If Hamas decides to continue its wild terrorist attacks, it may find itself surprised again by the State of Israel’s determination. I do not suggest that it or any other terrorist organization test us.
This statement tonight would be incomplete if I did not mention the kidnapped soldier, Gilad Shalit. One hundred meters from here, there is a demonstration for his release, and I respect each and every one of the participants. The intensive efforts to secure Gilad's release began long before the operation, continued during it and will continue after as well. The Government of Israel is working on many levels to bring him home, and during the operation we carried out various actions to bring us closer to this goal. Due to the sensitivity of the matter, I will not go into detail. I will only say that Gilad is at the top of our agenda, and we do not need any prodding or reminding in this matter. I am hopeful tonight as well that we will soon see him in his family’s embrace.
On a personal note:
For weeks I have been watching the people of Israel day and night as we make the unprecedented effort to fight for and realize our right of self-defense. I saw the brave soldiers, our dear and beloved sons; I saw their commanders and the spirit which buoyed them; I saw the residents of the South, their fierce sprit; and the leadership of the mayors who took care to provide for the needs of their residents; I also saw the actions of the Home Front Command, which quietly and efficiently coordinated the assistance campaign for the southern region; and I heard the bereaved families.
Dear families, the things you said, the pain you expressed, the fierce spirit you demonstrated - these are the foundation for the people of Israel’s strength. On behalf of the entire nation, on behalf of the Government of Israel, I share your profound pain and thank you for the encouragement, the strength and the inspiration your strong stance has granted the entire nation.
I also wish to say something to the people of Gaza: even before the military operation began, and during it, I appealed to you. We do not hate you; we did not want and do not want to harm you. We wanted to defend our children, their parents, their families. We feel the pain of every Palestinian child and family member who fell victim to the cruel reality created by Hamas which transformed you into victims.
Your suffering is terrible. Your cries of pain touch each of our hearts. On behalf of the Government of Israel, I wish to convey my regret for the harming of uninvolved civilians, for the pain we caused them, for the suffering they and their families suffered as a result of the intolerable situation created by Hamas.
The understandings we reached with Egypt, the international backing of the United States and the European countries - all these do not ensure that the firing by Hamas will stop. If it completely stops - the IDF will consider withdrawing from Gaza at a time which it deems right. If not, the IDF will continue to act in defense of our residents.
This is the time to convey our appreciation and gratitude, first and foremost to you, Mr. Minister of Defense, for your work, for the tremendous effort you made, for your skill, professionalism and the understanding you demonstrated throughout he operation - thank you very much. I wish to thank the soldiers of the IDF, their commanders, the Head of the Southern Command Yoav Galant, and the Chief of General Staff Gabi Ashkenazi; to the Israel Security Agency, its fighters and its head, Yuval Diskin; to the Mossad and its hidden fighters, headed by Meir Dagan; to the Israel Police and the emergency services, Magan David Adom and the Fire Department.
Blessed is the nation with such an army and such security and rescue services.
I wish to express my hope that tonight the first step towards a different reality, one of security and quiet for the residents of Israel, will be taken. From the bottom of my heart, I thank the people of Israel, its fighters and their commanders for the fierceness of spirit and the social solidarity they demonstrated over these past weeks.
This is the secret of our strength - it is the foundation for our power and it is the hope of our future.
Thank you.
Israel implements unilateral Gaza cease-fire By MATTI FRIEDMAN and IBRAHIM BARZAK, Associated Press Writers JAN 18,09
JERUSALEM – Israel implemented a unilateral cease-fire early Sunday in its 22-day offensive that turned Gaza neighborhoods into battlegrounds and dealt a stinging blow to the Islamic militants of Hamas. But Israeli troops will stay in the Palestinian territory for now and Hamas threatened to keep fighting until they leave.
In announcing the cease-fire late Saturday, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Israel had achieved its goals and more.Hamas was hit hard, in its military arms and in its government institutions. Its leaders are in hiding and many of its men have been killed, Olmert said.Israel launched the offensive on Dec. 27 to stop years of rocket fire from Gaza at southern Israeli towns. But the rockets did not stop coming throughout the assault. Militants fired about 30 rockets into Israel on Saturday, eight of them around the time Olmert spoke. There was no rocket fire in the first four hours after the truce went into effect, the Israeli military said.More than 1,100 Palestinians have been killed in the offensive, about half of them civilians, according to Palestinian and U.N. officials. At least 13 Israelis have also been killed, according to the Israeli government.According to Olmert's statement, the cease-fire went into effect at 2 a.m. local time (7 p.m. EST). The military warned in a statement early Sunday that attacks on soldiers or civilians will be met with a harsh response.If Hamas holds its fire, the military will weigh pulling out of Gaza at a time that befits us, Olmert said. If not, Israel will continue to act to defend our residents.Israel's insistence on keeping troops in Gaza raises the specter of a stalemate with Hamas, which has insisted that it will not respect any cease-fire until Israel pulls out of the territory, with a population of 1.4 million.Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum in Gaza said a unilateral cease-fire was not enough to end Hamas' resistance — echoing the stance taken earlier by Hamas leaders in exile.The occupier must halt his fire immediately and withdraw from our land and lift his blockade and open all crossings and we will not accept any one Zionist soldier on our land, regardless of the price that it costs, Barhoum said.
In the hours leading up to the vote by the 12-member Security Cabinet, and even as they met, Israel kept bombarding Gaza.Earlier Saturday in the northern town of Beit Lahiya, Israeli shells struck a U.N. school where 1,600 people had sought shelter. One shell scored a direct hit on the top floor of the three-story building, killing two boys, U.N. officials said.Gaza militants launched eight rockets into Israel around the time Olmert announced the cease-fire, the Israeli military said. There were no reports of casualties. Five long-range Grad rockets exploded near the city of Beersheba in the hour after Olmert's televised address, Israel Radio reported.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni indicated that Israel would renew its offensive if Hamas militants continued to fire rockets at Israel.This campaign is not a one-time event, she said in an interview with the Israeli YNet news Web site. The test will be the day after. That is the test of deterrence.Palestinians reacted with skepticism and called on world leaders attending a summit planned for Sunday in Egypt to put pressure on Israel to withdraw immediately.We had hoped that the Israeli announcement would be matched by total cessation of hostilities and the immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, said Saeb Erekat, a top aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, a Hamas rival. I am afraid that the presence of the Israeli forces in Gaza means that the cease fire will not stand.The cease-fire vote comes just days ahead of Barack Obama's inauguration as president on Tuesday. Outgoing Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the Bush administration welcomed Israel's decision and said the ultimate goal remains a lasting truce that is fully respected and will return peace to Gaza. The summit set for Sunday in Egypt is meant to give international backing to the cease-fire. Leaders of Germany, France, Spain, Britain, Italy, Turkey and the Czech Republic — which holds the rotating EU presidency — are expected to attend along with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. It was not immediately clear whether Israel would send a representative, and Hamas has not been invited. Ban welcomed Israel's move and called on Hamas to stop its rocket fire. He said urgent humanitarian access for the people of Gaza is the immediate priority, and the United Nations is ready to act.During its campaign, Israel said it destroyed roughly 60 percent of the hundreds of tunnels under the eight-mile Egypt-Gaza border. As it seeks a longer-term solution, Israel signed a deal Friday in Washington in which the United States agreed to commit detection and surveillance equipment, as well as logistical help and training to Israel, Egypt and other nations to monitor Gaza's land and sea borders. But Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said Saturday that his country would not be bound by the agreement. Egypt's cooperation is essential if the smuggling is to be stopped. As Israel's Security Cabinet met Saturday evening, airstrikes continued. Walls shook and windows trembled in the southern Gaza border town of Rafah as fighter jets soared above head, apparently focusing their missiles on the no man's land with Egypt where many suspected smuggling tunnels lie. But all was quiet after Olmert's announcement for the first time in three weeks, residents said, giving them a chance to sleep. A total of 13 Palestinians were killed in battles throughout Gaza Saturday, Palestinian medics said. John Ging, the top U.N. official in Gaza, condemned the attack on Beit Lahiya that killed the two boys — the latest in a series of Israeli shellings that have struck U.N. installations. The question that has to be asked is for all those children and all those innocent people who have been killed in this conflict. Were they war crimes? Were they war crimes that resulted in the deaths of the innocents during this conflict? That question has to be answered, he said. The Israeli army said it was launching a high-level investigation into the shelling, as well as four other attacks that hit civilian targets, including the U.N. headquarters in Gaza. The army investigation also includes the shelling of a hospital, a media center and the home of a well-known doctor. Ibrahim Barzak reported from Gaza. Associated Press reporters Alfred de Montesquiou in Rafah, Gaza Strip, and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.
Israel, Hamas hold fire for now in Gaza By Nidal al-Mughrabi Nidal JAN 18,09
FOX News GAZA (Reuters) – Israel ceased fire in the Gaza Strip on Sunday after declaring victory in its three-week offensive but Hamas guerrillas said the war that has cost 1,200 Palestinian lives would go on.Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak invited European leaders to a hastily-called summit to try to bolster the unilateral truce although Israel had sidestepped Cairo's efforts to achieve a negotiated end to the hostilities with Hamas.The racket of explosions and gunfire of the past 22 days went silent in Hamas-ruled Gaza after the Israeli ceasefire went into effect at 2 a.m. (7 p.m. ET).Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in a televised address on Saturday that Hamas had been badly beaten in the offensive, launched before a February election to end Hamas rocket attacks on southern Israel that were undermining support for the governing coalition.Conditions have been created whereby the goals set at the launch of the operation have been more than fully achieved, Olmert said.
Gaza's Islamist rulers said they would keep firing rockets at Israel until it withdrew its troops and ended its trade blockade on the coastal enclave.These constitute acts of war so this won't mean an end to resistance, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said.But there were no reports of rockets fired at Israel in the hours after the ceasefire began, though several were launched shortly after Olmert's announcement.Olmert said Israel's troops would remain in place and hit back if the Palestinians tried to fight on.If our enemies decide the blows they've been dealt are not sufficient and they are interested in continuing the fight, Israel will be prepared for such and feel free to continue to react with force.
SHORT-NOTICE SUMMIT
Mubarak invited European leaders to a short-notice summit on Sunday to find ways to bolster the truce and ease the plight of civilians crammed into the 45-km (28-mile) sliver of Gaza coast.Mubarak will host Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon in Sharm el-Sheikh on Sunday, along with the leaders of France, Britain, Germany, Turkey, Italy and Spain.Olmert cited internationally backed understandings with Egypt, Gaza's southern neighbor, on preventing Hamas from rearming through smuggling tunnels as a reason behind Israel's decision to call off its attacks.U.N. Secretary General Ban welcomed the Israeli ceasefire but also urged it to pull out its forces from Gaza rapidly.U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who had spoken up for what Israel saw as its right to self-defense despite the civilian casualties, said she hoped for a durable ceasefire and a long-term settlement for the problems of Gaza.Rice and President George W. Bush are stepping down and many analysts believe Israel, eager for smooth relations from the outset with the new president, has been keen to end the fighting before Barack Obama takes over the White House on Tuesday.Israel launched air strikes on the Gaza Strip on December 27 and ground troops pushed into the enclave a week later, saying its main aim was an end to the rocket fire that had killed 18 people in Israel over the previous eight years. Without an accord with Hamas, diplomats said they feared Israel would let only a trickle of goods into Gaza, hampering reconstruction and creating more hardship for its people. So long as there is no agreement on the crossings, I frankly cannot see the end to the hostilities, said Shlomo Ben-Ami, who was Israel's left-leaning Labor foreign minister when peace talks with the Palestinians collapsed in 2001. The road ahead for the Obama administration in promoting a peace settlement that has eluded Israelis and Palestinians for the 60 years since Israel was established remains bumpy. Hamas, which won a parliamentary election in 2006 and seized Gaza from Abbas's forces a year later, is shunned by the West but remains a popular force in both Gaza and the West Bank. It is unclear what effect this month's war will have on the division between the Palestinians factions. Without an end to the bitter rift between Hamas and Abbas, a deal with Israel on establishing a Palestinian state still seems distant to many.
MANY IN GAZA DESPERATE
After the deaths of perhaps more than 700 civilians in the Israeli offensive, many of Gaza's 1.5 million people are desperate for a respite. Most of those, their nerves shredded and sleepless with fear and bereavement, just want the war to be over. We do not care how, we want a ceasefire. We want to go back to our homes. Our children need to go back to sleep in their beds, said Ali Hassan, 34 and a father of five, in Gaza city. Figures from an independent Palestinian human rights group put the number of civilians killed in three weeks of aerial bombardment and a two-week-long ground offensive backed by tanks and artillery at over 700. Hundreds of fighters have also died. Ten Israeli soldiers and three civilians have been killed.
Gaza's Hamas-run Health Ministry said some 5,300 wounded had been treated, many at chaotic, sanctions-hit hospitals. It put the death toll to Saturday at 1,206, including 410 children. Of these, two young boys were killed early on Saturday at a United Nations-run school where hundreds of people had taken refuge. U.N. officials called for war crimes inquiries. Israel accuses Hamas fighters of hiding among civilians and says its troops do all they can to avoid hitting non-combatants in a territory where half the population is aged under 18. Olmert said he apologized for the suffering of the innocent, and Israel announced plans to open a clinic Sunday at the Erez Crossing with Gaza to treat the wounded. (Additional reporting by Adam Entous, Ari Rabinovitch, Jeffrey Heller and Luke Baker in Jerusalem, Alaa Shahine in Cairo and Yara Bayoumy in Beirut; Writing by Alastair Macdonald and Allyn Fisher-Ilan; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
Obama prayer leader from group US linked to Hamas By MATT APUZZO, Associated Press Writer – Sat Jan 17, 8:39 pm ET
WASHINGTON – A Muslim scholar chosen to speak at President-elect Barack Obama's inaugural prayer service Wednesday is the leader of a group that federal prosecutors say has ties to terrorists.Ingrid Mattson, president of the Islamic Society of North America, is one of many religious leaders scheduled to speak at the prayer service at Washington's National Cathedral.Mattson has been the guest of honor at State Department dinners and has met with senior Pentagon officials during the Bush administration. She also spoke at a prayer service at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. Mattson, who was elected president of the society in 2006, is a professor of Islamic studies at Hartford Seminary in Hartford, Conn.But in 2007 and as recently as last July, federal prosecutors in Dallas filed court documents linking the Plainfield, Ind.-based Islamic society to the group Hamas, which the U.S. considers a terrorist organization.Neither Mattson nor her organization have been charged. But prosecutors wrote in July that they had a wide array of testimonial and documentary evidence expressly linking the group to Hamas and other radical groups.Linda Douglass, a spokeswoman for Obama's inaugural committee, would not discuss the case or say whether the committee knew about it.She has a stellar reputation in the faith community, Douglass said Saturday night.The existence of the court documents was first reported by Politico.The Islamic Society of North America, which describes itself as the nation's largest mainstream Muslim community-based organization, is fighting its inclusion on a list of coconspirators in the Dallas terrorism case against the Holy Land Foundation. In court documents, Mattson's group says it does not condone terrorism.The court documents represent a complicated picture of the group.
Law enforcement agencies have used the organization's annual convention as part of its outreach to the Muslim community. The group has provided religious training to the FBI, according to court documents. Karen Hughes, a former Bush confidant and under secretary of state, called Mattson a wonderful leader and role model for many, many people.All this was going on while officials in the law enforcement and intelligence community apparently had evidence that the Islamic Society of North America had ties to terrorists and to the Holy Land Foundation. That foundation and five of its former leaders were convicted at a retrial in November of funneling millions of dollars to Hamas.Mark Pelavin, director of inter-religious affairs for the Union for Reform Judaism — another organization participating in the prayer service — called Mattson a really important voice denouncing terrorism.Clearly, Dr. Mattson has been welcome throughout the government, he said. I haven't found anyone anywhere who's found anything Dr. Mattson has said that's anything other than clearly denouncing terrorism in quite explicit Islamic terms.Pelavin's group has a partnership with the Islamic Society to encourage members of mosques and synagogues to build ties nationwide.Attorneys for Mattson's group wrote in court documents that it is not a subject or target of the Holy Land investigation. The group has worked with the Bush administration's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, according to court documents.According to e-mails filed in the court case, one of the prosecutors seemed willing to ask the judge to remove the group from the list.
I am sorry for the problems for your clients, Assistant U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks wrote in July 2007. I hope to get something to you or file something with the court as soon as possible.The Islamic Society helps certify Muslim chaplains for federal prisons. Mattson leads a program at the Hartford Seminary that trains Muslim chaplains for the U.S. military. Mattson was one of about three dozen leaders, including former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, and two former Republican congressmen, Vin Weber and Steve Bartlett, who developed a report released last fall on how the U.S. can fight extremism in the Muslim world. AP Religion Writer Rachel Zoll contributed to this report.
I CAN GUARENTEE AS SOON AS DAYLIGHT COMES IN ISRAEL THE CEASEFIRE WILL BE DONE WITH AS HAMAS CAN'T CONTROL THEIR LUSTFUL DESIRES TO ELIMINATE ISRAEL FROM THE FACE OF THE EARTH.
Israel holds its fire: Statement by PM Ehud Olmert 17 Jan 2009
Beginning at 2:00 a.m., Israel will cease its actions against the terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip and will remain deployed in the Gaza Strip and its environs.
Translated from Hebrew]
Citizens of Israel,
Exactly three weeks ago as the Sabbath ended, we sat here before you - my friend Ehud Barak, the Vice Prime Minister Tzipi Livni and myself - and detailed the considerations and goals which guided us in launching a military operation in the Gaza Strip. Today, we face you again and can say that the conditions have been created so that our targets, as defined when we launched the operation, have been fully achieved, and more so:
• Hamas was badly stricken, both in terms of its military capabilities and in the infrastructure of its regime. Its leaders are in hiding. Many of its members have been killed. The factories in which its missiles were manufactured have been destroyed. The smuggling routes, through dozens of tunnels, have been bombed. The Hamas's capabilities for conveying weapons within the Gaza Strip have been damaged. The scope of missile fire directed at the State of Israel has been reduced. The areas from which most of the missiles were launched are under the control of IDF forces. The estimate of all the security services is that the Hamas's capabilities have been struck a heavy blow which will harm its ability to rule and its military capabilities for some time.
• The IDF and the Israel Security Agency have succeeded in conducting an outstanding operation, utilizing all the elements of Israel's force - on land, at sea and in the air. The military operation was characterized by determination, sophistication, courage and an impressive ability in intelligence and operations, which led to significant and numerous achievements. The current campaign proved again Israel’s force and strengthened its deterrence capability vis-a-vis those who threaten us.
• The reserves soldiers, who are the foundation for the IDF’s strength, proved that the spirit of volunteerism and a willingness to sacrifice still very much exist. These forces were made ready in a thorough manner, equipped with all they needed and thus could demonstrate their professionalism and fierceness of spirit.
• During all the days of fighting, the Israeli home front demonstrated its strength, despite hundreds of rockets and mortar shells indiscriminately fired at a population which numbers one million residents; it was the home front that created an unshakable foundation which strengthened us and gave us the ability to continue fighting. Two years of preparation on the home front proved that we learned our lessons and were properly organized. The Government and the heads of the regional local authorities under attack demonstrated the patience, endurance and that same strong spirit which allowed the political echelon to make the right decisions, knowing that the home front could withstand the consequences of those decisions.
• As a decision-making body, the Government of Israel demonstrated unity with regard to goals, and acted professionally and in coordination to achieve those goals. The decisions were all made in a responsible and educated manner, following clarification and in-depth discussions. As an executive branch, the Government met the demands and needs of the population and the fighting forces.
• Alongside the successes, we must also remember the fallen and those who sacrificed their lives to achieve a better reality in the South. The campaign claimed the lives of three residents of the South and ten of our soldiers. Tonight our hearts are with their families. We send our wishes for a speedy recovery to the residents of the South and to the IDF soldiers injured during the operation.
• Today, and in large part due to the success of the military operation, the entire international community is ready to mobilize in order to achieve maximum stability, and knows that, for this to occur, the process of Hamas's strengthening must stop. To this end, we reached a number of understandings - the importance of which cannot be underestimated - which will ensure that the strengthening of Hamas will decrease. We formulated understandings with the Egyptian government with regard to a number of central issues, the realization of which will bring about a significant reduction in weapons smuggling from Iran and Syria to the Gaza Strip.
• On Friday we signed a memorandum of understanding with the American government, in the framework of which the United States will mobilize to take the necessary steps, together with the other members of the international community, to prevent weapons smuggling by terrorists in Gaza. I wish to thank and express my great appreciation to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Vice Prime Minister for her efforts to reach this agreement, for her contribution to the diplomatic steps and for the widespread diplomatic effort she made over the past several weeks, which were an important contribution to the international backing given to the Israeli effort against the terrorist organizations headed by Hamas.
• Today I received a letter from the Prime Minister of Great Britain, Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister of Italy, Silvio Berlusconi, the Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel and the President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, in which all four expressed their profound commitment to assisting in any way in order to ensure that weapons will not succeed in reaching the murderous terrorist organizations in Gaza.
I have no doubt that were it not for the determined and successful military action, we would not have reached diplomatic understandings, which together create a full picture of impressive accomplishment.
Citizens of Israel,
The Government decided to launch the operation in Gaza only after long thought and great consideration, and only after all attempts through other means to stop the firing and other acts of terror by Hamas failed. Israel, which withdrew from the Gaza Strip to the last millimeter at the end of 2005 - with no intention of returning - found itself under a barrage of missiles. Hamas violently took control of the Gaza Strip and began attacking the communities in the South more intensely. Hamas's methods are incomprehensible. It placed its military system in crowded residential neighborhoods, operated among a civilian population which served as a human shield and operated under the aegis of mosques, schools and hospitals, while making the Palestinian population a hostage to its terrorist activities, with the understanding that Israel - as a country with supreme values - would not act. The external Hamas leadership, which lives in comfort and quiet, continued to set extremist policies while ignoring the population’s ongoing suffering and out of a conspicuous unwillingness to ease its situation.
Hamas in Gaza was built by Iran as a foundation for power, and is backed through funding, through training and through the provision of advanced weapons. Iran, which strives for regional hegemony, tried to replicate the methods used by Hizbullah in Lebanon in the Gaza Strip as well. Iran and Hamas mistook the restraint Israel exercised as weakness. They were mistaken. They were surprised.
The State of Israel has proven to them that restraint is an expression of strength which was exercised in a determined and sophisticated manner when that which we had avoided became unavoidable.
During the operation, the State of Israel demonstrated great sensitivity in exercising its force in order to avoid, as much as possible, harming the civilian population not involved in terror. In cases where there was any doubt that striking at terrorists would lead to harming an innocent civilian population - we abstained from acting. There are not many countries which would act thusly.
We have no disagreement with the residents of Gaza. We consider the Gaza Strip a part of the future Palestinian state with which we hope to live a life of good neighborliness, and we wish for the day when the vision of two states is realized.
During the operation, we made widespread and concerted efforts to see to the humanitarian needs of the Palestinian population. We allowed for the transfer of equipment, food and medicine to prevent a humanitarian crisis. In addition, I appointed Minister Isaac Herzog, the Minister of Social Welfare and Social Affairs, to head up this effort, and tonight the Cabinet instructed him to invest all his efforts in preparing a comprehensive plan so that in the next few days, we will be able to provide an appropriate and comprehensive answer to the civilian population’s needs in the Gaza Strip. I wish to express my great appreciation to the international organizations which acted and continue to act tirelessly to assist us in providing the Palestinian population with appropriate living conditions. Israel will continue to cooperate with them, especially in the coming days and weeks on behalf of the Gazan population.
Citizens of Israel,
Today, before the Government meeting, I spoke with the President of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, who presented Egypt’s initiative to me, along with his request for a ceasefire. I thanked the President for Egypt’s commitment to finding a solution to this crisis and for the important role it plays in the Middle East. I presented the President’s statement to the Cabinet, along with the totality of our achievements in the operation, as well as the completion of the goals. The Cabinet decided to accept my proposal to declare a ceasefire.
Beginning at 2:00 a.m., Israel will cease its actions against the terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip and will remain deployed in the Gaza Strip and its environs.
It must be remembered that Hamas is not part of the arrangements we came to. These are agreements involving many countries, and a terrorist organization like Hamas is not and need not be a part of them. If our enemies decide that the blows they have already suffered are not enough and they wish to continue fighting, Israel will be ready for that scenario and will feel free to continue responding with force.
Hamas was surprised a number of times during the past several weeks. It did not predict the State of Israel’s determination or the seriousness of its intentions to bring about a change in the reality in the region. Hamas's leaders did not believe that the State of Israel would launch a military operation on such a scale on the eve of elections; it did not predict the force of the military attack and moreover - it did not predict the outcome.
Hamas still does not fully appreciate the difficult blow it received. If Hamas decides to continue its wild terrorist attacks, it may find itself surprised again by the State of Israel’s determination. I do not suggest that it or any other terrorist organization test us.
This statement tonight would be incomplete if I did not mention the kidnapped soldier, Gilad Shalit. One hundred meters from here, there is a demonstration for his release, and I respect each and every one of the participants. The intensive efforts to secure Gilad's release began long before the operation, continued during it and will continue after as well. The Government of Israel is working on many levels to bring him home, and during the operation we carried out various actions to bring us closer to this goal. Due to the sensitivity of the matter, I will not go into detail. I will only say that Gilad is at the top of our agenda, and we do not need any prodding or reminding in this matter. I am hopeful tonight as well that we will soon see him in his family’s embrace.
On a personal note:
For weeks I have been watching the people of Israel day and night as we make the unprecedented effort to fight for and realize our right of self-defense. I saw the brave soldiers, our dear and beloved sons; I saw their commanders and the spirit which buoyed them; I saw the residents of the South, their fierce sprit; and the leadership of the mayors who took care to provide for the needs of their residents; I also saw the actions of the Home Front Command, which quietly and efficiently coordinated the assistance campaign for the southern region; and I heard the bereaved families.
Dear families, the things you said, the pain you expressed, the fierce spirit you demonstrated - these are the foundation for the people of Israel’s strength. On behalf of the entire nation, on behalf of the Government of Israel, I share your profound pain and thank you for the encouragement, the strength and the inspiration your strong stance has granted the entire nation.
I also wish to say something to the people of Gaza: even before the military operation began, and during it, I appealed to you. We do not hate you; we did not want and do not want to harm you. We wanted to defend our children, their parents, their families. We feel the pain of every Palestinian child and family member who fell victim to the cruel reality created by Hamas which transformed you into victims.
Your suffering is terrible. Your cries of pain touch each of our hearts. On behalf of the Government of Israel, I wish to convey my regret for the harming of uninvolved civilians, for the pain we caused them, for the suffering they and their families suffered as a result of the intolerable situation created by Hamas.
The understandings we reached with Egypt, the international backing of the United States and the European countries - all these do not ensure that the firing by Hamas will stop. If it completely stops - the IDF will consider withdrawing from Gaza at a time which it deems right. If not, the IDF will continue to act in defense of our residents.
This is the time to convey our appreciation and gratitude, first and foremost to you, Mr. Minister of Defense, for your work, for the tremendous effort you made, for your skill, professionalism and the understanding you demonstrated throughout he operation - thank you very much. I wish to thank the soldiers of the IDF, their commanders, the Head of the Southern Command Yoav Galant, and the Chief of General Staff Gabi Ashkenazi; to the Israel Security Agency, its fighters and its head, Yuval Diskin; to the Mossad and its hidden fighters, headed by Meir Dagan; to the Israel Police and the emergency services, Magan David Adom and the Fire Department.
Blessed is the nation with such an army and such security and rescue services.
I wish to express my hope that tonight the first step towards a different reality, one of security and quiet for the residents of Israel, will be taken. From the bottom of my heart, I thank the people of Israel, its fighters and their commanders for the fierceness of spirit and the social solidarity they demonstrated over these past weeks.
This is the secret of our strength - it is the foundation for our power and it is the hope of our future.
Thank you.
Israel implements unilateral Gaza cease-fire By MATTI FRIEDMAN and IBRAHIM BARZAK, Associated Press Writers JAN 18,09
JERUSALEM – Israel implemented a unilateral cease-fire early Sunday in its 22-day offensive that turned Gaza neighborhoods into battlegrounds and dealt a stinging blow to the Islamic militants of Hamas. But Israeli troops will stay in the Palestinian territory for now and Hamas threatened to keep fighting until they leave.
In announcing the cease-fire late Saturday, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Israel had achieved its goals and more.Hamas was hit hard, in its military arms and in its government institutions. Its leaders are in hiding and many of its men have been killed, Olmert said.Israel launched the offensive on Dec. 27 to stop years of rocket fire from Gaza at southern Israeli towns. But the rockets did not stop coming throughout the assault. Militants fired about 30 rockets into Israel on Saturday, eight of them around the time Olmert spoke. There was no rocket fire in the first four hours after the truce went into effect, the Israeli military said.More than 1,100 Palestinians have been killed in the offensive, about half of them civilians, according to Palestinian and U.N. officials. At least 13 Israelis have also been killed, according to the Israeli government.According to Olmert's statement, the cease-fire went into effect at 2 a.m. local time (7 p.m. EST). The military warned in a statement early Sunday that attacks on soldiers or civilians will be met with a harsh response.If Hamas holds its fire, the military will weigh pulling out of Gaza at a time that befits us, Olmert said. If not, Israel will continue to act to defend our residents.Israel's insistence on keeping troops in Gaza raises the specter of a stalemate with Hamas, which has insisted that it will not respect any cease-fire until Israel pulls out of the territory, with a population of 1.4 million.Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum in Gaza said a unilateral cease-fire was not enough to end Hamas' resistance — echoing the stance taken earlier by Hamas leaders in exile.The occupier must halt his fire immediately and withdraw from our land and lift his blockade and open all crossings and we will not accept any one Zionist soldier on our land, regardless of the price that it costs, Barhoum said.
In the hours leading up to the vote by the 12-member Security Cabinet, and even as they met, Israel kept bombarding Gaza.Earlier Saturday in the northern town of Beit Lahiya, Israeli shells struck a U.N. school where 1,600 people had sought shelter. One shell scored a direct hit on the top floor of the three-story building, killing two boys, U.N. officials said.Gaza militants launched eight rockets into Israel around the time Olmert announced the cease-fire, the Israeli military said. There were no reports of casualties. Five long-range Grad rockets exploded near the city of Beersheba in the hour after Olmert's televised address, Israel Radio reported.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni indicated that Israel would renew its offensive if Hamas militants continued to fire rockets at Israel.This campaign is not a one-time event, she said in an interview with the Israeli YNet news Web site. The test will be the day after. That is the test of deterrence.Palestinians reacted with skepticism and called on world leaders attending a summit planned for Sunday in Egypt to put pressure on Israel to withdraw immediately.We had hoped that the Israeli announcement would be matched by total cessation of hostilities and the immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, said Saeb Erekat, a top aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, a Hamas rival. I am afraid that the presence of the Israeli forces in Gaza means that the cease fire will not stand.The cease-fire vote comes just days ahead of Barack Obama's inauguration as president on Tuesday. Outgoing Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the Bush administration welcomed Israel's decision and said the ultimate goal remains a lasting truce that is fully respected and will return peace to Gaza. The summit set for Sunday in Egypt is meant to give international backing to the cease-fire. Leaders of Germany, France, Spain, Britain, Italy, Turkey and the Czech Republic — which holds the rotating EU presidency — are expected to attend along with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. It was not immediately clear whether Israel would send a representative, and Hamas has not been invited. Ban welcomed Israel's move and called on Hamas to stop its rocket fire. He said urgent humanitarian access for the people of Gaza is the immediate priority, and the United Nations is ready to act.During its campaign, Israel said it destroyed roughly 60 percent of the hundreds of tunnels under the eight-mile Egypt-Gaza border. As it seeks a longer-term solution, Israel signed a deal Friday in Washington in which the United States agreed to commit detection and surveillance equipment, as well as logistical help and training to Israel, Egypt and other nations to monitor Gaza's land and sea borders. But Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said Saturday that his country would not be bound by the agreement. Egypt's cooperation is essential if the smuggling is to be stopped. As Israel's Security Cabinet met Saturday evening, airstrikes continued. Walls shook and windows trembled in the southern Gaza border town of Rafah as fighter jets soared above head, apparently focusing their missiles on the no man's land with Egypt where many suspected smuggling tunnels lie. But all was quiet after Olmert's announcement for the first time in three weeks, residents said, giving them a chance to sleep. A total of 13 Palestinians were killed in battles throughout Gaza Saturday, Palestinian medics said. John Ging, the top U.N. official in Gaza, condemned the attack on Beit Lahiya that killed the two boys — the latest in a series of Israeli shellings that have struck U.N. installations. The question that has to be asked is for all those children and all those innocent people who have been killed in this conflict. Were they war crimes? Were they war crimes that resulted in the deaths of the innocents during this conflict? That question has to be answered, he said. The Israeli army said it was launching a high-level investigation into the shelling, as well as four other attacks that hit civilian targets, including the U.N. headquarters in Gaza. The army investigation also includes the shelling of a hospital, a media center and the home of a well-known doctor. Ibrahim Barzak reported from Gaza. Associated Press reporters Alfred de Montesquiou in Rafah, Gaza Strip, and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.
Israel, Hamas hold fire for now in Gaza By Nidal al-Mughrabi Nidal JAN 18,09
FOX News GAZA (Reuters) – Israel ceased fire in the Gaza Strip on Sunday after declaring victory in its three-week offensive but Hamas guerrillas said the war that has cost 1,200 Palestinian lives would go on.Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak invited European leaders to a hastily-called summit to try to bolster the unilateral truce although Israel had sidestepped Cairo's efforts to achieve a negotiated end to the hostilities with Hamas.The racket of explosions and gunfire of the past 22 days went silent in Hamas-ruled Gaza after the Israeli ceasefire went into effect at 2 a.m. (7 p.m. ET).Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in a televised address on Saturday that Hamas had been badly beaten in the offensive, launched before a February election to end Hamas rocket attacks on southern Israel that were undermining support for the governing coalition.Conditions have been created whereby the goals set at the launch of the operation have been more than fully achieved, Olmert said.
Gaza's Islamist rulers said they would keep firing rockets at Israel until it withdrew its troops and ended its trade blockade on the coastal enclave.These constitute acts of war so this won't mean an end to resistance, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said.But there were no reports of rockets fired at Israel in the hours after the ceasefire began, though several were launched shortly after Olmert's announcement.Olmert said Israel's troops would remain in place and hit back if the Palestinians tried to fight on.If our enemies decide the blows they've been dealt are not sufficient and they are interested in continuing the fight, Israel will be prepared for such and feel free to continue to react with force.
SHORT-NOTICE SUMMIT
Mubarak invited European leaders to a short-notice summit on Sunday to find ways to bolster the truce and ease the plight of civilians crammed into the 45-km (28-mile) sliver of Gaza coast.Mubarak will host Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon in Sharm el-Sheikh on Sunday, along with the leaders of France, Britain, Germany, Turkey, Italy and Spain.Olmert cited internationally backed understandings with Egypt, Gaza's southern neighbor, on preventing Hamas from rearming through smuggling tunnels as a reason behind Israel's decision to call off its attacks.U.N. Secretary General Ban welcomed the Israeli ceasefire but also urged it to pull out its forces from Gaza rapidly.U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who had spoken up for what Israel saw as its right to self-defense despite the civilian casualties, said she hoped for a durable ceasefire and a long-term settlement for the problems of Gaza.Rice and President George W. Bush are stepping down and many analysts believe Israel, eager for smooth relations from the outset with the new president, has been keen to end the fighting before Barack Obama takes over the White House on Tuesday.Israel launched air strikes on the Gaza Strip on December 27 and ground troops pushed into the enclave a week later, saying its main aim was an end to the rocket fire that had killed 18 people in Israel over the previous eight years. Without an accord with Hamas, diplomats said they feared Israel would let only a trickle of goods into Gaza, hampering reconstruction and creating more hardship for its people. So long as there is no agreement on the crossings, I frankly cannot see the end to the hostilities, said Shlomo Ben-Ami, who was Israel's left-leaning Labor foreign minister when peace talks with the Palestinians collapsed in 2001. The road ahead for the Obama administration in promoting a peace settlement that has eluded Israelis and Palestinians for the 60 years since Israel was established remains bumpy. Hamas, which won a parliamentary election in 2006 and seized Gaza from Abbas's forces a year later, is shunned by the West but remains a popular force in both Gaza and the West Bank. It is unclear what effect this month's war will have on the division between the Palestinians factions. Without an end to the bitter rift between Hamas and Abbas, a deal with Israel on establishing a Palestinian state still seems distant to many.
MANY IN GAZA DESPERATE
After the deaths of perhaps more than 700 civilians in the Israeli offensive, many of Gaza's 1.5 million people are desperate for a respite. Most of those, their nerves shredded and sleepless with fear and bereavement, just want the war to be over. We do not care how, we want a ceasefire. We want to go back to our homes. Our children need to go back to sleep in their beds, said Ali Hassan, 34 and a father of five, in Gaza city. Figures from an independent Palestinian human rights group put the number of civilians killed in three weeks of aerial bombardment and a two-week-long ground offensive backed by tanks and artillery at over 700. Hundreds of fighters have also died. Ten Israeli soldiers and three civilians have been killed.
Gaza's Hamas-run Health Ministry said some 5,300 wounded had been treated, many at chaotic, sanctions-hit hospitals. It put the death toll to Saturday at 1,206, including 410 children. Of these, two young boys were killed early on Saturday at a United Nations-run school where hundreds of people had taken refuge. U.N. officials called for war crimes inquiries. Israel accuses Hamas fighters of hiding among civilians and says its troops do all they can to avoid hitting non-combatants in a territory where half the population is aged under 18. Olmert said he apologized for the suffering of the innocent, and Israel announced plans to open a clinic Sunday at the Erez Crossing with Gaza to treat the wounded. (Additional reporting by Adam Entous, Ari Rabinovitch, Jeffrey Heller and Luke Baker in Jerusalem, Alaa Shahine in Cairo and Yara Bayoumy in Beirut; Writing by Alastair Macdonald and Allyn Fisher-Ilan; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
Obama prayer leader from group US linked to Hamas By MATT APUZZO, Associated Press Writer – Sat Jan 17, 8:39 pm ET
WASHINGTON – A Muslim scholar chosen to speak at President-elect Barack Obama's inaugural prayer service Wednesday is the leader of a group that federal prosecutors say has ties to terrorists.Ingrid Mattson, president of the Islamic Society of North America, is one of many religious leaders scheduled to speak at the prayer service at Washington's National Cathedral.Mattson has been the guest of honor at State Department dinners and has met with senior Pentagon officials during the Bush administration. She also spoke at a prayer service at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. Mattson, who was elected president of the society in 2006, is a professor of Islamic studies at Hartford Seminary in Hartford, Conn.But in 2007 and as recently as last July, federal prosecutors in Dallas filed court documents linking the Plainfield, Ind.-based Islamic society to the group Hamas, which the U.S. considers a terrorist organization.Neither Mattson nor her organization have been charged. But prosecutors wrote in July that they had a wide array of testimonial and documentary evidence expressly linking the group to Hamas and other radical groups.Linda Douglass, a spokeswoman for Obama's inaugural committee, would not discuss the case or say whether the committee knew about it.She has a stellar reputation in the faith community, Douglass said Saturday night.The existence of the court documents was first reported by Politico.The Islamic Society of North America, which describes itself as the nation's largest mainstream Muslim community-based organization, is fighting its inclusion on a list of coconspirators in the Dallas terrorism case against the Holy Land Foundation. In court documents, Mattson's group says it does not condone terrorism.The court documents represent a complicated picture of the group.
Law enforcement agencies have used the organization's annual convention as part of its outreach to the Muslim community. The group has provided religious training to the FBI, according to court documents. Karen Hughes, a former Bush confidant and under secretary of state, called Mattson a wonderful leader and role model for many, many people.All this was going on while officials in the law enforcement and intelligence community apparently had evidence that the Islamic Society of North America had ties to terrorists and to the Holy Land Foundation. That foundation and five of its former leaders were convicted at a retrial in November of funneling millions of dollars to Hamas.Mark Pelavin, director of inter-religious affairs for the Union for Reform Judaism — another organization participating in the prayer service — called Mattson a really important voice denouncing terrorism.Clearly, Dr. Mattson has been welcome throughout the government, he said. I haven't found anyone anywhere who's found anything Dr. Mattson has said that's anything other than clearly denouncing terrorism in quite explicit Islamic terms.Pelavin's group has a partnership with the Islamic Society to encourage members of mosques and synagogues to build ties nationwide.Attorneys for Mattson's group wrote in court documents that it is not a subject or target of the Holy Land investigation. The group has worked with the Bush administration's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, according to court documents.According to e-mails filed in the court case, one of the prosecutors seemed willing to ask the judge to remove the group from the list.
I am sorry for the problems for your clients, Assistant U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks wrote in July 2007. I hope to get something to you or file something with the court as soon as possible.The Islamic Society helps certify Muslim chaplains for federal prisons. Mattson leads a program at the Hartford Seminary that trains Muslim chaplains for the U.S. military. Mattson was one of about three dozen leaders, including former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, and two former Republican congressmen, Vin Weber and Steve Bartlett, who developed a report released last fall on how the U.S. can fight extremism in the Muslim world. AP Religion Writer Rachel Zoll contributed to this report.
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