ISRAEL
- US ENVOY IN DAMASCUS DISCUSS ATTACKS
September 2, 2002 - (IsraelNN.com) US envoy David Satterfield
was in Damascus today to meet with senior officials and convey
the White House's position regarding ongoing attacks across the
international border between southern Lebanon and Israel. Cabinet
Minister Shalom Simchon called for a military offensive targeting
Syrian interests in Lebanon in response to daily attacks across
the border. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=29417
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- POLICE PREPARING FOR ROSH HASHANAH
September 2, 2002 - IsraelNN.com - Israel Police and other security
forces are preparing for the two-day Rosh Hashanah New Year holiday
that is observed this year on Saturday and Sunday (Sept. 7th
and 8th). Special attention will be focused on synagogues and
religious sites. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=29385
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- PEREZ ATTENDED WORLD SUMMIT
September 2, 2002 - IsraelNN.com - Foreign Minister Shimon Peres
during the night left for the world summit being hosted in South
Africa. http://www.israelnationalnews.com/news.php3?id=29388
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- SOUTHERN WALL OF TEMPLE IN DANGER
August 27, 2002 - Is the southern wall of the Temple Mount safe?
The Jordanians don't think so, and neither does Archaeologist
Dr. Eilat Mazar of Hebrew University, a member of the Committee
to Prevent the Destruction of Temple Mount artifacts. A Jordanian
delegation arrived at the Temple Mount a few days ago to check
the situation of the wall (that which stands to the right of
worshippers at the Western Wall, visible to the right upon entry
from Dung Gate) - but Dr. Mazar says that both the problem and
its cause are obvious. "What's the problem with the southern
wall?" asked Arutz-7's Haggai Segal of Dr. Mazar. "The
problem is that it's about to fall," she responded, "within
a matter of months, and possibly even weeks; I have trouble believing
that it will last the entire winter. I am referring to the southern
wall, at its eastern corner."
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- "Why is this?" Mazar: "It's not hard to guess,
actually. Precisely on the other side of the [bulge in the] wall
is where the major works of destruction were carried out by the
Waqf [the Moslem body that controls the Temple Mount] starting
in 1996, when Netanyahu allowed them to build the largest mosque
in the ancient site of Solomon's Stables, and the area was entirely
changed. Tractors worked there, and tremendous quantities of
fill - composed of ancient artifacts - were taken out. These
walls were not built to carry tractors and loaded trucks. The
path of the rainwater was also changed in the process, and water
is trickling down the walls and eating away at them. The bulge
can clearly be seen [not from the path to the Western Wall, because
the view is blocked, but rather] from the road around the southeast
corner of the Mount; if a year ago it was a 'fourth-month' bulge,
now it looks like it's in its 'eighth month.' It is shocking,
because it looks like it can fall on those standing below..."
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- "Doesn't the Waqf care about this?" Dr. Mazar:
"The Waqf? The only thing it cares about is Islamicizing
the Temple Mount, and absolutely nothing else. Let's not forget,
in the past five years the Waqf has only been destroying there
- their only goal is to build a mosque on the entire compound.
They claim that the entire area is Moslem, and that it's always
been that way, and that's it. Nothing else interests them - not
the Jewish connections, not what Christianity says, not the cultural
significance, and not the law... It's true that the massive destruction
of the past few years has stopped of late, but on the other hand,
Jews are not allowed in to ensure that under the surface nothing
illegal is being done... We have absolutely no idea what's going
on there under the surface. Prime Minister Sharon has no plan,
and has simply decided not to decide. The only thing that will
solve this problem is a public outcry against the continued destruction
of the Temple Mount." http://www.israelnationalnews.org/print.php3?what=news&id=28747
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- CATHOLIC LEADERS SAY JEWS SHOULD NOT BE EVANGELIZED.
Friday Church News Notes, September 6, 2002 (David W. Cloud,
Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port
Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - On August 16, the
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops announced that God's "saving
covenant" with Israel is still valid and there is no need
to evangelize the Jews. The statement, issued by a committee
headed by Cardinal William Keeler of Baltimore, said: "A
deepening Catholic appreciation of the eternal covenant between
God and the Jewish people, together with a recognition of a divinely
given mission to Jews to witness to God's faithful love, lead
to the conclusion that campaigns that target Jews for conversion
to Christianity are no longer theologically acceptable."
This is further evidence of Rome's ability to continually reinvent
itself. For centuries, Rome forced Jews to convert to Catholicism
at the point of the sword. That was ungodly and unscriptural.
Now they are saying that Jews don't need to be saved through
accepting Jesus Christ.
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- That is equally ungodly and unscriptural. The Lord Jesus
Christ told Jewish leader Nicodemus, "Ye [plural] must be
born again," referring to the entire Jewish nation (John
3:7). Later in that same sermon, Christ explained how to be born
again. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). All men must be
born again through personal faith in Christ. The Apostle Paul
said of the Jews, "Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer
to God for Israel is, that they might be saved" (Rom. 10:1).
That means that they WERE NOT saved. Why? "For I bear them
record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.
For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about
to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves
unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to every one that believeth" (Romans 10:2-4)
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- SENIOR PALESTINIAN OFFICIAL TAYYEB ABDEL ANNOUNCING PALESTINIANS'S
CABINET'S RESIGNATIONS IN RAMALLAH
By Amira Hass (Ramallah) and Akiva Eldar, Ha'aretz - 9.11.2002
- Palestinian Authority sources said Wednesday that the decision
by the members of the recently reshuffled Palestinian cabinet
to resign illustrated PA Chairman Yasser Arafat's political weakness.
The ministers submitted their resignations to Arafat earlier
Wednesday, apparently to avoid being ousted by a parliamentary
vote of no-confidence. Palestinian parliament speaker Abu Ala
(Ahmed Qureia) said that Arafat had accepted the resignations.
The opposition to the cabinet was sparked by the belief that
the new cabinet ministers named in a June reshuffle, specifically
recently appointed Interior Minister Abdel Razak Yehiyeh, were
nominated as a result of Israeli and U.S. pressure. The sources
said that the resignations of key Fatah members were proof of
Arafat's weakening power within the organization, as well as
the deep animosity felt toward the Palestinian leader for what
is perceived as poor leadership.
Mohammed Horani, a Fatah member who for the past several weeks
has been pushing for a no-confidence motion, said that the lack
of leadership and strategy over the past two years has led the
Palestinians to their current crisis. Horani estimated that 57
Fatah-affiliated lawmakers, either in Ramallah or participating
by video link from Gaza, were poised to vote against the new
cabinet. "He [Arafat] is our leader, but we are his partners,
and we will criticize him when he does things we think are unsuitable,"
Horani said.
The fact that the no-confidence call has majority backing
is seen as a symptom of the rift within Fatah, in particular
between those from the local movement and those who came to the
territories with Arafat in 1994. "President Arafat has accepted
the resignation of the cabinet, so there is no need to bring
the cabinet to a vote," Tayeb Abdel Rahim, general secretary
of the Palestinian presidency, told a meeting of the Palestinian
legislature. "In the next 14 days, President Arafat will
appoint a new cabinet."
"Our aim was to topple the government, and the government
now is toppled," Jamal al-Shobaki, a lawmaker from Arafat's
own Fatah faction who is nevertheless critical of the cabinet,
told reporters. Arafat okays January elections In a bid to head
off the no-confidence vote, Arafat signed a decree earlier Wednesday
setting presidential and parliamentary elections for January
20, 2003.
Abu Ala read to the parliament what he said was a presidential
decree "inviting all Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza
and Jerusalem for free and general presidential and legislative
elections on the date of January 20, 2003." Arafat has said
in the past that the elections would be held in January, but
until Wednesday had refused to set a specific date. The Palestinian
leader's unexpected decree apparently was a result of a showdown
with Fatah members over his refusal to fire cabinet ministers
seen as corrupt or incompetent.
Many of the PLC members were demanding that Wednesday's vote
apply to the entire cabinet, not only its five new members. Before
the parliament session, Arafat summoned Fatah legislators to
his West Bank headquarters in an effort to persuade them to approve
the new cabinet.
As a compromise, they proposed that Arafat set a date for
elections, meaning the current cabinet would only be a temporary
one. In this case, the legislators said, they would be willing
to limit their vote to the five new ministers, appointed in June.
Many of the longer-serving ministers have been criticized as
corrupt and imcompetent.
The 88-seat parliament is dominated by Fatah, which has 55
legislators. Thirty-seven Fatah lawmakers responded Wednesday
to Arafat's call, among them senior PA negotiator Saeb Erekat,
and met with him at his headquarters before the parliament session.
Horani accused the Palestinian leader of meddling in the parliament's
affairs. "President Arafat is trying the affect the decisions
of the legislature, especially after he felt that there was a
large campaign within the legislature against the new cabinet,"
he said.
- The vote had been postponed from Tuesday to Wednesday due
to a long legal and procedural debate, which some PLC members
thought was intended to prevent the vote.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=207227&contrassID=
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- PLC SLAMS PLAN TO 'ANNEX' RACHEL'S TOMB, ATORAT AIRPORT
September 12, 2002 Tishrei 6, 5763 - Ha'aretz Service - The Palestinian
Legislative Council on Wednesday blasted Israel's decision to
leave Rachel's Tomb and Atarot Airport under its control, the
Itim news agency reported. The decision to "annex Rachel's
Tomb and Atarot airport" goes against all agreements between
the two sides, the council said.
The statement followed approval by the security cabinet Wednesday
afternoon for the Jerusalem security seam line plan and Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon's recommendation to leave Rachel's Tomb,
on the outskirts of the West Bank city of Bethlehem, under Israeli
control and to allow for free access to the tomb for all Israeli
citizens, Israel Radio reported.
Sharon also ordered the ministers to start preparations for
the reopening of Atarot Airport in north Jerusalem, the radio
said.
The cabinet decided to pave a new road in order to allow for
free access to the tomb and agreed that the Jerusalem municipality
and the IDF will be responsible for overseeing the project.
Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer proposed to allow for
access to the grave from an overpass bridge or an escalator that
will end 500 meters before the grave.
Sharon vehemently objected to the defense minister's plan
and said that Rachel's Tomb is an important site for the Jewish
people and access to it must be free. Most of the ministers agreed
with the prime minister.
- Mayor of Jerusalem Ehud Olmert said Wednesday that he supports
the prime minister's reccomendation to leave Rachel's Tomb under
Israeli control. "Rachel's Tomb always was and always will
be part of Israel," Olmert said. http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=207301&contrassID=1&subContrassID=
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