August 1, 2000 - The Republican Party is of course the beloved party for the Christian Right and we covered the preliminaries in Philadelphia on C-span. The republican delegates came on their own pocketbook in the hope of getting some changes going for their constituents. It turned out to be quite interesting from our point of view.
One issue was about the homosexuals in the armed forces. An amendment was presented to change the rules and disallow homosexuals in the military. Amendment was defeated!
Former Speaker of the House, Livingston, is opposed to the NWO on the Bush's agenda. Not only was it voted down but they established a new slogan for New World Order. Presidential hopeful Bush wanted "American Internationalism," the delegates thought that was still a bit obvious. So in the future when you hear "Pincipled American Leadership" what it really means is "New World Order". It was quite disconcerting to us to see this groupof delegates publicly decide to fool the public by inventing disguises for their agenda.
Another interesting subject was an old Treaty with Russia, a country that no longer exists. A delegate wanted the Treaty scrapped. To our surprise the delegates voted against making any kind of waves internationally and to let it stand as is.
Education is the platform and one delegate complained that governor Bush had written his platform in a way that it appeared as though the Federal Government will exert complete control over every breath the schools take, even over chartered schools and home-schooling. "They want to increase chartered schools which points to Hillary's "fascist" agenda," a delegate said. The chairman of the meeting gently reminded her that the chartered schools and home-schooling was a republican idea not a democratic one and that they had a hard time getting the Clintons to agree to it. Amendment was defeated!
The delegates complained that the republicans had promised for years to gradually take the Federal Department of Education out of the local schools and this platform didn't resemble this promise. The delegates were told that it looks good to say that, but from a practical end they could not do away with Headstart and other programs which come out of the Federal Department of Education. Amendment was defeated!
Another issue came up by a delegate about white male students being discriminated against in preference to blacks. The delegate was quite insistent that it needed to be dealt with because of the impact it is having on white students. Amendment was defeated!
The delegates wanted to stop Planned Parenthood from bringing their agenda to the school children. One lady described that they had brought bananas and condoms to the class of young school children and taught them how to put on condoms by means of bananas. The delegate was told that Planned Parenthood keeps pregnancies down consequently abortions. They were told that the Bush Administration would try to get some money in place for "Abstinence from Sex" as population control. At this point the Chairman of Judicial Committee, Henry Hyde, congratulated the group that they had maintained the Roe vs. Wade rule. In other words, abortions on demand are okay with republicans. Nobody replied to that comment. Amendment defeated by 39/50
In listening to various speakers what was really strange was Mrs. Bush and Colin Powell both brought up the Harry Potter Books. Powell said they should be read by the kids and Mrs. Bush said laughingly that she owned the books but had not had time to read them yet and was looking forward to it. The books are considered to be witchcraft from beginning to end. There is no good character in the books. See our "Save the Children" section http://www.cephasministry.com/index_save_our_children.html
So much for "new beginnings"
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THE Pope was recognised as the overall authority in the Christian world
TELEGRAPH UK: 13 May 1999 - THE Pope was recognised as the overall authority in the Christian world by an Anglican and Roman Catholic commission yesterday which described him as a "gift to be received by all the Churches".
Disagreement about the extent
of the Pope's authority was one of the main causes of the English
Reformation in the 16th century, and has been a constant stumbling
block to the two Churches reuniting. However, yesterday's statement,
released at Lambeth Palace - which is not binding - accepted
that if a new united Church was created it would be the Bishop
of Rome who would exercise a universal primacy.
Dr George Carey, the Archbishop of Canterbury, admitted that the text would be controversial but called for a debate in both the Anglican and Roman Catholic Churches on its findings. He said: "In a world torn apart by violence and division, Christians need urgently to be able to speak with a common voice, confident of the authority of the gospel of peace."
The 43-page document, The Gift of Authority, has been produced by the 18-member Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission, after five years of debate. The commission concluded that the Bishop of Rome had a "specific ministry concerning the discernment of truth" and accepted that only the Pope had the moral authority to unite the various Christian denominations.
However, it did not go as far as to confirm the Pope's infallibility. Instead, it said: "This form of authoritative teaching has no stronger guarantee from the Holy Spirit than have the solemn definitions of ecumenical councils." The document does not specifically address the issues that divide the two Churches, such as the place of the Virgin Mary and women's ministry.
In the new united Church decisions would be made by consensus through councils, not based solely on the opinion of one man. The document remained ambiguous about what would happen when no agreement could be reached. The document will be discussed when the Primates of the Anglican Communion meet the Presidents of the Catholic Bishops' Conference for the first time in Toronto next May.
The proposals are expected to shock many Anglicans, particularly on the evangelical wing of the Church, which remains wary of an extension of the Bishop of Rome's authority.
Mark Birchall, a member of the Church of England Evangelical council, said: "It speaks as if the Bishop of Rome has always been on the side of the angels while it is well known that for several centuries past the Bishop of Rome was certainly not."
Catholic traditionalists have also expressed concern about the new emphasis on the authority exercised by the entire Church at the expense of the Pope's sole infallibility. However, the authors of the document called on people to study the work in entirety before judging it. The Rt Rev Mark Santer, the Bishop of Birmingham and co-chairman of the body, said: "This is a serious piece of theological work and to understand our conclusions you have to follow how we got there. One faith was given by Christ and his apostles and what we are trying to do is rediscover that one common faith."
The Rt Rev Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, Bishop of Arundel and Brighton and the other co-chairman, added: "The primacy of the Pope is a gift to be shared."
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AFP 7.31.2000 Egypt warns US against moving the American Embassy to Jerusalem. "It would have negative effects... and was an extremely "thorny" issue. The move of the US embassy to Jerusalem would imply recognition of Israel's claim to the city as its capital...
Reuters 7.31.2000 Albright seeks
Vatican wisdom.. "They are wise and have long term interest,"
she said. She plans to meet with Foreign Minister Lamberto Dini
and Vatican Foreign Minister Archbishop Jean Louis Tauran..
Reuters 7.31.2000 Arafat asks for Islamic meeting on Jerusalem.. "Jerusalem is not only a Palestinian responsibility. It is also an Arab, Muslim and Christian responsibility," said Arafat. He received solid support from Morocan and Jordanian monarchs. He has visited France, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Yemnen to drum up support since the summit in Camp David.
JULY 31, 2000 - JERUSALEM, Cameron W. Barr , Christian Science Monitor It was bad enough that last week's Camp David peace talks ended without an agreement. For the Palestinians, the after-spin has been just as grim, with President Clinton, Israeli officials, and even an influential Arab newspaper saying Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat was unwilling to give ground for peace.
Mr. Clinton, in an interview broadcast Friday on Israeli television, also said he would consider moving the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a step that would partially recognize Israel's insistence that this divided and disputed city is its "eternal"capital.
"We were shocked by this interview because we had started to believe that President Clinton understood our suffering," says Marwan Barghouti, a Palestinian leader in the West Bank.
Now Mr. Barghouti and other commentators in the Arab world are again questioning the US leader's capacity to act as an impartial mediator in this most intractable of conflicts.
"I don't think it's fair to accuse the Palestinians and criticize Mr. Arafat - it means the American administration is not a fair mediator and the mediator has to be fair."
When one party is flexible and the other is intransigent, counters Israeli analyst Barry Rubin, deputy director of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies in Tel Aviv, "The mediator has to say, 'You've got to do something too."
Apart from frustration over Camp David, Clinton's comments also reflect his desire to shore up Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who is taking heat from Israelis opposed to making concessions to the Palestinians. This week he faces no-confidence votes and a motion for new elections in Israel's parliament.
Clinton's support may help, but it also hurts. To have the US president praising his willingness to make a deal with the Palestinians only further incenses conservative Israelis who fear that Barak has already offered too much.
In light of close US-Israeli ties - this country is the No. 1 recipient of United States military and development assistance - Palestinians have never believed that America is entirely an honest broker in their dispute with Israel. But in recent years, Clinton has courted Palestinian trust, repeatedly inviting Arafat to the White House and in 1998 paying a visit to Gaza.
The negotiations at Camp David, where Clinton says that the Israeli leader was willing to make more concessions than his Palestinian counterpart, seem to have taxed presidential patience.
The two sides reportedly made progress on difficult issues - such as the borders of a Palestinian state, what to do with Israeli settlers who have established communities within Palestinian territories, and how to handle Palestinian refugees who fled or were forced from their homes during the Arab-Israeli wars of 1948 and 1967 - but they remained far apart on Jerusalem.
The city contains sites holy to three religions - in some places one on top of the other - and both sides want the city as their capital. Although the mere discussion of Jerusalem is considered a breakthrough, a solution eluded the Camp David negotiators.
But Clinton is not the only person blaming the Palestinian leader.
Over the weekend, the editor of a Saudi Arabian-owned newspaper in London also criticized Arafat for the outcome of Camp David. "He wants to be the guest of the American president and have dinner every evening with the prime minister of Israel, but he did not want to offer anything," wrote Abderrahman al-Rashed in Asharq al-Awsat. "He is not ready for a political solution...."
In this part of the world, where newspaper columns are often thought to provide glimmers of insight into the thinking of tight-lipped leaders, Mr. Rashed's comments stand out from Arab criticism of the pressure put on Arafat and support for his rejection of US proposals at Camp David.
Yesterday, the Saudi newspaper al-Riyadh said in an editorial that Clinton "wants to punish the Palestinians by moving his country's embassy to Jerusalem and to deprive them [of] aid if they declare a state." Arafat has said he will unilaterally declare Palestinian statehood on Sept. 13, a move that Clinton has cautioned against in the absence of an agreement with Israel.
In recent days Arafat has been touring world capitals to explain his version of what happened at Camp David, saying before his departure from Gaza that Israelis have been telling "big lies" about Palestinian positions. He did not have to explain himself to his own people, who greeted him with cheers and jubilation when he returned from the US last week.
He may be seeking support, particularly from Arab leaders, for difficult decisions ahead that will make him less popular at home.
Despite Clinton's criticism - which Israeli analysts attribute in part to the president's desire to help Hillary Rodham Clinton's standing with Jewish voters in New York - the Palestinian leader is in no position to "fight the US," says Meir Litvak, an expert on Palestinian politics at Tel Aviv University.
The Middle East peace process, fractious and halting though it is, has gained a momentum of its own. Yesterday, Israeli and Palestinian negotiators met to continue the push for an agreement, and Clinton has indicated he would be willing to host another summit.
But Mr. Barghouti, leader of the Fatah organization founded by Arafat, notes that "there is real frustration in the Palestinian street now."
Many of Arafat's supporters cannot understand why more concessions are necessary.
By their reckoning, Arafat's recognition of the state of Israel in 1993 signed away their right to claim 78 percent of land they consider their own.
Left with the remaining 22 percent, they say they are being asked to concede even more territory and their rights to Jerusalem. A fair solution, they say, is simple.
"If you take something of mine and there is a fight,
then for peace you must give back what you took," says an
American businessman of Palestinian origin who declined to give
his name. [Source:
http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/2000/07/31/fp6s1-csm.shtml
]
"NEWSWEEK" Exposes PA Corruption
Arutz 7, May 22,2000
In a detailed expose published in the May 22 edition of Newsweek entitled "Something Rotten in Palestine," journalists Daniel Klaidman and Matt Rees describe Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority as a "Mafia State."
The article begins with a description of how the PA confiscated land from local resident Mahmoud Hamdouni in April, 2000, in order to build a multi-million dollar casino there. "Accused by Palestinian security services of treason two years ago, he was freed from jail only after he signed over his land to the Palestinian Authority," writes Newsweek. The article details various examples of corruption among top PA officials, and notes that the corrupt system is perpetuated by Arafat's practices. Newsweek predicts that in the near future, Palestinians will direct most of their fury not at Israel, but at the corrupt Arafat regime.
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Palestinians to Get Parts of Jerusalem
excerpted from an article by Nadav Shragai, Ha'aretz, May 16,2000
Barak promised that Greater Jerusalem would remain part of the Israel prior to the national elections. However, at this point it is obvious that "Greater Jerusalem" is a literary term. By the time this issue of the DFJ goes to press, Abu Dis, Eizariya, and Suwahra may already have been given over to the Palestinian Authority, as a good will gesture to the Palestinians before the upcoming third and final West Bank redeployment.
On May 15, Barak pushed through a speedy decision to relinquish these three neighborhoods. The vote in the cabinet was 15-6 and 56-48 in the Knesset (Parliament).
Abu Dis is of special importance to Yasser Arafat who keeps asking for this neighborhood, which overlooks the Temple Mount from an area near to the Mt. of Olives. In various scenarios regarding the permanent settlement, Abu Dis has been mentioned as the future capital of the Palestinian state because of its geographic proximity to Jerusalem. The Palestinian Authority has erected a large building there, which could serve as a Palestinian Parliament Building.
Abu Dis may not be a mere 1,000 steps away from the Temple Mount, as one slogan put it at the right-wing rally held at Zion Square, but it is, in fact, very close to the Western Wall. By foot, it takes half an hour to go from Abu Dis to the Temple Mount; by car, the journey lasts just a few minutes. Jews from the Mea She'arim neighborhood who purchased land in Abu Dis during the first decades of the last century believed that the property belonged to Jerusalem. Their belief derived largely from the fact that hilly areas in Abu Dis afford a clear view of the sacred Temple Mount area. Abu Dis is also part of the area which Yitzhak Rabin and the Labor Party once demarcated as "Greater Jerusalem." As a matter of fact, nothing is more "Greater Jerusalem" than Abu Dis.
While Barak and his Cabinet colleagues promised that Greater Jerusalem would remain part of the state of Israel, their oath was taken in a different era, prior to the national elections a year ago. Since that time, it would appear that Barak has come to regard "Greater Jerusalem" as a kind of literary term.
Beyond Abu Dis, Barak's offer to the Palestinians includes Anata, the birthplace of the prophet Jeremiah, which is within shooting range of Pisgat Ze'ev; (a Jewish neighborhood in northern Jerusalem) and also Suwahara, which borders the city's municipal boundaries in the south. The thin strip formed by these sites represents merely an advance deposit being given to the Palestinians - the final bill will be submitted to us, within Jerusalem itself.
Abu Dis is part of a corridor to Jerusalem. More serious than the corridor itself is the site to which it leads - the Temple Mount, Yasser Arafat's declared objective. Has the government of Israel decided to give it up?
If Barak has committed himself to holding a referendum about withdrawing from the Golan Heights, then it clearly behooves him to seek the people's consent about moves pertaining to the Temple Mount, the site most sacred to the Jewish people, as well as the corridor leading to the Mount itself. Barak should also ask the people about any future concession of civilian authority in areas within Jerusalem, and the current concession involving the thin belt which is still left, ringing around the outskirts of the city.
Strangely enough, experts' security concerns that found their way to the media when Jewish construction at Har Homa and Ras al-Amud was on the agenda are stifled today, when a move as precarious as the handing over of the Jerusalem belt to the Palestinians is being considered. The concealed truth is that security officials have in recent weeks expressed grave concerns about Abu Dis' proximity to the Temple Mount, and about the possibility that Arafat and the PA might exploit its location to undermine Israeli control on the Mount. Security officials also fear that Arafat will capitalize on the territorial contiguity stretching between the belt-area neighborhoods being given to him now and Arab areas within Jerusalem city limits, in order to blur the city's municipal boundaries and increase his own influence in Jerusalem.
One thousand steps, more or less, from the Western Wall, Barak is now taking a step, which will pave the way for Arafat and the PA to enter straight into the heart of Jerusalem. It's difficult to imagine that the Prime Minister isn't aware of the risk he's taking, especially since Arafat and his associates haven't concealed their intentions for a single moment.
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Christian Leaders Worried About Visa Rules
by Haim Shaprio, Jerusalem Post
(DFJ-MayJun00) Israel's Interior Ministry regulations, intended to prevent farmers and industrialists from bringing in foreign workers posing as volunteers, could harm local Christian institutions dependent on volunteers from abroad, and could even force some to close, according to Christian leaders in Jerusalem.
Their concern follows an Interior Ministry announcement saying the minister is to set new criteria for volunteers. The ministry said this was necessary because various organizations were exploiting the status of the volunteers to hire foreign workers.
The criteria, the ministry said, were established during a meeting between the directors-general of the Interior, Agriculture and Labor ministries, together with the director of the Interior Ministry's population registry, Herzl Golan, who is to be responsible for formulating the new criteria.
The ministry said volunteers would only be given a four-month visa and those bringing them into the country would have to provide guarantees ensuring the volunteers indeed left at the proper time.
In a letter to Interior Minister Natan Sharansky, Father Marcel Dubois, president of the Ecumenical Theological Research Fraternity in Israel, said that if the regulations were extended to Christian institutions, many would have to close.
Those affected include hospitals and homes for disabled children, which take in children from all sectors of the Israeli population. Also affected would be service organizations that assist immigrants, the handicapped, Holocaust survivors, and the elderly, Dubois said.
Other Christian institutions that depend on volunteers include schools, which enable local Christians to maintain their traditions and Christian students from abroad to learn about the Land of Israel and its people.
The regulations would also affect Christian holy places and pilgrim centers, which minister to Christian pilgrims who form a large part of the tourist industry and thus contribute to the national economy.
"Evident is the loss to all sectors of the population in Israel, not merely to the Christian minority, and to the State of Israel itself," Dubois said.
Dubois said that representatives of some 50 Christian institutions had already attended an emergency meeting to discuss the situation and convey their concern to Sharansky.
A ministry spokesperson said on March 30 that the ministry automatically gives visas to those recommended by the Religious Affairs Ministry's department for Christian communities. But, Rev. Petra Heldt, executive secretary of the Ecumenical Theo-logical Research Fraternity in Israel, said that she knew of those who had been denied a visa, despite the Religious Affairs Ministry's recommendation. Heldt added that the ministry had recently appeared to be adopting a more aggressive stance toward Christian institutions, telling Christian clerics who had formerly dealt with the Interior Ministry offices in west Jerusalem that they must go to the offices in east Jerusalem, where the officials speak only Arabic.
In a related development, Rev. Ray Lockhart, director of the Israel Trust of the Anglican Church, said that the Interior Ministry had recently rejected all 12 of its applications for work permits for foreign workers, the first time that such a thing had happened.
"We understand that there is unemployment and they want us to hire local people, but as a Christian organization we do need people who understand the organization's need," Lockhart said.
These new regulations would negatively affect Bridges for Peace and other Christian organizations whose principle aim is to help Israel and the Jewish people. Therefore, fax your concerns that these regulations should only be for the building and farm industry, and not affect the Christian and Jewish religious institutions in Israel whose volunteers are freely providing a service to the nation, not exploiting jobs. Send your letters to Israel Interior Minister, Natan Sharansky, HaKiryah, Jerusalem; fax# 972-2-566-6376; and Director of Jerusalem affairs, Haim Ramon: fax# 972-2-530-3727.
PRAYER FOCUS: Pray that Christian Organizations will not be penalized by the new rules for volunteer visas. Bridges for Peace depends on the assistance of 40 volunteers in Israel. Without their help, it would impossible to assist the needy, and carry on with our many programs in Israel. Pray that an accommodation can be reached with the Israeli officials.
SCRIPTURE: "The Lord will keep you from all harm, He will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore" (Psalm 121:7-8).