BPR Mailing List Digest: 10/27/00

Philologos
BPR Mailing List Digest
October 27, 2000

Digest Home | 2000 | October, 2000

To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - SPECIAL REPORT FROM ISRAEL -- by Pastor Reuven Doron , ISRAEL
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("David")
Date: Fri, 27 Oct 2000 09:40:41 +0930

[This prints eleven pages]

EMBRACE ISRAEL MINISTRIES
eMAIL TO EMBRACE ISRAEL: prayerfocus@embraceisrael.org
Friday, October 20, 2000

The Embrace Israel Prayer Focus from Jerusalem is prepared regularly by Pastor Reuven Doron, director of Embrace Israel Ministries. This is provided free of charge and sent via e-mail to a select group of intercessors around the world. If you would also like to receive our printed bi-monthly newsletter, please contact us via phone, FAX, e-mail or postal mail as indicated at the end of this transmission. Please include your name, mailing address, phone number and e-mail address with all correspondence. Thank you!

PRAYER FOCUS
10-20-2000
REUVEN DORON

"Why do the nations rage and imagine a vain thing?" (Psalms 2:1)

Life in and around Israel these days, for the intercessor, is an emphatic model of the life, which is called to be connected to both earth and heaven simultaneously. The person who lives in the gap, that distance between the way things are and the way things could be if God had His perfect way, is fully subject to the downward pull of the pain and wickedness which flood the natural creation, while at the same time never compromising on the hope and glory of heaven.

Such dichotomy is too much for any human heart, and only the life of the Messiah, God's chief intercessor, is sufficient for the task. Pray for us to so abide in the holy vine that no matter how horrifying and discouraging the surroundings may be, our eyes will still behold the King upon His throne!

Thank you for the many prayers, notes, and inquiries. The intercessory support from the nations is priceless, and all of us who serve God in this region know how depressing life here would be without that bright cloud of witnesses surrounding us. This is indeed a good time to sow faith, hope, love, and financial aid into the fields of harvest in our part of the world, as times of distress always produce a harvest, and the Lord of the Harvest is calling for His workers to be in position, ready, and equipped. Thank you for remembering us in your mission giving, especially after the "summer slump."

Many have written to us in recent days, following my latest prayer report of Oct 8, requesting more information and commentary of this kind. I thank you for your commitment and love. However, I have neither the time nor the grace to produce a daily news report, though the unfolding events in our part of the world are indeed significant and weighty. Rather, I will continue to provide the intercessors with timely articles sent in regular intervals addressing both natural and spiritual dynamics in our region that we deem important for the purpose of prayer.

However, for you who desire daily, reliable, and unbiased reporting of events, I recommend the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem's E-bulletin that can be subscribed at: <<icej-news-service-subscribe@icej.org.il>>, as well as the Jerusalem Post E-version that can be found on the net under Jerusalem Post. Remember to pray as you read.

HARD TRUTHS

"Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far away; for truth has stumbled in the street, and uprightness cannot enter." (Isaiah 59:14 NASB)

In light of the significance and speed of the events that erupt and surface in our region daily, I want to shortly address in this writing some of the fundamental hard truths that have often been neglected or altogether forgotten in the avalanche of images, trauma, and deception. In this writing, for the sake of brevity, I will not expound on these points. A fuller examination of these and other neglected truths, can be found in a list of recommended books that can be obtained from our office.

The truths I will address here, as unpopular as they are, are nevertheless the seeds which produce the harvest we are now reaping in the Middle East, and the longer they are ignored, the worse the consequences will be. These truths will not go away, but rather continue to hold the plumb line over the crookedness of mankind, exacting the full price of dishonesty, lust, and pride.

"Middle East on fire." "Palestinians Spark The Arab World." "Arab/Israeli Conflict May Turn Into A Full-Scale War." "Is World War Three On The Horizon?" "World Leaders Convene For Desperate Attempt To Restore Middle-East Peace." These past weeks' headlines seem like chapter headings from an apocalyptic novel, only without the person of the anti-Christ to save the world. I believe that at this last Rosh Hashanah (Feast of Trumpets), September 30, we crossed over into a new chapter in God's unfolding history, and I am afraid that there is no way back.

BEWARE OF COMPROMISE

Israel is a "light to the nations" in spite of herself, even in her blindness and distress. Israel's national history and God's dealings with her were always meant to be lessons and reminders of God's existence, truth, and purpose. Likewise, our present trials can teach all who have ears to hear, and especially the Church, an essential truth that is a warning to the wise.

Plainly, Israel's present suffering points to the painful lesson of compromise. Whenever truth is compromised, even for the noblest of reasons or the most humane of causes, the end result is not good. In fact, as this lesson will painfully prove in time, it is far better to remain in an unresolved yet "honest" conflict, rooted and grounded in reality, than to form unreliable alliances and enter into deceptive agreements.

The church in the nations should heed this warning. A political spirit has been drawing many in the Lord's body into unholy alliances, agreements based upon mutual benefits, and treaties anchored in joint interests. None of these please the Lord. They will not produce the fruit of His Kingdom, nor stand in the day of trial. All such bonds that are born of the mind and the heart of man, even for the best of intentions, face the risk of turning into soul-ties, selfish manipulations, and even demonic unions. Remember how seriously the Lord took the unsanctified unity of the builders of the Tower of Babel.

In her blindness toward God's purpose and her desperation to reach a peaceful existence with her neighbors, Israel is now awaking from a long nightmare of compromise and humanistic wishful thinking. She has been compromising her dignity, her cause, her character, and her destiny for acceptance among the nations. As a person heavily engaged in and committed to the cause of reconciliation, I, too, find it painful to track the recent events, draw the necessary conclusions, and call for honest applications.

ARAB VERSUS MUSLIM

To my Arab/Palestinian friends and brothers I extend my hand and my heart, as always, with a sincere desire to find each other in the Lord. Some of you occupy a special place in my heart, which neither political strife nor national interests can take away. However, we cannot sustain genuine relationships at the expense of the truth, and compromising essential truths at this strategic crossroad will only lead us further into the inevitable dead-ends we looked into these last weeks.

In fact, I am deeply concerned for my Arab Christian brothers and friends who, in the flood of ethnic passions and national frenzy, have become blinded to the reality surrounding them. This reality is that the moving force and controlling agenda of what is taking place in the Palestinian camp today is entirely and exclusively Muslim, and the most militant Islamic groups which are supported and associated with the Islamic terrorist state of Iran, are the ones leading the campaign.

Christian Arabs must know that they are not going to be treated any better than the "despised Jewish Zionists" the Islamic world so detests. The flags waved by Palestinian mobs on our television screens are the flags of the Islamic Revolution, the Hizballa Islamic terror organization, and other militant Islamic groups, not the flags of freedom or equality for the Christian. The same spirit, which haunts Israel in the political arena, is presently at work maiming Christians in Ethiopia, crucifying them in Egypt, enslaving their children in Sudan, and beheading them in Saudi Arabia.

Only a complete fool or a bewitched man will throw his lot with the Islamic camp. I hope and pray that our partners in the Faith in the Arab community will not forget the simple fact that God and His word are our only basis for fellowship, and should we be led by either politicians or mobs, we will lose our only foundation for unity which is the Word of God and His Spirit.

Considering the arguments for either the Israeli or the Palestinian positions from an undiscerning human viewpoint, they seem to cancel each other out. It is only as we view the conflict from God's perspective, as revealed in His covenant promises, without compromising the historical truths examined below, that we have a clue as to the ultimate solution for our region's ills. In the meantime, those opposing God's way must be contained.

PALESTINIAN CAUSE IN PROPER PERSPECTIVE

Before we look any further, we should recall that the Palestinian tragedy, though all encompassing and heart breaking for the Arabs who are caught in it, is but another episode of hardship and warfare that the Hebrew nation has to endure in her long and difficult journey. Our Palestinian neighbors, from a historical Jewish perspective, are but another flash point where the powers of the age come into direct conflict with the people of Israel, God's elect nation in the earthly domain.

While we acknowledge the pressing immediacy and pain of the Palestinian tragedy, a people group who only recently developed any sense of national identity and aspirations, still, from Israel's historical point of view the Palestinians are but a short chapter in the Hebrew nation's long tale of suffering, persecution, and hatred which long preceded the Palestinian cause, or even the modern Arab/Israeli conflict.

The fact is that the Hebrew nation, or Israel in modern times, since her divine inception 4500 years ago, has been in continual conflict with the powers of darkness and their representatives on earth. Isolation, persecution, humiliation, and warfare have been our daily bread for millennia. Chosen and called to testify of God's existence and truths, the Hebrew nation, even in her imperfection and sin, was time and again targeted for annihilation by Satan. Silence the messenger, the reasoning goes, and you get rid of the message.

And so, as painful and pressing as the Palestinian cause appears today, decorated with much international rhetoric and watered with the blood of martyrs, it is but a small case in point given Israel's total experience and age long mission. Arafat, his thugs, and the raging Islamic mobs come at the end of a very long line of oppressors and foes who have had their day, releasing the demonic fury against the nation of Israel. In fact, Arafat and the Islamic agenda (which hitched a ride on the legitimate Palestinian cause) dwarf in comparison to Hitler's nazism, Rome's globalization, Greece's hellenism, Haman's treachery, and Pharaoh's slavery, all strategically aimed at Israel's annihilation. And so, if we are to learn the lesson of history, this trial too, will pass.

Another truth that must be remembered is that of the vast difference between Arab and Muslim. One is an ethnic term that relates to language, culture, and society. The other is a demonized religion that opposes God, His word, and His purpose. It's a principle difference, which not only enables the intercessor to keep a clear head in the battle for souls, should also help our Arab/Christian brethren keep away from the rage and deception, which so often characterize Islamic approach to both Jew and Christian.

Having placed the Palestinian issue in perspective, let us now take an honest look at the actual claims and case in point: According to most media coverage and popular international opinion, the Palestinians want a homeland and the Muslims want control over the sites they consider holy. That sounds reasonable, even reasonable enough for most Israelis to support a peace agreement with such articles included in it. But is it really that simple? Or are these but shallow excuses for a deeper, spiritual agenda, which produces the violence, unending hatred, and lust for the land?

THE LAND

When my grandparents pioneered their way into the Promised Land in the early years of this century, the territory was named "Palestine." The origin of the name is traced to the Roman Emperor Hadrian who changed the name of the land from Judea to "Syria Palestina" after the final Roman victory in A.D. 135. At that time, half a million of the Jewish inhabitants were massacred and thousands exiled and sold into slavery. Their property was confiscated, national life and worship were forbidden, and territory was renamed and designated to the Roman district of Syria (which was not Arab at the time, as the Arab tribes were still a nomadic people group in the area of modern day Saudi Arabia). Jerusalem itself was razed and rebuilt as a Roman city named Aelia Capitolina.

All these steps were taken as a deliberate attempt to obscure the truth, distort the facts of biblical history, and erase the Jewish territorial claim to the land of Israel. However, this diabolic plan, carried out through Roman policy to void the Word of God, was not successful. In fact, throughout all future centuries of foreign domination, there remained a Jewish presence in the land that often constituted the majority of its few inhabitants.

Foreign powers dominated the land of Israel in succession for centuries. After Judea was destroyed by the Romans and her name changed, the Roman rule continued until the breakup of their empire and the rise of the Byzantine Empire in A.D. 315. The region was then ruled by the Byzantines until the advent of Islam and the capture of the land in A.D. 637. From this point to A.D. 1072, the land was ruled by various Moslem caliphs whose capitals were established in other lands.

The Seljukes ruled for a brief period, then the land fell to the Crusaders in A.D. l099, and was under their general rule until A.D. 1291. From this point until A.D. 1516 the land was dominated by the Mameluks from Egypt. After them, the Ottoman Turkish Empire took over and ruled the whole region until they were removed by the British in l918.

Great Britain, which was commissioned by the League of Nations (the U.N. predecessor) to prepare part of that region as a national home for the Jewish people, ruled the region for a short period between WW1 and WW2, a period called the British Mandate. After much debate, struggle, and the horror of the holocaust, Israel was declared a sovereign independent state on May 14, l948. Indeed, empires and kingdoms had their season; mighty armies rocked the whole region under their campaigns, yet they are all gone.

During the entire period of recorded history, the land called Palestine was never ruled by Palestinians. The fact is, that apart from the continuing Jewish presence in the land from A.D. 135 to l948, its inhabitants consisted of the soldiers of each conquering army and their slaves. Century after century, the culture, social fabric and identity of these inhabitants changed as the rulers changed. The Jewish residents, on the other hand, were the sole survivors of the ancient population of the land, and they alone have maintained an uninterrupted national link with the land since the dawn of recorded history.

Israel's claim to the land goes back 4,000 years with many centuries filled with vital and consistent national life, which is supported by undisputable biblical and archeological proofs. For 3,000 years Jerusalem was the capital of the Hebrew nation, and the 35-acre Temple Mount summit, currently the center of the dispute, was rightfully purchased by King David from Ornan the Jebusite. In time, this became the site of the first and second Temples and the center of Jewish life and identity.

Zechariah, as he unfolds the prophetic scenario of God's great deliverance of Israel at the end of the age, said, "In that day I will make the clans of Judah like a firepot among pieces of wood and a flaming torch among sheaves, so they will consume on the right hand and on the left all the surrounding peoples, while the inhabitants of Jerusalem again dwell on their own sights in Jerusalem" (Zech 12:6). This last phrase in the original Hebrew text simply says that Jerusalem shall dwell where Jerusalem always was.

THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE

Though there were agrarians Arab communities scattered in the territory of biblical Israel during the last hundreds of years, there was never a nation called Palestine in the region, or anywhere. So who are the real Palestinians? History tells us that during the same time period, the Jewish communities living in the land also became known as Palestinians as this was the territorial title, and were consistently called Palestinians until the second half of this century.

My own father, blessed be his memory, a Jewish pioneer who arrived in the land in 1920 from Russia, carried a Palestinian identity card (provisional passport under the British Mandate) until 1948 when Israel was declared a sovereign state and all her residents became Israeli citizens.

During World War II, the British army drafted and operated a Palestinian Brigade made up entirely of Jewish troops. The Palestinian Symphony was all Jewish, and the Palestine Post (later named the Jerusalem Post) was an all Jewish newspaper. In other words, being a Palestinian had no bearing whatsoever regarding one's nationality, religion, or ethnic background. It merely pointed to the geographical point of residence and no more.

The ancestors of many of the Palestinian Arabs arrived in Palestine only within the past two centuries. It is well documented that Arab masses flooded into the region from all over the decaying Ottoman Empire, seeking jobs provided by Jewish commercial and developmental activities, which began in the late 1800s. The myth of a coherent national Arab Palestinian population which goes back for generations is a fallacy. And while there are Arab families and clans who can prove their roots in the land for many generations, they represent only a fraction of the whole of the Arab Palestinian population of today.

Palestine was never an established Arab nation wrestled away forcefully by the Zionists, as is so often presented by Arab propagandists. Rather, the Arab families who came for work felt no political ties to the land and, until the l920s, no national community at all had even existed in Palestine. This is the reason why both the Balfour Declaration of England in 1917 and the League of Nations' Mandate following World War I charged the Jewish population in Palestine with guaranteeing the civil and religious rights of minorities in the land. No mention was made, whatsoever, of any distinct national rights of these minorities, as it was clearly recognized by all parties that the only national claim to the area was that of the Jewish population.

In fact, the Arabs themselves, in the first quarter of the century, recognized the land as being a home for the Jews and expressed, in general, a very cordial acceptance. This was demonstrated in an agreement between Emir Feisal of Arabia and Dr. Chaim Weizmann of the World Zionist Organization. The Emir, a respectable spokesman for the Arabs at the time, spoke with much favor of the future cooperation between the newly carved out Arab states and the Jewish one. In Article 1 the Emir said, "The Arab state and Palestine (the Jewish state), in all their relations and undertakings, shall be controlled by the most cordial good will and understanding."

The Emir identified and welcomed the emergence of a Jewish nation in Palestine, parallel to the emergence of Arab nations in the region such as Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, etc. under the British and French mandates. In his letter to Felix Frankfurter, a U.S. Supreme Court justice, in l919, the Emir further wrote, "We feel that the Arabs and Jews are cousins in race, having suffered similar oppression . . . and by happy coincidence have been able to take the first step toward the attainment of their national ideals together. The Arabs . . . look with deepest sympathy on the Zionist movement . . . We will wish the Jews a hearty welcome home." Unfortunately, these sympathetic notions did not last long.

THE REFUGEE PROBLEM

In 1948, following the U.N. declaration of Israeli sovereignty and Israel's own declaration of independence, five Arab nations neighboring Israel attacked the young state. Closing in on Israel, they called for the Arab residents of the area to get out of the way in light of the anticipated invasion, promising them a quick plunder of Jewish property and homes following their victory. However, after eight months of fighting, tiny Israel prevailed, a tense cease-fire was established, and the Arabs who left their homes due to the fierce battles and their leadership's appeal were unable to return. This was the unfortunate beginning of the notorious and tragic Palestinian refugee problem.

Following the war, Jordan and Egypt took control over the West Bank and Gaza strip, with Jordan annexing the region illegally (without any outcry in the international community ). The Palestinian population, most living in their own villages, and some in U.N. constructed refugee camps, were in fact under the authority of neighboring friendly Arab countries, living in the very territory which was allotted them for statehood by U.N. resolution #181 of 1947 which apportioned them a land next to the Jewish state. This would have been an excellent time to establish the hoped for Arab Palestinian state, but it was never done. Why?

Cruelly and contrary to basic human compassion, the Arab residents of Judea, Samaria and the Gaza strip were kept as refugees by their own brethren in Jordan and Egypt, following the l948 Arab defeat. For the purpose of political manipulation, the neighboring Arab states kept these Arab Palestinians underprivileged and unable to improve their conditions. These refugees who fled Israel, never to return to loot and spoil the abandoned Jewish communities as their leaders had promised, were now locked in a prison of dirty politics, selfish tyrants, poverty, and abuse. They were given no economic opportunities, little education, and no industrial infrastructure whatsoever. They had become a political card in the hands of evil men trying to deceive the world and pressure Israel into compromises.

Why were they kept in such impoverished conditions until l967, when Israel captured those territories? Why were they not allowed to blend into the Arab societies surrounding them with which they were comfortable and familiar? Why did Jordan never establish an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank during the nineteen years she ruled the territory? All these and more are questions that must be answered. The tragedy and suffering of the Palestinian people could have been averted if handled properly by Arab leaders at the time. In fact, even if statehood was not permitted them, this could have been the simplest refugee problem of our century, given the fact that these refugees could have been easily absorbed into neighboring populations of like culture, religion, language, and customs.

We deal, however, not with human reasoning, but with demonic powers and principalities, which oppose God and His plan for the region. The chronic nature of the Palestinian cry, the intensifying pressure and stress it creates, and the deep deception surrounding it, all testify to the demonic force that hitched a ride on their tragedy. As Christians, we must maintain a heart of compassion and an attitude of intercession toward these suffering people, while at the same time realizing that further deception will not provide for them, or for Israel, a way out.

PALESTINIAN STATEHOOD

The fact is that the myth of the historic Palestinian state, so cleverly constructed over the years, has gained global authenticity, fooling even those who should know better. This mythical state has already been accepted and given observer status in the United Nations; Yasser Arafat has been named its president and, in several nations around the world, this mythical state has ambassadorial status.

However, there is a legitimate side to the Palestinian cry. Parallel to the emergence of Jewish national life in the region during the early years of the century, nationalistic aspirations in the Arab Palestinian community were also budding. In fact, as some would say, two national movements were maturing simultaneously side by side. I fully believe that, apart from the demonic rage bewitching the Arab masses, the two ethnic groups could have, and possibly will, in the future, coexist peacefully side by side.

Britain, under its mandate, made two sets of territorial promises, one to the Moslems and the other to the Jewish residents of the region. These official promises were originally fully reconcilable and attainable. However, British promises to the Arabs in the region were generously fulfilled, while their promises to the Jewish population were constantly violated. The Arabs were favored, as nearly twenty Arab sovereign states (such as Jordan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, etc.) were artificially carved out and established by the British from the former Turkish Empire.

However, the development of the part of Palestine allocated by the major powers to the Jewish people took a different course. The first "land for peace" agreement took place when four-fifths of the promised Jewish homeland was given to the Hashamite family, an Arabian royal line imported from Saudi Arabia by the British. They were established as the ruling family in the present kingdom of Jordan in 1946, and were handed seventy-eight percent (78%) of the original land promised to the Jewish people by the League of Nations. In fact, the state of Israel today exists on the remaining one-fifth of the land originally promised. Yet, this loss of land provided no peace.

During the l930s, as Hitler was rising into power in Germany, nearly 100,000 German Jewish refugees found shelter in Palestine. This caused great agitation among the Arab leadership, accompanied by murderous anti-Jewish campaigns lasting three consecutive years. The British, anxious to draw the Arabs away from Nazi Germany, put an absolute stop to the Jewish immigration. Europe was ready to snare and destroy its Jewish population, and there was nowhere for them to go.

As millions of Jews were trapped in Europe, the leaders of the Jewish community in Israel demanded the end of the British Mandate. The Arabs, on the other hand, demanded that all of Palestine should become one nation with an Arab majority. And as the matter was debated and decided in the newly formed United Nations, the vote was cast for a sovereign Jewish state to be established.

However, there were serious problems with this U.N. plan, as this small territory, comprised only twenty-two percent of the original promised area, was further partitioned into two states, Palestinian and Jewish. This newly formed Jewish state was, in fact, made up of three disconnected regions, most of which were desert. Judea, Samaria, Gaza, and much of the Galilee were lost, while Jerusalem was to become an international city within the Palestinian state. Yet, in spite of this grim offer, after much agonizing debate, the leadership of the Jewish population accepted the U.N. plan, and on May 14, l948, the new state was declared sovereign and was named Israel. However, this sacrifice of land did not produce the desired peace either.

While the Jewish population painfully accepted the international ruling, the Arabs rejected the U.N. partition plan, demanding the entire land, and on May 15 the armies of Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Egypt and Iraq invaded the one-day-old state of Israel as the Mufti (an Arab religious leader) of Jerusalem who was Yasser Arafat's uncle, proclaimed, "I declare a holy war, my Moslem brothers! Murder the Jews! Murder them all!"

Ironically, these five neighboring Arab states, totaling an area of 1,200,000 square miles, attempted to swallow up tiny Israel consisting of 8000 square miles! Yet, after almost a year of fierce fighting, the small Jewish community in Israel, fighting at great odds, won back parts of the Galilee, Judea, Samaria, and liberated half of Jerusalem. In fact, many of the fighting soldiers were fresh arrivals from the European concentration and death camps with hardly any training and no command of Hebrew. Indeed, the victory of this untrained and poorly equipped army was the Lord's.

As the Arab armies retreated and agreed to an armistice, Jordan annexed Judea, Samaria and east Jerusalem as its own, an illegal act which was never dealt with by the U.N., and these territories soon became breeding grounds from which to launch terrorist attacks against Israel's civilian population. Ironically, Jordan and Egypt now occupied the West Bank and the Gaza strip, the very territories allotted to the Arab Palestinians under the U.N. Partition Plan of l947, which they earlier rejected. Thus, the Arab inhabitants of these territories were virtually taken over by their own Moslem brethren and kept as subjugated people from that point on.

The "land for peace" formula never worked. It appears that the spirit, which is behind the territorial lust of Arab expansionism, is not at all interested in land, but in the total annihilation of the Jewish state. Thus, it will never be satisfied with partial settlements. The fact is that God, in His love for the Arab people, granted them great tracts of land. The territory of the sons of Ishmael is 672 times the size of the state of Israel. It is twice the size of the United States as it embraces all of Northern Africa and the Arabian peninsula, and has vast treasures of oil. Still, the driving spirit behind the blinded masses continues to push for and pursue the destruction of Israel. Land is not its goal, and peace is not an option!

JERUSALEM

Another truth which must be acknowledged is that Jerusalem was never an Arab or Palestinian capital, and that it was, until the Jewish settlers revitalized it in this century, a dusty provincial city that hardly played any economic, social, or political role in the region. Jerusalem is mentioned hundreds of times in the Bible and has been the center of Jewish identity and faith ever since David wrestled it from the Jebusites three thousand years ago. Not once is Jerusalem mentioned in the Koran.

As to "East Jerusalem," there is East Chicago, East Hampton, and there used to be East Berlin, but, until the Arab propaganda machine created the concept, there was never an East Jerusalem, let alone "Arab East Jerusalem." The eastern part of Jerusalem, which is now predominately Arab, became so because the Jordanians, who occupied this part of the city for nineteen years, destroyed all traces of Jewish presence and drove all the Jewish residents out.

ISLAMIC HOLY SITES

There are none in Jerusalem. You will ask, "what about the Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock? Aren't they the reason Jerusalem represents Islam's third most holy city?" The plain fact is that the Koran says nothing about Jerusalem. It mentions Mecca and Medina hundreds of times, but not once does it mention Jerusalem. And as for Muhammad's mystical visit to the city, there is no historical evidence to suggest that Mohammad ever visited Jerusalem.

So how did Jerusalem become the third holiest site of Islam? Muslims today cite a vague passage in the Koran, the seventeenth Sura, entitled "The Night Journey." It relates that in a dream or a vision Mohammed was carried by night "from the sacred temple to the temple that is most remote, whose precinct we have blessed, that we might show him our signs " In the seventh century, Muslim mystics identified the two temples mentioned in this verse as being in Mecca and Jerusalem, and started the legend. This "evidence" is as close as Islam's connection with Jerusalem gets; myth, fantasy, and deception.

All Islamic claims to "holy sites" are based, therefore, on the unfounded claim of Muhammad, a demonized lunatic who opened the spring of this satanic deception. Most, if not all, Islamic mosques and religious places in the entire land of Israel are built on top of the ruins of Jewish synagogues, just as the Dome of the Rock was strategically erected where the Temple was. This is normal Islamic pattern whereby they raise their holy sites on top of the conquered people's ruined temples to display their spiritual superiority and valor.

THE ISLAMIC FAITH

I will not deal here with the origin and history of the Islamic religion. Its demonic conception and wicked precepts can be easily researched as well as Muhammad's insanity and perversity. However, for our purpose here I will shortly bring out the deep-seated hatred and vindictiveness of this religion toward the Jewish nation, as this is the force that is behind the military and political dilemma in the Middle East.

A basic premise of Islam is that it is the religion which Allah, the great God, has raised up to replace both Judaism and Christianity. Both religions, the Koran teaches, failed Allah, and he therefore raised the Arab race to replace these inferior groups and to bring the world into submission, which is the meaning of the word Islam. It is impossible to be a good Muslim and make peace with Israel. This is the main problem in the Middle East.

The Koran (Sura 9:19) says that there are three things that attract more rewards than all others: belief in Allah, belief in the Last Day, and Jihad, holy war. It is recorded in Hadith, the book covering Muhammad's precepts, actions, and life, which is second in authority only to the Koran, that "the last hour will not come before the Muslims fight the Jews and the Muslims kill them." It goes on to say that Jihad (holy war) is "the best method of earning (blessings) both spiritual and temporal. If victory is won, there is enormous booty If there is defeat or death, there is everlasting paradise." The least one in the Muslim "paradise" is promised eighty thousand servants and seventy-two virgins for perpetual sexual pleasure.

Martyrdom is a great way out from the hopeless existence of many Palestinian, so they are told. The Palestinian leadership encourages the youth and children to be in the front of the clashes and, we were told, pays the families $300 for a child that is wounded, and $2,000 if they die. We need to pray with wisdom and compassion, and especially for the Arab youth as daily propaganda from Palestinian television and radio broadcasts feeds them statements like that of the late Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran who said, "The purest joy in Islam is to kill and be killed for Allah," accompanied with images of street fighting, burning tires, and angry mobs.

Islam is a militant bloodthirsty religion, and the end of Islam will be destruction, probably through the humiliation of a crushing military defeat. As some say, only then will the demonic hold be broken off the Arab masses, and the harvest will come in earnest.

THE ISLAMIC LEADERSHIP

Yasser Arafat was a terrorist, is a terrorist, and probably will always be one. His career is long and bloody, so bloody in fact, that he was driven out of Arab countries and placed on their wanted lists. He committed his first murder at age 20, masterminded the biggest hijacking (four aircrafts at once), the largest number of hostages (3,000 at one time), the largest ransom extorted ($5 million from Lufthansa) and the greatest number and variety of targets (40 civilian aircrafts, five passenger ships, and 30 embassies, diplomatic missions, and schools). He has never apologized or condemned any of these actions.

It would not be far from the truth to say that Israel made Arafat. Desperately needing a negotiating partner for the envisioned peace process, which so many Israelis longed for, Israeli diplomatic efforts actually raised Arafat from a lowly place, being an aging terrorist who was on the run for years, to a position of statesman and head of a national movement. Sadly, he wasn't able to make the transition and remained a terrorist whose word is as deceptive as his motives, and who resorts to violence as soon as he does not get his way.

The events that are taking place now in the Middle East are not spontaneous outbursts of anger. These events of violence and deadly anger are the fruit of evil seeds planted by Arafat and his thugs for years in the hearts of the suffering population, and the suffering was not exclusively Israel's responsibility. Much of it was a result of a selfish dictatorial leadership that used great sums of money for their own Swiss Bank accounts and palaces in the capitals of the world. Arafat reportedly has palatial homes in Amman, Bethlehem, Gaza, Jericho, and Paris.

In fact, some of the havoc in the Palestinian street is directly due to the fact that many do not trust nor like Arafat. His leadership was forced upon the Palestinian population through "mafia style" democratic procedures, and is maintained by sheer terror. His administration is grossly inflated, and too much of the funds that arrive at its treasury from international and Israeli sources vanish into private pockets.

Yasser Arafat has totally failed to inform his people that a final peace accord with Israel, if one is still possible, will not satisfy all Palestinian aspirations. Israeli leaders, on the other hand, have consistently made clear that the road to a permanent peace is inevitably paved with "painful concessions," such as abandoning control over much of Israel's biblical heartland. Despite intense protest from many, the Israeli leadership has gone far in implementing those difficult concessions when the new uprising exploded.

The news programs in Arafat's official Palestinian television broadcasts are still filled with mild to severe anti-Israel sentiment. Even more interesting, though, are the fillers that are frequently shown between regular programs. They feature graphic scenes of the original Palestinian uprising and the tunnel riots of 1996. Mournful female singers extol the virtues of the "jihad martyrs and heroes" who are seen hurling stones and firebombs at armed Israeli soldiers. Thus, it takes very little to get contemporary fighters out into the streets when it suits Arafat's whim. And, with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak refusing to sign over the Temple Mount, it seems Arafat felt it was necessary to unleash his shock troops once again.

OUR PRESENT SITUATION

The "cease fire" agreement reached at the recent summit in the Sinai Peninsula is under daily assault itself. The land continues to be plagued with Palestinian violence, daily clashes, and civilian casualties. I will not burden you with the depressing details. Even though Arafat has now agreed to take "concrete steps" to halt the violence --however reluctantly-- it may be too late. With over 100 Arab funerals and several thousand wounded, Arafat's youthful warriors seem eager for vengeance.

The apex of the release of the spirit of perversion and murder came when two Israeli soldiers wandered into Palestinian controlled Ramallah by mistake, were taken in by the Palestinian Police force to their headquarters, beaten to death and mutilated on live TV with pictures of the murderers' blood covered hands waving in gleeful victory. During this mob "lynching" which was documented by foreign TV coverage, the wife of one of the murdered men called on his cell phone, only to hear the violent screams in the background and an Arab voice announcing to her, "we are murdering your husband!"

The Israeli military response was "conservative" at best, as "surgical" air to ground missiles were fired upon Palestinian Authority military and official targets, and that only after first warning the residents to evacuate the sites. Not one Palestinian was reported killed or wounded in these attacks.

As in previous days, the young jihad warriors continue to make their way outside of their cities and towns to attack Israeli positions located in relatively remote locations (IDF troops evacuated most parts of the Gaza strip in 1994, and most towns in the Judean and Samarian hills in 1995). The story is replayed in Ramallah, where daily clashes take place on the southern outskirts of town. That's the only place one can find Israeli soldiers since the city itself is under full Palestinian control.

Such is also the case in Bethlehem. No "Israeli occupation forces" patrol in the biblical town. Demonstrators must hike up to the northern outskirts of Bethlehem to find any IDF soldiers. And so they do, armed with fresh supply of children and youth leading the parades, and, of course, the TV crews. The only town where IDF soldiers are stationed is a small part of Hebron with its small Jewish enclave, which is there since this location is very precious to the Jewish people and is second only to the Temple Mount.

It will be wonderful should the land calm down, the spirits cool off together with the early winter rains we are presently receiving, and sane negotiations resume. However, it is likely to go the other way. How much time before the inevitable, no one knows. Meanwhile, however, our eyes are upon the Lord who always brings in His harvest during times of distress. And the harvest is plentiful around us.

As you pray, don't become lost in the Middle East "black hole." Our drama will go on for a while longer, and meanwhile God is busy on other fronts as well. Remember to watch and pray for the upcoming American elections as they are extremely important and will determine the entire direction this great nation will take in the coming generation. And pray for the workers in the Muslim world as their "work environment" is intensifying daily with the demons of Islam smelling blood. And, above all, pray for your own soul and family, as the coming days will test all of us, and we must take a clear and decisive stand in the spirit.

From Jerusalem
Reuven Doron and family

-----------------------------------
Embrace Israel Ministries
PO Box 10077
Cedar Rapids, IA 52410-0077
USA
Voice: (319) 393-1096 / Fax: (319) 393-2912
E-Mail: mailbox@embraceisrael.org
Internet site: http://www.embraceisrael.org

Duplication and re-transmission of this writing is permitted provided that complete source and contact information for Embrace Israel Ministries is included.

_____________________________________
To subscribe to BPR send a message to bpr-list@philologos.org
with the word "subscribe" in the subject. To unsubscribe send a
message to the same address with the word "unsubscribe" in the
subject.

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Revised Jewish Calendar
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2000 22:08:51 -0500

We have had a few inquiries on the following man's theories and are
sending this out to keep everyone abreast of what we have been
tracking:

We have been studying an alternate Jewish Calendar promoted
by Michael Rood (http://www.6001.com). His findings show that Rosh
HaShanah and the Fall Feasts are to start this Saturday/Sunday (Oct
28/29). We have seen the beginning of the latest unrest in Israel on
what the Rabbis in Israel consider the official start of the year
5761 (6001), yet because of late rains, etc. Rood believes the
calendar is a month off, so we may be in for an escalation of
hostilities in Israel this coming weekend in accordance with what the
actual calendar should be.

Mr. Rood believes the May 5, 2000 alignment (that portrayed the
menorah in the sky) was the beginning of "The Day of the Lord" (the
last 1,000 years/6001). This was the first new moon after the barley
became ripe in Israel. The Jews celebrated this time a month earlier
and Mr. Rood states that the rains were late this year, therefore,
the correct date for Aviv 1 was to be pushed back one month to allow
the barley to fully ripen. He follows a more agricultural/"see what's
happening on the ground" calculation as opposed to the Rabbis who use
more of a mathematical formula to determine when these dates occur.
Mr. Rood believes that seeing what is actually happening in Israel
leaves the calendar more in the hands of the Lord than just
calculating it months/years in advance.

Mr. Rood's calendar shows the month of Elul and the 40 days of
repentance that culminate with Yom Kippur starting exactly when this
latest unrest began at the end of September. He goes on to anticipate
that Tishri 1 (Rosh HaShanah/Oct 28/29) will see the end of "The
Covenant of Death" (Sept 13, 1993 peace agreement) and the beginning
of the Gog/Magog war which will end ten days later on Tishri 10 (Yom
Kippur). At the end of this war there is to be the renewing of a
covenant and the revealing of the Ark of the Covenant.

Interesting to note is that the month of Elul has the constellation
of Virgo associated with it. This constellation seems to be portrayed
in Revelation 12:1: "And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a
woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her
head a crown of twelve stars." There is a specific time every year
when the woman (Virgo) is "clothed" with the sun and has the moon
under her feet. To see a picture of this phenomenon for the date
anticipated to be the most accurate of the past few years (and just
happens to be that of September 30, 2000), please see
http://philologos.org/bpr/files/Sky_Signs/ss017.htm

For more on the Revelation 12 sign, please see BPR files:

Virgo (the woman) parts 1 & 2
http://philologos.org/bpr/files/Sky_Signs/ss022.htm

Crown
http://philologos.org/bpr/files/c003.htm

Hydra
http://philologos.org/bpr/files/Sky_Signs/ss018.htm

Tail of the Dragon
http://philologos.org/bpr/files/Sky_Signs/ss020.htm

Flood
http://philologos.org/bpr/files/Sky_Signs/ss021.htm

Dragons and Floods
http://philologos.org/bpr/files/Misc_Studies/ms054.htm

Rosh HaShanah
http://philologos.org/bpr/files/Jewish_Feasts/js002.htm

More info regarding the 40 days of repentance comes for the
Encyclopaedia Judaica which states: " Jewish legend connects special
significance of Elul with the 40 days of Moses' stay on Mount Sinai
which was calculated to have commenced on the first of Elul and ended
on the 10th of Tishri [Yom Kippur]."

Another interesting sideline to the Oct 28/29 scenario is to look at
the Torah portion for this week. This portion is called Bereshit [in
the beginning] and includes Gen 1:1-6:8 (which ends with the
beginning of the story of Noah and the verse 6:8 "But Noah found
grace in the eyes of the LORD."); 1 Samuel 20:18-42; and Ronni's
calendar has readings from the New Testament and the reading for this
week is Rev 22:6-21 which speaks to the promise of Jesus' return.

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Lieberman excommunication making waves
From: bpr-list@philologos.org
Date: Fri, 27 Oct 2000 04:49:02 -0500

FRIDAY OCTOBER 27 2000

Lieberman excommunication making waves
Reaction to rabbinical court decision mixed among orthodox Jews

By Tom Ambrose
� 2000 WorldNetDaily.com

A week following the excommunication of Democratic vice presidential
candidate Sen. Joseph Lieberman by a rabbinical court in New York,
one thing is becoming clear: Reaction to Lieberman's views among
Orthodox Jews is volatile and controversial.

Lieberman, who has been under fire from various religious groups for
his views on issues such as abortion and homosexuality, is finding
himself increasingly at the center of a polarizing dialogue within
his own religious community, Orthodox Judaism.

The excommunication is the strongest statement yet in a series of
criticisms of Lieberman by Orthodox rabbis and others. The decision
by the New York Torah Court -- also known as a "beth din" -- was
handed down by three rabbis who listened to evidence concerning
Lieberman's recent statements regarding his faith.

According to a statement on the website of Jews For Morality -- a
grass-roots organization which claims to represent the views of "tens
of thousands" of Orthodox Jews in New York and elsewhere -- the
reason for the excommunication was that Lieberman had caused a "grave
scandal" by desecrating God's name since, "... while claiming to be
an observant Jew, Lieberman has been misrepresenting and falsifying
to the American people the teachings of the Torah against
partial-birth infanticide, against special privileges and
preferential treatment for flaunting homosexuals, and against
religious intermarriage of Jews."

Since the announcement of the excommunication on Oct. 18 by Jews For
Morality, Gore-Lieberman campaign press officials have remained
unwilling to issue a statement regarding the decision despite
repeated requests for a response from WorldNetDaily and other
publications.

However, a public relations representative of the Union of Orthodox
Jewish Congregations of America, Betty Ehrenberg, stated that the
"Orthodox Union is proud to have Sen. Lieberman" on its board of
directors. She went on to state that Jews For Morality and other
Jewish groups critical of Lieberman were "neither very large nor very
influential." When asked what size she thought these organizations
actually were, she admitted that she didn't know.

Yet controversy over Lieberman's views exists even within the
Orthodox Union -- a group that promotes itself as "the world's
largest and most effective Jewish organization of its kind" and
claims to speak nationally for "1,000 synagogues." Dr. Mandell I.
Ganchrow, president of the Orthodox Union, has been cited in recent
press accounts defending Lieberman, but at the same time has also
acknowledged that he "may disagree" with Lieberman on various issues
and reportedly has made statements critical of the senator's
pronouncements on Jewish law.

But the Orthodox Union is only one voice among Jewish organizations.
In recent months, representatives of other Jewish organizations such
as the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada, the
American Board of Rabbis and the Republican Jewish Coalition have
made strong public statements against Lieberman's positions on
matters of Jewish law.

When asked why he thought so much controversy exists within the
Orthodox Jewish community, Rabbi Yehuda Levin with Jews For Morality
speculated that many Jews are embarrassed by Lieberman's comments but
are unsure of what to think or do since he is part of their
community. He went on to acknowledge that, while there was not a
central authority that could enforce the excommunication decision,
Lieberman would not be able to hold a place of honor in synagogues
that support the rabbinical court's action.

According to Rabbi Levin, Lieberman will now have to contemplate his
dishonor until he repents from wearing "his Judaism on his lapel" as
a way to "get himself elected."

Tom Ambrose is a contributing reporter to WorldNetDaily.

� 2000 WorldNetDaily.com, Inc.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/bluesky_exnews/20001027_xex_lieberman_ex.shtml

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Palestinian militias swap stones for M-16s in conflict with Israel
From: bpr-list@philologos.org
Date: Fri, 27 Oct 2000 04:51:54 -0500

Thursday, October 26 12:39 PM SGT

Palestinian militias swap stones for M-16s in conflict with Israel

BALATA REFUGEE CAMP, West Bank, Oct xx (AFP) -
With a stolen M-16 assault rifle on his lap, Khaled says Palestinians
have never been more organized to fight Israel with real weapons than
now.

Khaled, who received six months military training in Baghdad, is a
commander of the armed Palestinian militia that has been engaging
Israeli troops and Jewish settlers in and around the West Bank town
of Nablus over the past four weeks of deadly street battles.

A member of Fatah, the political faction of Palestinian leader Yasser
Arafat, Khaled calls his group "the militia".

"The guns do the talking," said Khaled, 30, fingering his US-made
M-16, which he said he bought for the equivalent of 4,000 dollars
from an Israeli cocaine addict who purloined it from his army base.

"(Israeli Prime Minister Ehud) Barak is a military leader, not a
political one. He understands the language of force and he gave the
orders to raid Palestinian cities and use heavy weapons against us,"
said Khaled, clad from head to toe in black.

Khaled works in coordination with Abed, a Fatah leader in Nablus, but
said he is authorized to make decisions independently as to where and
when to fight Israelis, so long as it does not jeopardize the goals
of Arafat's self-rule authority or interfere with the more than a
dozen security services under its auspices.

"We are not a substitute for the security services or a rival to
them, but here to assist them," said Khaled, adding that there are
some 500 militia members in Nablus and surrounding villages, an area
encompassing some 250,000 people.

He said many of the leaders of the armed cells were trained in Iraq
and that others served in one of the Palestinian security services.

"According to the Oslo peace accord, the security services of the
Palestinian Authority can only patrol in area A," said Abed,
referring to the patchwork of cities and towns in the West Bank and
Gaza Strip fully controlled by Arafat's administration.

The Israeli army handles security in the remainder of the Palestinian
territories -- divided areas where Arabs have civil control known as
B, and area C where they have no authority.

"But since the Palestinian security forces cannot act in areas B and
C, that is where the militias come in," said Abed, who wore a dark
tailored suit and was brought to the interview, in an apartment in
the destitute Balata refugee camp near Nablus, by two bodyguards in a
new Audi with a red licence plate reserved for officials in Arafat's
authority.

"The militias defend our citizens in these areas from the army and
the settlers who are killing them daily," said Abed, considered a
founder of the Fatah garrisons.

While many Fatah members have long owned guns privately -- most
illegally -- they organized themselves on October 10 into cells,
according to Abed.

While Israel considers the Fatah irregulars to be little better than
terrorists and regards them as an immediate threat, most Palestinians
feel they are the ones under siege by Israeli troops and settlers,
and therefore need to protect themselves.

The militias patrol the streets of Arab cities and towns at night,
looking out for settlers they allege routinely descend on them under
cover of darkness.

They also watch, often through binoculars, what have been near daily
clashes and open fire on Israeli troops when they use live rounds on
the Palestinian youths who throw stones and molotov cocktails at them.

"After the soldiers move from tear gas to rubber bullets then to live
bullets, we call the children out and fight, guns against guns. It is
not fair that the kids with stones are fired on with live bullets,"
said Khaled.

Israel has called on Arafat to rein in the gunmen and warned that he
is trying to ride a tiger, implying he could lose control and be
destroyed himself.

Khaled said potential fighters are screened to ensure their loyalty
to Fatah and to weed out collaborators with Israel or those with a
weakness for women that could distract them from their mission.

Once selected, their training begins immediately with the M-16,
anti-aircraft guns, covert communications and the use of "bombs".

"To give you an example of our training, when the settlers came to
shoot at us we were in a gunfight for six hours and the army couldn't
get their helicopters in," boasted Khaled.

A Palestinian gunman and a Jewish settler were killed in that battle
on October 19.

While most of the weapons in Balata were bought on the black market
from the Israeli armed forces, others bore the cedar-tree stamp of
the South Lebanon Army, the Jewish state's proxy militia that
collapsed ahead of its pullout from Lebanon in May, ending 22 years
of occupation. Others were smuggled in from Jordan.

"Israel is trained to fight from far away with heavy weapons that
shoot great distances, we train for a street war," said Khaled.
"Israel is not ready for a street war, no military can handle it."

http://asia.dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/world/afp/article.html?s=asi
a/headlines/001026/world/afp/Palestinian_militias_swap_stones_for_M-16
s_in_conflict_with_Israel.html

Contacts: Moza (moza@butterfly.mv.com);
(owner-bpr@philologos.org)

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Palestinian radio: All the news that fits the cause
From: bpr-list@philologos.org
Date: Fri, 27 Oct 2000 04:56:00 -0500

Page 21A

Palestinian radio: All the news that fits the cause

Israel says the broadcasts are nothing but lies and propaganda.
Listeners say the station is the only information source they can
trust.
By Jack Kelley
USA TODAY

JERUSALEM -- For the third time in a day, a news bulletin interrupted
the Arabic music on the Voice of Palestine radio: Israeli jets had
just bombed the West Bank town of Bethlehem, the report said.

''The Israeli criminals have fired missiles into the homes of
innocent Palestinians,'' a breathless correspondent said.
''Palestinian blood is flowing in the streets! Oh God, God, how can
the criminals kill our innocent children?''

A trip to the town immediately after the report, however, found no
evidence of an attack.

An hour earlier, another breathless Voice of Palestine correspondent
had reported that the West Bank town of Hebron was ''under siege'' by
armed Jewish settlers who were ''shooting Palestinian women and
children.''

A visit to Hebron found calm and quiet there, too.

Same thing in the West Bank town of Nablus, where the correspondent
reported that Israeli troops were ''burning homes.'' No such thing,
residents there said.

Despite Israeli demands that it stop inciting the public, the Voice
of Palestine radio, controlled by Yasser Arafat's Palestinian
Authority, is delivering a daily diet of news, commentary and
propaganda aimed at rallying the Palestinian masses into a
confrontation with Israel.

Nationalistic songs, anti-Israeli commentary and flowery tributes to
Palestinians killed in clashes with Israelis are being broadcast
around the clock, and they appear to be more popular than ever.

''Jerusalem will be our capital. We will fight until the end,'' a
Voice of Palestine commentator said earlier this week. ''No more
negotiations. Just give us our guns.''

Palestinian officials say the news service is simply keeping its
people informed and getting the Palestinian message out to the world.
They also insist that their reports are factual, despite the
discrepancies.

''Look, when there's peace, I'll broadcast that,'' said Radwan Abu
Ayyash, chairman of the Palestinian Broadcasting Corp., parent group
of the Voice of Palestine. ''But when (the Israelis) make war on us,
that's what will be on the air. I'm not inventing all this.''

Israel says the station, which is broadcast throughout the West Bank
of the Jordan River and the Gaza Strip, is inciting violence. Israel
blames the station for the recent killing of two of its army
reservists in the West Bank town of Ramallah. Israeli officials also
complain that Arafat has not ordered the station to halt its rhetoric
as required by a recent U.S.-negotiated cease-fire agreement. More
than 120 people, most of them Palestinians, have been killed in the
past three weeks in the worst outbreak of violence here in recent
memory.

''Make no mistake about it: Our two reservists were lynched because
the mob was incited for days before by the Palestinian Authority in
newspapers, television and radio,'' Israeli Defense Forces spokesman
Lt. Col. Ranaan Gissim said.

''That station is nothing but propaganda radio,'' says Shalom
Goldstein, advisor on Arab affairs to Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert.
''The Palestinian Authority operates like a communist, Bolshevik
regime and uses this misinformation to indoctrinate its people.
Before the message was 'Israel is bad.' Now the message is 'Get
Israel.' ''

In retaliation for the slayings of the two soldiers, Israeli
helicopter gunships blasted the Voice of Palestine's transmitters in
Ramallah.

The missile attack, which caused more than $3 million in damage,
knocked the station off the air for only 30 minutes, Director General
Bassem abu Sumaya said. Radio transmission resumed through local FM
stations.

Even if Arafat did order the station to stop its alleged incitement,
there's little chance Palestinians would accept it. Many say they've
stopped watching satellite television news channels such as CNN and
the BBC because they consider their coverage to be pro-Israeli. They
now keep their radios tuned to the Voice of Palestine.

''I started listening after the Jews bombed the transmitter and
haven't stopped,'' says Iyad Hammoudi, 45, a unemployed laborer. ''It
is the most powerful tool we have in our war against Israel. It makes
me proud to be a fighter.''

That feeling is shared by many of the journalists and technicians at
the Voice of Palestine. They view their work as part of their
struggle for a Palestinian homeland. ''With my task here, I feel I
complete the work of those who throw the stones,'' says tape editor
Mahi Adwan, referring to the stone-throwing youths who clash daily
with Israeli soldiers as part of their uprising against the Jewish
state.

Soon after she spoke, another bulletin was broadcast by the station.
''Palestinian people: Our war is about to begin,'' yet another
breathless commentator said.

''Our brother and liberator in Iraq, President Saddam Hussein, has
just phoned us to say that hundreds of jets and helicopters are
taking-off from the aircraft carrier belonging to the criminal
occupation force. They are heading this way to destroy our --''

Suddenly, the report came to an end. Perhaps the commentator realized
that Israel's navy doesn't have -- and never has had -- an aircraft
carrier as part of its fleet.

http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20001025/2778166s.htm

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - ben Yosef Report from Jerusalem: Oct 27, 2000
From: bpr-list@philologos.org
Date: Fri, 27 Oct 2000 05:15:30 -0500

---Forwarded message follows---

Send reply to: <benyosef@torahvoice.org>
From: "Ben Yosef" <b_yosef@netvision.net.il>
To: "ben Yosef" <benyosef@torahvoice.org>
Subject: update from Jerusalem - hitting us in the
marketbasket: the Arab boycott, Shmittah & loopholes
Date sent: Fri, 27 Oct 2000 04:44:00 +0200

Shalom,

Wow! Another almost totally silent night here at Gilo. Either your
angels are doing their jobs or this lull is intended to cause us to
put our guards down.

I may have some reports for you a little later today on the violence,
which is continuing elsewhere, but as I promised, this is a
"marketbasket" report of the cost of vegetables I encountered while
shopping today in lieu of the Arab boycott against supplying Israeli
stores with produce and the halachic demands of Shmittah,
(agricultural Sabbath) -- which ARE being enforced (to varying
degrees) in ALL Jerusalem supermarkets.

NOTE: I found no Arab produce whatsoever in the three stores I
visited. Although one store had all the produce, the first two stores
I visited only had limited items.

While the current produce still is being harvested from lands planted
BEFORE the Shmittah year began on Rosh Hashanah, eventually Jerusalem
residents must decide themselves between two halachic opinions
whether to purchase produce imported, grown by non-Israelis on land
owned by non-Israelis within Eretz Yisrael, grown with no contact
with the earth within Eretz Yisrael or grown in violation of
"accepted halachah." (Halachah is from the Hebrew verb, HA-LAKH,
which means "to walk." So halachah means HOW one should walk out the
commands of Torah.")

The Torah, (and the renewal of the covenant made during the time of
Nehemiah), commands the children of Israel to allow the ground to lie
fallow every 7 years and neither plant a crop nor reap a harvest for
an entire year, "so that the poor of my people may eat; and what they
leave the beast of the field shall eat."

On the face of the commandment, our fruits and vegetables should be
FREE during a Shmittah year! But it's not that simple and the
command has many facets and halachic provisions and loopholes, some
of which prompted a group of Haredi rabbis here to protest against
the Chief Rabbi in Israel over the produce being allowed into
Jerusalem markets.

Also, the decision by the Palestinians to boycott Israel and no
longer provide fruits and vegetables many had counted on to keep the
prices down in a year of short supply further complicates matters.

So before we give you our marketbasket report of what we paid for
fruits and vegetables today, here is a little (actually a lot of)
background.

There are many different interpretations of the Shmittah year and
what I am stating is NOT authoritative. For an authoritative
treatment, you should consult a very, very, very, very, VERY wise
rabbi or Torah scholar because these laws and the loopholes around
them are complex … as I think you will begin to realize shortly.

First there is a question of whether the halachah (Torah law)
pertaining to Shmittah applies in Israel today at all. This is
because 7 Shmittah years (49 years) are followed by the traditional
Year of Jubilee, the "Yovel," but the halachah says a Yovel cannot be
celebrated unless a majority of the tribes of Israel are living in
the Land! This means either representatives of 7 of the 12 tribes OR
a majority population wise, according to various opinions. Also, the
halachah says the Shmittah cannot be performed without the Temple,
because at the end of a Shmittah, during Succot, the king or high
priest would read sections of the Torah to the assembled people IN
THE TEMPLE, in a renewal of the covenant ceremony.

In modern times, the rabbinim have followed the first injunction so
there has been no Yovel, but have ruled that the Torah reading ending
the Shmittah year MAY be held at the Kotel (the Western Wall) of the
Temple, since the Western Wall was according to tradition constructed
from funds donated by the poor and the Shmittah year was to benefit
the poor.

I remember such a reading at the Kotel my first Succot in Israel in
1987, (during my prior residence from 1987 until 1993, which began a
second Shmittah). Succot in 1987, though ended the modern state's
second declared Shmittah year. (This year begins the fourth).
Then-President Chaim Herzog and then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir
and other government leaders took turns reading from the Torah to
thousands of people assembled in the Kotel courtyard. There was
violin and clarinet music, shofars blew, and the LEADERS of the
nation, set the example every nation should follow and read from the
Torah! It still ranks as THE No. 1 most awesome experience I have
personally witnessed here in Israel.

But some still argue every Shmittah year that there is technically no
basis for observing it until the Temple is rebuilt.

(I can see the emails coming now…. Oh, you thought 1998 was the
Yovel! Well, the Orthodox community did not celebrate it as such.
Remember only four Shmittahs have been recognized, but I guess you
could call the secular celebration here the 50th anniversary of the
State of Israel).

Secondly, there are loopholes involving possession of the land
cultivated, planted and harvested. Some halachic interpretations
allow one from the community of Israel to sell his land (this is
called a HETER MECHIRA) to someone who is not a member of the
community (such as an Arab neighbor) for the duration of the year and
then the Israeli may till and plant and harvest, since the land
technically does not belong to an Israeli for that year. Others,
including the Haredi rabbinim say, NO!, the Shmittah applies to the
land, no matter who has possession of it and to sell part of Eretz
Yisrael to a non-Israeli is a "Chilul Hashem," (profanation of the
name of Hashem).

Thirdly, since the unannexed territories are technically not part of
the State of Israel, some say even Jewish settlers who live in the
territories are exempt. Others say, NO!, the Shmittah applies to
Hashem's understanding of what comprises Eretz Yisrael, not man's and
not the gerrymandering of today's geo-politics.

Finally, produce that does not make contact with the ground,
technically may be harvested. This is done in several ways, with
hot-house vegetables, or vegetables grown hydroponically with soil
from outside of Eretz Yisrael. And for produce that won't grow in
hothouses, the farmers at the settlement of Gush Etzion (south of
Gilo), spread plastic sheets over the ground in greenhouses.
Perforated sacks of ground basalt, (which will grow anything) are
placed atop the sheets. The seeds or plantlings grow inside the
sacks, the holes serving as water outlets. While this method grows
superior, insect-free and pesticide free produce, it is expensive
because of the ventilation required and computer monitoring of the
right amount of minerals and water.

But the Haredi protest that the INTENT of the commandment -- that
since Hashem is the true owner of the land, He can order us to stop
working it, that the year should be spent by farmers in spiritual
pursuits and Torah study, that the poor of the nation should derive
some benefit from the FREE availability of produce -- is being
violated.

The return of Nehemiah to rebuild the Walls of Jerusalem and pledge
the people to a renewed covenant, specifically alludes to the
Shmittah.

And if the people of the land bring ware or any victuals on the
Sabbath day to sell, that we would not buy it of them on the Sabbath,
or on the holy day: and that WE WOULD FOREGO THE SEVENTH YEAR, and
the exaction of every debt. Nehemiah 10:31.

Since this was a part of the renewal of the covenant and the exile to
Babylon lasted 70 years, the sages concluded that one of the major
reasons for the exile of the Kingdom of Judah was their failure to
observe 70 prior Shmittah years. So during the Second Temple period,
the men of Judah exercised much more care in observing the command.
In fact, both Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar went so far as to
exempt the men of Judea from paying taxes during a Shmittah year!

In the Mishnah, it is recorded that farmers were so meticulous about
observing the commandment that they often stopped cultivating in the
SIXTH year after completing their harvests before either Pesach or
Shavuot. But Rabbi Gamliel III gave them more leniency in the third
century allowing cultivation to go on until the Rosh Hashanah
beginning the Shmittah year.

Of course any produce from that final planting was available for
whoever went into the field to gather it, but it could not be sold.
In our modern era of industrialization and urbanization,
farm-to-market activities make up only a small percentage of the
economy. So how can the commandment be kept without the farmers
going bankrupt and is it fair, they ask, that the only activity
limited in a Shmittah year, affects only them?

The solution of the HETER MECHIRA (allowing the sale of the land to a
non-Israeli for the year of Shmittah) was instituted in 1888 by Rabbi
Elhanan Spector of Kovno, so initially it did not apply to Eretz
Yisrael at all. The early Zionist movement, which was heavily
agricultural in nature, needed some remedy from the commandment in
order to survive. If they did not work their fields, they thought
the Arab population would take them over and since there was then no
existing State of Israel, the Jewish population had no recourse.

Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak Hacohen Kook ruled in 1921 that the heter
mechira was a "temporary rabbinic injunction," since the majority of
the tribes of Israel did not inhabit the land, population wise and in
the number of tribes; and that the need for such a remedy should be
reviewed each Shmittah year. His decision made "leniency" possible,
yet he was adamant that even with a heter mechira, the Jewish
population who might work the land they "sold" to the Arabs would be
limited in that they could not "sell" the produce; only their
services of bringing it to the market could be sold.

The recent objection by Haredi rabbis to the heter mechira contends
(after their regular 7-year-review specified by Rabbi Kook) that this
"loophole" is no longer applicable.

Rabbi Yosef Efrati, director of both the Institute for Advanced Study
of Halachah for Agricultural Settlements and the Center for Halachic
Agriculture also heads the Jerusalem Religious Council's Department
for Mitzvot in Eretz Yisrael. He leans in favor of the Haredim that
produce sold in Jerusalem during the Shmittah year SHOULD follow the
commandment WITHOUT the provision of heter mechira.

The Jerusalem Post quoted him as follows:

"The claim that it is not economically viable to observe Shmittah is
untrue. Our farmers (connected with his organizations) keep Shmittah
and their situation is not any worse economically than that of other
farmers. It is hard but it is possible."

However the farmers connected with Efrati's organizations have
prepared for the Shmittah Year through a special Seventh-Year Fund
raised within Israel and abroad to subsidize his farmers who observe
the Shmittah without the heter mechira.

Efrati was frankly roasted on a spit and served on a platter in the
news media for his stand, which he clarified, in spite of his
personal views and feelings on the matter DID NOT prohibit the sale
of vegetables that complied with heter mechira. (If you re-read his
quote in the Post carefully, you will see that he said the argument
for heter mechira is no longer valid, but he did not RULE it should
be abandoned).

Rather, Efrati said the city of Jerusalem will not allow SFI'HIN
(s-fih-heen), vegetables harvested from seeds planted AFTER the start
of the Shmittah year, into Jerusalem's supermarkets.

Here is where it gets complicated, (Oh, you thought it was already
complicated enough!).

This means that residents in Jerusalem have a choice. They can
choose to eat produce from land farmed under heter mechira, which
means business as usual at least until the current harvests end.
After that, we will have to see how much weight Ephrati will have
insisting that s'fihin is outlawed and whether the chief rabbi who
can overrule him will.

Residents who believe as Efrati that heter mechira lands are no
longer halachically acceptable, in order to comply with the "accepted
halachah" may also buy from Israelis from the current harvest
(planted before the Shmitta began), but must "keep the sanctity of
the produce." This means accumulating an enclosed (above ground)
residential compost pile of sorts to contain peels, pits, seeds and
bits of food that might sprout new produce if they made contact with
the ground. The food also must be eaten in its NORMAL form. If it is
normally eaten raw, it cannot be cooked; and if normally cooked
cannot be eaten raw. (Don't ask me, "Why?").

If lands that fall under heter mechira are worked by Israelis who
plant them during the Shmittah year, (S'FIHIN), and the chief rabbi
upholds the ruling, then we all must rely on imported vegetables, (or
canned goods), or produce raised above ground or available from Arab
farmers who work their own land.

Fruits are another matter. Since they grown naturally without the
need for replanting or intervention by farmers, they can be bought
through what is known as a OZTAR BEIT DIN. This means the rabbinical
court represents the public and goes into the fields to pick, package
and deliver the fruits. We will pay for the work of gathering the
fruit, but not the fruit itself, which, in a year of Shmittah is FREE.

If your head is not swimming by now, the positions of both the Haredi
(7th year subsidies) and those in favor of the heter mechira (sale of
the land to non-Israelis) are opposed by both the Masorti and Reform
movements, They agree that the two alternatives on the one hand work
toward the annihilation of the agricultural market relying of funds
from the Diaspora and on the other hand are incompatible with Zionism
and disrespectful to both Hashem and Judaism.

The Masorti position is that Shmittah should be "an act of piety,"
and benefit the poor of Israel, based on halachic rulings of medieval
Provence rabbis. The Reform also believe Shmittah should focus on
the social responsibility to care for the needs of the poor. Both
groups favor doing whatever is necessary short of selling the land
and subsidizing the farmers to provide fruits and vegetables to the
poor.

I have another thought. Maybe the reason we must comply with Shmittah
every seven years is because our ancestors cried out for ''prairie
chicken" so loud and Hashem stuffed them with it till it came out of
their ears. So now, when we run out of vegetables we have to eat beef
(which few of us can afford at $7.50 a pound (a little over $15 a
kilo), Nile perch (would you eat anything that came out of the Nile?)
or chicken (we can afford the wings anyway). Either that, or Hashem
wants to be sure nobody gets too used to being a vegetarian for when
the Temple sacrifices resume!!

Of course … there's tuna fish!

ben Yosef

As you can see from the prices I paid today, either the farm to
market delivery prices are high or the grocers are making a killing
on short supply. The vegetables certainly were not FREE as they are
supposed to be. I went to three different markets to find the full
selection of "halachically acceptable" fresh vegetables I wanted. I
bought only produce that was NOT from lands under heter mechira
contracts. (The grocery stores have signs posted). I have converted
everything into dollars and pounds for you although the weight
measure here is kilograms, which is 1,000 grams or about 2.2 pounds.
Since the representative rate of the Shekel is just a little over 4
I.S. (Israeli Shekels) = $1, I have rounded everything to the LOWEST
25 cent increment.

Tomatoes $2
Green Onions (bunch) $1.25
Onions $1.25
Bell Peppers $1.75
Lettuce (head) $1.25
Cucumbers $1
Beets $1.50
Celery (bunch) $0.75
Mushrooms (package) $2
Sprouts (bean) package $1.25
Sprouts (spinach) package $1.50
Avocados $2.25
Turnips (w/o tops )-: $1.75 can you believe they feed
the turnip greens to the cattle here!!
Cabbage (head) $1.50
Corn on cob $1.50

Our total bill for fresh vegetables was about $27.50. I bought just
under a kilo of most items except tomatoes and corn on the cob.

I'll let you know how the compost pile is coming!

Shalom Shalom & Hashem's love & blessings
ben Yosef

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Palestinian Alternatives to the Oslo Process
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Fri, 27 Oct 2000 08:31:53 -0400

------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent: Thu, 26 Oct 2000 23:17:03 -0700
To: MEMRI <memri@erols.com>
From: MEMRI <memri@erols.com>
Subject: Palestinian Alternatives to the Oslo Process

Inquiry & Analysis - PA
October 27, 2000
No. 43

Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI)
P.O. Box 7837, Washington DC, 20038-7837
Phone: (202) 955-9070
Fax: (202) 955-9077
E-mail: MEMRI@erols.com
Website: www.memri.org

[MEMRI holds copyrights on all translations. Materials may only be cited
with proper attribution.]

Palestinian Alternatives to the Oslo Process
By Yotam Feldner and Yigal Carmon*

The Camp David Summit confirmed the Palestinian leadership�s assessment
that the Oslo Process would not lead to the fulfillment of the
Palestinian goals: a Palestinian state on all of the West Bank and Gaza,
with Jerusalem as its capital, and the Palestinian 'Right of Return.'
To achieve these goals, the Palestinian leadership believes that it is
essential to create a new reality on the ground that will change the
political-diplomatic situation. After the Camp David summit about a
week before the outbreak of the Intifada the Palestinian leadership
announced that Israel's refusal to accept the Palestinian demands and
its attempt to ignore UN resolutions "will not lead to peace, but rather
to the outbreak of violence, anarchy, and instability." (1)

During the first days of this Intifada, the Palestinians claimed that
the violence erupted as a result of an "Israeli provocation." But,
after the Sharm Al-Sheik Summit, the Palestinians admitted that the
purpose of the violence was to create a political change, especially in
the framework of negotiations. Dean of Political Science at the
University of Cairo, Hasan Nafi'a, wrote that at Camp David it was
revealed that Israel had no intention of allowing sole Palestinian
sovereignty over Al-Haram Al-Sharif [Temple Mount]. "The Palestinian
and Arab public is convinced that the peace process on the Oslo track
has reached its end and there is no choice but to… seek an
alternative... Hizbullah's methods seemed to be the only alternative
that can restore hope and self-confidence. At this volatile stage
Sharon visited Al-Haram Al-Sharif and lit the fuse of the powder keg."
(2)

Now, Palestinian leaders describe the Intifada as having planned goals.
Fatah Movement Secretary-General and Head of its Tanzim militia, Marwan
Al-Barghuthi, said, after the Sharm Al-Sheik summit: "The Intifada broke
out in order to put an end to the occupation.... The traditional
interpretation that this is only a temporary outbreak is false. This
time the Intifada will continue until sovereignty and independence." (3)

The Palestinian leadership hopes to create through the current Intifada
a political alternative to the Oslo process. The first alternative is
the internationalization of the political process. The second is a
return to negotiations but on new terms and with ongoing violence as a
means of pressuring Israel. The final alternative is a unilateral
declaration of a Palestinian state (UDI). All of these options require
a long-lasting Intifada to exploit the relative Palestinian military
weakness and the disparity in casualties in order to gain international
support for the Palestinian demands.

The Internationalization of the Peace Process

Throughout the Oslo Process, the Palestinians tried to shift the process
from a bilateral framework of negotiations with Israel to a multilateral
international one in order to undermine Israeli sovereignty and to apply
greater international pressure on Israel. The Palestinians were
relatively successful in this twice: the Israeli acceptance of
international observers in the Hebron agreement and in the monitoring
role given to the CIA in the Wye River memorandum.

Palestinian Authority (PA) Minister of Planning and International
Cooperation Nabil Sha'ath frequently discussed possible international
involvement in the peace process. He developed a plan, based on the
"Namibia Model," to transfer the territories demanded by the
Palestinians to an international body that would, in turn, transfer them
to the Palestinians. Sha'ath also claimed that the President of
Finland, a member of the international committee that transferred
Namibia from South Africa to independent rule, was willing to fulfill a
similar role in the Palestinian case. (4) Sha'ath has also lamented
that the US does not bomb Israel as it bombed Yugoslavia. (5)

However, the international community has not responded to Palestinian
demands for internationalization, partly because the reality in the
disputed territories did not justify such intervention. Consequently,
the Palestinians needed to create justification for international
intervention. Since the Wye River Memorandum, the Palestinian demand
for internationalization was based on the claim that the Palestinians
did not have an Israeli partner to a Palestinian state and thus they
needed international support to reach this solution. The international
community faced a dilemma: while in principle it supported the
establishment of a Palestinian state as a solution to the Palestinian
problem, it also supported the Oslo process. The Netanyahu government�s
objection to the establishment of a Palestinian state decided this
dilemma in favor of Arafat who was promised support for a unilaterally
declared Palestinian state by most world leaders.

The Israeli elections changed the situation fundamentally. At Camp
David, Prime Minister Barak agreed to discuss the establishment of a
Palestinian state and made proposals that were acknowledged by the
international community as going far beyond what any Israeli PM had
agreed to in the past.
Suddenly, the world community faced an Israeli partner to a settlement
that
included the establishment of a Palestinian state.

In these new circumstances, when Arafat rejected the various proposals
brought up at Camp David, and was held responsible by President Clinton
for the failure of the summit, the international community changed its
position towards Palestinian demands. In the damage-control meetings
Arafat held around the world after the summit, he found that
international support for the UDI no longer existed. The world renewed
its support for the bilateral track with Israel and encouraged Arafat to
respond positively to Barak's proposals.

This development led the Palestinian leadership to change its strategy.
The new plan focused on prompting international intervention regarding
specific issues such as the Palestinian demand for an international
committee to investigate the recent violence, a demand for international
forces for the protection of the Palestinian population, and the demand
for international courts to try "Israeli war criminals." This
international intervention, the Palestinians hope, will gradually become
an international source of authority for an alternative to the bilateral
Oslo process and into international support for Palestinian demands as
well.

The Palestinian demand for an international investigation committee has
become the focus of their political struggle. PA Minister, Hasan
'Asfur, presented this demand as an ultimatum because "our people did
not die for nothing." The New York Times columnist, Tom Friedman
commented that according to 'Asfur, "these Palestinians died so there
can be an international investigation into why they were killed." (6)
But, the investigation itself is only a secondary goal of the
Palestinian demand. Its main goal is to serve the process of
internationalization. The international investigation committee was
supposed to "translate the terrible and many casualties of the
Palestinian people into a qualitative leap and a deep and essential
change of the situation," explained Palestinian Legislative Council
(PLC) member Dr. Hanan 'Ashrawi. "This Intifada was supposed to be the
Intifada of Independence." (7)

The Arab summit meeting in Cairo endorsed the Palestinian demand for
internationalization and applied it to the negotiations. Egyptian
Foreign Minister 'Amru Moussa stated that under no circumstances should
the Palestinians go back to the negotiations in the same mechanism that
existed up till now. (8) At a press conference in Ramallah, PLC
Chairman Ahmed Qurei (aka Abu 'Alaa) explained the new Palestinian
preconditions for resumption of negotiations in detail: "The
negotiations framework should be rebuilt. The European Community,
Russia, China, and the UN should join the United States in the
negotiations. The present structure will bring no results." (9) He
added, "The rules of the game have changed. We must not go back to the
negotiations based on their previous rules." (10)

Negotiate and Fight

When the Palestinian leadership returns to the negotiations, as was
indicated at Sharm Al-Sheik, it will do it with - rather than instead of
- the Intifada. Hani Al-Hassan, Arafat's advisor and the Fatah foreign
relations chief, explained the importance of violence as a means of
political pressure: "The Intifada is the best way to convince the
Americans and the Israelis that they cannot force the surrender of their
fundamental principles on the Palestinian people." (11)

In this gambit, the Palestinian leadership relies on the precedent of
Israel's withdrawal from South Lebanon and on Israeli readiness to sign
the Hebron agreement under the pressure of the violence of September
1996. From the Palestinian perspective, these events prove that Israel
bends when confronted with violence.

Nabil Sha'ath elaborated on the advantages of this option:
"Historically, many people have fought and negotiated simultaneously...
There are many examples for that like Vietnam and Algiers... Under
certain international circumstances we were forced to turn the
negotiations into an alternative to fighting. However, there is a limit
to that too... You can fight and negotiate at the same time."

Sha'ath continued, "This option [of armed struggle] was removed from our
agenda at a certain stage when the negotiations yielded results and as
long as there was hope that the negotiations lead to the Israeli
withdrawal from all of our lands that were occupied in 1967. However,
there was always a feeling that Israel might not withdraw. This is why
President Arafat always said: "All options are open." Nobody believed
him when he used to say that... However, the Palestinian people did not
stop launching Intifadas against Israel and saying what it had to say in
ways other than the negotiating table... The Palestinian people are a
people that fight with weapons, with martyrdom, with Intifadas, with
suicide bombings... We are destined to fight and negotiate
simultaneously..." (12)

"This Intifada sets a new rule," stated Marwan Al-Barghuthi, "whoever
wants to can go back to the negotiations, but the Palestinian people
will continue their struggle, because we will not be imprisoned by the
negotiating table…" (13)

The Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) Option

The UDI option seems to be frozen and was not even mentioned in the Arab
summit resolutions in Cairo. However, since the Palestinians refuse to
stop the violence and return to the negotiations on the bilateral track,
Israel refuses to resume the negotiations before violence is stopped,
and attempts at internationalization have, thus far, been blocked UDI
is the only option the Palestinians can decide on independently.

The last postponement of the UDI mentioned several alternative dates,
such as November 15 and January 1. This option is the Palestinian
default because despite the international sympathy they have accumulated
since the outbreak of the Intifada, Western leaders - even those who are
supportive of the Palestinians (like French President Jacques Chirac) -
have not publicly changed their objection to a UDI.

The Palestinians need international involvement for a UDI as well. This
not only includes international recognition of the state, but also the
involvement of the international community to prevent Israeli counter
measures, such as the annexation of territories, economic detachment
etc.

The renewed international support for a UDI has not yet materialized.
But, the UDI option still exists because world leaders may change their
positions if there is an increase in Palestinian casualties and if
Israel fails to convince the international community that it is still a
partner - at least in the future - to a solution based on an independent
Palestinian state.

Conclusion

Both sides of the current conflict are focused on gaining the
international community's support. The violent outbreak has damaged
Israel's image in the world, but it has not corroded, so far, the
international support Barak won at Camp David.

Israel was condemned in the UN Security Council for the "excessive use
of force." But among the Israeli public the Israeli response to
Palestinian violence is perceived as proportional, if not too
restrained. An aggressive response initiated by Israel accompanied by
an unjustified Israeli refusal to return to the negotiating table will
play into the hands of the Palestinians and serve the
internationalization process. Such an Israeli policy may also embarrass
the US, which continues to serve as the main player in containing the
Palestinian internationalization efforts.

For the Palestinians, the UDI option remains the most probable, but it
can only be pursued after winning not only world sympathy for its
casualties but also world support for its positions that, up to this
point, has not been forthcoming. A UDI may unleash a complex series of
events that could then heighten calls for international intervention.

*Yotam Feldner is MEMRI's Director of Media Analysis. Yigal Carmon is
MEMRI's President

Endnotes:

(1) Al-Hayat (London-Beirut), Sept. 24, 1999
(2) Al-Hayat, Oct. 23, 2000
(3) Al-Jazira TV (Qatar), Oct. 17, 2000
(4) Al-Ayyam (PA), May 9, 1999
(5) Palestine TV (PA), April 28, 1999
(6) The New York Times, Oct. 13, 2000
(7) Al-Jazira TV, Oct. 17, 2000
(8) Al-Safir (Lebanon), Oct. 24, 2000
(9) Al-Hayat, October 26, 2000
(10) Al-Hayat Al-Jadida (PA), Oct. 26, 2000
(11) Al-Hayat, Oct. 22, 2000
(12) ANN TV (London), Oct. 7, 2000
(13) Al-Jazira TV, Oct. 17, 2000

The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) is an independent,
non-profit organization providing translations of the media of the
Middle East and original analysis and research on developments in the
region. Copies of articles and documents cited, as well as background
information, are available upon request.

------- End of forwarded message -------

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

Contacts: Moza (moza@butterfly.mv.com);
(owner-bpr@philologos.org)

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - 'Gomers': New Squadron Trains for Space-Based Aggression
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Fri, 27 Oct 2000 08:38:29 -0400

SPACEWAR

New Squadron Trains For Space-Based Aggression by Tech. Sgt. Austin Carter Schriever AFB - Oct. 25, 2000 Air aggressor squadrons are not new. Since the creation of the Air Force, these flying squadrons have played the villain of the exercise scenario, attacking fellow blue-suited pilots in war exercises to train them as effectively as possible for the time when they had to go up against the real thing. By using the doctrines and technology the enemy has and utilizing them, these aggressor squadrons sharpen our sense of the enemy's abilities and how to counteract them. The long-used nickname for these aggressors is "Gomers."

Now the Air Force has followed that legacy into the future -- into the deep reaches of space.

The 527th Space Aggressor Squadron, under the Space Warfare Center at Schriever, became the first space aggressor squadron in history Oct. 23 in a ceremony at Peterson AFB, Colo.

"There have been a number of different aggressor squadrons, but this is the first time that space has stepped into the arena," said Lt. Col. "Rad" Widman, the first commander of the squadron. "This is a major step in bringing defensive and offensive counterspace capabilities to the fight. It's also a new opportunity for Space Command to slip out and play with the rest of the combat air forces on an equal footing."

The threat of space assets being used against American and allied forces is a relatively new concern for war planners. The space aggressors were created nearly two years ago to study the potential threat of enemies using commercial space assets against the U.S. military. They took the roles of exercise opponents April 1999 and have since been inundated with requests to participate at exercises. The scope of their job propelled the 52-person shop from being a minor branch at Schriever's SWC, eight miles east of Colorado Springs, into squadron status.

Their mission is similar to the air aggressor squadron without the aircraft -- to make the Air Force warrior realize how much they depend upon space assets and how to counteract the enemy's attempts to thwart the use of those assets.

"We are what, in this business, are commonly referred to as Gomers," Widman said. "Gomers are not the enemy, but we replicate them. Gomers have to be the best. We know what the capabilities of blue forces system are, and we must also be experts at employing enemy systems."

The squadron is divided into four functional areas: the Imagery Exploitation Flight, the Electronic Warfare Flight, the Red Attack Flight and the Space Control Flight.

The Imagery Exploitation Flight explores the Internet for the commercial satellite imagery available to anyone with a computer and a credit card. Commanders on the ground are often astonished at the detail and accuracy of the images.

"The commander becomes very sensitive to that fact that the adversary has a much clearer picture of what U.S. forces are trying to do," Widman said. "They can find out where planes, depots, soldier barracks and perimeter fences are. It could be done with untrained analysts downloading commercial imagery."

"They're extremely surprised at the detail of the images," said Master Sgt. John Weeber, the NCOIC of the flight. "It's a new potential threat that we in the military are going to have to deal with." He added that with more and more sensitive systems online foreign governments, previously without this capability, are now finding they can buy a bird's eye view of U.S. installations by simply having a credit card.

The Electronic Warfare Flight uses known adversary technology to jam U.S. systems using the Global Positioning System and satellite communications during exercises. Once more, they only use the equipment and doctrine known to be in potential adversaries' hands.

"A SATCOM jammer can be placed anywhere in the satellite's footprint (the area the satellite covers as it passes over the earth) and if we can find the frequency they're on, we simply put another signal on that frequency and they've lost their satellite communications. We're using satellite communication equipment that can be leased or purchased by anyone," Widman said.

"Since many of our systems depend on GPS for timing and navigation accuracy, we will also deny the use of GPS to blue forces. The intent will be to sharpen their skills for detecting and countering these effects.

The Red Attack Flight coalesces these disruptive abilities and makes a feasible plan to direct them against the regular Air Force's command and control capabilities during an exercise.

"We ask them before we begin 'How much pain do you want?' " the lieutenant colonel said. "We're not out to wreak havoc on them just for the sake of wreaking havoc. We want to show them what they're likely to realistically encounter. As a squadron, we will only play within the certified boundaries of what we know the opposition's tactics and capabilities are. We can replicate any adversary with space capabilities. And if we do it correctly, blue forces will build countermeasures for air and space superiority as the commander has intended. It makes for a more efficient and effective force."

Widman said the intent from the Pentagon and Space Command headquarters in Colorado Springs is to pull together his aggressors with air and information warfare aggressor squadrons to create a "full spectrum" opposition force that would mirror the realistic space abilities of an enemy today.

The squadron flexed its muscles recently at the Joint Expeditionary Force Experiment this year with jamming scenarios. This resulted in a checklist for communications operators to counteract the jamming. The "lessons learned" portion of the exercises falls under the Space Control Flight, which will develop the countermeasures, new tactics and procedures to protect from a space-based onslaught. In August of next year, they will join air aggressors for the first time in an attempt to disrupt the "blue force" operations in Red Flag at Nellis AFB, Nev.

The squadron will pick up the heritage of the 527th Air Aggressor Squadron, which was based in RAF Alconbury, U.K., for much of its mission and inactivated at RAF Bentwaters, U.K., almost 10 years ago. That squadron flew F-5s and F-16s for their missions.

"There's a legacy of getting our forces ready for the Cold War and Alconbury did a great job preparing them," Widman said. "We're excited about carrying that mission forward in Space Command. That mission is to prepare our forces by playing the enemy. Because if we forego the capabilities that the enemy has, it could mean a space Pearl Harbor."

http://www.spacedaily.com/news/milspace-00q.html

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

Contacts: Moza (moza@butterfly.mv.com);
(owner-bpr@philologos.org)

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Chinese RU-486 Factory Has Tainted History
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Fri, 27 Oct 2000 08:40:44 -0400

October 27, 2000 -- 8:38 am

Chinese RU-486 Factory Has Tainted History

WASHINGTON, D.C. (EP) -- The Chinese factory that will supply the U.S.
with the so-called abortion drug RU-486, known as mifeperstone, has a
history of tainted products and falsifying reports, revealed the House
Commerce Committee on Oct. 19.

Federal investigators have evidence that the Hua Lian Pharmaceutical
company supplied the U.S. with tainted drugs in 1998 and 1999, reports
the Los Angeles Times. In 1998, an herbal remedy manufactured by the
plant was found to be tainted with an ingredient used in chemotherapy
drugs. Another incident involving Hua Lian occurred last year when the
FDA discovered that a drug used in asthma medications was mislabeled by
the plant. The two separate incidents affected hundreds of products
released by the company.

According to FDA records, the Hua Lian factory also falsified laboratory
reports about the production of RU-486 during a factory inspection in
1999 by the FDA.

Despite the findings of the House investigators, the FDA claims that the
Hua Lian record regarding RU-486 is exemplary. "As with all drugs the
FDA approves, in the case of mifeperstone, the FDA thoroughly inspected
its manufacturer and the facility passedŠit fully met the FDA's
standards," an agency spokesman told the Times.

Douglas Johnson, legislative director of the National Right to Life
Committee, said his organization "conclude[s] that the Clinton-Gore
administration is willing to place American women in jeopardy in order
to win short-term political points from pro- abortion special interest
groups."

According to a Gallup poll in early October, around half of the American
public supports the FDA's decision to approve the use of RU-486 in the
U.S.

� 2000 Evangelical Press News Service

http://www.mcjonline.com/news/00b/20001026e.htm

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

Contacts: Moza (moza@butterfly.mv.com);
(owner-bpr@philologos.org)

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Rajoub: PA may abandon 'restraint'
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Fri, 27 Oct 2000 08:43:02 -0400

Friday, October 27, 2000

Rajoub: PA may abandon 'restraint'

By Amira Hass
Ha'aretz Palestinian Affairs Correspondent

The head of the Palestinian Authority's Preventative Security Service in the
West Bank told Israeli journalists yesterday that the PA, which until now has
behaved with "restraint," may have no choice but to step up its response if
the current situation continues.

Jibril Rajoub said that "the acts and crimes of the settlers, the closure, the
collective punishment, the Israel Defense Forces' heavy hand, may leave the
PA with no choice but to respond."

"The Palestinians still prefer to reach their goal [a Palestinian state in the
entire West Bank and Gaza, with Jerusalem as its capital] in the framework
of UN decisions and through negotiations," he said. "But if we are pushed
into a corner, don't think we will wave a white flag."

"It is important that every citizen of Israel know that we have extended and
are extending our hand to peaceful coexistence with Israel," Rajoub added.
"But it is impossible to achieve this unless Israel recognizes that the
Palestinian people exist and has a right to a state within the June 4, 1967
borders."

Rajoub devoted much of his talk to the settlers: "You must put an end to the
[acts of] this group of crazy settlers," he said. "It's illogical that 3 percent
should dictate what you Israelis do."

When asked about the two settlers suspected of murdering a Palestinian,
who were released from custody this week, Rajoub replied that the PA "will
settle accounts with them." The settlers are "wanted men, and we will bring
them to court so they can punished," he said. An Israeli police investigation
determined earlier this week that there was insufficient evidence to prove that
the two men are guilty of murder rather than self-defense killing.

Rajoub said that the Paris and Sharm al-Sheikh summit attempts at a cease-
fire failed because they dealt with the clashes themselves - the symptoms -
rather than the causes of the violence. He added that Israel had ignored
warnings that Likud Chairman Ariel Sharon's visit to the Temple Mount would
ignite a conflagration. This visit, along with Israel's failure to implement
previous agreements, caused the clashes, he said.

Rajoub added that the aftermath has been a one-sided war by the IDF
against the Palestinians: "Our forces aren't returning fire."

Israel made a grave mistake in pursuing a policy that led to so many
casualties, Rajoub said, as each casualty creates new enemies of peace.

Rajoub said that diplomatic progress must precede renewed security
cooperation and he predicted that calm would not be restored anytime soon,
"as long as the Israeli occupation continues." He added, however, that the
PA is trying to control the firing from Beit Jala into Jerusalem's Gilo
neighborhood.

http://www3.haaretz.co.il/eng/scripts/article.asp?mador=14&datee=10/27/00&
id=98685

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

Contacts: Moza (moza@butterfly.mv.com);
(owner-bpr@philologos.org)

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Police said to have beaten lynch suspect
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Fri, 27 Oct 2000 08:44:39 -0400

Friday, October 27, 2000

Police said to have beaten lynch suspect

By Baruch Kra and Amos Harel
Ha'aretz Correspondents

Six policemen are suspected of beating a Palestinian arrested for
participating in the lynching of the two Israel Defense Forces soldiers in
Ramallah two weeks ago. The policemen allegedly beat the suspect while
transferring him from a police holding cell to a Shin Bet interrogation facility,
and again while returning him to police detention.

The Justice Ministry's Department has taken on the investigation, which was
launched following a complaint made by the Palestinian detainee. The
investigation is expected to conclude within several days with indictments
against at least several of the policemen. The six policemen have been
suspended from their duties while they await the outcome.

Policemen in the Jerusalem district police yesterday gave conflicting
accounts of the event. Some dismissed it as "no more than a few slaps on
the face", while others spoke of serious abuse.

Meanwhile, yesterday, authorities confirmed for the first time that one of the
perpetrators of the lynching, filmed by Agence France Presse waiving his
blood-covered hands at the scene of the Ramallah lynching, was arrested by
IDF soldiers last week and is being held in Israel.

Ta'abet Abas Ala Hafez A'asi, of Beit Lakiya near Ramallah, was captured in
a joint operation of the Shin Bet security service and Duvdevan undercover
unit in his village. The village is in Area B, under Israeli security control.

In recent days, the Shin Bet arrested several other residents of villages near
Ramallah, who they believe participated in the lynching. Many other
suspects are thought to have gone into hiding in Area A, the area under
Palestinian rule.

http://www3.haaretz.co.il/eng/scripts/article.asp?mador=14&datee=10/27/00&
id=98687

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

Contacts: Moza (moza@butterfly.mv.com);
(owner-bpr@philologos.org)

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Vote divides the gay state
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Fri, 27 Oct 2000 09:05:09 -0400

                       FRIDAY OCTOBER 27 2000
                       Vote divides the gay state
                       Ian Brodie reports from Burlington on a challenge
                       to Vermont liberals

EILEEN BLACKWOOD and Lynn Goyette exchanged vows in July in
Vermont in one of the first homosexual “marriages” to be sanctioned by
an American state. But today Vermont�s civil-union law for gays and
lesbians is under furious assault by conservatives who have made its
repeal a prime issue in the November 7 election for the state governor
and seats in the Vermont legislature.

Although the Bush and Gore presidential campaigns are steering well
clear of the issue, across America the gay rights movement is watching
nervously at the possible loss of one of its most significant victories.

Vermont, which has a tradition of independence, is now polarised.
Thousands of signs saying “Take Back Vermont” adorn front gardens, trees
and barns.

The signs, plus hundreds of T-shirts and bumper stickers, have been sold
by Dick Lambert, a dairy farmer who described the new law as giving
homosexuals the right to “flaunt their immoral sexuality in public”.

The gay lobby is pleading for tolerance of same-sex couples as “real
people” who could be neighbours, colleagues, friends and relatives and
who deserve the right to formalise their relationships.

The fight is a reminder that close-to-home issues can be of great
importance to Americans as they elect not just a new President but
members of Congress as well as state and city officials.

“Opinions on the new law are divided about fifty-fifty,” said Ms
Blackwood, 58, a health counsellor, in the cottage she shares with Ms
Goyette, 42, a lawyer.

A jolly couple, they see their opponents as misguided and bigoted. After
13 years together they shed tears as a justice of the peace went through
the intensely personal ceremony they had written, expressing what they
meant to each other, and then declared: “By the power invested in me by
the state of Vermont I pronounce you civilly united.”

Ms Blackwood said: “We were surprised by our emotions, of suddenly
feeling we belonged.” Adding poignancy to the day was the unexpected
arrival of a huge bouquet from their rural neighbours, 25 families in
all. “That was so powerful and touching,” Ms Goyette said.

The civil union law was passed after Vermont�s supreme court ruled in
favour of three same-sex couples who had been denied marriage licences.
The five judges ordered Vermont to offer homosexual couples the same
legal rights as heterosexuals, citing a clause in the state constitution
that local government must operate for the “common benefit” of all.

Under the law, homosexual couples in Vermont can claim such marital
benefits as inheritance, ownership of property, shared health insurance
and joint tax returns. To dissolve their union they must go to court.

Their rights and benefits are not recognised by the federal government
nor in any other states. Since July 1 Vermont gay and lesbian couples
have obtained the new licences from town clerks. So have 600 couples
from outside Vermont who have visited the state because they too wanted
to go through a formal ceremony of commitment even though it was not
legally valid at home.

This flood of outsiders has further aggravated the law�s opponents.

“We�re the laughing stock of the country,” Mr Lambert said. “People down
South see our Vermont licence plates and give us the finger. They think
we�re the gay state.”

He and others are campaigning to oust the state legislators who passed
the law, mostly Democrats, as well as Vermont�s governor, Howard Dean,
who signed it. To a large extent, the election has become a referendum
on gay marital rights.

Ruth Dwyer, the Republican candidate for governor, said: “If the message
is very strong that Vermonters really want to repeal this legislation,
then I believe we�ll have to do that.”

The trouble is that there is no obvious middle ground. Taking away gay
marital rights would leave half of Vermonters unhappy. Keeping them
intact leaves the other half unhappy.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,25953,00.html

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

Contacts: Moza (moza@butterfly.mv.com);
(owner-bpr@philologos.org)

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Palestinians prepare to bury suicide bomber on another day of rage
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Fri, 27 Oct 2000 09:21:47 -0400

Friday, October 27 3:57 PM SGT

Palestinians prepare to bury suicide bomber on another day of rage

GAZA CITY, Oct 27 (AFP) -

On what has been billed another day of rage, Palestinians prepared Friday to
bury the 24-year-old "martyr" who blew himself up in a suicide bomb attack
against an Israeli army post in Gaza, raising the stakes after a month of
deadly Israeli-Palestinian violence.

Israel was on alert for trouble as thousands of Muslims attended weekly
prayers in mosques in Jerusalem and throughout the West Bank and Gaza
Strip.

The Palestinian militant group Hamas vowed Thursday to continue its
uprising against Israel "by all possible means" and called for confrontations
with Israeli soldiers and Jewish settlers to take place every Friday.

"In these days of Jihad (holy war), splendid days of dignity, days of the
martyrs and their celebrations, days of Palestinian, Arab and Islamic rage at
the occupation and Zionist raids ... we confirm the continuation of the
blessed Aqsa intifada and increasing it by all possible means to vanquish the
occupiers and defend Jerusalem," Hamas said in a statement.

The statement was issued after the suicide attack on an Israeli army post in
the Gaza Strip carried out by Nabil Faraj al-Arrir, 24, member of Hamas's
smaller rival, Islamic Jihad.

The bomb-laden militant, riding a bike, slammed into an army post at a
checkpoint used by Jewish settlers in the Gaza Strip, killing himself and
injuring one Israeli soldier.

"Fridays are to be days of vengeance, rage and great popular confrontations
with the enemy army and herds of settlers. The rage marches are to leave
from mosques after the midday prayers," the Hamas statement added.

A total of 140 people have been killed, nearly all of them Arabs, in nearly
daily clashes in the West Bank and Gaza Strip since a September 28 visit
by Israel's hawkish opposition leader Ariel Sharon to the al-Aqsa mosque
complex in Jerusalem, Islam's third holiest shrine.

Israeli police however announced Thursday they were again lowering the age
limit for Palestinians allowed to attend Friday prayers at al-Aqsa, known to
Jews as the Temple Mount.

"Only people aged 35 and over will have access to Temple Mount and the
Old City," Jerusalem police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Rubi said, adding that
the ban on the Old City did not affect residents.

"If the calm remains, the age will be lowered further next week," Ben-Rubi
said.

http://asia.dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/world/article.html?s=asia/headline
s/001027/world/afp/Palestinians_prepare_to_bury_suicide_bomber_on_anothe
r_day_of_rage.html

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com