Middle East Update

GPL MIDDLE EAST UPDATE

OCTOBER 2007

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TERRORISM:

Israel’s top Intelligence Chief has warned the Knesset that Hamas is trying to mount a large terror attack on Israelis before the November Washington Conference (Arutz) (Meid) A total of 4,000 rockets have been fired by Pals against Israel from the Gaza Strip, since 2001, causing 14 deaths! (D Alert)

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Attila Somfalvi
The security forces thwarted seven suicide bombings in Israel in the last month-and-a-half, Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin told the cabinet Sunday October 7. DF intelligence chief Amos Yadlin told the cabinet that there was an irreconcilable gap between Abbas’ desire to lead a substantial process in the Annapolis peace conference, and his ability to implement it on the ground. If Hamas believes that the summit may succeed, said Yadlin, it will do its utmost to torpedo it, including launching terror attacks. (Ynet News)

by Hana Levi Julian
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will put Jerusalem on the negotiating table as he hurtles toward a “joint declaration” with the Palestinian Authority ahead of next month’s U.S.-sponsored Mideast summit. The prime minister says that a joint declaration with PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas prior to the summit will lead to direct negotiations.

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by Ezra HaLevi
On Wednesday October 3, the last day of the Sukkot festival, a 34-person delegation from West Papua presented a large amount of gold to be used in the building of the Holy Temple. The delegation explained that they study the Bible regularly and recently came upon a verse in Zechariah (6:16) reading

“And the distant ones will come and build the Temple of G-d.”

They discussed the passage among themselves and decided that their faith obligates them to fulfill the verse. (Note: Zechariah 6-12 states that THE BRANCH shall build the Temple, an obvious reference to the Lord Jesus)

In an apparent attempt to influence Israel’s thinking prior to upcoming Middle East Summit, the head of the Palestinian negotiating team Ahmed Qureia threatened that if a joint Israeli-Palestinian statement is not formulated BEFORE the Summit, the Palestinians might not participate in it.

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Youssef Ibrahim
Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, which represents the Islamists’ most significant political opposition force, published its first detailed political program, a manifesto that sent Arab progressives into deep shock. Among its highlights: The revision of “every article” of Egypt’s constitution in order to replace civil laws with Islamic sharia laws.

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UPI/SCIENCE DAILY
Tel Aviv University geologist Shmulik Marco said earthquake patterns along the Dead Sea fault recorded in historical documents indicate the region’s next significant quake might be imminent. Major earthquakes were recorded along the Jordan Valley in 31 BCE, and in 363, 749 and 1033 CE. “So roughly we are talking about an interval of every 400 years,” said Marco.

“If we follow the patterns of nature, a major quake should be expected any time because almost a whole millennium has passed since the last strong earthquake of 1033.” “When it strikes - and it will - this quake will affect Amman, Jordan, as well as Ramallah, Bethlehem and Jerusalem,” he said.

Aaron Lerner (Imra)
Israel Radio correspondent Mickey Gurdis reported that on Thursday, October 4, Simhat Torah holiday, Israeli airport communication frequencies were frequently jammed, creating a very dangerous situation for planes landing and taking off.Only Israeli frequencies were being jammed and the phenomenon could not be attributed to illegal Israeli radio stations since they did not broadcast during the holiday. Gurdis suggested the jamming was an intentional act of sabotage by hostile elements.

More than a year after the Israel-Hizbullah war, Hizbullah appears to be solidly entrenched across Lebanon’s south - looking, in fact, as if its fighters never really left but merely went underground. The Shiite militia’s banners hang everywhere, boasting of the “divine victory” over Israel and thanking its chief sponsor, Iran, for helping with post-war reconstruction.
It is estimated that the recent war in Lebanon cost Syria/Hizb’Allah/Iran billions of dollars.

Tens of thousands of Iranians marched through Tehran on Friday October 5 proclaiming solidarity with Palestinians and chanting “Death to Israel” in Iran’s annual protest against the Jewish state. Colored bibs were handed out to protestors with the legend “Death to Israel, Death to United States.”