Watchman of Zion

You may view the 5 minute update this week via audio:

1) Listen to the audio

In this week’s 5 minute update, we focused on:

1) The current status of the Israel / PLO peace process

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said that there has been no substancial progress made in direct peace talks with Israel because both sides started the process from scratch at the insistence of Netanyahu. Abbas said that both sides were facing their last chance to arrive at a peace agreement. Abbas threatened the collapse of direct peace talks with Israel over its demand to keep military forces in the Jordan Valley. Israel has long stated that it seeks to retain a long-term military presence along the Jordan Valley in order to ensure its continued security. The Palestinians, on the other hand, flatly objects to any Israeli military on land that could become the eastern front of a future Palestinian state. “They don’t have the right to stay in our territories after we signed a peace treaty,” Abbas said while stressing that he accepts a future demilitarized Palestinian state. In addition, an Israeli newspaper reported that talks almost collapsed in September over the possible borders of a potential Palestinian state.

Abbas has also been traveling around Europe in the past week to lobby governments to divest from doing business with Jewish organizations in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. “I call on European companies and foreign companies doing business in the [Jewish] settlements to put an end to their activities,” Abbas said after meeting with the E.U.’s Herman van Rompuy in Brussels. “Such activities are a violation of international law.” Furthermore, Abbas urged the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, to implement EU regulations against the Jewish settlements. In July, the EU issued guidelines that clarified its policy against providing grants, prizes or loans to Israeli entities, including nonprofit and educational institutions located over the pre-1967 lines. The restrictions are scheduled to go into effect on January 1. Meanwhile, European Union rotating president from Lithuania called for Israel to stop building settlements in the occupied West Bank saying they were impeding the peace process while insisting that “the European Union does not recognize settlements as part of Israel.”

Regarding the peace talks, Abbas said: “The negotiations are difficult but they haven’t reached a dead end. They are still in the initial stage and we have enough time to further deal with the main issues that turn out to be difficult. However, we have not reached a dead end.” Per an agreement with the United States, Abbas said that he couldn’t reveal any details of the current state of the negotiations but did say that the 1967 borders are the basis for talks.

Arab League spokesman Nasif Hata said that the Arab League isn’t optimistic about renewed peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. Upon returning from a meeting in Paris in the past week with US Secretary of State John Kerry, Hata claimed there were “no positive indications of progress.” In order for negotiations to yield results, he added, the US would have to play an active role in ending the impasse. “The US vowed to take action starting from early January if there is no progress,” Hata said. “Washington promised it would present viable suggestions for ways to end the thaw.”

Israel’s top negotiator, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, speaking at a World Jewish Congress meeting in Jerusalem said that in her view the establishment of a Palestinian state is inevitable and that it is in Israel’s interest to negotiate more favorable terms in peace talks or risk the establishment of a Palestinian state with international backing on terms unfavorable to Israel. Livni said: “Stalemate can lead to a Palestinian state that would be forced on us – not as the outcome of negotiations that represent the Israeli interest,” She added that she sees the peace process “not as a favor to Europe or to the United States of America. It is an Israeli interest. Security is guaranteed by more than just militaries. Our security is also guaranteed by our relationship with the United States.”

British Consul-General to Israel Sir Vincent Fean said that “a permanent agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority will be reached by the spring of 2014,” and that this agreement will include joint Israeli-Palestinian sovereignty over Jerusalem. He also said that the spring of 2014 is going to be “crucial to the inception of a Palestinian state on the basis of a political solution,” adding that “Jerusalem will serve as the shared capital of Israel and the future Palestinian state and the agreement will also include land swaps.”

US Secretary of State, John Kerry is pleased that the pace of the direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians have increased in recent weeks. Since negotiations began on July 29, 13 meetings have been held, of which three took place just in the last five days. Furthermore, American envoy Martin Indyk has recently gotten much more involved in the talks. In contrast to his practice during the first two months, Indyk now participates in most of the negotiating sessions. “The pace has intensified, all the core issues are on the table,” Kerry said.

It is being reported by DEBKA, an Israeli intelligence and news gathering service, that Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas has decided to derail talks with Israel directly after the release of the second batch of jailed Palestinian prisoners. In response to this potential crisis, US Secretary of State John Kerry met with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for 7 hours in Rome. In 4 of the 7 hours, Kerry and Netanyahu were scheduled to meet alone. There were senior US and Israeli officials present at the meeting. So far, both Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas have dug in their heels and refused to display any flexibility in the negotiations. Kerry has therefore concluded that he must start pushing both men to the decision point now rather than waiting until the nine months allotted for the talks are almost over.

In the 7 hour meeting with Netanyahu in Rome, Kerry urged Netanyahu to “advance the peace talks” especially on the core issues of borders, settlements and the Jordan Valley. Israeli sources said that Netanyahu will not “jeopardize its security” and will not change its stances regarding security arrangements under any agreement with the Palestinians. Senior Israeli officials, who asked to remain anonymous, said in their private meeting in Rome that Kerry is expected to start quizzing Netanyahu on how far talks with the Palestinians have gotten and what his positions are on various final-status issues – and above all, where he thinks the borders of the Palestinian state should lie. Kerry is expected to press Netanyahu to explain how he envisions the talks’ endgame and what he thinks the final agreement will look like. DEBKA reports that Kerry intends to convince Netanyahu to offer a large chunk of Dead Sea coastal area and water which equals about 1/3 of the territory owned by Israel in the region as a concession to continue peace talks with the Palestinians. DEBKA is also reporting that Abbas is also planning at that time to discontinue security cooperation with Israel in the West Bank for containing Palestinian terrorism.  According to DEBKA, in their private meeting, Kerry and Netanyahu did not discuss Iran. In fact, Kerry started the conversation by saying to Netanyahu: “Don’t tell me what you want. Tell me what you need and we’ll think about ways we can achieve it together.”

The Israeli Ministerial Committee for Legislation voted to support a bill that would require the approval of 80 MKs in order for the government to even begin negotiations on dividing or relinquishing any part of Jerusalem to the Palestinians. The committee voted 5-4 to support the bill, sponsored by MK Yaakov Litzman (United Torah Judaism), with ministers from Yesh Atid and Hatnua voting against and ministers from Likud-Beytenu and Jewish Home supporting it. Likud ministers abstained. Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, who heads the committee and is lead negotiator in the current peace talks, said that she would appeal the decision with the cabinet, which could shut down the bill if it accepts her reservations. Livni said: “we are in a period when the Arab world, and the rest of the world as well, are looking at us. Jerusalem is a very sensitive subject. With negotiations going on with the Palestinians, this is no time for such laws.”Finance Minister Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) opposes the bill but refused Livni’s request to join the appeal. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also opposes the bill and is expected to support Livni’s appeal.

If the bill were voted into law by the Knesset, it could hamper peace talks. The matter of negotiations would have to go back to the Knesset for a vote, while the Knesset, the cabinet and the Jerusalem municipality would be exempt from implementing any agreement reached in negotiations that began without the requisite approval. The law was authored by MK Yaakov Litzman (UTJ). Litzman said the aim of the bill was to hold Netanyahu to his promise not to divide Jerusalem. “I’m happy for the right to keep and defend Jerusalem,” he said. “Netanyahu promised more than once not to negotiate on Jerusalem. This bill is intended to hold him to that promise and to keep [Jerusalem] united. The message of the bill is clear:  Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and is outside of any negotiations.”

Finally, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has invited Pope Francis to visit the Holy Land while meeting with him recently in Rome. Press reports have indicated Francis may visit the region in March 2014, although the Vatican has yet to confirm the dates. At his meeting with the pope, Abbas gave the pontiff a ceramic plate, adorned with a view of Bethlehem, and a Bible; in exchange, he received a decorative pen, which he said he would use to sign a peace agreement with Israel. “Soon, soon,” the pope said.

An agreement to divide Jerusalem and establish a PLO state is a tribulation event.

The link to these articles are as follows:

1) Abbas: No to Israeli Presence in the Jordan Valley
2) Abbas Lobbies Europe to Divest from Israel
3) Abbas urges EU’s Ashton: Activate regulations against Jewish West Bank settlements
4) EU head Lithuania: Israel must end settlements
5) Abbas: I’ll meet Netanyahu anytime to push forward peace
6) Abbas: Reports are wrong — peace talks not at a dead end
7) Arab League ‘not optimistic’ about peace talks
8.) Tzipi Livni: Negotiations with the PA are in Israel’s Interests
9) ‘Permanent peace deal will be achieved in spring 2014’
10) Abbas set to slam door on talks with Israel, resuscitates “revolving door” for terrorists
11) Kerry Asks Netanyahu To “Advance Talks”
12) In seven-hour Rome meeting, Kerry to press Netanyahu for answers on peace talks
13) Kerry-Netanyahu’s 7-hour talk did not touch on Iran
14) Ministers back Jerusalem bill that could hamper peace talks
15) Law Would Require 80 MKs for Jerusalem Withdrawals
16) In Vatican meeting, Abbas invites pope to region

From a Biblical prophetic perspective, the reason why the God of Israel would allow these events to happen is because it will result in the end of the exile of the house of Jacob and the reunification of the 12 tribes of Israel (Ephraim and Judah).

We will to be “watchmen on the walls of Jerusalem” and we will not rest until the God of Israel makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth (Isaiah 62).

Shalom in Yeshua the Messiah,

Eddie Chumney
Hebraic Heritage Ministries Int’l

You may view the 5 minute update this week via audio:

1) Listen to the audio

In this week’s 5 minute update, we focused on:

1) The current status of the Israel / PLO peace process
2) Orthodox Jew Embraces Ephraim as his brother and call him to come home to Israel

                                           SPECIAL ALERT !!!

ORTHODOX JEW EMBRACES EPHRAIM AS HIS BROTHER AND CALLS HIM TO COME HOME

1) Summary (youtube): Orthodox Jew Embraces Ephraim as his brother and calls him to come home to Israel (6 minutes)
2) Full Length (youtube): Orthodox Jew Embraces Ephraim as his brother and calls him to come home to Israel (49 minutes)
3) AUDIO: Orthodox Jew Embraces Ephraim as his brother and calls him to come home to Israel (15 minutes)

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said there is no compromise that a PLO state should be based upon 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital in any peace deal with Israel. He said that the Palestinians agreed to postpone Palestine’s accession to international bodies for nine months in exchange for the release of 104 prisoners detained before the 1993 Oslo agreement. He said 26 prisoners will be released by Israel every three months. Regarding the Israeli release of long-held Palestinian prisoners, Abbas said that it had nothing to do with the negotiations rather it was granted in return for the Palestinians pulling their appeals to the United Nations.

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the Palestinians must recognize Israel as a Jewish state in any peace agreement.  “How is it that when the Palestinians demand that we recognize their nationhood that they refuse to recognize ours,” Netanyahu asked. “The Jewish people have been in existence for 4,000 years. Why do we not deserve recognition? We are working very hard to end the conflict with the Palestinians,” the Prime Minister said. “I am not fooling myself into believing that this will be easy, but I am determined to come to an agreement that will not sacrifice Israel’s national interests in order to get a nice headline in the newspaper, or to receive international applause.” Mahmood Abbas criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying that Israel’s insistence that the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state saying: “Netanyahu’s refusal to recognize a Palestinian state in the 1967 borders, his insistence that a united Jerusalem is Israel’s eternal capital and his demand that we recognize the State of Israel as a Jewish state indicate that he isn’t interested in continuing with the negotiations.”

Furthermore, Netanyahu added that in any peace agreement with the Palestinians that it requires a security border in the Jordan Valley. Israel rejected a US proposal to put in the Jordan Valley international troops. In the current peace talks, Israeli negotiators offered to transfer sovereignty of the Jordan Valley to the Palestinian Authority which would in turn lease it back to Israel. The Palestinians promptly rejected this proposal.  In speaking to the Israeli Knesset, Netanyahu said that Israeli negotiators “will have to convince the Palestinians to adjust their demands to the circumstances around us.” In response to the Israeli proposal Palestinian National Council member Hanan Ashrawi told an Israeli newspaper, “No Israeli soldier will be in the Jordan Valley. We will not agree [to let Israel] control or lease lands. We will not take part in redefining the Israeli occupation.” She further stated: “Netanyahu wants to control the Palestinian state, its borders and its airspace and refuses to discuss the option of placing international forces in the Jordan Valley. We cannot agree to that. From our view, it’s just the occupation by another name, which wants to rule over us again and control our lives. We won’t accept that in any form.” So far,  “All the discussions focus on Israel’s security,” Ashrawi charged. “Israel is entrenched in its positions and continues to build in the settlements. As a result, negotiations have not amounted to anything so far.”

In the past month, there have been several terror attacks by Palestinians who killed Jews in the West Bank. As a result, some Israeli politicians are calling for Israel to suspend peace talks with the Palestinians and the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails. Israel agreed to release 104 Palestinians from Israeli jails in several stages as part of the agreement to restart direct peace talks. In response, a Palestinian official said: “[Abbas] and the Palestinian leadership hear the opinions in Israel that are talking about the possibility of freezing the talks with the Palestinians because of the death of several Jews by Palestinians in the West Bank. Therefore, the Palestinians are preparing an alternative plan which is to appeal to United Nations institutions and organizations with the goal of winning international recognition for a Palestinian state.

Frustrated in the progress of the peace talks, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas plans to travel to Germany, Italy and Belgium where he will meet with heads of state for the purpose of pressuring Israel to impose a building freeze in the West Bank and to rethink the possibility of suspending the prisoner releases.  Fatah official Jibril Rajoub said that if Israel doesn’t reach a  peace agreement with the Palestinians that Israel should be “removed” from the region. He added: “Peace is not a Palestinian interest, it’s an international interest, and the interest of the world is to put an end to this struggle. I think it’s also an Israeli interest – Israelis should decide whether they are part of the Middle East or an alien body. If Israel is an alien body it should be removed,” he said.

An Israeli official told an Israeli newspaper that a land transfer proposal is being discussed in current peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. In the proposal, Israel would transfer land near Shechem to the Palestinians and Israel would annex parts of Jewish settlement blocs in the West Bank. Israel fears that at the end of the nine-months of peace talks that the US will publicize a document accusing Israel of failure in the peace talks. In order to prevent the publication of this document, the report said, efforts were being made to discuss the possibilities of land swaps. During a speech in the US, Israel Finance Minister, Yair Lapid, said Israel must come to terms with the fact that it will have to uproot thousands of Jews from their homes to facilitate the creation of a Palestinian state. “We need to have a final map,” said Lapid. “We cannot escape the need to map the final borders of a future Palestinian state…including an organized plan for the evacuation of tens of thousands of [Jewish] settlers.” At the same time, Lapid said Israel needs to know that acceptable security arrangements will be made to bring an end to ongoing Palestinian terrorism. “We need to know how the story will end, because if we know that, we can be more understanding and responsive to the needs of the other party,” he continued. Therefore, “we need to go all out, draw maps, write agreements, and then set a time frame for implementation.”  In his meeting with US Vice President Joe Biden, Lapid reiterated the Israeli government’s commitment to achieving a final status peace deal.

Leader of the Jewish Home political party, Naftali Bennett, threatened that his party would withdraw from Netanyahu’s government coalition should Israel “grant any concession to the Palestinians in peace talks” because they would pose “a serious threat to Israel” and that his party “will not allow that to happen”. Bennett also stated that his party will not only withdraw from the government, but will lead “a political battle at the Knesset to stop any agreement and any concession provided by the government, starting with foiling the Poll Law that the Knesset intends to vote on”. Meanwhile, Israel Justice Minister Tzipi Livni who leads peace talks with the Palestinians said that the Labor political party should join the government coalition of Benjamin Netanyahu. “Israel’s opposition leader [Shelly Yacimovich (Labor)] says she’ll only join the government once there’s an agreement or she thinks [talks are] serious enough. Well, it’s not enough to give a speech about peace, even if it’s a good speech; it’s important to implement it,”Livni said. “In my opinion, Labor should have been part of this coalition, and it’s unfortunate that they refused to enter,” she added. At a Labor faction meeting, Yacimovich said “Labor will be a safety net for peace talks, but not if they’re fake.” The Labor leader said she feels that the government is trying to dissolve talks and is only negotiating for show, and she will not support that.

In an upcoming trip to Italy, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to visit with Pope Francis. Netanyahu also will meet US Secretary of State John Kerry on the same trip. In addition, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas invited Pope Francis to visit the Holy Land in 2014. After the private part of the meeting, the pope gave Abbas a pen, telling him “surely, you have a lot of things you have to sign.” Abbas responded: “I hope to sign a peace treaty with Israel with this pen.” Pope Francis plans to visit Israel in March.

Next, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is considering an appeal to the United Nations Security Council over what he termed “serious Israeli violations” in East Jerusalem, specifically on the Temple Mount. “Israel has no right to split up the Al-Aqsa Mosque, neither physically nor in terms of prayer times,” Abbas said, and stressed that “all East Jerusalem is Palestinian.” Meanwhile, Hamas Political Bureau Chief Khaled Mashaal called for Arabs and Muslims worldwide to come up with a strategy for countering what he called the “Judaization” of Jerusalem and the danger to the Al-Aqsa Mosque at the hands of Israel. The Muslim world must prepare for a struggle with “the enemy” to “free” the city, he said. He added that without a Palestinian East Jerusalem and without the recognition of the 1967 borders with minor corrections, a peace treaty is unattainable.

Finally, Hanoch Young, an Orthodox Jew from the United States who now lives in Israel gave a message at the “Alliance of Redeemed Israel” conference where he embraced Ephraim as his brother and welcomed him to “come home” to Israel. His message is included as part of this week’s report. You can also listen to his message on youtube.

An agreement to divide Jerusalem and establish a PLO state is a tribulation event.

The link to these articles are as follows:

1) No compromise on Jerusalem as Palestinian capital: Abbas
2) Netanyahu Reiterates: PA Must Recognize Israel as a Jewish State
3) Netanyahu: Border must remain in Jordan Valley – like Rabin said
4) PA rejects Israeli ‘leasing’ proposal for Jordan Valley
5) Talks on rocks, Abbas heads to Europe to push for settlement freeze
6) Fatah Official: Israel Should be ‘Removed’ From Region if Peace Agreement Not Reached
7) Report: Livni and Erekat Weighing Land Transfer Proposal
8.) Israeli Minister: We’ll Have to Uproot Thousands of Jews
9) Bennett: “We Will Leave Coalition Should Government Grant Concessions to Palestinians”
10) Livni to Labor: Join Netanyahu government for sake of peace
11) Netanyahu to meet Pope next week
12) Abbas meets Pope Francis, invites him to visit Holy Land
13) Abbas considers appeal to UN over ‘Temple Mount violations’
14) Palestinians mull appeal to UNSC over ‘serious Israeli violations in Temple Mount

From a Biblical prophetic perspective, the reason why the God of Israel would allow these events to happen is because it will result in the end of the exile of the house of Jacob and the reunification of the 12 tribes of Israel (Ephraim and Judah).

We will to be “watchmen on the walls of Jerusalem” and we will not rest until the God of Israel makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth (Isaiah 62).

Shalom in Yeshua the Messiah,

Eddie Chumney
Hebraic Heritage Ministries Int’l

You may view the 5 minute update this week via audio:

1) Listen to the audio

In this week’s 5 minute update, we focused on:

1) The current status of the Israel / PLO peace process

A group of former top European officials called on the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, not to ease or delay the implementation of guidelines that would bar the organization from funding Israeli institutions located in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The group consists of senior officials from various EU countries, including former NATO secretary-general Javier Solana; former French foreign minister Hubert Védrine; former German state secretary Wolfgang Ischinger; and Benita Ferrero-Waldner, a former Austrian foreign minister and European Commissioner. Published in July, the EU guidelines mandate a denial of European funding to, and cooperation with, Israeli institutions based or operating in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and a requirement that all future agreements between Israel and the EU include a clause in which Israel accepts the position that none of the territory in the West Bank and East Jerusalem belongs to Israel.

“With great concern we have taken note of recent calls to delay, modify or even suspend the European Commission guidelines on funding of Israeli entities in the territories occupied by Israel since June 1967,” read a letter sent to Catherine Ashton by a lineup of 15 so-called European Eminent Persons. “We urge you to uphold this commitment by supporting the guidelines and their full application by EU institutions, notably in regard to the ongoing negotiations about Israel’s participation in Horizon 2020,” the letter stated. “Their strict application serves to reiterate that the EU does not recognize and will not support settlements and other illegal facts on the ground…. It is these facts on the ground, not the guidelines, which threaten to make a negotiated solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict impossible.” In a speech at the United Nations in late September, Palestinian President Mahmood Abbas endorsed European restrictions on assistance to Israeli organizations located in the West Bank and East Jerusalem saying in a United Nations address that the European Union approach is a model for others to follow. Israel fiercely rejected the directive, saying it refuses to sign any further agreements with the EU that include such clauses.

The authors of the letter warned that a possible deferment of the guidelines, which are set to take effect in January 2014, could harm the ongoing peace process. “If the EU were to delay or suspend the guidelines, or not fully apply them to the agreement with Israel on Horizon 2020 [a scientific cooperation program], this could further undermine the Palestinians’ trust in the negotiation process and their ability to continue the talks,” the letter stated. “In other words, delaying or suspending the guidelines is likely to undermine negotiations, not help them.”

Israel and the Palestinians have had 8 rounds of peace talks since they started in July. The US-brokered peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority have reached an impasse due over the issues of borders of a Palestinian state and Israel’s security. The sources claimed that Israel has insisted over the past two months on talking only about security-related issues. “But in the face of Palestinian insistence, some meetings dealt with the border,” the sources said, referring to the secret talks held in Jerusalem and Jericho. According to an unnamed, senior foreign diplomat with knowledge of the discussions, during the latest round of talks, the Israeli team of Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and Netanyahu adviser Yitzhak Molcho made it clear to the Palestinians that Israel intends to retain some of the settlement blocs as part of a final agreement but refused to name which areas or discuss possible compensation to the Palestinians for the territory to be annexed. The Israeli team also reportedly “refused in principle” the idea of a land-swap deal with a 1:1 ratio. According to this idea, Israel would transfer to the Palestinians land adjacent to the West Bank, equivalent in size to the settlements that will become part of Israel in a final status agreement. According to the source, the talks will falter unless a face-to-face meeting by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and PA President Mahmoud Abbas is brokered by the US administration. “The prospects of achieving progress in the current talks are zero,” the report quoted Palestinian sources as saying. The Palestinians fear that Israel may use the meetings between Netanyahu and Abbas to “promote an imaginary peace process and avoid international pressure, the sources said. An anonymous senior Palestinian official said that the talks were in a state of “quiet crisis,” and were liable to explode if Israel didn’t modify its positions.

As a result, the Palestinians are seriously considering declaring the failure of the peace talks with Israel, a senior PLO official said. Hanna Amireh, a member of the PLO Executive Committee, said that this was one of the scenarios that were discussed during the last meeting of the Palestinian leadership. Amireh accused Israel of seeking to “win time” and blame the Palestinians for the failure of the US-sponsored talks. “All the previous sessions of negotiations have not produced anything,” he said. “We are now seriously discussing the nature of our steps in the aftermath of the collapse of the negotiations.” Amireh pointed out that one of the options facing the Palestinians calls for seeking full membership of the United Nations and its agencies.

The Palestinians want the United States to take a more active role in the peace talks. In a meeting with Abbas in London last month, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad al-Malki said that Abbas received assurances on this matter from US Secretary of State, John Kerry that the United States would take a more active role in the peace talks if they showed signs of failure. Later, an Israeli official said that this was so. “We’ve agreed now to intensify these talks, and we’ve agreed that the American participation should be increased somewhat in order to try to help facilitate them,” Kerry said. Speaking at a high-level meeting of the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in late September, Kerry said the idea up until now was “to have the Palestinians and Israelis meet together, work this through, build trust, build relationship. But at the same time, we are there to facilitate, to help if there needs to be a bridging proposal to work on the way forward.”

Kerry said the talks were taking place on two separate tracks. The first, formal track was the meetings between Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s special envoy, Yitzhak Molcho, and Justice Minister Tzipi Livni with Palestinian negotiators Saeb Erekat and Muhammad Shtayyeh. According to Kerry, that track was working at “discerning the gaps” and defining the issues and “the parameters that they need to work through.” He said there was a second track that included Netanyahu, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and US President Barack Obama. “And as needed, as we think appropriate, as we need to move the process, we will be consulting among each other and working to move this process forward.” Kerry said that all the final-status issues were on the table: territory, security, refugees and Jerusalem. And, he stressed, the sides were not seeking an interim agreement but rather a final-status accord.

In an interview with Eitan Haber, a close aid to Israel former Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin who signed the 1993 Oslo Accords which started the negotiations for a final status peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, he was asked the following if there is an opportunity for peace between Israel and the Palestinians. He said: I think Kerry understands today, better than any of us, that if it will be dependent on the Israelis, nothing is going to happen, and if it is dependent on the Palestinians, nothing will happen. And so, in my opinion, I believe that in the next few months, US Secretary of State John Kerry will say the following:  ‘Gentlemen, we, the Americans, say this and that and the other.’ He will set out what he thinks needs to be done, ‘take it or leave it’ … and that if Kerry does so, both sides would be “better off taking it and not leaving it.”

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the root of the Israel / Palestinian conflict is not the “so-called territories” or West Bank settlements. Since the first Arab attack on a home housing Jewish immigrants in Jaffa in 1921, the root of the conflict has not been the “occupation,” the “territories” or the settlements, but rather an Arab refusal to recognize the Jews’ right to a sovereign state in their historic homeland, he said. Palestinian Arabs attacked Jews in Jaffa in 1921 and massacred Jews in Hebron, destroying an ancient community. It wasn’t a territorial conflict then; Jews didn’t have any territory. Then the prime minister hammered the point home, by noting that the Grand Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini was a partner and consultant to Hitler and Eichmann; the latter even called the leader of Arabs in Mandatory Palestine a friend. The mufti offered up Muslims as SS soldiers and broadcast Nazi propaganda. Jews still didn’t have a state then. There were no West Bank settlements.

Therefore, the root of the conflict, Netanyahu clarified, is that the Palestinians don’t want Jews to be in Israel. The Palestinian Authority says it recognizes Israel, but that isn’t enough. They need to recognize Israel as the Jewish state and homeland of the Jewish people, and until that happens, there cannot be peace. Netanyahu said: “A necessary condition to getting a true solution [to the Israeli-Palestinian] conflict was and remains clear as the sun: ending the refusal to recognize the right of the Jews to a homeland of their own in the land of their fathers,” he said. “That is the most important key to solving the conflict.” Furthermore, Netanyahu said that the Palestinians need to give up their claim to the right of return. Recognizing a Jewish state but wanting to flood it with Palestinians is disingenuous and contradictory, and cannot be part of any peace agreement Israel signs with the Palestinians.

The political faction of the PLO headed by Palestinian President Mahmood Abbas, Fatah, has rejected the position of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who linked the possibility of making peace to Fatah’s recognition of Israel as a state for the Jewish people. Fatah repeated that it refuses to recognize Israel as a Jewish homeland. “This is the language of acquiescence and we won’t recognize Israel as a Jewish state,” said Fatah spokesman Ahmed Assaf. “Let Israel go to the United Nations and demand changing its name into the Jewish state.” If the objective behind Netanyahu’s speech is to ask the Palestinians to give up their rights, he added, “then we all refuse to give up our rights.”

A senior Likud lawmaker Tzachi Hanegbi who is a member of Netanyahu’s political party said that Israel will accept a peace agreement that includes handing over Arab parts of Jerusalem. He said: “I think we will be able to give a good answer, a win-win answer, to almost every issue including the Jerusalem issue, including the settlement issue, every issue has a compromise that can be relevant to both sides.” In comments at a news conference following the panel discussion, Hanegbi described how he could convince more conservative members of his party that a two-state solution would be acceptable. He would argue the following: “Look, you’re afraid that Jerusalem will be divided? No, it’s going to be some creative idea that will allow them to have their own sovereignty in their neighborhoods and to declare whatever they want to declare about it, and we will have sovereignty over other parts,” Hanegbi, who is considered a confidant of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told reporters. “All these things will be worked out,” Hanegbi concluded. “The devil is, as you know, in the details.”

Regarding the details of a peace agreement, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said that the future border between a Palestinian state and Jordan will extend from the Dead Sea through the Jordan Valley and all the way up to Beit She’an. “This is a Palestinian-Jordanian border, and that’s how it will remain,” he said. “Frankly Israel won’t be present between us and Jordan.” However, Abbas did not rule out the possibility that international troops would be deployed to supervise any agreement with Israel in a final deal.

According to a senior Palestinian negotiator, the Obama administration is pressing hard for Israel to give up the strategic Jordan Valley in a deal with the Palestinians. The Jordan Valley cuts through the heart of Israel. It runs from the Tiberias River in the north to the Dead Sea in the center to the city of Aqaba at the south of the country, stretching through the biblical Arabah desert. Obama’s proposal calls for international forces to maintain security control along with unarmed Palestinian police forces, the PA negotiator said. Israel will retain security posts in some strategic areas of the Jordan Valley, according to the U.S. plan. When it comes to the West Bank, which borders Jerusalem and is within rocket range of Israel’s main population centers, Israel is expected to evacuate about 90 percent of its Jewish communities currently located in the territory, as outlined in Kerry’s plan. Meanwhile, regarding Jerusalem, Kerry’s plan is to rehash what is known as the Clinton parameters. The formula, pushed by President Bill Clinton during the Camp David talks in 2000, called for Jewish areas of Jerusalem to remain Israeli while the Palestinians would get sovereignty over neighborhoods that are largely Arab. Most Arab sections are located in eastern Jerusalem. Regarding the Temple Mount, the Obama administration plan calls for the Palestinian Authority and Jordan to receive sovereignty over the Temple Mount while Israel will retain the land below the Western Wall. The plan remains in effect as the basis for negotiations. Israel has not agreed to the U.S. plan for the Temple Mount, with details still open for discussion, stated the PA negotiator. The PA negotiator further said Israel rejected a Palestinian request that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agree not to place the final peace plan up for referendum in the Knesset.

Palestinian representatives said Israel wants its army to retain a presence along the Jordan River for many years while the Palestinians insist that no Israeli soldiers can be allowed to remain on the Palestinian-Jordanian border. One Israeli government official, who refused to go into the content of the negotiations, responded to Abbas’s comments about the Jordan Valley by saying that “if there is going to be a peace agreement, the Palestinians will have to engage seriously on Israel’s security concerns.” According to the official, “the whole idea that Israel will pull out and hope for the best is not a serious option. If the Palestinians want to see an independent state, they have to be able to deal seriously with Israel’s security concerns. If they run away from this issue, they will be pushing away the chance of the deal and the creation of an independent Palestinian state.” Israel Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, who heads the Israeli negotiating team with the Palestinian Authority, is willing to pull out the Israeli army from the Jordan Valley which guards Israel’s long eastern border, and let an international force take its place. Netanyahu vigorously opposes this, citing the region’s crucial strategic importance. In addition, Livni has agreed to divide Jerusalem between Israel and a future state of “Palestine” in Judea and Samaria, as well as a large scale eviction of Jews from communities in Judea and Samaria – whereas Netanyahu believes that communities need to remain under Palestinian sovereignty, with proper security arrangements.

Fearing a peace agreement with the Palestinians, Knesset members from Netanyahu’s own party, Likud, as well as the “Religious Zionist” party, Jewish Home, who oppose a Palestinian state are pressuring Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to minimize the concessions he authorizes in the diplomatic negotiations with the Palestinian Authority. As a result, a total of 17 Knesset members wrote a letter to him saying, “Twenty years after the wretched Oslo Accords, we call on the prime minister to present our clear position to the US secretary of state: Israel will not return to the Oslo outline, and will not hand further parts of the homeland to the Palestinian Authority.”

Israel’s deputy ministry of defense, Danny Danon, said he and his co-signers were not afraid that the current peace talks would actually lead to a final-status agreement and the creation of a Palestinian state, “but we want to make sure we won’t be surprised. We know the positions of Minister Livni and of Erekat and Martin Indyk [a former US diplomat tasked with facilitating the talks] — so we want to make sure that our ideas too are being heard and represented during these negotiations.”

Finally, Israel Knesset member Moshe Feiglin, a long-time Temple Mount prayer rights advocate, sent a letter to the Israel Police asking for clarifications regarding the legal authority of the Arabs to control the Temple Mount challenging the reply of an Israeli government decision taken after the Six-Day War of 1967 authorized Arab authorities to control the Temple Mount. He then quoted the comments of then Justice Minister Yaakov Shimshon Shapira from a committee meeting in June 1968 as saying “We never announced that the entirety of the Temple Mount belongs to the Arabs. We never announced that it is forbidden for Jews to pray there, we never announced that it is forbidden for Jews to establish a synagogue there.” Feiglin wrote that in the absence of such a decision, “all directives which discriminate between Muslims and non-Muslims regarding entrance to the [Temple] Mount should be immediately rescinded, and free entrance from all gates to the Mount be enabled, in accordance with the law.”

An agreement to divide Jerusalem and establish a PLO state is a tribulation event.

The link to these articles are as follows:

1) Israel, Palestine to start new round of talks
2) Former European leaders call on EU to enact settlement ban
3) At U.N., Palestinian leader Abbas criticizes Israel, but pledges good faith in peace talks
4) Israeli-Palestinian talks said to be stuck over land swaps
5) Report: Israel has caused peace talks to reach a dead-end
6) PLO official: Palestinians ‘seriously considering’ to declare failure of peace talks
7) Netanyahu lowers expectations for Israeli-Palestinian peace
8.) Netanyahu: For peace, Palestinians must recognize Jewish homeland
9) Fatah repeats that it does not recognise Israel as a Jewish state
10) Palestine seeks more US role in peace talks
11) Kerry promises Abbas more active U.S. role if peace talks continue to stall
12) Kerry says Israel, Palestinian talks to intensify with increased US role
13) Kerry: Israelis, Palestinians to intensify talks toward final agreement
14) Obama said to urge Netanyahu to accelerate talks with PA
15) ‘When they become PM, they realize how utterly dependent Israel is on the US’
16) Jerusalem negotiable, Palestinian right of return not, Likud MK tells J Street
17.) PA President Abbas: Israel won’t be present between us and Jordan
18) Obama pushing Israel to vacate Jordan Valley
19) Livni ‘Willing to Cede Control of Jordan Valley’
20) Livni vows to end Mideast conflict with final-status accord
21) Right-wing MKs begin pressuring Netanyahu against giving up land to Palestinians
22) 17 coalition MKs warn PM: We oppose a Palestinian state
23) Likud officials pledge to prevent Israeli-Palestinian agreements
24) Feiglin to question legal authority, legitimacy of Temple Mount Waqf

From a Biblical prophetic perspective, the reason why the God of Israel would allow these events to happen is because it will result in the end of the exile of the house of Jacob and the reunification of the 12 tribes of Israel (Ephraim and Judah).

We will to be “watchmen on the walls of Jerusalem” and we will not rest until the God of Israel makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth (Isaiah 62).

Shalom in Yeshua the Messiah,

Eddie Chumney
Hebraic Heritage Ministries Int’l

The past several weeks I have been in Oklahoma for Sukkot. The next update will be October 12.

Thank you for understanding that no updates were recorded the last 3 weekends due to the holiday season.

Shalom in Yeshua the Messiah,

Eddie Chumney
Hebraic Heritage Ministries Int’l