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
2) The current status of the situation with Syria and Iran

US Secretary of State John Kerry cancelled his scheduled visit to Israel in an effort to restart direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. According to Israeli sources, Kerry put off the visit “to give (Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas) more time” to decide whether to drop his insistence on a freeze on Jewish building before returning to negotiations. They also say that Kerry has given up his wide-ranging peace plan and replaced it with “a gradual multi-step peace plan between Israel and the Palestinian Authority”. Kerry has asked the European Union to “step back … from its peace seeking efforts” and follow the American plan that entails gradual work, as he wants the Israeli and Palestinian governments to establish trust between them. Kerry has changed his plan because Israel will not accept Mahmoud Abbas’s preconditions for the return to negotiations and Abbas will not accept Israel’s conditions. “Under Kerry’s plan, Israel and the Palestinians would enter into negotiations on core issues immediately, based on the recognition of two states, the right of the Palestinian people to independence and the preservation of Israel’s security interests and main settlement blocs.” Under this scenario, the Palestinians would receive an economic aid package and the Israelis would freeze settlement construction. Some long-term Palestinian prisoners held by Israel may also be released as a goodwill gesture.

Meanwhile, according to Palestinian officials, Kerry is being hesitant to put for his peace initiative for fear that it will be rejected. Kerry was originally expected to present his plan on June 7.

In any event, the fate of negotiations will most likely be determined in the next two weeks. Right now, the US doesn’t consider Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be the real obstacle to renewing the negotiations. The US believes that it is possible for Netanyahu to make a peace deal because he is not a real ideologue. The US believes that what motives Netanyahu is political survival. The US believes that if Netanyahu can get his coalition to support negotiations with the Palestinians, he will support it. The US believes that the real obstacle in Israel’s Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon. The US dislikes that Ya’alon is drawing closer to the settlers.

A potential agreement to restart negotiations would most likely consist of the following parameters:  Israel will release a list of “pre-Oslo” prisoners. This list of prisoners include those were were charged with serious crimes with some of them even convicted of murder. Though Israel will not announce that it is freezing construction in the settlements, it will do that quietly, with a few isolated exceptions to be approved discreetly among all parties. In return, the Palestinians will receive an attractive economic package and Israel will announce a series of benefits in Areas C and B which will markedly improve the Palestinians’ freedom of activity and movement. In exchange, the negotiations will be resumed without any preconditions. It will not be resumed from where the negotiations between former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Abu Mazen left off but from where the negotiations between former Palestinian Prime Minister Abu Alaa and Justice Minister Tzipi Livni stopped. The underlying principles will be: “Everything is up for discussion. Nothing is settled until everything is settled.”

Meanwhile, the Palestinians are busy with a construction plan to build six cities, two airports, a high-tech complex, a university and a system of highways to connect all of these things in an effort to create territorial continuity in the West Bank as authorities refuse to wait for the revival of peace talks. The majority of the projects are in the Israel-controlled Area C, and many of them have already begun. Some are awaiting the approval of the Civil Administration, the Israeli governing body that operates in the West Bank. The Palestinians hope to push the projects that the Civil Administration will reject through negotiations as “confidence-building steps.” In view of US Secretary of State John Kerry’s frequent visits to the region, the plan looks grounded in reality. The petitions submitted to the Civil Administration reveal the Palestinians intend to erect five cities, and a tourist town on the shores of the Dead Sea. The two airports will be built in East Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley. Plans are also in place to better harness the natural water and energy resources and water purification facilities.

Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said that a two-state solution not within the pre-1967 borders is meaningless. Palestinian negotiator Nabil Shaath added, “The Palestinian Authority will return to the negotiating table only if Israel agrees to negotiate on the basis of 1967 borders or freeze settlements and free “political prisoners.” “We’re not demanding that settlers be removed at the moment just that settlements not be expanded.

Netanyahu said on that when it comes to peace talks with the Palestinians, “it’s time to stop negotiating about the negotiations. I want peace. To achieve peace, we must negotiate peace,” he said. “We want to see this American effort succeed. Israel is ready for the resumption of direct negotiations for peace without preconditions. I think it is time to stop squabbling over preconditions. I think it’s time to stop negotiating about the negotiations. I think we have to start peace talks immediately.” Netanyahu added, “My goal is to see a historic compromise that ends the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians once and for all. This will entail a demilitarized Palestinian state that recognizes the Jewish state, with iron clad security arrangements for Israel – recognition, security, demilitarization. I believe that these are the elements for peace. I don’t pose them as preconditions for negotiations. I look forward to enter those negotiations without preconditions without delay. I am ready for such a peace. I hope the Palestinians are ready too.”

Israel’s deputy defense minister, Danny Danon said “there is certainly no majority” in the Likud for establishing a Palestinian state based on 1967 borders. “A Palestinian state on the 1967 lines is something dangerous for Israel, and therefore I oppose that idea. The Public should not be misled”, as Israel would never allow the establishment of a Palestinian state, whether the United States sends envoys or not, whether it presents initiatives or not. When asked if Israel would “annex” the West Bank, Dannon said that Israel will not do so, but will continue its settlements activities “on vacant lands in the West Bank. Jews in the West Bank aren’t settlers anymore, they are citizens of the state of Israel.” He further stated that several Israeli members of Knesset agree with his opinions despite the fact they do not go public about them.

Officials in Netanyahu’s office said that Danon had stated a personal opinion and his comments did not reflect government policy. Netanyahu “is interested in a resumption of negotiations without preconditions,” and that his positions regarding support for a two-state solution continues. “Netanyahu calls on the president of the Palestinian Authority to restart talks without delay at which all issues will be raised to discussion,” the sources said. “The Palestinian Authority will raise its demands, and Israel will raise its demands which include, among others, stringent security arrangements, recognition of Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people, and the declaration of an end to the conflict.” Netanyahu urged his ministers in a cabinet meeting to put their differences aside for the moment. “In order to face the challenges [on diplomatic and security issues] and many other challenges ahead, the government must function as a whole,” Netanyahu said. “The citizens of Israel chose us so we could focus on getting big things done and not on little, narrow political interests, and that is what we will do.”

Israel’s chief negotiator with the Palestinians, Tzipi Livni, said that she is working with the U.S to restart talks, despite those within the government that oppose it. “It is true that within the Likud there are radical elements and within the government there are those that oppose an agreement. However, the prime minister is the one who will have to decide whether he surrenders to radical elements or will promote his policy that he declared,” she said. “It harms the peace process.” A member of Livni’s political party, Hatnua (“The Movement”), MK Amram Mitzna said, “The condition [of Hatnua’s inclusion in the coalition] is the advancement of the peace process. If we reach the conclusion that it’s not part of the process, we won’t be [in the government],” he said.

In light of Danon’s statements regarding the peace process, several Israel Knesset members called for Danon to resign. Labor Party MK Nahman Shai said, “The prime minister must immediately relieve Danny Danon of his duties because of the grave damage his words inflicted on US Secretary of State John Kerry’s efforts to revive peace negotiations.”

Danon attacked the politicians who were attacking him and said that “Likud is a democracy that accepts different streams and opinions, and the majority within the party is against [two states].” In response to Justice Minister Tzipi Livni comments about him who said that she left Likud because of views like his, Danon said: “Wonderful. She wants us to be the contractors who carry out her plans and those of the leftists? Her place was not in Likud to begin with.” Regarding Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s statements in favor of a two-state solution, Danon said that “there is a difference between statements and actions,” but added that he opposes the statements, too. “If there is actual action [to implement a two state solution] there will be an ideological struggle and a confrontation within Likud, but we are not at that point,” he said. “The Palestinians refuse to even be partners.”

Former Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said there has been a de facto settlement freeze in Jerusalem neighborhoods located beyond the Green Line since the beginning of the year. “One should view this as a temporary hiatus,” Lieberman said. “We have an interest in [Secretary of State] Kerry succeeding. You don’t always have to be right; you can also be smart. If we do enter talks, they will be very tough,” he said, “but the alternative is a binational state, something we do not want.”

Israel rejects Palestinian preconditions for negotiations, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said rejecting Palestinian demands for a settlement freeze ahead of negotiations and stressing that nothing on the Israeli side stands in the way of talks progressing. He called preconditions an “impassable obstacle.” He accused Mahmoud Abbas and the PA leadership of creating conditions they know Israel will never accept as an excuse to avoid talks. Every time Israel gives the Palestinians what they want, he said, they add new demands. Netanyahu rejected the idea of an international force guaranteeing Israeli security in the event of a two-state solution. Netanyahu did, however, accept some role for international troops in the region, but added “we cannot rely on them.” Netanyahu also pledged to press ahead with construction in the West Bank. “Building in Judea and Samaria will continue, it is continuing even today, but we have to understand what is happening around us. We have to be smart, not only right. Settlements in the main blocs do not fundamentally change our ability to reach an agreement.” The real issue, the prime minister stressed, is whether the Palestinians can accept the Jewish state.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he receives telephone calls “several times a week” from U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. Israel officials said that Kerry has submitted a package of demands to the government unacceptable even to the most pro-American ministers in the Cabinet saying that Netanyahu’s government could collapse if the prime minister agrees to U.S. demands for unilateral withdrawal from or a total housing freeze in the West Bank. However, Labor opposition leader Shelly Yachimovich said that her party would support the government and would consider joining the coalition if a peace agreement was made with the Palestinians adding that there wouldn’t be a “better Palestinian partner in the next few years” and that the dramatic shifts around the Middle East are not in Israel’s favor.

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

The link to these articles are as follows:

1) Report: Kerry to Postpone Mideast Visit
2) Kerry replaces peace plan with phased proposals
3) Kerry hesitates to propose Mideast peace plan for fear of failure: Palestinian official
4) US Still Believes ‘Business With Bibi Is Possible’
5) Netanyahu in Poland: Stop Negotiating About Negotiations
6) PM: Recognition of Israel not precondition for peace talks
7) Israel official says no Palestinian state with pre-1967 boundaries as Kerry prepares visit
8) Dannon: “The Palestinian Future is In Jordan”
9.) Under Fire, MK Danon Not Budging
10) Amid uproar, deputy defense minister stands by rejection of two states
11) PMO, distancing itself from deputy minister’s comments, says gov’t wants two-state solution
12) Netanyahu calls for quiet in coalition
13) Lieberman acknowledges East Jerusalem settlement freeze: We want Kerry to succeed
14) Netanyahu says he will never accept preconditions for talks
15) Netanyahu getting ‘several’ calls weekly from Kerry on Palestinian state
16) Labor would ‘reconsider joining the coalition’ to advance peace talks
17) Palestinians lay groundwork for future state
18) Erekat: 2-state solution not within 1967 lines meaningless
19) Shaath: PA willing to resume talks on basis on 1967 borders

Syrian President Bashar Assad said that he made a “serious decision” to open a front with Israel along the Golan Heights. In doing so, Assad called on all Syrian factions to join with Palestinian forces in resisting Israel along the Golan Heights. In response, Israel Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu warned that “any who threaten to harm, or harm, Israel will be harmed.”

A war with Syria where Damascus is destroyed (Isaiah 17) is a tribulation event.

The link to these articles is as follows:

1) In wake of border clashes, Assad, Netanyahu swap threats
2) ‘Assad hopes to unite war-torn Syria against Israel’

Israel senior minister, Yuval Steinitz, warned that Iran is getting closer to reaching the “red line” of nuclear capability mentioned by Israel Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in a speech to the United Nations last fall saying, “The Iranians are getting very close now to the red line… They have close to 200 kilos — 190 kilos (418 pounds) — of 20 percent enriched uranium. Once they have 250 kilos (551 pounds), this is enough to make the final rush to 90 percent,” which is the level of enrichment required for a nuclear warhead. “It is a matter of weeks or maybe two months to jump from 20 percent to 90 percent with so many centrifuges,” said Steinitz. “What they are doing now — instead of crossing the red line, they are widening and enlarging their capacity by putting in more centrifuges, faster centrifuges.” Iran’s aim, charged Steinitz, was to build a nuclear arsenal, not just a single bomb.”Many people are saying it’s a question of the Iranian bomb – whether they will have it or not. No. We are speaking about an Iranian arsenal,” he said. Iran’s big fear was that a Western military strike could wipe out their nuclear facilities “within a few hours,” he said. “The Iranians feel very vulnerable, especially from American air operations. This is their main concern — that if the West, if NATO, if America decide to attack them, a few hours of accurate air raids might destroy their nuclear facilities,” added Steinitz.

The link to this article is as follows:

1) Steinitz: Iran is Getting Closer to Nuclear ‘Red Line’

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) The current status of the situation with Syria

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will visit the Middle East on June 13-15 to discuss peace efforts with Israeli and Palestinian officials. It will be Kerry’s fifth trip to the Israel since becoming America’s top diplomat in February. He will also visit Jordan  in an effort to restart in face-to-face peace talks between Israeli and the Palestinians. Kerry said: “I am confident that both sides are weighing the choices that they have in front of them very, very seriously. They need to have an opportunity to do that and I will make a judgment at some point whether I need to go push a little bit or help that process. And I’m certainly willing to. I am open to that possibility, but as I’ve said, we’re not raising any expectations about an American plan or other things. If we do not succeed now, we may not get another chance,” Kerry said about the peace process, describing it as “hardly a process at all” right now.

Instead of presenting his own master plan for peace, US officials say Kerry is focused on starting several interconnected talks between the two parties, with the hope that progress on different fronts would entice each side into more flexible peace talks than those that have failed repeatedly in the past. The Palestinians said that Kerry had not yet presented any diplomatic initiative and was pushing the Palestinians to return to talks “without conditions.” For the Palestinians, Kerry has tried to curtail Israeli settlement construction in lands the Palestinians hope to include in their future state and recently announced work on a $4 billion plan with international investors to jumpstart the Palestinian economy. For Israel, the talks would encompass new security arrangements that US officials such as Gen. John Allen have been exploring and a suspension of Palestinian efforts to join multilateral organizations such as the International Criminal Court where they could push for action against Israel.

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appealed to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to agree to return to the negotiating table without preconditions. “Since Abbas doesn’t speak Hebrew, and my Arabic isn’t great, I will turn to him in a language we both understand,” Netanyahu said at a special Knesset session dedicated to the Israeli-Arab conflict. “I say: Give peace a chance,” he said. “In my three terms as prime minister I took many difficult decisions: in the areas of the economy and foreign policy, and first and foremost in the realm of security. And now, too, I’m ready to make difficult decisions in order to advance peace, but not if this in any way hurts the security of Israel’s citizens. But we’re not the only ones who have to take tough decisions, the Palestinians too have to do this.” Netanyahu reiterated that a successful outcome to peace talks would be possible if Israel’s security was guaranteed and if the Palestinians recognized Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people. Regarding the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative which calls for Israel to return to the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital in exchange for full diplomatic recognition by all Arab states, Netanyahu said: “We will listen to any peace initiative, including the Arab initiative and we’re ready to discuss initiatives that are proposals and not dictates. We are in favor of conducting negotiations without preconditions — immediately.”

Even as US Secretary of State John Kerry has not yet revealed the details of an American initiative to restart peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, Israel’s International Relations Minister Yuval Steinitz made clear that Israel would oppose any attempt to introduce international troops into the area.  into the equation. He said: “Some people are speaking about international forces, maybe [in] the Jordan Valley or the hills and border areas, that will take care of Israel’s future security.  The principles of a peace agreement should be very clear. The Palestinians should be able to control their lives and Israel should be able to control our security in our own hands. For us, security means survivability, and we have had very negative experiences with international forces so far.”

He pointed to two examples in just the last decade of international forces’ failure to provide Israel with security as promised. The first was the massive UNIFIL force that entered southern Lebanon following the Second Lebanon War in 2006, and under whose watch tens of thousands of missiles found their way into Hezbollah’s hands. The second example was Gaza, where the Palestinian Authority, Egypt and the EU all had different types of security personnel in place following Israel’s 2005 disengagement, but failed to prevent Hamas’s takeover of the territory and the introduction of thousands of rockets and missiles there.

Considering the instability of the Middle East, Steinitz said, the security arrangements that would be necessary in any future peace agreement must be such that Israel “will be able to trust them, and our capacity to defend ourselves, regardless of new developments that are totally unpredictable.” For example, he said, one vital element will be “a total demilitarization of the Palestinian state, and our capacity to preserve, control and secure this demilitarization, come what may.” Furthermore, he said, “Israel was willing to make ‘very painful’ concessions for peace, ‘make very serious compromises’ and was ready for ‘a two-states-for-two-peoples solution’ but we want genuine peace, real peace, and real security that we can trust.”

Meanwhile, Israel’s Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon, a member of Netanyahu’s Likud political party, said that Netanyahu’s governing coalition are staunchly opposed to a two-state solution and would block the creation of a Palestinian state if such a proposal ever came to a vote. Danon said: “If you will bring it to a vote in the government — nobody will bring it to a vote, it’s not smart to do it — but if you bring it to a vote, you will see the majority of Likud ministers, along with the Jewish Home [party], will be against it.” Danon said Netanyahu calls for peace talks despite his government’s opposition because he knows Israel will never arrive at an agreement with the Palestinians. He said: “Today we’re not fighting it [Netanyahu’s declared goal of a Palestinian state], but if there will be a move to promote a two-state solution, you will see forces blocking it within the party and the government.” Danon added: “There is currently zero debate about the two-state solution within the Likud because there is no ‘viable partner on the Palestinian side and it seems unlikely that peace talks would resume any time soon. If Kerry were to succeed, however, and Netanyahu and the Palestinians agreed on the implementation of a two-state solution, “then you have a conflict” within the government, Danon said. “But today there is no partner, no negotiations, so it’s a discussion. It’s more of an academic discussion.” Asked whether Netanyahu truly is in favor of a two-state solution, Danon replied that the prime minister tied the creation of a Palestinian state to conditions he is certain the Palestinians will not agree to. “He knows that in the near future it’s not possible.”

Finally, Danon said “there is no majority for a two-state solution” among the 31 lawmakers that make up the Likud-Yisrael Beytenu Knesset faction. Several key members of the current government, including Deputy Foreign Minister Ze’ev Elkin, Deputy Transportation Minister Tzipi Hotovely, Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein, Deputy Knesset Speaker Moshe Feiglin, coalition chairman Yariv Levin and other senior Likud MKs, are staunchly opposed to a two-state solution, advocating instead the partial or complete annexation of the West Bank to Israel. The entire 12-member Jewish Home faction, including three ministers, likewise rejects the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza.

Israel Justice Minister Tzipi Livni,  who heads peace talks with the Palestinians acknowledged that some in the government “pray” for her failure but said that she is willing to attempt a peace agreement nonetheless. She said: “I know that I have the support of the prime minister in the attempts to relaunch the negotiations. You’re asking about the Netanyahu government ? It’s a coalition, with different parties. I am going to have the support of some, and other would pray that maybe it would not succeed.” Livni added: “Even Jewish Home chairman and Economy Minister Naftali Bennett said he is “willing to live with negotiations. So this is a window that I can work [with] — for a while. This is the coalition that was created, and frankly it is not the coalition that I wanted, and it was not, maybe, the coalition that the prime minister wanted. But this is what we have and we need to work with it.”

Meanwhile, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said that the “ball is in Israel’s court” concerning a resumption of peace talks that the U.S. is pushing for. He said: “I believe the ball is now in Israel’s court. The Palestinian demands are clear, and the Israelis know them as do the Americans, so Israel must now accept them in order to begin negotiations.” Abbas added, “We won’t accept any city other than Jerusalem as our capital. There will be no peace without Jerusalem,” he emphasized. “There will be no Palestinian state without Jerusalem. There will be no security and stability without Jerusalem. They mention Bethlehem, Ramallah, Hebron. These cities are all dear to our hearts. But our capital is Jerusalem.” In addition, Abbas said, “Peace and settlements won’t meet. If they are thinking of settlements, there won’t be peace. This land belongs to us and they must uproot their settlements in order to achieve peace.” Finally, Abbas said that after becoming a non-member state in the United Nations on November 29 and a full member of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), efforts will now be exerted on joining all UN organizations if the resumption of restarting peace talks fail. He said, “These steps will be followed by others until we achieve our legitimate right to become full members in all the international organizations and establish our sovereign Palestinian state on all the occupied territory with Jerusalem as its capital so that we will put an end to the historical injustice against our people.”

On Kerry’s current efforts to revive the peace talks with Israel, the Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat also warned that the Palestinians would embark on a new strategy should Kerry’s efforts fail. Erekat said: “The Palestinians want Kerry to commit Israel to accept the two-state solution on the basis of the 1967 borders, halt settlement construction and release prisoners.” The new Palestinian strategy, he pointed out, would include resumption of efforts to join 63 UN international agencies and conventions. Erekat added: “We have the full right of our instrument of access to all U.N. agencies. And those who worry about international courts should stop committing crimes,” he said. “It took us six months to prepare but I can say now that all our instruments of accession are ready.”

PLO Executive Committee member Hanna Amireh said that Kerry is not suggesting any new proposals. He said: “Kerry is only talking about development in the context of an unrealistic economic plan. He only wants to talk about security and borders.” Another PLO official, Wasel Abu Yusef, said that Kerry has thus far failed to convince Israel to stop settlement construction and accept the two-state solution on the basis of the pre-1967 lines which are Palestinians demands to restart direct peace talks with Israel. Hussein al-Sheikh, the PA minister for civilian affairs, said that Abbas has informed Kerry that the PA’s functional role would end if current efforts to revive the peace process did not succeed and threatened to dismantle the PA should US Secretary of State John Kerry fail to “salvage the peace process.” He added that Abbas also informed Kerry that he agreed to extend the deadline for the secretary of state’s mission until June 20 on condition that Israel releases Palestinian prisoners arrested before the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993. Sheikh said the PA rejects the idea of a gradual release of the prisoners, insisting that they all be freed together.

In other news, thousands of PA Arabs participated in a mass rally in Ramallah earlier this week calling for the establishment of the Muslim Caliphate – the worldwide Islamist government that will “bring the coming of the Mahdi.” the Muslim messiah. The Caliphate is essentially a union of Muslim countries under the spiritual and political leadership of a single individual, the Caliph. It has been an Islamic concept since the days of Muhammad, when it was established by several of his disciples. The office of “official Caliph” has been disputed at times, with rival would-be Caliphs battling each other for the title. The last official Caliph was Abdülmecid II, who lost the office in the aftermath of the defeat of Ottoman Turkey in World War I. The best-known Caliph in the West was Suleiman the Great, an early Ottoman sultan who, in the 16th  century, conquered most of the Middle East and the Persian Gulf, even conquering parts of Europe, until he was stopped at “the Gates of Vienna.”

With many Muslim states politically and religiously divided, and dependent on the West for support, radical Islamists have been pushing for the reestablishment of the Caliphate – this time to be led by the all-powerful Mahdi, who will unite all Muslims and establish Islam as the dominant religion in the world, ruling for several years before the “Day of Judgment”. Although the identity of the Mahdi is a secret, many Islamists believe that he is alive now, and several individuals have claimed the title. Many Islamists were said to have believed that Osama Bin-Laden was the Mahdi, or his right-hand man, until he was killed several years ago by U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

Finally, Special Envoy to the Middle East, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said that there is a problem within Islam that goes beyond the existence of religious extremists. He said: “There is a problem within Islam – from the adherents of an ideology that is a strain within Islam. We have to put it on the table and be honest about it. It has at its heart a view about religion and about the interaction between religion and politics that is not compatible with pluralistic, liberal, open-minded societies. At the extreme end of the spectrum are terrorists but the world view goes deeper and wider than it is comfortable for us to admit. So by and large we don’t admit it.”

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

The link to these articles are as follows:

1) Kerry: Last chance for Israel-PA peace
2) Kerry in Mideast for Talks June 13-15
3) Netanyahu to Abbas, in English: ‘Give peace a chance’
4) ‘Israel opposes int’l forces as part of peace deal’
5) Deputy defense minister: This government will block any two-state deal
6) Abbas: We Want to Talk, But the Ball is in Israel’s Court
7) Abbas: No peace without Palestinian capital in J’lem
8.) Abbas: Palestinians Will Never Give Up on Jerusalem
9) Livni expected to meet Kerry during upcoming trip to US
10) Abbas threatens to dismantle PA if peace talks don’t start
11) Palestinians threaten to ask UN bodies to charge Israel if US attempts to restart talks fail
12) PA Pulls Out ‘War Crime’ Threat if Direct Talks Don’t Resume
13) PA Arabs Fete ‘New Mahdi,” Establishment of Calpihate
14) Blair: There is a Problem Within Islam

According to a British diplomat, Britain plans to arm Syrian rebels by the end of the summer if peace talks fail to make meaningful headway during the Geneva peace conference. “The precise timing has not yet been finalized and no decision has yet been taken. But we are likely to be shipping arms to the rebels by August,” the diplomat said. “What I expect is that over the next two or three months western powers will move low-grade arms supplies in bulk to the rebels. The rebels need ammunition, and a lot of it, just to keep fighting,” he added. A source with the Syrian rebels claimed they are expecting the first batch of British arms and supplies to arrive by summer. According to opposition officials, the promise to transfer arms was made as part of the attempt to sway rebels to partake in the peace talks scheduled to take place in Geneva. An additional British official said that Britain and France expect the US to join the arms shipment and provide the rebels with weapons if and when peace talks fail, despite US President Barack Obama’s reluctance to do so until now.

Russia has deployed a naval unit to the Mediterranean Sea in a move President Vladimir Putin said was to defend Russian security but which comes as Russia is in a dispute with the West over Syria. In what is Russia’s first permanent naval deployment in the Mediterranean since Soviet times, it has stationed 16 warships and three ship-based helicopters in the region. Large-scale naval exercises Russia held in March and ship movements near Syria have been seen in the West as muscle-flexing by Rusia which has sold weapons to Assad’s government and shielded it from any action by the UN Security Council. Russia also has a naval maintenance and supply facility in Syria. The announcement comes days after Moscow said it planned to resume patrols by nuclear-armed submarines in the southern seas as part of a Putin’s broader effort to revive Russia’s military might.

A war with Syria where Damascus is destroyed (Isaiah 17) is a tribulation event.

The link to these articles is as follows:

1) Report: Britain to transfer weapons to Syrian rebels
2) Russia permanently deploys Navy in Mediterranean

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) The current status of the situation with Syria

US Secretary of State John Kerry proposed a $4-billion economic plan for the Palestinian territories which would be overseen by former British prime minister Tony Blair. The goal of the plan is to grow the Palestinian economy by up 50 percent in the next three years, cut unemployment by almost two-thirds and raise average wages by 40 percent. However, Kerry stressed, the success of the plan depends on parallel progress with regard to peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

Kerry also discussed with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and top peace negotiator Justice Minister Tzipi Livni a package of proposals for restarting peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. PA officials said that Kerry hasn’t presented them with details of his initiative for resuming the peace process. The details of the plan hasn’t been released to the public. However, Kerry is expected to do so the first part of June. Nevertheless, sources reveal that Kerry is asking Israel to make concessions to restart the peace talks which include permitting the Palestinians to build in Jericho for their prospective state an international airport for direct civilian flights to and from America and Europe. Those flights would cross Israeli air space and be coordinated with Israeli flight control authorities. While Palestinian authorities would be in charge of security at the future Jericho airport, Israel would maintain control of passengers and freight traffic by means of computer and surveillance camera networks. Kerry also wants Israel to hand over to the Palestinians the Kalia region on the northern shore of the Dead Sea. This would be the first in a series of land and sovereignty handovers granted the Palestinians in trilateral negotiations among Israel, the Palestinians and the United States.

Palestinians remained skeptical of both Kerry’s economic and diplomatic efforts. A senior Fatah official criticized Kerry’s talk about economic prosperity for the Palestinians. “We have to be clear that we don’t want this economic peace. We are not animals that only want food. We are a people struggling for freedom.” Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s economic adviser, Mohammad Mustafa, said ”The Palestinian leadership will not offer political concessions in exchange for economic benefits. We will not accept that the economy is the primary and sole component.” Mustafa said the PA’s priorities are not economic but rather a political framework for the creation of Palestinian state based on the 1967 lines, with East Jerusalem as its capital, that also ensures the rights of refugees.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saab Erekat said, “I don’t think there is anything called economic peace or security peace or political peace. These are intertwined elements. The Palestinians will only agree to resume peace negotiations if Israel freezes settlement construction and declares that the pre-1967 lines would be the starting point for negotiations. Furthermore, Kerry is still not prepared to present a new US peace initiative.” Erekat further said: “The question now is whether Kerry will be able to persuade Netanyahu to accept the two-state solution on the basis of the pre-1967 lines.” Palestinian negotiator Nabil Sha’ath said, “Kerry won’t succeed in rekindling peace talks unless he pressures Israel to halt settlement activity and accept a two-state solution based on the 1967 borders.”

This is not the first time that the Americans or the Europeans try playing the economic card in an effort to get the Palestinians to make concessions to Israel. Billions of dollars that were given to the Palestinians over the past two decades have not had a moderating effect on any Palestinian. The Americans and Europeans are clearly not listening to what the Palestinians are telling them: that dollars and euros will not change the hearts and minds of the people. This does not mean, of course, that the Palestinians will refuse what they are being offered. They will take the money, but at the end of the day, they will continue to stick to their demands, including the “right of return” of Palestinian refugees and a full Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 lines.

Regarding his approach to the peace process, Kerry told Israeli President Shimon Peres at the World Economic Forum held in Amman, Jordan, “Our hope is that the leaders in both Israel and the Palestinian Authority will find a way to compromise. It’s really a question of whether Israel and the Palestinians are willing to make the hard choices for peace.”

Israel top peace negotiator Tzipi Livni said that the international community, especially Europe, must pressure Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to directly negotiate with Israel. “It’s the only way to have negotiations,” she said. “Israel’s position has been that talks should be resumed without pre-conditions. If the Palestinians insist on imposing conditions on the resumption of talks then Israeli will similarly present them with its demands.” Although Livni could not give details of her conversations with Kerry about the resumption of talks, she did say that the Palestinians would prefer to see a map of how Israel envisions the borders of its state before talks begin. They also do not want a phased agreement or temporary borders, she said. But broadly speaking, Israel believes that Palestinian refugees should be absorbed by the Palestinians and not Israel. It also wants to retain the settlement blocs. Also, any agreement must address Israel’s security concerns. Finally, she warned that Hamas cannot be a partner to the talks. Israel must work with the international community to delegitimize Hamas, Livni said.

Yuval Steinitz,  a senior cabinet minister said that the Israeli government supports the two states for two peoples solution to resolve the Palestinian / Israel conflict. Israel is ready to make painful concessions on two conditions: that there will be peace and security, he said. Genuine peace would entail a “real recognition” of Israel as a Jewish state and the end of all claims and incitement against Israel. Israel’s security requirements include a “total demilitarization” of a future Palestinian state. Israel would have the right to supervise and control that arrangement in order to be able to prevent arms smuggling or “any other negative security developments in the West Bank,” he said. Israel Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel is prepared to compromises for genuine peace but it’s not reciprocated by the Palestinians.

Meanwhile, Palestinian President Mahmood Abbas said that he is  under intense international pressure to return to negotiations with Israel and drop demands for a Jewish settlement freeze in the West Bank.

Israel had approved tenders for the construction of 300 new homes in Jerusalem and plans to build more housing units beyond the “Green Line” which is the pre-1967 borders. In response to this, the US said, “We do not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlement construction, which undermines efforts to achieve peace and are contrary to the obligations that Israel undertook upon itself. It is the President Obama’s opinion that Israel should recognize that the settlement policy is not conducive to achieving peace and hampers the Palestinians chances of establishing a state on sustainable borders. In our opinion, the two sides must take confidence-building measures which will make it possible to resume negotiations.” Palestinian chief negotiator, Saab Erekat said, “The Palestinians consider the recent decision of the Israeli government to build a thousand homes in east Jerusalem as effectively destroying the efforts of US Secretary of State John Kerry the past 2 months to resume Palestinian / Israel direct peace talks.

Because of these developments, British foreign secretary, William Hague, has warned of the risks of failure of the US-sponsored mission to revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, suggesting that it was the last attempt possible at reaching a two-state solution to the conflict and there was no realistic “plan B”. Hague said that Kerry’s drive to restart talks was “a moment of opportunity that won’t easily come round again.” He later repeated the point: “If this doesn’t work, there is not going to be another moment in American diplomacy that is more committed and energetic to bring about negotiations. So it’s very important – in weeks, not months – to make the most of this opportunity. The two-state solution is slipping away, it doesn’t have much longer to go. We never like to say it’s the last attempt at anything, but we’re getting near the last attempt at this,” Hague said. “It is vital for all sides to make the necessary compromises for negotiations towards [a two-state solution] to succeed.”

US Secretary of State John Kerry has just concluded two months of talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. During that time, he met privately and spoke on the phone with each of them at least 10 times. When Kerry finished his recent conversations with Netanyahu and Abbas in the past week, he indicated that he wants an answer with one to two weeks whether Netanyahu and Abbas will agree on the parameters to restart direct peace talks. Kerry said that Netanyahu and Abbas needs time to think about “the hard decisions that need to be made.” Kerry said: “We need to allow folks to make their decisions within a reasonable framework in the next days ahead.”

Because based upon the information that we have been given, what would a Kerry proposal to restart direct peace talks look like? In the past two months, Kerry has suggested the following:

Israel and the Palestinians will renew direct talks without preconditions. During the talks, the parties will refrain from provocative statements or actions, which Kerry said “take us backwards.” That is, the Palestinians will avoid incitement against Israel, while Israel will stay away from moves like massive construction in the settlement, legalizing outposts or demolishing Palestinian homes. Negotiations will be held first of all on the borders of the future Palestinian state and the security arrangements Israel requires. The guiding principle of the talks, Kerry said, will be to integrate Israeli demands with Palestinian demands – “along the 1967 lines with swaps and recognizing changes that have taken place on the ground” – in other words, the large settlement blocks. Kerry stressed that he does not want the issue of construction in the settlements to become a precondition that will prevent the resumption of talks, “…because if you can negotiate borders, and if you negotiate security and get to a final settlement, you have resolved the issue of settlements themselves.” The way to resolve the issue, Kerry said, “is by deciding what is in the Palestinian state and what are the rules there and what is Israel and what are the rules there.” However, Kerry did make clear to Netanyahu that he expects to see Israel “take steps that indicate a willingness to try to move forward.” Kerry did not demand a full freeze on construction in the settlements, including private construction. But he does expect Netanyahu to show restraint that would manifest itself in stopping government tenders. With regard to construction in the settlements, Kerry said: “We believe they should stop,” and said that such actions “are not necessarily constructive with respect to the process.”

Regarding Israeli domestic issues, the election and coalition debate regarding how ultra-Orthodox Yeshiva students will be drafted in the Israeli military is being considered to be put into Israeli law. According to the draft proposal, 18-year-old yeshiva students engaged in full-time Torah study would be allowed to defer service until age 21, at which point they would have to choose either to enlist in the IDF or register for national or civil service. Those who defer their service would have to be registered at yeshivas whose student bodies are subject to regular government auditing. Yeshivas that receive state funding and register their students for service deferment would also be required to introduce vocational training into their curriculum. The bill allows for 1,800 top Torah scholars to be entirely exempted from service per year, far below the estimated 7,000-8,000 ultra-Orthodox 18-year-olds who do not currently register each year. Most of the changes would roll out in 2016, including the criminal prosecution of individuals who do not register for the draft, allowing for a transitional period in which to build up the bureaucratic and logistical infrastructure needed to implement the changes.

The Peri Committee approved a proposal to extend the transition period for implementation of the draft law by another year – in place of the three years initially proposed, to four years under an agreement between the political parites of Yesh Atid and Likud. A clause in the bill imposing criminal sanctions on draft dodgers including yeshiva students was passed so that “The status of the ultra-Orthodox draft dodger will be the same as that of the secular draft dodger.” Furthermore, Yair Lapid, the leader of the political party, Yesh Atid, said, “We will not sit in a government not willing to move on the issue of an equal share of burden. There is an historic opportunity to right an historic wrong. There will be an equal burden, or this government will fall to pieces. Not wanting to risk the collapse of the Israel government and a call for new elections, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon not to hinder the ultra-Orthodox conscription bill drafted by the Peri Committee, essentially ending a crisis that briefly threatened to collapse the current government.

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

The link to these articles are as follows:

1) Kerry proposes $4-billion economic plan to boost Palestinians
2) Kerry wants major Israeli concessions for Palestinians, including sovereign northern Dead Sea coast
3) Kerry holds surprise meetings with Abbas, Livni in Amman
4) Abbas, Peres meet at World Economic Forum in Jordan
5) Palestinians reject Kerry’s new focus on boosting their economy
6) Palestinians: Kerry Trying to Bribe Us to “Sell Out”
7) John Kerry urges Israel and the Palestinians ‘to make the necessary compromises’
8.) PA negotiator: Kerry’s chances slim to revive peace process
9) Palestinian negotiator: No talks unless Israel accepts ’67 lines, freezes settlements
10) Livni: Abbas must be pressured to negotiate
11) ‘This government is in favor of two states for two people’
12) PM: Prepared to compromise for peace, but not reciprocated
13) Palestinian leader under pressure to restart talks
14) Israel to Build in Jerusalem, U.S. Angry
15) Erekat: New ‘settler homes’ destroying Kerry’s efforts
16) Two-state solution to Israeli-Palestinian conflict slipping away, says Hague
17) Kerry’s gamble: A resounding first victory or political humiliation
18) Lapid appeals to haredi public
19) Lapid: Equal burden or government goes down
20) Crisis averted as Netanyahu tells Ya’alon to back down on draft bill

The European Union said that its member states will be able to send weapons to help the Syrian rebels seeking to remove Syrian President Bashar Assad from power.  No specific EU country has any plans to send the Syrian rebels arms now but British Foreign Secretary William Hague said the decision “sends a very strong message from Europe to the Assad regime.”

Meanwhile Russia said it has the right to provide Syria with state-of-the-art air defense missiles. Russia has a contract to supply Syria with the long-range S-300 missile. The S-300 has a range of up to 200 kilometers (125 miles) and the capability to track down and strike multiple targets simultaneously. Russia said that it isn’t going to abandon the deal despite strong Western and Israeli criticism for wanting to supply Syria with this weapon because the S-300 will be a deterrent against foreign intervention in the country.

Finally, Syrian President Assad said that there was “popular pressure” to open a military front against Israel on the Golan Heights, and warned his country would bomb Israel if it attacks Syria again. Assad said: “This is a political-ideological matter that will eventually turn into a military one because of repeated Israeli aggression. The next time Israel attacks, if it attacks, we will have a strategic response. A bombing against a bombing.” Asked what kind of weapons would be used against Israel, Assad said, “There are things that will be determined in the proper date and time. We have informed all of the elements that contacted us that in the next times we will respond.”

A war with Syria where Damascus is destroyed (Isaiah 17) is a tribulation event.

The link to these articles is as follows:

1) EU lifts embargo on arms shipments to Syrian rebels
2) Russia: Missile deal protects Syria from invasion
3) Assad: Next Time, We’ll Bomb Israel

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) The current status of the situation with Syria
3) The current status of the situation with Iran

Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan said that any two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would require Israel to return to the 1967 borders. The establishment of a Palestine state was a necessary condition in order for there to be a peace process. Erdogan also said reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah is a must for there to be a Palestine-Israel normalization process. He said: “Hamas and Fatah should reconcile with each other. We cannot differentiate Hamas and Fatah, both are brothers in heart. I don’t believe a conclusion can be reached in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process unless they agree.”

Israel Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, who heads the peace negotiations with the Palestinians for Israel, responded to Erdogan’s comments by saying that a peace deal between Israel and a Hamas-led Palestinian government would be “impossible. There is no chance of striking a peace deal with Hamas.  Hamas represents an Islamist ideology that does not recognize Israel’s existence.”

Qatar’s Prime Minister, Sheikh Hamad said that the Middle East will not see peace unless we see a resolution to the Palestinian issue. Israel must withdraw to the 1967 borders and allow the creation of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. US Secretary of State made a Middle East visit on May 23 and 24 to speak with Benjamin Netanyahu and Mahmood Abbas about restarting direct peace talks in the near future.  Jordan’s foreign minister, Nasser Judeh, said that he fully supports Kerry’s efforts. British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Britain supports Kerry’s efforts also. Hague said: “We believe that it is essential to bring about a two-state solution …. based on the 1967 borders with agreed land swaps, with Jerusalem as the shared capital of both states with a fair and agreed settlement for refugees.”

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said he supports Kerry’s efforts to restart direct peace talks saying that in the past two months Kerry had met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas five times, Erekat three times and that the three spoke by phone almost weekly. Erekat reiterated the Palestinians position that Israel must freeze building Jewish homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and release Palestinian prisoners if the PLO were to agree to restart direct peace talks. He said that these were not conditions for returning to negotiations but rather obligations that Israel must fulfill.  Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said that Israel “must choose between building settlements and negotiating peace. If the United States want to help to restart direct peace talks then the settlement activity has to stop.”

Regarding Kerry’s plans to restart direct peace talks, Erekat said, “Mr. Kerry is keeping things (close to) his chest. He likes to work very, very, very below the radar. We are doing everything … in order to enable him to succeed. He is not going to wait for years or months actually, he’s working very hard.” After meeting with Palestinian President Mahmood Abbas in Ramallah, one Palestinian official said that Kerry brought “nothing new” to his discussions. He said that Palestinian expectations remain low because they see Kerry “trying to accommodate the Israelis, not pressure the Israelis.”

As a result, Erekat said that the Palestinians have done all the legal work necessary to join 63 UN agencies, conventions and treaties including the International Criminal Court should Kerry’s efforts fail. However,  he said that the Palestinians will withhold their request to join these organizations to give Kerry and President Barack Obama “a chance” to pursue Middle East peace. “We want to give a chance to all nations who have a common denominator of achieving two states on the 1967 lines,” Erekat said. “There is a chance, there is a good opportunity now.”

The Palestinians believe that without major US pressure on Israel, the chance for success to restart direct peace talks is slim. Without major US pressure on Israel, Palestinians believe the outlook seems bleak. Hanan Ashrawi, a senior Palestinian official said, “Kerry’s plan should be a comprehensive one, not just economic and confidence-building measures and security, but also political and legal. We don’t have unrealistic expectations. We know the immensity of obstacles. If it doesn’t work, of course we have our own plans.”

Concerned that the international community might blame them for the standstill, Palestinian officials are planning a public relations offensive and diplomatic meetings around the world. Their main points will be to claim their willingness to compromise, based on a 25-year-old policy of recognizing Israel along the 1967 lines, their commitments to meeting past obligations and their acceptance of the renewed Arab peace initiative. Palestinian officials say that Kerry has given them a June 7 deadline for finding a framework agreement to being direct peace talks. US officials say they have never set a formal deadline for Mideast peace talks resuming or any other benchmark being reached.

In his meeting with Kerry, Netanyahu said that the discussions were “positive,” and that Israel had urged Kerry to do what he could to convince the PA to return to the negotiating table. In his comments, Kerry expressed optimism about restarting direct peace talks without outlining any concrete strategy. He said, “I know this region well enough to know there is skepticism, in some quarters there is cynicism and there are reasons for it. There have been bitter years of disappointment. It is our hope that by being methodical, careful, patient — but detailed and tenacious — that we can lay on a path ahead that can conceivably surprise people and certainly exhaust the possibilities of peace.” Netanyahu replied by saying, “This is something I want, it’s something you want. It’s something I hope the Palestinians want as well and we ought to be successful for a simple reason: When there’s a will, we’ll find a way.” However, Israeli officials have been very reluctant about talking about details of the package Kerry is working on to get the sides back to the table, saying that there was “actually a chance” it could work and a public discussion of the details “could be detrimental.”

When Kerry found out that Israel had plans to legalize four West Bank outposts, he made an angry phone call to Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren in protest. Kerry urged Israel reconsider its decision or at least delay it to a later date. US Embassy spokesman Geoff Anisman said: “The United States do not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlement activity and oppose any efforts to legalize settlement outposts which would undermine peace efforts and would contradict Israeli commitments and obligations.”

In explaining part of the strategy to restart direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, Kerry said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government can stop only some of the settlements being built in lands contested by the Israelis and Palestinians – and in those cases it should act. Kerry said it was important not to let the issue of settlements stand in the way of talks that could finally set borders as part of a peace agreement. Then, he said, the issue would be resolved because each side would have clear boundaries for their two states. He stressed the importance of security for Israel and borders for Palestinians adding that those two goals can only be achieved through direct talks. Kerry called on both Netanyahu and Abbas to show their leadership and said the two sides must be given two weeks to consider a resumption of direct negotiations. Kerry urged Israeli and Palestinian leaders to make “hard decisions” to revive the Middle East peace process by saying, “We’re getting toward a time now when hard decisions need to be made.” Israel officials said the US did not have a formal program for moving ahead with the peace process.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s senior coalition partner, Yair Lapid, who leads the party, Yesh Atid, said reaching a final peace agreement with the Palestinians is unrealistic at the current time and the sides should instead pursue an interim arrangement.  However, the Palestinians have repeatedly rejected this option. Lapid said that US President Barack Obama should set a three-year timeline for determining the final borders of a Palestinian state. As a gesture to the Israelis, he also called on Obama to endorse the position laid out by President George W. Bush in 2004, allowing Israel to keep the large Jewish settlements blocs in the West Bank. Lapid said, “I believe in the two-state solution. In my opinion, there is nothing more dangerous than the idea of a bi-national state.” Lapid favors Israel and the Palestinians to immediately return to the negotiations table “even if it’s controversial here, and even if it is hard to trust the Palestinians. We will not abandon negotiations,” he emphasized. At the same time, Lapid said that he rejects a full withdrawal to Israel’s 1967 borders. Lapid favors a broad pullout from the West Bank, including the dismantling of many settlements but believes Israel should hold on to major settlement “blocs” where the majority of Jewish settlers live. Lapid said that that Israel should not change its policy on allowing the expansion of Jewish communities in the West Bank due to “natural growth” in order to revive the stalemated peace process. Lapid also believes that Israel should keep control of east Jerusalem. The Palestinians claim east Jerusalem as their capital. Finally, Lapid said that he believes that Netanyahu, concerned about his political legacy, is serious about pursuing a peace agreement. He also believes there is enough support in the government, despite the presence of many pro-settler hard-liners to approve a withdrawal from much of the West Bank.

A sketched map of Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert’s land-for-peace offer to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in 2008 — hurriedly drawn up by Abbas after a meeting with Olmert that December, and made public for the first time  — suggests that Israel was prepared to withdraw to borders very similar to the pre-1967 lines and swap areas of northern and southern Israel in return for maintaining the larger settlement blocs.

The map, published by Walla news, was based on an offer Olmert made to Abbas on December 16, 2008, during a meeting in Jerusalem. Olmert presented Abbas with a large formal map showing his territorial compromise proposal for the contours of a Palestinian state as part of a permanent peace accord. “We asked them to meet the following day together with map experts, in order to arrive at a final formula for the border between Palestine and Israel,” Olmert said. Olmert demanded that Abbas initial the proposal before taking it back to Ramallah for consideration by the Palestinians. Abbas refused to do so, but on his return to his headquarters, he gathered his officials and asked them to remain silent while he hastily recreated the offer on a sheet of official Palestinian Authority notepaper. The sketch, which includes no place names, indicates that Olmert was apparently willing to more or less return to the pre-1967 lines, while maintaining the Gush Etzion settlement bloc south of Jerusalem, the settlement city of Ma’ale Adumin to the east, and a slice of territory that apparently would encompass the large settlement of Ariel in Samaria. In exchange for expanding Israeli sovereignty to those areas, Israel would have given up some of its own land to the new Palestinian state.

According to Walla, Olmert envisaged relinquishing Israeli territory on a one-for-one basis to the Palestinians in areas including near Afula; near Tirat Zvi south of Beit She’an; north of Jerusalem; in the Judean Desert, and in the Lachish area. He also endorsed a tunnel route to link Gaza and the West Bank. Olmert, as he has subsequently confirmed, was also prepared to divide Jerusalem into Israeli- and Palestinian-controlled neighborhoods, and to relinquish Israeli sovereignty at the Temple Mount and the entire Old City. He proposed that the “Holy Basin” be overseen instead by a five-member, non-sovereign international trusteeship, comprising Israel, the PA, Jordan, the US and Saudi Arabia. According to Walla, Olmert has confirmed that Abbas’s sketched map is similar to that depicted in his proposal, and reconfirmed his readiness to have relinquished sovereignty at the Temple Mount. The map shows no Israeli presence in the Jordan Valley. Walla said Olmert confirmed he was ready to forgo an Israeli presence in the Jordan Valley — a key strategic area, control of which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has defined as vital to Israel’s security. In return, Walla cited Olmert as saying, Israel expected full security cooperation with Jordan.

Olmert has said that Abbas did not accept the offer but also did not specifically reject it. Rather, according to Olmert, Abbas failed to respond to it. As a result, Olmert said that Abbas is ‘no hero.’

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

The link to these articles are as follows:

1) Israel must return to ’67 borders for solution: Turkish PM
2) Livni: Erdogan wrong to think Hamas can be part of peace process
3) Qatar: Arab Spring makes Israeli-Palestinian peace more pressing
4) Hague: Time Running Out for a ‘Two-State Solution’
5) Jordanian FM hopeful Kerry will relaunch talks
6) US, Israel Raise Hopes for Middle East Peace Talks Revival
7) Chief Palestinian peace negotiator backs Kerry’s efforts
8.) Ramallah putting little faith in US-led peace effort
9) Abbas: Netanyahu must choose between settlements and peace
10) Palestinians hold off on UN agency membership
11) PM to Kerry: Let’s Get Talks With PA Going
12) US Embassy: Outpost legalization undermines peace process
13) Kerry reportedly raps Israeli ambassador over outposts
14) Kerry’s focus on peace talks, not settlements
15) Kerry urges renewed talks, not a settlement freeze
16) Kerry: Israel, Palestinians must take hard decisions
17) Hand-drawn map shows what Olmert offered for peace
18) Abbas failed to accept my peace offer because he’s ‘no hero,’ says Olmert
19) Lapid calls for interim peace deal with Palestinians
20) Minister Lapid: No Building Freeze in Judea, Samaria
21) Lapid clarifies stance after ‘NY Times’ interview
22) Israel’s UN envoy: Palestinian ‘hatred’ threatens talks

The British Sunday Times reports that the Syrian army has begun deploying advanced surface-to-surface missiles aimed at Tel Aviv. If Israel tries again to strike Syrian targets to prevent Syria from transferring weapons to Hezbollah in Syria the Syrian army has received orders to strike central Israel.  Israel Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu responded to this report by saying that “”Our policy is to stop, as much as possible, any leaks of advanced weaponry to Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations. We will continue to act to ensure the security interests of the citizens of Israel.”

Syrian troops and their Hizballah supportees captured Al-Qasayr, the northwestern town which commands the high road from Syrian Homs to Lebanon’s Hermel Mountains. The significance of this event is as follows:

1) Iranian arms targeted for the Lebanese Shi’ite group, Hezbollah can now go through from Syria to its final destination unobstructed.

2) It cuts off the Syrian rebels’ main supply and communications route via Lebanon through which their Arab backers Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE were able to send them fighters, arms and funds.

3) Rebel positions in the nearby town of Homs become increasingly vulnerable, as the Syrian army regains control of the main highway links between Damascus, Homs and Aleppo. Qusayr also links Damascus with the Mediterranean coast where the Islamic Shi’ite sect of Bashar Assad known as the Alawites remain loyal to him.

4) After the rebels were pushed out of Al-Qasayr, Turkey remains their only accessible source of supplies.

With this victory, Syria and Hizballah are making no secret of their plans for a military confrontation with Israel after they win the Syrian civil war.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said that the United States and its Arab and European allies will give more aid to Syria’s opposition if the world can’t find a path toward a negotiated outcome. British Foreign Secretary, William Hague said: “It is the longstanding view of the UK that Assad needs to be removed from power and we don’t see any solution that has him remaining in power.”

Finally, Russia’s unwavering support of Bashar Assad to remain in power continue. Two warships of Russia’s Black Sea fleet joined the country’s Mediterranean task force. Russia’s defense ministry said in April that Russia has begun setting up a naval task force in the Mediterranean, sending several warships from the Pacific Fleet to defend Russia’s interests in the region. The Mediterranean task force is comprised of 10 warships and support vessels as part of several tactical groups tasked with attack, antisubmarine warfare and minesweeping.

A war with Syria where Damascus is destroyed (Isaiah 17) is a tribulation event.

The link to these articles is as follows:

1) Kerry vows to step up support for Syrian rebels
2) Report: Syrian Army Aiming Missiles at Tel Aviv
3) PM: Israel will keep stopping arms transfers to Hezbollah
4) Syrian-Hizballah’s capture of Qusayr opens direct weapons route to Lebanon
5) After the al Qusayr victory, Syria and Hizballah plan war on Israel
6) Two Warships Join Russia’s Mediterranean Task Force

The IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) said that Iran has increased its capacity to refine uranium by installing hundreds of more centrifuges at its Natanz plant. Diplomats said that Iran has installed close to 700 high-tech centrifuges in an upgrade of its uranium enrichment program since the start of the year. That represents an increase of about 100 since mid-April. However, the IAEA report also showed limited growth of Iran’s most sensitive nuclear stockpile and it remained below an Israeli “red line” for possible military action.

The link to these articles is as follows:

1) IAEA: Iran expanding sensitive nuclear capacity, but remains below Israeli ‘red line’

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) The current status of the situation with Syria
3) The current status of the situation with Iran

Former US president Jimmy Carter has called on the European Union to start labeling Israeli products from the West Bank saying “With the Middle East peace process making no significant progress, we call on Europe to play a stronger and more independent role in revitalizing peace efforts, with a fresh approach. The EU has repeatedly condemned settlement expansion in the West Bank. It could therefore introduce a clear labeling of products made in Israeli settlements, which are illegal under international law.”

It appears as if Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered a construction freeze in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Israel’s housing minister, Uri Ariel, said that he was summoned by Netanyahu who handed him a freeze order for all construction beyond the Green Line which is the land captured by Israel in the June, 1967 war. On orders from Netanyahu, the construction of 1,500 apartments in an East Jerusalem neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo is being held up by the Interior Ministry because the project is too sensitive. The construction of the apartments was announced in May 2010 during a visit to Israel by US Vice President Joe Biden.

The Fatah Central Committee whose members consists of the Palestinian sect of Mahmood Abbas has accepted the Arab League’s recent proposal authorizing land swaps with Israel. Fatah’s leaders stressed after their meeting, however, that they perceive the idea as meaning that there would be “minor and mutual adjustments” to the future border between Israel and a Palestinian state. Accepting the idea does not mean “legitimizing settlement blocs” in the West Bank. “Settlements in all the Palestinian lands are illegal. There can be no land swaps without an Israeli recognition of an independent and sovereign Palestinian state on the 1967 borders,” they said. Azzam al-Ahmed, a senior Fatah official, said the Palestinians were awaiting a “full diplomatic process to revive the peace talks.” He said US Secretary of State, John Kerry was expected to announce the results of his current efforts to resume peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians on June 7. “This is the date we have agreed upon,” Ahmed said.

Rival Palestinian political factions Fatah and Hamas met in Cairo, Egypt and agreed to form a national unity government within three months. Fatah official Azzam al-Ahmed said both sides agreed on a timetable that begins with creating laws to govern elections.  The two parties signed a reconciliation deal in 2011 but it has yet to be implemented.

Israel and the Palestinian Authority tried to conduct backchannel negotiations, or at least initiate them, in late 2010 and early 2011 in a series of secret meetings between the prime minister’s envoy, attorney Yitzhak Molcho, and the head of PLO Executive Committee, Yasser Abed Rabbo. Abed Rabbo said he and Netanyahu met for two-and-a-half hours in mid-February 2011, and mentioned — but did not negotiate over — various final status issues, including borders, Jerusalem and refugees. Abed Rabbo had a meeting with Netanyahu at the house of Yitzhak Molcho where Netanyahu seemed ready to renew negotiations within the framework of two states based upon the June 4, 1967 lines. However, there has been no further contact since that meeting Abed Rabbo said.  There were a series of meetings beforehand — I’d say 10 — between me and Molcho. The meetings were held in Jerusalem. We discussed all the issues. I sat and demanded in those meetings that Israel present its map for a two-state solution and publicly declare its willingness to speak about the 1967 lines as the framework for the meetings. Molcho was not prepared to present a map. They were kept secret until now. The only ones who knew about them on the Palestinian side were Abu Mazen (the chairman of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas) and Salam Fayyad (the Palestinian prime minister). (Saeb) Erekat (the head of the Palestinian negotiating team) was not in the know.

“Instead of a map,” Abed Rabbo went on, “Molcho was willing to include a military official in the meetings, a map expert who would present Israel’s security demands to me. Molcho emphasized in the meetings the importance of the Jordan Valley, settlement blocs, and early-warning stations on West Bank mountains. I ruled this option out. He claimed that he wanted to show me these considerations on a map, but I told him that Israel’s security concerns are not a starting point — it’s a non-starter and under the pretense of ‘security,’ you can claim anything. I made it clear that, first of all, we need to agree to speak about 1967 lines, and then start debating security issues, or even both in parallel.

“These meetings were not documented. At a certain point I said to Molcho that if they agree to the 1967 framework, we can talk about limited land swaps and security arrangements. From our standpoint, it was possible to discuss borders and security issues, but it cannot be that ‘security considerations’ would determine the borders. In the background, the Arab Spring began to gain momentum, and we also spoke about it quite a bit. In one of the last meetings, Molcho said to me, ‘I can’t give you an answer on the approach you presented (first recognition of the framework, then discussions of security considerations). I will propose to the prime minister that you meet, and if you manage to reach an understanding, then that is something else entirely. Only the prime minister can take it from here.’

“And the meeting with Bibi did indeed take place. It stretched on for about two and a half hours. He spoke about 3,000 years of Jewish history. “I said to him that speaking about 3,000 years of Jewish history will not get us anywhere. I care about what is now and what was 60 years ago. Netanyahu spoke about how vital the Jordan Valley was for Israeli security, and noted the possibility that Iranian tanks could cross the Jordan. I explained that this won’t get us anywhere. In the meeting he didn’t mention the ‘Israel as the Jewish national state’ issue. I said to him that I was in the secret talks with [prime minister Ehud] Olmert and he showed us the map. ‘We were ready for land swaps of 1.9 percent and Olmert demanded 6.4%. That’s what we arrived at. We can start the conversations from here.’ I spoke to him about Jerusalem and about the refugees.  In the end I said to him, ‘If you want to start something serious, if you agree to the 1967 borders as a basis, including Jerusalem, then we can talk about the other things.’

“He asked if we were ready to start negotiations immediately. I said yes. He asked who would be in the Palestinian delegation for the negotiations, and I told him that if he agrees to the principle I presented him, I would need a five-minute telephone call and I would return to him with the names. “He turned to Molcho and said to him, ‘You lead the Israeli delegation, along with two others — you know who.’ He asked me if these were all our demands and I said yes. He agreed that we needed a convenient place to speak, a secluded place where talks would be conducted that could last between two weeks and two months. He asked me to prepare the Palestinian delegation and I asked him if he agreed with what I had proposed. He said to me, ‘Give me two days and I’ll get back to you.’ We said goodbye. He asked me to send his regards to Abu Mazen. And from that point on, I didn’t hear from Bibi or Molcho.

US Secretary of State John Kerry will be in Israel and the Palestinian territories on May 23-24 to try to restart direct peace talks.

Finally, the Temple Institute presented for the first time blueprints to rebuild the Temple. It included the Sanhedrin Assembly Hall, the Chamber of Hewn Stone, and part of the Holy Temple complex itself. These plans were drawn up by a top Israeli architectural firm hired by the Temple Institute.  The plans represent the first stage in the drawing up of comprehensive architectural plans for the entire Holy Temple complex.

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

The link to these articles are as follows:

1) Jimmy Carter calls on EU to label settlement goods
2) Netanyahu said to freeze ‘sensitive’ Jerusalem construction
3) Partition plan for Jerusalem
4) Fatah accepts Arab League land swap proposal
5) Fatah, Hamas agree to form unity government within 3 months
6) Revealed: Netanyahu’s secret talks with the Palestinians
7) Kerry to visit Israel, Palestinian territories next week
8) Blueprints revealed for the Third Jewish Temple

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Iran must take part in a proposed international conference to end Syria’s civil war but that Western states wanted to limit the participants and possibly predetermine the outcome of the talks. He said, “Among some of our Western colleagues, there is a desire to narrow the circle of external participants and begin the process from a very small group of countries in a framework which, in essence, would predetermine the negotiating teams, agenda, and maybe even the outcome of talks. One must not exclude a country like Iran from this process because of geopolitical preferences. It is a very important external player. But there is no agreement on this yet.”

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu met with Russian President Vladimir Putin to try to prevent him from selling a supply of advanced Russian anti-air S-300 missile systems to Syria. Netanyahu told Putin that if the S-300 was sold to Syria that it was likely to cause a response by Israel which could send the region into war. The S-300 is designed to shoot down planes and missiles at 200-km ranges. They could be used to down Israeli Air Force planes trying to strike military targets in Syria and Lebanon. Putin is therefore placing a severe constraint on Israel’s operational freedom by spreading an anti-air missile cover over the Syrian, Hizballah and the Iranian Basij forces fighting for Bashar Assad. Russia is also trying to discourage Western military intervention in Syria.

In a move considered aggressive by US and European officials, Russia has sent at least 12 warships to patrol waters near its naval base in Tartous, Syria. Russia’s increased presence in the region represents one of its largest sustained naval deployments since the Cold War as it regarded as a “show of forece” and “muscle flexing.” Furthermore, Russian Navy Admiral Viktor Chirkov said that the process is underway for creating a permanent staff to run Russian fleet operations in the Mediterranean Sea. He said a staff of 20 officers was already in place. The Russian Mediterranean deployment would comprise five to six warships and their service vessels as well possibly as nuclear submarines which may be armed with nuclear ballistic missiles.

Russia sold advanced antiship cruise missiles to Syrian President Bashar Assad. These missiles are outfitted with an advanced guidance system that makes them more effective than the older version of the missile Russia sold to Syria. These missiles will allow Syria to thwart any attempt by international forces to reinforce Syrian rebels by imposing a naval embargo or no fly zone. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that arms deals with Syria do not violate international agreements.

A war with Syria where Damascus is destroyed (Isaiah 17) is a tribulation event.

The link to these articles is as follows:

1) Russia: Iran must participate in Syria conference
2) Russia staffs Mediterranean fleet. Turkey weighs payback for Syrian bombings
3) Report: Russia sends Assad ‘ship killing missile’
4) Russia sends at least 12 warships to Syria
5) Putin again warns Netanyahu hands off Syria
6) Netanyahu to Putin: ‘Your missile sales to Assad could trigger war’
7) Unmoved by Israel, Russia will send top air-defense system to Assad

Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili said that Iran does not recognize Israel as a state or the “red line” determined by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu when he spoke before the United Nations in the fall of 2012. He said that Iran will continue to resist the demands of the international community to halt production of 20% enriched uranium, and insisted the Islamic Republic only wants to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes, under the rights granted in the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Meanwhile, the United Nations’ nuclear agency failed to persuade Iran to let it resume an investigation into suspected atomic bomb research leaving the issue in a deadlock. “We had intensive discussions today but did not finalize the structured approach document that has been under negotiation for a year and a half now,” IAEA Deputy Director General Herman Nackaerts said after the eight-hour meeting. “Our commitment to continue dialogue is unwavering. However, we must recognize that our best efforts have not been successful so far. So we will continue to try and complete this process. At some point, the director general of the IAEA will have to return to the Security Council and say: ‘I can go no further. There has been no response. You have to take further action.” Under Secretary of State Wendy Sherman told lawmakers in Washington. That could happen in June or in September, she said. No date has been set for future talks.

The link to these articles is as follows:

1) Jalili: Iran doesn’t recognize Israel’s ‘red line’
2) UN nuclear talks with Iran fail to end deadlock

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) The current status of the situation with Syria
3) The current status of the situation with Iran

El Salvador became the last Central American country to establish diplomatic ties with the Palestinian Authority. Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited China in the past week and China gave their view on what a Israel / Palestinian peace agreement should entail. There are four basic points which include the following:

a)  A Palestinian state based upon 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital. Israel has a right to exist and their security concerns need to be addressed

b) Israel should quit building Jewish homes in the West Bank, lift the blockade of the Gaza Strip and release Palestinian prisoners. Negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians should take place so that a peace agreement can be agreed upon.

c) A peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians should be based upon the principle of “land for peace” taking into consideration past UN Resolutions and the Arab Peace Initiative.

d) The international community should provide certain guarantees for progress in the peace talks

The civil administration in the West Bank approved the construction of 296 new houses in the settlement of Beit El. The new homes planned for construction were part of a 2012 agreement according to which settlers peacefully left their homes at the Ulpana outpost — which an Israeli court determined were built on privately owned Palestinian land – in return for new homes to be rebuilt elsewhere.

The United States responded by saying that the Israel announcement to build new homes in Beit El were “counterproductive” and “Israelis must recognize that continued settlement activity is counterproductive to the cause of peace and that an independent Palestine must be viable with real borders that have to be drawn.”

In any event, Binyamin Netanyahu talked with Housing Minister Uri Ariel and asked him to halt promotion of new projects in Judea and Samaria including no longer putting up for bids tenders on new projects. This move meant that Netanyahu was essentially ordering another construction freeze. Last week, Housing Minister Ariel warned that his political party, Jewish Home, would not support the 2013 budget in the Knesset unless construction projects in West Bank settlements are fully funded. Ariel said: “I turned to the prime minister today and warned him that if the 2013 budget doesn’t include full funding for building projects in Judea and Samaria, including those decided upon in reaction to the Palestinians’ unilateral statehood bid at the United Nations this past November and additional projects, Jewish Home will consider its coalition agreement as having been violated, and it won’t support the budget unless a solution is found for the promised funds.” While neither Netanyahu nor Housing Minister Ariel immediately responded to the report, Jewish Home MK Ayelet Shaked said that “the Housing and Construction Ministry has prepared tenders that it is interested in issuing in the West Bank settlement blocs. They require the prime minister’s signature and for some reason that is not happening. It’s a shame, there are many housing units ready to be tendered.” Previously, Netanyahu promised U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry that he would put a hold on construction in West Bank settlements until mid-June. However, Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon said that “There will be no construction freeze in the Land of Israel. Not in Jerusalem and not in Judea and Samaria. We proved in the past that freezing construction does not advance peace, and therefore we will continue to build throughout the Land of Israel.”

Benjamin Netanyahu is for a national referendum on any peace agreement with the Palestinians. He is supported by the political party of Jewish Home led by Naftali Bennett. However, those opposed are the secular political party, Yesh Atid, headed by Yair Lapid, Israel our Home, led by Avigdor Liberman, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and Labor leader, Shelly Yachimovich.

Regarding the peace talks, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni told US Secretary of State, John Kerry that Israel would not agree, as a precondition for new talks, to declare the 1967 lines a basis for negotiations on the boundaries of a Palestinian state. Instead, she said that the border issue must be resolved through direct peace negotiations. Furthermore, Jewish Home leader, Naftali Bennett said: “when President Obama visited here I said that a nation cannot be an occupier in its own country, and I say now that a nation cannot be an occupier in its own capital. We are not occupying Jerusalem. Jerusalem is ours! Jerusalem belongs to my grandfather’s grandfather and to my grandson’s grandson. Neither I nor anyone else has the right to split it.  In Israel we have no debate on one issue: the unity of Jerusalem. There are no two Jerusalems, there is only one Jerusalem. As far as we’re concerned, Jerusalem is not subject to compromise and there will be no peace without Jerusalem.”

Meanwhile, Jibril Rajoub, deputy secretary general of Mahmood Abbas’s Fatah’s Central Committee said that “resistance in all of its forms” remains the strategy of his party against Israel, and defined the Jewish state as “the main enemy” of Arabs and Muslims. Rajoub noted that Fatah, too, was a revolutionary movement. ”If you ask me as a Palestinian, I say — our battle is with the Israeli occupation. Our main enemy, not [just] as Palestinians but as Arabs and Muslims, is Israel and the Israeli occupation.” He called on all Arabs to take part in “the liberation of Jerusalem.” In addition, Muslim cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi warned that nobody is allowed to cede “any part of Palestine.” Egyptian-born Qaradawi, who is a citizen of Qatar and close to the Muslim Brotherhood, was heading of a delegation of 50 clerics from 14 countries. He further said: “Palestine was never Jewish. Palestine is Arab and Muslim and will remain Arab and Muslim and Islam will prevail.”

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with special Middle East envoy Tony Blair in Rome. While in Rome, Kerry also met with Israeli Justice Minister, Tzipi Livni, and  Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh. Kerry said that Jordan is an important partner in the efforts to renew peace talks. In order for the peace process to succeed,  Kerry said: “Israel needs guarantees for security. The Palestinians need guarantees for a contiguous state.” Kerry cautioned that talks to resume the stalled peace process should be kept private to give everyone the chance “to make tough judgments in their own appropriate space.”

Kerry has announced that he will return to the Middle East May 21 or 22 to meet again with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Israeli Channel 2 Television said that Kerry will present a peace plan based on the principle of establishing a Palestinian state on 1967 borders with slight land-swap with certain security arrangements to the two sides. In commenting to this announcement, senior Palestinian negotiator, Mohamed Ishteyah, said that the Palestinian leadership is expecting to “officially receive the written ideas and proposals from Kerry and to will make a response” at that time.

During the annual celebration of Jerusalem day which celebrates the reunification of the city in 1967 under Israeli sovereignty, Israel limited the entrance of Muslim worshipers to the Temple Mount while allowing access to Jewish visitors. In protest, the Jordanian parliament’s lower house voted to call on the government to expel Israeli Ambassador Daniel Nevo and to recall Jordanian Ambassador to Israel. Historically, the Israeli government has restricted Jews from being on the Temple Mount. Recently, Likud Knesset Member Moshe Feiglin has been trying to change this seeking to affirm the Jewish rite to be on the Temple Mount. This effort has been getting the attention of the Israel Religious Services Ministry who is working on ways to allow Jews to pray on the Temple Mount.

Finally, there is a strong secular / religious divide in Israel due to ultra-Orthodox Jews seeking to impose their religious views on the rest of the Jewish nation. The ultra-Orthodox have advocated a policy of separation between men and woman on Israeli buses. However, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni wants to change this. She said, “Back-of-the-bus seating for women on public transport in Israel will be outlawed soon. I instructed the Justice Ministry to draft legislation … that will make any segregation of women and their humiliation in a public space a criminal offense.” It will include the following mandates. Men and women may not be separated in ceremonies or events sponsored by the government or any of its ministries, in health clinics or on public transportation. Signs indicating separate sidewalks for men and women or calling for modest dress must be removed by local authorities, especially when posted in a public place. The ultra-Orthodox “Kol Barama” radio station will have to stop its policy of not employing female broadcasters within six months.

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

The link to these articles are as follows:

1) El Salvador establishes diplomatic ties with PA
2) Chinese President makes four-point proposal for settlement of Palestinian question
3) Defense minister okays 296 homes in West Bank settlement
4) U.S.: Beit El Construction is ‘Counterproductive‘
5) Report: Netanyahu promised Kerry to put ‘hold’ on settlement construction
6) ‘PM orders freeze of W. Bank settlement tenders’
7) Lapid nixes Netanyahu-backed referendum on peace
8) Israel reportedly rejects 1967 lines ‘precondition’
9) Bennett: No One Has the Right to Split Jerusalem
10) Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood stages anti-Israel rally
11) Top PA official: Israel ‘is our main enemy, resistance is still our agenda’
12) Top Muslim cleric Qaradawi against ceding ‘any of Palestine’
13) Kerry Talks Peace with Tony Blair
14) Kerry: Jordan key player in Middle East peace process
15) Hagel: US-Arab relations benefit Israel
16) Kerry sees ‘short time’ to revive ME peace bid
17) Kerry, Abbas Discuss Peace Talks by Phone
18) Kerry to Return to Israel in Late May
19) Livni to end back-of-the-bus gender segregation
20) Jordanian parliament calls to expel Israeli envoy
21) Jerusalem: Haredim attack Women of the Wall
22) Ministry to arrange Jewish prayer on Temple Mount

Israel carried out an airstrike in Syria directed toward a shipment of advanced surface-to-surface missiles from Iran that Israel believed was intended for Hezbollah. Israel has repeatedly cautioned that it will not allow Hezbollah to receive “game changing” weapons that could threaten the Israeli heartland even if a new Syrian government takes power. According to US officials, the missiles were being stored in a warehouse at Damascus International Airport when they were struck. It was the second time in four months that Israel has carried out an attack in Syria intended to disrupt the pipeline of weapons that runs from there to Hezbollah. Shortly after the Israel attacks, the IDF posted additional Iron Dome anti-missile batteries in Haifa and Safed to defend those northern towns against potential incoming Syrian and Hizballah rockets.

Iran and Hezbollah have both backed President Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian civil war, now in its third year. But as fighting in Syria escalates, they also have a powerful interest in expediting the delivery of advanced weapons to Hezbollah in case Assad loses his grip on power and Syria ceases to be an effective channel for funneling weapons from Iran. In a second day of airstrikes, Israel struck the Jamraya military research center just north of Damascus. Arab sources say that Israeli rockets also hit two 4th Division Republican Guard battalions. The 4th Division is the main Syrian military unit protecting Bashar Assad.

Syria’s Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said the Israeli airstrike on Syria represented a “declaration of war” by Israel. . He added Syria would respond in the manner and timing of its choosing. Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoabi said, “The Israeli enemy exhibited gross aggression against Syria and used missiles to bomb military facilities in violation of all international laws. This aggression opens a door to all options.  The Syrian government extended the authority of the army to respond to “Israeli aggression” immediately and without prior governmental authorization. The Syrian army has compiled a “target bank” inside Israel that will be showered by missiles immediately in case of another Israeli strike on Syria.

Meanwhile, Syrian President Bashar Assad said that Syria will “give Hizbullah everything” in recognition of its support and will follow the terrorist group’s model of “resistance” against Israel. “We have decided that we must move forward towards them and turn into a nation of resistance like Hizbullah, for the sake of Syria and future generations.”

US Secretary of State John Kerry insisted that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad must be removed from power and could play no role in a potential transitional government. Furthermore, US ambassador Robert Ford Ford met with the head of the Aleppo military council, Abdul Jabbar Okaidi, a member of the Syrian rebels who thanked him for US shipment of nonlethal aid.

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Israel that Russia would not tolerate further Israeli attacks on Syria and would respond appropriately. Putin did not say how, but he did announce he had ordered the acceleration of highly advanced Russian weapons supplies to Syria. Putin has ordered the acceleration of highly advanced Russian weapons supplies to Syria. It is believed that Putin was referring to the  S-300 anti-air systems and the nuclear-capable 9K720 Iskander surface missiles, which are precise enough to hit a target within a 5-7 meter radius at a distance of 280 kilometers. Syrian air defense teams have already trained in Russia on the handling of the S-300 interceptor batteries so they can go into service as soon as they are landed by one of Russia’s daily airlifts to Syria. Russian air defense officials would supervise their deployment and prepare them for operation. The Russian response is not just for Israel’s air operations against Syria but in anticipation of the Obama administration’s impending decision to send the first US arms shipments to the Syrian rebels.

A war with Syria where Damascus is destroyed (Isaiah 17) is a tribulation event.

The link to these articles is as follows:

1) Israel Targeted Iranian Missiles in Syrian Attack
2) Israeli Air Force continues air strikes against Damascus
3) Syrian deputy FM: Israeli strike a ‘declaration of war’
4) Syria: Israeli attack equals declaration of war. Iron Domes at Haifa and Safed
5) Syrian minister: Alleged Israeli strike ‘opens up all options’
6) Syria vows to retaliate for any future Israeli attack
7) Assad: Syria Will ‘Give Hizbullah Everything’
8) Nasrallah: Syria to Supply ‘Game Changing Weapon’
9) President Bashar Assad must go, Kerry insists
10) Top U.S. Official Meets With Rebels Inside Syria
11) US to arm Syrian rebels
12) IDF on war alert, US set to act on Syria
13) US envoy Ford’s secret crossing into Syria

Israel is considering partnering with several Sunni-Muslim Arab states in a U.S.-brokered defense alliance that would be aimed at containing a nuclear Iran. The alliance would see Israel teaming up with Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Turkey and the United Arab Emirates to forge a Middle East “moderate crescent” to “contain” Iran, rather than confront its nuclear program. The alliance would give Israel access to radar stations in Saudi Arabia and the UAE in exchange for its own early warning radar information and anti-ballistic missile defense systems. Jordan would be protected by Israel’s Arrow long-range anti-missile batteries. The plan is being brokered by the United States.

Likud MK Tzachi Hanegbi said that Israel will come to a final decision over whether to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities must be approved no later than the beginning of 2014.

The link to these articles is as follows:

1) Israel ‘Opting to Contain’ Nuclear Iran?
2) Likud MK says Iran strike decision will come by early 2014

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) The current status of the situation with Syria
3) The current status of the situation with Iran

In order to agree to restart direct peace talks with Israel, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has given the following demands:

1) Israel must present the Palestinians with a map for a Palestinian state based upon 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.
2) Israel must stop building Jewish homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem
3) Israel must transfer parts of Area C in the West Bank which is under full Israeli control to the Palestinians.
4) Israel must agree to refrain from withholding in the future any monthly Palestinian tax revenues collected by Israel
5) Israel must immediately release Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails

However, Israel has refused to meet these preconditions saying that doing so would weaken its negotiation position. In any agreement with the Palestinians, Israel insists that it includes the following:

1) A demilitarized Palestinian state
2) A waive of the Palestinian right of return
3) PLO recognition of a Jewish state
4) The meeting of Israel’s security needs including military control over the Jordan Valley

US Secretary of State John Kerry has gained the consent of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to run peace negotiations on two tracks simultaneously – Israel and the Palestinians plus Israel and the the Arab League. Kerry says more work needs to be done before a starting date can be established but he hopes that talks can begin this summer. Kerry’s strategy is based upon issues which were communicated to him in talks with Netanyahu and Abbas. The 2002 Saudi peace plan which became known as the Arab peace initiative calls for total Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 borders in return for peace and normal relations with the Arab world. Netanyahu told Kerry that if this demand remained on the table that peace talks would quickly turn into a stalemate. Meanwhile, Abbas told Kerry that comprehensive Arab backing was imperative for him to consent to reenter peace talks with Israel.

As a result, Kerry invited a group of prominent Arab foreign ministers, heads of the Arab Peace Initiative follow-up committee, to visit the US to discuss the major issues standing in the way of an Arab peace deal with Israel. Among those present were Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim, chair of the Arab Peace Initiative follow-up committee, Arab League Chairman Nabil al-Arabi and Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Maliki. After putting before them Netanyahu’s objections to the Arab peace intiative, Kerry was able to persuade the Arab ministers to accept President Barack Obama’s formulation, which provides for an Israeli return to the 1967 boundaries with “comparable and mutual agreed minor swaps of the land.”

Palestinian chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat, said that the initiative reflected the Palestinian position in support of minor land swaps with Israel. PA Foreign Minister Riyad Malki, who was part of the Arab delegation that met with Kerry, was also quoted as saying that the proposal had been made in coordination with the Palestinians. Muhamed Shtayyeh, a PA negotiator and top Fatah representative, said that it was “premature” to talk about the idea of land swaps with Israel. Shtayyeh said that any land swaps should come as a result of negotiations with Israel. He said that any future land swaps should be equal in size and value. “For each centimeter we give, we should get a centimeter in return.” Shtayyeh expressed concern that Israel would interpret the Arab proposal as permission to annex settlement blocs in the West Bank. “This is a dangerous matter because we consider all settlements to be illegal and should be removed as an obstacle to peace. We want Israel to give. The Arabs are not required to give.  Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas expects that the United States would exercise pressure on Israel to accept resuming peace talks on the basis of pre-1967 border lines, with the slight exchange of land.

Hamas rejected a revised Middle East peace initiative put forward by the Arab League saying outsiders could not decide the fate of the Palestinians. Hamas leader Haniyeh said: “The so-called new Arab initiative is rejected by our people, by our nation and no one can accept it. The initiative contains numerous dangers to our people in the occupied land of 1967, 1948 and to our people in exile. To those who speak of land swaps we say: Palestine is not a property, it is not for sale, not for a swap and cannot be traded.” Two other Palestinian organizations,  the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine – two radical groups that are opposed to the peace process with Israel – also rejected the land trade idea.

Meanwhile, Israel objects to key elements of the Arab peace initiative which calls for Israel to return to the pre-1967 borders, the inclusion of East Jerusalem as the capital of a PLO state and the return of Palestinian refugees to what is now Israel. The core issues that need to be settled in any peace agreement include borders, the fate of Palestinian refugees, the future of Jewish settlements on the West Bank and the status of Jerusalem.

Israel Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, who heads peace negotiations with the Palestinians, called the Arab League announcement “very positive news”. She expressed hope that this change by the Arab League would help get the Palestinians to return to negotiations and send a message to the Israeli public that an agreement with the Palestinians would lead to normalization of ties with the entire Arab world. Livni met with US Secretary of State, John Kerry, in the United States following the Arab League announcement. Yitzhak Molcho, Netanyahu’s envoy on the peace process, accompanied Livni to her meeting with Kerry. Molcho has visited the United States “frequently” over the past few weeks. Molcho presented Kerry with Netanyahu’s objections to the Arab League plan, including fears that the US would adopt its language stipulating only minor land swaps that don’t include the settlement blocs.

Netanyahu said he is “eager” to sign a peace deal, but noted that any agreement would need to ensure Israeli security and that the Palestinians recognize the Jewish state. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict didn’t start in 1967 nor with the construction of the first settlements. The purpose of the future agreement with the Palestinians is to prevent the eventuality of a binational state and to guarantee stability and security. The root of the conflict is the Palestinians’ refusal to recognize the Jews’ right to a country. Israel, while perfectly willing to sit down to talks, “has to make sure that, at the end of the negotiations, it will be clear it is the end of the conflict and Palestinian demands, and that there is recognition for our nation state. It’s not about a Palestinian state, it’s about a Jewish state. Netanyahu added that only the Israeli army can provide Israel with the security it needs in any peace agreement. An international peacekeeping force in not acceptable as ”a peace agreement doesn’t necessarily bring security.” Finally, Netanyahu said that in any peace agreement with the Palestinians, Israelis would have a chance to voice their opinions of it in a national referendum.

PA Foreign Minister Riyad Malki announced that the Palestinian Authority has pledged to the US that it would freeze its efforts to join United Nations agencies or turn to the International Criminal Court until June 4. Malki said that the promise was made to US Secretary of State John Kerry as a “gesture” on the part of the Palestinians “and in order to prove our true intentions to give a bigger chance to the peace process.” Malki said that the PA decision was aimed at “proving our good intentions and belief in making relentless efforts to achieve peace with Israel on the basis of a two-state solution.”

Finally, Israel Knesset member Moshe Feiglin said that he would not be voting with his own Likud party as a way of protesting Netanyahu from preventing him from being on the Temple Mount.

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

The link to these articles are as follows:

1) Kerry’s plans double peace track: Israel vs Palestinians and vs Arab League
2) Arab states: Flexible on 1967 lines in Kerry parley
3) PA officials split over Arab League’s proposal
4) Hamas rebuffs Arabs for softening Israeli-Palestinian peace-plan
5) PA to halt ICC plans against Israel as peace gesture
6) PA Sets a New Ultimatum – Back in the UN on June 3rd
7) Abbas expects U.S. pressure on Israel to resume peace talks
8) Livni, Kerry meet in bid to renew peace talks
9) Livni optimistic after talking peace with Kerry
10) Livni on Arab initiative: They realized border must change
11) Knesset, PM to hold parley on Arab League proposal
12) Israel will not talk on basis of 1967 lines: minister
13) Netanyahu calls for peace deal to avert binational state
14) Netanyahu: Conflict is Over Israel’s Existence, Not Land
15) PM: Referendum Before Any Deal With the PA
16) Israel and Palestinians closing in on resumed peace talks
17) Feiglin suspends himself from coalition over Temple Mt. ban

In response to reports that the Syrian government of President Bashar Assad has used chemical weapons against the government opposition in Syria’s civil war, the US military is preparing for the possibility of an aerial or sea missile attack on Syrian chemical weapons sites. A Senior US administration official said that “there is intensified planning in the works.” The US is discussing possibly using ground troops to secure the Syrian chemical weapons sites. However, a missile strike on Syria is far more likely that the US using any ground troops in the conflict. What makes any military task challenging is that Syrian chemical stockpiles are constantly being moved around the country to avoid being located. US President Barack Obama has not asked for any strike options yet but the US Pentagon is preparing all military options in case they are needed. Recently, Egyptian and Iranian government officials had meetings to discuss the growing concern that the US may choose to conduct a military option against Syria. A senior Egyptian diplomat said, “There are serious moves being made by the US that imply an imminent strike on Damascus.”

In addition, US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said that the US is rethinking its opposition to arming the Syrian rebels. However, giving weapons to the forces fighting President Bashar Assad was only one option being considered by the United States to remove Assad from power. In potentially arming the Syrian rebels, Hagel cautioned that it carries the risk of arms finding their way into the hands of anti-American extremists among the insurgents, such as the Nusra Front.  Hagel said: “You look at and rethink all options. It doesn’t mean you do or you will” choose them.

A war with Syria where Damascus is destroyed (Isaiah 17) is a tribulation event.

The link to these articles is as follows:

1) US rethinking opposition to arming Syria rebels
2) ‘US mulls way to hit Syria chemical weapons sites’

According to the Wall Street Journal, the US has upgraded its biggest bunker buster bomb specifically to enable the destruction of Iran’s underground Fordow uranium enrichment plant near the city of Qom. US officials have shown video footage to Israel of an earlier version of the bunker buster in action and explained the advanced features which have been added. The bunker buster, known as the Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP), is 30,000 pounds and has been improved with “adjusted fuses to maximize its burrowing power, upgraded guidance systems to improve its precision and high-tech equipment intended to allow it to evade Iranian air defenses in order to reach and destroy the Fordow nuclear enrichment complex.”

The US believes that by showing Israel its upgraded bunker buster bomb that it will convince Israel that the US will indeed prevent Iran from attaining nuclear weapons.

The link to these articles is as follows:

1) ‘US upgrades bomb to thwart Israel strike on Iran’

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) The current status of the situation with Syria
3) The current status of the situation with Iran

In order to agree to restart direct peace talks with Israel, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has given the following demands:

1) Israel must present the Palestinians with a map for a Palestinian state based upon 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.
2) Israel must stop building Jewish homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem
3) Israel must transfer parts of Area C in the West Bank which is under full Israeli control to the Palestinians.
4) Israel must agree to refrain from withholding in the future any monthly Palestinian tax revenues collected by Israel
5) Israel must immediately release Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails

However, Israel has refused to meet these preconditions saying that doing so would weaken its negotiation position. In any agreement with the Palestinians, Israel insists that it includes the following:

1) A demilitarized Palestinian state
2) A waive of the Palestinian right of return
3) PLO recognition of a Jewish state
4) The meeting of Israel’s security needs including military control over the Jordan Valley

In an effort to improve Palestinian economic conditions in the West Bank to create an environment in which Israel and the Palestinians would agree to renew direct peace talks, US Secretary of State, John Kerry, has gotten approval in principle from Benjamin Netanyahu and Mahmod Abbas to a multi-billion dollar economic plan that would bring international businesses and major infrastructure projects to the West Bank including investments in high-tech, transportation, tourism, telecommunications and major infrastructure projects in areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority. However, Netanyahu is reportedly against aspects of the plan that would require Israel to release Area C land (currently under full Israeli control), such as a proposed tourist center in the Dead Sea, to the Palestinian Authority. Other proposals nixed by Netanyahu include exploitation of natural gas fields off the coast of Gaza, and the opening of an international airport controlled by the Palestinians. Kerry has tried to assure the Palestinians that the economic projects would not come at the expense of diplomatic issues, like determining final borders for a Palestinian state.

Furthermore, unidentified sources in the United States said that the Obama administration  is planning a Middle East summit in Washington in June to push the Israeli-Palestinian peace process forward.  U.S. President Barack Obama will preside over the meeting in which Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Jordan’s King Abdullah will participate. These sources told an Israeli newspaper that it is possible Egyptian and Turkish leaders will be invited, as well as leaders of other Arab countries. However, the Obama administration did not confirm this report. Neither has Israel or the Palestinians.

According to a recent poll taken in Israel, 80 percent of Israelis support the idea of Israeli sovereignty over all or part of the West Bank. 33% support full Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank. In order for this to become a reality, Israel would have to annex all or part of the West Bank.

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

The link to these articles are as follows:

1) Kerry pushes economic plan for peace
2) U.S. said to be planning Mideast peace summit
3) Large Majority Favor Sovereignty in West Bank

Israel’s top military intelligence official, Brig. Gen. Itai Brun, said that Syria President Bashar Assad’s regime has used chemical weapons multiple times against the Syrian rebels. In response to this claim, White House spokesman Jay Carney said the Obama administration has “not come to that conclusion,” that the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons. Carney said that the claim needs to be investigated and verified. He reiterated Obama’s stance that use or transfer of chemical weapons remains “unacceptable.” Carney added, ‘If the claims are verified, I cannot say what action the US will take. what action will we take. That’s speculating and I won’t be doing that.” Syria has rejected a request by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to allow inspectors into the country to investigate the claims that Syria is using chemical weapons. Last month, US President Barack Obama said that Syrian used of chemical weapons would be a “game changer.” US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said that chemical weapon use by Syria would cross a “red line” and that the US had contingency plans to deal with it. Hagel admitted that Syria has likely used chemical weapons on a “small scale” against the opposition. The US believes that Syria has used the chemical agent, Sarin. Hagel added that the use of chemical weapons “violates every convention of warfare.” US Secretary of State John Kerry said NATO must consider its role in the Syrian conflict, including how it will respond to any potential use of chemical weapons.

Meanwhile, British and French diplomats told the United Nations that there is evidence based upon soil samples and eyewitness accounts that Syria’s government forces used chemical weapons in several areas around the cities of Homs, Aleppo and even Damascus.

Israel Deputy Foreign Minister, Zev Elkin, said that the way the US responds to Syrian President Bashar Assad’s use of chemical weapons will send a signal to Iran, regarding its nuclear program. Elkin added that if the U.S. does not act to destroy chemical weapons in Syria, it will signal a reluctance to take action in Iran as well. Elkin said, “If the US doesn’t act on something they defined as a ‘red line’ then the Iranians will learn that the red lines the West sets are very flexible, and will continue their nuclear program. However, if the United States and the international community are able to take action and to take control of the chemical weapons reserves in Syria, the concerns over its use will not be relevant. It could be that as soon as the international community understands that red lines have been crossed, it will realize that there is no choice but to take action.”

A war with Syria where Damascus is destroyed (Isaiah 17) is a tribulation event.

The link to these articles is as follows:

1) Israel official: Syria has used chemical weapons
2) Evidence exists that Syria used chemical weapons, Britain and France tell U.N.
3) West has ‘hard evidence’ of Syria chemical weapons: envoy
4) Kerry: NATO Needs Plan for Chemical Weapons in Syria
5) US, Britain now believe Assad used chemical weapons
6) Elkin: Iran Watching U.S. Response on Syria

The US and Israel have agreed to a $10 billion dollar weapons deal. US Defense Secretary, Chuck Hagel, said that the US is selling Israel a set of advanced new military capabilities … including anti-radiation missiles and advanced radars for fighter jets, KC135 refueling aircraft, and most significantly the V-22 Osprey. However, the US did not sell Israel any Bunker-Buster bombs that Israel would need if it attacked Iran’s deepest and best-protected nuclear sites without the support of the US. What Israel wants most from the US is a giant bunker-busting bomb designed to penetrate earth and reinforced concrete to destroy deeply buried Iranian nuclear sites. According to both American and Israeli analysts, it is the only weapon that would have a chance of destroying the Iranian nuclear fuel enrichment center at Fordo, which is buried more than 200 feet under a mountain outside the holy city of Qum.

The weapon, called a Massive Ordnance Penetrator, weighs about 30,000 pounds — so much that Israel does not have any aircraft capable of carrying it. To do so, Israel would need a B-2 bomber, the stealth aircraft that the United States flew nonstop recently from Missouri to the Korean Peninsula to underscore to North Korea that it could reach its nuclear sites. The Obama administration has been reluctant to even discuss selling such capability to the Israelis.

In public, the US is saying that Israel had the right to decide by itself if it needs to attack Iran to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear bomb. However, a close adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that “the fundamental difference of views on how much risk we can take with Iran is re-emerging.”

Former Israel Military Intelligence chief Maj.-Gen. Amos Yadlin said Iran has crossed the nuclear red line set by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in a speech the United Nations last fall. Yadlin further said, “If Iran continues to enrich uranium at its current rate, toward the end of this year it will cross the red line in a clear manner.” Netanyahu has defined Israel’s red line regarding Iran as the possession of 250 kg. of uranium enriched to the 20 percent level, known as medium-enriched uranium.“By the summer, Iran will be a month or two away from a decision about building a bomb,” Yadlin said adding that the decision whether to advance beyond that will be made after Iran’s presidential elections in June. Once Iran amasses sufficient enriched uranium, “it will be very hard to stop,” Yadlin said. “If the US, Iran and Israel all stand behind their announcements, then we are on a collision course toward the end of the year.”

US Secretary of State John Kerry said that more patience is needed before tougher sanctions are imposed over Iran’s nuclear ambitions saying that there is uncertainty in Iran two months before its June 14 election. Kerry said, “I do think timing and the choice of when we might do something is critical. We need to cooperate together on that,” he said, adding that President Barack Obama’s administration is monitoring the situation closely and working with US allies in the region including Israel. US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said that economic sanctions and diplomacy must be exhausted before the United States and Israel contemplate any military action to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

Ron Dermer, a senior Netanyahu adviser and Israel’s next ambassador to Washington, told a group of American Jewish leaders that the time for action against Iran’s capacity to build a bomb – which he termed an existential threat to Israel – must be counted in months.

The link to these articles is as follows:

1) Israel, US finalize $10 billion arms deal
2) No Bunker-Buster Bomb in Israel’s Weapons Deal With U.S.
3) Yadlin: Iranian nuclear program crossed ‘red line’
4) Kerry asks for patience on U.S. Iran sanctions before election
5) Hagel says Iran sanctions need to be exhausted first
6) Tehran and Assad slide past US and Israeli red lines – nuclear and chemical

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 most recent update was made on Tuesday, April 16. It is the posted update for April 13. It is 31 minutes. There has been no new information to report on the peace process from April 16. As a result, the update for this week (April 20) is the April 13 update posted on April 16. If you have not had a chance to listen to the April 13 update (because it was posted on April 16) then this update covers the most current situation with the peace process. I am also in Asia. I will return to the USA on April 23.

Shalom in Yeshua the Messiah,

Eddie Chumney
Hebraic Heritage Ministries Int’l

Uploaded. This week’s update is 31 minutes.

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

US President Barack Obama visited the Middle East in March discussing with Israel and the Palestinians ways to restart peace talks between them. In his visit, Obama expressed his desire to see a “performance-based progression” in the talks — with measurable change on the ground as the criterion for gradual steps toward a “broad agreement. The United States is exploring the possibility of restarting Israel / Palestinian peace talks based upon the 2002 Arab peace initiative. The 2002 Arab peace proposal was discussed between the US and Palestinian negotiators when a Palestinian delegation met with the Obama administration two weeks prior to Obama’s March visit to the Middle East. In these meetings, Obama made it clear to them that this would be the new direction for US diplomacy in the region. As a result, when Obama visited the Middle East in March, he raised the possibility to both Israel and the Palestinians that the 2002 Arab peace initiative be the framework for an eventual peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.

In order to accomplish this objective, US Secretary of State, John Kerry, has made several trips to the Middle East in the past few weeks to try to find the right formula to restart direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. While in Israel, Kerry had meetings with Justice Minister Tzipi Livni — the new ministerial overseer of Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts — along with Netanyahu’s National Security Adviser Yaakov Amidror and his key negotiator, lawyer Yitzhak Molcho. Livni described Kerry’s efforts as being “very determined, very energetic and very committed to the two-state solution.” Livni expressed her views that a peace agreement with the Palestinians is the “only way to protect Zionism”.

The 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, which also has been referred to as the “Saudi peace plan,” was first proposed in March 2002 at a meeting of the Arab League. It stipulated that Israel withdraw from areas occupied in the 1967 Middle East War – namely the Golan Heights, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip – and allow the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state. In return, Arab nations would pledge to adopt normal relations with Israel. However, there are currently several major obstacles for both sides to accept the plan. Israel objects to some details of the plan and the Palestinians are refusing to change any aspect of it. Kerry has proposed two small changes to the plan to make it more acceptable to Israel. First, the pre-1967 borders could be modified through mutual agreement. Secondly, provide Israel with stronger security guarantees. Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the 2002 Arab peace proposal could not be changed.

While being in the area, Kerry also met with Jordan’s Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh. A senior Palestinians official said that talks with Kerry initiated a US effort of a genuine intervention in the peace process and that the US will, by the end of May, present a plan of action to the two sides for the next political steps.” Jordan is willing to host any future peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. A Jordanian official said that a four-way summit between the US, Israel, the Palestinians and Jordan is being planned in May to restart peace talks.

In seeking this objective, Kerry has asked both Israel and the Palestinians to refrain from doing things which would harm the process. In this regard, Kerry has persuaded Palestinian President Mahmood Abbas from taking possible unilateral actions against Israel at the United Nations until the end of May. The Palestinians have threatened to take Israel to the International Criminal Court unless they discontinue building Jewish homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

For its part, Israel has also agreed to not announce any new settlement construction projects until the end of May. Furthermore, Israel agreed to transfer to the Palestinians tax funds that it receives on a monthly basis. Israel has not transferred to the Palestinians any tax funds since November when the Palestinians sought recognition for a Palestinian state based upon 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital and to upgrade their status at the UN General Assembly from being an observer to a non-member state. In addition, the US unblocked almost $500 million in foreign aid to the Palestinians which had been frozen in the US Congress for months.

However, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has presented Kerry which is list of Palestinian conditions in order to resume talks. They include the following:

1) Israel must present the Palestinians with a map for a Palestinian state based upon 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.
2) Israel must stop building Jewish homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem
3) Israel must transfer parts of Area C in the West Bank which is under full Israeli control to the Palestinians.
4) Israel must agree to refrain from withholding in the future any monthly Palestinian tax revenues collected by Israel
5) Israel must immediately release Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails

However, Israel has refused to meet these preconditions saying that doing so would weaken its negotiation position. In any agreement with the Palestinians, Israel insists that it includes the following:

1) A demilitarized Palestinian state
2) A waive of the Palestinian right of return
3) PLO recognition of a Jewish state
4) The meeting of Israel’s security needs including military control over the Jordan Valley

In any event, US Secretary of State, John Kerry announced that the United States plans to reveal a new economic initiative intended to improve life for the Palestinians. In doing so, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas have agreed to promote Palestinian economic development, remove barriers to commerce and increase business expansion and private sector investment in the West Bank. Speaking of Kerry’s efforts, Netanyahu said, “We welcome any initiatives that you and others may suggest. I am determined not only to resume the peace process with the Palestinians but to make a serious effort to end this conflict once and for all. However, any peace proposal must recognize Israel as a Jewish state and meet Israel’s security needs. The Palestinians said that any economic agreements alone will not cause them alone to restart peace talks with Israel. In response, Kerry said that the United States wants to make it clear that whatever steps we take with respect to economics are in no way a substitute, but they are in addition to the political track. The political track is first and foremost; other things may happen to supplement it.”

Meanwhile, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas attended an Arab League summit in Qatar where he appealed to the Arab League to protest to the UN and the international community to “stop Israel’s settlement policy in the West Bank, with an emphasis on East Jerusalem.” A delegation representing the Arab League is scheduled to arrive in the United States in the coming weeks to discuss ideas for renewing peace talks based upon two chief principles: A predetermined timetable for talks and operational decisions for ending the occupation and facilitating the establishment of a Palestinian state along 1967 borders, with a capital in East Jerusalem.

Chief Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat said the Palestinians would wait be willing to wait for as long as two more months to see if the Obama administration can come up with a formula to restart peace talks. If the deadlock persists, he insisted that the Palestinians will move ahead with further international recognition in various UN organizations. The Palestinians have 63 international agencies we can join,” he said.

Finally, Jordan’s King Abdullah and Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas signed an agreement confirming their “common goal to defending” Jerusalem and their opposition to efforts to “Judaize” the eternal capital of Israel. Palestinian Authority Religious Affairs Minister Mahmoud al-Habash said the agreement confirmed Jordan’s role as protector of the city’s holy sites and “Palestinian sovereignty over all of Palestine, including its capital East Jerusalem.”  In this historic agreement, Abbas reiterated that King Abdullah is the custodian of holy sites in Jerusalem and that he has the right to exert all legal efforts to preserve them, especially the Al-Aqsa mosque. The agreement also stated that “Jerusalem is currently facing major challenges and attempts to change its Arab, Muslim and Christian identity.”

The link to these articles are as follows:

1) Obama, Kerry dust off old Arab peace proposal in push to resolve Israeli-Palestinian conflict
2) Kerry visit revives possibility of Arab peace plan
3) Obama assigns Kerry to prod sides back to the path of peace
4) Livni: Obama reminded us of imperative for peace deal
5) Kerry meets Netanyahu in bid to get peace talks restarted
6) Kerry’s Offer: You Release Terrorists, They’ll Renew Talks
7) Abbas ‘to suspend unilateral action against Israel’
8.) Palestinian aide: Abbas demands two-state map from Netanyahu
9) Palestinians cool to partial settlement freeze
10) Top Palestinian official: Partial Israeli settlement freeze not enough for resuming talks
11) PA: Key to resuming peace talks in Israel’s hands
12) Netanyahu Allows Transfer of PA Funds
13) U.S. Quietly Unblocks Financial Aid to PA
14) Kerry in another bid to get Israel, PA to talk
15) Jerusalem won’t hand Kerry list of concessions
16) Israeli source: There will be no gestures towards Palestinians
17) Officials say ‘no thanks’ to Kerry plan to jump-start talks
18) Kerry visit: Israel does not foresee breakthrough
19) Kerry tries to woo Abbas with land-for-talks deal
20) Kerry to unveil new PA economic initiative
21) Kerry’s economic offer alone won’t bring new talks, Palestinians say
22) PA Official: Kerry Will Present ‘Plan of Action’ in Two Months
23) US peace initiative coming ‘in the next two months’
25) Kerry talks mark start of US peace drive: Palestinians
26) Report: US promoting peace summit in Jordan
27) US reportedly suggests Israeli-Palestinian summit in May
28) Palestinians: We reserve right to turn to The Hague if peace talks with Israel fail
29) PA Threatens Appeal to Hague over Israeli Homes
30) PA, Jordan Ink Deal to ‘Defend’ Jerusalem Against ‘Judaization’

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