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There are Jews in Israel preparing for service in the rebuilt Jewish temple
Dec 10th, 2009
News UpdateJimmy DeYoung
Categories: Jimmy DeYoung News

A group of religious Jews who live in the Jordan Valley near the ancient city of Jericho are taking practical steps to prepare for the building of the third temple in Jerusalem by preparing descendants of the Kohanim, the priests, and the Levites for service in this next temple. These Jewish leaders have established a training center where temple priests can learn exactly how to conduct the daily temple services and offer the required sacrifices as dictated by the Jewish laws from the Biblical book of Leviticus.

The training center will include an exact replica of the temple where the student-priests can learn to do their duties which are required and this training center, the organizers believe, comes at an historic time marking the beginning of the work for the third temple.

Jimmy's Prophetic Prospective on the News

With the establishment of a training center in Israel to prepare the Jewish priests to operate a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem we see Bible prophecy ever so close to being fulfilled.

Recently, the Moslem violence on the Temple Mount focused the world on a controversial piece of real estate and an even more controversial project on this site - the rebuilding of a Jewish temple. Moslem concerns about the Jews taking the Temple Mount to build a temple there have been fueled by the number of projects going on to prepare for the eventuality of a Jewish temple in Jerusalem.

The Temple Institute, for example, has prepared all the implements to be used in the next temple. The Harrari Harp Factory has made the harps to be used when the next temple is erected on the Temple Mount. Gershon Solomon's Temple Mount Faithful have the cornerstone by which they hope to start construction of the next temple. Now, near Jericho in the Jordan Valley of Israel, there is a training center to teach the priests and the Levites how to serve in the next temple.

Bible prophecy says that there will be a temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem in the last days (Daniel 9:27, Matthew 24:15, II Thessalonians 2:4, and Revelation 11:1). This a temple that will be built during the seven year Tribulation period, that time of testing yet in the future.

As evidenced by this report, the next temple has been prepared for and construction could start very soon. Bible prophecy will be fulfilled.

The Muslim Brotherhood and Fort Hood [excerpts]
Dec 10th, 2009
Commentaryfrontpagemag.com
Categories: Contemporary Issues;Warning

Dave Gaubatz is the first U.S. civilian Federal Agent deployed to Iraq in 2003. He is the owner of DG Counter-terrorism Publishing. He is the co-author (with Paul Sperry) of the new book, Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld that's Conspiring to Islamize America.

Front Page Magazine: Can you give us some examples of what Muslims in America are being taught and why you believe Malik Hasan was carrying out the orders of the Muslim Brotherhood?

Gaubatz: There are numerous examples. I will provide a few. Investigative journalists need to ask Imams across our country what these following statements mean and if it is likely and very possible that Muslims could use these teachings to commit acts such as occurred at Ft. Hood, Va. Tech, 'Trolley Square" (SLC, UT), and numerous other locations.

[1] "The objective of Islamic Jihad is to put an end to the dominance of the un-Islamic systems of government and replace them with Islamic rule, Islam intends to bring about this revolution not in one country or in a few countries but in the entire world. Although initially it is the duty of every member of the Muslim party to work for revolution wherever he lives the final purpose is nothing but a world revolution. Any revolutionary ideology which upholds the good of all mankind, and is not of a mere national unit, cannot limit its horizons to those of any single country or nation."
(Book: "Come Let Us Change This World," pp. 106-107. Author: Sayyid Abul A'la Mawdudi. Founder of Jamaat-e-Islami (The Islamic Party), a political party in Pakistan.)

[2] "If you accept the whole of Islam in your life...a time will come when Communism will fear for its survival in Moscow, Capitalistic democracy will tremble for its safety in Washington and New York."
(Book: "Come Let Us Change This World," p.83. Author: Sayyid Abul A'la Mawdudi. Founder of Jamaat-e-Islami (The Islamic Party), a political party in Pakistan.)

[3] "It is learnt from this Hadith that physical jihad will continue right till the day of resurrection and will be waged as such in some part or the other of the world". We do not deny the benefit of waging an academic and intellectual war. However, an intellectual war alone cannot be fought everywhere. There are special places and occasions for it. In short, despite waging a jihad with the tongue, pen, rationale and intellect, the Muslim community cannot be absolved of the duty of waging physical jihad."
(Pamphlet: "40 Hadith on Jihad," pp. 21 -22. Author: Maulana Abdus Samad Siyal. Published in Pakistan.)

[4] "The only reward of those who make war upon Allah and His messenger and strive after corruption in the land, will be that they will be killed."
(Booklet: "Duties of the Learned to Ignorant Muslims," p. 5. Author: Abdul Qadir Oudah (Muslim Brotherhood/Egypt). Published in Pakistan.)

[5] "The person who raises arms in order to curb tyranny and oppression and to eradicate evil is the blessed soul who fights in the way of Allah."
(Pamphlet: Jihad in Islam, p.15, by Abdul Hameed Siddiqi. (Jemmah Islamiyah) Published in Pakistan.)

[6] "Islam wishes to destroy all States and Governments anywhere on the face of the earth which are opposed to the ideology and programme of Islam regardless of the country or the Nation which rules it. Islam requires the earth-not just a portion, but the whole planet. Towards this end, Islam wishes to press into service all forces which can bring about a revolution and a composite term for the use of all these forces is 'Jihad.'
(Pamphlet: "Jihad in Islam," pp.9 -10. Syed Abul A'al Maududi [founder of JI terrorist organization].)

Rick Warren Now Openly Promoting Contemplative Spirituality/mysticism
Dec 10th, 2009
CommentaryApprising Ministries - Ken Silva pastor-teacher
Categories: Exhortation;Apostasy;Warning

Warren has an upcoming conference at his Saddleback Church in February called Radicalis that will also be featuring Perry Noble and Mark Driscoll in addition to himself.

In the latest email promoting this conference entitled Chat Live with Radicalis Speaker, Pete Scazzero, Wednesday, December 9 at 11 am pst Warren writes:

Chat live with Pete Scazzero, tomorrow, Wednesday, December 9 at 11 am pst (2 pm est). Pete will be teaching how to develop emotionally healthy leadership in churches at Radicalis this February.

Pete, along with his wife, Geri, are co-founders of Emotionally Healthy Spirituality, a groundbreaking ministry that integrates emotional health and contemplative spirituality to pastors, leaders and local churches.

The problem is, this current fad within mainstream evangelicalism of practicing corrupt Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism (CSM) ala Living Spiritual Teacher and Quaker mystic Richard Foster—and his spiritual twin Dallas Willard—doesn’t produce spiritual health; quite the opposite, it contributes mightily to a fulfillment of this Scripture men will be lovers of self (see—2 Tim 3:2 )

It’s simply beyond question that this recent form of CSM, under the quise of Spiritual Formation with it’s main vehicle of Contemplative/Centering Prayer (CCP)—which is actually meditation in an altered state of consciousness—flowered in the antibiblical monastic traditions of the Roman Catholic Church. Sadly, a growing spiritual blindness is making many too dull to see it now.

They are becoming so spiritually obtuse that they no longer recognize these seducing spirits with their doctrines of demons.spreading as a cancer within the visible church. And I’ve added the word “mysticism” whenever I mention contemplative spirituality, for this is precisely what we’re dealing with now within alledgedly “Protestant,” but no longer protesting, squishy evanjellyfish.

How pathetic that men like Warren can’t piece this mystery together: CSM, with practices like Lectio Divina and the transcendental meditation-lite aka CCP, originated with apostate desert hermits and hermettes who ignored what Jesus clearly told His Church to do — “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you” (John 20:21). Quite obviously, Jesus did not live in a cave contemplating His navel.

In the recent AM article Move Over Pastors For Spiritual Directors/Gurus I quoted Thomas Merton, the revered CSM Golden Buddha who knew more about this stupid approach to spirituality than Warren or Foster will ever know. Merton’s disgusting idolatry is evident in Thomas Merton And The Buddhas; the truth is, his devotion to the practice of CSM made Merton more like the Buddha than the Christ. 

Merton tells us in his book Spiritual Direction & Meditation where all of this talk of so-called “spiritual directors” like Pete Scazzero orginally came from:

[The] original, primitive meaning of spiritual direction suggests a particular need connected with a special ascetic task, a peculiar vocation for which a professional formation is required. In other words, spiritual direction is a monastic concept. It is a practice which was unnecessary until men withdrew from the Christian community in order to live as solitaries in the desert.

For the ordinary member in the primitive Christian community there was no particular need of personal direction in the professional sense. The bishop, the living and visible representative of the apostle who had founded the local Church, spoke for Christ and the apostles, and, helped by the presbyters, took care of all the spiritual needs of his flock. (11, emphasis mine)

However, what needs to be understood here is that this spiritual direction i.e. gurus, and the practices of CSM, would eventually take the Church of Rome so far away from proper biblical spirituality that Jesus Himself became so disgusted with it He would then raise up His Church Reformers. I hope now just a little light has cut through the postmodern fog of highly subjective experiences for you.

Do you seriously think that God is pleased His church visible is right now returning to the EXACT same spirituality such as that practiced by apostates (being charitable) like Ignatius of Loyola, champion of apostate Roman Catholicism and founder of the militantly pro-Church of Rome spiritual Gestapo Unit known as the Jesuits; you may recall the Jesuits weren’t exactly fond of the Protestant Reformers.

If so, you need to have your spiritual head examined. The same spiritual practices will lead to the same results; and thus far, CSM has already opened the door into mainstream evangelicalism for mystics openly hostile to Sola Scriptura e.g. Rob Bell, Elvis of the egregiously ecumenical Emerging Church aka Emergent Church, which is a cult of postliberalism—now morphing into Emergence Christianity (EC).

For years the EC has been sowing their love of “mystery” into your Young Adult and Youth ministries; and in An Excellent Jeremiad From Mr. Spurgeon you’ll read some insightful comments from Phil Johnson about what has resulted from this Liberalism 2.0, and how Spurgeon encountered virtually the same kind of effete “Christianity” in the Downgrade Controversy. O but it’ll be different this time; right?

No, it won’t; it is the cause of people beginning to think first with their “heart” [read: emotions], and we will watch the inevitable progession that previously took place within the nearly dead mainline “Protestant” denominations start happening within mainstream evangelicalism. Roughly, and generally, it begins with this spurious spirituality of CSM, which then kicks out Sola Scriptura for subjective experience.

This leads to ecumenicism, bringing with it acceptance of the Roman Catholic Church as simply another “Christian faith tradition”; then ordination of women pastors, the jettisoning of Hell, inclusiveness—particularly of GLBTQs, and then the ordination of practicing homosexuals. Acceptance by the EC is already helping to advance the notoriety of such “gay affirming pastors” as Nadia Bolz-Weber and Jay Bakker.

If you’re brave enough, go poll the Young Adult and Youth Groups at your local evangelical church, and you’ll see for yourself just how far the above progression has already advanced within them after years of being used as spiritual guinea pigs trying out “alternative worship practices” [read: Emerging Church]. Know this, turning away from the all-sufficiency of Holy Scripture to the self comes with great cost.

Obama Administration 'assures Jewish Evacuation'
Dec 10th, 2009
Daily NewsWND - Aaron Klein
Categories: Today's Headlines;Anti-Israel;Warning

PA official says U.S. won't counter proposal giving Temple Mount to Palestinians

JERUSALEM – Members of the Obama administration recently assured the Palestinian Authority that most Jewish communities in the strategic West Bank will be evacuated, a top PA official told WND yesterday.

The official also said Obama will soon offer the Palestinians a public pledge that a Palestinian state will encompass most of the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem with the exception of what is known as the three main settlement blocs – Ariel, Gush Etzion and Maale Adumim. The pledge will likely be oral and not in the form of a letter, said the PA official.

Further, both the PA official and a source in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office told WND the Obama administration refused to counter a European Union draft document that supports the division of Jerusalem, with the Temple Mount going to the Palestinians.

The White House

yesterday issued a statement that the status of Jerusalem should be determined by Israel and the Palestinians, but the statement stopped short of countering the EU proposal.

Sweden, which currently holds the EU presidency, last week presented to Israel and the PA the draft document, which recognizes all of eastern Jerusalem – including the Temple Mount – as the capital of a future Palestinian state.

"The EU will not recognize any changes to the pre-1967 borders, including with regard to Jerusalem," said the EU ministerial draft, referring to all of eastern Jerusalem.

"If there is to be a genuine peace, a way must be found through negotiations to resolve the status of Jerusalem as the future capital of two states," EU foreign ministers agreed in a statement released last Tuesday.

Israel's Foreign Ministry, for its part, warned the proposal would damage the EU's ability to be a Mideast mediator.

Art's Commentary......The  EU and the USA  are fully committed to drive Israel off the land God  has promised them. Even more schocking and frightening is the fact that they intend to give the Temple Mount to the enemies of Israel. God said of the Temple Mount that it was the place where He would place His name forever.

Ezekiel prophesied of this hour 2500 years ago when said, "Thus saith the Lord God; Because the enemy hath said against you, Aha. even the ancient high places (Temple Mount) are ours in possession:"  Today the Palestinians are fulfilling that prophecy. Tomorrow God will fulfill His prophecy concerning the nations. "I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead (judge)(with) them there for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land." Joel 3:2.  The world is facing Armegeddon because of what they are now doing to Israel.

North Korean Christians Cry Out for Prayers, Help
Dec 10th, 2009
Daily NewsChristian Newswire - Jerry Dykstra
Categories: The Church;Persecution

SANTA ANA, Calif., Dec. 9-- North Korean Christians have asked Open Doors for more help, especially for fervent prayer.

Church leaders told Open Doors, an international Christian organization which supports persecuted believers, that the isolated country has called for another period of "100 days of combat." This mobilization means that practically everyone has to work actively for the state. Any person found on the street without a valid reason is sent to a labor camp.

"In this period the people don't have much of an opportunity to keep themselves alive. In Hwangae province it's normal again to see dead children on the street," according to local Christians.

The North Korean regime of "Dear Leader" Kim Jong-Il hasn't been capable of feeding its citizens. In the 1990's, millions of North Koreans died because of a severe famine. The current famine is starting to look more and more like the horrible situation just before and after the year 2000, says Open Doors' co-worker Simon.

"Unfortunately, there are no media teams inside the country to report what's going on," says Simon. "Parents die or leave their children because they can no longer bear to see their sons and daughters starve. Many groups of orphans roam the country. If they are caught by the police, they are sent to an orphanage. Most of them die there because of maltreatment and malnutrition. To keep themselves alive, many North Koreans illegally trade at night. The next day they have to report back to work."

On September 17 a period of "150 days of combat" ended. Five days later the North Korean government announced a period of "100 days of combat." During these mobilizations the controls are very strict. Every movement of citizens is followed and restricted. To go from one place to another requires a permit.

Israeli People Could Decide on Land Deals
Dec 10th, 2009
Daily NewsChad Groening - OneNewsNow
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel;Peace Process

A Messianic Jewish leader is encouraged by the effort of the Israeli Parliament to mandate that the Israeli people must approve any deal giving away the Jewish state's covenant land.

On Wednesday by a 68-to-22 vote, Israel's Parliament gave preliminary approval to a piece of legislation that would require a national referendum on any peace deal that gives up control of east Jerusalem or the Golan Heights. If approved, the law could constrain the ability of any future Israeli government to turn captured land over as part of a peace deal.
 
The Palestinians seek east Jerusalem as the capital of a future state, while Syria has demanded the return of the Golan Heights as part of any peace agreement with Israel, the nation that captured both areas in the 1967 Mideast war and subsequently annexed them.
 
"This constant giving up land for peace has been proven to do nothing but leave Israel in pieces," notes Jan Markell, founder and director of Olive Tree Ministries. "So the fact that some of the lawmakers at least are asking to implement it, I find this very, very encouraging. If this passes, there are going to be a lot of happy Israelis and a lot of happy evangelical Christians who will remain staunch supporters of Israel and the fact that her land should not be divided for any purpose whatsoever."
 
The referendum measure must pass two more parliamentary votes before it becomes law.

Famous Weather Scientist: Climategate 'tip of Iceberg'
Dec 10th, 2009
Daily NewsWND - Bob Unruh
Categories: Today's Headlines;Contemporary Issues;Warning

'Conspiracy would become manifest' if all climate research e-mails unveiled

The Colorado scientist described by the Washington Post as "the World's Most Famous Hurricane Expert" says the "Climategate" e-mails from the United Kingdom that revealed possible data manipulation are evidence of a conspiracy among "warmists," those who believe man's actions are triggering possibly catastrophic climate change.

"The recent 'ClimateGate' revelations coming out of the UK University of East Anglia are but the tip of a giant iceberg of a well organized international climate warming conspiracy that has been gathering momentum for the last 25 years," said Colorado State University's William Gray.

His annual hurricane forecasts are the standard for weather prognostications. His work pioneered the science of forecasting hurricanes, and he has served as weather forecaster for the U.S. Air Force. He is emeritus professor of atmospheric science at CSU and heads the school's Department of Atmospheric Sciences Tropical Meteorology Project.

Gray was referring to e-mails and other information obtained by a hacker and posted on a Russian web server that included interactions among the world's most influential climate-change scientists.

One e-mail said: "I've just completed Mike's Nature trick of adding in the real temps to each series for the last 20 years (ie from 1981 onwards) amd (sic) from 1961 for Keith's to hide the decline."

Another expressed internal doubts: "The fact is that we can't account for the lack of warming at the moment and it is a travesty that we can't. The CERES data published in the August (Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society) 09 supplement on 2008 shows there should be even more warming: but the data are surely wrong. Our observing system is inadequate."

Further, an e-mail exchange suggested the suppression of information: "Can you delete any e-mails you may have had with Keith re (Assessment Report 4)? Keith will do likewise. He's not in at the moment – minor family crisis."

Gray said, "This conspiracy would become much more manifest if all the e-mails of the publically funded climate research groups of the U.S. and of foreign governments were ever made public."

His comments are posted at Climate Depot.com as world leaders are conferencing in Copenhagen to discuss taking drastic economic measures to curb "global warming."

Gray warns that the likely agreements coming out of Copenhagen, the cap-and-trade bill  before Congress and the Environmental Protection Agency's decision announced this week to treat carbon dioxide as a pollutant "represents a grave threat to the industrial world's continued economic development."

"We should not allow these proposals to restrict our economic growth," Gray said. "Any United Nations climate bill our country might sign would act as an infringement on our country's sovereignty."

He said he probably would have been concerned about the possibility people are causing serious global climate degradation "had I not devoted my entire career of over half-a-century to the study and forecasting of meteorological and climate events."

"There has been an unrelenting quarter century of one-sided indoctrination of the Western world by the media and by various scientists and governments concerning a coming carbon dioxide … induced global warming disaster," he said. "These warming scenarios have been orchestrated by a combination of environmentalists, vested interest scientists wanting larger federal grants and publicity, the media which profits from doomsday scenario reporting, governmental bureaucrats who want more power over our lives, and socialists who want to level-out global living standards.

"These many alarmist groups appear to have little concern over whether their global warming prognostications are accurate, however. And they most certainly are not. The alarmists believe they will be able to scare enough of our citizens into believing their propaganda that the public will be willing to follow their advice on future energy usage and agree to a lowering of their standard of living in the name of climate salvation."

Gray said there still hasn't been an "honest and broad" scientific debate on the influence of CO2 on global temperature, contending the present models presented by scientists are flawed.

He cited a global warming of about 1 degree Fahrenheit over the last century, and that's "not a consequence of human activities."

"The disastrous economic consequences of restricting CO2 emissions from the present by as much as 20 percent by 2020 and 80 percent by 2050 (as being proposed in Copenhagen) have yet to be digested by the general public. Such CO2 output decreases would cause very large increases in our energy costs, a lowering of our standard of living, and do nothing of significance to improve our climate," he said.

Gray launched the practice of seasonal hurricane forecasts. After the 2005 Atlantic season, he said he was stepping down from the primary authorship of the CSU report, turning over those duties to Philip J. Klotzbach.

He's long described global warming as a hoax, telling the Post three years ago, "I am of the opinion that this is one of the greatest hoaxes ever perpetrated on the American people."

Myron Ebell of the GlobalWarming.org website, where "cooler heads prevail," said the e-mails obtained from the University of East Anglia were "shocking."

"It's kind of interesting to learn that petty politics seems to be more prevalent in the scientific community than in the political community," he said.

The documents, he said, "raise a huge number of questions about the integrity of a lot of people in the alarmist community."

"What I've seen there is a very strong effort to manage the issue by scientists and not as a scientific issue. It's very improper," he said. "One of the criticisms is that we need scientists to be scientists, and policy can be handled in public debate."

Phil Jones, head of East Anglia's Climate Research Unit, confirmed the documents appeared authentic. He has temporarily stepped down while an investigation is taking place.

Despite the advocacy of a financially vested former vice president, Al Gore, and others, public opinion about whether mankind is causing an ultimately catastrophic rise in global temperatures is shifting.

U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, has urged members of Congress to consider the joint opinion of nearly 32,000 scientists, including more than 9,000 Ph.D.s, who believe humans likely have little or nothing to do with any "global warming."

The Petition Project, launched some 10 years ago when the first few thousand signatures were gathered, has steadily grown without any special effort or campaign.

But in the last few years, and especially because of the release of Gore's movie "An Inconvenient Truth," the campaign has been reinvigorated.

"Mr. Gore's movie, asserting a 'consensus' and 'settled science' in agreement about human-caused global warming, conveyed the claims about human-caused global warming to ordinary moviegoers and to public-school children, to whom the film was widely distributed. Unfortunately, Mr. Gore's movie contains many very serious incorrect claims which no informed, honest scientist could endorse," project spokesman and founder Art Robinson has told WND.

Robinson, a research professor of chemistry, cofounded the Linus Pauling Institute of Science and Medicine with Linus Pauling in 1973, and later cofounded the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine.

Paul later cited the petition results in  statement to Congress.

"Our energy policies must be based upon scientific truth – not fictional movies or self-interested international agendas," Paul said. "They should be based upon the accomplishments of technological free enterprise that have provided our modern civilization, including our energy industries. That free enterprise must not be hindered by bogus claims about imaginary disasters."

The petition states: "There is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide, methane, or other greenhouse gases is causing or will, in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the Earth's atmosphere and disruption of the Earth's climate. Moreover, there is substantial scientific evidence that increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide produce many beneficial effects upon the natural plant and animal environments of the Earth."

Robinson has warned of serious political and economic consequences of assuming "global warming" results from mankind's actions.

"The campaign to severely ration hydrocarbon energy technology has now been markedly expanded," he said. "In the course of this campaign, many scientifically invalid claims about impending climate emergencies are being made. Simultaneously, proposed political actions to severely reduce hydrocarbon use now threaten the prosperity of Americans and the very existence of hundreds of millions of people in poorer countries," he told WND.

EU Warns Israel not to Divide Bloc Over Jerusalem
Dec 10th, 2009
Daily NewsAP - SLOBODAN LEKIC
Categories: Today's Headlines;Peace Process;Revived Roman Empire

BRUSSELS – The European Union warned Israel on Thursday not to play "divide and rule" with the 27-nation bloc over the EU's new position that Jerusalem should be the shared capital of Israel and a future Palestinian state.

The EU's adoption Tuesday of the new resolution on Jerusalem sparked an angry reaction from Israel, which captured the eastern half of the city in the 1967. It considers Jerusalem its eternal undivided capital. Palestinians want east Jerusalem as part of a future independent state.

"We have been very concerned by developments in Jerusalem," Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, whose country holds the European Union's rotating presidency, told the European Parliament.

Israel's Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Wednesday that Sweden wanted to present the EU declaration as its achievement before that country's six-month term as the EU president ended.

"Sweden, which is completing its term as holder of the EU rotating presidency without any achievements or any significant returns, tried toward the end of its term to steal the show and steal the vote. That didn't succeed," Lieberman told Israel Radio.

Bildt shot back Thursday, saying that Israel should not "think that a relationship with Europe is divide and rule."

"You consider some (EU members) good and some bad and then you try to maneuver from that position," Bildt said. Tuesday's decision demonstrated that the EU was a "cohesive and clear force" on global issues, including the Middle East, he said.

Bildt told lawmakers that the EU would meet on Friday with representatives of the Palestinian Authority, but that Israel has been unwilling to schedule a similar meeting.

Although the EU has long opposed the annexation of east Jerusalem, Tuesday's statement was sure to deepen Israel's sense that the Europeans favor Palestinian positions.