Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13

Vatican Body Asks UN to 'End Israeli Occupation'
Oct 23rd, 2010
DailyNewsReuters
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel;The Church

In final statement of two-week conference, bishops' synod urges international community to take 'necessary legal steps to put an end to the occupation of the different Arab territories'

Israel cannot use the Biblical concept of a promised land or a chosen people to justify new "settlements" in Jerusalem or territorial claims, a Vatican synod on the Middle East said on Saturday.

In its concluding message after two weeks of meetings, the synod of bishops from the Middle East also said it hoped a two-state solution for peace between Israel and the Palestinians could be lifted from dream to reality and called for peaceful conditions that would stop a Christian exodus from the region.

"We have meditated on the situation of the holy city of Jerusalem. We are anxious about the unilateral initiatives that threaten its composition and risk to change its demographic balance," the message said.

US-brokered peace talks have stalled since Israel rejected appeals to extend a temporary moratorium on settlement construction in the West Bank that expired last month.

 Since the freeze expired, Israel has announced plans to build another 238 homes in two east Jerusalem neighborhoods, drawing the condemnation of Palestinians and world leaders.

In a separate part of the document -- a section on cooperation with Jews -- the synod fathers also took issue with Jews who use the Bible to justify settlements in the West Bank, which Israel captured in 1967.

"Recourse to theological and biblical positions which use the Word of God to wrongly justify injustices is not acceptable," the document said.

Many Jewish settlers and right-wing Israelis claim a biblical birthright to the West Bank, which they call Judea and Samaria and regard as a part of historical, ancient Israel given to the Jews by God.

Asked about the passage at a news conference, Greek-Melchite Archbishop Cyrille Salim Bustros, said:

"We Christians cannot speak about the promised land for the Jewish people. There is no longer a chosen people. All men and women of all countries have become the chosen people.

"The concept of the promised land cannot be used as a base for the justification of the return of Jews to Israel and the displacement of Palestinians," he added. "The justification of Israel's occupation of the land of Palestine cannot be based on sacred scriptures."

The synod's concluding message repeated a Vatican call for Jerusalem to have a special status "which respects its particular character" as a city sacred to the three great monotheistic religions -- Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Jerusalem remains a key issue of dispute. Palestinians want east Jerusalem for capital of a future state. Israel has annexed the area, a move never recognized internationally, and has declared Jerusalem to be its "united and eternal" capital.

Israel did not include east Jerusalem as part of its 10-month building freeze, though most plans there were put on hold in March, when the U.S. protested reports of a new housing project leaked during a visit by Vice President Joe Biden.

East Jerusalem was also captured by Israel in 1967.

While recognizing "the suffering and insecurity in which Israelis live" and the need for Israel to enjoy peace within internationally recognized borders, the document was much more expansive and detailed on the situation of Palestinians.

It said Palestinians "are suffering the consequences of the Israeli occupation: the lack of freedom of movement, the wall of separation and the military checkpoints, the political prisoners, the demolition of homes, the disturbance of socio-economic life and the thousands of refugees."

It urged Christians in the region not to sell their homes and properties. "It is a vital aspect of the lives of those who remain there and for those who one day will return there."

It condemned terrorism "from wherever it may proceed" as well as anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and discrimination against Christians.

Art's Commentary.....The theology of the Roman Catholic Church is an ammillenial theology, a theology that maintains that God is finished with Israel. They maintain the kingdom of God has been transferred to the church and the Roman Catholic Church is the only true church. That leaves no place for Israel and implies that Rome is the custodian of the kingdom of God on earth and of Holy city of Jerusalem. This twisted theology puts Rome in the camp of the devil to carry out his purpose of attacking Israel.

When the reformation took place the reformers did not abandon all of the errors of Rome.  This false theology is one of the errors not forsaken by the reformation church of Sardis. As a result we have protestant churches today that hold to this erroneous theology.

Saudi Prince Blasts U.S. for Israel Ties
Oct 23rd, 2010
DailyNewsJpost
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel

WASHINGTON – Two days after the United States unveiled an arms deal with Saudi Arabia estimated at $60 billion, one of Riyadh’s leading figures blasted the US for not living up to its commitments in the current Israeli-Palestinian negotiations and not doing more to reign in Israel.

“It has failed to curb the brutal Israeli policy of collective punishment, arbitrary arrests and killings,” charged Prince Turki Al Faisal, former Saudi ambassador to the US and director of Saudi intelligence.

He also criticized some American officials for not standing up to Israel, maintaining, “It is these officials who propose that the Netanyahu government should be rewarded for its intransigence rather than sanctioned.”

He said that Riyadh and other Arab countries had agreed to back the current Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations “under the United States negotiated partial colony freeze” – whereby America had pushed Israel to impose a temporary settlement freeze before talks started. That freeze expired on September 26, and Palestinians with the support of the Arab League have been unwilling to continue talks until the freeze is resumed.

Netanyahu: Only When Palestinians Recognize Israel As a Jewish State will They be Ready for Peace
Oct 23rd, 2010
DailyNewsHaaretz Service -
Categories: Today's Headlines;The Nation Of Israel;Peace Process

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated his demand that the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state, saying that only then they will be ready to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Army Radio reported Friday.

Speaking at a meeting of worldwide Jewish leaders in Jerusalem on Friday, Netanyahu said that peace must be based on a mutual agreement.

Netanyahu said that only when Israel's partners in peace agree to recognize the legitimacy of the Jewish state,  they would be ready to end the conflict with Israel.

Iran’s Drive for Regional Power
Oct 23rd, 2010
DailyNewsJpost
Categories: Today's Headlines;Warning

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s visit to Lebanon last week was a “watershed” that rammed home for many in the Arab world the realization that the Iranian leader does indeed have hegemonic designs in the region, Malcolm Hoenlein told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday.

Hoenlein, the executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, said at a briefing with the Post’s editorial staff that Ahmadinejad’s Lebanon visit was a “game changer” because it gave Iran a foothold in the Mediterranean, something it had sought and failed to achieve for centuries.

This, along with Teheran’s ties with Syria and Gaza, the infrastructure it is building in Iraq and its presence in certain eastern provinces in Saudi Arabia, said Hoenlein, is all bringing home to many the reality of Iran’s drive for regional dominance.

Hoenlein said one indication of the degree to which the Arab world is taking notice is the recent resumption of commercial air traffic between Egypt and Iran, cut off following the 1979 Iranian revolution.

“The relationship between the two countries has been terrible,” he said. “But Egypt is looking at the situation and doesn’t have confidence that Iran will be stopped. They are hedging their bets, and this is the first step.”

Breaking with conventional wisdom that the mullahs – not Ahmadinejad – are the real power behind the Iranian throne, Hoenlein said that Ahmadinejad and his supporters are very much in control in the country, and pointed out that after the violent protests in the summer of 2009, Ahmadinejad replaced mayors across the country.

“He has manipulated the system,” Hoenlein said. “The balance of power has shifted; he is a key force – the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, which backs him, is in control of the army, navy and air force.”

Hoenlein said that his organization has had an impact in reframing the way the Iranian threat is perceived in the US, and that if a couple years ago some 80 percent of Americans saw Iran as an Israeli issue, and only 20 percent viewed it in terms of a threat to the world, now those numbers have been reversed.

On other matters, Hoenlein said the Conference – which is very active at the UN – is concerned about recent talk that the Palestinians will try to get a UN resolution supportive of their positions.

“One of our concerns is that the Palestinians not utilize the UN as a vehicle for bypassing negotiations,” he said. “Even though it won’t be recognition of a state, this would put Israel into a more disadvantageous position, and would make a return to negotiations much more difficult.”

There is increasing concern in Jerusalem that if the current negotiations with the Palestinians break down completely, the Palestinians may go to the UN and ask for recognition of a Palestinian state within the 1967 lines, or for a resolution declaring the settlements illegal.

The Palestinians have an automatic majority in the General Assembly and, at the drop of a hat, could muster some 140 states – members of the Non- Aligned Movement – to pass these types of resolutions. Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa is believed to be advocating such a move.

Hoenlein said what was needed now was to work to ensure that the Americans, Europeans and others realize that a knee-jerk response to this type of proposal – voting for it because it would be voting with the majority – would be counterproductive.

This was not necessarily an impossible mission, he said, noting there were a “lot of countries that get it.”

Pointing to Greece, which will be the focus of the Conference’s upcoming annual meeting, and India, Hoenlein said Israel “is not as isolated as people think.”

Regarding the US-Israel relationship, Hoenlein said it is often better than portrayed, and that the military component – in terms of joint exercises and coordination – is better than it was under former president George W. Bush.

As for the political component, which Hoenlein described in diplomatic terms as “challenged” at times, he said no one knows what the impact of the November midterm elections will be.

But, he said, “Fundamental policy won’t change,” even if – as expected – the Democrats take a beating at the polls.

Hoenlein warned that, “disorderly change,” something he defined as huge “pendulum shifts” in societies in one direction or the other, is generally not good for the Jews.

He added, however that this shouldn’t be interpreted as concern about the Tea Party movement, which is poised to make huge gains in the elections, and that the movement is “by and large very pro-Israel and sympathetic.”

Rather, he said, he was speaking of “when you have disruptions in society, tidal wave shifts instead of the normal transitions; not just in America but in Europe as well. When you have these types of disruptions in the fabric of society, dissatisfaction and frustration, they can be manifest in many ways, and they are often in ways that are hostile to us.

“Jews thrive in stability, and I believe instability works against us,” he said.

Hoenlein did say he was worried that the model of delegitimization of Israel that has been evident in Britain, where it starts with the elites and trickles downward, is beginning to be seen in the US as well.

“We are seeing it in the US,” he said. “In academia, in the arts, in the media and other area, things are said today that were not heard in the past. It is subtle, not cataclysmic, but you see it on campus, and in the media.”

Hoenlein likened this type of delegitimization to a tumor that “grows quietly, and that by the time you notice, it is too late.”