IRAN NUCLEAR WITHIN WEEKS

1-WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS. 2-Six dead in Malaysian floods, 80,000 evacuated. 3-Louisiana rain threatens to flood rivers. 4-More storminess for the East and Northwest. 5-Space shuttle Discovery lands in Florida. 6-Secret Talks Between Israel and Saudi Arabia. 7-A Perfidious Ruling of Israel ’s Supreme Court. 8-In Praise of Christian Zionists. 9-Restricted pro-EU constitution meeting under fire. 10-Iran defies United Nations with pledge of going nuclear within weeks.

EARTHQUAKES

MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.

MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC GROUP) and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.

LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.

WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS (USGS)

Update time = Sat Dec 23 12:15 AM EDT

DEC 23,06
MAP 2.5 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 3.5 SOUTH OF ALASKA
MAP 2.7 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 2.7 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA

DEC 22,06
MAP 3.6 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 6.1 ANDAMAN ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
MAP 2.8 ALASKA PENINSULA
MAP 5.2 FIJI REGION
MAP 3.3 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
MAP 5.1 KEPULAUAN SANGIHE, INDONESIA
MAP 4.8 NEAR THE EAST COAST OF KAMCHATKA, RUSSIA
MAP 3.9 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 2.6 CHANNEL ISLANDS REGION, CALIFORNIA
MAP 4.5 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS

STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES

LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

Six dead in Malaysian floods, 80,000 evacuated Fri Dec 22, 5:25 AM ET

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - The death toll from floods in Malaysia rose to six, as torrential rains in six states forced nearly 80,000 people to flee their homes and experts warned the capital was now under threat. The latest victim was a woman aged in her 60s who was found dead in her home in the worst hit state of southern Johor.Other casualties were washed away in their cars and in rivers.The number of evacuees in Johor has increased to 63,699, the Civil Defense Department's chief of disaster management, Che Moin Umar, told AFP on Thursday.Another 11,195 people had been evacuated from the western tourist state of Malacca, 2,504 from central Pahang state, 314 from western Negeri Sembilan, and a total of 604 from Kelantan and Terengganu, he said.The rains,which started Sunday in Johor, Pahang, Malacca and Negeri Sembilan, have now spread to northeastern Kelantan and Terengganu states, flooding low-lying areas and inundating villages.

The meteorological department warned the Klang Valley which Kuala Lumpur sits in would be affected if heavy rains persist. It issued its most severe red stage heavy rain warning for the area, advising residents to be prepared.The heavy rainfalls and wind condition that are currently affecting states in the east coast and Johor are expected to bring heavy downpour to the Klang Valley and its surrounding areas, it said, according to the state Bernama news agency.

Che Moin said relief operations were largely smooth but that because of the scale of the disaster there were some delays in meeting requests for assistance.There were reports of looting in Johor's worst-hit town of Segamat, as well as stores emptying as residents stocked up.The meteorology department also issued strong wind warnings of up to 70 kilometres an hour and rough seas with swells of up to 5.5 metres (18 feet) off Malaysia's east coast, and Sabah and Sarawak on Borneo island, until Sunday.Several villages on Terengganu's coast late Wednesday were lashed by strong winds and tides, forcing hundreds to flee as waves washed over their homes, reports said.

Louisiana rain threatens to flood rivers Fri Dec 22, 10:45 AM ET

NEW ORLEANS - Rain-swollen rivers threatened to flood some southeastern Louisiana homes Friday, a day after the storm swamped streets in New Orleans and neighboring Jefferson Parish, snarling traffic and closing schools.

The storm system dumped more than 6 inches of rain on New Orleans. Galliano, about 60 miles south of the city, got more than a foot of rain, National Weather Service meteorologist Robert Ricks said.Friday morning, the weather service issued flood warnings for the Tchefuncte River and the Bogue Falaya River near Folsom and Covington — about 30 miles north of New Orleans — and recommended evacuating some houses near Folsom.The Tchefuncte is likely to flood low-lying houses when it crests near Folsom early Friday night and near Covington on Saturday morning, forecasters said.

More storminess for the East and Northwest M. Ressler, Meteorologist, The Weather Channel Fri Dec 22, 3:03 PM ET

South

PUBLICIDAD

The exiting eastern storm will give much of the Southeast a brief chance to dry out Saturday and much of Christmas Eve as any remaining showers are confined to the Florida Peninsula. Quickly though, an upper-level disturbance will zip from the Desert Southwest to Texas Saturday with a few strong thunderstorms roaming through the Rio Grande valley. By Sunday, low pressure will be taking shape over the northwest Gulf along the tail end of the front. Heavy rain will explode over eastern Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana with possible late-day severe thunderstorms from Baton Rouge to Biloxi. Sunday night and Monday, the low pressure area will intensify and rain will surge northward dousing the region east of the Mississippi. A few severe thunderstorms could develop over Florida, south Georgia and the coastal Southeast. Colder air will begin to feed in behind the storm as it heads for the Ohio Valley and Mid-Atlantic later Monday. Rain could change to snow in parts of Arkansas. Monday night and Tuesday morning with some moisture remaining, snow showers could sweep eastward with the colder air across the Tennessee Valley and into the Smokey Mountains and north Georgia. Later Tuesday and Wednesday the South will be quiet. Thursday and Friday, the early week scenario could be repeated with another rain event expanding from the lower Mississippi Valley across the Southeast.

Northeast

The once Denver storm and cold front are on the move. The heavy rain will end in the Mid-Atlantic by Saturday morning and from south to north during the remainder of the day across New England. Only northernmost New England could see sleet and freezing rain. By Sunday, the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic will be quiet except for snow showers over northern New York and northern New England. Then an intensifying storm will approach from the south Christmas Day with low pressure heading northward both east and west of the Appalachians. Locally heavy rain will steadily overspread the region from south to north reaching southern New York and southern New England by nightfall. Some sleet and freezing rain could occur in the mountains across northern Pennsylvania and points northward. The windy storm will roar through the region Monday night and Tuesday. The rain will end east of the mountains Tuesday, but a significant snow could coast the mountains from northwest Pennsylvania to Maine.

Midwest

Once the snow wraps up across the northern Great Lakes Saturday, the Plains and Midwest will enjoy a quiet lead up to Christmas. Christmas, though won't be so quiet. A storm heading north from the northwest Gulf Coast Christmas Day will be energized by a potent upper-level disturbance racing into the Mississippi Valley. This meeting will generate an increasingly windy Ohio Valley storm with plenty of rain and possibly a fringe of snow from southeast Missouri and Illinois to Lower Michigan. Monday night and early Tuesday as the storm heads for the Northeast, colder air will sweep eastward changing the rain to snow showers right into the
Appalachians. Snow showers and gusty northwest winds will linger over Lower Michigan, Ohio and eastern Kentucky right into Tuesday evening. Wednesday should be quiet almost region-wide.

West

The Pacific parade of storms will move ashore early Saturday, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. With snow levels ranging from 1500 feet in the northern Cascades to 5000 feet or so over northern California, each storm will coat the mountains with at least another 6 to 12 inches of snow. Strong gusty winds will hit coastal areas with each storm, especially the Oregon coast. The heaviest rains will focus over southwest Oregon and northwest California where each storm could dump several inches over the coastal range. Inland, each storm will bring more snow to the Great Basin and Rockies.

LUKE 21:11,25
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION)

MATTHEW 21:29
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

Space shuttle Discovery lands in Florida Fri Dec 22, 5:56 PM ET

CAPE CANAVERAL, United States (AFP) - Space shuttle Discovery and its seven-member crew landed safely at the Kennedy Space Center here after worries about weather had scotched an earlier landing time.

The landing concluded a nearly 13-day successful mission that advanced construction of the International Space Station (ISS) in four space walks, including one added at the last moment to fix a stuck solar panel array.The 2232 GMT landing came at the end of a 66-minute descent during which the shuttle plunged at more than 26,500 kilometers (16,500 miles) an hour as it descended through the Earth's atmosphere.The shuttle gave off a double sonic boom as it descended through the early evening skies to the runway on Florida's Atlantic coast.Discovery carried seven astronauts, six from the United States and one from the European Space Agency, Christer Fuglesang, Sweden's first astronaut.Officials of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration had hoped weather conditions would improve enough in Florida to avoid having to land the space shuttle at Edwards Air Force Base in California or the White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico.A landing at either location in the western United States would have meant NASA would have to fly the shuttle to Florida, in the southeast, on the back of a modified Boeing 747 plane, which would cost some 1.7 million dollars.

There was also a worry about time running out in the mission, now in its 13th day. A landing by Saturday at the latest would be required because of dwindling electrical supplies on the shuttle.The Discovery team spent eight days at the station, rewiring it and attaching a two-ton truss to its girder-like structure.The crew also added a day and the extra space walk Monday to shake loose a solar panel array that had gotten stuck as it was being folded.Earlier Friday NASA officials awakened Discovery's crew to the song Home for the Holidays, to begin preparations for the return to Earth.Good morning, Discovery, the Mission Control Center in Houston, Texas, said to the seven crew members after their musical wake-up call.We hope you agree with us that There's no place like home for the holidays, because we hope to see you back here on Earth later this afternoon.

We can't agree more, replied Commander Mark Polansky.

After this mission, NASA plans 13 more shuttle flights -- including five in 2007 -- to complete construction of the International Space Station by 2010, when the three-aircraft shuttle fleet is due to be retired.ISS construction fell years behind schedule after the 2003 Columbia tragedy when the spacecraft disintegrated minutes ahead of landing, killing all seven astronauts aboard.NASA suspended the shuttle program to deal with safety problems. The space shuttle Atlantis mission in September marked the resumption of ISS construction.

Secret Talks Between Israel and Saudi Arabia
By Hana Levi Julian (INN)

Israel and Saudi Arabia, which have no official diplomatic relations, have been holding high-level secret talks on the issue of terrorism in the region. A senior U.S. official quoted by the Reuters news agency said on Wednesday the two nations have been holding high-level secret talks despite the oil kingdom’s refusal to recognize the Jewish State.

Despite denials by both countries, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Richard Jones said he felt it was important to publicize the contacts. I don’t have any particular details on it, but the very fact that … first of all they would be able to communicate and that they would be willing to communicate with one another I think shows a very serious approach, he said.Jones commented that such contacts would be a logical response to the chaos that is engulfing the region. He said cautiously that perhaps Israel is taking a second look at a long-rejected Saudi peace plan proposed in 2002.

I think they (the Israelis) recognize that Saudi Arabia’s policies have evolved in recent years and that Saudi Arabia is now more interested, and more on the side of peace, he said. The Israelis are warming to that.Defense Minister Amir Peretz said Sunday that the plan, which calls from Israel to surrender all of the land restored in the 1967 Six-Day War, could be the basis for an agreement with the Palestinian Authority (PA). Prime Minister Ehud Olmert made a similar statement last month. In return, the Saudi plan offers recognition of the State of Israel by Arab countries.

Kadima Cabinet Minister Meir Sheetrit said in October that he too is in favor of holding discussions on the plan.Olmert, Peretz and Sheetrit were all clear that Israel will not surrender heavily populated areas, such as the Jerusalem suburbs of Neve Ya’akov and Ma’aleh Adumim.

The U.S. Ambassador was not specific about the content of the meeting held in September between the two leaders. There is definitely something going on there, he said, but beyond the one contact that was in the press I am not privy to [it].

According to various media reports, the contacts between the two Middle Eastern nations began soon after Israel’s second Lebanon War this summer.The Prime Minister praised Saudi initiatives focused on a regional peace plan and Iran’s nuclear development program, saying he admired King Abdullah wisdom and sense of responsibility. He added praise for Saudi efforts in the region, both those made publicly and others as well, in a September interview with the daily Yediot Aharonot.When questioned more specifically on whether Olmert had met with senior Saudi officials, however, he answered cryptically, I don’t have to answer every question.The Saudis immediately denied meeting with Israeli officials. The state-owned Saudi Press Agency (SPA) quoted a Foreign Ministry statement which said, The news story circulated by Israeli and Qatari media recently over contacts between Saudi and Israeli officials is utterly false.

The Qatari-based region-wide Al-Jazeera television news network also reported that Israel and Saudi officials had met.Saudi Arabia and U.S. defense officials met recently for the most comprehensive talks in years.

The discussion centered on the growing threat from Iran's rapidly developing offensive power, according to the Mideast Newsline. The strategists concluded that the U.S. will maintain a long-term presence in the Gulf and will cooperate with the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council.Concerns about the increasing threat from the international al-Qaeda terrorist organization, which has renewed its threats to strike the U.S. were also discussed during a visit in November by a senior Saudi official with Vice President Richard Cheney.This week Saudi officials launched a campaign geared to teach children the dangers of terrorism. The education department in the country's Makkah region is trying to combat the culture of terrorism that tries to engage young children in terrorist activities. Officials said the program is part of the country's overall campaign to keep out terrorism. We are in a terrible need for such a campaign to safeguard our children from following the road of fanatics, said an official from King Abdul Aziz University.

A Perfidious Ruling of Israel ’s Supreme Court
Prof . Paul Eidelberg DEC 21,06

On December 12, 2006, Israel ’s High Court of Justice ruled that Palestinian residents of the West Bank and Gaza could file lawsuits against Israel for damages incurred in IDF operations, provided that the operations in question did not take place as part of a clearly defined war . The court ignored or trivialized the fact that the elected leaders of these Palestinians, consistent with their PLO Constitution, are explicitly waging a relentless war against Israel . For further evidence, recall the January 2006 election, when a large majority of the Palestinians voted for Hamas, whose Covenant vows genocidal war against Israel . Today, Hamas is a proxy of Iran whose commitment to Israel ’s annihilation is broadcast daily by Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, cheered by the Palestinians who cheered Saddam Hussein and danced on their rooftops as Scud missiles fell on Tel Aviv . Nevertheless, the court, headed by retired Supreme Court president Aharon Barak, nullified an amendment to the Civil Wrongs (Liability of the State) Law that was passed by the Knesset on July 27, 2005, granting the State broad immunity from lawsuits filed by Palestinian civilians for damages resulting from IDF actions against Palestinian terrorists .

The court’s ruling was vintage Barak—another manifestation of his artificial and pernicious application of international law to the embattled Jewish State of Israel . Barak’s secular, left-wing agenda continues to dominate and emasculate this country . The ultimate goal of that agenda is to erase Israel as Jewish state by transforming it into a conventional state of its citizens . In response to the court’s ruling, a friend of mine, a legal consultant in numerous international lawsuits, informed me of some shocking implications of that ruling .

This prompted me to convey not only his warnings (with permission), but also to further demonstrate the Supreme Court’s subversive tendency . In lifting the immunity of the State from civil lawsuits filed by Palestinians claiming damages resulting from IDF actions, the court automatically lifted the immunity of soldiers and officers (as well as public officials) involved in such actions . Israeli soldiers can the more readily be sued for damages in countries whose courts, bolstered by the ruling of Israel’s own Supreme Court, decide to apply international law against these Israelis—something a U . S . federal court refrained from doing by dismissing attempts to sue former Israeli chief of general staff Moshe Ya'alon for alleged war crimes . Otherwise, the costs and harassment involved in such lawsuits—a bonanza for the legal profession—can financially destroy a soldier and his family, on the one hand, and provide aid and comfort to Israel ’s enemies, on the other .

Although the court’s ruling also makes Israeli soldiers and officers (and public officials) individually liable for damages incurred during the expulsion of Jews from Gush Katif and other Jewish communities, the court would probably dismiss such suits on the ground that Israel’s government has already provided for the compensation of these Jews .In any event, since Israeli servicemen are now liable for damages resulting from their carrying out the orders of the government, thoughtful soldiers may think twice about obeying such orders rather than face costly lawsuits both at home and abroad .On the other hand, since such lawsuits and their costs would obviously be reported by the media, this will surely discourage many Israelis from enlisting in the IDF . What is more, many Israelis will be prompted to leave the country, disgusted with a government that abandons them to the wiles of their enemies even in the courts of Israel . The Supreme Court’s ruling in this matter is perfidious .

Why indeed should any thinking Israeli want to serve in an army or air force ordered to attack Arab terrorists who may be concealed or sheltered by Arab civilians, when such military service may pauperize him, thanks to Israel’s Supreme Court? Bad enough, nay, outrageous, that the government releases thousands of terrorists whose capture required Israeli soldiers to risk and often lose their lives . But for the High Court of Justice to hand down a ruling which can only aid and comfort the enemy—Palestinians who overwhelmingly and demonstrably identify with Ahmadinejad’s goal to wipe Israel off the map—this is more than outrageous . It is perilously close to treason as defined in Article III, Section 3, of the American Constitution . Of course, we are in Israel , where treason, as defined by Section 99 of the Penal Code, has become respectable, and where judges do not have to fear impeachment .

The Jerusalem Post, December 22, 2006
In Praise of Christian Zionists,By Michael Freund

They number in the millions and wield increasing power and influence across the United States . From year to year their voice grows stronger and more resolute, as their role in shaping policy, and the future of American society continues to expand. Guided by faith, they love Israel passionately and pray for her well-being, rejoicing in her successes and grieving over her setbacks.

They are America 's Bible-believing Christians, and it is time for Israel to reach out to them in a far more sophisticated and comprehensive manner. A great deal has already been written about the close ties that have developed between the two, as Israeli officials have at last begun to appreciate the depth and feeling of American evangelical support for the Jewish state. Indeed, what was once unthinkable has now become routine, as leading Christian pastors and Israeli government representatives regularly confer with one another, exchanging ideas and views on the principal issues of the day.

But in far too many instances, Israel 's attitude toward evangelicals has been short-sighted and ill-advised, with the relationship often focused on soliciting dollars rather than devotion. And that has got to change, because far greater things are at stake here than just boosting revenues from tourism. For as strong and robust as the American Jewish community might be, it cannot and will not last forever, as recent demographic trends make clear. That leaves evangelical Christians as the best hope for ensuring that bedrock US support for Israel remains firm and unwavering in the decades to come. In other words, thank God for Christian Zionists. Like it or not, the future of the relationship between Israel and the US might very well hinge far less on America's Jews than on its Christians.

By all accounts, evangelical Christians are a force to be reckoned with. As the Independent put it the other day ( London , December 19): To say the United States is a religious country is an understatement. According to polls, an estimated 47 per cent of American adults claim to be 'born-again' or evangelical. Even if the figure is an overstatement, it still means there are tens of millions of Americans who identify themselves as evangelical. And this translates into an enormous wellspring of support for Israel , as an August 2006 study by the Pew Research Center revealed. According to the report's findings, Seven-in-ten white evangelicals (69%) believe God gave Israel to the Jewish people and a solid majority (59%) believes that Israel is the fulfillment of biblical prophecy.

Not surprisingly, the study found that those who believe that God gave Israel to the Jews and that the State of Israel fulfills biblical prophecy are much more likely than others to sympathize with Israel in its dispute with the Palestinians. No wonder so many evangelicals have taken to calling themselves Christian Zionists. Their sympathy and concern for Israel is readily apparent. I see it in the e-mails I receive regularly from evangelical Christians in the US in response to my columns in The Jerusalem Post. They are sincere and caring, and full of love and concern for Israel and its plight.Sure, there are some who would like to convert Jews, and they make little or no attempt to hide their agenda. But the vast majority simply wish to bless Israel because that is what they truly believe God wants them to do. AND IT IS this genuine and heartfelt affection that contains within it the potential to forge a historic alliance, one that could help heal some of the painful wounds of the past even as it paves the way for a close and meaningful partnership in the future. By adopting a few simple but significant steps, Israel can lay the groundwork for ensuring that the bond with US Christians continues to deepen.

First, Israel should appoint a roving ambassador tasked with responsibility for maintaining relations with Christians in America . This should not be just an honorary title, nor should it go to one of the usual organizational fund-raisers or foreign service hacks. Instead, the government should appoint a person of faith, one who can communicate with evangelicals in terms they both understand and appreciate.

Second, Israel should reach out to Christian leaders and their communities, and initiate the establishment of prayer battalions in churches across the United States . Like rapid-deployment forces used by the military, these battalions could be mobilized at a moment's notice to pray for specific issues, such as the return of Israel's missing soldiers or the threat posed by Iran's nuclear ambitions. Such an undertaking would have nothing to do with asking for funds, but everything to do with tapping into the vast reservoirs of faith and belief that underscore Christian backing for the Jewish state. And you can be sure that if a person is moved to pray for Israel , chances are that his sense of affinity will only continue to grow. Other steps that Israel could take to reinforce US Christian support might include organizing an annual conference for religious and lay leaders in Jerusalem , as well as helping them to develop the equivalent of a birthright-Israel program for young churchgoers which would serve to reinforce their connection with the land of the Bible.

Christian support for Israel is broad, profound and deep. If cultivated properly, it can blossom into a lasting friendship of historical, political and diplomatic significance. And with American Jewry steadily shrinking in size, nothing could be more pressing or more vital.The writer served as Deputy Director of Communications in the Prime Minister's Office under former premier Binyamin Netanyahu.

Restricted pro-EU constitution meeting under fire
22.12.2006 - 09:23 CET | By Mark Beunderman

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The Liberals in the European Parliament have strongly rejected a plan by Spain and Luxembourg to hold a restricted friends of the EU constitution meeting, saying the move carries the serious risk of dividing the union. The criticism comes after last week's invitation by Spain and Luxembourg to the Europe ministers of only those 18 EU countries which have ratified the constitution to a private meeting in Madrid on 26 January. Spain and Luxembourg deliberately excluded France and the Netherlands, which rejected the charter in popular referendums in 2005, as well as seven other states which subsequently
suspended ratification, from the Madrid meeting - and invited them only for a second gathering open for all EU states in Luxembourg in late February.

The initiative of Spain and Luxembourg carries the serious risk of dividing the union. To hold a conference only for those who have ratified the constitution threatens to gang up on the refuseniks, said Liberal constitutional spokesman and UK MEP Andrew Duff. Calling for the meetings to be cancelled, he went on to say that they are hugely undermining the efforts of the German presidency, whose duty it is to come up with proposals to renegotiate the 2004 constitutional treaty.Germany, which will chair the EU for six months from 1 January, has been tasked to design a road map at the end of its presidency to find a way out of the constitutional limbo created by the French and Dutch no votes. German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Tuesday (19 December) gave a cautiously positive reaction to the Spanish-Luxembourg move by saying he understood the wish of the pro-constitution states to meet separately. Meanwhile, Spanish and Luxembourgish diplomats defended their initiative, with one Spanish contact saying that it is designed precisely to help the German presidency to collect the positions, to help to find a way out.

It is difficult to think that this will divide the union, he added.But divisions over the restricted invitation already emerged when it was circulated at an EU leaders' summit last week, with Dutch prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende warning the institutional debate in the EU should remain controllable. French president Jacques Chirac meanwhile played down the importance of the Spanish-Luxembourg plan, saying the constitution is a matter for the German presidency. Spain and Luxembourg are the only two countries which ratified the EU constitution by referendum, with 77 percent of Spaniards and 56 percent of Luxembourgers voting yes to the document.

Iran defies United Nations with pledge of going nuclear within weeks
By Alex Spillius,Last Updated: 2:38am GMT 22/12/2006

Iran defied imminent United Nations sanctions over its nuclear programme yesterday and pledged that it would become a member of the nuclear club within weeks.After weeks of haggling between major world powers, a resolution is expected to be approved by the UN Security Council before Christmas.The nature of this resolution is not capable of pressuring Iran, and Iran will give an appropriate response to it, said Ali Larijani, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, and main negotiator on atomic issues.

This behaviour will just create more problems.Following Iran's failure to halt sensitive nuclear fuel work, the resolution is expected to ban imports and exports of materials and technology relating to uranium enrichment, reprocessing and heavy-water reactors, as well as ballistic missile delivery systems.

Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, yesterday reiterated a prediction that Iran will announce going nuclear in February during celebrations of the 1979 Islamic revolution against the Shah.Addressing a rally in west Iran, he said his country's nuclear plans would inspire other nations.

He revelled in mocking President George W Bush and the West.Some so-called superpowers... think that they can control the whole world, he said. I'm telling them: Open your eyes, today, the world no longer thinks your decisions have any value.His typically outspoken remarks came after the American president said his Iranian counterpart was out of step with the rest of the world. On a tour of the Middle East this week Tony Blair called on moderate Muslim states to line up against Iran, which he accused of supporting extremist elements in southern Iraq and Lebanon.Since his surprising election victory last year, Mr Ahmadinejad has accelerated Iran's nuclear programme, which western powers suspect is aimed at producing nuclear weapons in five to 10 years.Mr Ahmadinejad has said Israel should be wiped off the map.

US PLANS NAVAL BUILDUP

1-WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS. 2-Earthquakes shakes central Oklahoma. 3-Earthquakes spur El Salvador evacuations. 4-Thousands refuse to go home after Indonesian quake: police. 5-Denver airport likely closed until Friday. 6-60,000 flee flooded homes in Malaysia. 7-This Week with Rabbi Eckstein. 8-Left Behind Game Promotes Religious Violence, Group Says. 9-1,500 at Manhigut Jewish Leadership Event. 10-Sens. Kerry, Dodd meet with Syria's Assad to discuss Iraq. 11-Netanyahu: Beware the Developing Islamic Reich. 12-U.S. plans naval buildup in Gulf to counter Iran.

EARTHQUAKES

MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.

MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC GROUP) and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.

LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.

WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS (USGS)

Update time = Fri Dec 22 12:20 AM EDT

DEC 22,06
MAP 4.5 EAST OF THE KURIL ISLANDS

DEC 21,06
MAP 5.0 AEGEAN SEA
MAP 3.5 MONA PASSAGE, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
MAP 3.1 ALASKA PENINSULA
MAP 2.9 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.8 MOUNT ST. HELENS AREA, WASHINGTON
MAP 2.6 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 2.9 HAWAII REGION, HAWAII
MAP 2.9 CENTRAL ALASKA
MAP 2.7 OKLAHOMA CITY URBAN AREA, OKLAHOMA
MAP 2.8 WASHINGTON
MAP 3.1 ALASKA PENINSULA
MAP 2.9 PUERTO RICO REGION
MAP 3.7 SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA, CALIFORNIA
MAP 2.6 OKLAHOMA CITY URBAN AREA, OKLAHOMA
MAP 2.9 PUERTO RICO REGION
MAP 2.6 PUERTO RICO REGION

Earthquakes shakes central Oklahoma Thu Dec 21, 11:38 AM ET

MIDWEST CITY, Okla. - Two minor earthquakes shook central Oklahoma, rattling nerves but causing no serious damage or injuries, authorities said.The quakes were centered in the Del City-Midwest City area east of Oklahoma City. The first struck at 8:41 p.m. Wednesday with a preliminary magnitude of 2.6. The second, at 12:14 a.m. Thursday, had a preliminary reading of 2.7, according to the Oklahoma Geological Survey.The quake scared a lot of people, Midwest City Police Chief Brandon Clabes said. We had multiple calls about shaking homes. They thought it was some kind of explosion.

Central Oklahoma sits over a subsurface geologic structure called the Nemaha Ridge and experiences up to a dozen earthquakes each year, said Charles Mankin, director of the Survey.These are fairly small earthquakes, he said. They're mostly adjustments.

Earthquakes spur El Salvador evacuations Thu Dec 21, 9:44 AM ET

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador - Scores of small earthquakes near the Salvadoran-Guatemalan border sent people fleeing in panic but caused little damage, authorities said.The earthquakes Wednesday ranged between magnitude 2.3 and 4.3, according to the National Service of Territorial Studies. At least 90 of the tremors were felt by the population.At least 90 people put up makeshift tents and mattresses in the central park of Atiquizaya city, 50 miles west of San Salvador, and Red Cross officials were on hand to help.El Salvador is prone to earthquakes. Earthquakes on Jan. 13 and Feb. 13 in 2001 killed thousands.

Thousands refuse to go home after Indonesian quake: police Thu Dec 21, 2:01 AM ET

JAKARTA (AFP) - Some 4,000 people who escaped a deadly quake on the Indonesian island of Sumatra earlier this week are refusing to return home despite assurances from seismologists, according to police reports. Relief workers, meanwhile, finally got through to the last three villages cut off by landslides triggered by Monday's quake, which killed four people and damaged hundreds of homes in the remote highland region.The road was reopened this morning (Thursday) and relief workers are able to get through, local police chief Rudi Sumardiyanto told AFP in Panyabungan, bordering South and West Sumatra.Sumardiyanto said while some residents who sought shelter in government buildings had returned home, a lot more were fearful of another quake and were staying put, despite assurances from seismologists that aftershocks would not cause a strong earthquake.

There are some aftershocks. The locals are suffering from trauma. We will provide counselling and encourage about 4,000 people to return home and resume their normal daily activities, he said.Seismologists said aftershocks were continuing, but were less frequent.There were 60 aftershocks after the quake, but that had fallen to 32 Wednesday, said Budiwaluyo, head of the earthquake information unit with the meteorology office headquarters.There is nothing to worry about. It is safe. Residents whose homes were not destroyed can return home, he told AFP.The 5.7 magnitude quake damaged 860 homes in the mainly agricultural area with a population of about 10,000.Sumardiyanto said the government would provide some 10 million rupiah (1,000 dollars) to families whose homes were badly damaged.The Indonesian archipelago sits on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, where continental plates meet causing frequent seismic and volcanic activity.Indonesia was the nation worst hit by the earthquake-triggered Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004, which killed some 168,000 people in Aceh province on the northern tip of Sumatra.A 7.7 magnitude earthquake in July on the south coast of the main island of Java also killed more than 600 people.

STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES

LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

Denver airport likely closed until Friday
POSTED: 1921 GMT (0321 HKT), December 21, 2006

DENVER, Colorado (AP) -- Stranded travelers lined up at ticket counters at snowbound Denver International Airport on Thursday, hoping to get out of town amid a blizzard that paralyzed Colorado's biggest cities with up to 2 feet of snow.

The news wasn't comforting: While some flight updates still said on time, airport spokesman Steve Snyder said the runways likely wouldn't open before noon Friday.The airport crews simply can't keep up with the falling and drifting snow, Snyder said. They plow the runways, but within 30 minutes, the tarmacs are covered again.It feels like I'm a refugee, said Lisa Maurer, a University of Wyoming student who was stuck at the Denver airport as she tried to make her way home to Germany. About 4,700 people hunkered down with her overnight after all flights there were canceled -- more than 1,000 of them Wednesday and Thursday morning alone.

Denver's streets were empty, and long stretches of highway in the eastern Colorado were so impassable, even the mail couldn't get through. Bus and light rail service in a six-county region was suspended. (Watch how the storm has put Denver on ice ).The Colorado Avalanche postponed Thursday night's hockey game against the Calgary Flames. Wednesday night's basketball game between the Denver Nuggets and Phoenix Suns was also called off.Cathy Stuart, 44, a sales representative from Dallas, spent the night on the airport's stone floor after her flight home was canceled.I don't feel bad, but I just want to get out of here, she said.

More than 3 feet of snow had fallen in some mountain areas since Wednesday morning, and up to 25 inches fell in the Denver metro area, including 2 more inches on Thursday.A snowstorm also dumped up to 18 inches on New Mexico, icing roads and closing schools, and the National Weather Service warned that another storm was heading for New Mexico.Heavy snow also fell on southeastern Wyoming on Wednesday closing interstate highways, stranding travelers and sending government workers home early in Cheyenne.The amount of snow was hard to measure because it wasn't evenly distributed. We have drifts up to 6 feet high in some locations, and in other areas, it is completely dry on the asphalt and concrete, said Mike Sowko, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Cheyenne.

In Denver, Colorado Springs and other cities along the Rocky Mountain Front Range, workers slipped and slid their way home on Wednesday and stayed there, leaving the cities virtual ghost towns Thursday, typically a busy shopping day. A few pedestrians trudging down the middle of unplowed streets as the snow continued.Three more inches of wind-whipped snow was expected Thursday before tapering off in the afternoon. Parts of Nebraska and Kansas were also getting snow and ice, but farther east, warmer temperatures meant even Chicago was only forecast to get heavy rain as the storm moved through.Colorado Gov. Bill Owens declared a state of emergency and activated the National Guard, which assisted dozens of motorists on the highways
around Denver and delivered diapers, formula and bottled water to Denver's airport.Long stretches of Interstates 70, 25 and 76, major east-west and north-south routes through the Mountain West, were closed.National Guard and sheriff's deputies rescued about 50 people overnight from snowbound vehicles in Weld County, where up to 22 inches of snow fell. About 18 others were still stuck in their cars Thursday morning, said Weld County emergency management director Roy Rudisill. In the Denver suburb of Broomfield, police rescued nearly 100 people stranded in cars along U.S. 36, the main route between Denver and Boulder.

It's just amazing how many people are still out there, said Robert Thompson, spokesman for a local American Red Cross chapter. (Watch drivers, pedestrians struggle through snow ).They pulled everyone off the highway, said Leon Medina, manager of a truck stop on Interstate 25 in Walsenburg, about 130 miles south of Denver. Cars are all around the building. Trucks are all over, trucks and cars pulled into ditches.Weather Service program manager Byron Louis said it was the most powerful storm to hit Colorado since March 2003, when a blizzard dumped up to 11 feet of snow in the mountains over several days and was blamed for at least six deaths.Mail service was canceled in the eastern half of the state because mail carriers and trucks delivering mail four days before Christmas couldn't get through.

We don't want to take the risk of clogging up the system just by being out there, said Al DeSarro, a U.S. Postal Service spokesman in Denver. We're considering delivering on Sunday to make up for what's sure to be a backlog of mail.At Denver International Airport, a major hub for United Airlines, United canceled more than 670 inbound flights, plus 160 that had been scheduled leave before noon Thursday. Frontier Airlines canceled up to 190 flights. (Check nationwide flight delays) It's the wind and blowing and drifting snow that is causing the main problems, Snyder said.Some airport monitors tantalized travelers by listing on time beside arrivals and departures, but Snyder said that was probably caused by a computer glitch.I'm just happy to be alive. It was a terrifying drive, Sara Kelton said of the two-hour crawl over slick, snow-clogged roads to reach the airport. (Watch wind-driven snow rip through a neighborhood ) Public transit service was not expected to resume until late Thursday at the earliest.It was comical for a while, said bus rider Matt Notter of Boulder. Then we realized, this is an all-night thing.The Associated Press.

60,000 flee flooded homes in Malaysia Thu Dec 21, 9:44 AM ET

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - At least two people are dead and more than 60,000 have fled their homes after floods triggered by torrential rains engulfed whole towns and villages in four Malaysian states, officials said. The bodies of two men were found in Segamat district in southern Johor state, the area worst hit by heavy monsoon rains, Che Moin Umar, head of disaster management at the Civil Defense Department, said Thursday.A third body in Johor's Kota Tinggi district was still being identified and a cause of death being determined, he said.Two people have died already due to the floods ... The younger man's body was discovered yesterday, while the body of the second victim, a 70-year-old man, was found today in Segamat, Che Moin told AFP.

He said the elderly man could not escape the flood waters that rushed through his village because he was partially paralysed by a stroke.The currents are very strong this year, and in Johor it is (so) tremendous that even the rescuers on boats are having difficulty navigating the current, he said.Che Moin said the number of evacuees on Thursday had risen to 63,616 -- 54,585 people from Johor and a further 10,031 displaced in the neighbouring states of Malacca, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang and northeastern Kelantan state.

Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak, who visited flood victims in Johor, Thursday pledged full assistance from the government, the state Bernama news agency said.We will extend all aid needed to help the flood victims in Johor, (and) if not enough, more will be dispatched, Najib was quoted as saying.

Health authorities said Thursday they had stepped up vigilance to prevent outbreaks of waterborne diseases in relief centres across the affected states, where thousands of evacuees were camped out.We have dispatched our health teams to oversee the sanitation especially at the evacuation centres, the health ministry's director of disease control, Ramlee Rahmat, told AFP.Definitely we are most concerned about the possibility of the spread of cholera and we are monitoring the standards of hygiene, he said.The floods have also triggered mudslides, forcing road closures and the suspension of east- and south-bound rail services, including to Singapore.Parts of Johor state Wednesday recorded rainfall of up to 66.3 centimetres, (26.5 inches) with an average of 40 centimetres throughout the state. A daily reading above 20 centimetres is deemed high.The Meteorological Department Thursday said rains were expected to continue until the weekend.

This Week with Rabbi Eckstein
December 21, 2006

Dear Friend of The Fellowship,

Hamas promises Christmas cheer. This headline was so bizarre I did a double take. How could Christmas, a peaceful holiday celebrating the birth of Jesus, be associated with the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, which is responsible for anything but peace and joy?

The newspaper article went on to tell of Hamas making a gift of $50,000 to the city of Bethlehem to decorate the city for Christmas. It portrayed Hamas as a friend of Christians, interested only in making this year's observance of Christmas a bit brighter for Bethlehem's Christians.The reality of life, however, tells a different story. Hamas supports - and the Palestinian Constitution calls for - the establishment of Islamic law in areas under its control, law that denies Christians the legal rights and protections, including religious freedom, afforded Muslims. Signs of these personal restrictions are clearly evident. One Hamas city council member in Bethlehem recently recommended a tax on the city's non-Muslims. Some Christians have said they no longer wear their crosses openly, for fear of harassment, discrimination, and attack. No wonder Christians, once a majority in Bethlehem, have been leaving, and now make up only 15% of the city's population.

Hamas is a wolf in sheep's clothing hoping to deceive Christians to gain their trust and support through its self-serving gift, and to sway international opinion in its favor. They might succeed in the short term. But in the long term, Hamas' plan for Christians living under its rule does not include religious liberty and bigger and better Christmas celebrations each year.

Sadly, the situation found in Bethlehem and in all other Palestinian territories exists throughout the entire Muslim dominated Middle East, where Christians, along with Jews, suffer greatly under oppression. The principle of freedom of religion at the heart of Western-style democracy simply does not exist under Islamic law, and Christians or Jews living under Muslim rule live under severe restrictions to their right to worship. Violation of these restrictions can mean imprisonment or even death. In stark contrast, Muslims living in Israel are free to worship as they please, and enjoy the same rights as every other citizen.

This holiday season, as Christians around the world prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus, let us remember those Christians now living under hostile rule in Arab and Muslim countries. Pray today that Christmas brings joy, peace, and release from their bonds of Muslim oppression. And let all of us, Jews and Christians alike, give thanks for the gift of religious liberty enjoyed by those of us living in the U.S. and Israel. This God-given freedom is truly a blessing never to be taken for granted.So as December 25th approaches, I say to all my Christian friends, I wish you a joyous and blessed Christmas. Please accept my deepest gratitude for your continued support of Israel, her people, and The Fellowship's work, and, as always, your prayers for the peace of Jerusalem.

With prayers for shalom, peace,

Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein
President International Fellowship of Christians and Jews.

PERSECUSSION,BEHEADINGS

JESUS PERSECUTED BIGTIME

ISAIAH 53:4
4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

MATTHEW 9:34
34 But the Pharisees said, He casteth out devils through the prince of the devils.

JOHN 8:41
41 Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.

JOHN 10:20
20 And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye him?

PHILIPPIANS 2:10-11(JESUS GETS REVENGE)
10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.(JUDGEMENT SEAT OF CHRIST AND FOR SINNERS, THE GREAT WHITE THRONE FINAL JUDGEMENT).

WE ARE CHRISTIANS WE WILL BE TREATED THE SAME.

2 TIMOTHY 3:1-5 (WHY WE ARE PERSECUTED BY THE WORLD)
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous (DANGEROUS) times shall come.
2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

MATTHEW 5:10-12
10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

MATTHEW 24:9
9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.

JOHN 15:18-20
18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me (JESUS) before it hated you.
19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.

REVELATION 6:9-11
9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain(BEHEADED) for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:
10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
11 And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.

REVELATION 20:4
4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

HERE WE GO AGAIN, PUTTING ANYTHING CHRISTIAN DOWN.

Left Behind Game Promotes Religious Violence, Group Says
Melanie Hunter DEC 21,06

A U.S. Islamic advocacy group Tuesday called on the country's largest retailer to stop selling a video game it says glorifies religious violence and could negatively affect interfaith relations.The game, Left Behind: Eternal Forces, is described on the game's website as a real-time strategy game based on the best-selling book series Left Behind.It allows gamers to join the ultimate fight of good against evil, commanding Tribulation Forces or the Global Community Peacekeepers, and uncover the truth about the worldwide disappearances - a reference to the end-time rapture.The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which says it received complaints about the game, charged that players are rewarded for either converting or killing people of other faiths.

In a letter to H. Lee Scott Jr., CEO of Wal-Mart, CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad said the game was promoting a message of religious intolerance.

The game's enemy team includes people with Muslim-sounding names, Awad said, urging Scott not to sell the game.In the post 9-11 climate, when improving interfaith relations should be a priority for all, this type of product only serves to dehumanize others and increase interfaith hostility and mistrust, he said.We also believe that as a company that prides itself in hiring and offering services to a diverse group of people, it is Wal-Mart's corporate social responsibility to take into account the potential social impact of its decision to sell this harmful game.CAIR isn't alone in calling on the retailer to stop selling the game.

The Campaign to Defend the Constitution, which describes itself as an online grassroots movement combating the growing power of the religious right, is also urging supporters to put pressure on Wal-Mart.On its website, the group says that over the past week, Wal-Mart had received over 25,000 letters demanding that it remove the religious right's violent and hateful video game ... from its shelves.Jeff Frichner, president of Left Behind Games, disputes the claims that the game encourages hatred of Muslims.That's impossible, because the game itself is you're fighting against the anti-Christ, he told Cybercast News Service. There's no other religion in the game.Frichner said CAIR's stance was based on hearsay.He acknowledged that in the Left Behind book series the Tribulation Forces are Christians but said that was not mentioned anywhere in the game.

Frichner said the game encourages players to avoid conflict, because if you end up having to defend yourself ... you actually are penalized as well.So it's really just the complete opposite of what people have written and reported about.On the convert or die allegation, Frichner said there was no element of people of other faiths being forced to convert to Christianity or die.

The game called for people to join the Tribulation Force rather than die at the hands of the anti-Christ. You're trying to save other people from that and ultimate judgment by God, he said.Consumers who have bought the game love it, he said, because they can play it with their kids instead of all the yuck that's out there.Frichner charged that there was a religiously motivated bias in calls to boycott the game.

Those pushing for a boycott were not boycotting other games - even though there were some terrible games out there.Wal-Mart spokeswoman Marisa Bluestone told Cybercast News Service Tuesday the retail chain has no plans to pull the game from store
shelves.

Wal-Mart is selling the PC game Left Behind: Eternal Forces in select stores and online, the company said in a statement.We chose store locations where we anticipated customer demand for the product, and the product has been selling in those stores. As always, the decision on what merchandise we offer in our stores is based on what we think our customers want the opportunity to buy.Cybercast News Service.

1,500 at Manhigut Jewish Leadership Event
By Hillel Fendel (INN) DEC 20,06

Aiming to renew the proud Chanukah spirit in modern-day Israel, members of Manhigut Yehudit, headed by Moshe Feiglin, convened in Jerusalem to prepare the way to grab the reins of leadership.

The colorful event took place in the Ramada Renaissance Hotel in Jerusalem. The 1,200 seats were filled, and over 200 more people were left standing to hear speakers such as Tzfat's Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, former Deputy Education Minister Moshe Peled, Manhigut Yehudit's Director-General Michael Puah, former Druze MK Ayoub Kara, Rabbi Uri Sharki of Rosh Yehudi, and more.The central event of the evening was a Chanukah candle-lighting ceremony featuring people specifically chosen for their past actions representing the very essence of a proud Jew. Moshe Feiglin, who co-founded Manhigut Yehudit (Jewish Leadership) - now a faction in the Likud - nearly a decade ago, told the audience, I know that [former Gush Katif spokesman] Eran Sternberg is doing a great job as Master of Ceremonies this evening, but I cannot resist taking over his job just for this part of introducing these very special people who represent the very essence of what we are doing here.

The first candle was lit by Jonathan Pollard's wife Esther, and the second by Shoshi Greenfeld, famous for the impassioned graveside speech she delivered at her Lebanon-war casualty brother's funeral this summer. Next were two girls who sat in prison for weeks - after having been arrested for taking part in pro-Land of Israel activities - rather than cooperate with arrangements that contrasted with the way they felt a Jewish State should be run. Next to light were the mother of Nati Ozeri and the wife of Neriah Ofan. Nati Ozeri was a local Shomron security chief who was murdered by Palestinian terrorists, and Neriah Ofan is one of some 20 Yesha residents who have been distanced from their homes for months by unexplained administrative orders.

Teenager Inspires the Crowd

Oriyah Shir-el of Hevron, lighting the third candle, told the audience, You probably know me better as O.S., as I was not allowed to be identified by my full name when I was in prison because of my young age... Some ask me where I received the strength to fight the evil so strongly and not to break. It's true that my parents gave me a strong education, and they deserve the Yasher Koach (praise] everyone gives them - but it wasn't that. I have great faith that we can change things in this country, and this faith is inspired by Manhigut Yehudit and Moshe Feiglin.At one of her court hearings, Oriyah told the judge, I may lose this case, but that's really a minor issue. I'm looking ahead to 20 years from now, when I know that things in this country will be very different. An onlooker at the hearing said that the judge was blown away by her strength of conviction.

Immigrants Making a Difference

A large poster blared the theme of the evening: Returning the Country to the People. In addition, the many new immigrants to Israel were recognized - asked to stand, they were seen to be as many as a quarter of the audience. Dovid Shir'el, responsible for the English-speaking segment within Jewish Leadership, told Arutz-7, The motto of many new immigrants to Israel is, We made Aliyah to make a difference, not to stand by while Israel loses its Jewish identity.

What's interesting is that we have many English and Russian speakers in the organization - apparently because the former understand the concept of political freedom, and the latter - know what they don't want to see here, and are used to principle-based struggles.A leader of the Druze community also spoke, arousing the audience with his charismatic call that only Manhigut Yehudit can provide true leadership to this country! ... G-d shall give Israel strength, and will bless His nation with peace! Just as Chanukah recalls both spiritual and physical miracles - the lights that illuminated the Holy Temple for eight days on only one day's worth of oil, and the military victory over the Syrian-Greeks - last night's events also featured both: the revolutionary ideological spirit engendered by the participants and speakers - and thousands of sufganiyot (jelly-filled sweet donuts), in every corner, that have become a Chanukah icon in Israel and around the world.

Manhigut leader Moshe Feiglin narrowly missed being elected to the Knesset on the Likud list in 2003 when he was disqualified because of his past conviction on charges of sedition and incitement to rebellion as head of the This is Our Land protests in the mid-1990s.

A year ago, he finished third in the race for Likud Party leader, behind Binyamin Netanyahu and Silvan Shalom. Feiglin told Yishai Fleisher of IsraelNationalRadio.com last night, Esther Pollard, who will light the first candle -unfortunately it won't be her husband, who is still in prison after 21 years - is one of those who represents the new culture that we are trying to develop. Over the last year, there has been a culture of unfaithfulness, but we want to establish one of loyalty - loyalty to the Land, to the Nation, to G-d. This is what we need in order to survive.Feiglin said with strong confidence that he believes the State of Israel can be fixed: We have to take charge of the engine car of the train, and lead the entire train towards the right goal. We're not interested in saving ourselves; we believe in the entire Jewish people, and are interested - not like the hareidim - of taking national leadership and saving everyone.

Dovid Shirel agreed, saying that the difference between Jewish Leadership and other nationalist groups is that we want to take leadership. Take Effie Eitam [of the National Union]; he says clearly that he would rather see Netanyahu as the leader; he says he wants to be an influencer, not the leader.Asked where Jewish Leadership goes from here, Shirel said, We see now, once again, that the public is ready and waiting for us, and we will now start organizing local gatherings all over the country.A gift was presented during the course of the evening to Binyamin Ze'ev Landau, one of the chief supporters of Manhigut Yehudit. Musical entertainment was provided by Ariel Zilber and Aharon Raz'el.

MUSLIM NATIONS

EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW)and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY)of the north quarters, and all his bands:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.

ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, and the Hagarenes;
7 Gebal, and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)

EZEKIEL 39:1-8
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.

JOEL 2:3,20,30-31
3 A fire(NUCLEAR BOMB) devoureth before them;(RUSSIA-ARABS) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.

Sens. Kerry, Dodd meet with Syria's Assad to discuss Iraq
From the Associated Press,December 21, 2006

DAMASCUS, SYRIA — Sens. John F. Kerry and Christopher J. Dodd met with Syrian President Bashar Assad on Wednesday and discussed the need for Damascus to cooperate with efforts to stabilize war-ravaged Iraq, state media reported. Kerry (D-Mass.) said he told Assad that the new Democratic-controlled Congress has serious concerns about issues such as the flow of money, weapons and terrorists through Syria into Iraq and Lebanon. I feel quite confident in saying this was a conversation worth having and that the administration ought to pursue it, Kerry said in a phone interview from Jerusalem, where he traveled after meeting with Assad.Kerry has criticized the Bush administration for refusing to engage with Syria and Iran, a move that was recommended by the bipartisan Iraq Study Group.

The Bush administration has accused Kerry, Dodd (D-Conn.) and other senators who have met with the Syrian president of sending mixed signals and has insisted that the U.S. will not make concessions to Damascus to win its help in Iraq. The two Democratic senators are prospective 2008 presidential candidates.

Netanyahu: Beware the Developing Islamic Reich DEC 20,06
By Hana Levi Julian and Hillel Fendel (INN)

Likud chairman Binyamin Netanyahu warned foreign ambassadors in Tel Aviv that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is working to create a 1,000-year Islamic Reich. The former prime minister told a gathering of some 60 diplomats on Tuesday that Ahmadinejad is planning to carry out his genocide program using the nuclear weapon Iranian scientists are now building.It's true, Netanyahu said, that we only have three years to stop the Iranian nuclear program - but that's 1,000 days, and enough time to do the job.

Mossad Intelligence organization chief Meir Dagan, in one of his rare appearances at the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said this week that Iran is likely to succeed in developing an atomic bomb by 2009 or 2010. Ahmadinejad announced ten days ago that Iran had expanded production in its national uranium enrichment program by adding 3,000 centrifuges at a facility in the center of the country. Dagan said Iran plans to add another 3,000 centrifuges within the coming year. Iran's nuclear process has been negated by the United Nations Security Council, but its permanent members, as well as Germany, have still not come to an agreement on whether to impose sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

Netanyahu warned that the world’s governments must take action against Iran before Ahmadinejad succeeds in his mission to become the next Adolph Hitler.There are two main differences between Hitler's threats of 1938 and Ahmadinejad's threats now, the former Prime Minister said: Then, there was no independent Jewish state, and - this time we know in advance what can happen when threats like this are made... We now know that when a world leader openly calls for genocide - believe him. Netanyahu also called for prosecuting Ahmadinejad in the International Court at The Hague for encouraging genocide. MK Danny Naveh and former Ambassador to the United Nations Dore Gold support the move, though it is not thought to have much chance of success

NUCLEAR WEAPONS WILL BE USED.

ISAIAH 26:21
21 For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.(WW3,1/2 earths population die).

ISAIAH 13:6-13 KJV
6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt:(FROM FRIGHT)
8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.

ISAIAH 24:17-23 KJV
17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
18 And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.
19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.
21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
22 And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.
23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.

2 TIMOTHY 3:1
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous (DANGEROUS) times shall come.

JOEL 2:20,30
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.

ZECHARIAH 14:12-13
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.

EZEKIEL 20:47
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.

ZEPHANIAH 1:18
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.

MALACHI 4:1
1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.

REVELATION 9:18
18 By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.

HALF OF EARTHS POPULATION DIE DURING THE 7 YR TRIBULATION.(THESE VERSES ARE JUDGEMENT SCRIPTURES NOT RAPTURE SCRIPTURES)

LUKE 17:34-37
34 I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.
35 Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
36 Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
37 And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.(Christians have new bodies,this is the people against Jerusalem during the 7 yr treaty)(Christians bodies are not being eaten by the birds).

MATTHEW 24:37-51
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?
46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
47 Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.
48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;
49 And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;
50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

U.S. plans naval buildup in Gulf to counter Iran
CENTCOM plans to use gunboat diplomacy, officials tell NBC News
Updated: 10:53 a.m. ET Dec 19, 2006

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Central Command is aggressively planning a naval buildup in the Persian Gulf, including the addition of a second aircraft carrier, in response to a series of aggressive actions by Iran, U.S. military officials told NBC News on Tuesday.The officials pointed to Iran's interference in Iraq — including its support for Shiite militants and shipments of improvised explosive devices into the country — recent military naval exercises in the Gulf, and its pursuit of nuclear weapons. The attempt at gunboat diplomacy is in its final planning stages. Although it has not been approved yet, it appears likely the increase in U.S. warships into the Gulf could come as early as January, the officials said.

U.S.: Iran making headway on weapons

On Monday, the Bush administration said Iran was making headway in building nuclear weapons as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice tried to iron out differences with Russia over a U.N. resolution designed to stop the program with economic sanctions. While not predicting when Iran would join the nuclear club, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the Iranians were trying to perfect technology to enrich uranium. Iran has denied an effort to build nuclear weapons and says its work is for energy development.It’s a very tricky matter of perfecting centrifuge technology so you can actually enrich all the uranium, McCormack said. So, yes, they are going along their way in trying to go down the various pathways.The spokesman provided no details of Rice’s telephone conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. They went over some of the outstanding issues, McCormack said.

Time for a vote

Russia, which has close economic ties with Iran, has favored diplomacy over punitive sanctions, but the Bush administration is hoping Moscow may be prepared to approve a watered-down resolution at the U.N. Security Council.

We are hopeful that we can get a vote in the very near future. It is time for a vote, McCormack said. I think we need to see a vote on this in a matter of days.The United States and its European allies have proposed offering Iran economic concessions in exchange for halting its enrichment of uranium, a key part of the process of building nuclear weapons.NBC News Jim Miklaszewski and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

JESUS - MAHDI,BOTH COMING - IRAN

1-WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS. 2-Deadly Java earthquake and tsunami studied. 3-26,000 evacuated from Malaysia floods. 4-Paralizing Blizzard. 5-Jimmy Carter Attacks Israel -- Help The Israel Project fight back. 6-Fires close in on Vic towns. 7-Victorians taking to coast as big dry hits inland waterways. 8-Tsunami Aid Money Used for Shari'a. 9-Japan to boost seismic detection of nuclear tests. 10-Christ did not die for all, Vatican says. 11-Jesus, Mahdi both coming, says Iran's Ahmadinejad. 12-Spain set for warmest year on record. 13-Snow way: Russia's hottest winter in 136 years. 14-Report: China currency not manipulated. 15-Christians plan night to honor Israel. 16-Olmert, Abdullah discuss Mideast peace. 17-For phalistine. 18-Syria wants Russia as sponsor of Mideast peace process - president.

EARTHQUAKES

MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.

MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC GROUP) and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.

LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.

WORLD QUAKES LAST 2 DAYS (USGS)

Update time = Thu Dec 21 12:05 AM EDT

DEC 21,2006
MAP 3.7 SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA, CALIFORNIA

DEC 20,2006
MAP 5.2 TONGA
MAP 5.2 NORTHERN SUMATRA, INDONESIA
MAP 5.0 PAGAN REGION, NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS
MAP 5.6 PHILIPPINE ISLANDS REGION
MAP 3.3 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS, ALASKA
MAP 3.4 UTAH
MAP 2.6 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 4.8 NORTHERN PERU
MAP 2.5 SOUTHERN ALASKA
MAP 2.7 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.3 WASHINGTON
MAP 4.6 KURIL ISLANDS
MAP 2.7 CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.1 PUERTO RICO REGION
MAP 3.0 PUERTO RICO REGION
MAP 2.6 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAP 3.2 VIRGIN ISLANDS REGION
MAP 2.6 NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

Deadly Java earthquake and tsunami studied,Dec 19, 2006, 19:30 GMT

PHILADELPHIA, PA, United States (UPI) -- U.S. geologists analyzing last July`s 7.2 magnitude Java earthquake found the event that killed more than 637 people triggered a tsunami with 30-feet run-ups.The researchers said the earthquake involved an unusually long rupture that propagated slowly and occurred near the up-dip edge of the subduction zone thrust fault -- all attributes shared with past earthquakes that generated larger than expected tsunami for events of their surface-wave magnitude.Further, the Pennsylvania State University-led study showed the rupture included five or six pulses of energy along 120 miles of the trench.

Because earthquakes that generate giant waves must be identified quickly by tsunami warning operators, the researchers say they expect similar retrospective studies of such earthquakes will help authorities better respond to future hazards.The research by Charles Ammon of Penn State, Hiroo Kanamori of the California Institute of Technology, Thorne Lay of the University of California-Santa Cruz and Aaron Velasco of the University of Texas-El Paso appears in the current issue of the journal Geophysical Research Letters.United Press International

STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES

LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

26,000 evacuated from Malaysia floods By PAULINE JASUDASON, Associated Press Writer Wed Dec 20, 11:49 AM ET

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Flooding caused by heavy monsoon rains has forced more than 20,000 people to flee their homes in the southern Malaysian state of Johor, officials said Wednesday.

PUBLICIDAD

Flooding was also reported in the neighboring states of Malacca and Negeri Sembilan, but the situation there was not as serious.About 22,000 people in eight districts of Johor had taken refuge in town halls, schools and community centers on higher ground by early Wednesday, Che Moin Umar of the Civil Defense Department told The Associated Press.A police officer at an emergency operations center in the state capital of Johor Bahru put the number of evacuees at 26,000.Che Moin said the number could increase in the coming week.The flood situation is still at a very worrying level, Che Moin said, But management-wise, we have things under control ... there is enough food supply for the evacuees, warm blankets, medical assistance, we are OK.

Teams of army, police, firefighters and volunteers were searching for people who may be trapped in their homes, he said.Continual rains since Sunday have caused major rivers to overflow into villages and towns in Johor, including Johor Bahru, which lies across a causeway from Singapore, bringing the state to a virtual standstill, The Star newspaper said.Drainage and Irrigation Department records showed that such unusually heavy rains in Johor last occurred about 100 years ago, the New Straits Times said.The rains eased by Wednesday morning but intermittent showers were forecast through Thursday.Photographs in The Star and the New Straits Times showed village homes with only their zinc roofs visible above muddy floodwaters.

Paralizing Blizzard B. Bernard & K. Roth, Senior Meteorologists, The Weather Channel Wed Dec 20, 8:32 PM ET

A powerful blizzard is lashing Denver and the central High Plains tonight; blizzard warnings are posted for much of eastern Colorado, southeast Wyoming and western Nebraska until midday Thursday. Strong winds and heavy snow brought traffic around Denver to a halt. Interstate 70 is closed from the eastern side of Denver to the Kansas state line, while Interstate 25 is closed from the Wyoming state line to the New Mexico state line. Denver International Airport has closed and may remain closed until Thursday evening. Wind gusts hit 69 mph around the Air Force Academy and 60 mph near Colorado Springs earlier Wednesday. Winds topped 55 mph at the Denver Airport Wednesday afternoon. As of late afternoon Denver time 9 to 18 inches of snow had piled up. By storms end 12 to 24 inches may pile up, with drifts up to ten feet are not out of the question in a few spots. The storm will shift its focus farther east into the northern and central Plains Thursday, but the blizzard conditions will have abated and snowfall will be much lighter.

Elsewhere tonight, some light freezing rain is spreading into Oregon's Willamette Valley. The icing may not persist very long there, but could linger longer in the Columbia River Gorge. In the eastern end of the Gorge, two or three inches of snow aren't out of the question, either.

Jimmy Carter Attacks Israel -- Help The Israel Project fight back

Dear Stan

As you probably know, former President Jimmy Carter is back on the talk-show circuit demonizing Israel in pursuit of peace. Here's

what he's been saying:

Israel is the primary obstacle to peace in the region
UN Resolution 242 demands that Israel return to Palestinians all land up to the 1967 borders
The West Bank is Palestine
Israel is an apartheid state
The PLO has never advocated the annihilation of Israel
Voices from Israel dominate in the U.S. media
Israel is responsible for the exodus of Christians from the Holy Land
How Carter's Comments Hurt Israel

With Iran's President holding an international conference this week to deny the Holocaust, funding Hezbollah and Hamas' attacks on Israel, and developing nuclear weapons to wipe Israel off the map, Israel needs positive world public opinion to defend itself.

Comments like Carter's help de-legitimize the State of Israel by making it look like a stubborn obstacle to peace without an legal basis for taking defensive action against terrorists.Former President Carter is weakening Israel in the eyes of Americans and peace-loving people worldwide.Help TIP fight these inaccuracies and distortions with facts by supporting our work at http://www.theisraelproject.org/donate.

Instead of complaining about comments like Carter’s, The Israel Project (TIP) takes the initiative to:

Research facts and information and email them to 15,000 journalists worldwide every week
Host press conferences with Israeli spokespeople to help journalists learn first-hand of Israeli government positions
Provide access for journalists to Israeli sources for interviews
Fly journalists in helicopters over Israel to view Israel’s tiny size and enormous security threats with their own eyes

Our staff is efficient, but educating the media before they write their stories costs money:

$250 covers the cost to email fully-vetted background information to 10,000 journalists worldwide
$600 lets us create and email a breaking news press release to journalists
$1200 pays to have one journalist take a 2½ hour helicopter tour over Israel
$1500 allows 125 journalists to participate in a worldwide telephone briefing
Please send your contribution of $250, $180, $100, $60, $36 or even $18 TODAY to help us fight anti-Israel propaganda in the media at http://www.theisraelproject.org/donate. Help us educate the press and the world – before Jimmy Carter gets to them.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi
Founder and President
The Israel Project

P.S. We can’t stand idly by while people like President Carter spread inaccuracies and half-truths about Israel. Give a generous tax-deductible gift today at http://www.theisraelproject.org/donate. Israel and our global Jewish family need you!

FIRES AND EXPLOSIONS

REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.

Fires close in on Vic towns
Tuesday, 19 December 2006. )Fire alert: Blazes are advancing from three sides on the Mount Buller area.

A blaze is on the doorstep of towns in Victoria's Gippsland region, while residents in the state's north-east are also on fire alert.The Gippsland bushfire is within one kilometre of properties in Walhalla and Maidentown, after slowly moving towards Maidentown over the past 24 hours.Helicopters have been brought in as back-up to crews on the ground.Embers are also falling at Rawson, to the south-west, but the fire is yet to cross the Thompson River.In north-east Victoria, fire is closing in on the Mount Buller area from the south, north and east.

Country Fire Authority (CFA) state coordinator Greg Esnouf says Sheepyard Flat, Tobacco Flat, Howqua Hills, Sawmill Settlement, Timbertop and Mirimbah are all on alert. That's a very raw edge and it's a very difficult area to put control lines in, he said.So certainly DSE [the Department of Sustainability and Environment] and CFA are working very hard to try and establish whatever containment lines we can because we see it as quite an exposure.Mr Esnouf says there is no end in sight to Victoria's fire crisis.

We eventually need to put these fires out, unless we get a lot of rain, he said.We don't anticipate getting a lot of rain in the change that comes through later this week, so we've got to continue putting in the containment lines to put this fire out and that may take us weeks.The fires have already burnt more than 688,000 hectares.

REVELATION 6:5-6
5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.

Victorians taking to coast as big dry hits inland waterways
Stephen Moynihan,December 20, 2006

THE drought has caused water-loving Victorians to abandon the state's inland lakes and rivers and head to the coast this summer.Popular inland waterways such as Lake Eppalock, which has plunged to 2 per cent of its capacity, and Lake Eildon are losing visitors to coastal towns and resorts.Marine Safety Victoria director Brian Riches said the authority expected drought and bushfires to send many more boat owners to the coast.The operations manager of Jerusalem Creek marina at Lake Eildon, Mark Metzner, said bookings for berths were 50 per cent lower than at the same time last year.Despite the lake being at 13 per cent capacity, Mr Metzner said there was at least 15 kilometres of navigable waterways around Eildon, but he expected that levels would drop further.

At this stage we're looking at going down to 3 to 4 per cent, which is going to be a whole new ball game.Mr Metzner said the low water level had made access to marinas difficult but there's still a good 30 metres of boat ramp in the water.A lot of people are saying they're still going to come up, but they won't put their boats in the water because they're worried about stumps.Boat Industry Association of Victoria chief executive Lindsay Grenfell urged boat owners to take care.When the lakes go down, it's uncharted waters. People have to be careful — suddenly there's a log in the way or a branch that wasn't there last year, Mr Grenfell said.

Yesterday, Roads and Ports Minister Tim Pallas warned Victorians of that danger.Mr Grenfell said owners should prepare themselves for delays at boat ramps along Victoria's coast because of the rising number of craft.But despite the shrinking inland waterways, he said the boating industry remained buoyant, with boat builders recording a big demand for more expensive and larger vessels, including yachts.Victorians wanting to check water levels at the state's inland waterways can call 1800 223 022 or visit the websites below.
www.g-mwater.com.au.www.marinesafety.vic.gov.au

Tsunami Aid Money Used for Shari'a DEC 19,06

Money sent to the Indonesian province of Aceh to help tsunami survivors is now being used to enforce shari’a law. (Hat tip: LGF readers.).WHEN people around the world sent millions of pounds to help the stricken Indonesian province of Aceh after the Boxing Day tsunami of 2004, few could have imagined that their money would end up subsidising the lashing of women in public.

But militant Islamists have since imposed sharia law in Aceh and have cornered Indonesian government funds to organise a moral vigilante force that harasses women and stages frequent displays of humiliation and state-sanctioned violence. International aid workers and Indonesian women’s organisations are now expressing dismay that the flow of foreign cash for reconstruction has allowed the government to spend scarce money on a new bureaucracy and religious police to enforce puritan laws, such as the compulsory wearing of headscarves.

Some say there are more sharia police than regular police on the local government payroll and that many of them are aggressive young men.Who are these sharia police? demanded Nurjannah Ismail, a lecturer at Aceh’s Ar-Raniri University. They are men who, most of the time, are trying to send the message that their position is higher than women.

Japan to boost seismic detection of nuclear tests Wed Dec 20, 4:59 AM ET

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan will boost its ability to detect seismic waves from nuclear tests after it failed to quickly analyze data from a test by North Korea in October, the Meteorological Agency said on Wednesday.

The agency will place a high-sensitivity seismometer around 800 meters below ground at a complex in Nagano, central Japan, an official said.Currently, eight seismometers at the high-tech complex, which can detect earthquakes worldwide, are set 40 to 70 meters below ground.Moving one device deeper would shut out negligible tremors on the ground from traffic and construction work, the official said.Such interference was one factor behind a delay of around two hours in determining that seismic waves from North Korea on October 9 were not caused by an earthquake. Construction of the new seismometer will begin from next April and the agency will put it into place as soon as possible, the official said.

I DON'T LIKE THIS STORY, THE BIBLE CLEARLY SAYS CHRIST DIED FOR ALL , NOT JUST MANY.

Christ did not die for all,Vatican says
December 20 2006 at 08:53AM

Vatican City - Roman Catholic priests will soon be telling their flocks that Christ gave his blood for many but not everyone, according to a new Vatican directive.

The change will appear at the moment in the mass when the priest blesses the wine,
transforming it into the blood of Christ.Hailed by traditionalists, and slammed by progressive members of the Church, the change was decided by Cardinal Francis Arinze, head of the Congregation for Divine Worship, to be truer to the Latin pro multis. Opponents to his directive to bishops noted that the Greek from which the Latin pro multis was taken - hoi polloi - is closer to all than many.

Arinze conceded that the phrase for all adopted by many languages probably corresponds to the actual intention of the Lord, since in Christian dogma Christ died for all men and women.But he argued that the phrase for many showed that salvation is not automatic.The linguistic conundrum is not a problem in French, since the phrase pour la multitude (for the multitude) allows both interpretations. But English-, Spanish- and German-speaking churches, have been given two years to change the phrases for all, por todos los hombres and fuer alle. - Sapa-AFP

Jesus, Mahdi both coming, says Iran's Ahmadinejad
In New Year's greeting to Christians worldwide asks what Christ would do if he were here today Posted: December 19, 2006,11:52 a.m. Eastern,WorldNetDaily.com

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad appearing at The World Without Zionism conference Oct. 26, 2005 In a greeting to the world's Christians for the coming new year, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said he expects both Jesus and the Shiite messianic figure, Imam
Mahdi, to return and wipe away oppression.

I wish all the Christians a very happy new year and I wish to ask them a question as well, said Ahmadinejad, according to an Iranian Student News Agency report cited by YnetNews.com My one question from the Christians is: What would Jesus do if he were present in the world today? What would he do before some of the oppressive powers of the world who are in fact residing in Christian countries? Which powers would he revive and which of them would he destroy?

asked the Iranian leader. If Jesus were present today, who would be facing him and who would be following him?

Ahmadinejad then made a connection between Jesus and the Imam Mahdi, believed by Shiites to have disappeared as a child in A.D. 941. When the Mahdi returns, they contend, he will reign on earth for seven years before bringing about a final judgment and the end of the world. All I want to say is that the age of hardship, threat and spite will come to an end someday and, God willing, Jesus would return to the world along with the emergence of the descendant of the Islam's holy prophet, Imam Mahdi, and wipe away every tinge of oppression, pain and agony from the face of the world, Ahmadinejad said. Ahmadinejad has been urging Iranians to prepare for the coming of the Mahdi by turning the country into a powerful and advanced Islamic society and by avoiding the corruption and excesses of the West. He sees his main mission, as he recounted in a Nov. 16, 2005, speech in Tehran, as to pave the path for the glorious reappearance of Imam Mahdi, may Allah hasten his reappearance. With Iran's continued development of nuclear technology in defiance of the West, some analysts fear Ahmadinejad's intent is to trigger the kind of global conflagration he
envisions will set the stage for the end of the world.

Ahmadinejad hosted a conference last week examining whether the Nazi genocide took place, drawing Holocaust deniers from around the world. The Iranian president has described the Holocaust as a myth and called for Israel to be wiped off the map.
The Zionist regime will be wiped out soon the same way the Soviet Union was, and humanity will achieve freedom. he said. Last month, he said he believes the world is rapidly becoming Ahmadinejadized, with global leaders following in his footsteps. I have traveled to all the continents except for one, and I know what is going on out there. Everybody is eager to hear the Iranian people's message, the Aftab-Yazd newspaper quoted the president as saying, according to Agence France-Presse. The world is rapidly becoming Ahmadinejadized. The hardliner said Iran's two big missions are constructing the country and introducing a model for humanity.

OZONE DEPLETION

ISAIAH 30:26-27
26 Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.
27 Behold, the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire:

MATTHEW 24:21-22,29
21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened (Daylight hours shortened)
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

REVELATION 16:7-9
7 And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.
8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
9 And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.

Spain set for warmest year on record
Tue Dec 19, 2006 4:30 PM GMT

MADRID (Reuters) - This year is on track to be the warmest on record in Spain, a country which was already hot before global warming set in, the government said on Tuesday.

So far this year, temperatures have been 1.46 degrees Celsius above the 1961-1990 average as a searing summer gave way to mild autumn and winter, the Environment Ministry said.Experts warn global warming will be especially painful for Spain, and some have even forecast its southern beaches could become too hot for tourists later this century.Last year the country logged its driest year since records began and this December started with a few hardy daisies still to be found growing in Madrid parks where many trees have still to lose their leaves.According to environment ministry models, central Spain is due to heat up more than any other region in Europe -- a further 4.5 degrees by 2100.Most scientists now agree that world average temperatures may rise by between two and six degrees this century due to emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels for power and transport.Last week the Netherlands said it was on track for its warmest temperatures since records began 300 years ago, and a British study said 2006 would be the sixth-warmest worldwide since records began.Reuters

Snow way: Russia's hottest winter in 136 years
December 20, 2006

RUSSIA is having its warmest December since 1870, raising fears of serious economic consequences.At the end of last week, the mercury hovered just below nine degrees — 14 degrees above average for December. The weather has led to predictions of a dearth of grain, and psychiatrists are worried about people's fragile emotional states.Companies selling fake frosted window patterns are doing a roaring trade as Russians try to convince themselves of snow all around. But speak to someone on the streets of Moscow and there is a strong chance they will quote Pushkin.That year the autumn weather lingered … Nature waited, lost, as winter held back/Snow fell only in January, on the third, at night, he wrote in Eugene Onegin. Everybody quotes Pushkin's lines … but the current phenomenon we are experiencing is very rare, said Gennady Yeliseyev, deputy director of the state meteorological department.Experts claim snow reflects much-needed light that boosts the flow of mood-enhancing chemicals in the body. So bright posters and extra street lights have been erected.TELEGRAPH

THE ANGEL OF GOD ABOUT THE CHINESE CURRENCY IN THE FUTURE.Twice I heard the words, Catastrophic! Catastrophic! then the angel said, Financial crisis will come to Asia. I will shake the world.

HOARDING OF GOLD AND SILVER

JAMES 5:1-3
1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

EZEKIEL 7:19
19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumblingblock of their iniquity.

Report: China currency not manipulated By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer DEC 19,06

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration said Tuesday that China does not meet the technical requirements of a country that is manipulating its currency to gain unfair trade advantages.

The administration did say Tuesday that more flexibility in China's exchange rate will help it achieve more balanced growth and promote a number of other outcomes that would be economically beneficial.But in the report it is required to deliver to Congress every six months, the administration said that no country met the technical requirements for designation as a currency manipulator.Such a designation could trigger negotiations that could ultimately lead to trade sanctions.

The new report was released four days after a Cabinet delegation led by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson concluded high-level talks in Beijing aimed at resolving the root causes of America's huge and growing trade deficit with China.The report did not please China's harshest critics in Congress.The administration continues to use technical and legalistic dodges to avoid saying what everyone knows to be true — the Chinese manipulate their currency. It's as plain as the nose on your face, Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said in a joint statement.If the administration still won't call China a manipulator, how can we ever expect them to get China to play fair? they asked.Schumer and Graham were the lead sponsors of legislation last year that would have imposed 27.5 percent penalty tariffs on all Chinese imports if China did not move more quickly to allow its currency to rise in value against the dollar.The administration opposed the legislation on the grounds that it would raise the price of Chinese imports to American consumers.

Sen. Max Baucus (news, bio, voting record), D-Mont., said he believed the requirement for a report every six months had outlived its usefulness and he planned to pursue legislation that would mandate a different approach in the new Congress.Baucus, who next year will head the Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over trade, has proposed legislation that would offer milder sanctions against countries with misaligned currencies.America's trade deficit with China is expected to easily surpass last year's $202 billion record, the highest trade gap the United States ever recorded with a single country.The administration is under heavy political pressure to do something about America's record trade deficits, which critics charge have been a major factor in the loss of nearly 3 million manufacturing jobs since Bush took office in 2001.No country has been cited as a currency manipulator in the Treasury Department report since China was cited in 1994 by the Clinton administration.

While the Bush administration in the past has hinted that it was getting close to naming China, the new report seemed to take a more muted tone in its criticism in keeping with Paulson's efforts to lessen outward pressure on Chinese officials in hopes of producing better results.

The latest report, which was delivered to Congress two months late, was released without a public briefing in contrast to the spring report in which then-Treasury Secretary John Snow told reporters that the administration was extremely dissatisfied with the slow and disappointing pace of reform of the Chinese currency system.Paulson did not comment on the new report, which contained milder criticism of China than Snow's remarks last May.China's economy needs a more balanced pattern of growth that is more consumption-based with a flexible exchange rate regime and a modernized financial sector, the new report stated. The report also cited the goals of the newly launched Strategic Economic Dialogue, which is designed to be a two-year effort to resolve some of the most contentious economic issues between the two countries through twice-a-year high-level meetings.

The report said the goals of the dialogue were to help China achieve balanced growth without large trade imbalances by pursuing exchange rate flexibility, protection of intellectual property rights, boosting domestic consumption and opening up China's service sector to participation by U.S. and other foreign firms. China's currency policy is a core issue in the China-United States economic relationship, the currency report stated. If the administration had deemed China a currency manipulator, that would have triggered talks between the two countries. China also might have faced trade sanctions — but first the United States would have had to win a case on the issue before the World Trade Organization. American manufacturers contend China undervalues its currency by as much as 40 percent against the dollar, which makes Chinese goods cheaper for American consumers and American goods more
expensive in China.

THIS IS A GREAT EVENT BECAUSE ISRAELS GOD AND OUR GOD ARE ONE GOD, 3 OFFICES. JESUS THE MESSIAH IS ISRAELS GOD REGUARDLESS IF THEY BELIEVE IT OR NOT YET. JESUS WAS JEWISH, IS JEWISH IN HEAVEN, WILL ALWAYS BE JEWISH WHEN RULING FROM JERUSALEM IN THE FUTURE. COME QUICKLY LORD JESUS.

Christians plan night to honor Israel Evangelicals in US and other nations will hold mass events to 'thank the Jewish people, Jerusalem Knesset Caucus told Yaakov Lappin Published: 12.19.06, 14:19

A leading Evangelical US pastor has announced plans to hold a night to honor Israel in every major American city as part of an Evangelical political campaign. Pastor John Hagee, a Christian leader from Texas, was given an award by the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus during a ceremony jointly held with the World Jewish Congress Monday night, to honor our Christian allies.

Addressing the conference by a satellite-linked screen, Hagee delivered an emphatic speech, declaring:It's time for us Christians in America , from coast to coast, to speak up for Israel.He added that his organization aimed to hold every congressman and senator accountable for their position on Israel.It's important for Christians to reach out to the Jewish people. For the first time in the history of America, the spiritual leaders of America are looking up rabbis and saying: We want to thank you, Hagee declared. The pastor announced his plans for a night to honor Israel in every major American city, adding: Why is this happening? Some of you are secular Jews, this may be hard for you… This is happening by God. God almighty recognized that the integrity of his word was on the line.Hagee noted that his organization could provide information to tens of millions of Americans.

Don't give land away

He also warned that the continual giving of land to enemies is contrary to what the bible teaches and contrary to the security of Israel. Reacting to Hagee's speech, Knesset Member Elhanan Glazer, of the Pensioner's Party, told Ynetnews: I hope he understands that as difficult as it is, we must give up land, with a heavy heart, to the Palestinians. Life is more important than land. Throughout the meeting, the delegates exchanged warm words, describing one another as members of a common Judeo-Christian family and civilization.Knesset Member Benny Elon told the conference that the meaning of Hanukah was to warn Jews against assimilating to foreign cultures, while Purim warned of the physical danger posed to the Jewish people.He emphasized that the

Caucus was founded on a real love between Jews and Christians, and that neither side sought to use the relationship for tactical gains.I know that there is a sincere and real love of our Christian allies… not as a means to and end… not as part of a plan - I love you and then you'll be converted - but real love.Elon added that the new alliance with Evangelicals was prophesized in the Torah, citing a prediction of support for Israel by other nations following the return of the people of Israel to Zion.

Expel the darkness

During the meeting, a Hanukah menorah was lit, and several references were made linking the holiday to contemporary issues. Moshe Leshem, a reserve colonel and former anti-disengagement activist, told the Caucus meeting that since Judah the Macabee, the Jewish people have been surrounded by hatred.Today, we are once again facing a very big trap… countries like Iran threaten to wipe us out from under the sun. And you know as Christians, they will kill us on Saturday but they will try to kill you on Sunday, Leshem warned, adding: We must unite to expel the darkness.

Olmert, Abdullah discuss Mideast peace
December 19, 2006

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) -- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert made a surprise visit to Jordan today for talks with King Abdullah II on ways to revive Mideast peacemaking. The palace also said Abdullah was offering to host a meeting in Jordan to help resolve Palestinian infighting between the Hamas and Fatah movements. As the statement was issued, the two groups waged fierce gun battles in Gaza City.A fierce gun battle erupted outside Gaza's main hospital today, sparking a day of factional violence that sent students diving for cover in their classrooms and brought life in much of Gaza to a standstill.Four persons were killed and at least 18 were wounded in the violence, which swept away the remains of a tattered truce meant to end a week of fighting that has turned the Gaza Strip into a war zone.Automatic gunfire echoed across the city, and a Fatah security installation was attacked with mortar
fire. Masked Hamas gunmen set up makeshift checkpoints on main roads, forces from the two sides took up strategic positions, and terrified residents shut themselves indoors.

Mr. Olmert's visit to Amman came in response to an invitation by Abdullah, who is eager to see Israel resume peace negotiations with the Palestinians, a senior palace official said.In Jerusalem, Mr. Olmert's office confirmed the meeting, saying the leaders discussed the Palestinian crisis and larger regional issues.

The U.S.-allied monarch has said a return to Arab-Israeli negotiations is vital to curb rising extremism in the Middle East, fueled by the conflict in Iraq. Abdullah has called on Washington to do more on reviving the peace process, which is stalled amid the Palestinian crisis.The palace official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of Mr. Olmert's visit, said that the two leaders met for two hours and that the Israeli then returned home.

In the talks, Abdullah urged Mr. Olmert to engage in negotiations with the Palestinians so that an appropriate framework could be found to relaunch the peace process, a palace statement said.The king, whose nation signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994, had hosted Mr. Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in June in a failed effort to get both leaders to open direct negotiations.

The palace statement said Abdullah briefed Mr. Abbas on his talks with Mr. Olmert in a telephone call. The palace also said Abdullah would invite the leaders of Hamas and Fatah to talks on ending their conflict.

Hamas and Fatah have been locked in a power struggle since the Islamist militant group defeated Fatah in legislative elections last January. Mr. Abbas' Fatah party, which seeks peace with Israel, controls the presidency, while the radical Hamas, which is committed to Israel's destruction, controls parliament and the Palestinian Cabinet.Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh called for an end to the infighting and urged warring factions to unite in the struggle against Israel.This nation, this people will be united in front of the occupation and aggression and will not be engaged, despite the wounds of the past few days, in internal fighting, Mr. Haniyeh said in a televised speech. The latest wave of fighting broke out last week and worsened after Mr. Abbas announced plans Saturday to call early elections. Hamas has condemned the plan as a coup, and Mr. Haniyeh has said the Islamist group would boycott any new vote. In all, 13 persons have died in the week of clashes, making it one of the deadliest bouts of Palestinian infighting ever. Seeking to ease the tensions, Mr. Haniyeh canceled a planned Hamas demonstration, Hamas officials said.

MUSLIM NATIONS

EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW)and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY)of the north quarters, and all his bands:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.

ISAIAH 17:1
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, and the Hagarenes;
7 Gebal, and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)

EZEKIEL 39:1-8
1 Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech (MOSCOW) and Tubal: (TUBOLSK)
2 And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts,(RUSSIA) and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand.
4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands,( ARABS) and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 Thou shalt fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog,(NUCLEAR BOMB) and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord GOD; this is the day whereof I have spoken.

JOEL 2:3,20,30-31
3 A fire(NUCLEAR BOMB) devoureth before them;(RUSSIA-ARABS) and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army,(RUSSIA,MUSLIMS) and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.(SIBERIAN DESERT)
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.(NUCLEAR BOMB)
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.

For phalistine DEC 19,2006

The European Council noted with concern that the Middle East is faced with one of the worst crises in years. The Israeli-Arab conflict is at the heart of this crisis. The EU is committed to overcoming the current impasse in the peace process and to easing tensions in the broader region.The ceasefire in Gaza is an important first step. Violations of the ceasefire must end and it should be extended to the West Bank. For the ceasefire to be meaningful and sustainable it must be consolidated through a political process. In this respect the European Council noted Prime Minister Olmert's address of 27 November. The EU welcomed the readiness of President Abbas and PM Olmert to resume dialogue, and urged them to meet soon. The European Council also invited the other members of the Quartet and the regional partners to intensify common efforts aimed at reinvigorating the peace process.

The European Council commended the efforts of President Abbas over the last six months to form a government of national unity. The EU stands ready to work with a legitimate Palestinian government that adopts a platform reflecting the Quartet principles. If such a government is formed, the EU undertakes: to resume partnership with the Palestinian government and encourage Quartet partners to do likewise; to continue, with other donors, providing financial support and to prepare, in cooperation with the new government, a long-term plan on capacity building, border management and unified and effective security forces, as well as a functioning administration. The European Council called for the immediate release of the abducted Israeli soldier and commended efforts including by partners in the region to that effect. The European Council also called for the immediate release of Palestinian ministers and legislators detained in Israel.

The European Council noted the vital role played by the Temporary International Mechanism in providing essential relief to a large part of the Palestinian population since its launch in June 2006.

The increased assistance provided by the Community Budget and by Member States bilaterally this year, and the contributions by other donors to the Mechanism are deeply valued. In view of the protracted deterioration of the socio-economic situation of the Palestinians, the European Council endorsed a further three-month extension of the mechanism until March 2007. The European Council calls for the release of Palestinian customs and tax revenues withheld by Israel.

The European Council reiterated the need for full and speedy implementation of the Roadmap. As a first step, the following priorities should be pursued, following a calendar agreed between the parties and monitored by the Quartet: full and speedy implementation of the Agreement on Movement and Access; full implementation of the Sharm-el Sheikh understandings, including the release of prisoners and resumption of security cooperation between the parties; parallel implementation by the parties of the obligations they have committed to under the first phase of the Roadmap.These, though important, are only initial steps, and must lead to meaningful negotiations on the final status, the ultimate goal of which is an end to the occupation that began in 1967 and the creation of an independent, democratic and viable Palestinian state, living side-by-side with Israel and its other neighbours in peace and security. In that context the parties have to take concrete and immediate measures to put an end to all acts of violence, and to all activities which are contrary to international law, including settlement activities and the construction of the barrier on Palestinian land, that constitute an obstacle to the achievement of that goal. The EU will not recognise any changes to the pre-1967 borders other than those agreed by both parties.The European Council invited the Quartet to stand ready to lead an effort by the international community to build on the outcome of successful negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians in order to reach a comprehensive settlement of the Israeli-Arab conflict, including peace agreements with Syria and Lebanon and full normalisation of relations between Israel and the Arab countries. This will require an inclusive approach involving all relevant actors; all need to engage constructively in the region to support these efforts. In accordance with the Roadmap, the Quartet, in consultation with the parties, should in due course convene an international conference to realise these goals.

Syria wants Russia as sponsor of Mideast peace process - president 19/ 12/ 2006

MOSCOW, December 19 (RIA Novosti) - Syria would like to see Russia, which is now a co-sponsor of the peace process in the Middle East, becoming the main sponsor, the Syrian president said Tuesday. Russia could become [the main] sponsor of the Middle East peace process and play an effective role there, Bashar al-Assad said after his meeting with President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. President Assad said that currently there were no preconditions to conclude a peace treaty with Israel, and blamed Israel for its unwillingness to hold negotiations with Damascus. There is a difference between a desire to achieve peace and the ability to achieve it, the president said. There are currently no objective conditions to achieve this peace. Assad said that along with other issues, he and the Russian leader had discussed military and technical cooperation. We discussed all issues, but in general terms,
without details, Assad said, adding that the issue of military and technical cooperation between Russia and Syria would be discussed later by experts in greater detail. The Syrian president also said it was impossible that weapons sold by Russia to Syria under intergovernmental contracts could have been used by Lebanon-based Hezbollah during the summer fighting with Israel.

Israel's Haaretz daily quoted intelligence sources in early August as saying that Israel's ground troop casualties in the month of fighting with Hezbollah mostly resulted from special Hezbollah antitank units using modern Russian-made RPG-29 that were sold by Moscow to the Syrians and then transferred to the organization. Those who circulate such information, citing data from intelligence services and data from satellites, should present real proof, Assad said. If there was any [proof], then we would certainly have replied, but there was not. Israel's military conflict with Lebanon-based pro-Syrian Hezbollah in northern Israel and southern Lebanon began July 12 when Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers and fired rockets into the country. In the month of bloodshed that ensued, around 1,500 Lebanese civilians lost their lives to Israeli bombs, and much of the country's infrastructure was destroyed.