Roughly a dozen Palestinians received official invitations on Tuesday to serve on the technocratic committee slated to manage Gaza’s daily affairs in place of Hamas, an Arab diplomat and a Palestinian official told The Times of Israel.

The letters were signed by the Board of Peace’s designated high representative, Nikolay Mladenov, two of the technocrats who received the letters said.

Mladenov, a Bulgarian diplomat who previously served as the UN special envoy to the Middle East, will be tasked with directly overseeing the technocratic committee on behalf of the Board of Peace. He held meetings last week with senior officials in Israel and the Palestinian Authority in preparation for the transition to phase two of US President Donald Trump’s peace plan for the Gaza Strip, which could be announced as early as Wednesday, the Arab diplomat said.

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Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Egypt called for the Palestinian terror group to disband on Tuesday, the first time they have done so.

They joined 14 other countries, including Britain and France, in signing a statement that also condemned the Oct 7 terror attacks and told Hamas to give up power.

It is the first time Arab countries have condemned the group and demanded it play no part in the future governance of Palestine.

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Source: https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/arab-world-tells-hamas-lay-212231597.html

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Ireland, Norway, and Spain have announced they will formally recognise a Palestinian state from 28 May.

Spain and Ireland said the decision was not against Israel nor in favour of Hamas, but rather in support of peace.

Israel reacted angrily, warning the move would mean more instability in the region and recalling its ambassadors to all three countries.

Both Hamas and its rival, the Palestinian Authority, have welcomed the recognition.

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(May 9, 2022 / JNS) Israel must adopt a more proactive approach if it is to deplete Hamas of its ability to incite Palestinians to terrorism, a senior security scholar has said, including a stepped-up cyber campaign to take down incitement material that is online and fueling violence against Israelis.

In recent weeks, the Israeli defense establishment has detected an unmistakable spike in Hamas’s online efforts to ignite terrorism and unrest, particularly on social-media networks. This is part of the strategy by Hamas’s leader in the Gaza Strip, Yahya Sinwar, to destabilize the West Bank and Jerusalem and inflict Israeli casualties while weakening his domestic rival, the Palestinian Authority—all without risking Hamas’s home turf of Gaza.

Ely Karmon, a senior research scholar at the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) in Herzliya, told JNS that the time had come for an all-out offensive cyber campaign to disrupt and remove incitement to hatred and violence on Arabic social-media networks.

“The state has been doing almost nothing offensively on this front and has been waiting for the platforms, like Facebook, to act. The state should not wait; it should take this material down itself,” said Karmon.

In the information campaign sphere, he said, Israel has made a lackluster effort to deflate false Hamas claims that the Al-Aqsa mosque is in danger. “No one is showing footage from inside the mosque on how rioters prepare to attack security forces and what they’re entering the mosque with. No one is showing what the Waqf (the Jordanian Islamic trust in charge of the Temple Mount site) is telling worshippers. It is time for this material to come out,” Karmon said.

He proposed that the Strategic Affairs and Public Diplomacy Ministry take on this project in a focused manner.

On the military front, Karmon said that if Israel did opt for targeted assassinations of Hamas leaders, then it would also have no choice to but launch a significant military offensive designed to target and eliminate Hamas’s leadership.

“The timing is critical because if this government falls before making this decision, a transitional government will take over and then a new government will have to be formed, and the window of opportunity for ordering preparations for such a maneuver will be gone,” he noted.

A return to targeted killings of Hamas leaders clearly means war, said Karmon, adding that “Sinwar is just the symbol because he is the one now talking; he is the commander. Others will come after him. It has to be a succession of targeted killings to reinstall deterrence, and those from the leadership who survive would need to go into the deepest tunnels. They wouldn’t have time to appear in demonstrations or on television.”

Targeted killings played a key role in ending the Second Intifada (2000-05), pointed out Karmon, noting the assassinations of the late Hamas leaders Ahmed Yassin and Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi in March and April 2004. Several other Hamas and Palestinian Islamic senior members were killed by Israel during this time as well.

“Clearly, this will lead to conflict with Hamas. This is not something that has to happen today. But Israel will have to put an end to Hamas’s military wing in the near future,” he argued. “As long as this does not happen, we will remain trapped in this cycle of operations and rocket fire every three to four years, and there will be no chance for a diplomatic process with the Palestinian Authority to develop. Israel is allowing the P.A. to grow weaker.”

Ordering such a maneuver, said Karmon, would result in a fundamental strategic change—meaning that the idea of ordering a targeted assassination of only Sinwar would only be the start of such a transformation if the government ever chose such an option.

‘Calling for more and more violence’

In the meantime, Israel has limited its actions against Hamas to the civilian-economic sphere, sealing the Erez Border Crossing between Israel and Gaza, and preventing 12,000 Palestinian workers from access to work in Israel, thereby applying pressure to the Islamist regime in Gaza as a response to its incitement.

In the West Bank and in Israel, security forces are working around the clock to try and disrupt the wave of terrorism.

The joint command room opened in Nahshonim, a kibbutz in central Israel near Elad, inhabited by the Israel Police, the Israel Defense Forces and the Shin Bet intelligence agency led to the capture of As’ad Yousef As’ad al-Rifa’i, 19, and Subhi Emad Subhi Abu Shqeir, 20, from the Palestinian village of Rumana near Jenin, after a 60-hour manhunt that followed their deadly ax rampage through the city, claiming three lives.

At the height of the search, 800 members of the security forces from various units took part under police command. Units included the Maglan and Egoz special military forces, as well as the Miroul Unit, which specializes in tracking down people based on conducting field analysis.

Drones and radars were deployed throughout regions where security chiefs estimated the terrorists were hiding, feeding the command room with intelligence.

“All of this was done with the understanding that the terrorists were between Elad and Rosh HaAyin,” a military official said on Sunday. Police also obtained forensic evidence, helping the search efforts.

“This is an area with many caves and canals—all could be used as hideouts. We pinpointed the area between Route 400 and then up to the security barrier as the polygon we understood they were hiding in,” said the source.

“The initial capture was conducted by a combined team featuring Maglan, Miroul and the Shin Bet. They saw that a bush looked different, and when they got closer, in line with intelligence, they saw that the bush was moving in a breathing pattern. They then called out for the terrorists to surrender,” said the source.

The terrorists crossed into Israel on Independence Day, May 5, through the security barrier before entering the vehicle of one of their victims, Oren Ben Yiftah, riding with him to Elad and killing him. The IDF Central Command Chief, Maj. Gen. Yehuda Fox, and the commander of the Judea and Samaria Division, Brig. Gen. Avi Bluth, have distributed lessons learned to 11 brigade commanders who are actively protecting the area.

Security forces are continuously monitoring incitement directed at Palestinians and Israeli Arabs in mixed cities, the source added, warning that the material online is “calling for more and more violence.”

“The fact that they [the terrorists] entered is a failure of the IDF. We are in charge and were not able to protect in a hermetic way the 430-kilometer [barrier] area. We are debriefing continuously to learn how to do this better,” said the source.

Looking ahead, the military is set to upgrade the security barrier through a range of means, he added, stating that some of the work is already underway.

“We are all of the time balancing between civilian policy to allow civilian life to flourish and for stability, together with security and counter-terrorism operations. In the last month, 19 people have been killed, and the government decided to upgrade the security steps,” he said.

Security forces have also launched a new campaign to prevent Palestinians without work permits from entering Israel, and where possible, to provide more permits to those who pass security screening.

Source: https://www.jns.org/israel-must-wage-all-out-cyber-campaign-targeting-hamas-insists-counter-terrorism-pro/

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Palestinian protesters hurl stones at Israeli security forces amid clashes in Jerusalem’s Old City on May 8, 2021. (EMMANUEL DUNAND / AFP)

To get a sense of the unparalleled potency of the city of Jerusalem you would have only needed to look at Latrun Junction on Saturday afternoon to watch dozens of young Muslim men and women, carrying prayer rugs, marching off in the direction of the Temple Mount after police kicked them off buses heading toward the capital for fear they would take part in violent protests at the holy site.

These pilgrims, mostly from Arab towns in northern Israel, made it to the Old City for evening prayers after hiking more than 30 kilometers (19 miles).

For weeks, the raw emotional, religious, and nationalistic power of Jerusalem has been out of control, driven by a deadly convergence of interconnected and disparate events, all taking place during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which often sees heightened tensions.

The Israel Defense Forces, Shin Bet security service, and Israel Police have struggled to contain the violence and have enjoyed little assistance from the political echelon in attempting to do so, with Israeli lawmakers failing to cooperate with one another as the various parties struggle to form a government coalition.

Hundreds of Arab Israelis marching on Route 1 making their way to Jerusalem, May 8, 2021 (Nowm Revkin Fenton/Flash90)

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Palestinian protesters look on during clashes with Israeli security forces at the Temple Mount compound in Jerusalem, on May 7, 2021. (Photo by Ahmad GHARABLI / AFP)

Israeli police burst into the Temple Mount compound on Friday evening after Palestinians threw rocks and bottles at officers, as widespread clashes in Jerusalem spread to the holy site following prayers held there on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Police said 17 police officers were hurt and around half of those hospitalized, with one in moderate condition after taking a rock to the head. Meanwhile, the Palestinian Red Crescent reported that at least 205 Palestinians were wounded in clashes throughout Jerusalem, mostly around the Temple Mount and by Damascus Gate. Eighty-eight Palestinians were hospitalized, mostly for injuries with rubber-coated steel bullets, it said.

By midnight the violence — some of the worst in Jerusalem for years —  seemed to have subsided, with most protesters dispersing.

Police said Friday evening that force used “riot dispersal means following violent disturbances on the Temple Mount, during which hundreds of suspects began throwing stone, bottles, and objects at police officers.”

Video from the scene showed pitched battles, with Palestinians throwing chairs, shoes, rocks, and bottles, and shooting fireworks, and police responding with stun grenades, tear gas, and rubber bullets.

Protesters chanted “Allahu Akbar,” or “God is great.” Several wounded demonstrators could be seen being carried away on stretchers.

Most of the Palestinians hospitalized were being treated at Al-Makassed Hospital in East Jerusalem. The hospital was urgently calling for people to come and donate blood.

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The almost immediate rejection of the plan by Palestinian leaders – and their progressive supporters in the U.S. – reveals more about the dangerousness of their vision than about the Trump plan.

Critics are already indicting the Trump plan for not meeting all Palestinians demands. That is certainly true, but the plan also does not meet all Israeli demands. It is a compromise, requiring concessions from both sides.

PALESTINIANS SAY ‘A THOUSAND NOES’ TO TRUMP-NETANYAHU MIDEAST PEACE PLAN

While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stood beside President Trump and pledged support for the U.S. plan as Trump unveiled it at the White House, there was a notable absence of any Palestinian representative.

Even before the Trump plan was announced, Palestinian leaders said it would be dead on arrival. Upon the release of the plan, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas responded at a news conference: “After the nonsense, we heard today we say a thousand noes to the Deal of the Century. We will not kneel and we will not surrender.”

The post Eugene Kontorovich: Palestinians wrong to reject Trump Israeli-Palestinian peace plan – It’s fair and just first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

At the end of his visit to the Vatican, the mayor of Nazareth, Ali Salam, announced that Pope Francis intends to make a second visit to the Holy Land during the next year, at the invitation of the Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

He added that the Pope would hold prayers in Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Nazareth, in order to push the peace process in the Middle East.

Salam said he felt the Pope’s avid desire to advance the peace process. He also noted that sources in the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli government have informed him that contacts were underway between the two sides with the Vatican, to coordinate the date of the visit and its detailed program.

Stressing the possibility of organizing the trip in 2020, Salam revealed that the date was yet to be set.

The mayor of Nazareth met Pope Francis in the Vatican on Thursday, in response to an official invitation from the Vatican.

According to a statement issued by the municipality, Salam spoke with His Holiness the Pope about Nazareth, and its importance as the largest Palestinian Arab city in Israel and where Jesus lived the longest period of his life.

He also invited Pope Francis to visit the city and invite Christian pilgrims to discover the region.

Pope Francis conducted his first visit to the holy Palestinian territories in 2014.

Source: https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/2048936/pope-francis-intends-visit-jerusalem-again

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Amid considerable stupidity and the incredible admission from the Editor in Chief of the New York Times this week, something else stands out.  We’ve known for years that the “diplomatic” statements that come from the likes of Israel’s enemies don’t often reflect what they’re saying to their followers.

The so-called “president” of the Palestinian Authority let fly in a speech at a refugee camp near the town of Ramallah that got our attention.  He’s calling for “millions of fighters” to swarm Jerusalem, killing the Jewish residents and destroying everything they’ve built.  Just so you get the drift, here’s a quotation confirmed to be accurate by the Middle East Media Research Institute known as MEMRI.  “To Jerusalem, we march, martyrs by the millions!”  (I thought you had to already be dead to be a martyr, but they might turn out to be martyrs if they try to carry out Abbas’ threat.)  “We shall enter Jerusalem—millions of fighters!  We shall enter it!  All of us, the entire Palestinian people, the entire Arab nation, the Islamic nation, and the Christian nation.  They shall all enter Jerusalem!”

It seems like they tried this in the Six-Day War back in 1967 when they attacked from all sides.  From Egypt, from Lebanon, from Jordan and Syria.  Their brave fighters threw down their guns, ditched their boots and ran for their lives.  In fact, that’s when they lost everything from East Jerusalem to the River Jordan.  Ever since they’ve tried to portray themselves as the world’s foremost victims.  They deny the Holocaust ever happened, that way they can claim victim-hood that surpasses anybody else on earth, especially the Jews who they want dead or gone. 

The utterances of Abbas to his Palestinian audience, which by now has coursed through the entire Arab world and even appears in the American press, sound vaguely prophetic.  You know, the part about Jerusalem being surrounded with armies…  In fact, it’s just another example of an attempt to encourage terrorism as if it’s the path to the realization of a great cause.  Abbas’ speech went on to defend the payments that are made to the families of dead terrorists and those wounded trying to realize their bloodthirsty dream.  “We will not accept their designation of our martyrs as terrorists…All the money will go back to them, because the martyrs, the wounded and the prisoners are the most sacred things we have.”  He might be right about that last part because nothing about their murderous cause is “sacred.”

His call to action makes about as much sense as the “green new deal,” which is to say it’s entirely fanciful, impractical and impossible.  This is more about the ravings of a hate-filled lunatic than anything to do with Bible prophecy.  Too bad he didn’t have the “squad” at his side because that’s probably where they would have been had the anti-American, anti-Israel, professional grievance grifters been allowed to be there.

Last week, the media began its effort to panic the public into believing that an economic recession is about to commence.  With the stock market taking another bath at the end of the week, we can expect a non-stop promotion of lean economic activity for the United States.

The trade war with China just keeps getting hotter.  Rather than agree to a reciprocal arrangement that benefits both parties, China keeps upping the ante.  President Trump has been hot under the collar about China’s theft of U. S. wealth through currency manipulation, theft of intellectual property, violation of patents, knock-offs of expensive brands and one-way tariffs.  Maybe there will be pain to certain sectors of the American economy, but President Trump appears determined to get the situation under control even if it means ultimately denying China access to U. S. markets.  The idea is that it will be much more damaging to them than to us, even if it costs the President politically.

Trump has suggested (the media says “ordered”) U. S. companies close operations in China and find alternative ways to produce their products, ideally in the United States.  We’ll see how that news is received.  Car companies and big tech manufacturers also have plants there and contracts with Chinese firms, so it will get dicey.  The media will continue to wail about a coming recession in the hopes they can turn everyone sour on Trump. 

Odd that Anthony Scaramucci who served as White House spokesman for less than two weeks has invoked the cult-leader Jim Jones to describe President Trump.  What?  Did he get an advance copy of our monthly letter?  It doesn’t compare President Trump to Jim Jones, as Scaramucci did.  What it does is point out what Jim Jones was preaching, and show that his idiotic arguments very closely track the socialist/communist drivel coming out of the educational institutions and the mainstream media.  You’ll see.  The letter is written, printed and should be in your mailbox in a few days.  The comparisons are striking.  And they have nothing whatever to do with President Donald Trump!  As for Anthony, have you ever seen such vanity with so little to recommend it?  It’s going around.

It’s the dog days of Summer in Texas, and probably where you are too unless you’re in Australia.  Either way, have a great Sabbath.

Mark

Source: http://www.intercontinentalcog.org/fridayupdates.php

The post Weekly Update by Mark Armstrong – 23 August 2019 first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Around 60 delegations confirmed participation at the conference. The level of participation was unexpectedly low and Turkey, Iran, Lebanon and the Palestinian Authority did not participate. Considering the fact that the announced aim of the Warsaw Conference was to mobilize regional states and the international community in the U.S.-led counter-Iran campaign and the genuine goal of the conference was to improve and facilitate the normalization of Arab-Israeli relations, the absence of these states in the conference had a negative impact.

Trump’s pro-Israeli Middle East team and the Netanyahu government used this conference to facilitate Israel’s normalization with the Arab states as preparatory steps for the so-called “Deal of the Century.” As an indication of this goal, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu stated that the conference provided an “opportunity” to work with the Arab states on a “mutual interest” in fighting against Iran.

Although the Palestinian Authority encouraged Arab states to boycott the conference, this did not prevent them from attending and eventually, 10 Arab states attended. On the other hand, 10 days before the conference, some Arab states including the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Jordan and Kuwait held a meeting in order to take a common position at the Warsaw Conference.

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has declared that he could not imagine this level of cooperation between the Arab states and Israel. The de facto ruler of the UAE, Muhammad Bin Zayed (MBZ), is the pioneer of this cooperation. He led some Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Bahrain to enter into an actually existing, if largely unacknowledged, regional alliance with Israel, while some remaining Arab states are now falling over each other to recognize the Israeli state.

On the one hand, Netanyahu met with Oman’s foreign minister during the conference and held a friendly meeting. On the other hand, the former Saudi intelligence head Prince Turki al-Faisal gave an interview to Israeli television. This was the first appearance of a member of the Saudi royal family on Israeli television. During the interview, he asserted that Netanyahu sees establishing bilateral relations with Israel as a precondition of reaching peace in the Israeli-Palestinian issue. However, al-Faisal emphasized that the Saudi/Arab view was the other way around.

Considering the low level of participation, the conference failed to reach its goals in terms of mobilizing the international community against Iran. Nevertheless, it can be considered a limited success for the normalization of Arab-Israeli relations. Many Arab countries continue to cooperate with Israel in creating an Israeli-led regional system.

Furthermore, the conference was used by Netanyahu to show his “success” in foreign relations amid an electoral campaign. This was criticized by Israeli politicians, among them the leading figure of the opposition Tzipi Livni.

Following the developments at the Conference, it can be said that American preparations for a so-called “Deal of the Century” will be intensified. As Jared Kushner, U.S. President Trump’s senior adviser, is expected to travel to five Gulf countries at the end of the month to discuss the specifics of the peace deal, it seems like Trump will try to leave at least a legacy in regard to the most important conflict in world history – before the upcoming 2020 presidential elections.

Source: https://www.dailysabah.com/columns/ataman-muhittin/2019/02/20/israel-dives-into-the-arab-world

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