Archive for April, 2013

April 27, 2013: Weekly 5 minute update (Audio Only)

Friday, April 26th, 2013

You may view the 5 minute update this week via audio:

1) Listen to the audio

In this week’s 5 minute update, we focused on:

1) The current status of the Israel / PLO peace process
2) The current status of the situation with Syria
3) The current status of the situation with Iran

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The link to these articles are as follows:

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

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

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

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

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

The link to these articles is as follows:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The link to these articles is as follows:

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

From a Biblical prophetic perspective, the reason why the God of Israel would allow these events to happen is because it will result in the end of the exile of the house of Jacob and the reunification of the 12 tribes of Israel (Ephraim and Judah).

We will to be “watchmen on the walls of Jerusalem” and we will not rest until the God of Israel makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth (Isaiah 62).

Shalom in Yeshua the Messiah,

Eddie Chumney
Hebraic Heritage Ministries Int’l

April 20, 2013: Weekly 5 minute update (Audio Only)

Saturday, April 20th, 2013

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

Shalom in Yeshua the Messiah,

Eddie Chumney
Hebraic Heritage Ministries Int’l

April 13, 2013: Weekly 5 minute update (Audio Only)

Tuesday, April 2nd, 2013

Uploaded. This week’s update is 31 minutes.

You may view the 5 minute update this week via audio:

1) Listen to the audio

In this week’s 5 minute update, we focused on:

1) The current status of the Israel / PLO peace process

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The link to these articles are as follows:

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

From a Biblical prophetic perspective, the reason why the God of Israel would allow these events to happen is because it will result in the end of the exile of the house of Jacob and the reunification of the 12 tribes of Israel (Ephraim and Judah).

We will to be “watchmen on the walls of Jerusalem” and we will not rest until the God of Israel makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth (Isaiah 62).

Shalom in Yeshua the Messiah,

Eddie Chumney
Hebraic Heritage Ministries Int’l