You may view the 5 minute update this week via 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 and Iran
US Secretary of State John Kerry will return to the Middle East June 27 – 29 to hold meetings with Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian officials in order to try to restart direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. In doing so, Kerry will try to coordinate a meeting between Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. At this point in the process, Kerry is trying to get both sides to take trust-building steps in order to move the peace process forward. Kerry’s goal is that he would like to find a solution where both Israel and the Palestinians could achieve political gains that would not be viewed as giving into the other sides demands which would allow the resumption of peace talks. Kerry would like Israel to release Palestinian prisoners and freeze the construction of new Jewish homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. In return, Kerry would like to convince the Palestinians to renew direct peace talks. The Obama administration has given Kerry until September to achieve a breakthrough in negotiations. Kerry is expected to present an outline for a peace agreement by that time.
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the willingness of the Palestinian Authority to restart peace talks with Israel hinges on Israel’s commitment to halt settlement construction, its acceptance of the two-state solution which established a Palestinian state based upon 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital and release of Palestinian prisoners. The Palestinian Fatah leadership warned the United States against exerting pressure on the Palestinian Authority to resume peace talks with Israel unconditionally. It affirmed its firm support for Abbas’s demand for a cessation of settlement construction, the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails and Israeli recognition of the two-state solution on the basis of the pre-1967 lines before resuming the peace process. Instead of the US pressuring the Palestinians, the Fatah leaders called on Kerry to exert pressure on Israel to “fulfill its obligations” towards agreements signed with the Palestinians in order to resume a “meaningful” peace process. Palestinian negotiation team member Muhammad Ishtayya criticized the US and the international community for reluctance to exert pressure to get Israel to comply with the Palestinian demands of ending settlement expansion and accepting a Palestinian state on the pre-1967 borders. Chief PA negotiator Saeb Erekat rejected that the Palestinians demands of Israel are preconditions to restart direct peace talks but instead called them Israel obligations. Furthermore, Erekat stated that the Palestinians would not modify their peace demands in order to participate in US-brokered peace talks. After Kerry presents his views on how to restart peace talks, the Palestinians will then determine if Kerry’s plans will meet the Palestinian demands to restart the peace process. If Kerry’s efforts do not satisfy the Palestinians, they plan to resume their efforts to join various UN organizations.
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel seeks to engage in serious negotiations with the Palestinians in order to arrive at a comprehensive final-status agreement. Netanyahu said: “Our fervent hope is for peace, a genuine peace that can be achieved only through direct negotiations without preconditions. We’re ready to enter such negotiations. I hope the Palestinians are, too. Our goal is not just to begin the negotiation process but to persist in the negotiations, to engage in them consistently over a serious period of time in order to try to grapple with all the issues and come to an agreement that resolves the fundamental issues in the conflict.” Such a process “will require time and determination and a systematic approach. This is Israel’s goal and I hope that this is the goal of the Palestinians also. Israel gives US Secretary of State John Kerry all our support in his efforts to restart peace talks. Israel wants him to succeed. However, why have the past six Israeli governments failed in promoting peace? “Ultimately,” Netanyahu said, “it is the willingness of the Palestinians to accept the existence of Israel as a Jewish state that will determine whether there can be a peace agreement. This is the heart of the matter.”
In order to show goodwill in an effort to restart peace talks, Israel is willing to release a limited number of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas dropping the return to the ’67 lines as a precondition to resuming peace talks. In addition, Israel Housing Minister Uri Ariel announced their their is an “indefinite” freeze on settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem saying, “We confirm a freeze on building behind the pre-1967 borders until further notice in order to avoid a confrontation with the United States.” While Jewish Home (the political party of Housing Minster Uri Ariel) supports the building of Jewish homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, it has no power to go against the orders of Netanyahu. If Ariel violates Netanyahu’s orders, he’ll be fired from being Housing Minister. Netanyahu ordered Ariel to declare a building freeze after US President Barack Obama visited Israel and the Palestinian territories in March.
Within Israel’s political parties, the leader of Jewish Home, Naftali Bennett, said that the idea of establishing a Palestinian state has reached a dead end and should be forsaken. He said, “Never in the history of Israel has so much energy been invested in something so pointless. We need to go from a situation in which we try to convince people that it is a bad idea, to one in which this idea is behind us. There are 400,000 Israeli residents in the West Bank and another 250,000 in eastern Jerusalem,” he noted. “More than 10% of Israel residents now live in the pre-1967 borders. The attempt to establish a Palestinian state inside our land should be over.” Israel needs to keep on “building and building and building” in the Land of Israel, Bennett said. “It is important that there be a Jewish presence everywhere. Our main problem is still the fact that Israel’s leaders are not prepared to say simply, that the Land of Israel belongs to the nation of Israel. We need to tell ourselves and the entire world that this land has been ours for 3,000 years.”
In response, Israel Justice Minister Tzipi Livni said that the diplomatic process with the Palestinians would soon begin. Livni said that her party would not be a fig leaf for a right-wing government but would pursue a serious peace process led by Israel Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu against the view of Bennett. We need a diplomatic process that results in a peace agreement with the Palestinians yet keeps Israel as a democratic Jewish state.
Meanwhile, former Israel Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman said, “There’s no chance of reaching a diplomatic arrangement with the Palestinians at this time.” Furthermore, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said that US Secretary of State John Kerry’s peace initiative has “failed so far” and that the Arab League proposals – which Kerry has praised – is nothing more than “spin.” Ya’alon dismissed the recent Arab League agreement for “territorial swaps” between Israel and the Palestinians and the Arab initiative as a whole as nothing more than “spin” and a “dictation” to Israel to give up territory before discussing its own demands. Ya’alon said that the Palestinians are clinging to their preconditions for coming to talks – “they want to get something for nothing” – and, in any case, they are unwilling to accept Israel’s two main demands – recognition of its right to exist as a Jewish state and a willingness to declare “end of conflict” after an agreement on borders is reached.
An agreement to divide Jerusalem and establish a PLO state is a tribulation event.
The link to these articles are as follows:
1) Palestinian official: Kerry should propose plan next week
2) Kerry to return to Israel to double down on peace push
3) Kerry to return to region in late June
4) Kerry hasn’t given up
5) Kerry seeks Netanyahu-Abbas meeting
6) Amid rumors of renewed talks, PM says contacts must be meaningful
7) PM: Peace hinges on PA’s willingness to recognize Jewish state
8) Israel announces settlement freeze in West Bank, Jerusalem
9.) Housing Minister: Yes, There Is a Building Freeze
10) Diplomats: Netanyahu ready to release Palestinian prisoners
11) Fatah warns US against exerting pressure on PA to resume talks unconditionally
12) Erekat: Abbas insistent on Israeli retreat to 1967 borders
13) Bennett: Palestinian State? Get Over It
14) Livni swears on peace, despite Bennett’s comments
15) Israel’s Liberman: ‘No Chance’ For Deal With Palestinians
16) Ya’alon: Kerry peace move has failed so far; Arab League initiative is ‘spin’
US President Barack Obama has ordered the US Central Intelligence Agency to provide small, lethal arms to rebel fighters in Syria. British Prime Minister David Cameron also supports providing money and arms to the Syrian opposition. In an effort to hasten the fall of Syrian President Bashar Assad, Cameron encouraged members of Syria’s army and security forces to launch a coup against their leader promising them they would not be prosecuted for atrocities committed against the Syrian people. Cameron is fed up with the G-8’s inability to come to a consensus on the need for an Assad exit to end the Syrian civil war due to Russia’s support of Assad. Meanwhile, the US and Turkey have intensified political and military dialogue for strategic planning to smoothly deliver U.S. weapons to the Free Syria Army. One of the most likely potential routes for the transportation of this weaponry into Syria is through Turkey, which has a long southern border with Syria. Syria’s northern parts are under the FSA’s control and Turkey has stood as the best logistical center for the Syrian opposition.
NATO and a number of European governments, most significantly the UK, have started airlifting heavy weapons to the Syrian rebels. The first shipments arrived on June 17 in Turkey and Jordan. They contained anti-air and tank missiles. From there, they were transferred to rebel forces in southern Syria and Aleppo in the northwest. However, a large fleet named “Mol Comfort” carrying Arms for FSA crashed in the Indian Ocean as it made its way from Singapore to Saudi Arabia. On board were 4,500 containers loaded with arms for the Syrian rebels. Saudi Arabia also expressed a desire for the Syrian rebels to receive military aid. Saudi prince Saud al-Faisal said, “Saudi Arabia calls for issuing an unequivocal international resolution to halt the sale of arms to the Syrian regime government. Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi said he has cut all diplomatic ties with Syria and called for a no-fly zone over Syria. Addressing a rally called by Sunni Muslim clerics in Cairo, Morsi said: “We decided today to entirely break off relations with Syrian government of Bashar Assad.” The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood called for Sunni Muslim religious organizations to declare a jihad against Assad and his Shi’ite Islamic allies.
Russia continues to support the Assad government. Russia is Assad’s major arms supplier. In opposing the West support of the Syrian rebels, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the radical al-Nusra Front – an outfit that has been listed by the United States as a terrorist group – would handle most of the weapons earmarked for the Syrian opposition. Lavrov said any attempt to enforce a no-fly zone over Syria using F-16 fighter jets and Patriot missiles from Jordan would violate international law. The United States has moved Patriot missiles and fighter jets into Jordan, officially as part of an annual exercise in the past week but making clear that the military assets could stay on when the war games are over. Russia has strongly criticized military support for the rebels while defending as legitimate its own arms sales to Assad. Lavrov said that Russia would honor all weapons deals with the Syrian government. “We’re fulfilling all our contracts,” Lavrov said. Asked about the controversial shipment of S-300 air defence systems, he merely said that “those contracts have not been fully realized.” On June 19, Russia announced that two warships carrying 600 Russian marines were heading for Syria “to protect the Russian citizens there” along with air force cover as needed.
In commenting about the Syrian civil war, Henry Kissinger said, “There are three possible outcomes. An Assad victory. A Sunni victory. Or an outcome in which the various nationalities agree to co-exist together but in more or less autonomous regions, so that they can’t oppress each other. That’s the outcome I would prefer to see. But that’s not the popular view. In the American press, the Syrian conflict is described as being a struggle between a desire for democracy and a dictator- and the dictator is killing his own people, and we’ve got to punish him. But that’s not what’s going on. It may have been started by a few democrats. But on the whole it’s an ethnic and sectarian conflict. It is now a civil war between sectarian groups”, Kissinger said. In other words, the Syrian conflict is an Islamic civil war between the Sunnis and Shi’ites.
A war with Syria where Damascus is destroyed (Isaiah 17) is a tribulation event.
The link to these articles is as follows:
1) Obama begins answering Syrian rebels’ call for arms
2) Blair: Syria’s rebels want democracy; help arm them
3) Turkey, US cooperate on aid to Syrian rebels
4) Cameron’s coup against Assad
5) First European & NATO heavy arms for Syrian rebels. Russian reprisal expected
6) Container Ship Carrying Weapons for Syrian Rebels Splits in Half/Sinks
7) Saudis: We ‘cannot be silent’ in face of Iran, Hezbollah involvement in Syria
8.) Syrian Rebels: We’ve Received Heavy Weapons from Saudis
9) Morsi cuts Egypt’s Syria ties, backs no-fly zone
10) Russia says illegal to impose no-fly zone over Syria
11) Russia warns against arming Syrian rebels
12) Lavrov: Russia will honor its S-300 missile contract with Damascus. Two Russian warships head for Syria
13) Putin will address G8 summit as head of winning Syrian war camp
14) Henry Kissinger: Balkanized Syria Best Possible Outcome
Iran elected Hassan Rowhani to be their new President on June 14. He will take office on August 3. Rohani plans to hold direct dialogue with each of the six world powers (the five members of the Security Council and Germany) separately, in order to clarify with them Iran’s stance on its nuclear program. The US European allies plan to press Rohani for the resumption of nuclear negotiations by August. US President Barack Obama’s chief of staff said that the Rohani’s election was a “potentially hopeful sign,” and that if he lived up to his obligation “to come clean on this illicit nuclear program, he will find a partner in us.” Rowhani said that he wants to reduce tensions with the United States over Iran’s nuclear program but ruled out direct talks exclusively with the US in order to do so. When asked if he would be prepared to hold direct talks with the United States, Rohani replied: “First of all, the Americans have to say… that they will never interfere in Iran’s internal affairs. Second, they have to recognize all of the Iranian nation’s due rights including nuclear rights. And third, they have to put aside oppressive… policies towards Iran,” he said. He added there needed to be an end to American “bullying.” He said that “All should know that the next government will not budge from defending Iran’s inalienable rights while saying that Iran is not prepared to suspend uranium enrichment.
Israel Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said that Israel’s red line on Iran has not changed with Rohani’s election. Israel red line is Iran obtaining 250 kilos of uranium enriched to 20 percent. Acknowledging that economic sanctions against Iran were clearly taking their toll, Netanyahu said the pressure on Iran needed to be maintained and urged Western allies not to pin their hopes on Rohani. “He doesn’t count. He doesn’t call the shots,” Netanyahu said. Iran’s nuclear policy is determined by Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, made all the decisions regarding nuclear policy.
Canada’s foreign minister has warned Iran that it has only two-to-three months to prove to the West that it seeks a negotiated resolution to the crisis over its rogue nuclear program. Since Rowhani was a former Iranian nuclear negotiator, “He doesn’t need to have any time to read up on the files.” Asked whether diplomacy had run its course, Baird said, “There’s always a reason to wait another two or three months. If they want to prove the naysayers wrong, they should make meaningful progress with the P5+1. I’m pessimistic on that but I hope to be proven wrong.” The diplomatic process “is nearing the end. If Iran wants to seek out concrete, meaningful solutions to this, they have the opportunity to demonstrate to the world in the coming weeks that they’ll do that. And if at the end of two or three months there isn’t some kind of concrete progress, then “I think fair and reasonable people will have shown that they have taken every reasonable measure, every diplomatic measure, to try to successfully bring this to a conclusion.” At that time, the world community may try other measures to achieve its goals to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear bomb.
The link to this article is as follows:
1) Iran President-Elect Wants to Ease Strains With U.S., but Sees No Direct Talks
2) Rohani puts ‘moderate’ foot forward, yet shows no sign of halting nuclear program
3) ‘Rohani wants to renew direct talks with world powers’
4) Iran’s Rohani: Sanctions only benefit Israel
5) Canadian FM: Iran has 2-3 months to prove it’s resolving nuclear crisis
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