The collapse of the Barak government and early elections continue to dominate the headlines in Israel today. Speculation is rife concerning former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s chances of returning to power. The former Likud leader announced last night that he was re-entering politics to help Israel overcome "one of the worst crisis’ in its history." He charged that PM Ehud Barak’s "failed policies have brought us to the brink of war." He said that if he is returned to power, he would actively pursue a peace deal with the Palestinians, but only after ending the new Palestinian uprising that has left 40 Israelis and some 300 Arabs dead. He said he could not promise that Israel would have no more problems with its Arab neighbors, but pledged to at least "reach a cold peace" with them.
Netanyahu’s allies in the Knesset are rushing today to try and dissolve the legislative body and bring about general elections, instead of just a vote for premier. If they do not succeed, the former Likud leader will be barred from running against Barak since he is not a Knesset member. The vote for dissolution is expected to be close, and apparently hinges on the 17-man Shas party. Although party leaders say they want to see Netanyahu run and win, they are also quite aware of opinion polls showing that Shas could lose up to 6 seats in an early vote. Many Israelis who voted for the Sephardic Orthodox party in 1999 say they felt betrayed by the Shas alliance with Barak. An opinion poll published this morning in Israel’s largest newspaper, Yediot Ahronot, shows Netanyahu continuing to gain strength against Barak. If elections were held today, Barak would lose by a whopping 20%. Against current Likud leader Ariel Sharon, he would still lose, but only by 5%.
Politicians from both the right and left continue to denounce Barak for resigning on Saturday night in an apparent attempt to keep Netanyahu out of the contest, and to knock out potential challengers within his own Labor party. Left-wing Shinui party leader Tommy Lapid called Barak’s surprise resignation "a stinking maneuver" designed to "deny the public a chance to choose between him and Netanyahu." He met with the former Likud leader today and pledged to support the dissolution of the Knesset and early general elections (opinion polls show Shinui picking up at least 6 seats from the ruling Labor party). Likud party Jerusalem mayor Ehud Olmert called Barak’s resignation "an act of cowardice and desperation." Even more damaging to Barak, a Knesset legal expert said the PM had misused the early retirement law. He said the clause "was clearly not intended to be used as a political maneuver, but only for a leader who cannot continue in office for personal reasons, and does not intend to run again."
Barak successfully co-opted potential challengers in his own Labor party on Sunday by securing a quick endorsement of himself as the party’s candidate in the upcoming early vote, expected on February 6. Realizing that they had zero chance to prevent the move since Barak had given them no time to organize their own campaigns, potential challengers Shimon Peres and Knesset Speaker Avraham Burg did not even show up for the Labor party’s Central Committee show of hands that overwhelmingly endorsed Barak. However Burg said afterwards that he had tried to get into the hall for the vote, but was kept outside by Barak’s supporters.
Palestinian leaders reacted with public indifference to the Israeli political chaos. Yasser Arafat predicted that early elections would put off the potential resumption of peace talks, saying Barak is "famous for wasting time." Tanzim militia leader Marwan Barghouti said he was not bothered at the prospect that either Ariel Sharon or Binyamin Netanyahu would emerge as the next Israeli leader, saying a Likud victory would "motivate our people to further escalate the intifada and gain us more world support for our cause." Indeed, several Israeli political analysts are saying that Arafat himself probably prefers a Likud victory as it would strengthen support for his call for international intervention in the conflict, either from UN forces or from regional Muslim military forces. To help insure a Likud triumph, these analysts expect an upsurge in Palestinian terror attacks in order to help persuade a majority of voters to choose a right wing leader.
A European-dominated, but US-led "fact-finding" committee is here in Israel today to investigate the causes behind the new uprising. Committee members are only expected to stay around 12 hours in the land, meeting with senior Israeli and Palestinian officials. PM Barak is presenting the committee with evidentiary material that was prepared over the past two weeks by various government ministries and the army. Yasser Arafat is expected to do the same when he meets with the European and US group late this afternoon. The committee is chaired by former US senator George Mitchell, a politician of Lebanese decent who headed the Democratic party’s legislative fight against former president George Bush and later gained world fame by mediating the dispute in Northern Ireland. Former Republican senator Warren Rudman, who is Jewish and politically liberal, is assisting him along with former Turkish president Suleyman Demriel, who is a Muslim, Norwegian Foreign Minister Thorbjorn Jagland, and Javier Solana of Spain, the senior EU security official. The committee was put together at the recommendation of US President Bill Clinton.
Israel radio says Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben Ami has gone to Paris today to hold "secret" talks with officials about four Israelis that were captured by Hizbullah militia forces in Lebanon in October. The reports quote Lebanese media as saying that ongoing contacts could produce a deal within ten days to exchange the captured Israelis for over 20 Lebanese being held in Israeli jails. Israeli officials had no immediate comment on the reports. Analysts say that if such an exchange took place, it would significantly help reduce military tensions along the Israel-Lebanon border.
Israel’s chief Ashkanazi rabbi Meir Lau, who survived a Nazi concentration camp as a child, had what he called a "miraculous deliverance" from injury or death on Sunday evening. He was riding in an armored-plated bus that was attacked by Palestinian gunmen north of Jerusalem. The bullets flew through a window right next to the seat that Rabbi Lau had been sitting in on the earlier drive to the Jewish settlement of Ateret, near Ramallah, where he went to dedicate a new Torah scroll. On the return journey, the Chief Rabbi decided to sit in the second seat of the nearly empty bus. "Suddenly heavy fire hit the window and even though it was an armored bus, the glass shattered everywhere, hitting the seat right in front of me." Rabbi Lau said it was "a great miracle, but then I am used to miracles."
Shots are being fired today at Israeli army outposts in the divided town of Hebron. In action yesterday, IDF troops exchanged fire with two Palestinians who they said where planting a bomb along a road south of Jerusalem. One of the gunmen, killed in the exchange, was later identified as a member of the Tanzim militia from Bethlehem. Soldiers also safely defused another roadside bomb near Eilon Moreh east of Nablus. A Palestinian was shot and killed in a clash with soldiers near Nablus.
Israeli police remanded a Jewish man who was charged with unnecessarily wounding a Palestinian youth in a violent confrontation near Hebron on Saturday. The man admitted to shooting the young teenager, but said he was acting in self-defense. Palestinians say he deliberately shot the youth in the stomach. Tension remains extremely high in the area after two Israeli civilians were killed in an armed Palestinian ambush on Friday. Meanwhile, officials say they have identified the men who shot at an Israeli civilian bus on Friday as members of Yasser Arafat’s security forces. The assailants fled into Palestinian-controlled Jericho. Israeli forces are gearing up for more potential terror attacks on Thursday, the anniversary of the radical Islamic Hamas movement’s founding in 1987, and for another "day of rage" on Friday. Palestinian newspapers have published calls by uprising leaders for both days to be marked with "an escalation of resistance acts against the occupation, and of attempts to break the siege around our sacred Al Aksa mosque" in Jerusalem.
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Things are heating up for Israel. She is surrounded by radical Muslim nations dedicated to her destruction. Russia is arming and preparing these troops exactly as the Bible predicted. And the peace process -- though fraught with problems, is continuing forward. When it eventually reaches conclusion, it may produce a false sense of security for Israel and may perhaps be the time that "Russia thinks an evil thought", and leads the radical Muslim nations in their ill-fated invasion of Israel. Or, perhaps, it is in the aftermath of the invasion that peace is achieved only to later usher in destruction as Israel cries out, Peace, Peace!
What Israel's enemies will not anticipate is God's intervention in the course of human history. The result is catastrophic for the invaders, but will change life for all mankind, as well. These events include nuclear weapons and an earthquake so large that it shakes the entire earth. But most important is that, during this time in history, God once again pours out His Spirit on the House of Israel, showing His greatness and holiness, and making Himself known in the sight of many nations. "Then they will know that I am the LORD". (Eze 38:23) God will "once again, in a little while, shake the heavens and the earth, and the sea and the dry land; and I will shake all nations, and the desired of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts."(Haggai 2:6-7) "And the desired of the nations shall come.''
``It is now the hour to awake from sleep, for our salvation is closer than when we first accepted the faith.'' (Rom 13:11)
God's righteous judgements are always redemptive. He does not desire that anyone perish, but that all come to repentance and everlasting life.
This invasion could now take place at almost any time. To prepare for it, stay close to the Lord by purifying your heart and thoughts through the daily washing of the Word. Be careful not to forsake the Holy One of Israel. Soon the culmination of all things shall begin.
Purify yourselves daily by the reading of the Word. Jesus is returning for a Holy and Spotless Church. ``Today is the day of salvation for many who are perishing; their tomorrow shall not see my return in glory to judge the living and the dead. Today is the day of their salvation." Don't delay. Time is short. You have no guarantee that you will even see tomorrow. If you die without receiving Jesus as your Lord and Savior, your eternal destiny is fixed.
As we see the signs of His return drawing close, what manner of holy life should we be living? Remember that Jesus is returning for a Holy and Spotless Bride. Whether His return is today or 10 years from now is irrelevant since eternity is only a heart beat away for any of us. So choose this day whom you will serve, ask the Holy Spirit to search you to see if there be any iniquity in you, and then call upon Jesus your Deliverer. He is faithful for forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unfaithfulness.
"Watch and pray, therefore, that you would be counted worthy to escape the judgment that is coming upon the earth and be able to stand before the Son of Man" (Luke 21:36).
Maranatha!
Blessings on you all as we all wait for the return of our precious Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Maranatha!
How to Be Saved Through Jesus
DAVID DOLAN is a Jerusalem-based author and journalist. He has written the monthly Israel News Digest for CHRISTIAN FRIENDS OF ISRAEL since 1986. His just released book ISRAEL IN CRISIS: WHAT LIES AHEAD? may be ordered by phoning 888-890-6938 toll free in North America, or 01323 410 810 in England.
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