Haaretz is reporting the following, in part (emphasis added mine):

After an Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian territories within the framework of an overall peace agreement, foreign forces could be stationed there for a specific period, the secretary-general of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, told Haaretz in an interview over the weekend in Brussels.

Foreign peacekeeping forces on the ground in the troubled Middle East. This, I have noted on a number of occasions, is how peace is typically confirmed in our day, in the manner Bible prophecy suggests the future seven-year covenant between Israel and others is going to be confirmed by the Antichrist “with many” as foretold in Daniel 9:27.

And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make [it] desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

On a number of occasions in the past I have suggested that my suspicion (KEYWORD: suspicion) is the Antichrist - a prince (or leader) of Roman descent - is going to confirm (or make strong) the covenant of peace foretold by the prophet Daniel through the use of an international peacekeeping force or a force comprised of his own people with the express approval of the international community. The stage seems to be being set for that precise scenario to unfold.

Reviewing briefly recent events, some of which I covered in another commentary, the European Union, the revived Roman empire of Bible prophecy, has expressly asked the incoming Obama administration for the opportunity to play a larger role in global affairs and, particularly, to act as co-guarantors of any future Israeli-Palestinian peace covenant that is reached. They are essentially asking, before our very eyes, what may amount to exactly what the prophet Daniel foresaw when he prophesied of the Antichrist of Roman descent (Daniel 9:26) confirming peace in the Middle East thousands of years ago.

I think most anyone who has studied past attempts at Middle East peace being obtained, even cursorily, realizes that the likelihood Israel and her enemies surrounding her on every side are going to be successful in implementing any workable peace agreement by themselves is marginal at best. A ‘third wheel’, it seems, is going to be necessary to pull it off. When we consider that and look at the book of Daniel, we see how strikingly accurate God’s vision of future events were laid out for Daniel to record for us, not to mention how very close we may well be to the return of Jesus Christ, our Lord!

Truly, our redemption draweth nigh!

Take a deep breath, Christians

Many of my brothers and sisters in Christ have written to me, worried about what the future holds, as a result of our nation’s most Left-leaning government ever preparing to take control of the United States on January 20th, 2009. Many are feeling helpless and hopeless because great potential exists that many of our most treasured freedoms are going to be jeopardized, if not erased altogether, over the course of the next few years. I confess that I’m troubled by recent developments myself on multiple fronts, but I’m trying my best to keep things in their proper perspective.

As hard as it is to look past the here and now for many of us, we need to focus our minds on what is playing out before our eyes in the BIG PICTURE to the extent our mortal flesh and its weaknesses will permit us to. We’ve not been forgotten nor forsaken and, believe it or not, better days lie ahead for us!

Jesus said, as recorded in John 14:1-3, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”

As we take a look into what the future seems to be pointing toward coming to pass in the Middle East, we need to remember at all times that a promise has been made to us. It’s a promise that will be kept, potentially very soon.

A water tunnel dating back to the First Temple era - but that might have been used even earlier, during King David’s conquest of Jerusalem - has been uncovered in the ancient City of David, a prominent Israeli archeologist said Wednesday.

The opening of the 3,000-year-old tunnel, which was found earlier this year during the ongoing excavations at the site, is just wide enough to allow one person to pass through, but only the first 50 meters are accessible since it is filled with debris and fallen stones, said Dr. Eilat Mazar, who is leading the dig at the site.

The walls of the tunnel are composed partly of unworked stones, while other parts simply use the bedrock.

The tunnel was discovered under an immense stone structure built in the 10th century BCE that has previously been identified by Mazar as the palace of King David.

The already-existing tunnel was integrated into its construction and was probably used to channel water to a pool located on the palace’s nearby southeast side, Mazar said.

Near the end of the First Temple period, the tunnel was converted to an escape passage, perhaps used in a manner similar to King Zedekiah’s escape during the Babylonian Siege, as related in 2 Kings 25:4, she said.

At this time, additional walls were constructed to prevent the possibility of anyone entering the tunnel from the slope of the hill and to prevent penetration of debris.

During the dig, complete oil lamps were found on the ground of the tunnel, characteristic of the end of the First Temple period.

But the tunnel’s characteristics, date, and location, Mazar said, testify with “high probability” that the water tunnel is the one called “tsinor” in the story of the King David’s conquest of Jerusalem (Samuel II, 5:6-8; Chronicles I, 11:4-6).

Archeologists have previously speculated that Warren’s Shaft, also located in the City of David, was the tsinor referred to in the biblical account.

“The new discoveries in the excavations in the City of David illuminate the ancient history of Jerusalem and the reality described in the Bible,” Mazar said.

The excavation at the City of David, which is located just outside the walled Old City across the road from the Dung Gate, has proven in recent years to be a treasure trove for archeologists.

Mazar, who rose to international prominence for her excavation of King David’s palace nearby, has been at the forefront of a series of Jerusalem archeological finds, including the remnants of a wall from the prophet Nehemiah in the area, and two seal impressions belonging to ministers of King Zedekiah.

The current dig is being conducted on behalf of the Shalem Center, a Jerusalem research institute, and the right-wing City of David Foundation, and was carried out under the academic auspices of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

The latest finding will be made public Thursday morning in an archeological symposium at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

(CNN) — Archaeologists believe a desert site in Jordan may contain the ruins of the elusive King Solomon’s Mines.

The mines have been the subject of films, including “King Solomon’s Mines,” starring Patrick Swayze.

Researchers using carbon dating techniques at Khirbat en-Nahas in southern Jordan discovered that copper production took place there around the time King Solomon is said to have ruled the Israelites.

The research findings were reported in this week’s issue of the journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, which came out Monday.

King Solomon is known in the Old Testament for his wisdom and wealth and for building the First Temple in Jerusalem.

The fabled mines entered popular culture in 1885 with the publication in Great Britain of the bestselling “King Solomon’s Mines” by Sir H. Rider Haggard. In the book, adventurers in search of the mines find gold, diamonds and ivory.

Since then, the mines have been the the subject of several films. Yet their possible location — and whether they exist at all — remains cloaked in mystery.

Thomas Levy of the University of California San Diego, who led the research, said carbon dating placed copper production at Khirbat en-Nahas (Arabic for ‘Ruins of copper”) in the 10th century — in line with the biblical narrative of Solomon’s rule.

“We can’t believe everything ancient writings tell us,” Levy said in a university statement. “But this research represents a confluence between the archaeological and scientific data and the Bible.”

Khirbat en-Nahas is an arid region south of the Dead Sea, in Jordan’s Faynan district. The Old Testament identifies the area with the Kingdom of Edom.

As early as the 1930s, archaeologists linked the site to the Edomite kingdom, but some of those claims were dismissed in subsequent years.

“Now … we have evidence that complex societies were indeed active in 10th and 9th centuries BCE and that brings us back to the debate about the historicity of the Hebrew Bible narratives related to this period,” Levy said

International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, October 7, 2008

An American Jewish group is being accused by some of Israel’s leading military and intelligence veterans of releasing an on-line video on Sunday in which their recent comments on the problems confronting Israel are twisted to appear as endorsements of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama.

The video was put out by the Jewish Council for Education & Research (JCER), a non-profit organization that supports Obama’s presidential run, which hired an Israel film company to conduct interviews with a series of leading Israeli strategic thinkers.

In the video, several former IDF generals and intelligence chiefs speak of Obama as a “breath of fresh air” in comparison to current US President George W. Bush, and suggest Republican candidate Sen. John McCain will continue his failed policies in the Middle East.

But former head of the Mossad Ephraim Halevy and former IDF deputy chief of staff Maj.-Gen. Uzi Dayan accused the group of taking their words out of context, saying that when filmed they had been told that the issue at hand was the challenges facing the next man in the White House, and not that the film was aimed at endorsing Obama for president.

“It’s not only misleading, it was an interview about what the next president was going to have to deal with,” Dayan told The Jerusalem Post, “and to know that they used this interview and took [only] five seconds [of it], and put me in a list of people praising Barack Obama… It wasn’t about the campaign, it was about the political and security issues of the Middle East that the next president should be involved in.”

“I don’t want other people to interfere in our elections, and I must not interfere with the elections in the United States,” Dayan said, adding that to do so would be neither “ethical nor smart.”

Halevy, who appeared in the video praising the Democratic candidate, also said he had been misled. “I was interviewed for a documentary dealing with what issues the new American president must deal with regarding the Middle East,” Halevy told the Post. “I was asked about the candidates and was complimentary to both.”

But when asked about his opinion on who was more qualified to be president, Halevy said he had rejected the question. “I said that I thought it was inappropriate for an Israeli to advise Americans on who they should vote for, as it would be for them to advise Israelis on who we should vote for,” he said.

Copyright © 2006 International Christian Embassy Jerusalem

By Avi Issacharoff

A moment before beginning his supper, Masab, son of West Bank Hamas leader Sheikh Hassan Yousef, glances at the friend who has accompanied him to the restaurant where we met. They whisper a few words and then say grace, thanking God and Jesus for putting food on their plates.

It takes a few seconds to digest this sight: The son of a Hamas MP who is also the most popular figure in that extremist Islamic organization, a young man who assisted his father for years in his political activities, has become a rank-and-file Christian. “I’m now called Joseph,” he says at the outset.

Masab knows that he has little hope of returning to visit the Holy Land in this lifetime.

“I know that I’m endangering my life and am even liable to lose my father, but I hope that he’ll understand this and that God will give him and my family patience and willingness to open their eyes to Jesus and to Christianity. Maybe one day I’ll be able to return to Palestine and to Ramallah with Jesus, in the Kingdom of God.”

Nor does he attempt to hide his affection for Israel, or his abhorrence of everything representing the surroundings in which he grew up: the nation, the religion, the organization.

“Send regards to Israel, I miss it. I respect Israel and admire it as a country,” he says.

“You Jews should be aware: You will never, but never have peace with Hamas. Islam, as the ideology that guides them, will not allow them to achieve a peace agreement with the Jews. They believe that tradition says that the Prophet Mohammed fought against the Jews and that therefore they must continue to fight them to the death.”

Is that the justification for the suicide attacks?

“More than that. An entire society sanctifies death and the suicide terrorists. In Palestinian culture a suicide terrorist becomes a hero, a martyr. Sheikhs tell their students about the ‘heroism of the shaheeds.’”

And yet, in spite of the criticism of the place he left, California can’t make the longings disappear.

“I miss Ramallah,” he says. “People with an open mind. … I mainly miss my mother, my brothers and sisters, but I know that it will be very difficult for me to return to Ramallah soon.

Next week an interview here on www.24-7israel.com
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