Signs of the Anti-Messiah
(Anti-Christ)

We believe that in the near future in G-d’s prophetic timetable a world leader will either enter into or negotiate a treaty with Israel which will guarantee the peace and safety of Israel for a period of seven years, at least within the city of Jerusalem, and that the Temple will be re-built, and Temple worship with the complete sacrificial system will be re-established. The prophet Daniel predicted the establishment of this treaty in the last days, and that it would be broken half-way through the seven-year period.

The Bible identifies this world leader as the Anti-Messiah or Anti-Christ. We are therefore very suspicious of any world leader who would attempt to lure Israel into any peace treaty. [We are not in any way suggesting that President George W. Bush may be the Anti-Messiah — just that the Anti-Messiah will most certainly have an extremely similar agenda in regards to Israel.]

But with all the recent talk about  the rise of the Anti-Messiah, including the extremely popular Left Behind series of books, how will he possibly come to power without people, especially people who are students of Biblical prophecy, become aware of him. It may not be as difficult as it sounds. Read this article very carefully.

Why we believe there can never (until Messiah returns) be peace between Israel and the Palestinians
 

June 13, 2002
US Leaning Toward Negotiation Timetable
By JANINE ZACHARIA

WASHINGTON The Bush administration is strongly leaning toward announcing some type of timetable next week for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, despite Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's uneasiness with the concept, a US official told The Jerusalem Post yesterday after President George W. Bush held a "warm meeting" with Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal.

"It's one of the things we're coming to closure on in terms of our approach," the US official said. "We know that it is something a lot of people we have talked to have expressed a need for, particularly on the Arab side."

Bush apparently conveyed this readiness to suggest a timeline to the Saudi foreign minister, who told reporters after their 20-minute White House meeting: "I was very pleased with what I heard from the president."

A State Department spokesman, Phil Reeker, said the two discussed "how the United States and the Saudi crown prince have a very similar approach to bringing peace to the Middle East." Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah has offered Israel normalization of ties with Saudi Arabia in exchange for a full withdrawal from land Israel took control of after the Six Day War.

A senior Arab diplomat said despite all the fluctuation by the administration regarding a timetable, he is confident the president "will come out with an articulation soon, that would include an end game and a timeline." A statement by the president is expected next week. The president's Principals' Committee, a grouping of his senior advisers, is to convene today to decide how to proceed.

The US official stressed that the timeline would have a "strong performance component built in," suggesting that Israeli concessions would be conditional on a drop in Palestinian terror, and acknowledged, however, that "the Israelis, particularly Sharon and his people, are very skeptical" of a timeline that would commit Israel to certain moves.

Nevertheless, Israel Television, basing itself on a senior American official, reported last night that Sharon had presented Bush during their meeting with a diplomatic outline that included a rough timetable for Palestinian reform followed by final-status negotiations. The report could not be confirmed.

If true, this would represent a change in Sharon's position. He has consistently maintained that "artificial deadlines" are not helpful, and that progress on the diplomatic front will depend on what happens on the ground.

According to the report, Sharon called for PA reforms within 30 days; a year to rehabilitate the Palestinian economy and rebuild trust between Israel and the PA; and for final-status negotiations to begin at the end of this period.

The US timeline is certain to put more of an emphasis on Palestinian statehood.

Today there will be more Saudi input for US deliberations when Prince Saud al-Faisal meets with Secretary of State Colin Powell. Of that meeting, Reeker said: "This is an ongoing discussion to continue focusing on how best we can move forward with our three-part strategy that is, the effective Palestinian security performance, renewing a serious political process that aims at the two-state solution that the president and others have talked about and responding to the humanitarian needs of the Palestinian people, and building strong, responsible Palestinian institutions in preparation for Palestinian statehood." Powell is also due to meet today with Palestinian Minister Nabil Shaath.

Also still in town are Sharon's advisers Dov Weisglass and Moshe Kaplinsky, who are quietly monitoring the feverish diplomacy.

Bush, seated alongside Sharon during the prime minister's visit on Monday, seemed to suggest that any US peace moves would be delayed until Palestinian governance improved.

Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat convened his new cabinet's first meeting yesterday and vowed to soon set a new date for legislative and presidential elections. He also called for an end to "cycle of violence and bloodshed" and urged his people to give the path of peace a chance.

The State Department called Arafat's statements "positive." "We'll be watching closely for implementation of those idea...Certainly, Chairman Arafat needs to continue to give clear signals to his people that terror and violence cannot help the Palestinians achieve their national aspirations and needs to continue to move decisively to confront terror and violence as part of this overall process," Reeker said.

Also yesterday, Sharon told a meeting of the Likud secretariat that neither the US nor the UK complained about any of Israel's operations in the territories during his visits.

"It is clear to both the United States and the United Kingdom that Israel can feel free to take any steps necessary to provide security for its people," Sharon said. "The US doesn't always agree, but they always understand our point of view on everything."

Herb Keinon and Gil Hoffman contributed to this report.

Mirrored from The Jerusalem Post
4 Tamuz 5762, Friday Jun. 14, 2002 (17:42)

President George W. Bush meets with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al Faisal in the Oval Office of the White House on Thursday. (Photo: Reuters)

U.S. President George W. Bush looks set to make public his privately-expressed intention to propose a Palestinian state - but the timetable, borders and nature of the nascent state are still far from clear. The New York Times reported Friday on its Internet site that White House officials are working on a speech for the President, to be delivered next week, in which he is expected to lay out his proposal for the advancement of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

The chief Palestinian negotiator said on Friday that a promised U.S. proposal to create a Palestinian state must also set a deadline for ending Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat demanded that Bush set a timetable for reaching a clearly defined goal, which should be the creation of a state in all of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

"What is needed from the U.S. administration is to specify a mechanism and to specify a timeline that will end the Israeli occupation," Erekat said Friday. "This must go in parallel with the building of Palestinian institutions and parallel with ending the Israeli aggression and attacks and settlements," he added.

The centerpiece of the plan that Bush will present is a provisional Palestinian state - an idea Bush discussed in his meeting with Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal on Thursday. The precondition for such a state's establishment will be the fundamental reform of the Palestinian Authority, under international supervision, in three areas: governance methods, security services and financial administration. The American message to the Palestinians will be that the sooner reforms are implemented, the sooner a Palestinian state will be declared. Bush's remarks Monday during his joint press conference with Sharon clearly hinted at this.

The Times reported Friday that, during his meeting with Prince Saud, Bush indicated he had decided to propose the plan, probably next week, in an attempt to help contain Middle East violence and give some immediate hope to Palestinians living under Israeli occupation.

Quoting "officials familiar with the talks," the newspaper reported that the U.S. president did not provide all of the details of his plan in the 20-minute meeting with the Saudi minister, but indicated it was designed to help quell violence and hold Palestinian leaders to a high standard of accountability.

The decision comes after much debate within the Bush administration over whether such a step could pacify the region. Bush adopted a two-state solution last year but has never said how or when Israel should end its occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.

The talks with Prince Saud included discussions on how to refer to the as-yet-undefined borders of a Palestinian state in any declaration, how to set a timeline for negotiations and how to arrange for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the West Bank so Palestinian institutions can be rebuilt, the newspaper said in an article on its Web site.

The Saudi minister told reporters, "I was very pleased with what I heard from the president" and said he would answer more questions on Friday.

But Prime Minister Sharon has rejected the idea, arguing that a timetable was tried in the past and merely created exaggerated expectations, which in turn led to the current violence. Bush accepted this argument and agreed the performance benchmark system is better. But the Americans insist that they - rather than Israel, as Sharon had wanted - determine whether these benchmarks have been met.

Administration policy-makers have been searching for a compromise formula that would not only meet some of the demands of both sides, but also make tough demands of both sides. Over the last few weeks, they have asked Sharon whether Israel would be willing to resume honoring the Oslo map, with its clear distinction between Area A (full Palestinian control) and Area B (Palestinian civil administration but Israeli security control). This distinction has been effectively erased since the outset of Operation Defense Shield in late March. Washington also wants a full settlement freeze, to which Sharon objects. He told American officials that he agreed to a settlement freeze as part of the Mitchell program, but that program also called for a cease-fire and various other Palestinian security steps that were never implemented.

Mirrored from Ha'Aretz Daily
Friday, June 14, 2002 Tamuz 4, 5762
Israel Time: 18:02 (GMT+3)

 
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