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Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 12/20/2012 10:01:17 AM
	Israel OK's new homes in West Bank, Jerusalem By TIA GOLDENBERG \| Associated Press – 13 hrs ago Associated Press/Dan Balilty - A Palestinian worker is seen on a construction site in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Ramat Sholmo, Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2012. A European diplomat says Germany and three other European members of the U.N. Security Council are preparing a statement condemning Israel's latest settlement plans in the West Bank.(AP Photo/Dan Balilty) JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel on Wednesday pressed forward with the construction of thousands of new homes in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, part of a series of new settlement plans that have drawn worldwide rebuke, including from its closest ally, the United States. Separate planning committees gave approval Wednesday to a new settlement in east Jerusalem, the first to be built in the contested area since 1997, and construction of 1,000 new homes in existing settlements across the West Bank. The announcements drew harsh Palestinian condemnations and were likely to heighten the already rising tensions between Israel and its allies in the West. The Palestinians claim the West Bank and east Jerusalem, captured by Israel in 1967, as parts of a future state. The international community opposes all Israeli settlement in the two areas. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking at a gathering of foreign diplomats, refused to back down. "All Israeli governments have built in Jerusalem. We're not going to change that," he said. "I want you to ask any of you to imagine that you would limit construction in your own capital. It doesn't make sense," Netanyahu said. Mark Regev, a spokesman for Netanyahu, said the newly announced housing units are in areas "which will stay a part of Israel in a future peace agreement." Israel annexed east Jerusalem, home to sensitive Jewish, Christian and Muslim holy sites, after the 1967 war in a move that has never been internationally recognized. While Israel claims the entire city, the Palestinians want to make east Jerusalem their capital. The battle over east Jerusalem is perhaps the most intractable and explosive issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Netanyahu authorized the construction of thousands of new settlement homes in response to the U.N. General Assembly's recognition of Palestine in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip as a nonmember observer state. Israel rejects a full pullback to its 1967 lines and accused the Palestinians of trying to bypass negotiations with the move. The Palestinians say they turned to the U.N. in frustration after four years of deadlock in Mideast peace efforts. Though Netanyahu wants talks to start without preconditions, the Palestinians have refused to negotiate with Israel while settlement construction continues, saying the building in territories they claim is a sign of bad faith. "The Israeli settlement enterprise in the West Bank and east Jerusalem is killing the two-state solution, and we are taking the battle against this enterprise to the international community," Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki said Wednesday. Israeli critics have accused Netanyahu of backing the plans to pander to hard-line voters ahead of Jan. 22 parliamentary elections. Construction on most of the projects could be years away, but his strategy has antagonized Israel's allies, and the fierce international reactions appear to have caught Israeli officials off guard. The United States, using especially harsh language, on Tuesday accused Israel of engaging in a "pattern of provocative action." U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland repeated that phrase Wednesday, adding that "these repeated announcements and approvals of new construction are harmful to the cause of peace." The U.N. Security Council debated the matter on Wednesday. There was no vote. But representatives of all council members, except for the U.S., stepped to the microphone outside the chamber to denounce the Israeli settlement plans, which they warned is threatening a two-state peace settlement with the Palestinians. Separately, U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon told reporters that Israel's heightened settlement activity "gravely threatens efforts to establish a viable Palestinian state." In Wednesday's decision, Jerusalem Planning Committee approved 2,612 housing units in the new east Jerusalem settlement called Givat Hamatos, said Jerusalem City Councilor Pepe Alalu. The area, inhabited by a few dozen Jewish and Palestinian families who live in rundown trailers, would be the first new settlement to be built in east Jerusalem since 1997. Alalu, who voted against the project, said construction could begin in a year. Critics consider Givat Hamatos a particularly problematic area to develop because, along with another contentious plan in an area known as E-1, it would hinder access to east Jerusalem from the West Bank. The Palestinians claim east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state. In a separate move, Israel's Housing Ministry said it would soon issue tenders for 1,000 new homes in a number of settlements, some deep inside the West Bank. Those settlements are Givat Zeev, Beitar Illit, Karnei Shomron, Geva Benyamin, and Emanuel. Seeking bids for construction is the final stage of approval, and Hagit Ofran of anti-settlement watchdog group Peace Now estimated it would take six months to a year before building begins. The projects approved Wednesday were all among the plans announced by Netanyahu following the Nov. 29 U.N. vote. Ofran said the Jerusalem Planning Committee is to discuss Thursday approving an additional 1,150 housing units in the east Jerusalem settlement of Gilo. Also Wednesday, Israel charged an Arab citizen with attempted murder in connection with the bombing of a Tel Aviv bus last month. Mohammed Mafarja, 18, was accused of planting a bomb on the bus during Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip. According to the Israeli indictment, he carried out the attack in solidarity with Gaza Palestinians and to avenge Israel's assassination of Hamas military commander Ahmad Jabari. The bomb exploded minutes after Mafarja disembarked, wounding 27 people.
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
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Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 12/20/2012 10:02:54 AM
	Group: Israel broke law by targeting media in Gaza Associated Press – 1 hr 39 mins ago JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli army attacks on journalists and media facilities in the Gaza Strip during last month's military operation violated the laws of war, Human Rights Watch said in a release Thursday. Two Palestinian cameramen were killed and at least 10 media personnel were wounded in the offensive, which was launched after weeks of rocket attacks on Israel. The Israeli government has said each of the targets was a legitimate military objective. In its statement, the New York-based rights group said it found no support for that claim. "Just because Israel says a journalist was a fighter or a TV station was a command center does not make it so," said Sarah Leah Whitson, the group's Mideast director. The Israeli military said in a statement that it "acts in accordance with the laws of armed conflict, despite the ongoing deliberate violations and abuse of these laws by the terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip." It said it was investigating the events mentioned in the report and would respond further once the inquiry was completed.
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
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Michael... 9612 6893 Melbourne	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 12/20/2012 11:56:55 AM
	Was Sandy Hook a False Flag Op?
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Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 12/20/2012 5:43:39 PM
	Hi Michael, Your question is both reasonable and legitimate, but as I recently told Myrna and others, I don't have all the answers and the few ones I may have unfortunately open up more questions. Something I am sure about, though is there is a pretty obvious connection in all these cases. To me, other than the guns the killers can apparently use at will, there is the prescription drugs that they all seem to have been taking for long periods of time that must be taken into account as well. We all know who the owners of the labs that produce those drugs are, and how those boys were probably taking them in high doses; and the fact that they were doing so with the doctors' approval is beyond question. So it is this explosive combination of guns in the hands of boys with psychological problems and the drugs that they have more or less been using at will that is to blame in all these cases. The fact that these drugs in many of them have not been sufficiently tested, together with the free use of guns, quite obviously is the main factor that has been triggering the killings. As to the root cause, my best guess is it is the cabal that is behind all this. They are the owners of everything, both the big arms factories and the big pharma labs, and they are powerful enough to have laws passed that will let them do whatever they like; plus a number of Congress members and the doctors and heads of public hospitals can be in their payroll. But are they directly reaponsible in every case, through mind control or whatever, or have they merely made a bid on those two factors triggering the killings from time to time, here and there? I cannot know. Hugs, Miguel Quote: Was Sandy Hook a False Flag Op?
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
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Luis Miguel 1162 61587 Lima	RE: ARE WE NOW IN THE END TIMES? 12/20/2012 9:13:48 PM
	Kerry: Mistakes made at State in Libya assault By DONNA CASSATA \| Associated Press – 6 hrs ago Associated Press/J. Scott Applewhite - Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., speaks to reporters following a closed-door briefing on the investigation of the deadly Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2012. An Accountability Review Board's report indicates serious bureaucratic mismanagement was responsible for the inadequate security at the mission in Benghazi where the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans were killed. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department had "clear warning signs" of a deteriorating security situation in Libya prior to the deadly Sept. 11 assault on the diplomatic mission, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said Thursday as he also faulted Congress for failing to provide sufficient funds to protect facilities worldwide. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee — and possibly the next secretary of state, said a recently completed independent probe pulled no punches and "clearly mistakes were made" at the State Department. Deputy Secretary of State William Burns told the committee, "we must do better." Kerry complained that lawmakers have provided far less money to the State Department, forcing it to scramble to cover the costs of securing diplomatic installations. The department is seeking $1.4 billion in next year's budget for increased security. Joining Burns was Deputy Secretary of State Thomas Nides, who is in charge of management, at back-to-back congressional hearings. Their public testimony comes two days after an independent review panel issued a blistering report blaming management failures at the State Department for the lack of security at the Benghazi compound. It also comes as fallout from the report forced four State Department officials to step down Wednesday. "Why, if we quickly did find out it was in part a terrorist attack, why wasn't there better security on that evening with the ambassador in Benghazi and in the consulate and what do we need to do to make sure?" said Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "People keep forgetting that was about a nine-hour attack moving from the consulate to the annex. We had already called up troops from Fort Bragg (North Carolina) and got them to Sicily before the attack was over," he said. "We knew it was a big-time attack. We flew in two planes from Djibouti, additional assets from Croatia. We need to find out who knew what when." U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens was killed in the attack along with information specialist Sean Smith and former Navy SEALs Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods, who were contractors working for the CIA. Stevens was the first U.S. ambassador killed in the line of duty since 1979. An unclassified version of the report by the Accountability Review Board concluded, "Systematic failures and leadership and management deficiencies at senior levels within two bureaus of the State Department resulted in a Special Mission security posture that was inadequate for Benghazi and grossly inadequate to deal with the attack that took place." The report singled out the Bureau of Diplomatic Security and the Bureau of Near East Affairs for criticism, saying there appeared to be a lack of cooperation and confusion over protection at the mission in Benghazi, a city in eastern Libya that was relatively lawless after the revolution that toppled Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi. Obama administration officials said those who resigned were Eric Boswell, assistant secretary of state for diplomatic security; Charlene Lamb, deputy assistant secretary responsible for embassy security; and Raymond Maxwell, deputy assistant secretary of state who oversees the Maghreb nations of Libya, Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss personnel matters publicly. Some of the three may have the option of being reassigned to other duties, said the officials. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the department had accepted the resignations of four people: Boswell and three others she declined to identify. The resignations did little to mollify lawmakers who will question Burns and Nides and who insist that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton testify in the coming weeks despite her plan to leave the administration. Clinton had been scheduled to testify before the committees, but canceled after fainting and sustaining a concussion last week while recovering from a stomach virus. Clinton is under doctors' orders to rest. "She is ultimately responsible for the department and U.S. posts around the world. Her testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is indispensable to any effort to address this failure and put in place a process to ensure this never happens again," Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said. The report's findings underscore a fundamental problem the State Department has been trying to address for decades without success: how to protect diplomats while allowing them to perform their duties to reach out to foreign governments and the public to promote U.S. interests and values. In a letter to Congress, Clinton said "our diplomats cannot work in bunkers and do their jobs." "When America is absent, especially from dangerous places, there are consequences," she said. "Extremism takes root, our interests suffer, and our security at home is threatened. We must accept a level of risk to protect this country we love and to advance our interests and values around the world." The American Foreign Service Association, the union that represents U.S. diplomats, said it agreed. It welcomed the findings and accepted the board's 29 recommendations for improving embassy security, particularly at high-threat posts. "There is inherent risk in the practice of active and effective diplomacy, and our diplomatic personnel will always be exposed to a degree of harm in the line of duty," the association said in a statement. "It is our responsibility to do all we can to minimize the risk and balance it with the importance of the mission and to ensure that the missions we undertake have the personnel and financial resources to achieve policy goals." At the State Department, retired Adm. Mike Mullen, co-chairman of the review board, said the mission's security fell through bureaucratic cracks caused in part because buildings were categorized as temporary. Budget constraints also led some officials to be more concerned with saving scarce money than in security, the report said. The other co-chairman, retired ambassador Thomas Pickering, said personnel on the ground in Benghazi had reacted to the attack with bravery and professionalism. But he said the security precautions were "grossly inadequate" and the contingent was overwhelmed by the heavily armed militants. "They did the best they possibly could with what they had but what they had wasn't enough," Pickering said. Pickering and Mullen spoke shortly after briefing members of Congress in private. ___ Associated Press writer Matthew Lee contributed to this report.
	"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)
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