The headlines are exploding everywhere on the peace process with new angles, tensions, and players rising up everyday.
US has Big Plans: Peace Talks between Israel, Lebanon, Syria
Nasrallah: ‘Jerusalem cannot be the capital of Israel’
Sarkozy, Mubarak see role for Mediterranean Union in Mideast talks
Where do all these lead and how does every small piece fit together, only God knows.
It is interesting how the terminology used by the parties involved reflects that of God’s Word.
Time-lines and dates always make me nervous or maybe anxious is a better word.
I am surprised at how ambitious and strong the US administration has stated its demands so early in the negotiations. Then again, knowing what we know about this administration, should it really be a surprise.
We must remain watchful, and look for the sign’s Christ provided for us….
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US has Big Plans: Peace Talks between Israel, Lebanon, Syria
The United States hopes to move beyond talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority to negotiations that include Syria and Lebanon as well, according to U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs Jeffery Feltman. Feltman, formerly the U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon, made his statements Friday in an interview with Al-Arabiya TV that was picked up by Lebanese media.
While expressing a desire to include Lebanon and Syria in the talks, Feltman noted that there are many issues standing in the way of broader Middle East negotiations.
As if to illustrate the issues Feltman was referring to, a Hizbullah weapons cache exploded in the city of Shehabiyeh on Friday. A three-story building went up in flames. According to Hizbullah, there were no casualties. The terrorist group kept media from the site.
UNIFIL troops in Lebanon said Saturday that they are waiting for the results of an investigation before drawing conclusions from the occurrence. UNIFIL is tasked with enforcing the agreement that ended the Second Lebanon War, which calls for Hizbullah to be disarmed south of the Litani River — an area which includes Shehabiyeh.
The Syria-backed Shiite Muslim terrorist group Hizbullah dominates southern Lebanon. The group is now a part of Lebanon’s ruling coalition, and opposes any attempt to negotiate with Israel, which it refuses to recognize.
Syrian leaders agreed to conduct indirect talks with Israel’s previous prime minister, Ehud Olmert (Kadima). During the indirect talks, Syrian President Bashar Assad demanded that Israel turn over the entire strategic Golan region in exchange for a peace deal. The Israeli public has overwhelmingly rejected the idea of relinquishing sovereignty over the Golan, which was annexed following the Six Day War.
Talks between Israel and the PA began just last week. The fledgling negotiations are at risk of ending shortly after they began, due to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s insistence that Israel permanently freeze all construction for Jews east of the 1949 armistice line, where more than 300,000 Israelis make their homes.
(IsraelNationalNews.com)——————–
Nasrallah: ‘Jerusalem cannot be the capital of Israel’
The current round of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks will not succeed, Hizbullah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah said during a “Jerusalem Day” commemoration speech on Friday.
Nasrallah characterized the talks as “stillborn” and said, “Jerusalem, and not even one of its streets, can be the capital of the state called Israel.”
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Sarkozy, Mubarak see role for Mediterranean Union in Mideast talks
Paris – French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his Egyptian counterpart, Hosny Mubarak, said Monday in Paris that the Mediterranean Union (UPM) could yet become an important factor in finding a peace settlement in the Mideast.”We have proposed, with President Mubarak, that a Mediterranean Union summit could take place in mid-November, at which all the parties necessary for obtaining peace in the Mideast would participate,” Sarkozy said following a meeting with Mubarak.
For his part, the Egyptian president said such a summit would “reinforce the relaunch” of the peace process and help US negotiators tackle complex issues such as the highly controversial construction of Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory.
France and Egypt co-chair the Mediterranean Union, which was founded in 2008, but has not held a single summit since then because of the frozen Mideast peace process.
Mubarak came to Paris for talks with Sarkozy before continuing on to Washington, where he will take part in Mideast peace talks scheduled to begin on Thursday.
Both leaders argued for more direct European Union participation in the peace process.
“Everyone is needed to obtain results,” Sarkozy said.
Mubarak said he would have preferred to see “a certain number of European presidents” as well as the representatives from the so- called Mideast Quartet at the negotiating table in Washington.
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myBlessedHope 