Violent clashes erupt in East Jerusalem as synagogue reopens
Tuesday, March 16th, 2010 | 
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Posted by John under: Ishmael,Moving Towards Ezekiel 38-39
An Israeli border police officer fires tear gas towards Palestinian stone-throwers in the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Issawiya. Photograph: Darren Whiteside/Reuters
Hamas begin ‘day of rage’ as US envoy postpones visit in protest over settlement policy
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Ishmael•FYI: Ishmael is the son of Abraham through Hagar, the maid of Abraham’s wife Sarah.
Ishmael is the Biblical father of the Arab nations. •From these nations came Mohammad, who in approximately 632 a.d founded the Religion of Islam.
•The verse below is speaking directly concerning Ishmael and the nations that would come from this direct descendent of Abraham.
“And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.”
—Genesis 16:12
Moving Towards Ezekiel 38-39
“Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:”
—Ezekiel 38:5
Editors note about Persia and Hamas •FYI: Many Bible teachers believe Persia is the area of present day Iran.
It certainly appears that, Hamas, is a surrogate army for Iran.
Israeli-Palestinian tensions erupted into violence today with clashes in East Jerusalem as the US postponed a visit by its Middle East envoy in protest at Binyamin Netanyahu’s settlement policy.
Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement, announced a “day of rage” after Monday’s reopening of a synagogue in Jerusalem’s Old City, clearly seeking to focus international attention on the issue.
The rival Fatah movement also urged Palestinians to flock to the al-Aqsa mosque, the most sensitive of Muslim sites in the divided city. Buses transporting worshippers were turned back.
Israel’s Ynet website reported 49 Palestinians injured in confrontations with Israeli paramilitary border guards. Masked rioters burned tyres and threw stones. Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets.
Hamas and Fatah officials have said that restoration work at the Hurva synagogue in the Old City’s Jewish quarter endangered al-Aqsa, situated some 400 yards away. Israel has denied the accusation. The synagogue was destroyed by Jordanian forces in the 1948 war.
The trouble erupted after the US announced that peace envoy George Mitchell was postponing his scheduled visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories as a sign of the Obama administration’s anger at Israel’s refusal to stop building Jewish homes in East Jerusalem.
Prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu has refused to draw a line under a crisis that erupted last week when, during a visit by US vice president Joe Biden, Israel announced plans for 1,600 new housing units in an Orthodox Jewish suburb beyond the pre-1967 border. Israel’s ambassador to the US has described the ensuing row as the worst between the US and Israel for 35 years.
Yesterday an Obama administration source told the Guardian that the White House and US state department were intent on pushing Israel into substantive peace talks with the Palestinians and would not shy away this time as they did when the last effort ended in embarrassing failure in September.
“No one gets anywhere by accusing each other. We are hoping to lay the foundations for negotiations,” the source said. In order to get negotiations under way, the US is demanding that Netanyahu cancel or freeze plans to build 1,600 planned Jewish homes in Palestinian East Jerusalem. But Netanyahu, speaking at a meeting of his own Likud party, showed no signs of backing down. “The building in Jerusalem, and in all other places, will continue in the same way as has been customary over the last 42 years,” he said.
The Israeli ambassador to the US, Michael Oren, expressed alarm about the extent of the confrontation. The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth quoted the normally cool Oren, an academic-turned diplomat, as saying: “Israel’s ties with the United States are in their worst crisis since 1975 … a crisis of historic proportions.”
Oren was called to the state department last week in a rare rebuke for a diplomat from a country the US normally regards as one of its strongest allies.
The White House has steadily built up the heat on Israel over the last few days, with the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, berating Netanyahu in a 45-minute call on Friday and David Axelrod, the chief White House adviser, describing Israeli behaviour as an insult yesterday.
The US wants Israel not only to backtrack on the East Jerusalem building plans but to enter into talks with the Palestinians on substantive issues and not just talks about talks, as Israel wants. Washington also wants Israel to make gestures towards the Palestinians, such as releasing Palestinian prisoners and withdrawing more Israeli forces from Palestinian territory.