America in Prophecy

TARSHISH - EZEKIEL 38:13:

"Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee [the invaders of Israel lead by Gog], Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?" (Ezekiel 38:13)

"Sheba, and Dedan" were both great-grandsons of Noah's son Ham thuough Raamah the son of Cush (Genesis 10:5-7). The Sabeans or Sheba was a nation in southern Arabia and Dedan is likewise in southern Arabia. In Ezekiel 38:13 "Sheba, and Dedan" signifies the area of the Arabian Peninsula, Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf states which are primarially economic and military allies of the United States.

Tarshish was the great-grandson of Noah and the son of Javan, one of the 7 sons of Japheth. Javan corresponds to Greece and Tarshish corresponds to the Phoenicians.

The Phoenicians established the city of Carthage on Africa's northern coast in what is now Tunisia, and it was these Carthaginians who from there colonized Spain in 654 BC, and began to explored the Atlantic coastline from western Africa to Britain. The area of Tartessus just outside Straits of Hercules (now Gibraltar) and to the north is associated with Tarshish. This area is located in the Guadalquivir Valley in southwestern Spain, where the Phoenicians founded colonies to capitalize on the wealth of minerals found there.

Phoenicia was located at the uttermost eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea occupying the area of modern Lebanon

The Richards Topical Encyclopaedia states, "Phoenician traders sailed out through the straits of Gibraltar and discovered the English tin mines, long before the Egyptians or the Babylonians even knew that there was such a place as Britain. England comes into the light of history much earlier than many of the modern European countries, such as Germany. This is because the British had valuable tin mines. Phoenician traders, used to visit England to get tin, many centuries before Christ. They tried to keep the location of the tin mines a great secret in order that no other nation should discover the deposits of the useful and costly metal. But other people did find out about the island, and a Greek geographer mentioned it in his writings as early as BC 350."

Archaeological evidence proves that they possessed sailing capabilities far beyond what was originally known. An inscription discovered in 1780 on a cliff above Mount Hope Bay in Bristol, Rhode Island, which was written in Tartessian Punic, reads: "Voyagers from Tarshish this stone proclaims." It is believed that this inscription was made about 533 BC. Howard University's Deptartment of Archaeology has found five other areas in the United States where Tarshish had colonies 2500 years ago.

Ezekiel 27:13 indicates that Tarshish was a source of tin, and the word "Britain" means "land of tin." It is also interesting that the symbol of Great Britin is the Lion.

It is certain that the descendants of Tarshish migrated to the areas which became Spain and Great Britain. Both Spain and England eventually became major naval powers, likely due to their very early contact with the sea going Phoenicians.

An analysis of these facts indicate that Tarshish may refer to all of western Europe, perhaps the entire modern European Union, but certinly to England and "the young lions thereof." We contend, therefore, that "all the young lions of Ezekel 38:13 "refer to the spin-off nations from the British Empire, the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

ALSO SEE:

1. Some Revelations About American Colonization -- Dr. Barry Fell
2. Stone Secrets Of The First Americans -- Thomas Fleming
3. Who Were the Merchants of Tarshish?
4. The Early Voyagers

APOSTATE CHRISTIANITY,
GNOSTICISM, CATHOLICISM
& THE NEW AGE MOVEMENT

Irenaeus (115-202 AD), Pastor of Lugdunum in Gaul (now Lyons), gives us some history behind Gnosticism which was the first satanic attack against God's Word (Genesis 3:1-6). Irenaeus was the disciple of Polycarp (70-156 AD), Pastor of the Church in Smyrna, who was taught by the Apostle John. It was John who wrote his First Epistle against Gnostic corrupters (i.e. 1 John 1:5, 2:23, 4:3 5:7) the false teachings of which are similar to Rosicrucianism and our many faceted modern New Age Movement. Irenaeus tells us that Simon the sorcerer (Acts 8:9-13, 18-24) was regarded as the father of Gnosticism. The people of Samaria called Simon "the great power of God" (Acts 8:10; cf. Mark 14:62; Luke 22:69). John was present in Samaria when Peter rebuked Simon for trying to buy the power of the Holy Ghost (Acts 8:14-24). According to Irenaeus Simon the sorcerer's faith was feigned and he used incantations, love-potions, charms, exorcisms, and was in contact with beings called "Paredri" (familiars) and "Oniropompi" (dream-senders) [Against Heresies 1.23]. Hippolytus (170-236 AD), Pastor of the Church in Portus near Rome, records that Simon allegorized the scriptures in order to support his false teachings, especially Genesis [Refutation of all Heresies 6.5-10]. Irenaeus also tells us that Gnosticism received its doctrines from pagan Greek philosophers like Pythagoras, Homer, Plato, Aristotle, and others [Against Heresies 3:3]. Some of the major heresies of Gnosticism include:

1. There are 30 gods (Aeons) outside of time and space (Pleroma). [Irenaeus, Against Heresies 1.1-3] (Isaiah 45:5, 46:9)
2. The goddess Sophia created a tyrant creator angel, Demiurge (The God of the Old Testament), who was not aware of the Aeons and thought he was the only God. Demiurge created man but Sophia gave him spirit. [Irenaeus, Against Heresies 1.5] (Psalms 34:8, 100:5, 135:3, 145:9)
3. Sophia sent the serpent (an angel) into the garden of Eden to free Adam and Eve. By eating of the tree Adam and Eve were set free through true knowledge (gnosis). However, Demiurge raped Eve many times and she gave birth to other evil creator angels (serpent seed doctrine). [Irenaeus, Against Heresies 1.30] (John 8:44; Revelation 12:9)
4. Some people are predestined to hell, while others are saved by doing enough good works. Other people have spirits sent forth from Sophia predestinating them to salvation regardless if they act good or evil. So the most "perfect" of them addict themselves to evil deeds and are in a habit of defiling the women they convert. [Irenaeus, Against Heresies 1.6-7, 4.37] (2 Peter 3:9; Romans 3:19-20; Ephesians 2:8-9; Luke 13:5; John 14:6; Acts 4:12)
5. All matter is evil and not capable of salvation. It will eventually be destroyed. [Irenaeus, Against Heresies 1.7, 23] (Luke 24:39; Philippians 3:21; 2 Peter 3:12-13; Revelation 21:1)
6. Mantras to effect nature (as in Hinduism and Kabbalah). [Irenaeus, Against Heresies 1.14-15] (Deuteronomy 18:10-12)
7. Perfect knowledge is obtained by baptism, spiritual marriage and last rites (sacramentalism). [Irenaeus, Against Heresies 1.21] (Titus 3:5; Galatians 2:16)
8. At death some souls enter an intermediate state to be purged of the animal nature (purgatory) before going into the Pleroma (full divine powers). [Irenaeus, Against Heresies 2.29] (John 19:30; Hebrews 10:10)
9. Reincarnation. [Irenaeus, Against Heresies 2:33] (Hebrews 9:27)
10. Christ descended upon Jesus at his baptism and left before Jesus went before Pilate (adoptionism). Sophia wouldn't allow Christ to suffer. [Irenaeus, Against Heresies 1.7] (1 John 5:7; John 1:14; Matthew 1:23; Micah 5:2)

Justin Martyr (100-165 AD) was born about the time John, the last apostle, died. Justin saw Jesus, "the Word" or Logos (John 1:1, 14; 1 John 1:1, 5:7; Revelation 19:13) as a separate being from God and subordinate to Him. Justin wrote, "There is ... another God and Lord [the Word] subject to the Maker of all things [the Father] ... above whom [the Father] there is no other God. ... He [the Word] who is said to have appeared to Abraham, and to Jacob, and to Moses, and who is called God, is distinct from Him [the Father] who made all things ..." (Dialogue with Trypho, 56). Justin speaks of the Logos as "another God ... distinct from [the Maker of all things]," but the Word of God declares:

1 John 5:7: "For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and THESE THREE ARE ONE."

Deuteronomy 6:4: "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our GOD IS ONE LORD."

Hebrews 1:1-3: "God ... hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds; WHO BEING THE BRIGHTNESS OF HIS GLORY, AND THE EXPRESS IMAGE OF HIS PERSON, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high." (cf. v. 8)

Philippians 2:5-7: "Christ Jesus ..., BEING IN THE FORM OF GOD, THOUGHT IT NOT ROBBERY TO BE EQUAL WITH GOD: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men."

1 Timothy 2:5: "For there is ONE GOD, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus."

The Scriptural explanation of the Holy Trinity is demonstrated by the fact that God created man in His own image. The Bible records that "... God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. ... So God created man in his own image" (Gen. 1:26-27). Part of God's image includes being a tri-unity, and since man is in His image, man is likewise a tri-unity of "... spirit and soul and body ..." as stated by the Apostle Paul (1 Thess. 5:23). A man has three parts, but is one person. God too has three parts, but is one God. The Hebrew word "Elohiym" translated "God" is plural and must be at least three. Furthermore, notice the great Old Testament definition of who Jehovah is, "The LORD our God is one LORD" (Deut. 6:4). The word LORD here is translated from the Hebrew word "יהוה" (Jehovah meaning The Great I AM; The Eternally Existing One), and that word "God" again is from "Elohiym." Therefore, the passage can be interpreted, "Jehovah our Trinity is ONE Great I AM."

Tatian (120-180 AD) was one of Justin Martyr's disciples and like Justin, he embraced Gnosticism. Irenaeus condemned three errors in Tatian's teaching: "He invented certain invisible 'aeons' [gods] like those of the Valentinians; he denounced marriage as 'corruption and fornication' .... he denied the salvation of Adam." Tatian wrote a synthesis or "harmony" of the Four Gospel called the Diatessaron" (through the four) around 170 AD. While the Diatessaron agrees with the Old Latin and the Syriac Peshitta, it omitted about a quarter of the text of the Gospels (including Matthew 1:1-17, 18:4; Mark 1:1, 6:53, 15:25; Luke 1:1-4, 3:23-38, 7:6-7, 24:12; John 1:6, 2:12-13, John 7:53-8:11). Like Justin, Tatian's doctrine of Jesus Christ was totally heretical. He said, "... the Logos descended to Jesus and was mingled with his soul; the Logos dwelt in him as in a temple." According to Tatian the means of creation was the "dynamis logike (the power in words). At first there proceeded from God the Logos who produced the world by creating matter from which the whole creation sprang.

Tatian's false doctrines of Christ, and of "dynamis logike" or word power ring of the heresies of the modern Word of Faith Movement. Kenneth Hagin (1917-2003) has been dubbed the father of this "Christian" movement, but its first proponent was actually Essek William Kenyon (1867-1948). Kenyon was a Free Will Baptist preacher who got involved with the New Age teachings of the New Thought movement which came to prominence in the late 19th century. New Thought emphasizes the metaphysical beliefs of positive thinking, creative visualization, healing, the Law of Attraction (thoughts influence chance), esoteric energy (all things are interconnected) and other Hindu and occult teachings. Kenyon mixed some of these diabolically opposed doctrines with Christianity. Numerous New Age cults were spawned by the New Thought movement, the largest being Unity School of Christianity or Unity Church. Hagin's hybrid theology was heavily influenced by Kenyon's teachings. Hagin preached a four-part formula for receiving God's promises: "Say it; Do it; Receive it; Tell it." Hagin said, "Often you create your own negative situations yourself with wrong thinking, wrong believing, and wrong speaking. So start believing according to God's Word. Then begin making positive confessions of faith and victory over your life. ... You will never receive anything from God beyond the words you speak. ... If you don't like what you have in life, then begin to change the way you are thinking, believing, and speaking. Instead of speaking according to natural circumstances out of your head, learn to speak God's Word from your spirit. Begin to confess God's promises of life and health and victory into your situation. Then you can begin to enjoy God's abundant life as you have what you say!" Many preachers and teachers have been influenced by Hagin's New Age teaching. Some of the most recognized include Kenneth Copeland, Joel Osteen, Benny Hinn, Frederick K. C. Price, Creflo Dollar, Joyce Meyer, Jerry Savelle. Like Justin and Tatian the Word of Faith teachers blaspheme the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to their heresy:  

Frederick Price said, "Jesus was on the earth just a man, not the son of God." (Tape #RP 19, May 1993)

Benny Hinn wrote, "Had the Holy Spirit not been with Jesus, He would have sinned. That's right, it was the Holy Spirit that was the power that kept Him pure. He was not only sent from heaven, but He was called the Son of Man -- and as such He was capable of sinning. ... Without the Holy Ghost, Jesus would have never have made it." (Good Morning, Holy Spirit, Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1990, 135-36)   Wait, it gets worse!

Kenneth Copeland, in relating what Christ supposedly told him, says, "don't be disturbed when people accuse you of thinking you are God ... the more you get to be like me, the more they are going to think that way of you. They crucified me for claiming that I was God. But I didn't claim I was God. I just claimed I walked with Him and that He was with me" ("Take Time to Pray," Believer's Voice of Victory, #15, 2 February 1987, p. 9).   Copeland also said, "You don't have a god in you, you are one." ("The Force Of Love" tape # 02-0028)   He further says, "When I read in the Bible where [Jesus] says, 'I Am,' I just smile and say, 'Yes, I Am, too!'" ("Believer's Voice of Victory" broadcast on TBN, recorded 7/9/87)  

Kenneth Hagin himself said, "You are as much the incarnation of God as Jesus Christ was" (The Word of Faith, December 1980, p. 14).

1 John 2:18-23: "Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. But YE HAVE AN UNCTION FROM THE HOLY ONE, and ye know all things. I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth. WHO IS A LIAR BUT HE THAT DENIETH THAT JESUS IS THE CHRIST? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also."

1 John 4:1-3: "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that JESUS CHRIST IS COME IN THE FLESH is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that JESUS CHRIST IS COME IN THE FLESH is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

2 John 7-11: "For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that JESUS CHRIST IS COME IN THE FLESH. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward. Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in THE DOCTRINE OF CHRIST, hath not God. He that abideth in THE DOCTRINE OF CHRIST, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.."

An antichrist can be one who is against Christ, or one who puts himself in the place of Christ. The latter is a major doctrine of the New Age Movement, namely that we can obtain Christ consciousness. The true Christ, however, came in the flesh (John 1:1, 14). He did not become Christ or obtain Christ consciousness, but was already Christ when He stepped out of eternity past to enter Mary's womb (Luke 1:30-35; cf. Isaiah 9:6-7), when he was born (Matt. 1:21-23; cf. Isaiah 7:14), and all His life, and He continues to be THE ONE AND ONLY CHRIST, now! "Hereby know ye the Spirit of God ..." (1 John 4:2)   Remember, the Lord Jesus told us that "... the Spirit of truth ... will guide you into all truth: for He shall ... glorify Me ..." (John 16:13-14).

Clement of Alexandria (150-215 AD) was a disciple of Tatian and was likewise a Gnostic. It is wise to keep in mind Luke 6:40 here, "The disciple is not above his master: but everyone that is perfect shall be as his master." Clement founded a Theological School in Alexandria, Egypt. He followed Platonism, and taught reincarnation, there is no heaven or hell, no blood atonement of Christ, and no infallible Bible. By far Clement's most famous student was Origenes Adamantius commonly known as Origen.

Origenes Adamantius (184-254 AD) or Origen for short is the arch-heretic of the ages, and the hero of Bible correctors and Catholicism alike. He was the disciple of Clement, and like his teacher was also a Gnostic. He became the leader of the school in Alexandria after Clement. He is best known for his editing a six version, six column Old Testament called the Hexapla. Origen followed the Greek philosophy of Plato, Pythagoras and Plotinus. He corrupted the Word of God with the teachings of the philosophers and with Gnosticism. Virtually all the modern Bible versions follow Origen's corrupt Bible. Here are some of Origen's doctrinal heresies:

"They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error." (1 John 4:5-6)

Today we have a continually evolving bible coming closer and closer to the New Age Religion of ancient Gnosticism and Roman Catholicism, the two horns of the second beast of Revelation 13.

In the early 1920's Foster Bailey (1888-1977) and his wife Alice Bailey (1880-1949) founded Lucifer Publishing (name later changed to Lucis Trust). In her book, The Externalization of the Hierarchy, Alice states, "The Christian church in its many branches can serve as a St. John the Baptist, as a voice crying in the wilderness, and as a nucleus through which world illumination may be accomplished. ... The church must show a wide tolerance, and teach no revolutionary doctrines or cling to any reactionary ideas." (New York, NY: Lucis Pub. Co., 1957, pp. 510, 511.) She wanted Christendom to shut up and assist in bring about the acceptance of the New Age concepts of self-realization, illumination and the Golden Age of Aquarius. The ultimate goal is the destruction of Biblical Christianity. Roman Catholicism is clearly on board with Bailey's agenda. The Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) documents states:

"... In Hinduism men explore the divine mystery and express it both in the limitless riches of myth and the accurately defined insights of philosophy. They seek release from the trials of the present life by ascetical practices, profound meditation and recourse to God in confidence and love. Buddhism in its various forms testifies to the essential inadequacy of this changing world. It proposes a way of life by which man can, with confidence and trust, attain a state of perfect liberation and reach supreme illumination either through their own efforts or by the aid of divine help. ... The Catholic Church rejects nothing of what is true and holy in these religions. "

Jesuit priest William Johnston explains how it happened, "... Overnight the Catholic Church which had been a Western institution exporting its wares to the East became a world community. Asian and African bishops and theologians assembled in Rome and, with their European and American confreres, acknowledged that the Spirit of God is at work in all peoples and in all religions. Since then, most theologians recognize non-Christian religions as valid ways."

The Gnostic nature of Catholicism is seen not only from its history, but also in the fact that it adapts to and assimilates pagan and eastern religions so easily. For example to the right we see Pope John Paul II receiving the Mark of the Hindu goddess Durga, the consort of the god Shiva. By the time this photo was taken, however, the pope had already been involved in several pagan rituals on his 1986 trip to India. Three days prior to taking this photo in Madras, India on February 5, 1986, the Pope had also taken the Mark of Shiva on his forehead. It is the red mark seen on the foreheads of so many Hindus signifying their devotion to Shiva. Here we see the two horns of the second beast of Revelation 13. The horns signifying seats of power. The powers being Catholicism and the New Age movement. The Vatican's goal of ecumenicalism is seen in her efforts to unite all the religions under her wing.

On October 27, 1986 and again on January 24, 2002 Pope John Paul II hosted first 160 and then 200 shamans, animists, imams, witch doctors, patriarchs, monks and rabbis from around the world for a prayer summit at Assisi, Italy. The world's religious leaders including the Dalai Lama (considered by many Buddhists to be a god), Islamic Mullahs from nine countries, Hindus, Zoroastrians, native American shamans, African animists, Jews, Catholics and Protestants assembled together to pray for world peace. Pope John Paul II declared, "We will stand side by side asking God to give us peace." Pope John Paul II has demonstrated broad ecumenical support by publicly hosting these religious leaders from all over the world, and has also done so in many books, seminars, on the Internet and by official sanction. Popedom has set an ecumenical agenda, which the world loves and accepts.

With New Age and ecumenical beliefs being advocated not only by Roman Catholics, but also by "Evangelicals," like Billy Graham, Rick Warren, Kenneth Copeland, Paul Crouch and Joel Osteen, it appears that the desired goal of a one world religion is closer to being achieved. The New Age aspiration to establish a one world religion lead by a "Christ Leader" is being met by the Pope and his Church. All of this ought not to surprise any believer, for the Bible has warned us of the end time Apostate Church system and her daughter harlots (Rev. 17). Christians cannot remain silent in the face of this apostasy. A further watering down of God's Word will continue to accommodate the unbelievers of the various New Age and other religions.

"Beloved, ... ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints." (Jude 3)

"We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not." (2 Peter 1:19 - 2:3)



REFERENCES:

1. Alice Bailey, The Externalization of the Hierarchy, New York, NY: Lucis Pub. Co., 1957, pp. 510, 511.

2. The Mystic Plague, Catholicism sets a Spiritualist Agenda by Richard Bennett.

3. Le Roux, Abbe Daniel, Peter, Lovest Thou Me?, Instauratio Press, Australia; 1989, pp. 155, 156

Corrupt Bibles

The Mother of Corrupt Versions






GOD'S HOLY LIFE GIVING WORD

2 Corinthians 2:17: "For we are not as many, which corrupt THE WORD OF GOD: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ."

Proverbs 30:5-6: "Every WORD OF GOD is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou not unto HIS WORDS, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar."

Romans 10:8-11, 17: "But what saith it? THE WORD is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, THE WORD OF FAITH, which we preach; 9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. ... 17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by THE WORD OF GOD."

James 1:17-18, 21: "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. 18 Of his own will begat he us with THE WORD OF TRUTH, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. ... 21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness THE ENGRAFTED WORD, which is able to save your souls."

Hebrews 4:12: "For THE WORD OF GOD is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."

Luke 4:4: "And Jesus answered him [Satan], saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by EVERY WORD OF GOD."

2 Corinthians 4:1-2: "Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; 2 But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling THE WORD OF GOD deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God."

Ephesians 6:14-17: "Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; 15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is THE WORD OF GOD:"

2 Timothy 2:15: "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing THE WORD OF TRUTH."

Revelation 22:17-19: "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. 18 For I testify unto every man that heareth THE WORDS OF THE PROPHECY OF THIS BOOK, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: 19 And if any man shall take away from THE WORDS OF THE BOOK OF THIS PROPHECY, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book."

Revelation 17:1-2, 4-6, 9, 15: "... Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. ... And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. ... The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues."

ALSO SEE: CATHOLICISM

Hosius on the Anabaptists

Comets Elenin & Honda

COMET ELENIN & THE FEAST DAYS

By John Henry

September 10, 2011

"And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and LET THEM BE FOR SIGNS, and for seasons, and for days, and years." (Genesis 1:14)

A Russian amateur astronomer, Leonid Elenin of Lyubertsy near Moscow, discovered a magnitude 19 (note 1) comet (known as C/2010 X1) on December 10, 2010 using a remotely controlled telescope situated in New Mexico, USA.

Comet Elenin will be closest to the Sun today, September 10, 2011, at 0.48 Astronomical Unit (note 2), and closest to Earth on 16 & 17 October 2011 at 0.23 Astronomical Unit (AU) or about 35 million kilometers (22 million miles) from Earth during its closest approach.

Elenin has been intrinsically faint at magnitude 10, but should be visible to the unaided eye at magnitude 4 in the evening sky for Southern hemisphere observers during early September 2011. Faint comets are usually gas rich and dust poor, but they do have a tendency to brighten rapidly when they are near the Sun. By mid September, it continues to brighten but is lost to evening twilight. During early October Elenin will reappear in dawn skies in the Northern hemisphere. In mid-October it will again be visible in the Southern hemisphere, but moonlight will interfere until October 23rd.

Comet Honda will join Elenin on 7 October on the eastern horizon in the Northern hemisphere making for a rare treat. Both comets will be around magnitude 5 or 6 and should be visible with the unaided eye with clear skies, and a dark location.

These comets are interesting Biblically for the following reasons:

1. Earth, Elenin and the Sun are in alignment on 28 September. Then the next day, 29 September, Eleinin leaves the alignment. September 29th is the Biblical Feast of Trumpets, a foreshadow of the Rapture (Leviticus 23:23-25; cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1 Corinthians 15:51-52). Furthermore, the United Nations General Assembly will be in session from September 28th to 30th to vote on whether to unilaterally declare a Palestinian state.

2. When Elenin and Honda become visible together on the night of 7 October it will be the beginning of Feast of Atonement, a picture of the 7 year Tribulation (Leviticus 23:26-32; cf. Daniel 9:27, 12:1 ; Matthew 24:21).

3. When Elenin is closes to the Earth on October 16, 17 & 18 at 22 million miles (0.23 AU) it will be during the Feast of Tabernacles, a type of the Millennial reign of Christ, and the eternal state after that (Leviticus 23:33-43; cf. Revelation 20:1-6, 21:1-7).

"And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh." (Luke 21:25-28)

NOTES:

1. Visible stars are measured by brightness (Magnitude) on a scale of 1 to 6, the brightest being 1. Magnitudes on the scale with numbers greater than 6 are not visible to the naked eye. Objects brighter than Magnitude 1 are indicated as minus (i.e. -1, -2. -3).

2. One Astronomical Unit (AU) is the distance from the center of the Earth to the center of the Sun.

LINKS:

http://elenin.org

http://elenin.org/honda.php

http://members.westnet.com.au/mmatti/sc.htm

http://www.aerith.net/comet/catalog/2010X1/pictures.html

http://standeyo.com/News_Files/Inspire/Jewish_calendar.html

http://www.theweatherspace.com/news/TWS-08_19_2011_eleninhonda.html

Palestine!?

THE FACTS ON PALESTINE
"There is no such thing as a Palestinian Arab nation ... Palestine is a name the Romans gave to Eretz Yisrael with the express purpose of infuriating the Jews. ... Why should we use the spiteful name meant to humiliate us? " "The British chose to call the land they mandated Palestine, and the Arabs picked it up as their nation's supposed ancient name, though they couldn't even pronounce it correctly and turned it into Falastin a fictional entity." (Golda Meir quoted by Sarah Honig, Jerusalem Post, 25 November 1995)

"Palestine has never existed as ... an autonomous entity. ... There is no language known as Palestinian. There is no distinct Palestinian culture. There has never been a land known as Palestine governed by Palestinians. Palestinians are Arabs, indistinguishable from Jordanians (another recent invention), Syrians, Lebanese, Iraqis, etc. Keep in mind that the Arabs control 99.9 percent of the Middle East lands. Israel represents one-tenth of one percent of the landmass. But that's too much for the Arabs. They want it all. And that is ultimately what the fighting in Israel is about today ... No matter how many land concessions the Israelis make, it will never be enough." (Myths of the Middle East by Joseph Farah, Arab-American editor and journalist, WorldNetDaily, 11 October 2000)

"From the end of the Jewish state in antiquity to the beginning of British rule, the area now designated by the name Palestine was not a country and had no frontiers, only administrative boundaries." (Professor Bernard Lewis, Commentary Magazine, January 1975)

Talk and writing about Israel and the Middle East feature the nouns "Palestine" and Palestinian", and the phrases "Palestinian territory" and even "Israeli-occupied Palestinian territory". All too often, these terms are used with regard to their historical or geographical meaning, so that the usage creates illusions rather than clarifies reality.

WHAT DOES "PALESTINE" MEAN?

It has never been the name of a nation or state. It is a geographical term, used to designate the region at those times in history when there is no nation or state there.

The word itself derives from "Peleshet", a name that appears frequently in the Bible and has come into English as "Philistine". The name began to be used in the Thirteenth Century BC, for a wave of migrant "Sea Peoples" who came from the area of the Aegean Sea and the Greek Islands and settled on the southern coast of the land of Canaan. There they established five independent city-states (including Gaza) on a narrow strip of land known as Philistia. The Greeks and Romans called it "Palastina".

The Philistines were not Arabs, they were not Semites. They had no connection, ethnic, linguistic or historical with Arabia or Arabs. The name "Falastin" that Arabs today use for "Palestine" is not an Arabic name. It is the Arab pronunciation of the Greco-Roman "Palastina" derived from the Peleshet.

HOW DID THE LAND OF ISRAEL BECOME "PALESTINE"?

In the First Century CE, the Romans crushed the independent kingdom of Judea. After the failed rebellion of Bar Kokhba in the Second Century AD, the Roman Emperor Hadrian determined to wipe out the identity of Israel-Judah-Judea. Therefore, he took the name Palastina and imposed it on all the Land of Israel. At the same time, he changed the name of Jerusalem to Aelia Capitolina.

The Romans killed many Jews and sold many more in slavery. Some of those who survived still alive and free left the devastated country, but there was never a complete abandonment of the Land. There was never a time when there were not Jews and Jewish communities, though the size and conditions of those communities fluctuated greatly.

THE HISTORY OF PALESTINE

Thousands of years before the Romans invented "Palastina" the land had been known as "Canaan". The Canaanites had many tiny city-states, each one at times independent and at times a vassal of an Egyptian or Hittite king. The Canaanites never united into a state.

After the Exodus from Egypt probably in the Thirteenth Century BC but perhaps earlier -- , the Children of Israel settled in the land of Canaan. There they formed first a tribal confederation, and then the Biblical kingdoms of Israel and Judah, and the post-Biblical kingdom of Judea.

From the beginning of history to this day, Israel-Judah-Judea has the only united, independent, sovereign nation-state that ever existed in "Palestine" west of the Jordan River. (In Biblical times, Ammon, Moab and Edom as well as Israel had land east of the Jordan, but they disappeared in antiquity and no other nation took their place until the British invented Trans-Jordan in the 1920s.)

After the Roman conquest of Judea, "Palastina" became a province of the pagan Roman Empire and then of the Catholic Byzantine Empire, and very briefly of the Zoroastrian Persian Empire. In 638 CE, an Arab-Muslim Caliph took Palastina away from the Byzantine Empire and made it part of an Arab-Muslim Empire. The Arabs, who had no name of their own for this region, adopted the Greco-Roman name Palastina, that they pronounced "Falastin".

In that period, much of the mixed population of Palastina converted to Islam and adopted the Arabic language. They were subjects of a distant Caliph who ruled them from his capital, that was first in Damascus and later in Baghdad. They did not become a nation or an independent state, or develop a distinct society or culture.

In 1099, Catholic Crusaders from Europe conquered Palestina-Falastin. After 1099, it was never again under Arab rule. The Catholic Crusader kingdom was politically independent, but never developed a national identity. It remained a military outpost of Catholic Europe, and lasted less than 100 years. Thereafter, Palestine was joined to Syria as a subject province first of the Mameluks, ethnically mixed slave-warriors whose center was in Egypt, and then of the Ottoman Turks, whose capital was in Istanbul.

During the First World War, the British took Palestine from the Ottoman Turks. At the end of the war, the Ottoman Empire collapsed and among its subject provinces "Palestine" was assigned to the British, to govern temporarily as a mandate from the League of Nations.

THE JEWISH NATIONAL HOME

Travellers to Palestine from the Western world left records of what they saw there. The theme throughout their reports is dismal: The land was empty, neglected, abandoned, desolate, fallen into ruins:

"Nothing there [Jerusalem] to be seen but a little of the old walls which is yet remaining and all the rest is grass, moss and weeds." (English pilgrim in 1590)

"The country is in a considerable degree empty of inhabitants and therefore its greatest need is of a body of population" (British consul in 1857)

"There is not a solitary village throughout its whole extent [valley of Jezreel] -- not for 30 miles in either direction. ... One may ride 10 miles hereabouts and not see 10 human beings. For the sort of solitude to make one dreary, come to Galilee ... Nazareth is forlorn ... Jericho lies a moldering ruin ... Bethlehem and Bethany, in their poverty and humiliation ... untenanted by any living creature. ... A desolate country whose soil is rich enough, but is given over wholly to weeds . . a silent, mournful expanse ... a desolation. ... We never saw a human being on the whole route. ... Hardly a tree or shrub anywhere. Even the olive tree and the cactus, those fast friends of a worthless soil, had almost deserted the country ... Palestine sits in sackcloth and ashes ... desolate and unlovely." (Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad, 1867)

The restoration of the "desolate and unlovely" land began in the latter half of the Nineteenth Century with the first Jewish pioneers. Their labors created newer and better conditions and opportunities, which in turn attracted migrants from many parts of the Middle East, both Arabs and others.

The Balfour Declaration of 1917, confirmed by the League of Nations Mandate, committed the British Government to the principle that "His Majesty's government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a Jewish National Home, and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this object." It was specified both that this area be open to "close Jewish settlement" and that the rights of all inhabitants already in the country be preserved and protected.

Mandate Palestine originally included all of what is now Jordan, as well as all of what is now Israel, and the territories between them. However, when Great Britain's protégé Emir Abdullah was forced to leave the ancestral Hashemite domain in Arabia, the British created a realm for him that included all of Manfate Palestine east of the Jordan River. There was no traditional or historic Arab name for this land, so it was called after the river: first Trans-Jordan and later Jordan.

By this political act, that violated the conditions of the Balfour Declaration and the Mandate, the British cut more than 75 percent out of the Jewish National Home. No Jew has ever been permitted to reside in Trans-Jordan/Jordan.

Less than 25 percent then remained of Mandate Palestine, and even in this remnant, the British violated the Balfour and Mandate requirements for a "Jewish National Home" and for "close Jewish settlement". They progressively restricted where Jews could buy land, where they could live, build, farm or work.

After the Six-Day War in 1967, Israel was finally able to settle some small part of those lands from which the Jews had been debarred by the British. Successive British governments regularly condemn their settlement as "illegal". In truth, it was the British who had acted illegally in banning Jews from these parts of the Jewish National Home.

WHO IS A PALESTINIAN?

During the period of the Mandate, it was the Jewish population that was known as "Palestinians" including those who served in the British Army in World War II.

British policy was to curtail their numbers and progressively limit Jewish immigration. By 1939, the White Paper virtually put an end to admission of Jews to Palestine. This policy was imposed the most stringently at the very time this Home was most desperately needed -- after the rise of Nazi power in Europe. Jews who might have developed the empty lands of Palestine and left progeny there, instead died in the gas chambers of Europe or in the seas they were trying to cross to the Promised Land.

At the same time that the British slammed the gates on Jews, they permitted or ignored massive illegal immigration into Western Palestine from Arab countries Jordan, Syria, Egypt, North Africa. In 1939, Winston Churchill noted that "So far from being persecuted, the Arabs have crowded into the country and multiplied." Exact population statistics may be problematic, but it seems that by 1947 the number of Arabs west of the Jordan River was approximately triple of what it had been in 1900.

The current myth is that these Arabs were long established in Palestine, until the Jews came and "displaced" them. The fact is, that recent Arab immigration into Palestine "displaced" the Jews. That the massive increase in Arab population was very recent is attested by the ruling of the United Nations: That any Arab who had lived in Palestine for two years and then left in 1948 qualifies as a "Palestinian refugees".

Casual use of population statistics for Jews and Arabs in Palestine rarely consider how the proportions came to be. One factor was the British policy of keeping out Jews while bringing in Arabs. Another factor was the violence used to kill or drive out Jews even where they had been long established.

For one example: The Jewish connection with Hebron goes back to Abraham, and there has been an Israelite/Jewish community there since Joshua long before it was King David's first capital. In 1929, Arab rioters with the passive consent of the British -- killed or drove out virtually the entire Jewish community.

For another example: In 1948, Trans-Jordan seized much of Judea and Samaria (which they called The West Bank) and East Jerusalem and the Old City. They killed or drove out every Jew.

It is now often proposed as a principle of international law and morality that all places that the British and the Arabs rendered Judenrein must forever remain so. In contrast, Israel eventually allotted 17 percent of Mandate Palestine has a large and growing population of Arab citizens.

FROM PALESTINE TO ISRAEL

What was to become of "Palestine" after the Mandate? This question was taken up by various British and international commissions and other bodies, culminating with the United Nations in 1947. During the various deliberations, Arab officials, spokesmen and writers expressed their views on "Palestine".

"There is no such country as Palestine. 'Palestine' is a term the Zionists invented. ... Our country was for centuries part of Syria. 'Palestine' is alien to us. It is the Zionists who introduced it." (Local Arab leader to British Peel Commission, 1937)

"There is no such thing as Palestine in history, absolutely not" (Professor Philip Hitti, Arab historian to Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry, 1946)

"It is common knowledge that Palestine is nothing but southern Syria." (Ahmed Shukairy, United Nations Security Council, 1956)

By 1948, the Arabs had still not yet discovered their ancient nation of Falastin. When they were offered half of Palestine west of the Jordan River for a state, the offer was violently rejected. Six Arab states launched a war of annihilation against the nascent State of Israel. Their purpose was not to establish an independent Falastin. Their aim was to partition western Palestine amongst themselves.

They did not succeed in killing Israel, but Trans-Jordan succeeded in taking Judea and Samaria (West Bank) and East Jerusalem, killing or driving out all the Jews who had lived in those places, and banning Jews of all nations from Jewish holy places. Egypt succeeded in taking the Gaza Strip. These two Arab states held these lands until 1967. Then they launched another war of annihilation against Israel, and in consequence lost the lands they had taken by war in 1948. During those 19 years, 1948-1967, Jordan and Egypt never offered to surrendar those lands to make up an independent state of Falastin. The "Palestinians" never sought it. Nobody in the world ever suggested it,much less demanded it.

Finally, in 1964, the Palestine Liberation Movement was founded. Ahmed Shukairy, who less than 10 years earlier had denied the existence of Palestine, was its first chairman. Its charter proclaimed its sole purpose to be the destruction of Israel. To that end it helped to precipitate the Arab attack on Israel in 1967.

The outcome of that attack then inspired an alteration in public rhetoric. As propaganda, it sounds better to speak of the liberation of Falastin than of the destruction of Israel. Much of the world, governments and media and public opinion, accept virtually without question of serious analysis the new-sprung myth of an Arab nation of Falastin, whose territory is unlawfully occupied by the Jews.

Since the end of World War I, the Arabs of the Middle East and North Africa have been given independent states in 99.5 percent of the land they claimed. Lord Balfour once expressed his hope that when the Arabs had been given so much, they would "not begrudge" the Jews the "little notch" promised to them.

Netanyahu - Abbas

Netanyahu & Abbas Speeches
at the United Nations
September 23, 2011

Video & Full Text Below

ABBAS ASKS U.N. FOR
PALESTINIAN STATEHOOD
By August Rosado

Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas asked the U.N. for Statehood based on 1967 borders.  Adding injury to insult Abbas also asked that East Jerusalem be the capitol of  the new PA State.  In his September 23, 2011 speech to the United Nations General Assembly, Abbas stated:

"[W]e decided to adopt the path of relative justice – justice that is possible and could correct part of the grave historical injustice committed against our people. Thus, we agreed to establish the State of Palestine on only 22% of the territory of historical Palestine – on all the Palestinian Territory occupied by Israel in 1967. ... The goal of the Palestinian people is the realization of their inalienable national rights in their independent State of Palestine, with East Jerusalem as its capital, on all the land of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, which Israel occupied in the June 1967 war, in conformity with the resolutions of international legitimacy and with the achievement of a just and agreed upon solution to the Palestine refugee issue in accordance with resolution 194, as stipulated in the Arab Peace Initiative which presented the consensus Arab vision to resolve the core the Arab-Israeli conflict and to achieve a just and comprehensive peace. To this we adhere and this is what we are working to achieve. ... I would like to inform you that, before delivering this statement, I submitted, in my capacity as the President of the State of Palestine and Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, to [His Excellency] Mr. Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations, an application for the admission of Palestine on the basis of the 4 June 1967 borders, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif [Jerusalem] as its capital, as a full member of the United Nations. I call upon Mr. Secretary-General to expedite transmittal of our request to the Security Council, and I call upon the distinguished members of the Security Council to vote in favor of our full membership. I also call upon the States that did not recognized the State of Palestine as yet to do so."

Abbas has argued that he has lost all faith in negotiations with Israel, which is why he is going to the U.N. for Statehood.  Abbas has called for all the nations of the world to support them for Statehood.

By going to the U.N. Abbas violated the Oslo Accords (OA) signed by Israel and the PA in 1993. Under the OA the PA cannot declare Statehood without direction negotiations with Israel. 

Under the OA the PA must also recognize Israel's right to exist as well as recognize Israel as a sovereign Jewish State. The PA to this day has refused to do either. Under these violations Israel would be free from all aspects of the OA it agreed to.  Abbas claims he is willing to negotiate peace with Israel, but will not recognize Israel as a Jewish State with a right to exist. The question is, how can you make peace with such a person? 

In PM Benjamin Netanyahu's September 23, 2011 speech to the U.N., he again called on Abbas to meet with him in New York for direct talks.

Many U.N. member states have criticized Israel for their "hostile" treatment of the Palestinians. However, the United States has promised to veto any attempt by the PA for Statehood, calling it, counterproductive. 

Abbas has gone to the U.N. to ask for recognition of a PA State. He called on the nations of the world to support his call for a state with East Jerusalem as their capitol. However the Bible calls for all nations to come against Jerusalem in the end times. The Jewish prophet Zechariah mentions Jerusalem 42 times in his book, containing 14 chapters. Zechariah describes all nations coming against Jerusalem (Zech 12:2-3; 14:2). 

The Jewish prophet Joel mentions Jerusalem 6 times and describes all nations coming against Jerusalem. Joel says God will gather all nations to Jerusalem to gather in the valley of Jehoshaphat, the Kidron valley in Jerusalem.  

"I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land. ... Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. ... Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision." (Joel 3:2, 12, 14)

Whether the UN will or will not recognize a Palestinian State at this time, they will eventually lead the world into war in the Middle East, and all nations will come against Jerusalem. The Bible told us in advance what the wicked of this will would do.

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Remarks by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu
to the U.N. General Assembly
United Nations Headquarters,
New York City, New York

Ladies and gentlemen, Israel has extended its hand in peace from the moment it was established 63 years ago.On behalf of Israel and the Jewish people, I extend that hand again today. I extend it to the people of Egypt and Jordan, with renewed friendship for neighbors with whom we have made peace. I extend it to the people of Turkey,with respect and good will. I extend it to the people of Libya and Tunisia,with admiration for those trying to build a democratic future. I extend it to the other peoples of North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, with whom we want to forge a new beginning. I extend it to the people of Syria, Lebanon and Iran,with awe at the courage of those fighting brutal repression.

But most especially, I extend my hand to the Palestinian people, with whom we seek a just and lasting peace.

Ladies and gentlemen, in Israel our hope for peace never wanes. Our scientists, doctors, and innovators apply their genius to improve the world of tomorrow. Our artists, our writers,enrich the heritage of humanity. Now, I know that this is not exactly the image of Israel that is often portrayed in this hall. After all, it was here in 1975that the age-old yearning of my people to restore our national life in our ancient biblical homeland — it was then that this was branded shamefully, as racism. And it was here in 1980, right here, that the historic peace agreement between Israel and Egypt wasn’t praised; it was denounced! And it’s here, year after year that Israel is unjustly singled out for condemnation. It’s singled out for condemnation more often than all the nations of the world combined. Twenty-one out of the 27 General Assembly resolutions condemn Israel — the one true democracy in the Middle East.

Well, this is an unfortunate part of the U.N. institution. It’s the theater of the absurd. It doesn’t only cast Israel as the villain; it often casts real villains in leading roles: Gadhafi’s Libya chaired the U.N. Commission on Human Rights; Saddam’s Iraq headed the U.N. Committee on Disarmament. You might say: That’s the past. Well, here’s what’s happening now — right now, today, Hezbollah-controlled Lebanon now presides over the U.N. Security Council. This means, in effect, that a terror organization presides over the body entrusted with guaranteeing the world’s security.

You couldn’t make this thing up.

So here in the U.N.,automatic majorities can decide anything. They can decide that the sun sets rises in the west. But they can also decide — they have decided — that the Western Wall in Jerusalem, Judaism’s holiest place, is occupied Palestinian territory.

And yet even here in the General Assembly, the truth can sometimes break through. In 1984 when I was appointed Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, I visited the great rabbi of Lubavich. He said to me — and ladies and gentlemen, I don’t want any of you tobe offended because from personal experience of serving here, I know there are many honorable men and women, many capable and decent people, serving their nations here — But here’s what the rebbe said to me. He said to me, you’ll be serving in a house of many lies. And then he said, remember that even in the darkest place, the light of a single candle can be seen far and wide.

Today I hope that the light of truth will shine, if only for a few minutes, in a hall that for too long has been a place of darkness for my country. So as Israel’s prime minister, I didn’t come here to win applause. I came here to speak the truth. The truth is — the truth is that Israel wants peace. The truth is that I want peace. The truth is that in the Middle East at all times, but especially during these turbulent days, peace must be anchored in security. The truth is that we cannot achieve peace through U.N. resolutions, but only through direct negotiations between the parties. The truth is that so far the Palestinians have refused to negotiate. The truth is that Israel wants peace with a Palestinian state, but the Palestinians want a state without peace. And the truth is you shouldn’t let that happen.

Ladies and gentlemen, when I first came here 27 years ago, the world was divided between East and West.Since then the Cold War ended, great civilizations have risen from centuries of slumber, hundreds of millions have been lifted out of poverty, countless more are poised to follow, and the remarkable thing is that so far this monumental historic shift has largely occurred peacefully. Yet a malignancy is now growing between East and West that threatens the peace of all. It seeks not to liberate, but to enslave, not to build, but to destroy.

That malignancy is militant Islam. It cloaks itself in the mantle of a great faith, yet it murders Jews,Christians and Muslims alike with unforgiving impartiality. On September 11thit killed thousands of Americans, and it left the twin towers in smoldering ruins. Last night I laid a wreath on the 9/11 memorial. It was deeply moving.But as I was going there, one thing echoed in my mind: the outrageous words of the president of Iran on this podium yesterday. He implied that 9/11 was an American conspiracy. Some of you left this hall. All of you should have.

Since 9/11, militant Islamists slaughtered countless other innocents — in London and Madrid, in Baghdad and Mumbai, in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, in every part of Israel. I believe that the greatest danger facing our world is that this fanaticism will arm itself with nuclear weapons. And this is precisely what Iran is trying to do.

Can you imagine that man who ranted here yesterday — can you imagine him armed with nuclear weapons? The international community must stop Iran before it’s too late. If Iran is not stopped, we will all face the specter of nuclear terrorism, and the Arab Spring could soon become an Iranian winter.

That would be a tragedy. Millions of Arabs have taken to the streets to replace tyranny with liberty, and no one would benefit more than Israel if those committed to freedom and peace would prevail.

This is my fervent hope. But as the prime minister of Israel, I cannot risk the future of the Jewish state on wishful thinking. Leaders must see reality as it is, not as it ought to be.We must do our best to shape the future, but we cannot wish away the dangers of the present.

And the world around Israelis definitely becoming more dangerous. Militant Islam has already taken over Lebanon and Gaza. It’s determined to tear apart the peace treaties between Israel and Egypt and between Israel and Jordan. It’s poisoned many Arab minds against Jews and Israel, against America and the West. It opposes not the policies of Israel but the existence of Israel.

Now, some argue that the spread of militant Islam, especially in these turbulent times — if you want to slow it down, they argue, Israel must hurry to make concessions, to make territorial compromises. And this theory sounds simple. Basically it goes like this: Leave the territory, and peace will be advanced. The moderates will be strengthened, the radicals will be kept at bay. And don’t worry about the pesky details of how Israel will actually defend itself; international troops will do the job.

These people say to me constantly: Just make a sweeping offer, and everything will work out. You know,there’s only one problem with that theory. We’ve tried it and it hasn’t worked.In 2000 Israel made a sweeping peace offer that met virtually all of the Palestinian demands. Arafat rejected it. The Palestinians then launched a terror attack that claimed a thousand Israeli lives.

Prime Minister Olmert afterwards made an even more sweeping offer, in 2008. President Abbas didn’t even respond to it.

But Israel did more than just make sweeping offers. We actually left territory. We withdrew from Lebanon in 2000 and from every square inch of Gaza in 2005. That didn’t calm the Islamic storm, the militant Islamic storm that threatens us. It only brought the storm closer and made it stronger.

Hezbollah and Hamas fired thousands of rockets against our cities from the very territories we vacated.See, when Israel left Lebanon and Gaza, the moderates didn’t defeat theradicals, the moderates were devoured by the radicals. And I regret to say that international troops like UNIFIL in Lebanon and EUBAM in Gaza didn’t stop the radicals from attacking Israel.

We left Gaza hoping for peace.

We didn’t freeze the settlements in Gaza, we uprooted them. We did exactly what the theory says: Get out, go back to the 1967 borders, dismantle the settlements.

And I don’t think people remember how far we went to achieve this. We uprooted thousands of people from their homes. We pulled children out of — out of their schools and their kindergartens. We bulldozed synagogues. We even — we even moved loved ones from their graves. And then, having done all that, we gave the keys of Gaza to President Abbas.

Now the theory says it should all work out, and President Abbas and the Palestinian Authority now could build a peaceful state in Gaza. You can remember that the entire world applauded.They applauded our withdrawal as an act of great statesmanship. It was a bold act of peace.

But ladies and gentlemen, we didn’t get peace. We got war. We got Iran, which through its proxy Hamas promptly kicked out the Palestinian Authority. The Palestinian Authority collapsed in a day — in one day.

President Abbas just said on this podium that the Palestinians are armed only with their hopes and dreams.Yeah, hopes, dreams and 10,000 missiles and Grad rockets supplied by Iran, not to mention the river of lethal weapons now flowing into Gaza from the Sinai,from Libya, and from elsewhere.

Thousands of missiles have already rained down on our cities. So you might understand that, given all this, Israelis rightly ask: What’s to prevent this from happening again in the West Bank? See, most of our major cities in the south of the country are within a few dozen kilometers from Gaza. But in the center of the country, opposite the West Bank, our cities are a few hundred meters or at most a few kilometers away from the edge of the West Bank.

So I want to ask you. Wouldany of you — would any of you bring danger so close to your cities, to your families? Would you act so recklessly with the lives of your citizens? Israelis are prepared to have a Palestinian state in the West Bank, but we’re not prepared to have another Gaza there. And that’s why we need to have real security arrangements, which the Palestinians simply refuse to negotiate with us.

Israelis remember the bitter lessons of Gaza. Many of Israel’s critics ignore them. They irresponsibly advise Israel to go down this same perilous path again. Your read what these people say and it’s as if nothing happened — just repeating the same advice,the same formulas as though none of this happened.

And these critics continue to press Israel to make far-reaching concessions without first assuring Israel’s security. They praise those who unwittingly feed the insatiable crocodile of militant Islam as bold statesmen. They cast as enemies of peace those of us who insist that we must first erect a sturdy barrier to keep the crocodile out, or at the very least jam an iron bar between its gaping jaws.

So in the face of the labels and the libels, Israel must heed better advice. Better a bad press than a good eulogy, and better still would be a fair press whose sense of history extends beyond breakfast, and which recognizes Israel’s legitimate security concerns.

I believe that in serious peace negotiations, these needs and concerns can be properly addressed, but they will not be addressed without negotiations. And the needs are many,because Israel is such a tiny country. Without Judea and Samaria, the West Bank, Israel is all of 9 miles wide.

I want to put it for you in perspective, because you’re all in the city. That’s about two-thirds the length of Manhattan. It’s the distance between Battery Park and Columbia University.And don’t forget that the people who live in Brooklyn and New Jersey are considerably nicer than some of Israel’s neighbors.

So how do you — how do you protect such a tiny country, surrounded by people sworn to its destruction and armed to the teeth by Iran? Obviously you can’t defend it from within that narrow space alone. Israel needs greater strategic depth, and that’s exactly why Security Council Resolution 242 didn’t require Israel to leave all the territories it captured in the Six-Day War. It talked about withdrawal from territories, to secure and defensible boundaries. And to defend itself, Israel must therefore maintain a long-term Israeli military presence in critical strategic areas in the West Bank.

I explained this to President Abbas. He answered that if a Palestinian state was to be a sovereign country,it could never accept such arrangements. Why not? America has had troops in Japan, Germany and South Korea for more than a half a century. Britain has had an an air base in Cyprus. France has forces in three independent African nations. None of these states claim that they’re not sovereign countries.

And there are many other vital security issues that also must be addressed. Take the issue of airspace.Again, Israel’s small dimensions create huge security problems. America can be crossed by jet airplane in six hours. To fly across Israel, it takes three minutes. So is Israel’s tiny airspace to be chopped in half and given to a Palestinian state not at peace with Israel?

Our major international airport is a few kilometers away from the West Bank. Without peace, will our planes become targets for antiaircraft missiles placed in the adjacent Palestinian state? And how will we stop the smuggling into the West Bank? It’s not merely the West Bank, it’s the West Bank mountains. It just dominates the coastal plain where most of Israel’s population sits below. How could weprevent the smuggling into these mountains of those missiles that could be fired on our cities?

I bring up these problems because they’re not theoretical problems. They’re very real. And for Israelis,they’re life-and- death matters. All these potential cracks in Israel’s security have to be sealed in a peace agreement before a Palestinian state is declared, not afterwards, because if you leave it afterwards, they won’t be sealed. And these problems will explode in our face and explode the peace.

The Palestinians should first make peace with Israel and then get their state. But I also want to tell youthis. After such a peace agreement is signed, Israel will not be the lastcountry to welcome a Palestinian state as a new member of the United Nations.We will be the first.

And there’s one more thing.Hamas has been violating international law by holding our soldier Gilad Shalitcaptive for five years.

They haven’t given even oneRed Cross visit. He’s held in a dungeon, in darkness, against all internationalnorms. Gilad Shalit is the son of Aviva and Noam Shalit. He is the grandson of Zvi Shalit, who escaped the Holocaust by coming to the — in the 1930s as a boy to the land of Israel. Gilad Shalit is the son of every Israeli family. Everynation represented here should demand his immediate release. If you want to pass a resolution about the Middle East today, that’s the resolution you should pass.

Ladies and gentlemen, last year in Israel in Bar-Ilan University, this year in the Knesset and in the U.S.Congress, I laid out my vision for peace in which a demilitarized Palestinian state recognizes the Jewish state. Yes, the Jewish state. After all, this is the body that recognized the Jewish state 64 years ago. Now, don’t you think it’s about time that Palestinians did the same?

The Jewish state of Israel will always protect the rights of all its minorities, including the more than 1million Arab citizens of Israel. I wish I could say the same thing about a future Palestinian state, for as Palestinian officials made clear the other day– in fact, I think they made it right here in New York — they said the Palestinian state won’t allow any Jews in it. They’ll be Jew-free — Judenrein. That’s ethnic cleansing. There are laws today in Ramallah that make the selling of land to Jews punishable by death. That’s racism. And you know which laws this evokes.

Israel has no intention whatsoever to change the democratic character of our state. We just don’t want the Palestinians to try to change the Jewish character of our state. We want to give up — we want them to give up the fantasy off looding Israel with millions of Palestinians.

President Abbas just stood here, and he said that the core of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the settlements. Well, that’s odd. Our conflict has been raging for — was raging for nearly half a century before there was a single Israeli settlement in the West Bank. So if what President Abbas is saying was true, then the — I guess that the settlements he’s talking about are Tel Aviv, Haifa, Jaffa, Be’er Sheva.Maybe that’s what he meant the other day when he said that Israel has been occupying Palestinian land for 63 years. He didn’t say from 1967; he said from1948. I hope somebody will bother to ask him this question because it illustrates a simple truth: The core of the conflict is not the settlements.The settlements are a result of the conflict..

The settlements have to be –it’s an issue that has to be addressed and resolved in the course of negotiations. But the core of the conflict has always been and unfortunately remains the refusal of the Palestinians to recognize a Jewish state in any border.

I think it’s time that the Palestinian leadership recognizes what every serious international leader has recognized, from Lord Balfour and Lloyd George in 1917, to President Truman in1948, to President Obama just two days ago right here: Israel is the Jewish state.

President Abbas, stop walking around this issue. Recognize the Jewish state, and make peace with us. In such a genuine peace, Israel is prepared to make painful compromises. We believe that the Palestinians should be neither the citizens of Israel nor its subjects. They should live in a free state of their own. But they should beready, like us, for compromise. And we will know that they’re ready for compromise and for peace when they start taking Israel’s security requirements seriously and when they stop denying our historical connection to our ancient homeland.

I often hear them accuse Israel of Judaizing Jerusalem. That’s like accusing America of Americanizing Washington, or the British of Anglicizing London. You know why we’re called”Jews”? Because we come from Judea.

In my office in Jerusalem,there’s a — there’s an ancient seal. It’s a signet ring of a Jewish official from the time of the Bible. The seal was found right next to the Western Wall,and it dates back 2,700 years, to the time of King Hezekiah. Now, there’s aname of the Jewish official inscribed on the ring in Hebrew. His name was Netanyahu. That’s my last name. My first name, Benjamin, dates back a thousandyears earlier to Benjamin — Binyamin — the son of Jacob, who was also known as Israel. Jacob and his 12 sons roamed these same hills of Judea and Samaria4,000 years ago, and there’s been a continuous Jewish presence in the land ever since.

And for those Jews who we reexiled from our land, they never stopped dreaming of coming back: Jews in Spain, on the eve of their expulsion; Jews in the Ukraine, fleeing the pogroms;Jews fighting the Warsaw Ghetto, as the Nazis were circling around it. They never stopped praying, they never stopped yearning. They whispered: Next year in Jerusalem. Next year in the promised land.

As the prime minister of Israel, I speak for a hundred generations of Jews who were dispersed throughout the lands, who suffered every evil under the Sun, but who never gave up hope of restoring their national life in the one and only Jewish state.

Ladies and gentlemen, I continue to hope that President Abbas will be my partner in peace. I’ve worked hard to advance that peace. The day I came into office, I called for direct negotiations without preconditions. President Abbas didn’t respond. I outlined a vision of peace of two states for two peoples. He still didn’t respond. I removed hundreds of roadblocks and checkpoints, to ease freedom of movement in the Palestinian areas; this facilitated a fantastic growth in the Palestinian economy. But again — no response. I took the unprecedented step of freezing new buildings in the settlements for 10 months. No prime minister did that before, ever. Once again — you applaud, but there was no response. No response.

In the last few weeks,American officials have put forward ideas to restart peace talks. There were things in those ideas about borders that I didn’t like. There were things thereabout the Jewish state that I’m sure the Palestinians didn’t like.

But with all my reservations,I was willing to move forward on these American ideas.

President Abbas, why don’t you join me? We have to stop negotiating about the negotiations. Let’s just get on with it. Let’s negotiate peace.

I spent years defending Israel on the battlefield. I spent decades defending Israel in the court of public opinion. President Abbas, you’ve dedicated your life to advancing the Palestinian cause. Must this conflict continue for generations, or will we be able our children and our grandchildren to speak in years ahead of how we found a way to end it? That’s what we should aim for, and that’s what I believe we can achieve.

In two and a half years, we met in Jerusalem only once, even though my door has always been open to you. If you wish, I’ll come to Ramallah. Actually, I have a better suggestion. We’ve both just flown thousands of miles to New York. Now we’re in the same city.We’re in the same building. So let’s meet here today in the United Nations. Who’s there to stop us? What is there to stop us? If we genuinely want peace, what is there to stop us from meeting today and beginning peace negotiations?

And I suggest we talk openlyand honestly. Let’s listen to one another. Let’s do as we say in the Middle East: Let’s talk “doogri”. That means straightforward. I’ll tell you my needs and concerns. You’ll tell me yours. And with God’s help, we’ll find the common ground of peace.

There’s an old Arab saying that you cannot applaud with one hand. Well, the same is true of peace. I cannot make peace alone. I cannot make peace without you. President Abbas, Iextend my hand — the hand of Israel — in peace. I hope that you will grasp that hand. We are both the sons of Abraham. My people call him Avraham. Your people call him Ibrahim. We share the same patriarch. We dwell in the sameland. Our destinies are intertwined. Let us realize the vision of Isaiah – (Isaiah 9:1 in Hebrew) — “The people who walk in darkness will see a great light.” Let that light be the light of peace.

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Remarks by Palestinian Authority President Abbas
to the U.N. General Assembly,
United Nations Headquarters,
New York City, New York

Mr. President of the General Assembly of the United Nations, Mr. Secretary-General of the United Nations, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen:

At the outset, I wish to extend my congratulations to H.E. Mr. Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser on his assumption of the Presidency of the Assembly for this session, and wish him all success.

I reaffirm today my sincere congratulations, on behalf of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian people, to the government and people of South Sudan for its deserved admission as a full member of the United Nations, wishing them progress and prosperity.

I also congratulate the Secretary-General, H.E. Mr. Ban Ki-moon, on his election for a new term at the helm of the United Nations. This renewal of confidence reflects the world’s appreciation for his efforts, which have strengthened the role of the United Nations.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen:

The Question Palestine is intricately linked with the United Nations via the resolutions adopted by its various organs and agencies and via the essential and lauded role of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East – UNRWA – which embodies the international responsibility towards the plight of Palestine refugees, who are the victims of Al-Nakba (Catastrophe) that occurred in 1948. We aspire for and seek a greater and more effective role for the United Nations in working to achieve a just and comprehensive peace in our region that ensures the inalienable, legitimate national rights of the Palestinian people as defined by the resolutions of international legitimacy of the United Nations.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen:

A year ago, at this same time, distinguished leaders in this hall addressed the stalled peace efforts in our region. Everyone had high hopes for a new round of final status negotiations, which had begun in early September in Washington under the direct auspices of President Barack Obama and with participation of the Quartet, and with Egyptian and Jordanian participation, to reach a peace agreement within one year. We entered those negotiations with open hearts and attentive ears and sincere intentions, and we were ready with our documents, papers and proposals. But the negotiations broke down just weeks after their launch.

After this, we did not give up and did not cease our efforts for initiatives and contacts. Over the past year we did not leave a door to be knocked or channel to be tested or path to be taken and we did not ignore any formal or informal party of influence and stature to be addressed. We positively considered the various ideas and proposals and initiatives presented from many countries and parties. But all of these sincere efforts and endeavors undertaken by international parties were repeatedly wrecked by the positions of the Israeli government, which quickly dashed the hopes raised by the launch of negotiations last September.

The core issue here is that the Israeli government refuses to commit to terms of reference for the negotiations that are based on international law and United Nations resolutions, and that it frantically continues to intensify building of settlements on the territory of the State of Palestine.

Settlement activities embody the core of the policy of colonial military occupation of the land of the Palestinian people and all of the brutality of aggression and racial discrimination against our people that this policy entails. This policy, which constitutes a breach of international humanitarian law and United Nations resolutions, is the primary cause for the failure of the peace process, the collapse of dozens of opportunities, and the burial of the great hopes that arose from the signing of the Declaration of Principles in 1993 between the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel to achieve a just peace that would begin a new era for our region.

The reports of United Nations missions as well as by several Israeli institutions and civil societies convey a horrific picture about the size of the settlement campaign, which the Israeli government does not hesitate to boast about and which it continues to execute through the systematic confiscation of the Palestinian lands and the construction of thousands of new settlement units in various areas of the West Bank, particularly in East Jerusalem, and accelerated construction of the annexation Wall that is eating up large tracts of our land, dividing it into separate and isolated islands and cantons, destroying family life and communities and the livelihoods of tens of thousands of families. The occupying Power also continues to refuse permits for our people to build in Occupied East Jerusalem, at the same time that it intensifies its decades-long campaign of demolition and confiscation of homes, displacing Palestinian owners and residents under a multi-pronged policy of ethnic cleansing aimed at pushing them away from their ancestral homeland. In addition, orders have been issued to deport elected representatives from the city of Jerusalem. The occupying Power also continues to undertake excavations that threaten our holy places, and its military checkpoints prevent our citizens from getting access to their mosques and churches, and it continues to besiege the Holy City with a ring of settlements imposed to separate the Holy City from the rest of the Palestinian cities.

The occupation is racing against time to redraw the borders on our land according to what it wants and to impose a fait accompli on the ground that changes the realities and that is undermining the realistic potential for the existence of the State of Palestine.

At the same time, the occupying Power continues to impose its blockade on the Gaza Strip and to target Palestinian civilians by assassinations, air strikes and artillery shelling, persisting with its war of aggression of three years ago on Gaza, which resulted in massive destruction of homes, schools, hospitals, and mosques, and the thousands of martyrs and wounded.

The occupying Power also continues its incursions in areas of the Palestinian National Authority through raids, arrests and killings at the checkpoints. In recent years, the criminal actions of armed settler militias, who enjoy the special protection of the occupation army, has intensified with the perpetration of frequent attacks against our people, targeting their homes, schools, universities, mosques, fields, crops and trees. Despite our repeated warnings, the occupying Power has not acted to curb these attacks and we hold them fully responsible for the crimes of the settlers.

These are just a few examples of the policy of the Israeli colonial settlement occupation, and this policy is responsible for the continued failure of the successive international attempts to salvage the peace process.

This policy will destroy the chances of achieving a two-State solution upon which there is an international consensus, and here I caution aloud: This settlement policy threatens to also undermine the structure of the Palestinian National Authority and even end its existence.

In addition, we now face the imposition new conditions not previously raised, conditions that will transform the raging conflict in our inflamed region into a religious conflict and a threat to the future of a million and a half Christian and Muslim Palestinians, citizens of Israel, a matter which we reject and which is impossible for us to accept being dragged into.

All of these actions taken by Israel in our country are unilateral actions and are not based on any earlier agreements. Indeed, what we witness is a selective application of the agreements aimed at perpetuating the occupation. Israel reoccupied the cities of the West Bank by a unilateral action, and reestablished the civil and military occupation by a unilateral action, and it is the one that determines whether or not a Palestinian citizen has the right to reside in any part of the Palestinian Territory. And it is confiscating our land and our water and obstructing our movement as well as the movement of goods. And it is the one obstructing our whole destiny. All of this is unilateral.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen:

In 1974, our deceased leader Yasser Arafat came to this hall and assured the Members of the General Assembly of our affirmative pursuit for peace, urging the United Nations to realize the inalienable national rights of the Palestinian people, stating: “Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand”.

In 1988, President Arafat again addressed the General Assembly, which convened in Geneva to hear him, where he submitted the Palestinian peace program adopted by the Palestine National Council at its session held that year in Algeria.

When we adopted this program, we were taking a painful and very difficult step for all of us, especially those, including myself, who were forced to leave their homes and their towns and villages, carrying only some of our belongings and our grief and our memories and the keys of our homes to the camps of exile and the Diaspora in the 1948 Al-Nakba, one of the worst operations of uprooting, destruction and removal of a vibrant and cohesive society that had been contributing in a pioneering and leading way in the cultural, educational and economic renaissance of the Arab Middle East.

Yet, because we believe in peace and because of our conviction in international legitimacy, and because we had the courage to make difficult decisions for our people, and in the absence of absolute justice, we decided to adopt the path of relative justice – justice that is possible and could correct part of the grave historical injustice committed against our people. Thus, we agreed to establish the State of Palestine on only 22% of the territory of historical Palestine – on all the Palestinian Territory occupied by Israel in 1967.

We, by taking that historic step, which was welcomed by the States of the world, made a major concession in order to achieve a historic compromise that would allow peace to be made in the land of peace.

In the years that followed – from the Madrid Conference and the Washington negotiations leading to the Oslo agreement, which was signed 18 years ago in the garden of the White House and was linked with the letters of mutual recognition between the PLO and Israel, we persevered and dealt positively and responsibly with all efforts aimed at the achievement of a lasting peace agreement. Yet, as we said earlier, every initiative and every conference and every new round of negotiations and every movement was shattered on the rock of the Israeli settlement expansion project.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen:

I confirm, on behalf of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, which will remain so until the end of the conflict in all its aspects and until the resolution of all final status issues, the following:

1. The goal of the Palestinian people is the realization of their inalienable national rights in their independent State of Palestine, with East Jerusalem as its capital, on all the land of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, which Israel occupied in the June 1967 war, in conformity with the resolutions of international legitimacy and with the achievement of a just and agreed upon solution to the Palestine refugee issue in accordance with resolution 194, as stipulated in the Arab Peace Initiative which presented the consensus Arab vision to resolve the core the Arab-Israeli conflict and to achieve a just and comprehensive peace. To this we adhere and this is what we are working to achieve. Achieving this desired peace also requires the release of political prisoners and detainees in Israeli prisons without delay.

2. The PLO and the Palestinian people adhere to the renouncement of violence and rejection and condemning of terrorism in all its forms, especially State terrorism, and adhere to all agreements signed between the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel.

3. We adhere to the option of negotiating a lasting solution to the conflict in accordance with resolutions of international legitimacy. Here, I declare that the Palestine Liberation Organization is ready to return immediately to the negotiating table on the basis of the adopted terms of reference based on international legitimacy and a complete cessation of settlement activities.

4. Our people will continue their popular peaceful resistance to the Israeli occupation and its settlement and apartheid policies and its construction of the racist annexation Wall, and they receive support for their resistance, which is consistent with international humanitarian law and international conventions and has the support of peace activists from Israel and around the world, reflecting an impressive, inspiring and courageous example of the strength of this defenseless people, armed only with their dreams, courage, hope and slogans in the face of bullets, tanks, tear gas and bulldozers.

5. When we bring our plight and our case to this international podium, it is a confirmation of our reliance on the political and diplomatic option and is a confirmation that we do not undertake unilateral steps. Our efforts are not aimed at isolating Israel or de-legitimizing it; rather we want to gain legitimacy for the cause of the people of Palestine. We only aim to de-legitimize the settlement activities and the occupation and apartheid and the logic of ruthless force, and we believe that all the countries of the world stand with us in this regard.

I am here to say on behalf of the Palestinian people and the Palestine Liberation Organization: We extend our hands to the Israeli government and the Israeli people for peace-making. I say to them: Let us urgently build together a future for our children where they can enjoy freedom, security and prosperity. Let us build the bridges of dialogue instead of checkpoints and walls of separation, and build cooperative relations based on parity and equity between two neighboring States – Palestine and Israel – instead of policies of occupation, settlement, war and eliminating the other.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen:

Despite the unquestionable right of our people to self-determination and to the independence of our State as stipulated in international resolutions, we have accepted in the past few years to engage in what appeared to be a test of our worthiness, entitlement and eligibility. During the last two years our national authority has implemented a program to build our State institutions. Despite the extraordinary situation and the Israeli obstacles imposed, a serious extensive project was launched that has included the implementation of plans to enhance and advance the judiciary and the apparatus for maintenance of order and security, to develop the administrative, financial, and oversight systems, to upgrade the performance of institutions, and to enhance self-reliance to reduce the need for foreign aid. With the thankful support of Arab countries and donors from friendly countries, a number of large infrastructure projects have been implemented, focused on various aspects of service, with special attention to rural and marginalized areas.

In the midst of this massive national project, we have been strengthening what we seeking to be the features of our State: from the preservation of security for the citizen and public order; to the promotion of judicial authority and rule of law; to strengthening the role of women via legislation, laws and participation; to ensuring the protection of public freedoms and strengthening the role of civil society institutions; to institutionalizing rules and regulations for ensuring accountability and transparency in the work of our Ministries and departments; to entrenching the pillars of democracy as the basis for the Palestinian political life.

When division struck the unity of our homeland, people and institutions, we were determined to adopt dialogue for restoration of our unity. We succeeded months ago in achieving national reconciliation and we hope that its implementation will be accelerated in the coming weeks. The core pillar of this reconciliation was to turn to the people through legislative and presidential elections within a year, because the State we want will be a State characterized by the rule of law, democratic exercise and protection of the freedoms and equality of all citizens without any discrimination and the transfer of power through the ballot box.

The reports issued recently by the United Nations, the World Bank, the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee (AHLC) and the International Monetary Fund confirm and laud what has been accomplished, considering it a remarkable and unprecedented model. The consensus conclusion by the AHLC a few days ago here described what has been accomplished as a “remarkable international success story” and confirmed the readiness of the Palestinian people and their institutions for the immediate independence of the State of Palestine.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen:

It is no longer possible to redress the issue of the blockage of the horizon of the peace talks with the same means and methods that have been repeatedly tried and proven unsuccessful over the past years. The crisis is far too deep to be neglected, and what is more dangerous are attempts to simply circumvent it or postpone its explosion.

It is neither possible, nor practical, nor acceptable to return to conducting business as usual, as if everything is fine. It is futile to go into negotiations without clear parameters and in the absence of credibility and a specific timetable. Negotiations will be meaningless as long as the occupation army on the ground continues to entrench its occupation, instead of rolling it back, and continues to change the demography of our country in order to create a new basis on which to alter the borders.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen:

It is a moment of truth and my people are waiting to hear the answer of the world. Will it allow Israel to continue its occupation, the only occupation in the world? Will it allow Israel to remain a State above the law and accountability? Will it allow Israel to continue rejecting the resolutions of the Security Council and the General Assembly of the United Nations and the International Court of Justice and the positions of the overwhelming majority of countries in the world?

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen:

I come before you today from the Holy Land, the land of Palestine, the land of divine messages, ascension of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and the birthplace of Jesus Christ (peace be upon him), to speak on behalf of the Palestinian people in the homeland and in the the Diaspora, to say, after 63 years of suffering of the ongoing Nakba: Enough. It is time for the Palestinian people to gain their freedom and independence.

The time has come to end the suffering and the plight of millions of Palestine refugees in the homeland and the Diaspora, to end their displacement and to realize their rights, some of them forced to take refuge more than once in different places of the world.

At a time when the Arab peoples affirm their quest for democracy – the Arab Spring – the time is now for the Palestinian Spring, the time for independence.

The time has come for our men, women and children to live normal lives, for them to be able to sleep without waiting for the worst that the next day will bring; for mothers to be assured that their children will return home without fear of suffering killing, arrest or humiliation; for students to be able to go to their schools and universities without checkpoints obstructing them. The time has come for sick people to be able to reach hospitals normally, and for our farmers to be able to take care of their good land without fear of the occupation seizing the land and its water, which the wall prevents access to, or fear of the settlers, for whom settlements are being built on our land and who are uprooting and burning the olive trees that have existed for hundreds of years. The time has come for the thousands of prisoners to be released from the prisons to return to their families and their children to become a part of building their homeland, for the freedom of which they have sacrificed.

My people desire to exercise their right to enjoy a normal life like the rest of humanity. They believe what the great poet Mahmoud Darwish said: Standing here, staying here, permanent here, eternal here, and we have one goal, one, one: to be.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen:

We profoundly appreciate and value the positions of all States that have supported our struggle and our rights and recognized the State of Palestine following the Declaration of Independence in 1988, as well as the countries that have recently recognized the State of Palestine and those that have upgraded the level of Palestine’s representation in their capitals. I also salute the Secretary-General, who said a few days ago that the Palestinian State should have been established years ago.

Be assured that this support for our people is more valuable to them than you can imagine, for it makes them feel that someone is listening to their narrative and that their tragedy and the horrors of Al-Nakba and the occupation, from which they have so suffered, are not being ignored. And, it reinforces their hope that stems from the belief that justice is possible in this in this world. The loss of hope is the most ferocious enemy of peace and despair is the strongest ally of extremism.

I say: The time has come for my courageous and proud people, after decades of displacement and colonial occupation and ceaseless suffering, to live like other peoples of the earth, free in a sovereign and independent homeland.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen:

I would like to inform you that, before delivering this statement, I submitted, in my capacity as the President of the State of Palestine and Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, to H.E. Mr. Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations, an application for the admission of Palestine on the basis of the 4 June 1967 borders, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital, as a full member of the United Nations.

I call upon Mr. Secretary-General to expedite transmittal of our request to the Security Council, and I call upon the distinguished members of the Security Council to vote in favor of our full membership. I also call upon the States that did not recognized the State of Palestine as yet to do so.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen:

The support of the countries of the world for our endeavor is a victory for truth,freedom, justice, law and international legitimacy, and it provides tremendous support for the peace option and enhances the chances of success of the negotiations.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen:

Your support for the establishment of the State of Palestine and for its admission to the United Nations as a full member is the greatest contribution to peacemaking in the Holy Land.

I thank you.





Sources of full texts:

Mahmoud Abbas speech at UN (23 Sept 2011)

Benjamin Netanyahu speech at UN (23 Sept 2011)