MIDEAST UPDATE: 9.16.16 - Palestinian Authority Races to Get A UN Security Council Resolution Before Obama Leaves Office

Palestinian Authority Races to Get A UN Security Council Resolution Before Obama Leaves Office - By Michael Snyder - http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/palestinian-authority-races-to-get-a-un-security-council-resolution-before-obama-leaves-office

 

A little more than four months from now Barack Obama's time in the White House is scheduled to end, and the Palestinians know that their best chance of getting a UN Security Council resolution addressing their conflict with Israel is rapidly slipping away. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are both greatly wooing the Jewish vote, and they both are making very strong pro-Israel statements these days. To many of you it probably isn't a surprise that the Palestinians are not exactly thrilled with the prospect of a Trump presidency, but the truth is that they are very leery of Clinton as well. If you doubt this, just check out this Al-Jazeera article. At this point the Palestinians are pretty much convinced that any action at the UN Security Council must happen while Barack Obama still holds the reins of power, and so they are in a race against time.

 

At a minimum, the Palestinians would like a UN Security Council resolution condemning any new Jewish settlement activity in the West Bank. And that is precisely what they are pushing very hard for right now...

 

The Palestinian Authority intends to accelerate its attempt to pass a United Nations Security Council resolution against Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank, according to WAFA, the Palestinian News and Information Agency.

 

"The Palestinian leadership and in cooperation with the Arab League and the Arab ministerial group will hold contacts at the international level to speed up convening a Security Council session that should pass a resolution to stop settlements, which pose unprecedented and serious threat and creates a situation that would result in grave consequences," said Nabil Abu Rude, who is a spokesman for PA President Mahmoud Abbas.

 

Needless to say, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is steadfastly against such a resolution, and he is alarmed by statements made by Palestinian leaders that seem to indicate that they want to remove every single Jewish person from territories under their control...

 

The Israeli leader also addressed the longstanding Palestinian Authority demand for a Jew-free Palestinian state; a requirement famously expressed by PA President Mahmoud Abbas when he exclaimed, "In a final resolution, we would not see the presence of a single Israeli - civilian or soldier - on our lands."

 

"I think what makes peace impossible is intolerance of others. Societies that respect all people are the ones that pursue peace. Societies that demand ethnic cleansing don't pursue peace," Netanyahu stated in the video.

 

If we see a UN Security Council resolution on Israeli settlement in the West Bank that would be significant, but there is another possibility that would be absolutely earth-shattering if Barack Obama chose to go that direction. Up until now, the U.S. government has always used their UN Security Council veto power to block any resolution that would formally establish the parameters for a Palestinian state and grant them East Jerusalem as the capital of that state. But earlier this year the Obama administration signaled that such a resolution was now on the table, and at this point Obama has just four months left to make a decision one way or the other.

 

If Obama decides to pull the trigger, such a resolution would be legally binding on the Israelis and the Palestinians, and neither Trump nor Clinton would be able to go back and change it once it is done...

 

This leaves only one option that isn't seen as unrealistic, unpalatable, or insignificant: to set down the guidelines or "parameters" of a peace agreement-on the four core issues of borders, security, refugees, and Jerusalem-in a US-supported UN Security Council resolution. Once passed, with US support, these Security Council-endorsed parameters would become international law, binding, in theory, on all future presidents and peace brokers.

 

Top US officials see a parameters resolution as Obama's only chance at a lasting, positive legacy, one that history might even one day show to have been more important to peace than the achievements of his predecessors.

 

Back in March, 388 members of Congress from both parties (including Nancy Pelosi) sent Barack Obama a letter urging him not to support such a resolution. So there is a considerable amount of political pressure on him not to do this.

 

But at this point he is a lame duck with nothing to lose. He always said that a Palestinian state was high on his list of priorities, and this is his final chance to do something about it.

 

If we do see a UN Security Council resolution, it is likely that it will upset both the Israelis and the Palestinians...

 

Any resolution the US supports will contain clauses that are difficult for each side to accept. The most troublesome issues for Israel are that the borders will be based on the pre-1967 lines and that the Palestinian capital will be in Jerusalem. The most onerous clauses for the Palestinians relate to recognition of Israel as a Jewish state, the absence of a timeline for Israel's withdrawal from the West Bank, and a resolution of the refugee problem that would rule out anything but symbolic return to Israel.

 

And instead of promoting peace, it would actually just set the stage for a major war, but Obama doesn't really understand the dynamics of the Middle East. He just wants to "leave a legacy", and at this point negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians are completely dead.

 

The only way that Obama is going to get something done before the end of his second term is at the United Nations.

 

There are five countries that have veto power on the UN Security Council, and the United States is the only one that has been standing in the way of a Palestinian state.

 

Obama has hinted that next time the U.S. may not use the veto power, and nobody is quite sure precisely what would happen if a resolution was put for a vote during the coming months.

 

Of course supporting a UN Security Council resolution formally dividing the land of Israel would be the worst move that Obama would make in his entire presidency, and this is something that I detailed on international television last month...

 

WATCH: https://youtu.be/qJx2vqeQPeg

 

We are going to find out what happens one way or the other very soon, because January 20th, 2017 is just a little bit more than four months away.

 

Let's pray that Barack Obama makes the correct decision.

 

 

US, Israel finalize massive military aid deal - http://www.timesofisrael.com/us-israel-finalize-massive-military-aid-deal/

 

Ten-year, $38 billion agreement - 'single largest pledge of bilateral military assistance in US history' - to be signed Wednesday in State Department ceremony

 

Israel and the US on Tuesday finalized a 10-year defense deal, described as Washington's largest aid package to any country in history.

 

The defense package, known as the memorandum of understanding, "constitutes the single largest pledge of bilateral military assistance in US history," the State Department said Tuesday.

 

The deal is set at $38 billion and will be signed on Wednesday in a ceremony at the State Department in Washington. It replaces a previous deal that is set to expire next year.

 

The acting head of Israel's National Security Council, Yaakov Nagel, who touched down in Washington earlier Tuesday, will sign the agreement on behalf of Israel.

 

Under the terms of the deal, Israel pledged not to seek additional funding from Congress for the next decade. The agreement also includes a provision curtailing Israel's ability to spend the funds on its own arms industry over the next six years - a key area of dispute during talks. Washington had wanted Israel to spend a larger amount of the funds on American-made products. Currently, Israel can spend 26.3 percent of US military aid buying from its own domestic defense companies.

 

The US also reportedly wanted to remove a clause in the memorandum that allows Israel to spend $400 million a year on "military fuels."

 

The new aid package will see Israel receive $3.8 billion annually - up from $3 billion - starting in 2019 and through 2028.

 

According to earlier reports, Israel had asked for a separate, $400 million deal for missile defense spending - which could have raised the total amount to more than $4 billion annually. However, the final figure was set without that provision. "There was no higher figure ever discussed," the former Israeli national security adviser Ya'acov Amidror said Tuesday, describing the deal as "the best possible" accord.

 

The US has either jointly developed or financed all three tiers in Israel's missile defense program - Iron Dome (short-range missile interceptor), David's Sling (medium range) and Arrow (long range).

 

On Sunday, the Washington Post said that the aid deal - months in the making - had been held up by Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, who was advancing his own bill for annual aid to Israel, which included a sum greater than the one reportedly being offered by the White House.

 

"I'm offended that the administration would try to take over the appropriations process. If they don't like what I'm doing, they can veto the bill," Graham said. "We can't have the executive branch dictating what the legislative branch will do for a decade based on an agreement we are not a party to."

 

Graham said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had informed him that his opposition to the deal was holding it up. "The Israeli prime minister told me the administration is refusing to sign the MOU until I agree to change my appropriation markup back," Graham said. "I said, 'Tell the administration to go F themselves.'"

 

According to Channel 2, Israel is effectively siding with the White House in the spat with Graham, making a commitment not to seek more financial support from Congress, with the exception of during wartime.

 

The aid package is seen in Israel as key to helping it maintain its qualitative military edge over potential threats in the region, including from an emboldened Iran flush with cash after many nuclear-related sanctions were ended over the past year in a deal signed with world powers.

 

For the US, Israel is a rare island of stability in a region in turmoil, as well as an ally on non-nuclear security issues in the region, including cyber warfare and efforts to rein in Islamist terror groups. Missile defense technologies developed in Israel using US funds are available to US defense contractors involved in the development. Some of these Israeli-made technologies are set to be deployed to protect US troops and allies in other global trouble spots.

 

In April, more than 80 of the 100 sitting US senators signed a letter calling on President Barack Obama to increase foreign aid to Israel and immediately sign an agreement on a new package.

 

 Where are We? - Jim Fletcher -http://raptureready.com/rap15.html

 

I noticed this week that as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was visiting foreign dignitaries in Europe, one in the receiving line put his hands behind his back as Netanyahu made his way down the line, shaking hands. Bibi simply gave a slight shrug and moved on.

 

This same week, Australia's foreign minister warmly invited Netanyahu to be the first Israeli premier to visit her country. The visit is scheduled for early next year.

 

Only a couple years ago, Israel seemed dangerously close to being totally isolated internationally. Many, including myself, felt that the famous prophecies describing this very reality were very close.

 

That is a lesson that we shouldn't look too far out, but "let the prophecies come to us."

 

Still, there are other interesting developments taking place.

 

It is now being reported that Moscow has invited both the Israelis and Palestinians to sit down for talks. No date is set, but it would present a fascinating turn of history if this plays out. Remember, one of the clever aspects of Jimmy Carter's Camp David talks with Egypt and Israel involved prying the Arab world away from its client-state status with the Soviet Union. The Russians had worked for decades to oppose the West in the Middle East, and two disastrous wars paved the way for the Arabs to look elsewhere.

 

We were the elsewhere.

 

Now, however, with the deliberate strategy of Barack Obama to bolster his Muslim friends, particularly the Muslim Brotherhood, the Russians have seen an opportunity once again. They are back to their old role as an opponent of the U.S. in the Middle East. We have Obama to thank for that.

 

It is here I should say that it is my view he is himself a totalitarian in the Marxist tradition. Whether he is actually a Muslim is debatable, but the stone cold fact is, he helps jihadists and hinders freedom. He is doing it on purpose.

 

This has created a very dangerous vacuum in the Middle East, and look for the Russians to exploit it far more than their current involvement in Syria.

 

Just today, there is an amazing interview in the Times of Israel with neocon Norman Podhoretz, who has raised the possibility that Iran and Israel will engage each other in a nuclear war in the future.

 

This of course is not based on his view of eschatology, but geopolitics and the catastrophe Obama has brought on all of us.

 

However, I think it's interesting to note that the Zechariah prophecies are tinged with reality in light of such stories in the media.

 

Keep in mind, too, the Russians are working closely with Iran, particularly in their missile defense systems and anti-aircraft systems. This is designed specifically to blunt any Israeli attack.

 

John Kerry has just met with his Russian counterpart in Geneva, to discuss each country's operations in Syria, but no breakthroughs in cooperation occurred.

 

Too, there are reports of closer cooperation between Turkey and Russia, leading some to speculate that Gog-Magog is about to break out. We must remember, though, that Turkey's Erdogan in notoriously difficult to deal with, and follows his own drumbeat. It is a mistake to assume that what exists today will exist tomorrow. Tomorrow might see a deep freeze in Russian-Turkish relations.

 

All in all, current geopolitics is volatile and astonishing to watch. Let us resolve to "let the prophecies come to us," without too much speculation on our part.