TEMPLE WATCH...
UN General Assembly supports resolution ignoring Jewish ties to Temple Mount - By Danielle Ziri, Tovah Lazaroff - http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/UN-General-Assembly-supports-resolution-ignoring-Jewish-ties-to-the-Temple-Mount-474107
The UN General Assembly overwhelming voted to support a resolution that used solely Muslim language to describe the Temple Mount.
Out of the United Nation's 193 member states, 147 voted in favor, seven voted against and eight abstained.
The Jerusalem resolution was one of six resolutions condemning Israel and supporting the Palestinians that the General Assembly approved on Wednesday, as part of its special annual session for the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, which began on Tuesday.
All the European member states present in the room voted in favor of the resolution - countries such as France, Italy, Germany and the United Kingdom.
The states that opposed the Jerusalem resolution were the United States, Canada, Israel, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Naura and Palu.
Those that abstained were Australia, Guatemala, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay and Vanuatu.
The Jerusalem resolution, numbered A/71/l.22, addresses the situation in Jerusalem and its holy sites and states that "any actions taken by Israel, the occupying power, to impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration on the Holy City of Jerusalem are illegal and therefore null and void and have no validity whatsoever, and calls upon Israel to immediately cease all such illegal and unilateral measures."
The text calls on Israel to have "respect for the historic status quo at the holy places of Jerusalem" and "urges all sides to work immediately and cooperatively to defuse tensions and halt all provocations, incitement and violence at the holy sites in the city."
The resolutions were introduced by a group of mostly Arab countries, including Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq and Lebanon, and the Palestinian Authority, but also some Asian countries, such as Indonesia and Lao People's Democratic Republic, as well as a few African countries.
Resolutions A/71/l.18 and A/71/l.19, the first in the series, pledge respectively to support the UN's Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People in its efforts to end the Israeli "occupation," and extend member state's cooperation with and support to the division for Palestinian Rights of the UN Secretariat.
Draft resolution a/71/l.20, also adopted on Wednesday, with 153 votes in favor of it, seven abstentions and seven negative votes, aims to disseminate information on the Palestinian narrative of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as well as on all the activities of the United Nations system relating to the question of Palestine. The resolution also states the need to organize and promote "fact-finding news missions for journalists to the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel."
In resolution A/71/l.21, the General Assembly calls for "a peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine." It also "calls upon Israel, the occupying power, to comply strictly with its obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law, and to cease all of its measures that are contrary to international law and all unilateral actions in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem."
The last draft text adopted by the assembly, resolution A/71/l.8, adopted by a vote of 103 in favor, six abstentions and 56 votes against it, demands that Israel withdraw from all of the Golan to the line of June 4, 1967, and hand it over to Syria.
Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon said, "Today's resolutions are yet another example of the daily bias Israel faces in the UN.
"At the same time that Israel is celebrating the historic decision to reestablish the Jewish state in our homeland, the UN continues to fund organizations and pass resolutions that do nothing to better the lives of the Palestinians."
The United States voted against all the resolutions. The representative of the US Mission at the General Assembly session spoke out against the "disproportionate number of resolutions condemning Israel."
He further stated that voting on these resolutions "damages the prospect for peace."
"All parties to the conflict have responsibility to end the conflict," he said.
The US representative added that his country is "disappointed" that the General Assembly chooses to single out Israel, which is "counterproductive."
The International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People is observed by the United Nations on November 29 each year, the date marking the anniversary of the General Assembly's 1947 adoption of the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine.
Ancient Plants Revived in Time for Third Temple? - Julie Stahl, Chris Mitchell - http://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/israel/2016/december/balm-of-gilead-ancient-plants-revived-in-time-for-third-temple
The Bible speaks of the Balm of Gilead. It was a real plant in the ancient Holy Land, used in medicine and cosmetics and even for worship in the Jewish Temple. Now a modern-day Israeli farmer is reviving that biblical agriculture, along with Frankincense and Myrrh, but he's also getting some resistance.
Meet Guy Erlich - visionary, farmer and possible provider of plants needed for incense for a future Third Temple.
"This is the balm of Gilead Farm," Erlich told CBN News. "This is the nursery. The vision was to make agriculture of the Balm of Gilead and then to make an industry out of it."
Erlich's still in the early stages, but already he's helping turn the desert green on a tract of land near the Dead Sea and Jericho.
"Along the years, I built a collection of rare biblical and medical - medical perfume - plants, and I understood that there are more very interesting plants in my collection that have potential to benefit humanity.
Balm of Gilead
It started with the Balsamon tree, better known as the Balm of Gilead.
For 1,000 years, ancient Hebrew farmers in this area were the only ones in the world known to cultivate this exotic plant, using it for medicinal and cosmetic purposes. Now Erlich's biotech adventure is reviving that trade and more.
"He knew how to make out of it most important medication of the ancient world, a perfume that was considered to be the best perfume in the Roman Empire," Erlich explained. "It says it's the first ingredient of the incense of the Holy Temple and since the Second Temple period, it says (it was used) as the anointing oil of the kings of Israel. At the sixth century, it disappeared from here, together with the Jewish people."
Erlich got his first plant from a shoot that was smuggled by a German scientist out of Saudi Arabia and brought to Israel. Oddly enough, the plants he grows are thriving in the intense heat and salty soil on the shores of the Dead Sea.
"I believe that in the future, it will become a medicine," Erlich predicted. "Before it will be a medicine, it will be a nutraceutical and a cosmetic. Before or after, it might serve as the first ingredient of the incense of the Temple."
Erlich has six acres of Balm of Gilead trees so far and another 5,000 plants ready to be planted.
"Right now I'm the only - and the biggest - Balm of Gilead farmer in the world," he said.
The resin from the bark, the berries and the leaves of the Balm of Gilead can all be used, and each has a different fragrance and properties.
Frankincense of the Holy Temple
Erlich also grows Frankincense on his plantation.
"This is my second baby after the Balm of Gilead. It started with the vision of bring back the Balm of Gilead to the shores of the Dead Sea, but after a few years, I understood that I have some very interesting plants in my collection," he said. "And now I have a team of plants that I want to make into products."
There are more than 20 varieties of Frankincense, but this is the one from the Bible - and it's considered an endangered species.
"This is Frankincense of the Holy Temple. Now there is no agriculture for this tree. This tree only grows wild in different countries in the Horn of Africa and since there is such a big demand for this, there is an overusing of the plant," he said.
Myrrh and the Gifts of the Magi
Erlich is also growing Myrrh and there may be a connection to the gifts the magi brought to Jesus at his birth.
"Another way to introduce myself is as a magi," he said. "We know the three magi that brought Miriam presents. They gave her Frankincense and Myrrh and gold. Now there is a claim that the gold is the Balm of Gilead because it was more precious than gold. This is the diamond of the incense, the diamond of the medical plants."
Erlich, who describes himself as a man of faith but not religious, is also growing a number of other plants need to make the incense for the Temple. That has caught the attention of some religious Jews who would like to see a Third Temple built in Jerusalem.
BDS Backlash
But despite his excitement over his team of plants, Erlich has also had some big challenges. His plantation is in biblical Judea, known to the world as the West Bank. And that has scared off an American company who partnered with Erlich for years. One reason: backlash from BDS - the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions - movement.
"I'm sorry for this company - that they surrendered for this wicked movement - but what can I do about it?" he asked. "I can only fight it by succeeding without them."
Erlich has had to dismiss his Israeli and Palestinian workers and rely on volunteers like Kinneret Norin and her friends, who spent a week here pulling weeds, among other things.
"If this is what we can do to help, this is what we could do to make the world better at the end, so this is our job," Norin said.
The setback isn't stopping Erlich. His goal is to start a research and development center for medical plants that he hopes will benefit the area and the region and, as the Bible says, make the desert bloom.
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