Israel in the News Oct/Nov 1995
Islamic Movement rally calls for Palestinian capital in Jerusalem
(from The Jerusalem Post)
About 10,000 members of the Islamic Movement attended a “Jerusalem First” rally in Kafr Kassem recently to demand that eastern Jerusalem be made the capital of a Palestinian state.
The village streets were festively decorated and the participants, from the Triangle and Wadi Ara area, were all dressed in holiday clothes and sang songs of Jerusalem.
Following a television report on the rally, Likud Mks Uzi Landau and Limor Livnat said they would submit a motion to the Knesset agenda demanding the Islamic Movement be made illegal.
They said the government is ignoring what they called the “undermining of the state” out of electoral considerations.
Israel wins tourism awards
(from The Jerusalem Post)
For the second straight year, Israel has been named “The Most Preferred Destination in the Middle East” by the magazine Travel Trade Gazette. The award was presented to the Government Tourist Office in North America … Israel was also designated the preferred convention destination in the Middle East.
Jordanian: Majority support peace with Israel
(from The Jerusalem Post)
The majority of the Jordanian people support the peace with Israel, Ahmed Zuabi, president of Jordan’s Al-Ahrar party, declared recently. Speaking during a meeting with President Ezer Weizman at Beit Hanassi, Zuabi called for “building a new Middle East that will be to the benefit of all its peoples. We are brothers … and we have a common destiny.”
Secret PA company established to buy land in Jerusalem
(from The Jerusalem Post)
Palestinian Authority chief Yasser Arafat has established a secret company to purchase property in Jerusalem before talking with Israel about the future of the city, The Jerusalem Post has learned.
In a “top secret” letter obtained by the Post and authenticated by Palestinian sources, a senior PA official says the firm has been given an initial $15 million to buy land in eastern Jerusalem and the Old City.
The official stated that the activity was to remain secret, particularly from Israel and the United States, to prevent an uproar that could torpedo the peace process.
The August 7, 1994, letter was written by PA Finance Minister Mohammed Zohdi Nashashibi … Nashashibi says the goal of the company is to “firmly plant our feet and enlarge our presence in an effective and strong manner” in Jerusalem.
A PA source says Arafat has long been worried by construction of housing for Jews in eastern Jerusalem, as well as attempts by Jews to purchase Arab property in the city. Over the past few months, the source said, undercover agents posing as middlemen for Jewish buyers have been ferreting out Arabs interested in selling their property.
Waiting for the Messiah
(from TELENATION Reports)
Most Americans believe in the second coming of Jesus; many think it will happen soon and the end of the world could be near!
Fully 61 percent of Americans believe that Jesus Christ will return to Earth, according to a recent U.S. News & World Report TELENATION poll. Of those believers, more than a third think he will come back soon-within a few years or a few decades.
The survey, designed to discover what Americans believe about the millennial prophecies of the Bible, also contained these surprising findings:
59% of Americans believe the world will come to an end or be destroyed at some point and more than a third of that group thinks it will happen within a few years or a few decades.
60% believe there will be a final Judgment Day.
44% think there will be a final battle of Armageddon and a Rapture of the church where true believers are whisked off the planet and called to heaven.
49%-almost half-believe there will be an Antichrist. 53% believe that some world events this century fulfill biblical prophecy. Some of the events given this significance are the world wars, the creation of Israel and its conflicts with its enemies, the AIDS epidemic and the fall of communism.
The poll found there were significant differences between those who say they are born-again Christians and those who aren’t. Those saying they are born again are almost twice as likely to believe Jesus will return, that contemporary events are fulfillments of prophecy, and that the Bible’s discussion of Judgment Day, the Antichrist, Armageddon and the Rapture should be taken literally.
