Wednesday, December 20, 2006

The Middle East in Focus

This week, for all the headlines cited below, please join us in proclaiming THIS DECREE:

"Yet give attention to Your servant's prayer and his plea for mercy, O LORD my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that Your servant is praying in Your presence." (2 Chronicles 6:19)

1. Olmert and Abdullah meet in Amman - ICEJ News

Local and international media outlets reported late Tuesday that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is on a surprise visit to Jordan for talks with King Abdullah II to discuss ways of reviving a floundering Middle East peace process.

2. Israel: Hamas gunmen training in Iran - Ha'aretz

Israeli military officials announced Monday that dozens and perhaps hundreds of Hamas terror operatives recently left the Gaza Strip to receive advanced military training in Iran.

3. Bush postpones US Embassy move to Jerusalem - Jerusalem Post

The United States has once again delayed a loaded decision on moving its embassy to Israel's capital of Jerusalem. US President George W. Bush reportedly cited national security interests as the reason for the holdup. Legislation passed by Congress in 1995 called on the US to move its embassy to Jerusalem. However, the Jerusalem Embassy Act has been postponed every six months since its creation by each successive president.

4. Netanyahu: World must prevent second Holocaust - Jerusalem Post

Israeli opposition leader and former prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu assembled more than 50 ambassadors and diplomats on Tuesday, warning them not to allow Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to acquire nuclear weapons and use them to commit another Holocaust.

5. US Sen. McCain stands with families of captured soldiers - AP

Senator John McCain, who spent five years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, met with the families of the two IDF soldiers being held by Hizb'Allah on Sunday, sharing his own story of survival and promising to work for their release. The Iranian and Syrian-backed Hizb'Allah group ignited a 34-day war with Israel when they abducted IDF reservists Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser on July 12.