An international excavation team of archeologists led by Dr. Steven Collins, an expert on Biblical archeology from US Trinity Southwestern University, have claimed finding new evidence proving that the Biblical sites of Sodom and Gomorrah - two cities cited in Bible as "destroyed by God for their sins"- were located in Jordan's Tall al-Hammam in north of the Dead Sea, rather than attributed location in the south of the Dead Sea.
One of the archeologists in the excavation team said, "One of the interesting things about Tall al-Hammam is what we called a MB gap, that is the period of time between the Middle Bronze Age and Iron Age, because in normal locations like this, you have occupations one right on top of the other, but here, something very unique, something very significant took place in the Middle Bronze Age.
The city was destroyed by an event that was so dramatic that it scared everybody away for seven hundred years. Here, in this square, there's the perfect example. You have Iron Age foundations that are built right into a Middle Bronze Age rampart."
Many people located Sodom and Gomorrah towards the south of the Dead Sea but the reason that ...   more »

Posters reading 'in this house lives an MK who is trying to outlaw citizens' right to march in Jerusalem,' hung on MKs Gabbay, Zeev's homes. Zeev: Gays a plague that could destroy Israel
Aviram Zino
Members of Hadash party's "Red-Pink Patrol" hung placards overnight Tuesday on the homes of Knesset members Eli Gabbay (National Union-NR) and Nissim Zeev (Shas) in protest of a proposal banning gay pride parades in Jerusalem.
"In this house lives an MK who is trying to outlaw the citizens' right to march and protest on the streets of Jerusalem," one of the posters read. "This anti-democratic bill is targeting not only the homosexual, lesbian, transgender and bisexual communities, but also human and civil rights in general.  
The proposed amendment to Basic Law: Jerusalem, would enable the Jerusalem Municipal Council to ban gay parades and rallies for considerations of disturbance to public order, offending the public's sensitivities or for religious considerations.  
Yaniv Rosner, a member of Hadash's "Red-Pink Forum," said MKs Gabbay and Zeev "are attempting to create a situation whereby an entire community is denied its right to protest in Jerusalem.  
"There is no precedent to such legislation," he said, "this is way ...   more »

(IsraelNN.com) Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said Monday that the PA would not establish a state without Jerusalem as a capital city.  Abbas has demanded that Israel give the PA all areas of Jerusalem that fell under Jordanian control between 1948 and 1967, including the Old City and the Temple Mount.
Abbas made his statements during a meeting of approximately 400 Arab leaders in the Mukata compound in Ramallah.  The leaders met “to promote the Arab nature of Jerusalem and to fight Israeli plotting.”
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Monday that discussions over the status of Jerusalem would take place after negotiations on other “core issues,” such as the borders of a PA state.  Shas party leaders say they will leave the coalition when Israel and the PA begin negotiating over Jerusalem.
Original Source

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Gil Hoffman
Shas's Council of Torah Sages will convene at the home of party mentor Rabbi Ovadia Yosef in Jerusalem's Har Nor neighborhood on Sunday night to consider leaving Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's coalition over the diplomatic negotiations with the Palestinians.
The council is not expected to authorize leaving the coalition at this stage, but the rabbis will likely decide to empower Yosef and Shas chairman Eli Yishai to leave the government when they see fit, without another meeting of the council.
Yishai will brief the rabbis about his meeting with Olmert last week and report what he hears from the Prime Minister's Office following Olmert's meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas earlier Sunday.
"The council meeting is a step on the way to leaving the coalition, but it doesn't necessarily mean that it will happen soon," a Shas official said Saturday night.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni will meet at her Jerusalem office with representatives of the bereaved families and reserve soldiers who have repeatedly called upon Olmert to quit. Livni asked the group not to bring with them any politicians connected to them such as Tafnit leader Uzi Dayan.
"There is no political significance to the meeting," ...   more »

Justice for Jews from Arab Countries
January 17, 2008 - (New York, NY) Justice for Jews from Arab Countries (JJAC) is pleased that President George Bush raised the issue of Jews from Arab countries while on his official visit to Israel in early January. In an article headlined, "Bush aware of Jewish Refugee' Plight," The Jerusalem Post said the U.S. President was "very conscious" that Jewish refugees fled to Israel from Arab lands after the 1947-49 war, and that one of the points that came up in Bush's discussion was the number of Jewish refugees that were created in the period after 1948.
This report of President Bush's interest in the plight of Jews from Arab countries, comes after the December visit to the White House by Maurice Shohet, a long time member of JJAC's International Steering Committee. Joining Mr. Shohet at the White House were Professor Judea Pearl and Ruth Pearl, parents of slain Wall Street Journal correspondent Daniel Pearl, all of whom spoke to President Bush on the plight of Jewish refugees from Arab counties. This followed the recent Annapolis Peace Conference, where JJAC issued a declaration which stated, inter alia: "The exclusion and denial of rights and ...   more »