“Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by me: whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake”.

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By Haaretz Service
A mild earthquake registering 4.1 on the Richter scale was felt in central Israel shortly after midnight between Friday and Saturday, days after a 4.2 tremor struck the northern Dead Sea earlier this week.
Police said they had received no reports of injuries or damage.
Reports of the quake were recorded, among other places, in Ra'anana, Tel Aviv, Petah Tikva, Rehovot and Jerusalem, Army Radio reported.
Seismology experts said the epicenter of the earthquake was east of the city of Ramle, Israel Radio reported Saturday morning.
The Geophysical Institute of Israel termed the strength of this week's earthquakes "mild to moderate."
On Tuesday, after a rush of media speculation, Uri Frizlander, the institute's director-general, said, "There is no reason to get hysterical - there are constant earthquakes that the public doesn't feel."
However, Frizlander did warn the public to be prepared for a stronger earthquake, and said that the authorities must strictly implement building regulations and strengthen weak foundations of existing structures.
Original Source

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by Natan Sharansky
Why the conference is doomed to failure.
One of the high points at which the drama could have turned into a farce within seconds occurred nine years ago at the Wye Plantation summit. After exhausting and debilitating efforts, we received from Yasser Arafat a promise (even if half-hearted and unwilling) to delete from the Palestinian Charter the sections calling for the destruction of Israel.
Upon leaving the conference room, we saw one of the closest advisers of President Bill Clinton and proudly told him about our achievement.
"Are you out of your minds?" he shouted. "He's going to be killed because of that. He is too weak for dramatic steps like that. First he has to be strengthened!"
I recalled this tragic-comic story a few days ago as I was talking with a player from the international elements engaged in building up the destroyed Palestinian economy. When I asked him why they weren't making aid to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) contingent on stopping the anti-Israeli incitement on the official television channel and in the Palestinian education system, he replied, "Abu Mazen is so weak, and this is not a popular step. First of all, ...   more »

The Hal Lindsey Report: November 16th       
After months of waffling, the United States Congress finally passed a military spending bill. It's been sent to the White House for the president's signature, but he's not likely to sign it. The bill provides $50 billion for four months' funding of the war, but only if President Bush begins immediately withdrawing troops from Iraq. It's similar to one the president vetoed earlier this year.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi told reporters that funding for the Iraq war was conditional to force the president to begin withdrawing U.S. troops. The speaker threatened that if the president vetoed the bill, she would not allow another war spending bill to go before Congress for the rest of the year.
Pelosi later told reporters, "It's a war without end. There is no light at the end of the tunnel. We must reverse it." It was the 58th bill this year sponsored by the Democrats that has been tied to an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.
Once again, this proves that the liberals, most of whom are Democrats, don't comprehend that we are in a war – not of our choosing – against ...   more »

By ALBERT AJI
Syria announced Sunday that it will attend the Annapolis summit on Mideast peace, saying it would send its deputy foreign minister because the future of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights had been put on the agenda.
The official news agency, SANA, said Deputy Foreign Minister Faysal Mekdad would travel to the U.S.-backed conference, a decision made "after the Syria track was added to the conference agenda," the agency said. Syria had said it will attend only if the conference discusses the Golan Heights, the strategic plateau captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war and later annexed.
Syria did not explain why it will not be sending its foreign minister, like other Arab participants, but the decision appears to indicate that it is not entirely confident the conference will address its concerns over the Golan Heights.
White House press secretary Dana Perino said that the Golan Heights were "not specifically on the agenda" but attendees would be able to freely raise issues.
A spokeswoman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Israel nonetheless saw the announcement as a positive development.
"The meetings are clearly about the Israeli-Palestinian process, but could be the beginning of new avenues to peace ...   more »

Israel recognizes plan calling for exit from Golan, Temple Mount, Jerusalem, West Bank
By Aaron Klein
JERUSALEM – In exchange for Saudi Arabia attending this week's U.S.-sponsored Israeli-Palestinian conference in Annapolis, the Israeli government agreed to recognize the importance of a Saudi-sponsored "peace initiative" in which the Jewish state is called upon to evacuate the strategic Golan Heights, the entire West Bank and eastern sections of Jerusalem, including the Temple Mount, WND has learned.
WND obtained a draft Israeli-Palestinian declaration to be presented at the Annapolis conference and to serve as an official outline of a final settlement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority
The wording is still being negotiated by both sides, but according to Israeli diplomatic sources, Israel agreed to a Saudi request that the declaration document include reference to a Saudi-backed Arab Peace Initiative, first presented in 2002 and reissued earlier this year at a meeting of the Arab League, an umbrella association of Mideast Arab states.
When it was first revealed, the Arab Initiative was heavily criticized by the U.S. and Israel because the text requires the Jewish state to withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza and allow for the creation of a Palestinian capital ...   more »

By Cheryl Wetzstein
Retailers shouldn't be shy about wishing customers a "Merry Christmas."
A new survey found that 67 percent of American adults prefer the holiday-specific greeting in seasonal advertising, while only 26 percent want to see "Happy Holidays."
There wasn't a gender gap in the answers: Both men and women like seeing "Merry Christmas" in store windows, according to Scott Rasmussen, president of Rasmussen Reports, an independent polling company.
But from a political perspective, there was a sleighful of difference: 88 percent of Republicans wanted to see "Merry Christmas," while just 57 percent of Democrats favored it.
Scott Krugman, a spokesman for the National Retail Federation, said the "Merry Christmas" versus "Happy Holidays" issue has been around for a few years.
"I don't think it's a new issue" for the industry, Mr. Krugman said yesterday.In 2005, Target stores ditched the use of the word "Christmas" in promotional materials, but the retailer decided to resume using it after immense public pressure.
Also in 2005, Wal-Mart prohibited its employees from wishing customers "Merry Christmas," opting instead for "Happy Holidays." That decision was protested by religious groups, among them the Catholic League, which boycotted the retail giant. Wal-Mart announced during the 2006 ...   more »

Iranian Vice President Gholam Reza Aghazadeh said Saturday that Iran has produced nuclear fuel pellets for its 40-megawatt heavy water nuclear reactor, a technological advancement in the cycle of nuclear fuel, according to the state news agency.
"Fuel pellets to be used in the 40-megawatt Arak research reactor have been produced," IRNA quoted Aghzadeh as saying Saturday.
Iran has gone a long way in building a 40-megawatt heavy water nuclear reactor in Arak, central Iran, which the United States fears could be used to produce plutonium and build nuclear weapons.
Original Source
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Survey finds growing numbers seeking alternative explanations
If you believe the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon came without any specific warning, a new poll says the person on your left and the person on your right think you're wrong.
Almost two-thirds of Americans think it is possible some officials in the federal government had specific information about the pending attacks, but chose to ignore it and take no action to protect the country, according to a Scripps Howard News Service/Ohio University poll.
The national survey of more than 800 U.S. adults conducted by Scripps Survey Research Center at Ohio University echoes a similar one by the same organization in 2006 that found more than a third of Americans believing the U.S. government somehow assisted in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, or else took no steps to stop them from occurring, so the Bush administration could launch a war in the Middle East.
In the most recent poll, researchers found more than one-third of Americans subscribe to a range of conspiracy theories, including the 9/11 attacks, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, soaring oil prices and UFOs.
The reason? The Bush ...   more »

MIDDLE EAST TIMES
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (bottom) leads the Eid Al-Fitr, the holiday marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, at Imam Khomeini Grand Mosque in Tehran on October 13, 2007. Mostafa Khomeini, Iran's late supreme leader Ayatollah Rohollah Khomeini's grandson is seen on the left. (UPI Photo/Payam Borazjani/Soureh Photo Agency)    
The sharp criticism of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad by an Iranian newspaper close to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei has understandably attracted world-wide attention.
Wednesday's editorial in the Islamic Republic daily said that President Ahmedinejad's treatment attack on critics of his nuclear policies was immoral, illogical and illegal. In a recent angry speech, Ahmedinejad had denounced some as traitors and others as spies for foreigners.
Experts on Iranian affairs believe that such a sharp public attack on such a crucial issue would have been unthinkable without the ayatollah's approval. And if the ayatollah is indeed behind this attempt to rein in Ahmedinejad's aggressive rhetoric, then this is likely to be welcomed across the Middle East and elsewhere.
This week, one of Washington's top strategic experts, Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, issued a chilling report on the likely ...   more »

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Government health regulators recommended adding label precautions about neurological problems seen in children who have taken flu drugs made by Roche and GlaxoSmithKline.
The Food and Drug Administration on Friday released its safety review of Roche's Tamiflu and Glaxo's Relenza. Next week, an outside group of pediatric experts is scheduled to review the safety of several such drugs when used in children.
FDA began reviewing Tamiflu's safety in 2005 after receiving reports of children experiencing neurological problems, including hallucinations and convulsions.
Twenty-five patients under age 21 have died while taking the drug, most of them in Japan. Five deaths resulted from children "falling from windows or balconies or running into traffic."
There have been no child deaths connected with Relenza, but regulators said children taking the drug have shown similar neurological problems.
While FDA said it isn't clear whether the problems are directly related to the drugs, it recommends adding language about the possible side effects to labeling for physicians who prescribe Tamiflu and Relenza.
Besides being a drug side effect, the agency said the behaviors alternately could result from an unusual strain of flu or a rare genetic reaction to the drug.
Company representatives were not ...   more »

Abul Taher
THE Archbishop of Canterbury has said that the United States wields its power in a way that is worse than Britain during its imperial heyday.
Rowan Williams claimed that America’s attempt to intervene overseas by “clearing the decks” with a “quick burst of violent action” had led to “the worst of all worlds”.
In a wide-ranging interview with a British Muslim magazine, the Anglican leader linked criticism of the United States to one of his most pessimistic declarations about the state of western civilisation.
He said the crisis was caused not just by America’s actions but also by its misguided sense of its own mission. He poured scorn on the “chosen nation myth of America, meaning that what happens in America is very much at the heart of God’s purpose for humanity”.
Williams went beyond his previous critique of the conduct of the war on terror, saying the United States had lost the moral high ground since September 11. He urged it to launch a “generous and intelligent programme of aid directed to the societies that have been ravaged; a check on the economic exploitation of defeated territories; a demilitarisation of their presence”.
He went on to suggest ...   more »