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JERUSALEM, West Bank (AP) — The World Bank on Thursday endorsed a Palestinian reform plan that requires $5.6 billion in international aid over three years, but warned that the money will not stem economic decline in the West Bank and Gaza unless Israel also eases Palestinian movement and trade. The Palestinians will ask for the aid at a conference of donor countries next week in Paris. However, if Israel's closures remain in place, these large sums would at best slow a "downward cycle of crisis and dependence," the report said. By contrast, a considerable easing of Israeli restrictions could help the Palestinian private sector recover and lead to double-digit economic growth, the World Bank said.
Israeli defense officials have been reluctant to remove roadblocks and barriers, first set up after the outbreak of Israeli-Palestinian fighting in 2000 to keep attackers from Israel. Security officials say the moderate Palestinian government in the West Bank is still too weak to rein in militants effectively.
- JJ Commentary: They will never be able to rein in the militants because they, and Islamic militants in other surrounding countries, will never give up trying to completely destroy Israel.
A Washington, D.C., imam states explicitly on the website for his organization that he is part of a movement working toward replacement of the U.S. government with "the Islamic State of North America" by 2050. With branches in Oakland, Los Angeles, San Diego, Sacramento and Philadelphia, the group As-Sabiqun – or the Vanguard – is under the leadership of Abdul Alim Musa in the nation's capital. Musa's declaration of his intention to help lead a takeover of America was highlighted by noted Islam observer Robert Spencer on his website Jihad Watch.
Musa launched the group in the early 1990s at the Al-Islam mosque in Philadelphia. His group says it is influenced by the writings and life work of Muslim thinkers and leaders such as Muslim Brotherhood founder Hasan al-Banna, Sayyid Qutb and Iranian revolutionary Ayatollah Khomenei. The writings of Al-Banna and Qutb figured prominently in al-Qaida's formation. The groups says it does not "advocate participation in the American political process as an ideal method for advancing Islamic issues in the U.S.; instead, it believes in a strong and active outreach to the people of the U.S."
- JJ Commentary: Hmmm. Religious freedom, yes. Replace the government with an Islamic State? Sounds kinda treasonous to me.
JERUSALEM – Islamic authorities using heavy machinery to dig on the Temple Mount – Judaism's holiest site – have been caught red-handed destroying Temple-era antiquities and what's believed to be a section of an outer wall of the Second Jewish Temple. WND obtained a photograph of a massive trench the Waqf, the Muslim custodians of the Temple Mount, have been blasting around the periphery of the holy site purportedly to replace 40-year-old electrical cables for mosques on the Mount. The Waqf has steadfastly denied they found or destroyed any Jewish antiquities during their dig. The picture, which was obtained in conjunction with Israel's Temple Institute, shows concrete slabs broken by Waqf bulldozers and what appears to be a chopped up carved stone from Jewish Temple-era antiquity.
Eilat Mazar, considered one of the most prominent Temple Mount archaeologists, analyzed the photo and told WND the damaged stone displays elements of the second Temple era and might be part of a Jewish Temple wall Israeli archeologists charge the Waqf found and has been attempting to destroy. If authenticated, the wall would be one of the most important Temple Mount archaeological discoveries in recent history. "It certainly looks like Second Temple antiquity and could very well be part of a Second Temple courtyard wall," Mazer said.
- JJ Commentary: Islamic leaders do not want anything that supports Israel’s historical and Biblical claims to Jerusalem and the Temple to come to the light.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — President Bush raised a new defense of his Iraq policy Wednesday, saying the Middle East has the potential to create democracies like those that arose in Japan and South Korea if the United States perseveres. "The hard work we are doing in the Middle East can have the same results we've seen in Asia and elsewhere, if we show the same perseverance and the same sense of purpose," Bush said. Bush's speeches Wednesday and next week are designed to "provide broader context" for the "long-term" debate over future Iraq policy, said presidential counselor Ed Gillespie. Next week's speech will focus on the Middle East, he said.
- JJ Commentary: As with many analogies, this one fails due to one primary difference – Islamic government does not lend itself to democracy, but is instead, by definition, dictatorial.
