Middle East Situation Report for 9-19-11

Monday, 19 September 2011 08:54 | Print

Mideast Situation Report

For 9-19-11

Middle East Reaches “Critical Mass”

Palestinian Move for Nationhood

Recognition at the UN Puts World

At the Precipice For Prophetic Developments

While Turkey Moves for

New World Order in Mideast

The leadership of the Palestinian movement, namely the PLO, has stated for months that it would petition the UN for recognition as a nation with its borders being those of 1967 just before the 6-day in June of that year. Palestinian Authority Chairman, Mahmoud Abbas made it very clear for the past several months that, unless there was some sort of diplomatic breakthrough with Israel before the next UN General Assembly, he would petition the UN to grant recognition of nationhood for Palestine.

The Palestinian plan initially called for the presentation of preliminary paperwork to be presented for processing on Tuesday, September 13th when the 66th General Assembly would convene for organizational matters in advance of the formal opening ceremonies a week later on September 20. Tuesday, the 13th came and went, but Abbas failed to submit the necessary paperwork due to intense diplomatic discussions and arm-twisting by various European nations and the United States.

The Palestinian Authority Chairman was expected to then submit the necessary papers the following day but again, under pressure and threats, Abbas relented to await and receive additional diplomatic proposals from the UN Special Envoy, Tony Blair along with special envoys from the Obama White House, namely Dennis Ross and David Hale. The late flurry of talks was termed by the Jerusalem Post as an effort to avoid a “train wreck” at the UN.

Abbas was given a new peace process proposal in writing by Tony Blair. The proposal was crafted in a joint cooperative effort between Blair, UN officials, European leaders, the U.S. State Department and the White House. After the Abbas briefing, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and his cabinet received a briefing on the proposal, early Thursday morning, (9/15). Abbas turned down the proposal, perhaps in large measure due to specific lobbying by Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan who met with Abbas in Cairo the previous day during the Arab League meeting.

On Tuesday, The PA Chairman met with the heads of the Arab League in Cairo for consultations. Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan pressed Abbas to continue with his plans for UN recognition no matter what threats made by the United States including the threat of a veto at the UN Security Council. Erdogan promised substantial economic aid to replace the aid lost from U.S. and Western threats for aid cut-offs.

As we understand, there are different options available to the Palestinians for recognition and the Palestinians have been in heavy consultations with world diplomats as to what options to use, to perhaps avoid a threatened U.S. veto before the UN Security Council.
Recognition could be given by the UN General Assembly but only on a provisional basis. Full membership would also require approval by the UN Security Council. It is hear that the U.S. can exercise its veto and thus prevent full recognition to the Palestinians.

Behind the scenes, Washington has been lobbying for weeks to avoid a UN vote on the matter as well as lobbying other nations to vote against recognition, if a vote is finally called for. Israel has also lobbied key nations for support against a vote, warning that UN recognition would irreparably harm the potential for a lasting peace in the Middle East and hinting that instead it would like lead to a very bloody war.

Perhaps ironically, the entire Palestinian initiative is the brainchild of President Obama, who originally told the Palestinians a year ago that the U.S. would back UN recognition if the Palestinians would agree to new peace talks in 2010, culminating in UN recognition in 2011 if the talks proceeded in good faith. Those talks never materialized after the first few meetings, but it planted the idea within the minds of Palestinian leaders that regardless of the outcome, the Palestinians were justified in taking the matter to the UN for recognition in the face of what the PA would term Israeli intransigence for nearly 63 years.

To try and jump-start the peace talks, insider sources report that Obama attempted to arm-twist Israel into negotiating by threatening to allow the Palestinians to bring the matter to the UN for a vote of recognition. Obama reportedly told Netanyahu, that the U.S. could simply abstain and not try to veto such a measure. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu failed to be stampeded by the Obama threat. Even so, the notion of a UN vote remained paramount in the minds of Palestinian leaders who were playing hardball in early talks, thinking that in doing so, Obama would make good on his threat to the Israelis and not veto such a proposal but rather abstain.

President Obama might have followed through on that threat if not for the American Jewish Lobby and his own political advisors warning that allowing UN recognition of a Palestinian state, under Palestinian terms would be political suicide and ruin his chances for re-election by losing the Jewish vote and Jewish campaign contributions. The political ramifications were underscored on Wednesday (9/15) when election results from a special congressional election in New York City resulted in a Republican candidate blowing out a Democrat, who happened to be Jewish. The congressional district has a huge block of Jewish voters, and by alarming numbers, the Jewish vote went solidly to the Republican just as pre-election polling had been suggesting for the past two weeks.

The late New York congressional race election results on Wednesday (9/15) scared the daylights out of the White House political staff who again stressed to the President the vital importance of siding with Israel on the UN vote issue. In fact, the political advice for the past several weeks was to do everything possible to avoid any kind of vote at the UN if at all possible. Thus, there has been a flurry of behind-the-scenes diplomatic maneuvering to find some sort of compromise to avoid a UN showdown vote.

Geo-political analysts worldwide are warning that a U.S. veto at the UN could trigger unintended and unforeseen consequences, including the possibility of major civil disorder in the Arab world if not an outright regional war.

Indeed, there had been rumors within Israel that the Netanyahu government had initially planned to foil any Palestinian UN vote by launching surprise air strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities as a way to divert attention from the Palestinian vote and thereby force the UN to postpone such a vote until after the “war” between Israel and Iran had been concluded. Such a notion now seems highly improbable, according to our sources. Why?

The rise of Turkey and the belligerence of Turkey’s Prime Minister and threats of Turkey going to war with Israel over aid to the Gaza Strip and more importantly over Israel’s attempts to pump oil and natural gas off its shoreline in international waters. Turkey’s Prime Minister conveyed to Israel through channels that the Turkey reserved the right to attack Israeli warships if they were confronted in international waters. The implications were that Turkish warships might attack and disable Israeli oil and natural gas installations in international waters.

This Turkish development gives rise to our concern that Biblical Prophecy might be unfolding in regard’s to Ezekiel’s prophecies of a Magog War against Israel, with Turkey being the “Magog” nation. (see Ezekiel 38:11-13 - “come to take a spoil?”)

There has been a debate among prophecy commentators in the past 60 years as to the identity of Magog. Until 1945, most commentators speculated that Magog was the land of Turkey. After WW2, commentators such as Dr. J. Dwight Pentecost and Hal Lindsey speculated that Russia was the Magog nation, although such claims are not without textual Hebraic and interpretive problems.

Some ancient rabbinical sources dating to 300 B.C. claim that Ezekiel had told his assistant rabbis that “Magog” invaders would be from the original land that was then located in what is present day, eastern Iran, western Pakistan and western Afghanistan. Still, however, some of the actual names listed in the confederation itself are clearly located in modern-day Turkey. So it remains to be seen, just what nation is the actual “Magog” nation.

We should also note that the term “Gog” is not a nation, but rather a title of authority, such as a General or a Tribal Chieftan or President or Prime Minister or perhaps someone of nobility, although not necessarily a king.

With Ezekiel’s prophecies in mind, we consider Turkey’s sudden emergence as a “player” in Mideast politics to be something that prophecy watchers need to consider in the prophetic aspects now developing. Turkey is suddenly maneuvering to become the “champion” of the Palestinian cause - in an effort to out-maneuver Iran’s efforts to champion the Palestinian cause. The underlying purpose for both nations is to jockey to become the “leader” of the region and the spread of Islam. Turkey seeks to re-establish a “caliphate” in which Turkey once again becomes the leader of the Islamic world.

Another factor in Turkey’s sudden splash onto the world stage is an economic factor. Turkey’s economy has taken a nose dive this year. There’s nothing better than a war to revive a flagging economy, especially when it could result in obtaining “spoils” of war such as oil and natural gas deposits located off Israeli shores. Turkey is now disputing Israel’s claim to ownership of those deposits.

Israel is not alone in claiming those mineral deposits. Cyprus and Greece are also intent on garnering their share of the energy surprise in their backyards. Turkey objects to such claims and desires to grab the riches for their own flagging economy.

According to regional reports, Cyprus is sending a drilling rig out into the Mediterranean Sea on Monday, Sept 19 despite warnings of dire consequences from Turkey and Northern Cyprus, which is a puppet-state of Turkey.

With this in mind, it is no wonder that Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan flew to Cairo to meet with Egyptian military junta leaders to discuss strategic military and economic alliances and to urge the Palestinian leadership to move forward with plans for UN recognition. The timing was just all too convenient, as if almost supernaturally engineered.

It is also worth noting that all of this transpires just ahead of the Jewish feast of Rosh Hashanah, which some Prophecy commentators theorize is a feast in which the Rapture of the Church will take place, although no one knows what year or which of the two feast days Jesus would appear and remove the Church to safety. At “The Alpha-Omega Report,” we find some merit in such theorizing, but we would not be dogmatic in such theories, yet we do find the Rosh Hashanah - Rapture theory to have some significant merit. Perhaps that theory is valid, but then also, perhaps it is not, and even if so, we do not know for sure what year or which day of the two feast days.

What we can say about this current situation is that depending on how events transpire, we could witness a tremendous amount of chaos in the Middle East in the coming days and weeks ahead and that chaos may well develop into momentous prophetic developments and or fulfillments of perhaps major prophetic importance.

We understand that should the Palestinian leadership proceed with a UN vote this month, then we shall see if President Obama makes good on his recent threat to slap economic sanctions on the Palestinians.

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Late Breaking Developments

As We Post This Article:

Reuter’s Newswire reports that Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is “defiant” as he traveled to New York City to attend the opening ceremonies of the 66^th UN General Assembly. According to Reuter’s, Abbas claims that “all hell has broken loose” against the Palestinian efforts for UN recognition as a nation. Reuter’s Newswire outlines the situation facing Abbas as he flies to New York for an historic showdown. See LINK HERE.

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Saudis Threaten US Over a UN Veto

Of Palestinian Statehood

From Time Magazine:

Last week, Saudi Prince Turki al-Faisal threatened that his country will break with the U.S. on Iraq, and perhaps on Afghanistan and Yemen, over Israeli-Palestinian affairs in coming weeks. For more details - LINK HERE.

A-O Comment: If the Saudis follow through on such a threat, President Obama’s entire Mideast Foreign Policy will be shredded and create a dangerous atmosphere for U.S. national security interests in the region. It would underscore the bumbling ineptitude of the Obama Administration concerning the Middle East and could well lead to Obama’s defeat for re-election in 2012. In fact, if things deteriorate, Obama might be forced to not seek re-election, depending on how things would turn in the coming months - all of course, assuming there is a UN vote and a US veto

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Israel Warns of Harsh Consequences”

If a Palestinian UN Vote is Taken

LINK

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U.S. Fears Major Diplomatic Embarrassment

In Wake of a Palestinian UN Vote/Veto

LINK

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PLO Says:

New Palestinian State to be

“Jew-Free”