Watchman Information

In 2009, Netanyahu made a speech expressing his support for a demilitarized Palestinian state. Today, he said that this position is "Simply irrelevant" saying, "In the situation created in the Middle East, any territory that will be evacuated will be taken over by radical Islam and terrorist organizations supported by Iran. Therefore, there will not be any withdrawals or concessions. The matter is simply irrelevant," he said. Meanwhile, Ron Dermer, who was Netanyahu's aide at the time of his 2009 speech and now serves as Israel's ambassador to the US, reportedly promised Quartet leader Tony Blair who represented the EU, UN, Russia and the United States as mediators in the peace process that Israel would agree to a Palestinian state based upon the 1967 borders. The comments were made sometime during Netanyahu's 2009-2013 term as prime minister and were published by Israel's Channel 10. Israel's Channel 10 claimed that Dermer promised Quartet leader Tony Blair, in writing, that Israel would cede territory that would give the Palestinians a state "identical to the areas Israel captured in 1967. According to the report, Blair was skeptical about Netanyahu's willingness to cede territory as part of a peace deal, prompting Dermer to commit in writing in a bid to quell his concerns and prove Netanyahu was serious. In response, Dermer vehemently denied the report, saying that "in complete contradiction to what is being reported, no commitment was given to any type of withdrawal at any point. According to him, the paper was an "attempt to move forward with negotiations based on the international community's principles with Israel retaining the right to disavow any article it is uncomfortable with." Israel's former chief negotiator in the peace process, Tzipi Livni called Netanyahu's response to a document claiming that he agreed in 2013 to establish a Palestinian state based upon the 1967 borders as "cowardly. She said, "When I see Netanyahu's cowardly response, I understand why the Palestinians and Americans say they don't believe him. Livni also had criticism towards the Palestinian leadership. She said, "Sometimes, your partner is not much, and I have criticism against (Palestinian President) Abbas, who didn't respond to the American outline." Meanwhile, Likud Minister Yuval Steinitz criticized the publication of the document, saying it was a "manipulation," and "fabricated in the way it was presented," noting neither Netanyahu nor Molcho agreed to the principles outlined. He said that the publication of this document was politically motivated to harm Netanyahu prior to the March 17 Israeli elections. He said, "The objective is to move votes from the Likud party to the religious Zionist nationalistic Jewish Home party as well as the ultra-Orthodox Shas party in order to help the Zionist camp party headed by Tzipi Livni and Isaac Herzog's to win the March 17th elections. Meanwhile, the Obama administration says that U.S. President Barack Obama wants to make a renewed effort to achieve progress in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process following the March 17 Israeli elections. The final decision on how to move forward, what sort of effort to make and when, will only be made after a new Israeli government has been formed. A senior Obama official said, "The United States would like to see the formation of the new government in Israel and its attitude toward the renewing peace talks. But in the year and a half to two years that Obama has left in the White House prior to the November, 2016 US elections, the United States will have to deal with the peace process because time is working against us." Further deterioration in ties between the Israeli government and the Palestinian leadership in recent months has senior administration officials very worried. The United States sees the situation as a growing crisis beginning with the blowup of the peace talks in March of last year, the deep diplomatic freeze, the war in Gaza last summer, the resolution that the Palestinians tried (unsuccessfully) to get through the UN Security Council, the Palestinians' signing of the Rome Statute and joining of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, and the Israeli response of freezing the transfer of Palestinian tax funds. To all of these must be added the Palestinian Authority's threats to file more complaints against Israel in the International Criminal Court beginning April 1, when its membership in the court becomes official, and the serious economic consequences in the PA as a result of Israel's freezing of Palestinian tax payments takes a deeper toll on the Palestinian economy. A senior White House official said the Obama administration is concerned over an economic collapse of the PA, which could happen within a few months if Israel does not release the tax money to the Palestinians. Such a collapse, the Americans believe, could lead to security chaos and even a violent outbreak. The senior official said, "The United States wants to find the right timing to go for another push and try and promote something on the Israeli-Palestinian issue. The United States decision to take action will depend on the makeup and policy of the new Israeli government. The United States would prefer that there be a renewing of peace negotiations on a permanent status agreement. However, the Obama administration is aware that in view of the seriousness of the crisis in the peace process, this may not be very realistic. As a result, the United Status is discussing various diplomatic moves to unfreeze the talks. One idea that has come up repeatedly in administration discussions over the past year is to present to the international community an updated American outline for a solution to the conflict. Such an outline could include the principles of the framework agreement that Kerry, Israel and the PA worked on at the end of 2013 and early 2014. The discussed framework agreement included clauses such as negotiations based on the 1967 borders with exchanges of territory, recognition of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people, Jerusalem as the capital of both states, security arrangements for Israel in the Jordan Valley and a timetable for the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the West Bank. The original US intention was to publish the agreement and invite the Israeli and Palestinian teams to the United States to negotiate based on the document's principles. Under this scenario, Abbas and Netanyahu would have had to decide to accept the US invitation to discuss the ideas of a US framework agreement or stay home. After long discussions about this approach, Kerry decided not to publish an outline of a US framework proposal, in the hope that he would be able to persuade Netanyahu and Abbas to extend talks without an American ultimatum. A former member of the American peace team said he believes that today Kerry regrets that decision. Another possibility for an American initiative after the Israeli elections is to promote a UN Security Council resolution based on the American framework agreement, set principles for resolution of the conflict, and call for a renewal of talks. In this way, even if peace talks do not resume, a new source of international authority will have been determined for resolving the conflict that would not be based on Resolutions 242 and 338, on which talks have been based for the past 40 years. Last September and October, when the Palestinians and Jordanians as well as the French were promoting two separate resolutions to set principles for resolving the conflict, the Obama administration considered formulating an American resolution. This resolution, in the view of the United States, would have been more balanced and the fact that the United States would have led it would have assured its passage at the US Security Council. In the end, under pressure from then-Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and former President Shimon Peres, who feared that such a move at the end of 2014 would strengthen Netanyahu in upcoming March 17th Israeli elections, the Americans did not propose a resolution. Once again, today both Kerry and Livni are said to regret not doing so. In conclusion, depending upon the outcome of the March 17th Israeli elections and the formation of the new Israeli government, the United States will decide whether it should propose an outline of a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians which could be submitted for approval at the UN Security Council. If this scenario does happen, it could be the fulfillment of the prophecy that the nations will divide the land of Israel and the city of Jerusalem through formal recognition of a PLO state based upon 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital. An agreement to divide Jerusalem and establish a PLO state is a tribulation event. The link to these articles are as follows:1) PLO leaders recommend that Palestinian Authority halt security coordination with Israel2) Palestinian sources: Kerry pressing Abbas to hold off on anti-Israel measures before election3) 'Abbas won't cut security ties with Israel before elections'4) Netanyahu's secret peace offer concessions to Palestinians revealed5) 'Netanyahu never agreed to '67 borders or division of Jerusalem'6) Netanyahu says his past support for Palestinian state 'simply irrelevant'7) Netanyahu says Israel won't cede land to Palestinians, despite reports, docs claiming otherwise8) Livni: PM's response to document shows why US, Palestinians don't trust him9) Obama aims for another Mideast peace push by end of term, White House officials sayFrom a Biblical prophetic perspective, the reason why the God of Israel would allow these events to happen is because it will result in the end of the exile of the house of Jacob and the reunification of the 12 tribes of Israel (Ephraim and Judah). We will to be "watchmen on the walls of Jerusalem" and we will not rest until the God of Israel makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth (Isaiah 62).