In the USA

I've arrived safely and all is well. Please continue to pray for me, I'll be busily working on doing everything I haven't been able to get done from Israel. Today I worked on some banking issues. Please pray that my time in the states is well spent and prosperous.

Blessings!
Dave

Current Events

Yes, I'm still in Israel, with a couple more days left before I anticipate I can leave. Lots going on though, here in The land.

I was studying yesterday when I ran across this verse in Jeremiah, Chapter 46.
v27 "But do not be afraid, Jacob, my servant; do not be dismayed, Israel. For I will bring you home again from distant lands, and your children will return from their exile. Israel will return and will have peace and quiet, and nothing will make them afraid.

I thought it was relevant to the Jews returning from the nations, those still making "Alya" (the return) to their home.

There is an article on Debka about how the CIA has released a statement saying that Israel has prepared for an all-out attack and will commence it within days. Seeing as how Israel has opened recruiting centers in several countries, and how the military is strengthening here, I don't know what to believe, but it is indeed possible that we are days, maybe hours away from a real war. God (literally) only knows what is next.

Please continue to keep this nation, this people, in your prayers, for peace, protection, and God's will.

Thank you all for you support, it has been a great blessing to me, both your prayers and your financial support. I feel God is doing something in my life, and I feel your prayers, and I only want to go deeper into what he has for me. Also, physically I am still fatigued somewhat throughout the day, but I am doing MUCH better, I feel much better, and am doing more again. Thank you for your prayers.

Please pray specifically for me in that I will get answers fast from the people I need to make contact with to stay in Cyprus, and of course, especially during these times for my safety and continued dependence on God (Adonai).

Shalom Israel!
Dave

New Look?

Well.... yeah... they still call me a web developer, maybe not the best at graphics, but I got tired of thinking that the previous site was giving people a first impression...

Hey... maybe I can sell banner advertising...

That's better...

I'm sure everyone thought I was joking, but here it is. The next generation of the Journal from Israel =) I'm still working on it, so stand by for some more changes soon.

Violence in The Land

The violence continues and even escalates this week as Israel responded to Palestinian shootings in Hebron with surface missiles.

Here is an article I read on debka.com that sheds some light on the truth behind one of Arafat's current schemes:


A number of leading and well-intentioned European and American diplomats, steered by Israeli foreign minister Shimon Peres, worked hard to gratify Yasser Arafat?s insistent demand for European observers to monitor Palestinian-Israeli warfare. The Israeli government, whether under Ehud Barak or Ariel Sharon, stood fast against this demand. A compromise was finally hit upon: The ?European observers? would not actually be European, but Palestinians employed by European organizations. The location chosen for their headquarters was Beit Jallah, a largely Christian village adjoining Bethlehem just outside Jerusalem, whose population has sent letters round the world begging for help against Tanzim militiamen, who have been raping their daughters and robbing them of their money and jewels.
Sharon disliked the idea, but Peres persuaded him that the monitors were not really international but local and the Palestinian Preventive Security chief, Jibril Rajoub, with whom Israel has an understanding, would be on hand with his men to provide protection against the local Tanzim toughs.
For Arafat, these ?observers? served two purposes:
1. To crow his success in getting international observers in place.
2. To present the observers as there to protect the Tanzim against unbridled Israeli strikes (sic), thereby turning the project on its head.
But when this week, he decided to heat up the Bethlehem-Beit Jallah-Al Khader-Gilo-Tunnel Road sector, his observers suddenly became an impediment. He did not need them around when he activated the killer squads and sent bombers to blow up the international Maccabiah sports games in Jerusalem. (Their charge went off prematurely killing the two bombers.) Where were the "observers" while all this was happening? And where was Rajoub?
They were told to stay out of the way and shut up. Had they defied Arafat, they knew they would disappear. Israel would then have been accused of doing away with them. So when mortar crews loosed off mortar bombs Tuesday night against Jerusalem?s Gilo from Beit Jallah, under the very noses of the "European observers", not a murmur of protest was to be heard.