By L. Margaret Mason, Tacoma, February, 1995

THE SCATTERING OF THE JEWS

600 BC - King Nebuchadnezzar from Babylon

The great crisis date for the first scattering of the Jews began around 600 BC.

That was the year King Nebuchadnezzar from Babylon moved in against Jerusalem with his massive war machine. However, at that time he did not destroy Jerusalem. Instead, he came to teach them a lesson. His first act was to put a new king (Zedekiah) over the Jews, and collect the delinquent tribute. He raided the Temple - confiscating many of its treasures - and then decided to take back to Babylon ten thousand of the most talented Jewish artisans. One of them was the prophet Ezekial. (also Daniel and his three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego).

Unfortunately, during the following thirteen years, the Jewish leaders not only failed to pay their annual tribute, but worst of all - they entered into a military alliance with Egypt, which was Babylon's foremost enemy.

It was just a question of time until Nebuchadnezzar came charging down on Jerusalem with the intention of obliterating the whole Jewish nation from the face of the earth. That fatal date turned out to be 587 BC (Skousen W. Cleon, Days of the Living Christ Vol. 1 pg. xxxi)

587 BC - Destruction of Jerusalem by Babylonians

When the Babylonian tornado of destruction descended on Jerusalem in 587 BC, it was accompanied by all of the horrors of rapine, burning, looting and killing that characterized the techniques of conquest in those blood-thirsty days.

For weeks the fires of Jerusalem and other settlements in Palestine filled the air with the pungent stench of burning flesh and the odor of smoldering ruins. Within a few days starvation set in, crushing out the lives of old and young alike. Other tens of thousands - without any mercy from their captors - died from the scourges of various contagious diseases. Still other thousands fled in all directions to seek safety in neighboring nations.

When it was all over there was a mere fragment of the population huddled together like terrified sheep near the ruins of Jerusalem. These were roughly herded together and marched off across the mountains and deserts to Babylon. There they were placed in a concentration camp called Tel Abib.

The scripture (Jeremiah 25:11-12) says that in the miserable and depressed condition the Jews mourned out their days of wretched existence for seventy years. In fact, the only thing that saved them was a mighty political convulsion among the world powers. (Ibid pg. xxxi-xxxii)

539 BC - Babylonians are Conquered by the Persians

In 539 BC a horde of Medes and Persians descended on Babylon while the king and all his courtiers were celebrating a feast. The attack was in the darkness and came as a complete surprise. In a single night the glory of Babylon was crushed into the dust after Cyrus breached the walls and poured in upon the city like a legion of avenging angels. By morning the Jews found themselves under the dominion of a completely different kingdom.

Nearly 150 years earlier, the Lord revealed to Isaiah that it would be a man named Cyrus who would befriend the Jews and send them back to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple. The Lord even called Cyrus “my shepherd” (Isaiah 44:28).

It was the very next year after the triumphant Cyrus conquered Babylon that he authorized 50,000 Jews to return to the site of Jerusalem and rebuild the Lord's Holy House. From this fragile beginning, the Jews began the restoration of their nation and their sacred city.

Later, Ezra went over to Jerusalem to institute certain reforms and teach the people the Mosaic law from scriptures which he took with him. A few years after that, the brilliant Nehemiah - who was not only a Jew but the highly trusted cupbearer to King Cyrus - gained permission to go to Jerusalem and supervise the reconstruction of the city's protective walls. (Ibid xxxii)

334-328 BC - The Restructuring of the World by the Greeks

Between 334 and 328 BC, the Persian empire (under Cyrus) was conquered by Alexander the Great, and the Greeks became the new rulers of the whole civilized world.

The Jews fared rather well under Alexander, but in 323 BC, while Alexander was in Babylon, he suddenly died of malignant fever. Instead of leaving his empire to a single heir, Alexander left various segments of his empire as a legacy to each of his leading generals.

For over a century, these ambitious generals and their descendants fought each other trying to take over the whole empire. When the dust had finally settled, the heirs of general Seleucus Nicator, had established authority over Alexander's eastern conquests and these became known as the Seleucid empire. The Seleucid empire included Syria and Palestine.

The Seleucids established the capital of their empire at Antioch, 300 miles north of Jerusalem. As it turned out, the Seleucid kingdom soon became the center for the worst persecution the Jews had suffered in more than 300 years.

The Seleucid ruler who left the most bitter memory in the minds of the Jews, was Antiochus Epiphanes, (Antiochus IV) whose worst abuses reached their height around 170 BC. The ambition of this new ruler was to subjugate the Jews economically, and then compel them to adopt the pagan religion of the Greeks.

He ordered the Jews to pay in taxes one third of their grain crops and one half of the fruit of their trees. He slaughtered Jews by the thousands, desecrated and looted the Temple, and commanded that the Temple be rededicated as a shrine to Zeus, that a Greek altar be built over the old one, and the usual sacrifices be replaced with a sacrifice of swine.

When the Jews resisted, he put Jerusalem to the flames, its walls were destroyed, and many of its Jewish population were sold into slavery.

There was one family for whom all this abuse and persecution became completely unbearable. This family was known as the Hasmoneans. The head of the Hasmonean family was an aged priest named Mattathias. (Ibid xxxvi-xxxviii)

167-142 BC - The Hasmonean Revolt & The Rise of the Maccabees

When Mattathias came upon a Greek who had built an altar and had compelled a Jew to sacrifice a pig in honor of Zeus, he rushed forward, sword in hand and slew the man himself that sacrificed, and Apelles the king's general, who compelled them to sacrifice. He also overthrew the idol altar, and made haste into the desert with his sons.

Word spread throughout Judea that old Mattathias and his sons were rising up in revolt. Almost before Epiphanes realized what was happening, the Seleucids had a violent civil war on his hands.

Mattathias died the following year, which was 166 BC, but the Hasmonean brothers decided to carry on the war. They rallied all their strength around their third brother, whose name was Judas. This young Jew called himself by the name of Maccabee, which is said to have meant “the hammer.” He and his brothers determined to be the Jewish hammer to beat down their oppressors and restore their freedom.

Thus the great rebellion of the Jews began which is known in history as the revolt of the Maccabees. Just at this time the legions of Rome appeared on the scene in one of their early eastward thrusts to lay the foundation for their own world empire. When Epiphanes saw the strength of the Romans, he dared not risk an attack and the possibility of losing part of his kingdom. He therefore negotiated for peace and agreed to pay a heavy tribute to the Romans each year. (Ibid xxxviii-xxxix)

This outside distraction was the break the Jews needed. While Epiphanes was abroad trying to raise money for the tribute to the Romans, the Maccabees led the Jews in a valiant attack on the Greek-Syrian troops guarding Jerusalem, and they succeeded in taking possession of the city.

The priests immediately cleansed the temple and held an eight-day rededication service. This event became one of the most celebrated occasions in Jewish history. The Jews memorialize this great victory with the celebration of Hanukkah, which means “dedication”. It is also called the “Feast of Lights”.

Of course, this was not the end of the fighting, but eventually the Jews gained their freedom and acquired full control of their affairs. But they paid a heavy price. During all those dark days of trouble and strife, each of the five Hasmonean brothers died a violent death. They have been honored ever since as five of the nation's greatest heroes. (Ibid xl-xli)

SIX GREAT EPOCHS OF JEWISH HISTORY

1) 63 BC - 633 AD: ROMAN PERIOD

63 BC - The Jews were conquered by the famous Roman General Pompey. He killed thousands of jews [sic] and planted the Roman Eagle on Mt. Zion, He [sic] established order and allowed the people to worship as long [sic] they lived in peace and paid their taxes. (Ibid xliii)

53 BC - In Rome there was always a vehement political-military power struggle at the top. By 53 BC, the two top contenders were Julius Caesar and General Pompey, who had conquered the Jews. Eventually Caesar won out, and the most significant development for the Jews was the fact that Caesar selected one of his allies, an Idumean Arab, to be the procurator over Palestine. (Ibid xliv)

Note: Julius Caesar ruled Rome from 49-44 BC. He was one of Rome's greatest generals and statesmen. He became a brilliant military leader and helped make Rome the center of an empire that stretched across Europe. He also won fame as an orator, politician, and writer. He was killed on March 15 (the ides of March) 44 BC. (World Book Vol 3 1993 pg 12)

36 BC - Herod was an Idumean. His father, Antipater, had been governor of Idumea. Herod cultivated the friendship of the Romans so that by the time he was 26, the handsome Herod was made the tetrarch of Galilee. Herod triumphantly entered Jerusalem in 36 BC and was not only given authority over Galilee, but became the undisputed ruler of all Judea. (Skousen, W. Cleon, Days of the Living Christ Vol 1 1992 pg xliv).

0 BC - Birth of Christ - Herod was still ruler over the Jews. This is the same Herod - often called Herod the Great - that issued the edict to destroy all of the young children up to two years of age. Herod died an agonizing death shortly after he ordered the massacre of the children of Bethlehem.

Augustus Caesar was the emperor of Rome at the time of the birth of Christ. His real name was Octavian, and he was Julius Caesar's great-nephew and adopted son, He [sic] took Caesar's name and also the title of Augustus, meaning, the exalted. He was the emperor that issued the decree that all the people must be taxed. Rome achieved great glory during Augustus' reign and the period became known as the Augustan Age. He died in 14 AD (World Book vol 1 1993 pg 893).

33 AD - Jesus' Death - Jesus says farewell to Jerusalem and with great sorrow tells of its destruction for killing the prophets. Jesus wanted those who were listening to know that history had caught up with God's chosen people, and from then until the latter days, there would never be another sovereign Jewish nation anywhere on the face of the earth. (Skousen, W. Cleon, Days of the Living Christ, Vol 2 1992 pg 631).

50-66 AD - Jews revolt against Rome. By around 50 AD many zealots in Israel foolishly launched a campaign of widespread agitation for a massive revolt against Rome. At first there were only sporadic elements of rioting from time to time, but in 66 AD a full-fledged revolution burst into flame. (Ibid 638)

70 AD - Total destruction of Jerusalem by Roman General Titus. He tore down the walls, dismantled and burned the temple, and butchered thousands of the survivors. Other thousands were made slaves or used as bait for famished wild beasts at Roman festivals. (Ibid 639)

37-100 AD - Flavius Josephus - saw the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman General Titus and the total disintegration of the Jewish Nation. The fall of Jerusalem cost over a million Jewish lives and the pillaging of the land cost several million more. Just before the great last surge of destruction, Josephus was asked if he wanted to rescue anything from the city before it was totally demolished. Josephus requested permission to gather up all of the “holy books” which we assume to have been the Temple library. This treasure of historical and scriptural records proved of inestimable value when Josephus began writing his history of the Jewish people, Antiquities of the Jews. (Skousen, W. Cleon, Days of the Living Christ Vol 1 1992 pg xxvii-xxviii)

73 AD - Masada - 960 Jewish patriots killed themselves in Herod's mountain-top fortress at Masada rather than surrender to Roman troops. (Word Book 1993 Vol 13 pg 262).

133 AD - Simon Bar Cocheba - a false messiah that looked like the real thing. By fomenting agitation and acts of sabotage, a fire-storm of support swept over the Jewish people. The Jews had become extremely vulnerable to the claims of these religious charlatans because their rabbinical schools had abandoned the idea of the coming of a divine Messiah, and were teaching that when their Messiah came, he would be a great political, military leader - a great warrior - who would overthrow the enemies of the Jews. At first Simon Bar Cocheba was amazingly successful. He drove the Romans completely out of Israel and set up a new provisional government. Finally twelve legions were mobilized from all over the Roman empire. In this battle hundreds of thousands of Jews were slain and other thousands were captured. By 135 AD the rebellion had collapsed. The Jews were totally scattered and Jewish colonies were developed in Babylon, India, Europe, China, etc. (Ibid 847-849).

330-1453 AD - Byzantine Empire - it protected much of Europe from attacks by barbarians - Arabs and Turks. It preserved ancient Greek literature and philosophy as well as Roman governmental and legal traditions. Christianity, Greek culture, and Roman customs flourished in the empire. The people called themselves Romans. Greatest size of empire was during [sic] 500's AD.

330 AD - Constantine the Great - moved the capital of the Roman Empire from Rome to Byzantine (now Istanbul, Turkey). The city was renamed Constantinople after him. Constantine converted to Christianity and encouraged his subjects to become Christians. It became the official state religion. Christianity was spread throughout the empire (World Book 1993 vol 2 pg 768-770).

600 AD Mohammed - Rise of Moslem Religion - Muslims, also spelled Moslems, are people who practice the religion of Islam, preached by Muhammad in the 600's AD Muslim is an Arabic word that means one who submits (to God). The first Muslims, the Arabs, began in the 600's to set up an empire that eventually stretched from the Atlantic Ocean to the borders of China. The empire absorbed many peoples and their cultures. The Muslims have been called the standard bearers of learning during the Middle Ages. They transmitted much of the knowledge of the ancient world, and helped lay the foundations for Western culture. Arab Muslims made such an impact on the Middle East that today much of the area is known as the Arab World. Arabic is its major language, and Islam its chief religion. (World Book vol 13 pg 964).

Mohammed - His name means “highly praised”. One day, in the midst of meditating, he thought he heard the voice of Gabriel calling him to the prophetic office. He wrote the revelation he received in the Koran, the holy book of the Muslim world (James, Edgar C. Arabs, Oil and Armageddon, 1977 pg 29).

Mohammed was disturbed by the people's worship of idols. After his vision at the age of 40, he began to preach the punishment of evildoers. He urged the Arabs to worship God and to accept him as God's prophet.

Up to this time, Arabs were worshiping rocks and idols. Mohammed had been trained by Jewish Rabbis and Catholic Priests. The religion of Islam:

• Believed in the Old Testament
• Believed in the Bible and the prophets
• Believed Mohammed was called by God to teach all Arabs of the true God and to insist all would join. (God was referred to as Allah)

This new religion spread all over North Africa, China and India. It became very strong and soon outnumbered the Christians. (Skousen, W. Cleon History of Israel page 1).

2) 632-1099 AD: ARAB PERIOD

632 AD - Death of Mohammed - Islam spread throughout civilization overnight. Within 100 years after Mohammed's death, Syria, Egypt, India, and Spain were conquered. The Arab world was fused into one vast empire. Why was Arabia able to conquer so much of the world. One reason was the stimulus of Islam. But perhaps the greatest reason, however, was an economic one. The Muslims extracted tribute from their conquered foes and were able to enjoy many comforts and luxuries. Damascus became the capital of the Islamic empire. The Arabs built a new city that has survived as the city of Cairo. (James, Edgar C. Arabs, Oil and Armageddon, 1977, pg 30-32).

690 AD - Dome of the Rock - This golden-domed building was built over the rock from which, according to Muslim belief, Muhammad rose to heaven with the angel Gabriel and spoke with God. Jews believe that on this rock Abraham, the leader of the ancient Hebrews, prepared to sacrifice his son, Isaac, at God's command. (World Book vol 11 1993 pg 101).

Moslems believe that it was Ishamel, not Isaac that Abraham offered to God. They claim Jews changed it to Isaac so they could be the chosen people. Moslems claim THEY are the chosen people, not the Jews. (Skousen, W. Cleon History of Israel page 1).

711 AD - Arabs conquered Spain - Arabs crossed the straits of Gibraltar (named for its Muslim conqueror) into Spain. Soon city after city fell to the Arabs until Spain was a province of the supreme ruler of Islam. (James, Edgar C. Arabs, Oil and Armageddon 1977 pg 32).

732 AD - End of Arab Expansion - Battle of Rous - Turning point in history - Most important battle ever fought. This battle determined that Christianity, rather than Islam, would dominate Europe. Charles Martel and his Frankish warriors withstood the attack and the Arabs quietly vanished by night. The centennial of Mohammed's death, marked the end of the military expansion of the Arab Empire. The Arabian Empire, however, had a large influence on the world for almost 800 years. It later collapsed because of the Catholic influence in the north, the Crusades, and its own internal problems. But the Arabs did help to light Europe's Dark Ages before Arabia slipped into a long and fitful sleep. (Ibid pg 33)

3) 1099-1291 AD: THE CRUSADER PERIOD

1200 AD King John - The Crusades

1099-1200 AD Crusades - In the 600's the Arab Muslims conquered Palestine, which included Jerusalem and other places sacred to Christians. Most of the Arab rulers allowed the Christians to visit the shrines. During the 1000's however, the Turk Muslims would not allow Christians to visit the sacred shrines as the Arab Muslims had done. (World Book 1993 vol 4 pg 1159).

The purpose of the Crusades was to rescue the Holy Land from the Arabs. The crusaders were not heroes. They were not acting like Christians at all. They used extreme brutality. They were impressed with how advanced the Arab people were and the “rices of the Far East”. (Skousen, W. Cleon History of Israel pg 1)

In 1099, Crusaders arrived at the holy city of Jerusalem and laid siege to it. After five weeks they poured in. Every Muslim man, woman, and child in the city was put to the sword. The Jews that had crowded into their chief synagogue, were burned alive. Then the Crusaders rode solemnly to the church of the Holy Sepulchre and gave thanks to God for their victory. Jerusalem had been restored to Christian rule! (Peterson, Daniel C. Abraham Divided 1992 pg 233).

As a mob of peasant crusaders passed through southern Germany, Hungary, and the Balkans, they made war on every Jewish settlement that lay in their path. This genocidal destruction of entire Jewish communities (50 in Germany alone) was excused by these renegade Christians on the grounds that the Jews were “Christ-killers.” (Skousen, W. Cleon, Days of the Living Christ vol 2 pg 851)

1187 AD - Saladin, the sultan of Egypt and Syria had united many Muslem areas. In 1187, Saladin easily defeated a Christian army and triumphantly entered Jerusalem. One of the leaders of this third crusade (1189-1192) was King Richard the Lion-Hearted of England. Richard attempted to recapture Jerusalem, but failed. Before Richard left for home, however, he negotiated a treaty with Saladin. As a result of this treaty, the Muslems let Christian pilgrims enter Jerusalem freely. (World Book 1993 vol 4 pg 1160).

1291 AD - Eventually, the Crusades failed. After years of extended campaigns, the kings of France and England made war on each other so that the support for the Crusaders virtually faded into oblivion. Under these circumstances, the Muslims in Egypt, called the Mamelukes, saw their opportunity, and began their assault on the Crusader strongholds. By 1291 the Crusaders knew they were finished. They gathered their tattered remnants, abandoned the field, and set out for home. (Skousen, W. Cleon, Days of the Living Christ vol 2 pg 852)

1215 AD - Magna Carta (“Great Charter”) - It is a document that marked a decisive step forward in the development of constitutional government and legal ideas in England. In later centuries, much of the rest of the world also benefited from it, because many other countries followed English models in creating their own governments. These countries include the United States and Canada.

English barons forced King John to approve the charter in June 1215 at Runnymede, near London. In the charter, the king granted many rights to the English aristocracy. It limited royal power and made it clear that even the king had to obey the law. The Magna Carta became a model for those who demanded democratic government and individual rights for all. (World Book vol 13 1993 pg 53).

4) 1291-1516: MAMELUKE PERIOD

1250 AD - The Mamelukes seized control of Egypt and ruled that country as a Muslim state for 250 years. Originally the Mamelukes were Turkish prisoners who were captured by the invading Mongolians and sold as slaves to the sultan of Egypt. They were trained as soldiers, and because of their diligence they were gradually promoted to high government positions. (Ibid pg 852)

This was the golden age for Jews living on the Iberian or Spanish peninsula where the Moors had developed a very advanced state of civilization and had provided the Jews with a haven of tolerance and prosperity. In fact, for a period of several centuries, the Moors allowed the Jews to develop one of the foremost intellectual and progressive communities that existed among the Jews anywhere in the world. (Ibid 853)

The Moors were originally rather primitive desert tribesmen of northwest Africa. However, when they became Muslims, the Moors joined the Arabs in conquering much of Spain in the 700's. Later, the Moors lost much of their territory in the 1200's. In 1492 they were defeated at the battle of Grenada by Ferdinand and Isabella, and were driven from the Spanish Peninsula altogether. (Ibid 853)

1200 AD - Arabs had developed the highest culture in the world. Its center is in Spain where they are called the Moors. They preserved math, science, education, etc., that was the basis for European science. Also preserved Greek and Roman culture. (Skousen, W. Cleon, History of Israel pg 2).

1220-1260 AD - Mongol Invaders - Mongols poured out of central Asia and began the process of substantially destroying the central lands of Islam. In 1258 the Mongol armies overwhelmed and obliterated Baghdad. Thus perished the greatest Muslim city of this period. In 1260, the Mamelukes of Egypt stopped the Mongol advance in Palestine. This was a shock. No army or city successfully resisted them before. This was an important battle and ranks as one of the crucial battles in human history. The Mongol invaders had advanced all the way from China, and there is no telling how far they might have gone had a group of unappreciated Muslims not stopped them in Palestine. (Peterson, Daniel C. Abraham Divided, 1992 pg 238-239)

The Mongol Empire covered the biggest land empire in history. The Mongol armies were the most savage conquerors in history. In the late 100's a Mongol chieftain who later became known as Genghis Khan, rose to power. He set out on a spectacular career of conquest. China - Russia - Persia. He destroyed much of Islamic-Arabic civilization. They spread terror and destruction everywhere.

Hungary - Poland. Many Mongols adopted Muslim customs and the Muslim faith, as they encountered this vastly superior Islamic-Arabic civilization. (World Book vol 13 1993 pg 720-721)

1271 AD - Marco Polo (1254-1324) - Met the Mongol ruler Kublai Khan in China - spent 24 years there. He wrote a book about his travels. He told of their prosperous, advanced empire. He described the Kublai Khan's postal system, Chinese customs, such as the mining and use of coal as fuel. Coal had not yet been used in Europe. He marveled at the Chinese use of paper money, which bore the seal of the emperor. At that time Europeans traded with heavy coins of copper, gold, or lead. Printing had not yet been invented in Europe, and so scholars copied Polo's book by hand. This book was widely read in Europe and may have influenced many explorers. It stimulated European interest in Asia and helped bring to Europe such Chinese inventions as the compass, papermaking, and printing. (World Book 1993 vol 13 pg 652-653).

1347-1352 AD - Black Death - This epidemic killed about a fourth of the European population from 1347 through 1352. This disease usually is transmitted to human beings and other animals by fleas from infected rats.

1429 AD - Joan of Arc - Joan set out with her army in April 1429 to rescue Orleans from the English. Joan's forces broke the siege of Orleans in only 10 days, and the English fled. She had heard voices and was having visions. These voices persuaded Joan that God had chosen her to help King Charles VII of France drive the English from French soil.

When trying to free Paris from the English, she was captured. The English saw Joan as an agent of the devil. They imprisoned her and tried her on charges of witchcraft. Joan was burned at the stake before a large crowd in 1431. Her courageous death convinced many that they had witnessed the martyrdom of a saint. In 1456 the Pope pronounced Joan innocent. She was later made a saint [in] 1920. (World Book vol 11 1993 pg 128-129).

* Note - Her experiences made it possible for Columbus to see royalty because he also claimed he was sent from God and had seen an angel.

1440 AD - Johannes Gutenberg - Movable type printing press.

1456 AD - Gutenberg Bible completed

1453 AD - End of the Byzantine Empire (Roman) - The Ottoman Turks conquered the city of Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire. Importantly, he used gunpowder and artillery to do so - an omen of things to come. The Turks renamed it “Istanbul” and it became the most prosperous city in Europe. The Byzantine Empire, which deserves far more credit from the West than it ever receives for serving as a bulwark against Arab expansion, had been shrinking steadily for years.

But even as Islam seemed to be advancing in the East, by taking the long-coveted city of the Byzantine emperors, it was losing ground in the West. In 1492, the last Muslim ruler was finally driven out of the Iberian peninsula (Spain) and one of the finest chapters in the cultural history of Islam came to a close. (Peterson, Daniel C. Abraham Divided 1992 pg 242)

1492 AD - Battle of Grenada - Moors were defeated at the Battle of Grenada by Ferdinand and Isabella, and were driven from the Spanish Peninsula altogether. The Jews were driven out of Spain along with the Moors. Many Jews settled in areas where Arab influence assured them hospitality and protection. It was one of those rare occasions when the tribe of Jacob and the tribe of Esau treated one another like cousins. (Skousen, W. Cleon, Days of the Living Christ vol 2 1992 pg 853).

The Jews were seen by Christians more and more as outsiders. Some Christians accused Jews of bringing on the troubles of society. Many Christians blamed the Jews for the Black Death, and mobs killed thousands of Jews. Sometimes to avoid persecution, some Jews pretended to convert to Christianity but continued to practice Judaism secretly. Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain established a special court called the Inquisition to punish people suspected of not following Christian teachings. The Inquisition used torture to force confessions from its victims. Jews who had not converted to Christianity were expelled from Spain. (World Book vol 11 1993 pg 123)

Jewish people saved by the Arabs moved into Lebanon, at that time called Lavant. Arabs and Jews were best friends. (Skousen, W. Cleon History of Israel pg 2).

1492 AD - Columbus - Moors Expelled From Spain

1492 AD - Columbus set sail for the new world. He believed he was an instrument in God's hands. Ottoman Turks had cut off easy European access to Asian goods. First voyage reached San Salvador. Gave praise to God. Established a settlement. Second voyage found no trace of colony [sic]. Established Santo Domingo which still stands. On the third voyage, Columbus was sent back to Spain in chains, by order of the commissioner sent to Santo Domingo to investigate complaints against Columbus. He was released when he reached Spain by order of the King and Queen.

Fourth and final voyage, he abandoned the search for the non-existent strait. (The discovery of the Pacific Ocean, which lay so few miles away across the Isthmus of Panama, would have to wait for Balboa). His ship ran aground at Jamaica. Miserable year, suffering from arthritis and malaria - beset by mutiny and the threat of Indian attack. During this voyage Colubus received another divine assurance during an extremely perilous moment when he was about to abandon all hope. “Exhausted, I fell asleep. I heard a very compassionate voice saying; 'Fear not; have trust; all these tribulations are written upon marble and are not without cause.”

Columbus wrote a book called: The Book of Prophecies. In this book he demonstrates the historical and prophetic meaning of discoveries and his own role as “Christ-bearer.” Columbus was a pious man and diligent student of the Bible. Principle Theme - Prophecy being fulfilled by discovery of new lands. He quotes John 10:6. “Other sheep I have which are not of this fold.” (Jensen, De Lamar, Ensign October 1992 pg 9).

Columbus believed he was sent by God. He read the Bible carefully, using the most reputable Bible commentators of his day.He also claimed to receive illumination from the Holy Spirit. Columbus knew the scriptures as well as he knew the sea. When he landed on a tiny island in the Bahamas he named it San Salvador to honor the Savior. Without knowing it he fulfilled the prophecy in Nephi's vision (1 Nephi 13:12) (Ibid pg 10-13)

Columbus was rescued by a brave and loyal friend who reached Hispaniola and came back with an old ship. They sailed for Spain. Columbus died in 1506, well off financially but without the titles he felt he deserved. (World Book vol 4 1993 pg 863-864).

5) 1516-1922: OTTOMAN TURK PERIOD

1500-1600 AD - The Ottoman Empire was the most powerful empire in the world during the 1500's and 1600's. At its height, it controlled what is now Turkey and parts of northern Africa, southwestern Asia and southeastern Europe, Palestine and the eastern side of the Red Sea down to Yemen. The empire began about 1300 and lasted until 1922. (World Book vol 14 1993 pg 883)

The Turks, like the Moors, were Muslims but not all Arabs. They were mainly Turks, with Many Arabs, Armenians, Greeks and Slavs. The Turks took control of the Muslim world as the Mamlukes lost their grip on their vast holdings by pursuing conquests too far away from their logistical base of supplies.

Once the Ottoman Turks had taken over, they ruled the Muslim world with some of the most ruthless and capricious tactics in Muslim history. The Jews suffered right along with the rest of the population.

Constantinople, the capital of the old Byzantine empire, was conquered by the Ottoman Turks in 1453, and the name of the city was changed to Istanbul. It then became the capital of Turkey. When World War I broke out in 1914, the Turkish sultan signed on with the German Kaiser. When they lost the war, the whole Turkish empire, with all its Muslim holdings, disintegrated. The end of World War I also marked the beginning of a whole new epoch for the Jews. (Skousen, W. Cleon, Days of the Living Christ vol 2 pg 853-854).

1517-1574 AD - Golden period of Ottoman rule. After 1453 when there were no Byzantines to fight, the holy warriors of the Ottoman Empire turned their cannons and their muskets to the East, against their fellow Muslims. An opponent of the Ottomans was a man by the name of Viad Tepish. He lived in Transylvania or modern Romania. Viad was also known as Vlad Dracul, Vlad the Impaler, because he had the endearing habit of impaling captured enemies on stakes. The legend of “Dracula” - or that portion of it that was not invented in Hollywood (and a large part of the vampire legend was, in fact, devised by Hollywood screenwriters) seems to be derived from this cruel man. Mehmet II the Conqueror, was never able to put an end to this man who tormented him for years and who finally died peacefully in bed. (Peterson, Daniel C. Abraham Divided 1992 pg 244-245)

1516 AD - Syria fell to a successor of Mehmet II.

1517 AD - Saw the conquest and the end of the Mamelukes. This was also the year that Martin Luther posted the 95 Theses on the door of the Wittenberg Castle Church that criticized the practice of indulgences. The church had developed indulgences as a means of releasing sinners from part of the penalty for their sins. This practice was often abused. (World Book Vol 12 1993 pg 531)

Suleiman I - The high point of the empire's history is probably to be identified with Suleiman I whose reign, from 1520 to 1566, overlapped that of England's Henry VIII and the first part of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. He is appropriately known as Suleiman the Magnificent. He conquered Hungary, N. Africa, and the Red Sea coast all the way to Yemen. This left him in possession of the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, giving him immense prestige throughout the Islamic world as the protector of the most sacred shines of his faith. Following him were ten successive sultans of astonishingly high competence. (Peterson, Daniel C. Abraham Divided, 1992 pg 246-247).

1517 AD - Battle of Lepanto - The combined naval forces of Venice, Spain, and the Italian papal states nearly destroyed the Ottoman navy. However they rebounded and continued to pose a military threat to Europe for many more years. (Ibid 248)

1683 AD - Desperate Austrian and Polish troops turned back an Ottoman siege at Vienna. This marked the end of Ottoman expansion. (Ibid 248)

1775-1791 AD - American and French revolutions. First emancipation of Jews, as a consequence of the emergence of secular states.

1798 AD - Napoleon Bonaparte, Ruler of France - Napoleon gives equal rights to Jews in every nation he conquered. He emptied the ghettos and gave Jews equality. In 1798 Napoleon Bonaparte occupied Egypt. This was a crucial event, symbolically and realistically. A western nation had managed to take control of one of the most important of Islamic states. Cairo, the greatest Arab city, was under control of foreigners. The surprising French takeover was not that another foreign elite had replaced the preceding one, but that this new foreign elite was Christian. The French were soon replaced by the British, but that hardly mattered. The British were still Christians. Furthermore, before long, many of the other Islamic nations had fallen to Western control, if not to outright Western governance. India was the brightest jewel in Queen Victoria's crown.

This was politically humiliating. But it was troubling in another very important way. Islam is the last revealed religion. Islam is superior to other religions, and is destined to triumph. It is clear that Islam did triumph for many years, and Arabs believed that it was destined to triumph forever. They could not understand what had happened or why. To this day that is still their dilemma. It is important to remember that within a century of the death of the Prophet, Muslim soldiers had fought their way from the Arabian peninsula across the vast expanse of N. Africa, and up through Spain into France. They had eliminated one of the two great Mediterranean empires of the era, the Persians, and had taken away some of the richest provinces of the Byzantines. Egypt, the breadbasket of the ancient Roman Empire, was theirs.

Arabs controlled Iraq, the ancient land of the Tigris and Euphrates. They owned the ancient city of Damascus. The scientific and medical and philosophical schools of Syria and Mesopotamia were theirs. This was not a transient situation. The world civilization that gre out of the Arab conquests and the spread of Islam was, for several centuries, the undisputed leader of the world in virtually every field of intellectual activity. We have seen that Arabic was the language of science and mathematics, and of philosophy.

By contrast, the history of the West seemed backward and provincial during the same period. The history of Europe, with its little wars between English countries and its struggles seemed small and petty. Thus it came as a shock when the West suddenly took the lead, in politics, science, technology, and in wealth. The Islamic world had clearly declined. They are still feeling this state of shock today. As Muslims began to realize the extent of Western technical and material superiority, they were often appalled. Islam was no longer at the cutting edge, no longer triumphant.

Why? The answer was given by Elder George A. Smith, reflecting in 1855 on the history of the Muslim, concluded that “just as long as they abode in the teachings which Mohammed gave them, and walked in strict accordance with them, they were united, and prospered; but when they ceased to do this, they lost their power and influence, to a very great extent”. Muslims themselves have come to the same conclusion. (Ibid 249-253).

1841 AD - Orson Hype - The Zionist Movement - Dedication of Land for the Return of the Jews - An Apostle fo the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints knelt on the Mout of Olives and offered a prayer dedicating the land of Palestine for the gathering of the Jews. After his prayer, he erected a pile of stones there on the mount. He had seen a vision directing him to go. Highlights of his prayer:

• Dedicate and consecrate this land for the gathering of Judah's remnants.
• Build up Jerusalem again
• Rear a temple
• Remove barrenness
• Give water to soil
• Land fruitful when possessed by its rightful heirs
• Flocks and herds increase
• Subdue the unbelief of Thy people
• Dispel the mists of darkness
• Large ships bring them
• David to be their king
• Distinct nation and government etc. (Ibid pg 10-11)

This prayer is now in Hebrew and English and taught in all the schools in the Holy Land. (C.E.R. How to Teach the Hook Dates of the Middle East 1993 Tape #2).

At the time that Orson Hyde offered this prayer on the Mount of Olives, there were approximately ten thousand Jews living in Palestine. Most of these were elderly people who had come to the sacred land of their ancestors to die. This hardly looked like a promising start to the prophesied return of the Jews to Palestine. (Peterson, Abraham Divided pg 11)

Orson Hyde - Was blessed with the gift of tongues. In 8 days he learned to write and speak German fluently. Seven days later he could speak and write Hebrew. He memorized the Old and New Testament word for word in Hebrew, German, and English. He met with the Jewish leaders and pleaded with them to return to the Holy Land as prophesied. The Jews in Europe were in an affluent society and they did not want to return. Orson Hyde told them, “If you do not return, there will be a fierce force coming out of the North that will descend upon you and your children's blood will call out from the grave against you.” Every time I go through the holocaust memorial, where some 6 million Jewish people lost their lives, I wonder what would have happened if yo had listened to Orson Hyde. Would things have been different?

There is now a great memorial garden on the Mount of Olives in memory of Orson Hyde. (C.E.R. Hook Dates of the Middle East Tape #2)

1896 AD - Theodor Herzl (1860-1904) a correspondent in Paris, published a small booklet entitled: The Jewish State: An attempt at a Modern Solution of the Jewish Question. Zionism grew to prominence because of Theodor Herzl. His main thesis was that anti-semitism was inevitable as long as the majority of Jewish people lived outside their own homeland. He expounded political, economic, and technical efforts that he believed were necessary to create a functioning Jewish state. He called the First Zionist Congress in 1897. He was named President of the newly formed Zionist Organization. (Rausch, David A. Middle East Maze, 1991 pg 23-24)

1900 AD - Jewish persecution in Russia spurred the first significant wave of Jewish immigration from Europe to Palestine. Worst persecution of Jews in modern history. (Skousen, History of Israel Page 2) After nearly 2000 years of dispersion, it was time for the Jews to begin to return to the land of their fathers. But God moves in mysterious ways, and the manner in which the Jews were encouraged to return was a series of pograms-organized persecutions, and even systematic massacres, of Russian Jews. (Peterson, Abraham Divided pg 265)

6) 1922-PRESENT: THE JEWISH TRAIL OF TEARS - PROTOCOLS TO HOLOCAUST

1914-1918 First World War - Even before World War I a major problem had developed for the Jews when a document was published which claimed to be the secret plans of the Jews to take over the world. It was called the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion'' and it contained many lurid passages of how the Jews would gradually starve, manipulate and intimidate the non-Jews until they gained control of every nation on earth. It turned out the document had been written by an agent of the Czar of Russia. His purpose was to justify the confiscation of the estates of wealthy Jews in Russia. It was first widely published in 1905. Even after the courts in Switzerland had completed an investigation and pronounced the Protocols a complete fraud, there was strong anti-semetic groups all over Europe and America that continued to use this spurious publication to promote a militant hostility toward the Jews. This became a major political issue in Germany when Hitler came to power in 1933. Hitler called for the “physical extermination of the Jews as the final solution”. Jews fled in all directions. (Skousen, Days of the Living Christ vol 2 pg 854-955).

In 1914 most of the world was plunged into war. When the Ottoman Empire became the ally of the Germans and Austrians in the First World War, the British sought and gained the support of both Arabs and Jews in the Middle East. (Rausch, Middle East Maze pg 25)

Great Britain defeated the Ottoman Empire and freed much of the Arab world, including Palestine, from Turkish domination. (Peterson, Abraham Divided pg 267).

By the closing years of World War I, tens of thousands of Jews had been completely uprooted from Russia, Poland Eastern Europe. The urgent need for a Jewish homeland was strongly advocated among most of the western allies. (Skousen, Days of the Living Christ Vol 2 pg 857)

1917 - Dr. Weizmann - Balfour Declaration - The British promised the Jews a national home in Palestine after the war. Interpretation and misinterpretation of these promises would set the stage for later developments and struggles between Arabs, Jews and the Western powers.

Chaim Weizmann (1874-1952) served as the first president of Israel from 1949 until his death. From 1920-1930 and from 1935-1946 Weizmann was president of the World Zionist Organization, which worked to establish a national homeland in Palestine for the Jewish people. (World Book 1993 pg 190)

Weizmann, a distinguished British scientist, helped his Jewish brethren as well by discovering a process that would yield acetone, a solvent desperately needed for munitions production during the war. He asked only that negotiations continue toward a Jewish homeland in Palestine. (Rausch, Middle East Maze pg. 26)

1919 - Paris Peace Conference. Weizmann headed the Jewish delegation. Worked to assign administration of Palestine to Great Britain. (World Book vol 21 pg 190)

1920 - The religious leader of the Moslems in Jerusalem was Jaz Amin (Hash Ahmeen). He spread the rumor that the Jews were going to bomb the Dome of the Rock and rebuild their temple. Riots broke out all over. Thirty-two synagogues were burned and the two peoples were divided. (Skousen, History of Israel pg 3) These riots continued off and on right up to World War 2. At that point the Arab nations became allies of the Axis Powers, and the Jews volunteered for service with the British-American allies. (Skousen, Days of the Living Christ Vol 2 pg 858)

1922 - British gave Egypt their independence.

1932 - Saudi Arabia and Iraq both were granted independence. The French ended their mandate.

1939-1945 - Second World War - Hitler killed Jews by the millions in death camps. There were serious clashes between the Arabs and Jewish settlers throughout the 1920's and 1930's until the point in 1939 when hoping to gain Arab support against the Axis powers in World War II, the British began to restrict Jewish immigration to the Holy Land. This in turn, brought an angry and often violent response from the Jews of Palestine. Fed up with the situation, Great Britain submitted the problem to the United Nations after the close of the war. In Nov. 1947 that organization decided to relieve the British of responsibility for Palestine and to approve partition of the area into two states; one for the Jews and the other for the Palestinian Arabs. The Zionists accepted the UN plan, with some reluctance. The Arabs rejected the plan. The Arab nations around Palestine began to prepare for military intervention to thwart the partition plan. (Peterson, Abraham Divided pg 269-270).

1944 - Syria and Lebanon both became independent. The French ended their mandate.

1946 - Britain gave Transjordan their independence.

1948 - David Ben-gurion - Israel's Independence - State of Israel formally established May 14, 1948 under the leadership of David Ben­ Gurion. Five Arab armies (Egypt, Syria, Transjordan, Lebanon, and Iraq) with the support of other Arab nations (including Saudi Arabia) immediately invaded Israel. The British had left these Arabs with arms and supplies, and the warriors of Allah felt quite confident of victory. Very important to remember it was the Arab leaders who asked the Arabs to leave while they drove the Jews into the sea. The Jews asked the Arabs not to leave. The Arabs started the story that the Jews drove the refugees out. To make matters worse, almost all the 20 Arab nations refused to permit Palestinian Arabs to become citizens of their nations. The Arab nations wanted those unfortunate refugees to remain as a political ploy in the Arabs' ultimate operation to destroy Israel. Remember also, thousands of Jews were expelled from Arab countries. (Rausch, Middle East Maze pg 37)

1948 - Israel's War of Independence. Five Arab nations attacked but suffered a humiliating defeat. France and Czechoslovakia sold weapons to the Israelis, and Jewish organizations around the world provided money for shiploads of armaments. Golda Meir went to America to plead for help and succeeded in raising $50 Million dollars. Major factor in their victory. (Ibid pg 42)

1949 - Trained agitators began infiltrating refugee camps among the second generation. They became known as the P.L.O. - actually Soviet agents. Arafat pledged allegiance to the Soviet Union; first tried to kill King Hussein of Jordan in the early 70's. They were driven out of Jordan and accepted in Lebanon. They turned on the Christian Lebanese and killed over 47,000 of them. Israel was called in to rescue them. (Skousen, History of Israel pg 4)

1956 - The Suez Crisis - Egypt blocked Israeli ships from using the Suez Canal and imposed martial law there. On Oct. 29 Israeli forces invaded Egypt. Britain and France attacked Egypt two days later. By Nov 5 Israelis occupied the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula, and the British and French controlled the northern entrance to the Suez Canal. The war lasted only 8 days as Israeli forces moved across the Sinai.(Rausch, Middle East Maze Pg 46)

Israel trusted the United Nations again and gave back conquered territory in the hope of promised peace. (Ibid pg 47)

1964 - P.L.O. - Palestine Liberation Organization was established to eradicate the Jewish state from an Arab Middle East. (Ibid pg 48)

1967 AD - Moshe Dayan - Fantastic Victory - Moshe Dayan, the Minister of Defense - On May 22 Nasser closed the Strait of Tiran to Israeli ships. June 5 Israel launched a surprise attack. Nasser had lost the Gaza and Sinai once again. Jerusalem was now controlled by Israel and so was the West Bank. By June 10 Israeli forces were on their way to Damascus. The war was over in 6 days. (Ibid pg 49)

1967 AD September - Nasser guided the Arab heads of state to declare the three "NO" points: NO peace with Israel; NO negotiations with Israel; NO recognition of Israel. When Anwar Sadat later initiated a call for peace, he was soon assassinated. Many times the PLO would kill their own people who sought to negotiate with the Israelis. Hundreds of Arabs were murdered by other Arabs if thought to be "collaborators." (Ibid pg 51)

*NOTE: In 1955, there was a constant flow of Soviet arms to Arab regimes and a constant pro-Arab stance by the Soviets in the United Nations. By the early 1960's Khrushchev's regime was an established major player in the Middle East politics. This Soviet involvement forced the United States to become involved as well. The United States worked behind the scenes during the 1956 Suez Crisis and its aftermath. (Ibid pg 54)

Nikita Khrushchev was the leader of the Soviet Union from 1958 to 1964. In 1962 Khrushchev angered the United States by installing missiles in Cuba. President John F. Kennedy demanded the removal of the missiles, and Khrushchev withdrew them. This was called the Cuban Missile Crisis. (World Book vol 11 pg 310)

1973 - OPEC Oil Embargo - The use of oil as a weapon. Oct 1973 Arab governments cut oil to the U.S. The ominous events of 1973 brought an effective oil embargo to fruition. Anwar Sadat had become President of Egypt upon the death of his old friend Nasser. He stalled, what on the surface appeared to be negotiations for peace, while secretly he was coordinating a surprise attack against Israel with his Syrian counterpart, Hafez Assad. (Rausch, Middle East Maze pg 57)

1973 - Yom Kippur War - Holiest Day for Jews - Anwar Sadat - Pres of Egypt and Syria - launched a surprise attack against Israel. Delighted with initial “victory” nine other Arab states rushed to join the battle. The Soviet Union blocked any cease-fire, and refortified the Arab forces with armaments and supplies from the air and sea. The Arabs predicted the extermination of the Jewish state and the liberation of Palestine. The United States belatedly began airlifting supplies to Israel. President Nixon kept the promise he had made to Golda Meir. The Isaeli counter offensive was so successful, the Soviet Union now rushed to the U.N. for a cease-fire, which was signed Nov. 11 by Egypt and Israel. During the war, angry Arabs cut shipments of oil to the U.S. The price of oil skyrocketed, costing millions of jobs and lost revenue. Bumper Stickers declared: “We Need Oil - Not Israel”.  The oil embargo was the driving force behind Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger's immediate “shuttle diplomacy” and later, President Jimmy Carter's intense negotiation efforts that led to the 1979 Egypt-Israel peace treaty called the Camp David Accords. (Ibid 59)

Henry Kissinger - Served as Secretary of State from 1973-1977 under both President Nixon and President Ford. He was the most influential foreign policy adviser of both Presidents. Kissinger helped arrange agreements to separate the fighting forces of Israel from those of Egypt and Syria during 1973. (World Book  vol 11 pg 337)

Golda Meir - Prime Minister of Israel 1969-1974. (age 70) She had been part of the Israel's government since 1948. She resigned after the Yom Kippur War.

1977 Anwar Sadat - President of Egypt visits Israel. Sadat's acceptance of Camp David Accords and signing of Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty in 1979 isolated Sadat's Egypt for the rest of the Arab world. He also regained the Sinai. He was assassinated in Oct 1981 by an Arab in military uniform. He was called a traitor by leaders of Arab nations. (Ibid 100)

Hosni Mubarak, Sadat's vice president, was elected president of Egypt on October 13, 1981 after the assassination. He is the current President of Egypt.

1981 AD - Israel had watched the rise of Saddam Hussein and his penchant to obtain nuclear weapons. Iraqi leaders had often asserted that one day they would "wipe Israel off the map". As the summer of 1981 approached, Iraq's nuclear reactor, which could have produced plutonium for an atomic bomb, neared completion. The Israelis believed that he would soon have the bomb and that he would terrorize the Middle East as he had terrorized his own people. On June 7, 1981, Israeli warplanes demolished Iraq's nuclear plant by dropping 2,200 pound bombs at low level on it. At the time of the Gulf War the world sighed with relief that Saddam Hussein did not yet have his nuclear weapons. Being threatened with his chemical weapons had caused enough grief as the decade of the 1990s began. A decade earlier, however, the response of the international community was quite different. The U.N. Security Council unanimously passed a resolution that strongly condemned Israel for the air attack that destroyed the Iraqi reactor. It was one of the harshest rebukes against Israel in which the United States had ever participated. (Rausch, Middle East Maze pg 11-12)

1981-1989  PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN

Ronald Reagan inherited an economy that was in the midst of its worst crisis since the Great Depression. In January 1981 the unemployment rate stood at 7.4 per cent, on its way up to 10 per cent. Persistent double-digit inflation had pushed interest rates to an unbelievable 21 per cent. Real pre-tax income of the average American family had been dropping since 1971, and - thanks to bracket creep - after-tax income was falling even faster. The supply of oil and other raw material seemed precarious. The outgoing President warned of a bleak economic future. Two years into Ronald Reagan's Presidency the economy began to recover. By most conventional indices the recovery was strong and sustained, outlasting Mr. Reagan's Presidency by nearly two years. (Ed Rubenstein, National Review, August 31, 1992, pg 25) The Economic policies presided over by Ronald Reagan were stunningly successful. Real incomes fell sharply during the runaway inflations of 1974-75 and 1979-1980. Median real income among black families, for example, fell 15 per cent from 1973 to 1980, then rose 16 percent from 1982-1990. One thing that we know with 100 percent certainty is that most Americans - far more than half - did very well during the long and strong economic expansion from 1982 to 1989. This means half of all families had gains larger than 12.5 per cent. The median income of women rose by 31 per cent in real terms from 1979 to 1990. (Alan Reynolds, Upstarts and Downstarts, National Review, August 31, 1992 pg 25-26)

The raw economic facts of the Reagan years are clear:

1. From 1982 to 1990 the United States experienced 96 straight months of economic growth, the longest peacetime expansion in its history.
2. Almost 20 million brand-new jobs, most of them high-paying jobs, were created.
3. Inflation fell dramatically to low levels and stayed there as the American dollar once again became sound.
4. Interest rates also fell dramatically and stayed down.
5. The stock market soared, nearly tripling in value.
6. Government revenues - at the federal, state, and local levels - nearly doubled, making possible the largest increase in social-welfare spending in history.
7. And, almost incidentally, we financed an enormous buildup in America's military power, checkmating the evil intentions of the old Soviet Empire, and ultimately causing the disintegration of Communism throughout the world. (Martin Anderson, When the Losers Write the History, National Review, August 31, 1992, pg 59)

During the Reagan years, in spite of the large 1981 tax-rate reductions, federal tax revenues nearly doubled. The reason why Reagan was able to reduce tax rates and still see revenues rise was that the tax rates were way too high in the first place. It should be noted here that the nasty current deficit problem is due entirely to the ingenuity of the federal bureaucracy, the avarice of Congress, and the recent ineptitude of OMB in controlling the growth of federal spending, spending which has managed to outrace the largest increase in federal revenue in U.S. history. (Ibid pg 6)

The British ratio fell following the massive Thatcher tax-rate reduction - proof that tax-rate reduction does not cause debt to rise. (by Paul Craig Roberts, Debt, Lies, and Inflation, National Review, August 31, 1992 pg 32)

The 1980's was a decade of substantial renewal for the American economy. Yet increasingly we are told that the 1980's was a “Decade of Greed” that its prosperity was phony, that only the rich were made better off, that philanthropy withered, and that deregulation was a failure.

These claims, which have become popular in the media and have become common themes in political campaigns, are largely false or highly misleading, says Richard McKenzie.

Never mind that the national economy expanded during the 1980's by close to a third and that industrial production expanded by even more. Never mind that the incomes of many low-income Americans rose more rapidly than did the incomes of many rich Americans. Never mind that the end of the decade Americans remained the wealthiest nation on earth. Never mind that the stock market more than tripled during the decade and that charity soared at unprecedented rates. Never mind the facts.

Having badly caricatured the 1980's as practically the worst - if not the worst - decade in the country's history, Clinton now proclaims a need for dramatic change in government policies; mainly, he advocates more spending and higher taxes (a policy course that actually appears to be more of the same). Moreover, he maintains that his election was a mandate for him to orchestrate whatever change he declares is suitable and that he and his small band of advisers, given enough time and resources, can solve the problems of every one of the 250 million Americans. (McKenzie, Richard B., What Went Right in the 1980's, 1994 Pacific Research Institute pg ii)

1987 AD Intifada - In late 1987, Arab residents of the Gaza Strip and West Bank began staging widespread - often violent - demonstrations against Israel's occupation. Israeli troops killed a number of protesters in the violence, which became known as the Intifada. Intifada is an Arabic word meaning uprising. A few Israelis were also killed, and hundreds of Palestinians and Israelis suffered injuries. The violence has continued. (World Book Vol 10 pg 489) In spite of thousands of civilian deaths by terrorist commandos for which he had been responsible, Yasser Arafat was able to convince most of the Western world (and, ultimately, the United States government) that he was the key to Middle East peace. With the development of the Palestinian Arab Intifada uprising in Israel, Arafat gained new prestige throughout the Arab world. He claimed to be “President of Palestine” and strode the corridors of world power. (Rausch, Middle East Maze pg 152)

BYU JERUSALEM CENTER

On 24 October 1979, the anniversary of Elder Hyde's momentous prayer, an Orson Hyde Memorial Garden, more than five landscaped acres on the slope of the Mount of Olives, was dedicated by President Spencer W. Kimball. The Orson Hyde Memorial Garden remains a symbol of Latter-day Saint interest in, and concern for, the remarkable past, present, and future of the land of Jerusalem. Another dream remained. That was the construction of a visitors center in Israel, probably to be combined with facilities for the growing number of students who came, year after year, to participate in BYU's study programs in Jerusalem.

When in March 1981 plans were submitted to the Israeli government for the building of a BYU Center for Near Eastern Studies, they included neither a formal visitors center, nor, despite the fact that LDS services were intended to be held there, a baptismal font.

The proposed building was approved by the government in early 1984. Construction was soon underway. Also underway, however, was a campaign to stop the building of the center.

Jerusalem's Mayor Teddy Kollek was personally vilified for his support of the Mormons. Former American president Gerald Ford sent a personal letter of support to Prime Minister Shimon Peres. One hundred fifty-four (154) members of the United States Congress signed a letter of endorsement that was distributed to all members of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament. Still the attacks on the Church continued.

Perhaps most effective was a program, broadcast just after Christmas on Israeli television, which featured the Galbraith family. Professor Galbraith played portions of a cassette tape on which he had recorded some of the threatening telephone calls he and his family had received. “This is your last warning; we're going to kill all of you, one by one.” There was an immediate response of outrage, and of sympathy for the Galbraiths. Gradually, however, the vilification against the Saints began to wind down.

Late in the construction process, the Church was requested to sign documents promising that neither the center, nor the university, nor the Church itself would engage in any proselyting [sic] of Jews in Israel - ever. Mormon leaders refused to sign. The Church stood firm, and those making the demand backed down.

1987 AD - March 4, 1987 - occupancy permits were issued for the not-quite-completed center and students and faculty moved into the twenty million dollar structure. The battle had been won. The building had been completed, despite intense opposition. Sitting on more than four acres and with a total floor space of 103,420 square feet, BYU Jerusalem Center is among the most beautiful buildings in Jerusalem, and is certainly one of the most visible. Like a waterfall, it flows down the slope of Mount Scopus. A community of Latter­ day Saints now exists in the Holy Land. Perhaps, if we prove worthy of the blessings we have received, it will someday serve the region as a city on a hill, a candle held high to give light to those around it.

1988 On December 15, 1988, Arafat took a bold step and declared that the PLO renounced terrorism. In language that some questioned as ambiguous, he then personally accepted Israel's right to exist. The United States government announced that because of these actions it would take him at his word and, for the first time, open a dialogue with Arafat and the Palestine Liberation Organization. (Ibid 152)

His gamble was that he and his sympathizers in the United Nations could push through a resolution that would recognize the PLO as the representative of an independent Palestinian state. On November 30, 1989, a group of Arab countries introduced a resolution that would upgrade the PLO from "observer organization" at the United Nations to an "observer state".

During the year that he was supposed to have been turning over a new leaf, Arafat's words in Arabic as well as in English were analyzed and his actions were monitored. The information gleaned was sobering. Arafat and the PLO had continued to silence or murder Arabs who wanted to participate in a peace process with Israel. Within two weeks of his December 15 "acceptance of Israel's existence," Elias Freij, respected mayor of Bethlehem, had suggested a one-year truce in the Intifada (the Palestinian uprising in the Gaza and West Bank) if Israel would release 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. The Israelis responded that they were willing to negotiate seriously about the proposition.

Arafat, however, responded with a January 2, 1989, death threat: "Any Palestinian who proposes an end to the Intifada exposes himself to the bullets of his own people and endangers his life.” The PLO will know how to deal with him. Mayor Freij got the message. He withdrew his suggestion.

1989 November 9 - Fall of the Berlin Wall - The Reagan Cold Warriors, new evidence shows, knew exactly what they were doing, and why. “American policy in the 1980's was a catalyst for the collapse of the Soviet Union,” is the blunt assessment of former KGB General Oleg Kalugin. He adds, "Reagan and his views disturbed the Soviet government so much they bordered on hysteria. There were cables about an imminent crisis. He was seen as a very serious threat."

Yevgeny Novikov, who served on the senior staff of the Communist Party Central Committee, recalls, “There was a widespread concern and actual fear of Reagan on the Central Committee. He was the last thing they wanted to see in Washington.” Former Foreign Minister Aleksandr Bessmertnykh has said publicly that programs such as the Strategic Defense Initiative accelerated the decline of the Soviet Union.

Now there is new evidence that the Reagan Administration was far more active than had previously been believed. A paper trail of top-secret presidential directives indicates that in early 1982, President Reagan and a few key advisors began mapping out a strategic offensive designed to attack the fundamental weaknesses of the Soviet system. Two canons of Reagan thinking drove the strategy. The first was the President's well-known anti-Communism, expressed in moral terms of god and evil. When the words “evil empire” rolled from his lips, Reagan meant it.  But the other important ingredient in his thinking (often overlooked) was his belief in the profound weakness of the Soviet Union. “The West will not contain Communism, it will transcend Communism.” “We will not bother to denounce it, we'll dismiss it as a sad, bizarre chapter in human history whose last pages are even now being written.”

The direction of Reagan's Soviet strategy is most evident in National Security Decision Directive 75, signed by the President in early 1983. (An NSDD is a written order from the President directing his senior advisors on major foreign-policy matters.) The document was a break with the policy of containment, which had guided every previous post war Administration. NSDD-75 declared instead a policy of rolling back Soviet power. NSDD-75 changed the terms of the superpower relationship. “NSDD-75 said our goal was no longer to co-exist with the Soviet Union but to change the Soviet system. At its root was the belief that we had it in our power to alter the Soviet system,” stated Professor Richard Pipes of Harvard, who drafted early versions of the document while at the National Security Council.

The Reagan strategy of attacking Soviet vulnerabilities first emerged in early 1982, shortly after the hammer of martial law descended on Poland. Pipes recalls: “The President was absolutely livid”. He said, “Something must be done. We need to hit them hard.”

In January 1982, he spoke with his closest advisors. Also present were George Bush, Alexander Haig, Caspar Weinberger, Bill Clark, Ed Meese, and Bill Casey. There was a general consensus that the U.S. had to send a strong message to Warsaw and Moscow. Economic sanctions were universally supported. But then someone raised the stakes: What about covertly funding Solidarity to ensure that the only above-ground anti-Communist organization in the Soviet bloc would survive the cold winter of martial law?

The specter of a risky covert operation haunted the room. Bush and Haig called the notion “crazy.” Pipes, Weinberger, Casey and Clark, however, voiced enthusiastic support for such an operation. But the President “didn't need any encouragement,” according to Pipes. He immediately ordered Bill Casey to draw up a plan. Over the next several months Casey arranged for the CIA to provide advanced communication equipment and material assistance to the tune of approximately $8 million per year.

Next, the President asked Clark, his new National Security Advisor, to draw up a document redefining American goals in Eastern Europe. The directive that emerged was radical: the state goal of the U.S. policy would be to "neutralize efforts of the USSR" to maintain its hold on Eastern Europe. NSDD-32 was signed by Reagan in the spring of 1982. We attempted to forge a multi-pronged strategy to weaken soviet influence and strengthen indigenous forces for freedom in the region. Poland offered a unique opportunity relative to other states like Bulgaria, Romania, and Czechoslovakia. This is not to say that we did not pursue activities - both overt and covert - in these other countries to loosen Moscow's grip. The activities included covert support for underground movements attempting to throw off Communist rule, and intensifying psychological operations, particularly broadcasts by Voice of America and Radio Free Europe.

Using Poland as a justification, the Administration in 1982 imposed sanctions on Moscow, intended to cut off most of the technologies needed for a massive new natural-gas pipeline from Siberia, and for an energy program on the Sakhalin Islands being co-developed with Japan. The sanctions went to the heart of Soviet income; energy exports, which accounted for 80 percent of Soviet hard-currency earnings. U.S. sanctions, which Western Europe resisted, did not stop construction of the pipeline, but delayed it two years, and cut it back in size. The Kremlin was out $15 to $20 Billion.

Meanwhile, the Administration realized that if international oil prices could be brought down, the U.S. economy, the world's largest importer of crude, would be the beneficiary, while the Kremlin, as a large exporter, could only be hurt.

The easiest means of bringing down prices was by raising world production, and the key to that was Saudi Arabia, the "swing producer" for the OPEC cartel. The Saudis had historically changed their production rates to ensure stable and high oil prices; they could just as easily change them to cause prices to drop.

THE SAUDI OPERATION

To make the Saudis hospitable to Western interests, the Reagan Administration provided unprecedented security commitments to the Saudi royal family. There were of course arms sales (the AWACS deal in 1981 and the 1984 sale of Stinger missiles) in which the President used extraordinary powers to sidestep Congress. But the U.S. commitment went even deeper. Bill Casey's CIA helped modernize Saudi internal security to help protect the regime from its domestic opponents. And the U.S. flexed its military muscle by establishing in 1983 a U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM) for the Persian Gulf region, boasting an ability to mobilize 300,000 U.S. troops. In 1985 the U.S. began construction on "Peace Shield," a high­ tech system manned by U.S. personnel to coordinate the defense of Saudi Arabia in case of attack. In addition, President Reagan himself expressed publicly (in 1981) and privately to King Fahd (in early 1985) his guarantee that so long as he was Commander-in-Chief, the royal family would not meet the same fate as the Shah of Iran.

Saudi Arabia, surrounded by multiple threats - South Yemen, Syria, the raging Iran-Iraq war­ - was clearly pleased, and the Administration hoped that this would lead to a change in Saudi oil-pricing policies. However, senior Administration officials insist that there was never any quid pro quo presented to the Saudis.

In the late summer of 1985, senior Saudi officials alerted the Administration that prices would soon drop. The Saudi decision to alert Washington to its production plans stands in stark contrast with the swings in Saudi policy that took America by surprise during the 1970s. As production rose, prices plunged, from $30 a barrel in November 1985 to $12 a barrel five months later. And it cost the Kremlin dearly. "The drop in oil prices was devastating, just devastating," says Yevgeny Noviov. "Tens of billions were wiped away." A secret May 1986 CIA report noted that for every dollar-per-barrel drop in the price of oil, the Kremlin would lose a half-billion to a billion dollars per year.

Dozens of large projects were brought to an end for lack of funds. By July 1986 it took almost five times as much Soviet oil to purchase a given piece of West German machinery as it had taken a year earlier. Arms exports (the number-two Soviet export behind energy) also plunged, because most sales were to Middle Eastern countries no longer flush with petrodollars.

As the Soviets faced this catastrophic drop in their income, they also faced the prospect of spending more of their dwindling resources on an arms race. U.S. defense procurement budgets rose by 25 percent in each of the early Reagan years. By the mid 1980s, U.S. military expenditures were exceeding those of the Soviet Union for the first time since the late 1960s. More than anything else the defense build-up from SDI to conventional weapons was predicated on high technology, a profound Soviet weakness. Computers and other advanced technologies were threatening to make old weapon systems obsolete - much as the tank had done to horse cavalry.

It is no accident… Documents reveal that the effect of the Reagan defense build-up on the Soviet economy was quite deliberate. SDI was part of this strategy. Yes, the President wanted a strategic defense system. But according to one NSDD from 1983, a measure of success for the program was the economic costs it would impose on Moscow. And it worked. By 1985, with a covert line of support running to Poland, a massive U.S. defense build-up, and the Kremlin facing a myriad of economic problems, the Reagan Administration dramatically expanded its commitment to rolling back Soviet power in Afghanistan. The program to aid the mujahedin began under Carter. When he first authorized covert support for the resistance in 1980, a top-secret finding declared that the U.S. goal was to "harass" Soviet forces.

By 1985, the Reagan Administration was far more ambitious. The President asked National Security Advisor Robert McFarlane to redefine and sharpen U.S. objectives in the region. The result was NSDD-166, signed by the President in March. The directive had several key elements, including a commitment to supply the resistance with more advanced weapons and better intelligence pulled from spy satellites. But most importantly, the long annex to NSDD-166 made the clear-cut goal in Afghanistan absolute victory. And an important ingredient in accomplishing that goal was a secret initiative to take the war into the Soviet Union itself.

As Bill Clark recalls, "The President and Bill Casey were determined that Moscow pay an ever greater price for its brutal campaign in Afghanistan." Bill Casey suggested a bold move: What about widening the war to include military operations on Soviet soil. The President liked the idea. Casey took the proposal to the Pakistanis in 1984 during one of his periodic secret trips to Islamabad. The Pakistani president, Zia, embraced the proposal, and shared the information with the Pakistani intelligence (ISi) who were managing the war along the Afghan frontier.  At one of their meetings, Casey stood up and went to the wall map. The Soviet Union is vulnerable to ethnic tensions, he told his hosts. We should smuggle literature to stir up dissent. Then we should ship arms to encourage local uprisings. The ISi began a program to subvert and launch strikes into Soviet Central Asia. By 1986, strikes were launched from two of Afghanistan's provinces. The CIA outfitted these units with rocket launchers and special explosives. Teams of specially trained mujahedin would make their way across the river to hit border posts, lay mines, and knock down power lines. An airfield north of the Soviet town of Pyandch was repeatedly hit by commandos. Once the mujahedin were on Soviet territory, locals would occasionally meet them and join in on operations. Only months after the attacks began, the Soviet Politburo held the meeting in which it was decided to withdraw Soviet forces.

The Soviet edifice was brought down by a tempest whose causes we will never completely understand. But what is beginning to come into focus is the extent to which the Reagan Administration contributed to the decline of the world's last great empire. (by Peter Schweizer, National Review, May 30, 1994, pg 46-49 excerpted from Mr. Schweizer's latest book, Victory, forthcoming from Atlantic Monthly Press.)

1991 AD SADDAM HUSSEIN - INVASION OF KUWAIT

Gulf War - Jan 16 - Feb 17 - 100 hour war

Saddam Hussein has been president of Iraq since 1979. He is chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council of the Baath Party, which sets government policies. He was at war with Iran from 1980 until 1988 when a cease-fire was declared. Hussein became known for his ruthless actions. In the 1980s he used chemical weapons against Kurdish people of Iraq, who were seeking self-government. In August 1990 Hussein ordered Iraqi forces to invade and occupy Kuwait. He accused Kuwait of violating oil production limits set by OPEC, thus lowering the price of oil. Hussein announced that his country had annexed Kuwait. The Iraqi forces killed many Kuwaitis and stole or destroyed much property. Many nations feared that Iraq would next invade neighboring Saudi Arabia. (World Book vol 9 pg 455)

On August 2, 1990 Iraqi tanks attacked tiny Kuwait. The Iraqi's then proceeded to kill, rape, burn, loot and pillage the people and property of that hapless land. The invasion was begun by the ruthless dictator, Saddam Hussein. Saddam Hussein knew that the United State's satellite reconnaissance had charted precisely the formations of Iraqi troops and armor on the Kuwaiti border, obviously in preparation for war. He calculated that if the United States objected to what he was planning, it had plenty of ways to communicate its displeasure. It used none of them! By words and by silence, the United States flashed Saddam Hussein a green light. (Robertson, Pat, The New World Order, 1991 pg 10-11)

It is important to remember that April Glaspie, the United States ambassador to Iraq, had assured Saddam Hussein that Kuwait enjoyed no special defense treaty with the United States. (Ibid pg 11)

Iraq was a Soviet client state, and was armed with Soviet weapons. By invading Kuwait, Saddam was putting billions of dollars into the Soviet economy. Saddam and the Soviets wanted to raise the price of oil, which would be worth as much as $20 billion annually to the cash-starved Soviets. The invasion of Kuwait by Iraq would have given the Soviets fabulous gains at no risk. Can any thinking person believe that Saddam's Soviet advisers did not encourage him to invade Kuwait and raise oil prices? (Ibid pg 11-12)

By invading Kuwait, Saddam would wipe out $10 billion of Iraq's debt incurred during his war with Iran, steal Kuwait's gold reserves, control the vast Kuwaiti oil fields, and raise the price of each barrel of Iraq's oil, dominate almost 1/4 of the world's oil production with which he could have held hostage the economy of the entire world. The prospect of a single madman controlling commodity prices, energy prices, manufacturing costs, inflation, deflation, unemployment, in fact, the economic and political well-being of every human being on this planet is, frankly, too horrible to contemplate. That was the certain outcome of an undisputed, successful military takeover of Kuwait by Iraq. (Ibid pg 12)

Why, then, on three separate occasions did we encourage him? Why did the admirals, the generals, the scientists, the economists, the politicians, and the spies working for the entire United States government not take any action to head off a military adventure that could have de-stabilized the world? Could it be that powerful people wanted a situation that was so obviously dangerous to the entire world that all nations would join together to deal with it? A situation that would cause nations to forget their own claims of sovereignty in order to submerge their interests into that of a worldwide authority such as the United Nations.

Perhaps some very powerful group wanted it all to happen just the way it did to set the stage for something that indeed transcended Saddam Hussein, or Iraq, or Kuwait, or even Middle East oil. (Ibid 12-13)

For out of the War in the Gulf emerged, full blown, what President George Bush and General Brent Scowcroft, his national security adviser, have proudly proclaimed as the new world order. In fact, our president has said publicly that the fate of Kuwait was not the main issue. Launching the new world order was the main thing. (Ibid pg 14)

President Bush told the Congress and the nation on January 29, 1991: What is at stake is more than one small country, it is a big idea - a new world order, where diverse nations are drawn together in common cause to achieve the universal aspirations of mankind; peace and security, freedom, and the rule of law. Such is a world worthy of our struggle, and worthy of our children's future! (Ibid pg 14)

"When we are successful, and we will be, we have a real chance at this new world order, an order in which a credible United Nations can use its peacekeeping role to fulfill the promise and vision of the UN's founders" (President Bush Televised Address, January 16, 1991)

"I think what's at stake here is the new world order. What's at stake here is whether we can have disputes peacefully resolved in the future by a reinvigorated United Nations. Or will the United Nations, its peacekeeping function having been elevated to its most promising height since 1948, be sent back to the Dark Ages because we failed to fulfill its mandate? (U.S. News and World Report January 7, 1991)

During the 1980s the United States and her allies supplied Iraq with billions of dollars in aid and modern weaponry. The Reagan and Bush administrations approved millions of dollars credit to Saddam Hussein's government in his war with Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini. The Bush administration approved a $500 million credit line for Iraq in 1990. Saddam was able to build a massive military capability. (Rausch, Middle East Maze pg 12-13)

The United Nations called for Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait and passed a resolution stating that all nations should stop trading with Iraq, except for food and medical supplies. A coalition of 39 countries, including the United States and Canada, opposed the invasion and sent military forces to the Persian Gulf region. In November 1990 the U.N. Security Council approved the use of force to remove Iraqi troops from Kuwait if they did not leave by January 15, 1991. Iraq refused to withdraw and war broke out between the allied forces and Iraq on January 16, 1991. The U.S. and its allies bombed Iraqi military targets in Iraq and Kuwait. Iraq launched missiles against Saudi Arabia and Israel. On February 25, allied land forces began moving into Iraq and Kuwait. They defeated the Iraqi army after 100 hours of fighting. On February 17, U.S. President George Bush declared a halt to all allied military operations. (World Book vol 10, 1993 pg 414-415)

The Persian Gulf War had a devastating effect on Iraq. It is estimated that as many as 100,000 Iraqi soldiers may have been killed in the war. Tens of thousands of civilians were also probably killed during the hostilities and in the aftermath of the war. (World Book vol 10, pg 413)

Deaths of coalition troops totaled only about 500. (World Book vol 15 pg 300)

President George Bush is not the first to link the phrase "a new world order" to the United Nations. Where the terms have appeared in tandem, they have always been used to promote the supposed need for a world government. Yet, no matter how deftly anyone tries to dance around what it means, world government will lead to the cancellation of national sovereignty and the subjection of all individual rights and freedoms to its desires. (McManus, John F. “A New World Order” Means World Government, 1990 pg 1)

The proponents of a new world order believe that all nations will be governed under the United Nations and that peace will result. But quoting McManus again, "... concentrating the kind of power needed to insure peace is setting the stage for its certain use to create tyranny. As long as individual nations exist, each serves as a brake on the designs of any ambitious megalomaniac. Does any rational person doubt that control of an all-powerful world government would attract the likes of Stalin, Hitler etc? (Ibid pg 2)

REGIONAL APPROACH TO WORLD GOVERNMENT

The Trilateral model is based on speeding up the move to world government by first forming regional blocs which will later merge into one global government. The trilateralists divide the world laterally into three parts; the Western Hemisphere, Europe and Africa, Asia and the South Pacific. Each region is led by a prototype nation - the United States, Germany, and Japan - and the merger of these regional blocs goes in phases.

1992-93 Formation of the European Community (EC), the North American Free Trade Association (NAFTA), and the Asian Common Market.

1993-94 Nations negotiate political as well as economic merger into a world government.

1994-95 The EC merges with all the nations of Western Europe not currently members of the EC and with Association nations, including EFTA; NAFTA merges with advanced Latin American nations; and the Asian Bloc merges with more advanced Asian states.

1995-97 Europe is to merge with Eastern Europe and so-called "sovereign" republics of the USSR; NAFTA becomes the Western Hemisphere "Enterprise for the Americas Initiative" (the term used by President Bush; and the Asian bloc incorporates China and the other communist nations. (Lockhart, Keith, The New World Order, Choosing Between Christ and Satan in the Last Days 1992 pg 141-142)

In order to create a New World Order before the year 2000, the Establishment will make drastic changes in the United States during the next few years, The immediate plans include the following policies:

1. Put the U.S. military under the control of the United Nations. (de facto, if not officially)
2. Disarm the U.S. military as a defensive entity for North America and turn it over to U.N. (This is currently being implemented)
3. Dissolve NATO by turning it into a political/economic organization rather than a military alliance. (This is currently being implemented)
4. Complete the conversion of U.S. public education into a socialist educational system. (The major means of accomplishing this has been by outlawing Christianity and adopting the religion of humanism; this trend will become official under Education 2000).
5. Turn the U.S. economy into a social market (implemented through socialistic legislation passed in Congress and Executive Orders; both of which are decidedly unconstitutional) Health Security Card etc.
6. Merge the U.S. economy with those of Canada and Mexico - NAFTA
7. Promote the U.N. as the answer for world peace, environment, etc.
8. Promote government control over businesses, banks and financial transactions through increased regulation.
9. Move toward a cashless society.
10. Publicize environmental issues and work for more government controls over private property.
11. Socialize all aspects of life in the U.S. including health care, education, welfare, child care etc.
12. Utilize the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) to undermine the Christian base of the U.S. Constitution and replace it with a humanist base, and to further erode constitutional freedoms. (Ibid pg 143-144)

The New World Order Establishment's ultimate goal is to abolish the U.S. constitution. The best way to do this is to simply ignore it, purposely break its law, and do everything possible to ensure that the majority of the American people are ignorant of what the document contains. (Ibid pg 145)

TEN CENTRAL PROPOSITIONS OF HUMANISM:

1. God is a myth.
2. Man is a product of evolution.
3. Man is the ultimate being in the universe.
4. Man is free to do as he wishes.
5. Everything important relates to this life only.
6. Man should develop himself to serve the goals of the community.
7. Man should express himself through the arts, without moralistic constraints.
8. Government should take care of the people.
9. Society should be governed by the scientific method.
10. People should question traditional (Christian) ideas and doctrines. (Ibid 57)

Note on cashless society:

The credit card company Visa took another step toward a cashless society Tuesday by announcing it is developing a do-it-all card that could pay highway tolls, make phone calls or get a chocolate bar from a vending machine. Visa calls it the Electronic Purse. A consumer from Miami could use her Electronic Purse card to buy gasoline in New York or make a telephone call in Paris.

The companies participating in the consortium expect to have specifications completed so tests of the card can begin in late 1995. The Electronic Purse would be a plastic card like a credit card but would bear a microchip, a sort of tiny computer. The project comes as credit­ card issuers are finding their traditional markets saturated. (Associated Press by Mary Beth Sheridan printed in News Tribune, Wed. March 23, 1994)

In President Clinton's inaugural address he mentioned that Dr. Carroll Quigley was his mentor and former professor. Dr. Quigley was an insider in the Establishment and wrote a book about their goals, called Tragedy and Hope. This book was 1300 pages long and only on the market for a short time.

Dr. W. Cleon Skousen was so delighted when he received the book because here at last was an insider telling us like it was. Dr. Skousen wrote a book called, The Naked Capitalist, in which he writes a review and commentary on Dr. Carroll Quigley's book Tragedy and Hope. What follows is taken from Dr. Skousen's commentary.

Probably the beginning of the New World Order in America began with the passage of the Federal Income Tax, Feb 1913 and the passage of the Federal Reserve Act on Dec, 22, 1913. The Establishment knew the only hope of getting a central bank adopted would be to get the Democrats in power and have a new bill introduced which would be promoted into popular acceptance by claiming that it was a measure designed to strip Wall Street of its power. The Wall Street cadre thereupon set forth to achieve this in the presidential election of 1912. The Democrats nominated Woodrow Wilson, with President William Howard Taft and President Teddy Roosevelt (Republicans) making it a three way race. Wall Street backed Wilson. Additional supporters of Wilson belonged to the dynastic banking families of Rockefeller, Morgan, Schiff, etc. Even Morgan's men who managed Teddy Roosevelt' campaign had money behind Wilson

The idea was to give Teddy Roosevelt enough support to divide William Taft's Republican vote and give Wilson enough support to beat them both. This strategy worked, and Wilson was elected. (Skousen, W.Cleon, The Naked Capitalist 1970 pg 18-19)

To see that the newly elected President would have the right advisors, Wilson's financial backers surrounded him with their own agents. The most important of these was "Colonel" Edward Mandell House, the British educated son of a financier who represented certain British financial interests in the Southern States. House gradually emerged as the virtual president during the Wilson administration. Two of his pet projects, the central bank and the graduated income tax, were both successfully adopted through the amazing capacity of House to pull wires behind the scenes. (Ibid 20)

The operation of the Federal Reserve System is one of the most interesting and mysterious combines in the country. Since it was founded in 1913 it has successfully resisted every attempt to conduct an audit of its affairs. The system consists of 12 "National Banks" but the only one of any significance is the one in New York. The New York bank has always been managed by someone completely congenial to the interests of the international bankers. It is important to realize that the Federal Reserve System is not a bona fide Government agency. The Federal Reserve Board is completely independent in its decisions. (Ibid pg 21-22)

Dr. Quigley says the true dimensions of the whole scheme are better appreciated when it is realized that the far-reaching aim of the dynastic bankers was: "....nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the POLITICAL SYSTEM of each country and the ECONOMY of the world as a whole. (Ibid pg 22)

The COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS was established in 1921 and has over 2,000 members. (World Book vol 4 1993 pg 1097)

The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) was set up by Cecil Rhodes, "Colonel" Edward Mandell House, and Jerome Greene, in conjunction with Rothschild, Morgan, Carnegie, and Rockefeller after the end of World War 1. The CFR headquarters building was a gift of the Rockefellers. Its members are trained for decision-making positions in the Federal Government. This is the group which created the basic structure of the United Nations.

Included were Alger Hiss (Communist spy), Harry Dexter White (Soviet Agent), and Nelson Rockefeller. (Skousen, W. Cleon, The Naked Capitalist, 1970 pg 50-51-52)

The CFR has participated to some degree in each of the last ten administrations (since Woodrow Wilson) and dominated those of FDR, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon. (Ibid pg 54)

One of the goals of the Establishment has been the recognition of Red China which Nixon did in 1969. (Ibid pg 56)

These facts are mentioned simply to alert the reader to the fact that Dr. Quigley may be entirely correct in his charge that the CFR and the Global Establishment have gained such a hold on the elective process in the United States that it does not matter which political party goes into power, the winner is beholden to those powers to a significant degree. (Ibid pg 56)

1930's - THE NEW DEAL - Franklin D. Roosevelt - Dozens of new government agencies were set up. His policies gave the federal government a great deal of power. He took over many rights that belonged to the states under the Constitution. Many Americans thought that government controls over business might destroy the free enterprise system and lead to socialism. The New Deal helped create the enormous debt that we have today. (World Book Vol 16 pg 452)

Franklin Delano Roosevelt served as President for more than 12 years, longer than any other person. (Served from 1933 to 1945. He was stricken with polio in 1921) He was the only President elected four times. Roosevelt led the United States through its worst depression and through its worst war. He died just 83 days after becoming President for the fourth time. (Ibid pg 452)

KOREAN WAR - In January 1950, Dean Acheson announced that Korea was no longer within the "defense perimeter" of the U.S. Within six months, June 1950 Russia launched an attack against little South Korea. General MacArthur defeated and captured the North Korean army. He was then confronted by several hundred thousand Red Chinese. General MacArthur frankly told a Congressman what was happening in the War. Within five days MacArthur was withdrawn. He had been deliberately prevented from winning the Korean War. (Skousen, W. Cleon, The Naked Capitalist pg 77 & 78)

It is important to remember that MacArthur was fired for the unpardonable sin of wanting to win the war. MacArthur had warned, "In war, there is no substitute for victory". Instead of victory, in Vietnam we played at war, and we bled our young men and women to death. We bled our treasury. And worst of all, we bled our national resolve. In Vietnam, the United States was forced by its leaders to suffer the first military loss in its history. (Robertson, Pat, The New World Order. 1991 pg 78-79)

The Korean War was the first war in which the U.N. played a military role. The Korean War was a major challenge for the United Nations, which had come into existence only five years earlier. (World Book vol 11 pg 379)

1961-1963 THE KENNEDY YEARS - Dr. Quigley boasts, "Kennedy despite his Irish Catholicism, was an Establishment figure." In 1963 the left-wing forces induced President Kennedy to recommend the passage of a whole series of hard-core socialist proposals and these were soon dumped into the hoppers of Congress. However, there were sufficient Americans awake at the grass-roots level to protest against these measures and demand that Congress reject them. That is what happened. Even under Presidential pressure the Democratic-dominated Congress refused to pass these bills. The frustrated Establishment press turned the heat on Congress but to no avail. By September the prestige of President Kennedy had taken a serious drop in establishment circles and there was some question as to what might happen if JFK decided to seek a second term. Then suddenly, on Nov. 22, President Kennedy was assassinated by a Marxist revolutionary, Lee Harvey Oswald, who was connected with Castro's main Communist front-organization here in the United States. (Ibid 98-99)

When Congress convened in 1964, President Johnson exploited the emotional climate and demanded that the Congress pass the Kennedy bills which they had rejected the previous spring. Almost blindly the Congress went to work and frequently, without any serious attempt to debate many important aspects of these bills they began to be passed. (Ibid pg 99)

1963-1969 PRESIDENT LYNDON JOHNSON - President Johnson pushed for legislation to launch the “Great Society”. Congress passed 226 out of the 252 bills that the President submitted. (World Book Student Information Finder 1993 pg 299)

For three solid years the powers behind the scenes pushed the President into policies and programs which were bound to be resisted and resented by the majority of the American people and were therefore political dynamite. The most serious time-bomb which they placed on LBJ was getting him to follow a commitment of peace-at-any price and a soft-on­ communism policy. This allowed the global planners to escalate the Vietnam front into a full­ scale war and have the President fight it on an unrealistic, no-win basis that it became the primary factor in making Lyndon Johnson a one-term president. (Skousen, W. Cleon, The Naked Capitalist, pg 103)

ACTUALLY, WHAT WE ARE WITNESSING IS A VERY CAREFULLY AND METHODICALLY EXECUTED PROGRAM DESIGNED TO DESTROY CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT AS WE HAVE KNOWN IT AND MAKE A SHAMBLES OF THE SOCIETY WHICH HAS WANTED TO KEEP THE CONSTITUTION ALIVE. ONLY THEN CAN A HIGHLY CENTRALIZED, SOCIALIST STATE BE ESTABLISHED. (Ibid pg 115)

To achieve this, the middle class in America must be ruthlessly squeezed out of existence. That is the message which looms large from many passages in Dr. Quigley's book. (Ibid pg 115)

1993 PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON - On the third day of his administration, President Clinton remembered the prompting by his friends. He issued five extremely controversial executive orders designed to:

1. Lift the ban on homosexuals in the military.
2. Lift the ban on fetal tissue research
3. Lift the ban on abortion counseling in federally funded clinics.
4. Begin the process of approving the importation of the abortion inducing medication RU 486.
5. Provide funds for the first time for abortions in military hospitals overseas.

Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders was quoted in the National Review: "I tell every girl that when she goes out on a date-put a condom in her purse." Avowed feminist and ACLU activist Ruth Bader Ginsberg was appointed to be an associate justice on the Supreme Court. These are some of the positions she has expressed in the past.

1. The traditional family concept of the husband as a breadwinner and wife as homemaker must be eliminated.
2. The federal government must provide comprehensive child care.
3. The Homestead Law must give twice as much benefit to couples who live apart from each other as to a husband and wife who live together.
4. In the military, women must be drafted when men are drafted, and women must be assigned to combat duty.
5. Affirmative action must be applied to equalize the number of men and women in the armed forces.
6. The age of consent for sexual acts must be lowered to 12 years of age.
7. Prostitution must be legalized. She wrote, "Prostitution as a consensual act between adults is arguably within the zone of privacy protected by recent constitutional decisions"
8. All-boy and all-girl organizations must be sexually integrated. The Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts must change their names and their purposes to become sex-integrated.

1993 August 5-6 Congress narrowly passed the president's budget package, imposing one of the largest tax increases on families in U.S. history. When asked about the possible damaging economic impact of her health care plan on family-owned businesses, first lady Hillary Clinton said, "I cannot be responsible for saving every undercapitalized entrepreneur in America"

1993 November 2: On this day, homosexual and lesbian appointees within the Clinton Administration held a "coming-out breakfast" for the press. The original goal, they said, was to secure five gay appointments by the White House. So far, they have obtained 11, and more are expected. For this Bill Clinton is going down in history. Remembering that the president promised that his high-level appointments would “look like America,” it is interesting that Mr. Clinton has assigned no evangelical Christians to senior governmental positions. One out of four Americans identifies himself or herself as an “evangelical” yet to the best of our knowledge, none is represented in this administration. (Dobson, James C. Ph.D. Focus on the Family January 1994 pg 1-4)

Note: Tax increases will not correct the budget deficit crisis. This will be the fifth tax increase program of the past eleven years, all in the glorious name of deficit reduction­ in each previous case, the deficit actually increased. When will Congress recognize the answer to deficit containment lies not in more revenues (which will trigger more government spending), but in legitimate spending restraint? (Pierce County Business Examiner July 12, 1993)

Remember: "If you think medicine is expensive now, wait until it’s free". (Limbaugh, Rush, The Limbaugh Letter, Nov. 1993 pg 4)

1993 February 26 TERRORISM IN AMERICA

The Bomb That Shook America

Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan - New York

When people think of the World Trade Center in downtown Manhattan, what comes to mind are the famous Twin Towers, each 110 stories. But the Center is much more than that. It covers 16 acres, comprises seven buildings and has the population of a modest-sized city. Some 50,000 people work there, and another 80,000 visit it on any given day. The Center's foundation had to be sunk 70 feet to reach bedrock. Inside that 70 foot hole is the basement, which encompasses almost twice as much space as all of the Empire State Building. It houses the great core columns of the towers, a shopping mall, an underground train line and a parking garage for 2000 vehicles. Three hundred people work there. But at just past noon on Friday, February 26, 1993, the basement was quiet. Most of the workers were using their lunch hour to go to the bank.

Deep within the skyscraper's basement, a hellish scene unfolded. The subterranean building had become a huge, smoldering crater, seven stories deep. Mountains of rubble - office walls and concrete floors moments earlier - trapped humans within. Six lives ended in a brutal flash. Terrorism had come to the United States. February 26, 1993 would become a day that would mark for all time the single most destructive act of terrorism ever committed in the United States. From that point forward, Americans knew that "this can happen to me here" (Reader's Digest, February 1995, pg 196 condensed from "Two seconds Under The World" by Jim Dwyer.)

Four people, Islamic terrorists, were responsible for the bombing of the world Trade Center. Yousef, was the operation's "evil genius," Salameh and Ayyad were his willing apprentices.

Abouhalima supplied munitions expertise. Ajaj carried out a ruse to get Yousef into the country. The FBI found a letter by Salameh and Nidal Ayyad. It claimed responsibility for the Trade Center bomb and promised another attack unless certain demands were met, including an end to American support for Israel. An informant warned the FBI that the group was preparing to launch a brutal war of terror on the United States, starting with targets in New York City. Islamic terrorists, part of the same network, were planning another bomb assault­ this one far more violent and widespread than the Trade Center blast. The new plan called for a series of attacks on several targets across the city.

According to a federal indictment, one bomb would be planted on the George Washington Bridge. Two more would take out the Holland and Lincoln tunnels. The FBI’s New York headquarters and the United Nations building were also targets. To settle an old score, the bombers would save a massive explosion for New York’s midtown diamond district, which is full of Hasidic Jews on any given business day. On June 23, 1993 six bomb makers were in the process of making bombs, all recorded on video tape, when dozens of FBI agents burst in and handcuffed them without a struggle.

The four suspected Trade Center bombers went on trial on October 4, 1993. All four were found guilty as charged. Judge Duffy passed sentence. He had calculated how many years each of the victims could have expected to live and sentenced the bombers to 240 years in prison - one year for each year of life they deprived their victims. (by Jim Dwyer, Reader's Digest, February 1995 pages 194-231)

Note: Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman faces trial this week on terror, conspiracy charges. Here in Fayoum, Egypt, Sheik made his reputation as a kind of religious revolutionary, a threat to the secular order. This week Abdel-Rahman's devotion to the Islamic faith, and the lengths he would go in its behalf, will come under scrutiny in a different setting; the federal courthouse in Manhattan, where the trial of the cleric and 11 others will get under way. The men are charged with plotting to blow up several New York City landmarks, including the United Nations Building, Federal Plaza and the Lincoln and Holland tunnels. The government says that effort was part of a war, directed by Abdel-Rahman, against what the defendants saw as infidels and enemies of Islam.

Investigators say Abdel-Rahman also inspired the bombing of the World Trade Center in February 1993. Although that case is not part of the coming trials, prosecutors say the trade center was just one target in what they have called "a war of urban terrorism against the United States. (by Richard Bernstein, New York Times from News Tribune, Sunday, January 8, 1995 pg A5)

1993 Sept. 13 The Handshake That Shocked The World

September 13, 1993 Thousands were gathered on the south lawn of the White House fully conscious that they were about to witness a remarkable historical moment. President Clinton strolled to the platform, flanked by Yitzhak Rabin, Prime Minister of Israel, on his right and Yasser Arafat of the Palestine Liberation Organization on his left. The impossible was beginning to happen. (O'Neill, Dan and Wagner, Don, Peace or Armageddon, 1993 pg 17-18)

For nearly one hundred years Jews and Arabs, and Palestinians in particular, have been locked in an escalating cycle of seemingly irreconcilable hostilities. As late as Friday, September I0, serious conflicts remained, threatening twenty months of tedious, secret negotiations. Then Clinton pledged what had been missing from the previous twenty-two months of the frustrating Madrid peace process: "the active support of the United States of America to the difficult work that lies ahead". No doubt, members of Congress squirmed as Arafat and Rabin nodded their heads in approval. The United States is committed to ensuring that the people who are affected by this agreement will be made more secure by it, and to leading the world in marshaling the resources necessary to implement the difficult details that will make real the principles to which you commit yourselves today...

President Clinton's conclusion echoed almost to the word what former President Carter had stated following the signing of the Camp David Accord some thirteen years earlier. (Ibid pg 21)

Then as agreed by all sides, at exactly 11:43 AM, Shimon Peres and Abu Mazen took turns signing the historic Middle East Accord, a first step on the journey to end the hundred years of conflict. The next step was more than symbolic. Would they shake hands? Arafat stepped forward and extended his hand toward Rabin. Two, perhaps three, long seconds elapsed before Rabin hesitantly responded, grasping Arafat's hand. The spectators broke out with cheers and loud applause in affirmation of what they had just witnessed; some wiped tears from their eyes. (Ibid pg 23)

Few people of our generation thought we would see the day when an Israeli prime minister would shake hands with any representative of the PLO. But it happened and it at least deserves our respect. Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat demonstrated tremendous courage on that sunny September afternoon, but what happens next is literally anyone's guess. (Ibid pg 45)

I feel that Yasser Arafat took this step because he no longer had the financial backing of the Soviet Union since the break up of this nation and therefore needed money from the United States. Also his leadership of the PLO was in question and this put him back at the helm. I feel that Yitzhak Rabin took this step because he was now old and had seen enough of fighting and wanted this agreement to ensure his place in history. He has served as Prime Minister of Israel from 1974 to 1977 and again in 1992. He had also won fame as a military leader. He planned the strategy in the Six-Day War of June 1967 (World Book vol 16 pg 50)

1994 - February 25 - Hebron Massacre - Baruch Goldstein walked into a mosque in Hebron as Muslim worshipers knelt in prayer and killed at least 30-40 men with a machine gun. Six days later as the Arab 'intifada' awakens the death toll hit 66. (News Tribune March 3, 1994)

Angel of Life Turns Into an Angel of Death

Dr. Baruch Goldstein was the area's preeminent emergency medical specialist. It was he who had committed the carnage before the survivors succeeded in knocking him down and pummeling him to death. He will go down in history as the perpetrator of one of the worst massacres in the century-long conflict between Jews and Arabs over sovereignty of the Holy Land. (News Tribune, Sunday, March 6, 1994)

But for the 6,000 Jewish settlers in Kiryat Arba and next-door Hebron, Goldstein had been for the past decade quite simply the angel of life. He saved the dying, healed the wounded and comforted the worried. He gave of himself in a way that left others in awe. Meir Lapid, whose father Mordechai and brother Shalom were murdered by Palestinian gunmen in December, said he remembered Goldstein telling him one week before that double murder: “That's it. The situation is such that we can no longer talk with the government. Jews are being murdered every day. We must do something shocking.”

Many feel that a week later, when Goldstein was called to try to revive the dead bodies of the two Lapids and treat two other wounded sons, he began a psychological decline that ended with the massacre. (Ibid News Tribune F2)

Goldstein's vile act was unhesitatingly condemned by all of Israel's responsible leaders. Its president, Ezer Weizman, immediately paid a condolence call on the Hebron Arabs. On the very day of the massacre, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin telephoned Yassir Arafat, leader of the PLO, to express his shame. Publicly, Rabin expressed the revulsion of the population in searing language. It was a "loathsome, criminal act of murder" he said. Of the radicals who support Goldstein, Rabin went on: "Sane Judaism spits them out" A formal statement of the government described the shooting as an action "devoid of human morality." The words were accompanied by actions - a formal commission to investigate, the arrest of a number of extremist leaders, the disarming of the more violent elements and, as a gesture of goodwill, the release of about 1,000 Palestinians from prison.

Contrast this with the response of the Arab side to the assassins they harbor. Since the September 13 handshake at the White House, some 33 Israeli Jews have been killed and 213 wounded in dozens of Palestinian terrorists attacks. Never had Arafat or any other Arab leader expressed a single word of condolence or sought publicly to condemn these terrorist acts. Only once has Arafat acknowledged and condemned terrorism - and then only under American pressure, and by fax. And that was when it became clear that one of Arafat's own PLO Fatah cells harbored the guilty party.

It has been thus for decades. When a single Islamic radical grabbed the wheel of a commuter bus in 1989, so that it skidded over a cliff on the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv road with great loss of life; when terrorists blew up the U.S. Marine barracks in Lebanon in 1983; when Pan Am 103 was blown out of the sky, and when 22 Jews were killed in a synagogue in 1986 - on none of these occasions did Arafat or any Arab leader call the Israelis to express sorrow or convey expressions of sympathy to the families of the victims, much less declare their personal sense of shame.

The PLO wants to exploit the tragedy as a way of forcing all Israeli settlements out of the West Bank - and that will surely deadlock the talks. (Zuckerman, Mortimer B. Editorial, After the Hebron Massacre, U.S. News and World Report March 14, 1994)

1994 May - Palestinian Self-Rule in Jericho on the West Bank and in Most of the Gaza Strip.  

Israel completed their withdrawal from two enclaves of Palestinian self­ rule, one surrounding Jericho in the West Bank, the other covering most of the Gaza Strip. In both areas, civilian affairs were turned over to P.L.O. control, as was public order and safety. To replace the occupying forces, some 3,000 Palestinian troops, arriving from exile mostly in Egypt, Iraq and Jordan, were put to work as soldiers and policemen - a force that is to eventually grow to 9,000. In the Gaza Strip there was trouble from the start. As Israeli soldiers pulled out of their last outpost in the city of Gaza, they were pelted with stones by Palestinian demonstrators. Yet stones could prove to be the least of Israel's problems. Under the self-rule agreement, about 5,000 Jewish settlers remain in the Gaza Strip. They are protected by Israeli soldiers and - at least in theory - by P.L.O. forces against Palestinian militants, especially Muslim extremists who remain opposed to peace with Israel. After the turnover, Jewish settlers were fired at and wounded on four occasions in the Gaza Strip.

Guarding the roads on which the settlers and other Israelis travel through the autonomous regions is the task of joint Israeli-Palestinian patrols. In the strip, the Israelis complained, such missions were scarcely functioning - because, they said, Palestinian security men were not showing up. A high-ranking Israeli military officer characterized the situation as "almost total anarchy." By contrast, calm prevailed in Jericho, a generally peaceful town where militants have never gained a foothold. There, 730 Palestinian peacekeepers found themselves directing traffic and helping tidy up the city. "They are highly professional and give people a sense of security," said Emad Barahmeh, a Jericho shopkeeper. An Israeli lieutenant colonel concurred: "I have only compliments for their performance."

Joint patrols were also working well in Jericho. Said an Israeli soldier; “They were our enemies, but now we work together. We made the switch.” His Palestinian counterpart added, “We are friendly with them, trading water, food and hot drinks.” While cooperation was building mutual confidence in Jericho, P.L.O. chairman Yasser Arafat stirred up a furor in Israel when remarks he had made at a Johannesburg mosque were broadcast. Arafat called for a “jihad to liberate Jerusalem.” Arafat explained he used “jihad” in its general sense to mean “struggle” rather than “holy war” as Westerners and Israelis usually interpret the word.

While the Gaza Strip remained tense P.L.O. leaders said they would soon manage to quiet the enclave. There was powerful motivation, since Israel has made further withdrawals in the West Bank conditional on the success of the Gaza-Jericho experiment. (by Lisa Beyer, Jericho. Time, May 30, 1994. pg 47)

1994 October Salah Abdel Souwi - a Palestinian Terrorist - blows himself, a bus and 21 passengers to pieces. Last Wednesday a 27 year old Palestinian from the West Bank boarded the heavily travelled No. 5 bus in downtown Tel Aviv carrying a 22 lb. package of TNT. At 8:55 a.m., just after the bus passed Dizengoff Square in the heart of the shopping district, he stood up and blew himself, the bus and 21 of its passengers to pieces.

The whole of Israel recoiled in horror. Only 10 days earlier, Souwi’s cohorts in the Islamic Resistance Movement, or Hamas, had kidnapped an Israeli soldier, eventually executing him and killing one commando involved in a rescue attempt.

The force of Souwi’s bomb was so intense that the bus was reduced to fragments. Parts of victims were blown through windows. Police officers fainted; reporters sobbed at the sight. Hamas, until now, had been a frightening but amateurish opponent. With its October operations the group graduated to a whole new class. Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin will have a harder time selling future accords with the Palestinians to anxious Israelis.

Hamas rejects any settlement with Israel, and is aiming its fire as much at the P.L.O. leader as Rabin. One thing Rabin said he would not do is halt the peace process between Israel and Arafat’s Palestine Liberation Organization. That, he said, would only hand Hamas the victory it seeks.

Still, the rash of violence poses an enormous test for the peace process. Israel has insisted it will NOT expand Palestinian self-rule beyond the enclaves in the Gaza Strip and Jericho unless Arafat works harder to ensure Israeli safety by containing Muslim extremists. So far, the P.L.O. chairman has been unwilling to do that. Israelis hope the latest outrages will jolt him into action, but that would be a major departure for Arafat. Rather than using his 11,200-strong security force against the militants, he has let Hamas operate largely unfettered.

Israel’s principal response, however, has been to shut off the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Normally 65,000 Palestinians cross into Israel to work, but the porous borders had enabled assailants to enter with ease. The Israelis hope closing them completely will not only make terror attacks harder but also put pressure on Arafat to clamp down on Hamas. (Time, October 31, 1994. By Lisa Beyer Tel Aviv, Pg 40-41)

1994 October Historic Israel-Jordan Peace Accord

It was a drama worthy of the Bible; the long-warring children of Abraham gathered in the sunbaked wilderness before a goat’s-hair tent to swear to a covenant of peace. The practical and immediate implications of the historic Israel-Jordan accord make it potentially the most significant Mideast agreement that Washington and the President (Pres. Clinton) have nurtured to date. For true peace is more than the mere absence of war. The Israel-Jordan desert pact facilitates instant and unheard-of cooperation on everything from electric grids to water sharing to tourism to mutual security.

The success of this latest pact should coax additional Arab states to join in - most of the gulf emirates, Tunisia and others that almost but haven’t quite come to terms with a Jewish state they long regarded as a pariah. We are forewarned: The path to full Mideast peace remains as perilous as Moses’s 40-year trek through the desert. The Hamas and Hezbollah faithful, fuming over this latest step ahead, will inevitably renew terror attacks in hopes of sabotaging future advances. Even the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Yassir Arafat and Syria’s President Hafez Assad have been loudly mean-mannered about it.

Still, for all the whining, the Israel-Jordan peace treaty should prod both Arafat and Assad into reluctant understanding that dragging feet and trying to delay an inexorable process risk their own political momentum and the gains their peoples stand to make through peace.

Syria is a Mideast keystone. The Syrian leader did spell what he considers a firm commitment: “We want peace”. If he does, his message may reassure the nervous people of Israel who almost unanimously applaud the accord with Jordan but still face terrorist attacks that undermine their sense of personal security. Seeing the peace process through will require the kind of courage that brought to the desert ceremony Yehuda Waxman, father of the Israeli soldier who died in October’s Hamas kidnapping. “I don't want to look back,” he said. “I want to look forward.” (U.S. News and World Report, Nov 7, 1994 pg 7 by Richard Z. Chesnoff.)

PEACE DIVIDEND

Now that Yitzhak Rabin and King Hussein have signed a treaty, it’s time for the peace dividend. Peacemaking, it turns out, is more than its own reward. “The Middle East is open for business,” U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher told reporters en route to last week’s treaty signing, which ended the 46 year state of war between Israel and Jordan. Despite setbacks from terrorist attacks and a still-reluctant Hafez Assad of Syria, the Mideast is poised to begin to collect an economic dividend from its investment in diplomatic peace.

At a first ever Arab-Israeli business conference, business and political leaders from 80 nations are meeting in Casablanca, Morocco, this week to explore possibilities for new economic cooperation in the region. Israel, isolated from markets and business for four decades by an Arab boycott of trade and a so-called secondary boycott of companies that do business with Israel, stands to gain the most the quickest - but not much yet from its Arab partners.

Israel’s modern economy towers over those of its Arab neighbors: Its $60 billion annual gross domestic product equals that of Egypt, Jordan, Syria and the occupied territories combined. Their governments can’t afford many of Israel’s industrial and high-tech exports, and their average citizens earn only about $1,000 per year, not enough to buy many Israeli consumer products.

Israeli firms, therefore, are looking first to more distant markets. Since Mid-east peace talks started three years ago, nearly 50 nations have established or renewed diplomatic ties with Israel. Israel’s $20 billion export market is growing at about a 10 percent annual clip - and about 45 percent of new exports are to markets that virtually did not exist three years ago. Exports to Far Eastern and Eastern European markets have shot from almost nil to a fifth of Israel’s total. In 1993, as the worldwide arms market shrank, Israel was the only country to increase its arms exports.

This year, France lifted an arms embargo against Israel it had imposed during the 1967 Six-Day War and signed an accord with Israel on weapons research. Britain followed suit and lifted its own arms embargo against Israel imposed during the 1973 Middle East war. By contrast, Israel’s exports to Arab countries total only around $400 million annually. All sides are now exploring ways to increase that total.

Starting this week, the border between Israel and Jordan is to open for average citizens and commerce. Jordanians are keen to use overland routes to Israel’s Haifa and Ashdod ports, which would provide a more convenient Mediterranean outlet for goods heading for European markets.

Officials from the Palestine Liberation Organization who arrived in the newly autonomous Gaza Strip and Jericho this past summer made clear they wanted nothing to do with the Israeli economy. But Benny Gaon, chief executive officer of Koor - Israel’s largest conglomerate and pioneer in efforts to forge links with the Arab world - recently signed an agreement with Yassir Arafat to provide cement, iron and steel pipes for Palestinian construction projects, and other Israeli-Palestinian cooperation is getting started as well.

Progress, however, has been temporarily braked following the fatal Tel Aviv bus bombing; Israel has since closed off the occupied territories indefinitely, shutting out 60,000 Palestinian day laborers, and announced it would import 19,000 workers from other countries, including Portugal and Romania.

Still, Palestinian business is expected to gain, eventually. No longer hampered by high Israeli tariffs and other restrictions over their exports, the Palestinians are expected to sell textiles and other products in the Israeli market. Because their labor costs are lower, Palestinian farmers also are expected to make inroads into Israeli agriculture markets.

Chronic terrorism, meanwhile, has hurt tourism, which would surely boom with a safe peace. During the first two months of 1994, tourism to Israel shattered records. But the February attack on Palestinians in Hebron by Jewish gunman Baruch Goldstein scared away tourists. The bus bombing in Tel Aviv earlier this month will hurt as well.

In Clinton’s speech to the Jordanian Parliament last week, Clinton promised to help establish a Middle East Development Bank to finance projects in the region; in addition, the Overseas Development Investment Corp. will provide $75 million to promote new private investment, most of it in Jordan. As a reward to Jordan for embracing peace, Congress already has voted to forgive $700 million in Jordanian debt. (by David Makovsky in Jerusalem, U.S. News and World Report, November 7, 1994 pg 46-47)

Syria’s Assad - Holding out in Damascus - Clinton had taken a risk by coming to Syria, the first visit here by an American president in 20 years and his host, President Hafex Assad, was being decidedly unhelpful. First, he refused to condemn the recent suicide bus bombing in Tel Aviv as he had promised Clinton - twice - just moments earlier in private; then he claimed that Syria, still on America’s list of nations supporting terrorism, had nothing to do with terrorism at all.

After last week’s signing of the Israeli-Jordanian peace treaty, Syria’s leader remains the odd man out of Middle East peace. Assad engages in the politics of exasperation, wearing down opponents, often dragging senior American officials into six-hour marathon negotiating sessions. American officials say Assad believes Israel’s Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin is serious about peace, and he therefore figures that he can hold out for Israel to agree to a faster withdrawal from the strategic Golan Heights than the four years now being proposed by Jerusalem. Israel seized the heights in the 1967 Six-Day War. Assad has taken to heart Henry Kissinger’s 1970 adage that Syria remains the key to regional peace. American officials agree with Israel’s Peres that the longer talks drag on, the harder it will be to achieve peace. (David Makovsky and Matthew Cooper in Damascus, U.S. News and World Report, November 7, 1994 pg 46-47)

PROFITS OF PEACE

Unlike Israel and the PLO, Israel and Jordan have essentially been at peace for at least 24 years. Israel has more than five times the trade with Jordan that it has with Egypt, and several hundred thousand Jordanians and other Arabs cross the “open bridges” on the Jordan River each year. Peace has reigned since the time Palestinians call “Black September” of 1970, when Israel helped Jordan against both the PLO and Syria. It was then that Yasser Arafat’s PLO was banished from Jordanian soil and its state within a state uprooted (it later established a new one in Lebanon). Syria’s artillery and infantry began an invasion to support Arafat, but Hussein pushed them back. Syria decided not to use its air force after Israel made it clear that it would intervene to protect Hussein.

The long-standing ties between Jordan and Israel help explain King Hussein’s popularity among Israelis. By contrast, PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, whom Rabin and Hussein did not invite to the treaty ceremony, is viewed with suspicion. Arafat, who has been selected to receive a Nobel Peace Prize along with Rabin and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, condemned the Israeli-Jordanian treaty as an attempt to disfranchise [sic] Palestinians. Furthermore, he has not fulfilled a single one of the promises or contractual obligations linked to the Israel-PLO Declaration of Principles signed in September 1993. Rather than curbing Palestinian terror, he has presided in Gaza and Jericho as units of the Islamic extremist HAMAS movement (and sometimes rogue units of his own Fatah organization) have continued to strike at Israeli civilians.

American officials hope Assad will not sabotage the Israeli-Jordanian agreement, as he sabotaged the U.S.-brokered treaty between Israel and Lebanon in 1983. Israel, meanwhile, got an Arab country to accept the proposition that “territory for peace” does not necessarily mean all territory. Hussein agreed to territorial modifications and to Israel’s leasing of some disputed territory. This last point may prove a crucial precedent for talks with Syria, which wants a total, Sinai-like withdrawal from Golan, something more than 80 percent of the Israeli public opposes. (Michael Widlanski, National Review, November 21, 1994.)

THOUSANDS  SUPPORT HAMAS

The Islamic group Hamas showed its political muscle to Yasser Arafat’s self-rule government Saturday, drawing as many as 20,000 supporters to one of the bigger rallies in the Gaza Strip. By bringing out so many people, Hamas demonstrated its strength in the battle for public opinion between the authority and Islamic groups opposed to the agreement on Palestinian self-rule reached last year with the Israelis.

Last week, Arafat summoned about 10,000 loyalists into Gaza’s streets, hundreds of them armed with automatic rifles. The crowd Hamas mustered Saturday was appreciably larger. The crisp manner of the rally underlined that the fundamentalist Muslim group is a well­ disciplined force capable of mounting a serious challenge to Arafat. The PLO chairman lost considerable popular support when his police opened fire Nov. 18 on fellow Palestinians. At least 12 people died, and about 200 others were wounded. The violence aroused fears of a possible civil war in the Gaza Strip. (By Clyde Haberman, New York Times, from News Tribune, Sunday, November 17, 1994)

1994 November - Propping Up Yasser - Arafat has problems galore in Gaza, so the Israelis attempt to bolster him by granting him more authority. Arafat’s standing in the Gaza Strip had dropped so low that the Israeli leader - though no fan of Arafat’s - felt it necessary to prop him up with promises to ease an economic boycott and expand Palestinian autonomy, which is limited to enclaves in the Gaza Strip and Jericho, to the rest of the West Bank. The situation is alarming,” said a senior Israeli negotiator. “We are worried that our agreements will be overturned if the Palestinians don’t show progress.”

The Israelis shared some of the blame for Arafat’s mess. After a series of brutal attacks in Israel by Islamic extremists, Rabin barred Palestinians from crossing into Israel for day jobs. Last week Israel agreed to allow a total of 23,000 Palestinians to cross daily. Still, 40,000 others who had worked in Israel before the violence were left jobless - and furious.

Israeli authorities had also made public a threat to liquidate the perpetrators of Islamic violence. Thus when Hani Abed, a leader of the militant Islamic Jihad, was blown apart by a car bomb in the Gaza Strip two weeks ago, Palestinian fingers pointed to Israel. Many Gazans also blamed Arafat, since the assassination occurred under his watch. Arafat still refuses to create an accounting system that would satisfy would-be givers of international aid. As a result, of $550 million in assistance pledged for this year, only $50 million has been received. Arafat is also hampered by bitter divisions among his lieutenants.

Though disappointed by Arafat’s performance, Israeli officials still believe his leadership offers the best chance for a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Thus this week the Palestinian authority is scheduled to take charge of tourism and social welfare in the West Bank, and health and taxation by the end of the month. Next week negotiations are to resume on moving the Israeli army out of the Arab-populated areas in the West Bank, to be followed by elections for a Palestinian self-rule council. “There is no way back,” says an Israeli negotiator. “Nobody can undo the agreements, so the only option is to go forward.” (by Lisa Beyer, Gaza City, Time, November 21, 1994, pg 81)

1994 Nov 28 - A Bloody Taste of Civil War - Arafat’s security forces faced a new foe last week; the enemy within. They answered the challenge from Gaza’s Islamic militants in precisely the same way that the Israeli occupiers had done - bluntly, and with lethal force. By the time the bloody fraternal clashes had simmered down, 15 Palestinians were dead, another 200 were crowding the hospitals and hundreds more were behind bars. The people of the Gaza Strip were filled with a dread that worse was still to come, that the countdown for a cataclysmic collision among Palestinians had begun. The bloodshed marked a new low for Arafat’s already troubled administration. Self-rule has brought the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip little but disappointment, and their frustration is increasingly aimed at Arafat. Having turned his guns on compatriots, the Palestinian leader now faces a huge new credibility problem with his people.

Until recently, Arafat’s self-rule administration had maintained a compact with the militant Muslim groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which adamantly oppose his peace accord with Israel and are trying to sabotage it with violence. The extremists focused their attacks on Israel and areas of the West Bank still under Israeli control. Arafat, for the most part, left them alone within his jurisdiction in the Gaza Strip and Jericho, despite Israeli pressure to crack down.

Now the hands-off policy has broken down. Earlier this month, Islamic Jihad for the first time publicly threatened to attack Arafat’s security personnel. Then the group struck hard within the Strip itself, when a suicide bomber bicycled into an Israeli army position, killing three soldiers. At the same time, Islamic Jihad activists were holding a provocative rally in Gaza City. Since the experiment in self-rule began last May, many Palestinians have been telling outsiders that the notion of internecine war was just a fantasy of Israeli right-wingers. Now the possibility of civil war is hard to dismiss. Eyad Sarraj lists the key ingredients he believes are already present: “a weak authority, a strong opposition, undisciplined people on both sides, plenty of arms, plenty of outside influence and an environment of disillusion and despair.”

Arafat and the militant Islamists stand intractably opposed; he is committed to making peace with Israel; they are determined to wreck it. The current environment in the Gaza Strip has strengthened the appeal of the militants. Palestinians have little, if anything, to show for the achievement of self-rule. The Gazan economy is in ruins. Foreign aid donors refuse to hand over significant funds until Arafat creates a credible system of accounting for the money.

All of that gives weight to the rejectionists’ argument that the peace Arafat made with Israel is a bad deal that should be overturned. The members of the Authority might just get so depressed that they’ll decide it’s not worth it, that it makes more sense to say to the people, “All right, go back to the Israeli occupation.” Arafat himself talked of the possibility of dismantling his self-rule administration and quitting Gaza as a way of wriggling out of the troubled peace accord. The Israelis, however, have no intention of reclaiming control of the Gaza Strip - which means the Palestinians will have to find some way to govern themselves, short of killing off their rivals. (by Lisa Beyer, Gaza City, Time, November 28, 1994 pg 46)

Fourteen months after reaching a limited peace with the PLO, Israel’s ruling Labor Party leadership has concluded that the next steps toward peace - including the withdrawal of the army from the occupied West Bank - cannot proceed in the way that Israel agreed to in the accord signed on the White House lawn.

This week Israel handed over the last of five agreed self-rule powers to Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, permitting them to collect their own taxes and manage their own hospitals and medical clinics. But the real centerpiece of the agreement - pulling Israel’s army out of Arab towns and villages - is now in doubt. Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin plans to debate the most graceful way to extricate himself from that promise at a Cabinet meeting today, six days before he flies to Oslo to collect the Nobel Peace Prize.

What is driving the renewed debate is a decline in public support for Rabin’s Labor coalition. Public outrage at a two-month surge in terrorist attacks, is expressing itself as disapproval of the peace pact with PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, and could cost Labor the 1996 election.

Rabin is reluctant to withdraw the armed forces - as the agreement mandates - from “populated areas” of the West Bank. That withdrawal was scheduled to take place before the Palestinians hold elections for their self-rule authority, elections that were supposed to be held before now.

The PLO Leader is also facing internal challenges. “We need this election,” says Nabil Abu Irdineh, an adviser to Arafat, to beat back critics from Hamas, who oppose Arafat’s accord with Israel. Orr, an ally of Rabin’s said last week Palestinian elections should go forward without an Israeli army withdrawal. (By Barton Gellman, The Washington Post, from the News Tribune, December 4, 1994)

1994 December 11 - Arafat, Rabin, Peres Accept Nobel Peace Prize -­

The Nobel Prize was not awarded to the three, Arafat said, “to crown an endeavor that we have completed but rather to encourage us to continue on a road that we have started. The core of the negotiations is a political equation that will extend Palestinian autonomy in the West Bank but preserve Israeli security, both for the Jewish settlements there and in Israel itself.

The awards, among the world’s most prestigious, recognized the boldness and courage of the three men in fashioning the basic accord 15 months ago on Palestinian self-government as a step toward ending a long-term conflict.

The Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty, signed by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin in 1979, marked acceptance of the Jewish state in the Middle East by the biggest and most powerful Arab nation. The deal struck by Arafat and Rabin reflected the acceptance by Palestinians and Israelis of each other as neighbors in a land both had claimed as their own.

The Nobel prizes are awarded annually in the sciences, literature, and economics, as well as in recognition of peace efforts. Established by Alfred Nobel, the Swedish entrepreneur who invented dynamite, the prizes are awarded each Dec. 10, the anniversary of Nobel’s death.

The peace prize is presented in Oslo, the others in Stockholm. The three men shared a cash award of about $950,000. (By Michael Parks, Los Angeles Times, from News Tribune, Dec. 11, 1994)

* * * * * * * * * *

In Oslo, Rabin, the Israeli prime minister, was left yearning for the secrecy that shrouded the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations last year in Oslo. “Talks under media lights will not lead us to anything,” he said. Peres told reporters that his country’s need for internal security is as important as Palestinian demands for elections. Israelis say pulling out their troops now would put 120,000 Jewish settlers in the West Bank at the mercy of murderous Muslim extremists. (By Kevin Costelloe, The Associated Press, from the News Tribune, December 12, 1994)

1994 December 24 - Guerrilla attacks in South Lebanon - Israeli warplanes fired rockets into Muslim guerrilla positions Friday in South Lebanon after guerrillas killed two Israeli soldiers and wounded seven in attacks on Israeli outposts, the Israeli army announced. The pro-Iranian group Hezbollah said it shelled Israeli army positions in revenge for a car bombing that killed four people, including at least two Hezbollah members in Beirut. Rabin denied Israel was involved.

Talks continued in Washington between senior Israeli and Syrian military officers, who were said to be exchanging views on the security needs each nation has on the Golan Heights. Peace negotiations between Israel and Syria have bogged down over Syria’s demand that the Israelis withdraw completely from the strategic plateau, captured from Syria by Israel in the June 1967 Arab-Israeli War.

Syria has 30,000 troops deployed in Eastern Lebanon, and Israel regards it as the chief power broker in that troubled nation. Israel repeatedly has accused Syria of using Hezbollah to put pressure on Israel at the negotiating table. Hezbollah recently stepped up both shelling and ground attacks in Israel’s self-proclaimed “security zone.” The zone is a belt of land above Israel’s border with Lebanon that the Israelis and South Lebanese Army jointly patrol.

In June 1982 Israeli’s Prime Minister Menachem Begin’s right-wing government launched an invasion of Lebanon to eliminate terrorism, which took the Israeli army all the way to Beirut in a war against the Palestine Liberation Organization. “We managed to eliminate the Palestinian terrorism in Lebanon, and instead we got a much more vicious, harsher terrorism, and one that is for the most part authentically Lebanese, not foreign,” Rabin said. (by Mary Curtius, Los Angeles Times from News Tribune, Dec. 14, 1994)

WATCHING THE SYRIAN-ISRAELI BORDER

The U.S. should put peacekeepers on the Golan Heights only if the peace is real and their mission is modest. Through a process of phased withdrawal, Israel will evacuate the Golan and recognize it as part of Syria. In return, Syria will give up its decades-long campaign to destroy the Jewish state and will accept something approaching normal relations with Israel. Both the Bush and Clinton Administrations have made forthright offers to station American troops on the Golan as peacekeepers.

First, the status quo on the Golan is by no means unacceptable. The ceasefire that ended the fighting there in 1973 has proved to be remarkably durable. Although formidable, the Syrian military today is no match for the Israeli Defense Forces. Syria is a declining threat, crippled by its loss of superpower sponsorship and enjoying few attractive options. Thus, from a U.S. perspective, there is no compelling need to offer large incentives to entice either Syria or Israel into signing a treaty.

Second, American purposes in the region are best served by strategic partnership with an Israel that is strong and self-confident. Any U.S. military presence, however well-intentioned, that erodes those qualities - for example, by undermining Israel’s traditional insistence that it alone bears responsibility for defending its borders - is likely to prove contrary to our long-term interests.

Third, thanks to the profligacy of U.S. policies since the Persian Gulf War, our global posture suffers from a growing imbalance between means and ends. Certain American commitments in the Middle East - one thinks of the billions poured annually into Egypt - may appear disproportionate to the benefits derived. New obligations hastily undertaken not only worsen the current imbalance between ends and means but may provoke a backlash that will complicate efforts to sustain even genuinely vital commitments in the region.

There are four criteria that any proposed Golan peacekeeping mission must meet:

1. Stationing American peacekeepers on the Golan must not only strengthen the chances for a lasting peace but also contribute to broader U.S. interests such as containing Islamic fundamentalism, suppressing terrorism, and assuring access to Middle East oil.
2. Any peacekeeping mission must be affordable within the context of constrained U.S. military and economic resources.
3. While no mission will be risk-free, a Golan commitment must not expose American personnel to undue hazards; there can be no repeat of Beirut.
4. Finally, any Golan peacekeeping mission must be sized so as to affect only minimally the U.S. capacity to pursue important interests elsewhere in the world.

These point toward a peacekeeping force of modest size and assigned a limited mandate. Fifteen years after Camp David, U.S. infantry battalions continue to rotate into the Sinai at six-month intervals, a mission that bids fair to extend into perpetuity. That the U.S. should find itself still obliged to carry on with this particular gesture of “confidence building” is absurd. To preclude such an outcome on the Golan, any commitment there should come with an explicit “sunset clause.” Accordingly, the peacekeepers’ charter should include encouraging direct Syrian-Israeli contacts along the border, working to create conditions in which the U.S. presence becomes superfluous.

President Hafez Assad must signal in unambiguous terms Syria’s intention to adhere henceforth to accepted standards of conduct. At a minimum, that commitment must include severing all ties with terrorists on Syrian territory and in Lebanon, disarming Hezbollah; and ending the transshipment of Iranian military assistance to terrorist organizations. Absent demonstrable assurances of such changed behavior, U.S. participation in any Golan peacekeeping operation in any capacity would be an open invitation to disaster. (A.J. Bacevich, Fear of Heights, National Review, December 31, 1994)

The U.S. has invested deeply in the Oslo peace accords, signed in Washington last year. To keep the five-year peace plan on track, Secretary of State Warren Christopher has pulled out all the stops - and the taxpayers’ checkbook - in a last-ditch effort to prop up Arafat’s failing government. The U.S. already has shelled out nearly $100 million in fiscal year 1994, and has earmarked another $175 million for FY 95. The expenditures are part of a $500 million pledge made by the Clinton administration a year ago. At the recent funding conference in Brussels, the U.S. released $20 million, part of a $148 million international donor package, to boost Arafat’s failing government immediately.

But most major donors have limited their contributions because of Arafat’s lack of accountability for the funds. He also scared financial watchers by demoting a widely trusted Palestinian economist. This is in keeping with Arafat’s personal preference to disburse funds himself - often to cronies in the leading Fatah wing of the Palestinian movement.

U.S. taxpayers are largely footing the bill. In recent months, the U.S. has shelled out more than $16 million to support the police force. Israeli sources say some Palestinians who make up the police force in Jericho arrived from Jordan from their last active tour of duty fighting U.S. troops alongside Saddam Hussein in the Gulf War. Now they are on the U.S. payroll in the self-rule area. (Michael Patrick, Peace Process Hits Roadblocks, Christian American January 1995 pg 12.)

1995 January PLO Cabinet Warns Against Settlements - Arafat denounced the settlement construction Friday, calling it a “flagrant violation” of the 1993 Israel-PLO accord. “If the settlers don’t stop their activities now in the West Bank, it will bring an immediate halt to the peace process,” Culture Minister Yasser Abed-Rabbo said Saturday. “This is the last chance for the peace process.” The dispute began Dec. 22 when the settlement of Efrat, south of Bethlehem, sent bulldozers to excavate a hilltop plot where a new neighborhood is planned.

Settlers claim they purchased the land privately, while Palestinians in al-Khader maintain they also have ownership deeds. The dispute has caused daily confrontations between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers. (The News Tribune, January 1,1995, The News Briefly, GAZA CITY page A-2)

1995 January - Israel Blocks Settlement - Israel halted the expansion of a Jewish settlement on a disputed hilltop in the occupied West Bank on Monday, deciding that the bulldozers were undermining peace talks with the Palestinians. The compromise inflamed passions on both sides.

Many supporters of the Jewish settlements rejected the plan, saying the government caved in to Arab demands. And the Palestinians said the compromise offered by Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin to the Jewish settlers - allowing them to build on another hill closer to the settlement - would not stop confrontations. The hill between the Jewish settlement of Efrat and the Palestinian village of Al-Khader has been the scene of protests and clashes since Dec. 22, when bulldozers started clearing the land. Both sides claim the area, 12 miles south of Jerusalem.

Menachem Spitz, deputy mayor of the Efrat municipal council, said the settlers would send their bulldozers to the closer hill offered by Rabin today to test the compromise. If construction is blocked, “I don’t want to think what will happen,” he said. “We will find thousands and thousands of Israelis flocking to Efrat.”  Rabin’s government ordered an overall freeze on settlement construction when it was formed in 1992. This was the biggest showdown, however, since the September 1993 peace agreement with the PLO, and it comes while Israel is negotiating the expansion of Palestinian autonomy in the West Bank.

Opposition legislators and some ministers worried that stopping the construction would be detrimental to Israel’s claims to a greater Jerusalem, which includes a wide swath around the city. They called Rabin’s decision the government’s first compromise on Jerusalem. The Palestinians claim Arab east Jerusalem, annexed by Israel after the 1967 war, as their capital. (By Allyn Fisher, The Associated Press, News Tribune, January 3, 1995)

THE REVOLUTION OF 1994

1995 January 4 - THE 104th CONGRESS - After the Nov. 8 election the Republicans controlled Congress for the first time in 40 years. Gone was 40 years of Democratic control of the lower house of Congress. Gone was the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the first holder of that office to be defeated at the polls since 1862. (Tom Foley, replaced by Newt Gingrich, Atlanta, Georgia) Gone were Democratic Governors in at least 11 states. Gone, perhaps finally this time, was the once solid Democratic domination of the Southern states. Gone was the most eloquent defender of the liberal faith in America, New York Governor Mario Cuomo.

Not a single Republican member of the Senate or the House was defeated last week; not a single Republican resident of a Governor’s mansion was evicted. (Michael Duffy, Time, November 21, 1994 pg 47-48)

Incredibly, no incumbent GOP governors or members of Congress were given walking papers on Nov 8th. Two of 16 Democratic senators up for re-election fell while 37 Democratic representatives who sought reelection will be cashing their final congressional paychecks in January. The Senate, which had been 56 to 44 Democratic, will now be 53-47 Republican. The House, which had been 256 to 178 Democratic with one Independent, will now be 230 to 204 Republican with one Independent. When conservative-leaning Democrats are added to the equation, two-thirds GOP control is conceivable.

Overall, a lower than usual 91 percent of incumbent candidates were re-elected, (When congressmen who retired (in lieu of facing re-election) are included, only 80 percent of the incumbents will be returning to Congress.)

The election was obviously not, as some analysts attempted to portray it, a general revolt against incumbents, but was instead a rejection of President Clinton’s socially corrosive, sovereignty-eroding, tax-and-spend policies and many of the politicians who helped to implement them. In five states in which the President campaigned, his candidates won, but in 13 they lost, and in most others Democrats did not want Mr. Clinton’s help. (Robert W. Lee, The New American, December 12, 1994, pg 21-22)

1994 Nov - GATT: Passed by the Lame Duck Congress - Newt Gingrich (R-GA), joined the CFR in 1990. Gingrich was instrumental in lining up House Republicans behind the sovereignty-eroding North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which was one of President Clinton’s major victories (he, too, belongs to the CFR dubbed “the most creative step toward the new world order … since the end of the Cold War.” Gingrich is presently promoting the even more potentially destructive General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). (Robert W. Lee, The New American, December 12, 1994 pg 22)

Adoption of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and its side agreements by the U.S., Canada, and Mexico will create a lot of new high-paying jobs. Unfortunately, most of them will be government positions for bureaucrats working in the more than 30 new international government committees, subcommittees, councils, working groups, and subgroups mandated by NAFTA. NAFTA and its side agreements will cost U.S. taxpayers billions of dollars, raise the national budget deficit, increase restrictions on free trade, and diminish our national sovereignty.

U.S. trade Representative Mickey Kantor boasted that NAFTA and its side agreements would guarantee that America’s burdensome environmental and labor regulations could never be lessened: “No nation can lower labor or environmental standards, only raise them, and all states and provinces can enact even more stringent measures…” Thus, NAFTA locks in all existing federal labor and environmental regulations - no matter how costly or oppressive­ forever.

“NAFTA creates vast bureaucracies with vaguely-defined powers that override the authority of our federal, state, and local governments. Unelected tri-national NAFTA-crats are given the authority to manage and oversee labor and environmental matters across the entire continent. The Council on Labor Cooperation will have the power to impose sanctions of up to $20 million per infraction upon the United States if it fails to enforce the present labor laws. (Thomas R. Eddlem, The New American, October 18, 1993 pg 19)

Since its tentative beginnings in 1947, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) has evolved through successive trade-liberalization agreements or “rounds,” usually named after the conference sites where they were initiated. The latest agreements propose to supersede the ramshackle machinery of GATT with a stronger, more orderly successor called the World Trade Organization. House Republican Whip Newt Gingrich voiced such qualms succinctly: “I am for world trade but I am against world government.”

Pat Buchanan expressed the point more belligerently: “The glittering bribe the globalists are extending to us is this: enhanced access to global markets - in exchange for our national sovereignty. In contrast to the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, where voting is weighted by the scale of contributions (so that the U.S. has always had a dominant voice), the WTO may adopt amendments on a one-nation/one-vote basis. In principle, then, as Newt Gingrich says, the U.S. will have “no more weight than Bangladesh.” (Jeremy Rabkin, National Review, June 13, 1994 pg 34-36)

Opening day of the 104th Congress Historic day ending at 2:00 A.M in the morning

Reforms - Information from Tony Snow on the Rush Limbaugh Talk Show.

1. All laws that apply to the rest of the country apply to the Congress or at least the House of Representatives. Out of 204 democrats in the House, 200 voted for it.
2. Select a major independent auditing firm to conduct a comprehensive audit of Congress for waste, fraud or abuse. This is basically a way of digging up dirt on 40 years of sporadically corrupt democratic leadership of the House of Representatives. This is an open investigation of all committee heads including Dan Rostenkowski and Tom Foley. This could prove profoundly embarrassing. Out of 204 Democrats, 201 said Yes.
3. Vote to Reduce House Committees by 3 and the number of Committee staffers by a third. 191 Democrats followed the Republicans.
4. Limit Terms of Committee Chairs - This ensures a constant turnover in Congress. 127 Democrats voted for it.
5. A ban on the casting of proxy votes in committee. 185 voted Yes.
6. To require committee meetings be open to the public. Only l Democrat voted no - 203 said Yes.
7. Requirement to pass a tax increase - you have to have 60% of the House agree to it. A super majority vote. 52 Democrats agreed. That is important. The key to the entire contract is pushing through tax cuts to kick the economy in high gear and start cutting spending. To really change the way congress does business.
8. Finally, a guarantee and an honest accounting of the Federal Budget. In the past they have always used a current services baseline. That will no longer be allowed. Democrats basically rolled over the first day. There was a complete change of style in the Congress. Families were present. There was a sense that this was the beginning of a real change.