The Passover begins at sundown Saturday, April 19. Israel closes off West Bank, Gaza for Passover

The biblical observed Passover is Monday evening.

Hello mopar28m !

Just watching events during passover. April is usually a month for big events to occur, so is passover.

Pope signs seven year peace at United Nations

Thread: Pope signs seven year peace at United Nations

omgosh. the link shows nothing about a peace treaty

Yeah, I'm reading about the meeting now.
I find the timing very interesting to say the least.

Cheerleading Genocide
By Khaled Amayreh
4-18-8


Israel is gearing up to celebrate the 60th anniversary of its birth; six decades of destruction for the Palestinians

With spectacular fanfare and a plethora of highlighted events, Israel is planning to celebrate its 60th birthday on 18 May 2008.

According to an Israeli government website called Israelfestival.com, the festival will include "non-stop entertainment, [a] fashion show, a variety of ethnic food for sale, Israeli folk dancing, arts and crafts, Israeli and Jewish cultural and heritage pavilions and art exhibits".

The centrepiece ceremony is expected to take place in West Jerusalem and be attended by Israel's political and military leaders as well as foreign dignitaries. Among those expected are US President George W Bush, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Israeli media and non-governmental organisations have already begun celebrations in earnest. For example, Israeli television has begun airing a new series called Shishim (meaning "60"), which looks back at the six decades since Israel was created in May 1948. The series, which began 31 March, is divided into six episodes, each devoted to one of the decades following the founding of the state.

Israel hopes that the high-pitched celebrations will serve as an opportunity to promote Israel and enhance its questionable standing abroad. "It is an opportunity to celebrate our achievements, our successes, our national being," boasted Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who was not yet born in 1948.

From the Zionist viewpoint, Israel is a story of success. Today, Israel is a political and military force to be reckoned with, even if its power is based on the patronage of foreign entities. A country of no more than seven million people, including nearly 1.5 million non-Jews (mainly Palestinians), Israel more or less directs the politics and policies of world's only superpower, the United States, thanks mainly to powerful Jewish lobbies in Washington.

The power of the Jewish lobby largely explains how massive American financial and military support is to Israel, which is measured in hundreds of billions of dollars. Were it not for this nearly unlimited financial, economic, technological, political and military backing, Israel would never have been able to survive, especially given its predator tactics.

Israel, which has been mounting a vitriolic incitement campaign against Iran for its acquisition of nuclear technology, is a nuclear power on par with other established nuclear powers, and its military supremacy -- at least until summer of 2006 -- has covered the vast bulk of the Middle East from Turkey to Iran and from North Africa to east and central Africa.

Economically, Israel is also a regional economic superpower, with a GNP bordering on $0.5 trillion. In fact, Israel is among a few pioneering states in the field of electronics and the development of new generations of medicine, with Israeli pharmaceutical firms' share of the world market reaching billions of dollars.

Notwithstanding all its success and achievements, Israel remains a state based on racism, apartheid and criminality against the Palestinian people whose homeland it seized and whom it is trying to obliterate to this day. To be sure, Israel has failed. Palestinians remain, both as a human entity and as a national entity.

Israel, in order to achieve its goals, always sought to acquire, by hook or by crook, as much Palestinian land as possible while taking in as few Palestinian people as possible. The policies and tactics employed by Israel to achieve this goal are both blunt and insidious and amount to ethnic cleansing and the international crime of genocide. Israel has institutionalised racism, bulldozed hundreds of Palestinian towns and villages, shamelessly confiscated Palestinian land and property, including private homes, and recently built the so-called "Separation Wall" in the West Bank, aimed first and foremost at annexing to Israel as much Palestinian land as possible.

On top of all of this, Israel has perfected the practice of state-sponsored mass terror; a deliberate policy aimed at making Palestinian life as unbearable as possible with the ultimate goal of forcing Palestinians to leave their homes and land altogether. This is done in broad daylight; in full view of key world powers, such as the US, EU, Russia and China, which either keep silent or issue a few terse and innocuous words about the need to stick to a peace process that has form but very little substance.

Today, as Israel is getting ready to celebrate its 60th birthday, the massive theft of Palestinian land in the West Bank, especially in East Jerusalem and its surroundings, continues unabated. Against all odds, the Palestinian people have survived. Indeed, Palestinian resilience to Israeli oppression is legendary -- a trait that continues to baffle and frustrate Israeli strategists. Perhaps it is this resilience that is encouraging influential Israeli political, military and religious leaders to openly call for genocide of the Palestinians.

Recently, Israel's Deputy Defence Minister Matan Vilnai threatened to "inflict a greater holocaust" on Palestinians. Similarly, a growing number of rabbis associated with the two largest religious camps in Israel, the Haredi ultra-Orthodox religious sector and the national Zionist religious sector, issuing one edict after the other, permitting soldiers to murder at will Palestinian civilians, including children, on the grounds that in war all among the enemy population ought to be treated as combatants, including children.

One might imagine that this is exaggerated, but it is not. Recently Rabbi Yisrael Rosen, director of the Tsomet Institute, a religious seminary attended by Israeli settlers in the West Bank, declared: "All of the Palestinians must be killed; men, women, infants, and even their beasts." And the chief rabbi of the City of Safad, Shmuel Eliyahu, urged the state and the army recently to hang the children of a Palestinian fighter who last month attacked the Merkaz Haarav Centre, run for Jewish settlers in West Jerusalem, killing eight pre-military Talmudic students in retaliation for the killing by the Israeli army of more than 130 Palestinians, most of them innocent civilians, in the Gaza Strip.

The mushrooming of fascist impulses is not confined to the religious sector. In March, the Israeli media quoted Knesset members and former cabinet ministers as threatening to extend discriminatory laws against non-Jews in ways reminiscent of Nuremberg Laws passed in Nazi Germany. One Israeli Knesset member reportedly told his Arab colleague: "the day will come when we will kick you out of this house."

Such instances raise no eyebrows in a country where some rabbis, like David Batsri, openly teach that non-Jews are animals and donkeys. A recent opinion survey published this week showed that as many as 75 per cent of Israeli Jews support ethnic cleansing of Arabs from mandate Palestine -- Israel proper and the occupied Palestinian territories of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. Understandably, the poll drew angry reactions from the Israeli Arab community. Jamal Zahalqa, an Israeli Arab Knesset member, suggested that Arabs are being treated in ways similar to the way Jews were treated in the Third Reich ahead of World War II.

"The hateful smell of racism and fascism is wafting everywhere in this country. You must know that we didn't come to Israel from abroad... On the contrary; it was Israel that invaded us. We are the indigenous people of the land, and we receive our legitimacy from our belonging to this land, not from having Israeli citizenship," he said.

Zahalqa described the poll as "additional evidence underscoring the growing rampancy of racism and fascism in Israel as a result of the ongoing waves of hate against everything and anything Arab."

The fears of Zahalqa and other Israeli Arabs are real. Recently, hundreds of Arab residents from Jaffa, Lod and Ramleh took to the streets to protest against the planned eviction by the state of thousands of Arab residents from Jaffa. Authorities had issued warrants for the evacuation and destruction of hundreds of homes, claiming infringements on building regulations. The state also claimed that, "the families [had] lost the right to continue living in their homes, since these homes belonged to their parents ... "

"We are here and we won't leave. We will either live on this land or die on this land. We will not let you touch our lands or our holy places," said Sheikh Raed Salah, leader of the Arab movement in Israel. "All your rulings belong in the trashcan. We are not afraid of you. We will continue to live in our homeland," he added.

Last year, Richard Falk, a renowned American Jewish professor of international law and practice, wrote an article entitled "Slouching toward a Palestinian holocaust," in which he warned that Israel was moving towards the perpetration of a holocaust against the Palestinians. "Is it an irresponsible overstatement to associate the treatment of Palestinians with this criminalised Nazi record of collective atrocity? I think not," said Falk.

Justifying the Israel-equals-Nazi analogy, Falk argued that developments in Gaza (the blockade against its estimated 1.5 million inhabitants), were especially disturbing because they expressed vividly a deliberate intention on the part of Israel and its backers to subject an entire human community to life- endangering conditions of maximal cruelty. "The suggestion that this pattern of conduct is a holocaust-in-the-making represents a rather desperate appeal to the governments of the world and to international public opinion to act urgently to prevent these current genocidal tendencies from culminating into a collective tragedy," Falk wrote.

In sum, from the standpoint of fascism, Israel has much to celebrate in terms of political and military achievements. But in terms of justice, morality and humanity, one struggles to name a country on earth that so openly practices oppression and racism. As such Israel, on its 60th birthday, remains what it was when born six decades ago: a state built on blood, murder, theft and lies.

Is Israel about to change its ways? Don't hold your breath, Israeli leaders might say. Unless, that is, you're Palestinian.

My guess is that if there is a plan to attack Israel this go round, it would be the rabbinical celebration instead of the Lord's passover.

Agreed Elijah. This Passover seems really different than any others.

"Bomb, Bomb, Bomb, ______ "

as Johnny McInsane would sing along, if he were a patriot

The one that caused this reaction (Mar.28/02) would seem to be the one that is different, that would have had to be based on a new moon spotted in the winter.

OP's Thread should be shunned> false info> No deal signed for seven year peace( That coincidently the bible mentions the peace shall be broken after 3....)
All links provided do not support statement either.
Attention junkie

Yes it is different.

Not into astrology, but this too is interesting.


two Scorpio Full Moons Sunday, April 20, 2008 ... Pluto in Capricorn and Saturn in Virgo Saturn. Pluto and the Sun/Mercury conjunction
[link to www.krysstal.com]

[link to www.skymaps.com]

Ah that was not my thread. I said I found that interesting, and posted the title and a link to someones thread. I never stated the pope signed anything. I said I was reading it, and the meeting.

Exodus in outer space.
Astronaut in space for Passover remembers a fallen Israeli hero


another story I found rather interesting.

full story, fair use applies.

Garrett Reisman, center, is flanked by fellow astronauts Mike Foreman, left, and Robert Behnken in the International Space Station during a docking of the space shuttle Endeavour. NASA

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – As Jews around the world prepared for Passover, the festival of freedom, one adventurous soul was experiencing emancipation in a most literal fashion.

Aboard the International Space Station, NASA astronaut Garrett Reisman has slipped the bonds of gravity and won’t return to Earth’s shackles for approximately two months.

Reisman, 40, a mechanical engineer from Parsippany, is the first Jewish astronaut to live on the orbital outpost, a multinational complex that has been under construction for 10 years.

For this Passover, living in weightlessness will require adaptation on his part. For example, matzoh is out — the crumbs would be uncontainable.

Shortly before Reisman was launched aboard the shuttle Endeavour March 11 from the John F. Kennedy Space Center, he was asked about spending Passover in space.

"I haven’t really thought that much about that," he said.

Reisman did spend time planning how to honor Israel’s first astronaut, Ilan Ramon, who died in the 2003 shuttle Columbia disaster.

Following the tragedy, Reisman was given the choice of helping the investigation or providing emotional support to Ramon’s family. Reisman chose the latter.

"It was so incredibly tragic," he told The Jerusalem Post during a visit to Israel. "Ilan had a great sense of humor and worked very hard to represent not only Israel but every Jew in the world."

When he was tapped for a space mission of his own, Reisman asked Ramon’s widow, Rona, if there was anything she would like him to take into space.

"Ilan flew a copy of the Israeli Declaration of Independence," Reisman told JTA in a preflight interview. "It was a scroll and he kind of played with it in orbit, and they have video of that. She gave me another copy so I can kind of have the same experience with it up in orbit, and then I intend to return it to her when I get back."

Reisman also is flying a cloth with the symbol of the State of Israel signed by President Shimon Peres, as well as a necklace blessed by a Buddhist priest and a set of rosary beads.

"I pretty much have all my major religions covered," he joked.

Reisman’s Passover in space will be spent getting to know two new crewmates, Russians Sergey Volkov and Oleg Kononenko. The cosmonauts will replace space station commander Peggy Whitson and flight engineer Yuri Malenchenko, who leave on April 19, the first night of Passover.

Fortunately for Reisman, his Russian is stronger than his Hebrew — he made it through cosmonaut training without a translator and took his exams in Russian as well.

But his Jewish heritage comes through, too. When one of his shuttle Endeavour colleagues asked about the camera view during a spacewalk last month, Reisman quipped, "The camera work is great. We’re going to have you shoot my cousin’s bar mitzvah."

Soon the space station will have a more permanent mark of Jewish contributions to space exploration: Reisman’s replacement, Jewish astronaut Gregory Chamitoff, is bringing two mezuzot.
[link to www.jstandard.com]

well we are jews and we are doing it tonight after sundown

Well if anything is going to happen in conjunction with the rabbinical passover celebration, it will begin at sundown, Jerusalem. So sometime tomorrow afternoon ET.

I agree, just watching.

No War No Blood.

So be it, So it shall be.

Mopar - Elijah received a message yesterday from a Knesset member in Hebrew in reply to his message about Ariel Sharon without vowel points and so I cannot read it. It appears to have Passover week dates in it. Can you help?

- Scribe
.

Oh boy, how eventful!!!! I just creamed my pants!

I could if you let me....

Bumping for Scribe to the Prophet Elijah info in email...




And updating...

Palestinians Attack Gaza Crossing
snip: fair use applies:

GAZA CITY, April 19--Palestinian resistance fighters attacked an Israeli controlled crossing with the Gaza Strip on Saturday, injuring at least thirteen Zionist troopers, witnesses said.

Israeli occupying army confirmed that thirteen Israeli soldiers have been wounded by a Palestinian car bomber at a crossing between Israel (the occupied territories) and the Gaza Strip early Saturday.

Palestinian security officials said three resistance fighters were also martyred in the attack and ensuing gun-fire that erupted after the car bomb exploded at the crossing.

Earlier, an Israeli military chopper, supporting a ground incursion into the Gaza City, martyred a member of the Palestinian resistance movement on Saturday, Palestinian security officials said.

They said Imad Abu Amar, 22, was martyred and another Palestinian wounded when an Israeli assault helicopter supporting tanks fired a missile at them.

Shortly after the incident the tanks pulled back to the occupied territories of Palestine, the security officials added.
Meanwhile, Israel said its had closed off the West Bank and Gaza for at least a week for the Jewish Passover holiday.

The closure, which went into effect early Friday, will be in effect until the end of the holiday on April 26, according to a statement from the military.

Palestinians are banned from entering the occupied territories, except for humanitarian cases, doctors and lawyers, it said.
story continued
[link to www.alalam.ir]

Well, we're into the rabbinical passover evening in Israel. So far, everything is normal. One of the keys is the midnight hours which begin in about 2-3 hours or so.

Doesn't look much like anything is imminent at this time, but you never know. Of course, if the point is not Israel then the passover will begin in the US in some 6-7 hours.

No reason to believe that anything out of the ordinary is coming, except that some of us watch this every year.

Peace.

Yes, but passover ends april 27th and they have planned this operation for months to stop Israel from closing west bank and gaza for the holidays,break the Gaza siege and re-open regional crossings

Gaza Operation Aimed to Lift Siege


GAZA, April 19--Hamas said that the martyrdom-seeking operation of the Palestinian resistance forces in Karam Salem crossing on Saturday was aimed to pile up pressure on the Zionist regime to break the Gaza siege and re-open regional crossings.

Speaking to Alalam Saturday, Hamas Spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri claimed responsibility for the operation, saying Palestinian resistance forces managed to ram three bomb-laden cars into the Karam Abu Salem crossing.

Three resistance forces were martyred in the wake of the operations and thirteen Israelis were injured, two fatally, in the operations south of the Gaza Strip.

Abu Zuhri said kidnapping Israeli soldiers were among other goals of the operations and the occupying regime has acknowledged.

"The operations mark a big achievement because they were carried out in a military base on an open and even area, entry to which by the resistance forces had been difficult," he noted.

The Hamas spokesman noted that the Islamic resistance group has announced time and again that all options to unblock the siege of the region are on the table.

He added that the operations launched by Hamas indicate the methods the Islamic movement has been using to force occupiers to re-open crossings and end surrounding the Palestinian people.

"If the crossings remain closed, the occupiers should wait for greater operations by the resistance forces," he warned.

He said Hamas has always been sticking to the policy of taking the Israeli troops captive as a means to secure the release of Palestinian prisoners, whose number is more than 11,000, including women and children.

Abu Zuhri further said the US ex-president Jimmy Carter's meetings with Hamas leaders in Cairo and Damascus had been highly crucial because they stress legitimacy of Hamas.

He said the meetings "indicate that westerners have realized their mistake in isolating and restricting Hamas."

"The meetings also proved that Hamas is a powerful movement and one cannot ignore its role in regional equations," he added.

The Hamas spokesman also ruled out honoring truce with the occupiers "who stick to their policy of daily incursion and blocking."

"If the occupiers end their attacks and re-open crossings, we will then be ready to cooperate in observing ceasefire," he announced.

gotta feelin not everyone is gonna be passed over this time....

it all looks imminent to me. i think the usa shall not be passed over with impunity this time.

Every dog will have it's day. Not sure that now is the time, but there will be a day of visitation. On this we can agree.

Israeli army carried out an air strike?


A Palestinian civilian was killed and three others wounded in an Israeli air strike on a police car in the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday, medical sources said.

That attack, in Rafah, brought to five the number of Palestinians killed in the day's violence.

The Israeli army confirmed it had carried out an air strike in the area.

The strike came hours after Hamas militants, including suicide bombers, stormed a crossing on the Gaza-Israel border wounding 13 Israeli troops and losing three of their own number.

It was the second Israeli air strike of the day. Earlier a Hamas militant was killed near Gaza City during a brief Israeli armoured incursion into the Hamas-ruled territory, Palestinian security sources said.

At least 419 people have now been killed since Israel and the Palestinians relaunched formal peace talks at a US-hosted conference in November, according to an AFP count.

Yeah, I got the feeling this passover holiday will be different.