Haaretz reports: “French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner has said that it is impossible to rule out the option of the United Nations Security Council creating a Palestinian state, French news agency AFP quoted a Palestinian newspaper as saying.

According to the report, Kouchner told the Al-Ayyam newspaper that France prefers a two-state solution negotiated with Israel but that the Security Council option remains on the table.

‘We want to be able to soon welcome the state of Palestine to the United Nations,’ Kouchner is quoted as saying. ‘This is the hope and the desire of the international community, and the sooner that can happen the better. The international community cannot be satisfied with a prolonged deadlock. I therefore believe that one cannot rule out in principle the Security Council option.’…” (The division of Israel and Jerusalem leads to World War III – Joel 3:2. 930 times God’s Word states that Jerusalem belongs to the Jews. Still President Obama wants to hand it over to the Palestinian Muslims. Great turmoil and danger is ahead for all the world. Come quickly Lord Jesus and sit upon Your throne in Jerusalem – Zechariah 14:4; Luke 1:32, 22; Matthew 5:35. See the next four reports.)

The Jerusalem Post reports: “UN Special Middle East Peace Negotiator Robert H. Serry expressed the UN’s support for the declaration of an independent Palestinian state to Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad while the two picked olives together near the West Bank village of Turmus’ayyeh, close to the Israeli settlement of Shiloh.

‘All international players are now in agreement that the Palestinians are ready for statehood at any point in the near future,’ said Perry. He continued, ‘We are in the homestretch of your [Fayyad’s] agenda to reach that point by August next year and you have our full support.’

Serry’s remark came in reference to Fayyad’s declared goal of achieving an independent Palestinian state by the summer of 2011 by incrementally building up national institutions in the West Bank to prepare the Palestinian people to successfully manage their own affairs. Fayyad stated that he set the two-year time frame for statehood back in August 2009.

During the press event, Fayyad also called upon Israel to prevent Israeli settlers from committing crimes against Palestinian civilians, referring to a number of incidents in that occurred in the West Bank over the past several weeks…”

The Jerusalem Post reports: “Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said the PA will declare an independent Palestinian state in 2011, while picking olives with a reporter from Italian daily Corriere Della Sera, according to an interview…

‘The deadline is next summer, when the Israeli occupation of the West Bank must end,’ Fayyad said. ‘In 2011, we will celebrate 66 years of the United Nations and the United Nations will celebrate the birth of our nation.’

Fayyad added that the Palestinians ‘need to build national institutions in the West Bank and prepare for an independent Palestinian state.’

‘The people of Gaza must be involved in our national project,’ Fayyad explained. ‘There are gaps between us, it’s true, but the real gap is the wall that closes off the Strip. Next week, I will try to enter Gaza,’ he added.

Fayyad took the Corriere Della Sera reporter to pick olives, something that he says he does every day. He also lamented the settlers’ ‘poisoning’ of the trees, saying olive trees are ‘the symbol of our right to be on this earth.’

‘In Palestine we have 15 million’ olive trees, Fayyad said. ‘We cannot accept that even one is destroyed. The youngest of these trees have deeper roots than the largest Israeli settlement.’…”

Voice of America News reports: “The deadlocked peace talks with the Palestinians topped the agenda at Israel’s weekly Cabinet meeting. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned the Palestinians not to take unilateral steps toward establishing an independent state. With peace talks stalled over Jewish settlement expansion, the Palestinians have threatened to bypass Israel and ask the United Nations Security Council to approve Palestinian statehood.

Mr. Netanyahu told his Cabinet that such a move is unacceptable. He said any attempt by the Palestinians to bypass the talks with unilateral steps is ‘unrealistic’ and would harm the peace process.

The Palestinians suspended negotiations after Israel ended a 10-month moratorium on settlement construction four weeks ago. Israel says building will be limited, but it has rejected demands by the international community to extend the moratorium.

Mr. Netanyahu said peace can only be achieved through direct talks, and he urged the Palestinians to return to the negotiating table.

But Palestinian spokesman Husam Zomlot says if Israel continues to expand settlements, there is nothing to talk about…”

The Jerusalem Post reports: “Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke at the opening of the Knesset’s winter session in Jerusalem telling MKs that Israel was founded as ‘a Jewish state for the Jewish people.’

Finally, he said, we are living ‘in freedom, in our own land.’

‘There is no other democracy in the Middle East, and there is no other Jewish state in the world,’ the prime minister said.

He also mentioned his visit the previous week to the city Lod.

Netanyahu stated that in Lod he saw, ‘Jews and Arabs working together to defend themselves from violence and criminal groups.’ He added, ‘that every Israeli citizen deserves to feel personally safe and secure.’

With respect to the precarious peace talks, Netanyahu warned that while he hoped for the creation of a Palestinian state, only if it was created in a ‘responsible manner.’

‘A Palestinian state could be a cause of continued conflict and terror if it is not handled responsibly.’ The prime minister added, ‘Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish state is central to the dispute between us [and is necessary for its resolution].’

President Shimon Peres spoke before the prime minister, expressing his hope that Israel will succeed in resolving disagreements over core issues and achieving a peace agreement with the Palestinians…”

The Jerusalem Post reports: “A report in the French daily Le Figaro revealed new information on the military wing of Hezbollah’s structural make-up, with details on the guerrilla group’s 10,000 operatives and arsenal of some 40,000 rockets. The report also focused on Syria’s role in Hizbullah operations, in both manufacture and transportation of rockets.

According to the Le Figaro report, which quoted anonymous officials in the French Defense Ministry and Western intelligence sources, Hizbullah has three units dedicated to the transportation and maintenance of its rocket arsenal.

The unit responsible for transporting weapons from Damascus, Unit 108, received a delivery of Syrian missiles headed to Lebanon in January last year, according to Le Figaro. The shipment, which was apparently spotted by US military intelligence, was said to have contained 26 M-6002 missiles with a range of 250km. Unit 108’s main barracks are located near Syria’s border with Lebanon, in the Shi’ite town of Doma, the report added, with operatives also positioned within Damascus. The unit has another base next to Damascus Airport, which is vital for the handling of weapon shipments from Iran – Hezbollah’s main backer.

The Le Figaro report also revealed that Unit 112 is in charge of transporting missiles, usually by night and towards the end of the month. The weapons are moved using trucks with false number plates, according to the report.

Hezbollah’s Unit 100 reportedly deals with deployment and training, and making sure the missiles reach their final destinations, in various camps located within 150km from Israel’s northern border. As has been widely reported, Le Figaro noted that Iranian officers are responsible for training Hizbullah guerrilla fighters…” (Dangerous times are ahead for Israel and the Mid-East as Russia and many Muslim nations unite to attack Israel, but Israel will win as Yahweh God comes to the aid of His beloved and chosen people – Ezekiel 38:1, 2, 8, 16; Ezekiel 29:1 – 13. Russia Muslim allies – Daniel 11:40; Isaiah 17:1; Ezekiel 38:5-7 and Psalm 83:5-7. Their purpose – Psalm 83:4. But it fails – Isaiah 56:15. See the next two reports.)

Haaretz reports: “A Gaza-based high-ranking Islamic Hamas movement leader warned Israel against launching a large- scale offensive on the Gaza Strip similar to the late 2008 Gaza war, also known as Operation Cast Lead.

‘We seriously consider Israel’s threats to launch another war on Gaza, but we frankly say if Israel tries to enter Gaza, it will cost it a lot and it won’t be able to achieve its goals,’ said Mahmoud al- Zahar during a workshop in Gaza.

Israel had accused Hamas movement, which has been ruling the Gaza Strip since June 2007, of trying to get more arms and weapons to the salient to use in carrying out attacks against Israeli territory.

‘It is the right of Hamas to have all kinds of weapons to defend itself,’ Zahar said. ‘If Israel carries out another war in the future, it should think thousand of times before carrying out a war.’

He said that Israel ‘exaggerates that armed organizations have various kinds of weapons to find an excuse to strike again on the Gaza Strip.’…”

The Fars News Agency reports: “An Islamic Jihad leader underlined the Palestinian group’s resolve to continue resistance against the Zionist regime, and rejected the possibility of compromise with Israel on the rights of the oppressed Palestinians.

‘Resistance is the only desirable alternative for the Palestinian people,’ Mohammed al-Hendi told FNA stressing that Palestinians are determined to defend their national rights and fight and defuse the plots hatched to bring them into compromise with the Zionist regime.

Referring to the failure of the so-called peace talks between the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas, Hendi reiterated that if Abbas really seeks to resolve the Palestinian issue, he should admit that the so-called peace talks have reached a dead-lock and he should devise a plan which considers and cares for the concerns of the Palestinian people…”