Report: Obama's Diplomatic Plan - PA State, No 'Return'

United States President Barack Obama has created his own diplomatic plan for talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority to rival that of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, according to the New York Times.



Obama's plan is reportedly based on principles including: the creation of a PA state in Judea and Samaria, with borders based on the 1948 armistice line, the split of Jerusalem, Israel's capital city, the negation of the PA “right of return” for descendants of Arabs who fled Israel in 1948, and a focus on Israel's security needs.

The details have yet to be determined, according to the Times report.

Netanyahu is expected to present his plan in a speech to the U.S. Congress, but may present it first in Knesset. He hopes to head off the PA's attempts to create a state unilaterally, with backing from the United Nations, instead of through negotiations.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/143672

GM BAILOUT COSTS AMERICAN TAXPAYERS $84 BILLION

Here's another lie coming from the Obama Administration... Barack Obama has some 'splaining to do about taxpayers' profitable "investment" in General Motors. It turns out the president is imagining things. Though Democrats tout the auto bailout as a success, recent reports illustrate the taxpayer cost of the GM auto bailout was substantially larger than the Obama administration and a Congressional Oversight report has owned up to. "American taxpayers are now positioned to recover more than my administration invested in GM,” President Obama said, according to a piece in USA Today last November. Steven Rattner, former head of the Treasury's auto task force agreed, telling CNN in November: “Recent progress at GM gives reason for optimism that it may be possible for taxpayers to get every penny back.” In fact, Investor's Business Daily reported that even the White House’s Director of the National Economic Council remarked that the Treasury Department Department had a good chance in "recovering most, if not all, of its investment in" GM. However, a March 16 Congressional Oversight report, tells a different story. It estimates taxpayers will be out of $25 billion. Additionally, the report points out that “full repayment will not be possible unless the government is able to sell its remaining shares at a far higher price.” That's only the beginning. Both the White House and the Congressional Oversight report omit the fact that during its bankruptcy, GM got a $45 billion tax break, courtesy of the American people. GM is driving “away from its U.S.-government-financed restructuring with a final gift in its trunk: a tax break that could be worth as much as $45 billion,” reported The Wall Street Journal last November. Over one year after the promises President Obama and his administration made about the auto bailout, a February piece on AutoBlog also confirms that GM will also get a $14 billion dollar domestic tax break:

More: http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/watercooler/2011/mar/31/barack-obama-losing-84-billion-big-success/

LIBERAL LOVE

A marketing coup: Get a small book on eternal destiny to the top of best-seller lists by sending out heretical-sounding promotional materials that garner condemnation. The winners: Rob Bell, the famously hip 40-year-old founder of Mars Hill Bible Church in Michigan, and his publisher, the Rupert Murdoch-owned HarperCollins, that dubs Bell "the most vibrant, central religious leader of the millennial generation." Bell's book, Love Wins, argues that a good and loving God could not condemn people permanently to hell—and that, because of the orthodox conception of hell, many see the Christian message as "an endless list of absurdities and inconsistencies." The truly good news, he says, is that "love wins." This message, coming from a pastor dubbed by Time "a singular rock star in the church world," provoked critiques from Christian leaders including John Piper. One prominent blogger, Justin Taylor, argued that Bell "is moving farther and farther away from anything resembling biblical Christianity."

More:

http://www.worldmag.com/articles/17843

AMERICAN SERVICEWOMEN ENCOURAGED TO WEAR HEADSCARVES IN AFGHANISTAN

In an effort to get closer to the local population, American female soldiers stationed in Afghanistan are being encouraged to wear a Muslim headscarf when interacting with civilians. But some question whether the practice constitutes cultural sensitivity or a form of appeasement that is degrading to U.S. soldiers. Major Kyndra Rotunda, executive director of the Military Law and Policy Institute and AMVETS Legal Clinic, told The Daily Caller that while the women are not being ordered to wear the head scarf, encouragement is tantamount to a demand. “They say they are encouraging women to wear the headscarf when they are out and about and on patrol. But the problem is — and I think anyone who has been in the military understands that being encouraged to do something is about the same thing as being ordered — it really puts them in an uncomfortable position when their commander says, ‘We really want you to do this, technically you don’t have to, but we really want you to do this,’” she said. Lt. Col. Michael Lawhorn, a U.S. Central Command spokesman, stressed to TheDC that while commanders are encouraging American women to wear headscarves while engaging with civilians, they are not having them wear the headscarf in lieu of their kevlar helmets. READ MORE: http://dailycaller.com/2011/03/31/dont-forget-your-hijab-soldier-american-servicewomen-encouraged-to-wear-headscarves-in-afghanistan/

Ancient Books Uncovered in Jordan May Date to Start of Christianity

One of the largest and best-preserved collections of ancient sealed books has been discovered in a cave in Jordan and are believed to be some of the earliest Christian documents, according to the BBC. The 70 tiny books could date back to the first century. Carbon dating tests found that a piece of leather found with the scrolls was over 2000 years old. Experts say the books, made of lead and copper and bound by rings, may be more significant than the Dead Sea Scrolls, BBC reports. More: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/03/30/ancient-books-uncovered-jordan/

ISRAEL SEIZES IRANIAN ARMS BOUND FOR HAMAS AND HEZBOLLAH

The Israeli government announced its navy boarded and confiscated an Iranian shipment of arms headed for Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. The shipment started in Syria and went to Turkey before being seized.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/netanyahu-arms-on-seized-ship-came-from-iran-via-syria-1.349358

EPISCOPALIAN PRIEST EMBRACES ISLAM FOR LENT

The Rev. Steve Lawler should have just given up chocolate or television for Lent.

Instead, Lawler, of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Ferguson, decided to adopt the rituals of Islam for 40 days to gain a deeper understanding of the faith.

On Friday, he faced being defrocked if he continued in those endeavors.

"He can't be both a Christian and a Muslim," said Bishop George Wayne Smith of the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri. "If he chooses to practice as Muslim, then he would, by default, give up his Christian identity and priesthood in the church."

Lawler, a part-time rector at the church, didn't foresee such problems when he came up with the idea. He merely wanted to learn more about Islam, he said, especially in light of the ongoing congressional hearings on the radicalization of the faith.

On Wednesday, the first day of Lent, he began performing salah five times a day, by facing east, toward Mecca, and praying to Allah. He also started studying the Quran and following Islamic dietary restrictions by abstaining from alcohol, pork and fish.

During Holy Week, he planned to fast from dawn to sunset as Muslims do during Ramadan.

But in Smith's eyes, the exercise amounts to "playing" at someone else's religion and could be viewed as disrespectful.

Plus, he said, "One of the ways (Lawler) remains responsible as a Christian leader is to exercise Christianity and to do it with clarity and not with ways that are confusing."

When asked whether he would take punitive actions against Lawler if he continued with the rituals, Smith responded that yes, he would. He would be forced to depose him.

MORE: www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/faith-and-values/article_b3a20403-96c5-5766-af26-8fd662652a13.html

Radio confrontation: 'How can your group slit infant's throat?'

"Why should America continue to fund the Palestinian Authority when its own apparatus is responsible for incitement to murder and violence and terrorism and has carried out repeated terrorist attacks against civilians?"

This is just one of multiple questions fired away by WND senior reporter Aaron Klein on his WABC Radio show during an interview with PA spokesperson Dmitri Diliani.

The confrontational interview, audio from which is linked below, took place in the wake of the weekend's bloody massacre in which Palestinian assailants brutally stabbed to death five members of the Udi Fogel family, including a 3-month-old infant, inside their home in the Jewish village of Itamar.

More: www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=274749

Palestinian terrorist butchers Jewish family in Samaria

There is shock and sadness in Israel today over the brutal murder of one Jewish family murdered in their own home by terrorists. Amazingly, CNN seemed reluctant to call this killing a terrorist attack. Overall, there was little reporting of this incident on any of the US major networks.

www.israeltoday.co.il/NewsItem/tabid/178/nid/22695/Default.aspx

www.monstersandcritics.com/news/middleeast/news/article_1625553.php/Al-Aqsa-Brigades-claims-responsibility-for-West-Bank-killing

PRAY FOR THE PEOPLE OF JAPAN AND SEND YOUR LOVE OFFERING TO SAMARITAN'S PURSE

SEEING THE PEOPLE, HE FELT COMPASSION FOR THEM, BECAUSE THEY WERE DISTRESSED AND DISPIRITED LIKE SHEEP WITHOUT A SHEPHERD (Matthew 9:36).

Please pray for the people of Japan in this their great hour of need. And when you have prayed consider sending a gift to Dr. Franklin Graham's organization Samaritan's Purse. Mark your contribution for Aid to Japan.


www.samaritanspurse.org/

A Call to Prayer for Christians in Ethiopia

The following prayer request has been received from the Rev. Dr. Wakseyoum Idossa, President of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus via the Rev. Dr. Gemechis D. Buba, Missions Director of the NALC:

In the last few days over 41 churches and several evangelical mission stations or mission congregations were burned down. There are thousands of people expelled from their homes and some who are even badly beaten and killed. The perpetrators are Radical Islamist and Jihadist elements who are now operating in the western and south western parts of Ethiopia.

Read more: www.commonconfession.blogspot.com/2011/03/call-to-prayer-for-christians-in.html

Clinton Supports Funding for Lebanese Army

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is urging the Congress to continue its funding to the Lebanese Army.

She testified on Capitol Hill on Wednesday that Lebanon's army is professional, and non-sectarian, according to the Associated Press.

However, a number of Congress members noted that the increased participation of Hizbullah in Lebanon's government and in its military affairs raises the risk that the army may fall under the terrorist organization's control

More: www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/142650