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Chilly Echoes of the Past

| wed, december 15, 2010 |

Late last year, November 26, 2009, when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a 10-month "settlement freeze," after months of continued pressure from the Obama administration, the door to a historic winter season "freeze" for most of the nation seemed to blow wide open. This year seems to be shaping up in much of the same way, and with regard to the "peace process," many of the same aspects are still in play that were in play last year at this time.

Scientists are currently having a hard time figuring out why this winter season is looking so similar to last year's winter that produced ""Snowmageddon" and abnormal January freezes in the South.

Scientists at the University of Wisconsin in Madison are among those trying to understand the mysterious interplay between Pacific and North Atlantic weather phenomena that threaten to dunk the Eastern US into a second year in a row of 1970s-style blizzards and cold snaps.

"At this point, this winter looks similar to last winter," says Jonathan Martin, an atmospheric scientist at Wisconsin. "The next question is, why does it look similar, and we're currently not in a position to say definitely what's going on." 1(emphasis mine)

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The radar loop above shows 22+ storms that swept across much of the land and eventually converged over the top of Washington D.C., and the old Historic Capital of the US in New York City, during the 2009-2010 winter months which began shortly after the announcement of the 10-month "settlement freeze".

This current winter season is shaping up much like last winter for much of the United States. The unrelenting rounds of winter weather that pounded the Northeast earlier this year, or last season, were eerily similar to the same set of weather patterns that produced the February 5-7, blizzard that buried New England in 1978. This excerpt was published February 11, 2010, days after the mid-Atlantic region got pounded by its third major winter storm in two weeks, and just after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced that he would go ahead with US-led indirect Israeli/Palestinian "peace talks."

"Up and down [the coast], it looks almost identical," says meteorologist Todd Crawford of Weather Services International. One difference between this year and 1978 is geography: Cities from Washington, D.C., to Philadelphia may be hit by their third snowstorm in two weeks, a significant difference from winter weather in New England, which so far this season has been relatively sedate. Still, says Mr. Crawford, climate factors "aligned this year in the exact same pattern" as the historic storm, which dumped nearly 30 inches of snow in cities such as Providence and Boston.2 (emphasis mine)

In a strange sort of coincidence, if one still believes in such things, during the very days that the epic 1978 New England blizzard that killed 100 people, injured 4,500 more and cost $520 million US dollars (or $1.75 billion dollars by today's standard) was unleashing its freezing fury3, President Jimmy Carter was meeting with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in Washington D.C., to persuade Sadat not to call off the peacemaking process with Israel and reiterated the American position on the settlements.4 What follows is a lengthy excerpt from the White House statement released February 8, 1978. Notice the words being used in 1978, and how eerily similar the words being used by the Obama administration sound like chilly echoes of the past.

The United States will remain faithful to its historic commitments to the security of Israel and to the right of every state in the area to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries.

Helping the parties achieve a negotiated comprehensive settlement of the Middle East conflict remains of highest importance in American policy, and President Carter will spare no effort in seeking ways to move the peace process forward.

A peace settlement must go beyond the mere termination of belligerency. It must provide for the establishment of normal peaceful relations between Israel and its neighbors.

The peace settlement should be comprehensive and should be embodied in peace treaties between Israel and each of its neighbors.

The settlement must be based on all the principles of Security Council Resolution 242, including withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territories occupied in 1967 and the right of every state in the area to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries. Resolution 242 is applicable to all fronts of the conflict.

There can be no just and lasting peace without resolution of the Palestinian problem.

The President reaffirmed what he said at his meeting with President Sadat in Aswan January 4: There must be a resolution of the Palestinian problem in all its aspects; it must recognize the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people and enable the Palestinians to participate in the determination of their own future.

President Carter also reaffirmed the longstanding United States view that Israeli settlements in occupied territory are contrary to international law and an obstacle to peace, and that further settlement activity would be inconsistent with the effort to reach a peace settlement.5 (emphasis mine)

Later that same year, six months to the day after the February 5, meeting between Carter and Sadat, on August 5, Carter, ignoring the advice of his top advisors, sent Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, who's assistant was the now late Richard Holbrooke, to the Middle East for the purpose of inviting both the Israeli PM Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat to join him at Camp David. 6

A month later, September 5, the two leaders later joined Carter, who would ultimately take over the secret summit, believing that "by getting them to Camp David, away from the press and out of the glare of publicity and away from their own political constituencies, I think I can bring them to understand each other's positions better." After 13 days, on September 18, 1978, Carter briefed a joint session of Congress to announce his successful summit that resulted in the two leaders signing the first US-led Arab-Israeli peace agreement.7 This agreement gave birth to the unclean US "peace" child, a child that happens to have turned 32 years old this year.

This same Egyptian Leader, Anwar Sadat, that Jimmy Carter helped, was the same leader in 1973, that threatened war against Israel unless the United States forced Israel to accept his interpretation of Resolution 242, which called for a complete Israeli withdrawal from territories taken in the 1967 war.8 This is a similar threat being made by the Palestinians today, except instead of threatening the use of war, the Palestinians are threatening to use increasing international support to declare a defacto Palestinian state of Palestine.

This similar tactic can be seen by demands Mahmoud Abbas made in a letter he dispatched through his Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton over the weekend. Abbas is hoping for a response to these demands when he meets with Special Envoy George Mitchell while Mitchell is in the region this week to salvage the Obama peace initiative.

The source said Abbas hoped to receive a response from Mitchell during their talks regarding a letter dispatched from chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week, in which the prior requested "guarantees and answers before returning to any negotiations, direct or indirect".

The letter reportedly presents two key conditions for resuming negotiations: that the U.S. ensure a "complete halt" to Israeli construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and that it agrees to recognize a Palestinian state based on 1967 borders.

Failing a U.S. guarantee to these requests, the source told AFP, the Palestinians are asking U.S. President Barack Obama to refrain from moving against United Nations' recognition of a Palestinian state along these borders.9 (emphasis mine)

The similarities between the past and present may not end here. Other scientist are noting more than just one similarity between the current winter season setting up and patterns last seen since the 70's. It is interesting to note, that the current long-term winter forecast pattern is setting up most like the winter pattern of 1973, which means we could be looking at not just harsh winter damage, but an increased likelihood of famine next year.

In the following excerpt, published on December 13, 2010, climatologist Elwynn Taylor explains why "one of the most intense La Nina weather patterns on record" currently taking place could spell trouble next year.

The La Nina phenomenon is disconcerting because, so far, he says it's tracking almost identically with a 1973 weather pattern that led to a foul '74. "If we stay on that track, we'll become a little bit concerned as we go into spring and next summer because 1974 was a disaster as far as agriculture is concerned," Taylor says10. (emphasis mine)

As I watch the events currently surrounding the "peace process," as I investigate the participants, examine the history, the judgments, and the roles that each piece plays in the greater scheme of my FATHER'S will, I can't help but wonder, "How much longer?"

Find your rest and peace in the ONLY source- the Way, the Truth, and the Life, JESUS CHRIST.

Out of the south cometh the whirlwind: and cold out of the north. By the breath of God frost is given: and the breadth of the waters is straitened. Also by watering he wearieth the thick cloud: he scattereth his bright cloud: And it is turned round about by his counsels: that they may do whatsoever he commandeth them upon the face of the world in the earth. He causeth it to come, whether for correction, or for his land, or for mercy. Job 37:9-13

Praise ye the LORD. Praise ye the LORD from the heavens: praise him in the heights.
Fire, and hail; snow, and vapour; stormy wind fulfilling his word: Psalm 148:1,8

He sendeth forth his commandment upon earth: his word runneth very swiftly. He giveth snow like wool: he scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes. He casteth forth his ice like morsels: who can stand before his cold? Psalm 147:15-17

God Bless, daniel

1http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2010/1213/Snow-storm-snarls-Midwest-Is-US-facing-another-extreme-winter

2http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2010/0211/Behind-mid-Atlantic-snowstorms-a-rare-weather-pattern

3http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeastern_United_States_blizzard_of_1978

4http://www.passia.org/publications/Doc_on_palestine/3/2.pdf Table of Contents, look at page number 134

5http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Foreign%20Relations/Israels%20Foreign%20Relations%20since%201947/1977-1979/120%20White%20House%20statement%20on%20the%20Carter-Sadat%20meet

6http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carter/peopleevents/e_peace.html

7http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_David_Accords

8http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/73_War.html

9http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/palestinians-to-mitchell-u-s-must-demand-talks-based-on-1967-borders-1.330623

10http://www.radioiowa.com/2010/12/13/blame-the-cold-weather-on-la-nina/