HAPPY ROSH HASHANAH: ISRAEL’S POPULATION REACHES 7.6 MILLION: The Central Bureau of Statistics published new figures, including the fact that 28% of Israelis are currently under the age of 15, and 14,572 immigrants to the country arrived in 2009.  On the eve of Rosh Hashanah 2010, the population of Israel surpassed 7,645,500, of which 5,770,900 people are Jews, 1,559,100 are Arabs, and some 315,500 are labeled "other." (Ha’aretz)

ABBAS BACK TO SQUARE ONE, DEMANDS CONTINUING FREEZE BEFORE TALKS: Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, speaking Sunday as if he had never met with US Israeli leaders in the White House last week, conditioned more direct talks with Israel on an extension of the building freeze.  His statement turned back the clock to pre-White House rhetoric that had precluded face-to-face discussions with PM Binyamin Netanyahu until last week.  Abbas and PM Netanyahu, after individual meetings with US President Barack Obama  last Thursday, spoke with each other for over two hours behind closed doors. US Middle East envoy George Mitchell said they even agreed to meet next week for a fresh round of talks, but Abbas said on a visit to Libya Saturday night, “If the freeze period is not extended by the end of the month, there will be no negotiations."  He was referring to the freeze on construction for Jews in Judea and Samaria, a halt to building that Israel adopted last September as a concession for the PA to sit down at the same table with Israel over the proposal to create a new Arab country headed by the PA.  (Arutz-7)

ABBAS: FUTURE STATE MUST BE FREE OF ISRAELIS: The most important Palestinian goal for peace negotiations is establishing the borders of a future, Israeli-free Palestinian state,  PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas said on Monday. "We clarified that the Palestinian Authority would not agree to continued Israeli presence, military or civil, within a future Palestinian state,"  Abbas said. (J.Post)  This is shameful stipulation on the part of the Palestinians.  Some 1,559,100 citizens of Israel are Arabs.  They have precisely the same privileges as resident Jews including the right to work, education, health care, and other benefits provided by the Israeli government, and yet not one Israeli will be welcome to live in a future Palestinian state.  Continue to pray against bogus peace agreements.

JORDANIAN KING: WORLD WILL PAY PRICE IF DIRECT MIDEAST TALKS FAIL: Jordanian King Abdullah II warned on Sunday the entire world "will pay the price" if the recently renewed direct talks between the Palestinians and Israelis fail. He made the remarks during a meeting with the chief editors of local newspapers, whom he briefed on his talks in Washington earlier last week with US President Barack Obama, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak. The king cautioned that the failure of the negotiations will “reflect negatively on all parties and that all states of the world and the region will pay the price, because the alternative will be more wars and conflicts."  King Abdullah II and Syrian President Bashar Assad on Monday also stressed the need for Israel to pull out from all Arab territories it occupied in the 1967 war, for peace to be achieved. (Ha’aretz) “You, O Lord, laugh at them; you scoff at all those nations.” Ps 59:8

LIBERMAN: NO PEACE IN OUR TIME: Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman warned this week that the expectations of Israel's current negotiations with the Palestinian Authority are not realistic. He called on the government to learn from the Oslo peace talks, which ended with the murderous onslaught known as the Second Intifada, in which thousands of Israelis were killed or maimed in terrorist attacks. Lieberman expressed concern over PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' ability to maintain his grasp on the PA in the face of increasing opposition. “What if we sign with Abbas and Hamas takes over?” he asked.  “We learned nothing from the Disengagement from Gush Katif,” Lieberman continued. “If we return to the 1967 territories, the demands from the Palestinian side will only increase.” Israel removed IDF troops and thousands of Jewish residents from Gaza in 2005, when the Fatah-led PA controlled the region. One year later Hamas swept the PA elections and in 2007 it seized complete control of Gaza and went on to launch a campaign of terror against southern Israel, firing thousands of rockets and mortar shells at Jewish towns in the western Negev. While the PA expressed willingness to negotiate with Israel, Hamas has rejected any hint of a compromise in favor of an open effort to destroy Israel by any means. (INN)

EDUCATION MINISTRY: TEACH ACCEPTANCE OF HOMOSEXUALITY: Israel’s Education Ministry says it is instituting a new program to teach teachers and school counselors that homosexuality is not a disorder and to be accepting of students who demonstrate homosexual tendencies. The new program also calls on teachers not to tell the student’s parent of the child’s tendencies. (Arutz-7)  Pray the Education Ministry will repeal this program promoting the normality of homosexuality.  A Health Ministry report in 2009 disclosed the perilous rise in the number of HIV positive homosexuals living in Israel.  The report revealed the number of people infected by HIV virus within the gay community had risen by a staggering 80% since the previous year.  A majority of those people were in the last stages of full-blown AIDS and continuing to have unprotected sex. The Israeli AIDS Task Force warned numbers will continue to spiral, and unless something is done soon the Jewish state will have an AIDS epidemic on its hands. 

GROWING TIDAL WAVE OF ANGER MAY DROWN OBAMA IN NOVEMBER: More polls point to a GOP tidal wave of victory in November’s Congressional elections and US President Barack Obama facing the humility of being a one-term president. A Gallup Poll last week gave the Republican party a record 10-point margin over the Democrats in a survey that simply asked respondents if they prefer a Democratic or Republican candidate. The GOP edge is the largest in 68 years. (INN)

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SUCCOT 2010 CELEBRATION AND TOUR TO ISRAEL: SEPT. 22 TO SEPT. 29:  Barry and Batya Segal extend a warm invitation for you to attend The Succot Celebration (Feast of Tabernacles) in Jerusalem together with the remnant of Israel and the remnant from the nations. Speakers and worship leaders for the 2010 celebration: Lance Lambert, Barry and Batya Segal, Frank and Marlou van Essen, David Silver, Zvi Randelman, Mattheus van der Steen, and more to come. There will be an optional tour group package available beforehand which will be touring all over Israel. For more information and instructions on how to participate go to: www.succotcelebration.com  If you need help with information and flights call Polly at Arch Tours in the UK: +44.(0)1372-843678, and Christine or Dee at JDI Travel in the USA: 1-800-596-5100. 

Blessings from Jerusalem,
Barry Segal with the Editorial Staff