Peace Effort Timeline: Elul is the month of repentance in preparation for the High Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. This year’s Elul had three record-setting Category 4 Hurricanes that hit hard two US states and a US territory, during the Trump Administration’s extensive Middle East talks pertaining to Israel’s land.
Summary:
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Hurricane Harvey redeveloped on the 1st of Elul 1; it intensified during the day of the 2nd of Elul and came ashore the night of the 2nd of Elul and into the early hours of the 3rd of Elul. Harvey continued to produce major rains in Texas until the 8th of Elul and then into Louisiana the 9th of Elul and then turned north.
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Hurricane Irma came ashore in Key West Florida on the 19th of Elul and continued in Florida the 20th of Elul, almost the entire state of Florida was impacted.
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Hurricane Maria jumped from a Category 1 to Category 5 hurricane on the 27th of Elul the day President Trump met with Israel’s PM Netanyahu at the UN and Netanyahu met with Egyptian President el-Sisi to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
Maria hit the US Virgin Island of St. Croix on the 28th of Elul and hammered the US territory of Puerto Rico on the 29th of Elul. That was the same day President Trump met with Jordan’s King Abdullah, PA President Abbas and Egypt’s President el-Sisi to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian peace process
Note: I will continue to build an Elul month timeline of the major peace efforts during the three hurricanes. For our new readers, we had a lot of information on Hurricane Maria in last week’s news report.
The Trump Administration is continuing their US/Israel and Sunni plan explained in last week’s news report. However, catastrophes are directly connected to President Trump and/or Jared Kushner’s activities.
Iran’s continues their nefarious Middle East plans while the world leaders continue to back the Iranian nuke deal. President Trump is deciding what to do in response to Iran’s missile advancement. The US-Iran situation continues to head towards tougher times. The Iranians by nature are very smart, strategic and patient. US-Iran tensions will continue to be one of the most significant news stories of the hour not forgetting US-Russia tension and concerns over North Korea. Additionally, Israel's major concerns over Iran, Syria and Hezbollah is increasing by the day.
US and Israel
State Department rebuffs own envoy for saying ‘settlements are part of Israel’
Source: Times of Israel
For the second time since David Friedman assumed his post as US ambassador to Israel, the US State Department has publicly rejected remarks he made pertaining to Israel’s presence in the West Bank as not reflecting the administration’s stance.
On Thursday afternoon, spokesperson Heather Nauert told reporters that Friedman’s comments in an interview with the Israeli Walla news website that he considers West Bank “settlements are part of Israel” should “not be read as a shift in US policy.”
Friedman told Walla, “When Resolution 242 was adopted in 1967, it was, and remains today, the only substantive resolution that was agreed to by everybody … The 1967 borders were viewed by everybody as not secure, so Israel would retain a meaningful portion of the West Bank, and it would return that which it didn’t need for peace and security.”
“They (Israelis) are only occupying 2 percent of the West Bank,” he said.
“I just want to be clear that our policy has not changed,” she added, with emphasis. ”I want to be crystal clear.”
For the rest of the article, click here: Times of Israel
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Netanyahu Tells Cabinet Ministers: Trump Prepping Peace Plan, Determined to Make Progress
Source: Haaretz
A senior White House official said that Greenblatt would arrive in Israel on Monday and hold talks with senior Israeli and Palestinian officials in Jerusalem and Ramallah, following Trump's meetings with Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in New York.
"While President Trump had productive meetings with Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Abbas at the United Nations, Jason Greenblatt is headed back to Israel to continue the peace track," the senior White House official said. "He will have follow-up meetings that are part of the administration’s quiet, steady discussions toward peace."
Trump told Abbas during their meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York last Wednesday, September 23 that the White House was working on a new U.S. peace initiative, but needed more time to formulate it.
According to Palestinian and American sources involved in the meeting, Trump asked Abbas for more time to draft the proposal and to avoid any measures that would impede the process.
Senior Palestinian officials said that in the wake of the meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, the Palestinian leadership expected the White House to put forth a proposal or a position paper on the renewal of negotiations within a few weeks.
A senior White House aide noted that Trump’s Middle East advisers – in particular Jared Kushner and Greenblatt – are continuing their conversations with Israeli and Palestinian representatives, but believe there is no point in creating an artificial or arbitrary schedule for talks.