Abbas Submits Resignation

Israel Closes West Bank and Gaza Strip
(AP) - Hamas leaders are "marked for death" and won't have a moment's rest, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon warned Sunday, after Israel failed in an attempt to kill the top echelon of Hamas with a 550-pound bomb dropped on a Gaza City apartment. Israel also closed the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Hamas threatened unprecedented revenge for Saturday's strike, with spokesman Abdel Aziz Rantisi saying Israel had "opened the gates of hell" with the attack on Hamas founder, Sheik Ahmed Yassin, who escaped with a minor injury.

Abbas Submits Resignation
JERUSALEM (CNN) -- In a day that further tattered the beat-up road map to Mideast peace, Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas resigned and Israel wounded the founder of Hamas in a missile strike on Saturday.

Abbas submitted his resignation and that of his government to Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, who later told Palestinian legislators in Ramallah that Abbas and his Cabinet will be operating as a caretaker government.

Although Arafat stopped short of saying he accepted Abbas' resignation in his remarks, some Palestinian legislators told CNN that invoking a caretaker government is tantamount to accepting it.

Burst in Tourism to Israel
"I don't recall anything like it in all my years in the travel business," says Meir Weingarten, President of Ariel Tours in Brooklyn, New York - referring to the tremendously increased demand for tour packages to Israel in the coming months.

Russia, Saudi Arabia Agree On Anti-Terror Accord
MOSCOW [MENL] -- Russia and Saudi Arabia have formally agreed to cooperate in their battle against Islamic insurgency groups.

The agreement was concluded on Wednesday in Moscow during the visit by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz. Russian officials said the cooperation agreement marks the end of more than a decade of tension between the two countries that stemmed from Moscow's accusations that the Saudi kingdom has financed Islamic insurgency attacks in Russian cities and the rebellion in Chechnya.

Communists hold congress in Russia
Moscow, September 6 - Russia's Communists will hold the 9th congress here on Saturday.

The extraordinary forum, which will be held behind closed doors, is expected to approve the name of the election bloc and the regional lists of candidates, as well as the list of candidates in single constituency districts, a source in the Duma's Communist faction told reporters.

On Friday, the Duma Communists held a plenary session behind closed doors, which formally passed the decision on convening the congress.

Comments

I'm sure the vast majority of people around the world wouldn't take much notice that the Communist party in Russia held its 9th congress today.  After all, the cold wars over and communism is dead in the old Soviet Union.  We'll see.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas resigned today after a long behind close doors power struggle with Yasser Arafat.  Evidently, Arafat isn't ready to give up power, but the truth is he's irrelevant.  He may play a role in the endtimes but only due to circumstance and not power.  This will slowdown the process of the road map, but anytime something like this happens, I believe it is of the Lord to meet his timetable.  Just when you think things are winding down God always seems to remind us that He will come when He feels the time is right and not before.

Saudi Arabia is not just being friendly with Russia, they have a calculated partnership that will in the end lead to a sneak attack against Israel.  If you haven't noticed, Russia has been forging partnerships with countries in the Middle East for some time.  They are about as compatible with the Arab world as Israel is.  But in these last days God has made what seems to be an unlikely alliance work and even flourish.  

Pastor Malone

Disclaimer:  If an unChristian banner comes up just ignore it.  It is a mistake that will eventually be rectified