Learn what will happen during the tribulation period from beginning to end
Your comments and questions are always welcome. To send comments and questions please click here to go to our main page. Tue Feb 26, 1:17 PM ET By MARK LAVIE, Associated Press Writer JERUSALEM (AP) - "Israel and the Palestinians resumed security talks Tuesday despite a new burst of violence, and a Saudi peace initiative gathered fresh momentum after the Palestinians and some Israeli officials welcomed it. The European Union's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, will hold previously unscheduled talks with the man behind the peace plan - Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah - on Wednesday in Riyadh, Solana told reporters after meeting Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Solana said Sharon told him he was "willing to meet anybody from Saudi Arabia, formally, informally, publicly, discreetly, whatever, to get better information about the significance of this idea." Palestinians have praised the initiative. Despite ongoing tensions, Israeli and Palestinian security officials met in Tel Aviv to resume talks about stopping the violence, Palestinian officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The Israeli Defense Ministry refused to comment. Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said earlier that the security contacts - suspended over the weekend after Israel's refusal to end Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's confinement to the West Bank town of Ramallah - should resume quickly. Meanwhile, there was growing interest in the Saudi proposal, under which Israel would withdraw from the territories it occupied in the 1967 Mideast war, in return for comprehensive peace between Israel and the Arab world. Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres on Tuesday called the proposal a "positive development" with "extraordinary importance," but added his reservations about defining borders. "For the first time, Saudi Arabia is openly taking the side of the peace process," he said in Paris after talks with French President Jacques Chirac. Defense Minister Ben-Eliezer - like Peres, a member of the center-left Labor Party - said in a statement that the plan "contains positive elements and should be encouraged." He also said that "it must not be rejected," a comment apparently aimed at hard-line Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Sharon advisers said they were still trying to hear from U.S. officials whether the Saudis were serious. "We think it is too early to comment on the substance on the basis of media reports," said Danny Ayalon, a Sharon aide. "However, if we find there is something to it, we will respond accordingly." The Palestinians and moderate Arabs have welcomed the Saudi idea, and Secretary of State Colin Powell said it was an important step he hoped would be fleshed out in the next few weeks. Sharon has fiercely opposed a total pullout. But he knows Israelis are despondent over 17 months of dead-end conflict and eager for a ray of hope. The Saudi proposal offers two things Israel craves: broad acceptance by Arab states and a negotiating partner beyond Arafat. However, any discussion of significant concessions to Palestinians could undermine Sharon's governing coalition - a patchwork of parties with widely divergent positions on the land-for-peace idea. Israel's influential Haaretz daily urged Sharon in an editorial Tuesday to give the Saudi plan serious consideration. "The Saudi plan is an opportunity to sign a peace treaty with most of the Arab world (except for countries like Libya and Iraq), including the Palestinians," the editorial said." Is it possible that this proposed Saudi plan could be the peace agreement that will set in motion the seven-year tribulation period? Are we about to see the antichrist come on the scene or is Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah the coming antichrist? Well first of all, I don't believe that this is the peace plan that will be signed by the antichrist. I don't believe that Prince Abdullah is the antichrist either. The Bible declares that he (antichrist) will come out of the New Roman Empire, which many, myself included, believe to be the European Union. Actually, I hope that it is! I, like most Christian's, are waiting eagerly for the coming of the Lord, and the sooner the better! But I don't see that this will be it and I don't take much stock in Israel withdrawing back to the territories it occupied before the 1967 Mideast war. Although the final peace accord may include some land concessions (dividing of Jerusalem), it won't be that drastic. My suggestion is to keep your eyes on the developments of these peace talks. It is my belief that they will fail, but someone out of the EU will step forward and modify the plan to meet both parties halfway. Before this happens there may be a passing of time before it is re-introduced. One thing that I feel is significant is that the majority of Israelis have grown very weary over the fighting that has taken place the last 18 months. They are eager to find a peaceful result and may be willing to succumb to a less then favorable resolution. I believe it will come very soon. But if this is to be the real thing, it will have to contain two important criteria; (1) The final proposal will have to come from a representative from the New Roman Empire. Saudi Arabia, although sections were conquered by Ancient Roman Empire, has really never been considered to be a viable branch of the New Roman Empire. I wouldn't count them out but I do have my doubts. (2) It will have to be a seven-year peace plan. Anything shorter or longer is not the peace plan the Bible speaks of. Keep watching the news; it's no accident that these developments are happening. Pastor Malone