Blood Moons Foretell of Changing Times ”The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.” (Joel 2:31) Last year on July 29, 2013, Israel and Palestinians entered direct peace negotiations, and the world was very hopeful that at the end of the nine-month negotiations a final status agreement would be reached. To bring the Palestinians to the bargaining table, Israel agreed to release 104 Palestinian prisoners, 14 of whom were Arab-Israelis. Many were guilty of murdering Israeli civilians and suspected Palestinian collaborators. They were to be released over time in four groups. For this concession, the Palestinians agreed to not sign up for international conventions. As talks progressed, it seemed that anything less than total capitulation to Palestinian demands was unacceptable, and Abbas was not willing to recognize Israel as the Jewish state. As it became obvious that the talks would come to an end with no agreements, on March 28, 2014, Israel delayed releasing the fourth round of Palestinian prisoners. By delaying it, Israel hoped to encourage the Palestinians to commit to extending the peace negotiations. Consequently, on April Fool’s Day, 15 days prior to the first Blood Moon, in the midst of the Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, Abbas moved to join 14 treaties and conventions and one United Nations organization. The request was approved by UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon. Included in the 15 was the Geneva Conventions which articulate the laws of war. “We [Palestinians] have not only signed these [agreements], but we have become officially bound by them now,” Randa Siniora, the Director General of the Palestinian Independent Commission for Human Rights (ICHR), told Al Jazeera in late April. Most of the memberships became official in May. A time lapse shot of the Blood Moon at Pesach (Passover). (Photo: Cass Letson) All of this happened at the outset of a very auspicious time: on April 15, 2014, the first of a series of four Blood Moons over a two year period occurred. They coincide with the 2014 and 2015 Jewish festivals of Passover (Pesach) and Tabernacles (Sukkot). Just after the first Blood Moon, Abbas announced the formation a unity government with the terrorist group Hamas. Israel responded by formally cancelling the release of the prisoners and imposing financial penalties in the form of withholding tax levies collected by Israel on the Palestinian Authority’s behalf. That government was sworn in on June 2nd with immediate discord breaking out over issues of security and over relations with the Israelis. Hamas’ kidnapping of the three yeshiva students took place only three weeks after the unity government was announced. Although Abbas initially said that he would dissolve the unity government if Hamas was behind the kidnapping, when Israel presented evidence of Hamas involvement nothing was done. After Hamas launched an intensive rocket campaign against Israel, Israel responded with “Operation Protective Edge,” during which Hamas fired more than 4,500 rockets and mortar shells at Israeli population centers.
Posted on: Thu, 09 Oct 2014 21:53:52 +0000