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"For the first time in the history of the Palestinian nation, we announce... to the ARAB AND ISLAMIC WORLD [over 600 Million people] the witnessing of the new Ramadan moon from the Aksa Mosque UNDER THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY," Arafat was quoted as saying in the eastern Jerusalem daily "Al-Quds."

Mufti Akram Sabri had been the preacher at al-Aksa Mosque, and was picked by Yasser Arafat last year to be the new Jerusalem mufti. Sabri, and the Jordanian mufti, Sheikhh Abdul-Qadder Abdeen, were appointed days apart by Palestinians and Jordanians, just after the signing of the Jordanian-Israeli Declaration of Principles, as each side sought to exert its power in Jerusalem.

Yitzhak Reiter, an expert on the Wakf and director of the Institute for Israel Arab Affairs at Beit Berl, says that Sabri's rise to power should come as no surprise. "No one expected the Palestinian public to support a Jordan-appointed mufti over an Arafat-appointed mufti," Reiter said. "Jibril Rajoub's men also helped," he said. "Contacts... told me that Rajoub's men terrified Palestinians away from the Abdeen. There were lots of threats even against Abdeen himself."

"We no longer take our orders from the Jordanians," Sabri said in an interview. Because of differences of opinion between Amman and Mecca on the sighting of the new moon which, due to frequent clouds, can delay it for several days, Sabri decided to follow Mecca. The moon was not spotted in Amman, but Sabri was lucky. At about 7 p.m. Monday he declared to Palestinian religious leaders gathered just outside the Temple Mount: "The fast of Ramadan will begin tomorrow."
"The authorities can no longer ignore the mufti," an Israeli official said. "There has been no one like him as mufti since Haj Amin el-Husseini (grandfather of Faisal Husseini)," the official said, referring to the powerful Mandate-period mufti who led the Arab riots against the Jews, and was welcomed by Hitler in Germany, where he reviewed the Bosnian Moslem Brigade of the SS¹⁸.

Sabri often refers to himself not as the mufti of Jerusalem, but THE MUFTI OF PALESTINE, a position hitherto unknown. Sabri himself explained: "I am the mufti of all Palestinian Moslems, in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and Israel." He continued: "We see PALESTINE AS ONE UNIT. This is not a political question, but a religious one. That is what I want to make clear."

For the first time a PLO appointed mufti of the Palestinian Authority is in charge, as thousands of Moslem worshipers converge on the Temple Mount for the prayers of Ramadan.

Egypt is conducting a sophisticated political campaign against Israel under cover  of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty issue. It has threatened not to sign the accord unless Israel does so as well. President Mubarak called Israel's suspected nuclear arsenal a THREAT TO HIS COUNTRY'S NATIONAL SECURITY and warned it could damage already tense relations. "This NPT treaty, we would like Israel just to sign," he said. "Israel is just on our border, and if anything happens - (what should happen? Does Egypt plan an aggression in the near future? Israel will not attack, only retaliate an aggression) - , it threatens the national security of this country." Foreign Minister Moussa told the Associated Press in Bonn that "... no regional peace would be viable unless Israel and the Arab states sign a non-proliferation treaty."

Cairo is also trying to recruit other developing countries which are signatories to the agreement to adopt the same position. US Defense Secretary William Perry also insists on Israel's signing the NPT, because that supposedly is essential for stopping Iran.

If Israel signs the treaty, she will be divested of the one effective means to prevent, or repel aggression against her. While the Arabs will freely violate the treaties they sign after the fashion of the PLO, Israel will be held to it by the UN Security Council. Already she signed the non-chemical proliferation treaty. This warfare described in Zechariah 14:12 and 15, will be caused by the West's and the Arabs' weaponry, not by Israel.

Since the "Camp David Peace Agreements" with Egypt, statements of how to destroy Israel in stages have appeared in articles - mainly Egyptian - by leading figures in the Arab world, in senior academic circles, among the intelligentsia. The leader of this unofficial trend is Osama el-Baz, President Mubarak's adviser. 

"What are these circles thinking, and what are the different stages of their "program"?