Daily Headlines:

Fatah To Israel: Do What We Want Or Face Intifada

If Israel does not surrender all the lands liberated in the Six Day War of 1967, set up an Arab state with Jerusalem as its capital, and make significant concessions in accepting as citizens descendants of Arabs who fled Israel in 1948, a third intifada should, and must, be conducted. The call for a new “uprising of the people” against Israel was part of a the summation statement issued at the end of the two day Palestinian Revolutionary Council (PRC) general meeting held this week. The meeting was led by Palestinian Authority chief and Fatah party head Mahmoud Abbas.

The statement declares its support for Abbas' ongoing refusal to back down from positions that have proven unacceptable to Israel in the past, including demands that Israel agree in principle to accept as citizens descendants of Arabs who fled theirhomes in 1948. Abbas has also declared that he will refuse to discuss anything with Israel until all settlement activity is ended. That precondition has also been unacceptable to Israel, but in its statement, the PRC said that it supported Abbas on that as well.

The PA will also make another attempt to be recognized as a state by the United Nations this year. Last year, the PA statehood bid was thwarted after many months of intense diplomatic activity by Israel, but analysts said that the PA was less likely to back down this time, and would insist that the matter be brought before the Security Council.

The statement also expresses ongoing support for attempts to reunite Fatah and Hamas in the PA government.It also praised the election of Mohammed Morsi as President of Egypt, saying that it “indicates that Egypt is on the way to resume its major role in the Arab world."

After Three Decades, IDF Prepares For Hostile Southern Border

The IDF is preparing for a “new era” on Israel's southern border, which actually is a rewind of history back to the days before the Camp David Accords. With the rise of what appears to be a hostile regime in Egypt, the IDF will be beefing up forces all along the Sinai border, and is asking the government for NIS 15 billion ($3.8 billion) for the construction of bases,installation of security equipment, and establishment of new training areas.

Analysts said that the new situation in Egypt necessitates the opening of a “fourth front” for the IDF.

Israel Evacuates A Settlement But Gets Whacked By NY Times

Divided EU Leaders Meeting For "Big Leap" Summit

A stormy two-day summit kicks off on Thursday (28 June), with EU leaders still at odds over ceding core national powers to Brussels in return for debt-pooling, as well as creating a "banking union" with central supervision and deposit guarantees.

A press conference tactically placed after this first session is set to deflect any questions on the controversial plan for the future of the EU to be debated later that evening during dinner.

European Council chief Herman Van Rompuy, who drafted the plan together with the heads of the EU commission, European Central Bank and the Eurogroup of finance ministers, will present it, with markets expecting some sort of deal on further integration, especially in the eurozone.

Robert Fisk Demonizes Mideast's Persecuted Christians

Robert Fisk, the Middle East correspondent for the UK’s widely-read Independent, recently showed why it is that Islamic jihadists and terrorists, including the late Osama bin Laden, strongly recommend his propaganda to Western readers.

In a recent article Fisk goes out of his way to demonize the abused Christian minorities of the Middle East for supporting those secularist leaders most likely to preserve their freedoms and dignity. For instance, after portraying the Middle East’s “old guard” in the worst possible terms, he complains that “Ahmed Shafiq, the Mubarak loyalist, has the support of the Christian Copts, and Assad has the support of the Syrian Christians. The Christians support the dictators. Not much of a line, is it?”

In Fisk’s way of thinking, Christians of Egypt and Syria are freedom-haters because they support the secularist old guard, whereas the Sharia-pushing Islamists are freedom-lovers.

“Not much of a line, is it?” — especially from someone who supposedly lives and travels in the Middle East and is deemed an authority on the region. Completely missing from his narrative iswhy Christians are supporting Shafiq and Assad: because the alternatives, the Islamists, have been making their lives a living hell.

Missing from the Islamists’ — and Fisk’s –narrative is the fact that Christians are under attack by Islamists, especially in Egypt and Syria, where Christian women and children are regularly abducted, molested, and forced to convert; where churches and monasteries are regularly attacked; where blasphemy laws imprison or kill, and calls for jizya are back — in short, where Christians are persecuted (see entries for Egypt and Syria in my monthly “Muslim Persecution of Christians” for an idea). Moreover, the ultimate goal of Fisk’s supposedly freedom-loving Islamists — the enforcement of a decidedly anti-freedom Sharia law — will naturally spell disaster for Christians, since this draconian law code emphatically condemns non-Muslim “infidels” to dhimmi status — barely tolerated, second-class “citizens” of the Islamic state.

America On Fire: Why Is The Number Of Wildfires In The United States Increasing?

As America watches large sections of Colorado literally burn to the ground, many are wondering why all of this is happening. There have always been wildfires, but what we are experiencing now seems very unusual. So is the number of wildfires in the United States increasing?

Right now the eyes of the nation are focused on the Waldo Canyon Fire in Colorado. It doubled in size overnight and it has consumed more than 300 homes so far. It is threatening the city of Colorado Springs, and at this point more than 35,000 people have been forced to evacuate - including the U.S. Air Force Academy. On Twitter and Facebook residents are describing what they are seeing as "the apocalypse" and as "the end of the world". But this is just the beginning of the wildfire season. We haven't even gotten to July and August yet.

But this is not the only wildfire that is raging in Colorado. Right now there are 10 wildfires burning in the state. Overall, there are 33 large wildfires currently burning in twelve U.S. states.

The truth is that this is happening because we are seeing exceptionally dry conditions throughout the western half of the United States. In fact, according to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the U.S. interior west is now the driest that it has been in 500 years.

Earlier this year I wrote an article that postulated that we could actually see dust bowl conditions return to the middle of the United States. Many readers were skeptical of that article.

But as much of the western United States continues to experience bone dry conditions and continues to be ravaged by wildfires, perhaps more people will understand how bad things are really getting in the interior west.

Waldo Canyon Fire Has Burned An Estimated 300 Homes To The Ground

Fire crews fought to save the U.S. Air Force Academy and residents begged for information on the fate of their homes Wednesday after a night of terror sent thousands of people fleeing a raging Colorado Springs wildfire.

More than 30,000 have been displaced by the fire, including thousands who frantically packed up belongings Tuesday night after it barreled into neighborhoods in the foothills west and north of Colorado's second-largest city. With flames looming overhead, they clogged roads shrouded in smoke and flying embers, their fear punctuated by explosions of bright orange flame that signaled yet another house had been claimed.

Whistle Blower: Plans To Evacuate London During Olympics?