Free Republic

With about 10 months left in office, President Barack Obama is considering unprecedented moves to implement a two-state solution, according to a Wall Street Journal report. Senior US officials revealed that the President is looking to initiate a final negotiated settlement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority using United Nations Security Council resolutions, a step that would obligate not only Israel and the Palestinian Authority, but effectively determine the direction of US policy for the president’s successor as well. The report comes ahead of Vice President Joe Biden’s visit to Israel on Tuesday, where he is scheduled to meet with...

The ancient copper mines in Timna are located deep in Israel's Arava Valley and are believed by some to be the site of King Solomon's mines... The tiny pieces of fabric, some only 5 x 5 centimeters in size, vary in color, weaving technique and ornamentation. "Some of these fabrics resemble textiles only known from the Roman era," said Dr. Orit Shamir... The archaeologists also recently discovered thousands of seeds of the Biblical "Seven Species"... the two grains and five fruits considered unique products of the Land of Israel. Some of the seeds were subjected to radiocarbon dating, providing robust...

A 4,000-year-old cemetery made up of more than 100 tombs has been found near Bethlehem in the West Bank. Now known as Khalet al-Jam'a, the cemetery probably served an undiscovered settlement for more than 1,500 years. Many of its tombs have been destroyed by modern construction or looting, but at least 30 tombs have survived. Many of them are shaft tombs with one or more rock-cut chambers. According to Lorenzo Nigro of Sapienza University of Rome, the settlement was situated near trade routes, and artifacts from the tombs indicate that it had been a wealthy place. "Typical pieces of the...

According to a Tel Aviv University team of archeologists who studied the ancient Negev park, the mining activity at the site was at its height during the 10th century B.C.E., under the rule of kings David and Solomon. This essentially debunks the long-standing theory, devised almost 50 years ago, that the mines, used for the extraction of copper, were actually under the control of the ancient Egyptians. The discovery was made possible thanks to carbon-14 dating, a technology that was not available when the site was first explored. ... The Tel Aviv team used 11 short-lived samples -- 10 date...

On Sunday, March 6, 2016, Dr. Pier Luigi Tucci, Assistant Professor of Roman Art and Architecture at Johns Hopkins University, will deliver the lecture "Ancient Libraries in Rome: Reconstruction of the Bibliotheca of the Templum Pacis" in the Washington, D.C. area. The event is hosted by the Biblical Archaeology Society of Northern Virginia (BASONOVA) and Biblical Archaeology Forum (BAF). The Templum Pacis (Temple of Peace) was built by the Flavian emperor Vespasian in 75 C.E. near the Roman Forum. It commemorated both the end of the Jewish war and the civil strife that had followed the death of Nero...

Ahead of Biden's visit to Israel, Obama administration is pulling out all the stops to prevent new Jerusalem housing projects. US Vice President Joe Biden is scheduled to visit Israel next Sunday, and the Obama administration is launching an all-out effort to prevent a repeat of the diplomatic flare-up that marred his previous trip in 2010. In what is likely to be the last state visit to Israel by a top-level Obama administration official, Biden's visit closes out a rocky relationship between Israel and the White House. Perhaps the most publicized dispute in that period was the so-called "Ramot Biden"...

An Israeli-Arab was attacked by a lynch mob on Thursday in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina. His offense? Speaking Hebrew. Muhammad Abed Abu Rahman, a 24-year-old resident of the Israeli Arab town of Abu Ghosh near Jerusalem, recalled a harrowing experience in the capital on Thursday while driving through an Arab neighborhood. While speaking on the phone in Hebrew, locals surrounded his car and began threatening him for “daring” to speak Hebrew near the home of Abu Khder, the 16-year-old murdered in a revenge attack following the killings of three abducted Israeli teens in 2014. “Someone came up to...

The wave of attacks lacks not just a name and an ending but also a definite starting point. The violence stretches back so far it has no beginning. The Palestinian terror attacks are endless," a friend moaned recently. The media and general public are struggling to come up with a name for what is often just referred to as "the current wave of violence" - "the knives' intifada" and "the lone wolves' intifada" are two terms that are competing for the dubious honor in the Hebrew press, the Palestinian media preferring "The Jerusalem intifada." But the wave of attacks lacks...

According to Iranian ambassador to Beirut, every family of a martyr will receive $7,000, while a family whose home was demolished by the IDF will receive $30,000. Speaking at a press conference in Beirut on Wednesday, Iranian ambassador to Lebanon, Mohammad Fathali, said: "Continuing Iran's support for the oppressed Palestinian people, Iran announces the provision of financial aid to families of Palestinian martyrs who were killed in the "Jerusalem intifada." Fathali called on the Arab Muslim nation to unite around the central Palestinian issue and said that "the martyrs' blood will release the entire Palestine, from the river to the...

According to the Times of Israel, the artifact is made of brass, silver, shells and stones. It was covered in plaster and found near a window in the church that reportedly was built by Emperor Constantine and his mother Helena in the fourth century. Although officials confirmed that the artifact has been cleaned up, it is not on display, and there are no images of it as yet.Ziad al-Bandak, a Palestinian presidential adviser for Christian Affairs, said the artifact is, “of great religious and historical value.” The church itself is built over the cave where the birth of Jesus...

British Prime Minister David Cameron used particularly harsh language against Israel's presence in eastern Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria which were liberated during the 1967 Six Day War. Speaking at Parliament, Cameron branded Israel’s construction of new communities in these areas as “genuinely shocking”, The Independent reported. The Prime Minister said that though he was a strong supporter of Israel, he had been taken aback by what had seen first hands on visits to Jerusalem. “I am well-known as being a strong friend of Israel but I have to say the first time I visited Jerusalem and had a proper tour...

Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness?Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble, but he shall be saved out of it. For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of...

AP: Group Discovers John the Baptist Cave KIBBUTZ TZUBA, Israel (AP) KARIN LAUB Archaeologists said Monday they have found a cave where they believe John the Baptist anointed many of his disciples - a huge cistern with 28 steps leading to an underground pool of water. During an exclusive tour of the cave by The Associated Press, archaeologists presented wall carvings they said tell the story of the fiery New Testament preacher, as well as a stone they believe was used for ceremonial foot washing. They also pulled about 250,000 pottery shards from the cave, the apparent remnants of small...

Archaeologists said Monday they have found a cave where they believe John the Baptist anointed many of his disciples - a huge cistern with 28 steps leading to an underground pool of water. During an exclusive tour of the cave by The Associated Press, archaeologists presented wall carvings they said tell the story of the fiery New Testament preacher, as well as a stone they believe was used for ceremonial foot washing. They also pulled about 250,000 pottery shards from the cave, the apparent remnants of small water jugs used in baptismal ritual. "John the Baptist, who was just a...

http://www.comcast.net/providers/fan/popup.html?v=11465594&pl=50886733.xml&config=/config/common/fan/default.xmlthe link has high speed video from comcast has a news report stating that archaeologists believe they have found the cave where john the baptist performed many of his baptisms along with a crude rendition of john the baptist carved into one of the walls dial up will probably take forever to load but might be worth the wait its a very interesting story

New discoveries point to 'cave of John the Baptist' as important site in the time of Isaiah The interior of Suba Cave New Discoveries Point to "Cave of John the Baptist" as Important Site in the Time of Isaiah Recently completed digging at Israel's Suba Cave, an archaeological site that is possibly connected with John the Baptist, or Jewish groups of his time has revealed features that deepen the mystery of the site's ancient origins, according to University of North Carolina at Charlotte archaeologist James D. Tabor, associate director of the excavation. The site was brought to international attention in...

(IsraelNN.com) Archaeologists have discovered an 1,800-year-old marble figurine of what is believed to be the head of a Roman boxer. The bust was found during excavations in the area of the Givati car park in the City of David, across the street from the Dung Gate leading to the Western Wall (Kotel). The figurine, which depicts the head of a man with a short, curly beard, is carved from pale yellow marble and might indicate the raw material came from Asia Minor, according to excavation directors Dr. Doron Ben-Ami and Yana Tchekhanovets. "The high level of finish on the figurine...

Reining in illegal Arab construction is simply "not a top priority" for the government, according to a statement the state conveyed to the Supreme Court. The state was responding to demands that it carry out demolition orders issued against an illegally built Arab school just outside of Jerusalem. The school's construction was funded by the European Union. The Supreme Court subsequently dismissed the case on Wednesday, rejecting claims by Regavim, an NGO which monitors illegal construction in the Arab sector, that the state is intentionally avoiding enforcement of building laws. ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem - Talk to Israelis about the United States these days and you will provoke a physical reaction. Barack Obama is an eye roll. John Kerry is a grimace. The administration's conduct of regional policy is a slow, sad shake of the head. The current state of the presidential race makes for a full-blown shudder. The Israeli rundown of the candidates goes roughly as follows: "Hillary - she doesn't like us." "Cruz - I don't like him" "Rubio - is he done for?" "Sanders - oy vey." "Trump - omigod." As for Israel's own troubles - a continuing...

Conventional wisdom among many of my peers in the "pro-Israel" community is that Rubio & Cruz are indistinguishable as it relates to support for Israel, and on Foreign Policy as a whole. Is that indeed true?...