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Barring a major miracle, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will most likely not return to politics. Sharonis currently emergingfrom a drug-induced coma after suffering a massive stroke. He has shown signs of improvement, but it will be several days before doctors know the full extent of the damage. Israeli elections are expected to proceed in March - elections Sharon would most likely have won. Israel and the world now wait to see how a new Prime Minister will affect Jewish-Arab relations and a potential Palestinian state.

A New Prime Minister

In his third term, Ariel Sharon planned to dismantle settlements in the West Bank and map out borders of Israel that were completely separate from the Palestinians. The new Prime Minister could change all that. Three major candidates are expected to run in the March elections - Sharon's temporary successor, Ehud Olmert, former Prime Minister Bejamin Netanyahu, and Labour Party leader Amir Peretz.

Ehud Olmert

Olmert will most likely run in Sharon's place as the Kadima Party candidate. Sharon created the Kadima Party two months ago to break away from the more conservative bloc in his Likud party. Olmert has the same basic agenda as Sharon, but without Sharon's popularity and political sway. He may not be able to make the strong-handed political moves Sharon planned.

Benjamin Netanyahu

Netanyahu is Olmert's greatest competition as a former Prime Minister who is still young and quick-witted. Netanyahu is known for his low tolerance for terror and rejects policies that he believes encourage terrorist groups. (For example, he criticized Sharon over the way the Gaza Strip settlements were dismantled). Netanyahu may be considered too conservative for many Israelis, but they know him and respect his resolve.

Amir Peretz

The Labour leader lags in the rear behind Netanyahu and Olmert. While most Israelis are willing to do what it takes to make peace with the Arabs, they do not have confidence in the Palestinian Authority as a real negotiating partner. Labour's willingness to offer land for peace has not succeeded in bringing peace or security to Israel. (Because large groups of Arabs simply want the end of Israel altogether.)

The Future of Israel

If Olmert wins the elections, he will continue to separate Israelis from Palestinians and will unilaterally push for a Palestinian state. Israel's demographic problem is perhaps the primary motivation behind this agenda. Population trends indicate that Arabs will outnumber Jews in Israel in a few decades. When that happens they will no longer need suicide bombers - they will destroy Israel via the vote. Olmert, however, may not be able to pull off the unilateral separation as easily as Sharon.

Netanyahu may continue the separation, but is far less likely to dismantle settlements. He will be reluctant to force West Bank Jewish communities out of their homes. Of all the candidates, he is the one who will insist that the Palestinian government fulfill its obligations. He will most likely refuse to offer concessions unless the PA works to stop terrorism. He is not opposed to a Palestinian state, but wants to keep as much of Israel's current land as possible in the interest of security from her surrounding enemies.

The man chosen to replace Ariel Sharon will profoundly influence the geopolitical future of Israel and the Middle East. Ultimately the future is in God's hands. He has a plan for the nation of Israel, just as He has a plan for you and me. We believe there will be no real peace until the Prince of Peace arrives, but that may not be very long off. In the mean time, please continue to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, the apple of God's eye (Psalms 122:6, Zechariah 2:8).

This week the Senate Judiciary Committee began hearings on Judge Samuel Alito's nomination to the Supreme Court of the United States. Despite Judge Alito's impressive qualifications, he faces a difficult road to confirmation. Why? Because Alito is a conservative, and he has been named to replace Sandra Day O'Connor, the pivotal swing vote on a divided court.

In reading transcripts of the hearings it would seem that Senate liberals had set out to portray Alito as an "extremist", particularly on issues such as abortion. However Alito was not an easy target. The New York Times described him as "placid, monochromatic and, it seemed, mostly untouchable."

What exactly is making Senate liberals so nervous? Well, much of the controversy surrounds Alito's previous court opinions and writings. In 1985, for example, Alito applied to be the Assistant Attorney General under then-President Ronald Reagan. With his application he submitted an essay outlining his personal qualifications, following is an excerpt from that essay:

"I am and always have been a conservative...I believe in limited government, federalism, free enterprise, the supremacy of the elected branches of government, the need for a strong defense and effective law enforcement, and the legitimacy of a government role in protection traditional values. In the field of law, I disagree strenuously with the usurpation by the judiciary of decision making authority that should be exercised by the branches of government responsible to the electorate...

In college, I developed a deep interest in constitutional law, motivated in large part by disagreement with Warren Court decisions, particularly in the areas of criminal procedure, the Establishment Clause, and reapportionment. I discovered the writings of Alexander Bickel advocating judicial restraint, and it was largely for this reason that I decided to go to Yale Law School...

I am particularly proud of my contributions in recent cases in which the government has argued in the Supreme Court that racial and ethnic quotas should not be allowed and that the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion."

In light of Alito's words it is no wonder Senate liberals are shaking in their shoes. Alito's appointment to the Supreme Court threatens to tilt the balance of the Court in favor of traditional Judeo-Christian values. If appointed to the Supreme Court, Samuel Alito will hold one of the most powerful positions in the US government. The decisions he makes will have a dramatic impact on the future of our nation.

The Turkish government is struggling to halt the spread of the avian (bird flu) virus within its borders. In recent weeks there have been more than 15 people who have tested positive for the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus and more than 70 people who have been hospitalized with symptoms. The World Health Organization reported that the patients were infected with the disease from birds and not from each other. However as more humans are infected the chances of the disease mutating increase. The WHO also reported that on a scale of 1 to 6, with 6 being a full-blown global pandemic, the world is at stage 3: a new influenza virus causing limited disease in humans but not yet spreading easily among humans.

World Health Organization officials have warned that the avian influenza (also known as the bird flu) could become a global epidemic if a new virulent strain of the virus emerges that can jump readily from human to human. If that happens WHO officials estimate that it would spread rapidly and could infect nearly one-third of the world's population and kill anywhere from 2 million to 50 million people.

Avian has been known to mutate rapidly, and has resurfaced as an epidemic in eastern Asia. There are at least 15 different types of avian influenza that routinely infect birds around the world. The current outbreak (H5N1) is highly contagious among birds and rapidly fatal. Unlike many other strains of avian influenza, it can be transmitted to humans, causing severe illness and death. So far, the virus has only spread to those who came into close contact with infected birds or to people who have had close and prolonged exposure to infected humans. However, infectious disease experts fear the virus will soon mutate within a pig or some other animal which harbors both human and avian forms of the flu virus. The two viruses might then merge, creating an even more deadly virus that could spread rapidly among humans.

Avian flu will likely be the cause of the next pandemic, which experts say will probably happen in the near future. There have been 4 pandemics during the last century, which emerge – on average – every 30 years. Between one and four million people died during the last flu pandemic, which hit Hong Kong in 1968. Health experts at the WHO have indicated that we are long overdue for an outbreak, a WHO spokesman has stated that: "As with an earthquake or any other natural occurring phenomena, we cannot give an exact time but the situation now is particularly concerning in that we are so long after the last pandemic... and we have a virus circulating in Asia [speaking of avian]. We are living perhaps on borrowed time.

Most of us are mindful of the nuclear threat - and, indeed, this is a major cloud that overhangs every strategic decision in geopolitics. But from Revelation 6:8, it appears that about one in four will die from pestilence, and from "the beasts of the earth." With the advent of antibiotics 50 years ago, scientists predicted the end of death and suffering from infectious diseases. During the past 25 years, however, we have witnessed the reemergence and geographical spread of well-known diseases, including tuberculosis, malaria, and cholera, often in more virulent and drug-resistant forms. Scientists have also identified more than 30 previously unknown diseases, like HIV and Ebola, for which there is no known cure. The spread of infectious diseases is just one of trends we monitor on a regular basis. For more information on this and other topics see the links below.