Welcome to Jerusalem Studio!
Last time we discussed the peace talks
between Israel and Palestinians. We will continue that today
as it seems a marathon topic.
Welcome, Pekka Sartola.
Before we go into our subject, you were in Israel last week.
What was the purpose of your trip and do you have any news?
It was a great trip. It is always nice to go there.
Weather was nice and the group was great as well.
Around 40 of us went to Tiberias, Dead Sea and Jerusalem,
also to Tel Aviv-Jaffo, Yad Vashem, all very touching places,
as well as Garden Tomb, and the Western Wall.
It was a great trip. We also got in touch with reality,
as we heard artillery from Syria while on Golan.
Otherwise, everything was peaceful.
Going to our topic, which seems a permanent one,
as we don't know when it will end and if ever,
what is the situation at the peace talks now,
as the deadline is approaching?
Deadline expires on April 29, -
when everything should be ready -
two state solution, peace on earth -
and good will toward men. It does not look like that.
Now they are arguing whether to continue the talks
and on what conditions.
The key issues have remained the same.
Both sides are stuck on their views.
However much Obama or Kerry are able to mediate,
there seem to be no results so far.
If the US had not forced the breathing machine on them,
the patient would have been very quiet by now.
The patient would have been dead by now.
They used a lot of pressure, especially on Israel.
I have yet to see any demands on Palestinians
where they are asked to concede on any matter.
It is presumed that Israel will yield in everything
the other side demands of them.
Politically, this is very shortsighted.
In order to compromise one needs to compromise.
Abbas has declared that for them to continue the talks
they expect all kinds of goodies without giving anything in return
besides sitting at the negotiations table occasionally.
What's going on there?
They refused to come to the table until promised
that 106 prisoners will be released from Israeli prisons.
The last batch of them has not yet been released
according to preliminary plans and it has created a commotion.
Israel does not deem it necessary to release the last prisoners
as the Palestinians have declared that they had no other goal in mind
except releasing those prisoners.
They did not aim at giving up on any of their demands,
they want the two state solution only on conditions suitable for them.
Israel has said they would release the prisoners,
but the Palestinians must sit at the table
and see whether this process will go anywhere or not.
Abbas was in the US,
being instructed to concede to a few things.
What happened as nothing seems to have changed,
instead things might be moving in the opposite direction?
What do you see happening there?
The situation is quite deadlocked.
They have not come closer in any of the issues
that have been on the table already for 60 years.
Every president, mediator and foreign minister
has tried to solve them.
The Palestinians seem to be demanding more than ever.
They have noticed that their prisoners were released
even before they started the talks and EU backs them completely.
Israel's demands are supposedly not reasonable
but Palestinian ones supposedly are.
Abbas declared in the US
that they never intend to recognize any Jewish state.
That is part of their religious program
which the Arab League fully backs.
Israel has said that when another state is established
both of them must recognize each other.
Otherwise it would make no sense.
Arab League just made a decision
that they will never recognize Israel as a Jewish State.
They actually just repeated their decision
from September 1st, 1967, in Khartoum:
never to recognize Israel, never peace, never talks.
Israel is still required to respect their demands.
This is not a setting for talks
where opinions of others are also respected.
US and EU are insisting on the two state solution.
I have not seen how the US plans to secure Israeli borders.
The list that the US presented after the Palestinian demands
prescribed that the US will bring troops to the borders,
but only to Jordanian border
and the border between Israel and Palestine.
Israel did not accept a solution where they are stripped
of their most essential security factor -
the ability to secure their borders.
What if Abbas and Palestinians don't want any solution?
What is their goal then?
Their demand list shows that they want to get Jerusalem,
the whole West Bank, their independent state,
and the Temple Mount.
They want a satisfactory solution to the refugee issue.
Also water was mentioned, but that is of secondary importance.
If this list materializes,
Israel can kiss their independence good bye.
There would only be 10 km between Tel Aviv and the Palestinian border.
And only a few kilometers to the airport.
With the missiles they claim to be receiving
they would threaten Israel from every side.
There must be some invisible force behind all this
and it has to come from a spiritual sphere.
That is the key to the whole situation.
If the Palestinians would want to live in peace,
they would be satisfied with the autonomy.
They have no chance of survival as an independent state
without Israel's help.
They are completely dependent on Israel
for providing employment, energy etc.
That would be the best solution but that does not satisfy Islam.
It seems that they try to make Israel's life more difficult
in every aspect,
which makes the whole situation inconceivable.
That seems to be their purpose - to pressure Israel
on the foreign political front, in domestic policy etc,
so that Israel would have to yield in everything
to the Palestinians' demands.
When looking at the states surrounding Israel,
Syria's domestic war has been going on for 3 years,
around 130 000 have died and masses have fled the country.
We know that Iran provides missiles for Hezbollah and Syria.
When considering the situation regarding Golan and North Israel
it is beginning to look quite grim as well.
True. Iran has half a dozen missile bases in Lebanon
and has produced nuclear technicians as well as equipment.
These have been brought over as a balancing factor
in case Israel plans to attack Iranian nuclear plants.
Hezbollah would retaliate immediately.
When the distances are so short
that just 10 seconds is needed to intercept missiles,
it is also extremely expensive to maintain such military readiness.
It is expensive and quite impossible as well.
Considering Hezbollah's arsenal - approx 100 000 missiles -,
it is impossible to intercept them
if they come at the rate of 1000 missiles per day.
That would end the Israeli northern defense front from the get-go.
They would have to resort to more severe weapons,
which yields nothing good for the civilian population or anyone.
They are capable of defending themselves.
When looking at what's going on with Putin and Ukraine, -
we see intentions regarding different directions.
We know Russia has been close to Syria and Assad
and also Iran and Hezbollah.
What has happened on that front in recent weeks?
Putin is trying to lasso Obama
and wants to secure its position in Syria.
UN is unable to establish sanctions as Russia vetoes everything.
Russia has also a deal with Syria allowing them to drill for oil and gas
on their continental shelf.
That is very important for them.
At the same time they can guarantee
that Syria supplies Hezbollah with weapons
either directly or indirectly.
In case of any direct attempts Israel will try to destroy them.
The third direction is S-300 missiles to Iran
with the goal to keep Israel or anyone else
from attacking Iranian plants.
Russia has secured its positions on Obama's expense,
who has proven to be a very weak and unreliable leader.
He has no backbone.
He's called a weathervane in the Middle East.
Nobody trusts him.
Israel must depend more and more on itself.
We hear about the preparations of Iran for its nuclear capabilities.
Is the US getting more focused on this or is it all up to Israel?
The Commander of their armed forces Martin Dempsey was in Israel
and most likely discussed these things.
What was decided, we don't know,
but Iran's nuclear program was most likely discussed.
Now it is clear that Iran is only trying to win time.
All the space given for politics and alleviation of sanctions
benefits only Iran's progress toward its nuclear capability.
Israel has allocated around 3 billion shekels for the army
to prepare for a long distance military operation,
which cannot be anything else than Iran.
The time plays into Iran's court and we are soon out of time,
so it is time to react.
I heard that something should happen by June.
Last year when Obama was in Israel they also discussed the timetable,
saying if nothing was done by June, it would be too late.
The deadline has been delayed.
Israel organized some intelligence operations and sabotages
and the progress of strategic processes was hindered,
thus winning more time for Israel and for the negotiations.
But it seems that the talks are not presenting anything new
with regard to eliminating Iran's nuclear threat.
The Krimean crises has been going on for weeks.
It seems that NATO will have to take the leading role
and Obama remains in the background.
NATO's chief took a firm stance and told Russia to stop.
NATO will take care of its areas and agreements.
This move should have come from the US president
who is the largest supporter and strategic resource of NATO.
Obama has been quiet about it all.
He has only denied access to the US for some Russian politicians,
which is on the kindergarten level.
Travel bans are not from the class of such high politics.
You must counter Russia with powerful moves
or they will believe nothing.
When thinking of Russia's command center in Moscow,
we have already talked about Syria, Hezbollah and Iran,
but also North Korea comes to play. What's going on there?
North Korea has one of the world's largest armies.
They announced about a nuclear test in the near future,
which has caused the US to agressify its defence ties
with South Korea.
North Korea reacted by calling it invading its territories
as they have never recognized South Korea and consider it theirs.
In my opinion, North Korea's nuclear test
is actually Iran's nuclear test as Iran cannot do it on its own soil.
The world would "explode" on that.
North Korea is already a menacing state
and they are not taken as seriously
as they mostly threaten only South Korea whom US defends.
Quite a few political factors are in play here.
China supports North Korea
and both China and Russia are dependent on Iran
and Iran is dependent on Russia, forming a triangle
where every part is dependent on the other.
So they've got each others backs.
Somebody once called it the axis of evil,
they might have hit a bullseye.
All the strings lead back to Moscow.
What comes to UN's ability to be the police in the world,
it seems it has amputated its own hands.
That's very true.
UN's executive power is the Security Council.
General Assembly can only make suggestions
and Security Council makes decisions
that are crucial for the aspects of peace in the world.
For years Russia has vetoed all proposed resolutions
regarding Syria, Iran etc.
Security Council can do nothing -
if one of its permanent members uses veto.
Syria is a good example.
More and more people die there and nobody can do anything.
In that sense the international community
has proven to be teethless and helpless.
If one man, Putin in Moscow,
can manipulate the whole world system,
there's something absurd going on, as millions of lives are at stake.
It seems that the US has lost its standing
as the police of the world -
as nobody says that all that killing must stop.
Obama is trying to patch relations with Saudi Arabia.
Before his arrival the Saudi press said
that nothing should be expected from the talks.
They announced already in advance that this is just a visit
where people shake hands without any results being achieved,
besides the constructive atmosphere.
From Putin's perspective, two major things are at play:
power and money.
We have discussed earlier Israel's new gas resources.
Do you think -
everything is aiming towards getting hold of these resources?
That's exactly what it is.
I reviewed some US intelligence reports yesterday.
They predicted the gas line between Turkey and Israel.
From Israel's Leviathan field a gas line will be built
straight to Turkey -
where it is joined with Russia's Kaspian gas line.
Russia attempts to get hold of Israeli gas
in order to sell it to Europe.
Ezekiel describes it as "taking blunder and booty".
Ezekiel's prophecies provide a context
to modern political events.
So we can observe the fulfillment of prophecies?
That is most exciting about it all.
We are the generation for whom that has opened up.
Our fathers couldn't even imagine it could be possible.
All these things have started to move rapidly towards fulfillment
within the last couple of decades,
surprising even all the prophecy experts.
You tour a lot in Finland talking about all this
and you also have some publications that are available for purchase.
What is the public interested in the most?
All we have discussed about -
how the events of the world and prophecies tie into each other.
This is where people see the Word of God
materializing in the world events.
People are not so much interested in events
that have nothing to do with their own lives.
But the ones we see with our own eyes,
how the Russian bear raises its paws and begins its threatening moves,
this is what is interesting for the people.
As it is clear that the Israeli- Palestinian peace talks
are almost deadlocked,
what do you predict will happen within next 6 months?
Without the gift of prophecy I must be a realist.
The best realism right now is pessimism.
Israel and the Palestinians will most likely be forced to continue.
Obama needs to make good on his peace prize.
He has lost almost everything in that respect.
I presume that he manages to force the parties
to the negotiations table,
but it is quite clear that they will lead nowhere.
The setting is still the same.
Religious settings do not change by signing some documents
or forcing someone's signatures.
These will continue to live in people's hearts and minds.
Peace will come one day but not from this venue.
Last time we discussed the Temple Mount.
There has been some turbulence around it recently.
Are there any specific developments?
The minister of religious affairs of the PA declared clearly
that they have no intention to let the Jews pray there
until the Temple Mount, East Jerusalem and Palestine
are under their control.
Then they might possibly consider it. This is still their conviction.
Thank you, Pekka. We will continue in four weeks.
Thanks for watching! Let's see what happens in a month!
Translation: Monika Jaaguri