November 11, 2008

Middle East News: World Press Roundup

Outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert reiterates that Israel must be willing to cede parts of Jerusalem if a peace deal is to be reached (1). Meanwhile, Prime Ministerial candidate and current Kadima party head Tzipi Livni seeks to distance herself from his strong language (8). The continued fuel shortage in Gaza forces the closure of the main power station (2). In The Guardian, Rory McCarthy reports on the recent Israeli supreme court decision to evict a Palestinian couple from the east Jerusalem home they have been living in for 52 years (4). Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas criticizes Hamas at a memorial rally for the late Yasser Arafat (5).

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Olmert: We must cede parts of Jerusalem

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Monday used a Jerusalem memorial ceremony for former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin to reiterate that Israel must be willing to cede parts of the capital.

"If we want to keep Israel Jewish and democratic, we need to give up parts of the homeland we have dreamed about for generations and [mentioned] in our prayers, even Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem, and to return to a 1967 Israel with certain amendments," he said, at the state ceremony on Mount Herzl, where Rabin is buried.

Gaza: Power Station Shuts Down

A fuel shortage forced the Gaza Strip’s main power station to shut down on Monday, leaving about half the residents of the Hamas-controlled Palestinian territory without electricity, a power plant official said. Israel, which had blocked deliveries of fuel to the enclave for a week in response to a surge in cross-border rocket attacks, said it would allow resumption of fuel shipments on Tuesday.

Israeli troops shoot worker on border

A foreign farm worker was wounded on Saturday when Israeli troops opened fire near the border with Lebanon, a military spokesman said. Soldiers on patrol in the area near the kibbutz of Manara spotted men acting "suspiciously" and opened fire, reportedly thinking they may be people trying to infiltrate Israel from Lebanon. The troops subsequently discovered that they were farm workers employed in northern Israel, the spokesman said, adding that an inquiry had been opened into the incident. Israel's Army Radio reported that the wounded worker was from Thailand.

Israeli police evict Palestinian couple from home of 52 years

Israeli police have evicted a disabled Palestinian man and his wife from the home where they had lived for 52 years, in a Palestinian district of east Jerusalem which is now surrounded by hardline Jewish settlers. The eviction came after years of litigation which culminated in an Israeli supreme court ruling in July ordering them out of the house.

Several foreign governments, including the US and Britain, had tried to intervene on behalf of Muhammad and Fawzieh al-Kurd, but without success.

At Arafat memorial rally, Abbas blames Hamas for continued rift

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday blamed political rival Hamas for another failed reconciliation attempt.

Abbas spoke during a rally marking the fourth anniversary of the death of his predecessor Yasser Arafat.

Over the weekend, Hamas pulled out of planned reconciliation talks at the last minute. It demanded that Abbas first release Hamas prisoners in the West Bank.

Foreign troops could deploy in West Bank after peace deal

After an Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian territories within the framework of an overall peace agreement, foreign forces could be stationed there for a specific period, the secretary-general of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, told Haaretz in an interview over the weekend in Brussels.

No leader before Olmert has explicitly called for return to '67 borders

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert chose to strike on the most sensitive day of Israel's calendar, Yitzhak Rabin Memorial day. He did so both in the Knesset and on Mount Herzl, in order to lay out his vision - Israel must pull out of all the territories quickly, before it loses international support for a two-state solution.

Livni distances herself from Olmert comments on '67 borders

Kadima Chairwoman and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni distanced herself Tuesday from outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's recent assertion that Israel needs to return to its pre-1967 borders.

"I as Kadima Chairwoman am not committed to the outgoing prime minister's comments - but to Kadima's platform, and this is what determines exactly how we will hold negotiations," said Livni, speaking in an interview with Army Radio.

Olmert called on Monday for withdrawing from the territories and "returning to the area that was Israel until 1967."

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