June 7, 2010

Middle East News: World Press Roundup

ATFP Senior Fellow Hussein Ibish is interviewed by All Things Considered. Israel rejects an international inquiry into the flotilla attack; Turkish activists release new photos; Iran offers to protect ships; PM Netanyahu may be forced to ease the blockade, and is fighting to keep control of Israel's internal inquiry away from the State Comptroller; released activists and Israel trade accusations; a Palestinian MK on the flotilla says a witchhunt has ensued in Israel. The US ponders its strategic relationship with Israel. Tom Friedman says Palestinian state building is “the ballgame.” Ross Douthat asks if Israel it is going the way of Crusader states. Daniel Kurtzer says Israel should care more about international opinion. The blockade has not weakened Hamas' grip on power. Alastair Crooke says Turkey has emerged as a new champion of Palestine, Raghida Dergham says it's vying for influence with Iran, and Tariq Alhomayed says so is Hezbollah. Most PLO factions will run a united list in upcoming municipal elections. France will partner with Palestinian banks to promote private sector growth in the West Bank. The Palestinian Chief Judge resigns. Israeli forces kill four divers off the coast of Gaza. The US demands an inquiry into how an American student lost an eye at a West Bank protest. Hussein Ibish says new Palestinian strategies are demanding clarity on the status of the occupied territories.

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ATFP Senior Fellow on All Things Considered: Israeli Raid Presents Opportunity For Palestinians

Full transcript below:

GUY RAZ, host:Now, the pro-Israel lobby, AIPAC, is proud of its reputation as one of the most powerful advocacy groups in Washington, D.C.

Israel Ambassador Rejects Flotilla Clash Inquiry

Israel’s ambassador to Washington said Sunday that his country would reject an international inquiry into last week’s deadly raid on a Turkish ship, but there was still no formal announcement from Jerusalem on the matter.

“We are rejecting the idea of an international commission,” Michael B. Oren, the ambassador, told Fox News Sunday. “We are discussing with the Obama administration the way in which our inquiry will take place.”

He added, “At the end of the day, Israel has the right, the duty, as a democracy to investigate any military activity.”

Washington Asks: What to Do About Israel?

Some topics are so inflammatory that they are never discussed without first inserting a number of caveats. And so, when Anthony Cordesman, a foreign policy dignitary in this town’s think tank circuit, dropped an article on Wednesday headlined “Israel as a Strategic Liability,” he made sure to open with a plethora of qualifications.

The Ballgame and the Sideshow

When I covered the 1982 Lebanon war, I learned something surprising about wars: they attract all kinds of spectators, meddlers, do-gooders and do-badders. They use the conflict and the attention it generates to play out their own identity issues, passions and biases. My favorite in Beirut was a gentleman who showed up in August 1982 as the Palestinian guerrillas were sailing out of Beirut harbor.

Israel and Outremer

Watching the Israeli government’s botched, bloody attempt to enforce its blockade of Gaza, I kept thinking about Outremer.

That’s the name — French for “beyond the sea” — given to the states that the Crusaders established in the Holy Land during the High Middle Ages: the principality of Antioch, the counties of Edessa and Tripoli, and the kingdom of Jerusalem.

Israel's restrictions haven't weakened Hamas's grip over Gaza, analysts say

Three years after Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip in a bloody battle with its secular rival, Israel's efforts to undercut the Islamist movement's rule through a policy of isolation have largely failed, according to analysts and residents here.

Hamas's security forces remain strong and in full control, while more extreme Islamist challengers are gaining influence because of an Israeli embargo that has done more to frustrate the population than to weaken Hamas's grip, analysts say.

After the flotilla attack, it's time for a new, kinder Israeli narrative

Of the many confounding aspects of Monday's flotilla fiasco, one of the most curious is the monotone quality of Israel's response. Within hours of the Israeli assault on an aid ship bound for Gaza, while the dead and wounded were still being evacuated from the scene, Israel's deputy foreign minister delivered a verbal broadside that became his nation's public line: The flotilla organizers are terrorist sympathizers, they ambushed Israeli forces, and they are responsible for what followed.

After the Israeli flotilla incident, Turkey is the new Palestinian champion

“This is language that we have not heard since the time of Gamal Abdul Nasser.” Thus wrote the influential chief editor of Al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper, referring to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s fiery response to the Israeli assault on the Gaza flotilla – adding that such “manly” positions and rhetoric had “disappeared from the dictionaries of our Arab leaders (since the demise of Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser).” He lamented that “Arab regimes now represent the only friends left to Israel.”

Majority of PLO factions form elections coalition

All factions represented within the PLO in Nablus will run for local elections on a combined list, except for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Palestinian People's Party (PPP), a statement from the body read Sunday.

Following a series of meetings between PLO factions, an agreement was reached to unify a list for the Nablus municipal and council elections, the statement read, the first that will be held across the region, set for mid July.

France, 5 Palestinian banks sign deals for private sector growth

The French Bank Natixis signed agreements in Bethlehem with five Palestinian banks on the sidelines of the Palestine Investment Conference 2010, a statement from the French Consulate read.

Abbas forces Sheikh Tamimi into retirement

President Mahmoud Abbas announced the end of Sheikh Tayseer Tamimi's career as Palestinian Chief Justice and Supreme Judge on Monday, with sources citing corruption charges brought forward by whistle-blower Fahmi Shabana months earlier.

With Shabana's allegations principally focused on former presidential adviser Rafiq Al-Husseini, who was embroiled in a sex-tape scandal and accusations of selling land to Israel, the only mention of charges against Tamimi came in early May, when the sheikh made a public statement denying rumors that Abbas was charging him with corruption.

Israeli patrol kills 4 militants in diving gear

An Israeli naval patrol killed at least four Palestinian militants in diving gear off the Gaza coast on Monday, Hamas security officials and the Israeli army said.

"An Israeli naval patrol spotted a boat with four men in diving suits on their way to carry out a terror attack and fired at them," an Israeli army spokesman said, adding that the patrol had confirmed hitting its targets.

The spokesman did not say what the army thought was the intended objective of the divers.

Hamas security sources said four bodies had been found and a fifth man was missing and presumed dead.

Photos from Turkish aid ship show blood and chaos

Turkish pro-Palestinian campaigners released photographs on Sunday showing terrified, bleeding Israeli soldiers cowering and surrounded by activists on the Turkish aid ship that they had stormed.

Nine activists from Turkey were killed last Monday in the storming of the Mavi Marmara, part of a convoy trying to break Israel's blockade of Gaza and deliver some 10,000 tonnes of aid.

The photographs were taken by a member of the Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Aid, or IHH, which organised the convoy, said spokesman Salih Bilici.

Iran Revolutionary Guards ready to escort Gaza ships

Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards are ready to provide a military escort to cargo ships trying to break Israel's blockade of Gaza, a representative of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Sunday.

"Iran's Revolutionary Guards naval forces are fully prepared to escort the peace and freedom convoys to Gaza with all their powers and capabilities," Ali Shirazi, Khamenei's representative inside the Revolutionary Guards, was quoted as saying by the semi-official Mehr news agency.

Flotilla raid fallout leaves Netanyahu battling on two fronts

A forum of seven ministers that advises Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, faced battle on two fronts when it met in Jerusalem on Sunday.

Internationally, the government is struggling to frustrate calls for an international inquiry into an Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla last week, which left nine pro-Palestinian activists dead – while at the same time meeting American demands for a full investigation.

U.S. demands IDF probe how American lost eye at West Bank protest

The United States embassy has demanded an investigation into how an American citizen lost her eye last week at the Qalandiyah checkpoint after being struck by a tear gas grenade.

PM's exit strategy: Easing naval blockade of Gaza

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is prepared to consider easing the naval blockade of Gaza and involving international players in its enforcement.

In so doing, he is acceding to pressure from Washington, which opposes continuing the blockade in its present format and demands that Israel make it easier to send civilian goods to Gaza.

Knesset panel recommends revoking Arab MK's privileges

The Knesset's House Committee on Monday recommended revoking the privileges of Israeli Arab MK Hanin Zuabi, after she participated in last week's Gaza-bound aid flotilla which resulted in an IDF raid that killed nine activists.

The decision was passed by a majority of seven to one, with MK Ilan Gilon of Meretz opposing.

The Knesset committee recommended rescinding from Zuabi three key privileges usually granted to Knesset Members. One is the privilege to exit the country – which is supposed to prevent Zoabi from fleeing Israel if she commits a felony or has debts in Israel.

The hijacking of the truth: Film evidence 'destroyed'

Jamal Elshayyal, a journalist with al-Jazeera, woke with a start to the opening salvos of an Israeli assault that would transform the decks of the Mavi Marmara, a Turkish vessel bound for Gaza, into a bloodbath.

From the ship's position deep in international waters, satellite images of Israeli speedboats and helicopters approaching the vessel were beamed across the globe before communications were abruptly cut off, leaving the events on the Marmara to unfold away from the eyes of the world.

The Leadership of the Palestinian Cause between Turkey and Iran

Out of the Israeli brutality against civilians on board the flotilla in international waters, new realities emerged that may lead to radical solutions if the major players in the International Quartet acted wisely and boldly, and if the regional powers led by Egypt and Turkey understood well the opportunity to support Palestine without one-upmanship.

Israel has lost its mind in recent times as it is under extreme pressure that has shaken its confidence in its ability to plan strategies and draw in American support for them, as usual.

Erdogan and Nasrallah…And Pulling the Rug?

A while ago my father asked me about the role of Iran and Turkey in the region, and the Iranian nuclear file, and I began to explain this in detail, however my father interrupted me saying "the issue is simpler than this, my son!" I asked him "how?" He answered "for years the game has been the same game, however the ability of the two players is in decline."

Israel must clarify Palestine's status

While world attention has been heavily focused on efforts to break the siege of Gaza, Palestinians in the West Bank are pursuing a series of new, nonviolent, strategies challenging the Israeli occupation. What they are primarily seeking, and what the Israeli government is desperately trying to avoid, is clarity about the status of the occupied territories.

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