February 1, 2011

Middle East News: World Press Roundup

Ziad Asali applauds the Arab citizen standing up for his dignity and says that as Egypt goes, so will most of the rest of the Arab world. The New York Times hosts a debate on Pres. Mubarak’s role in the peace process. Palestinian groups and media are largely silent on events in Egypt. Roger Cohen says the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is no longer an excuse for lack of Arab reform. Israel approves the first military deployment in Sinai since 1979. Israelis wonder if the US position on Egypt is a warning to Israel. The PA accuses Hamas of selling donated medicine, and says Israel’s destruction of water resources must stop. The PA says it will hold local elections as soon as possible. Two rockets fired from Gaza land in Israel. Palestinian citizens of Israel use dance in quest for tolerance. Israel denies sending riot control equipment to Egypt. Janan Abdu says her husband and other Palestinian prisoners are being abused by Israel. The Chronicle of Higher Education profiles Sari Nusseibeh.

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The Arab citizen stands up for his dignity

The Arab youth have lost their fear, and marched in defiance of their leadership in search of bread, freedom and dignity. They have forged new political realities that are fraught with possibilities and promise as well as dangers and peril. One thing is clear-the status quo has come to an end. Arab unity, long proclaimed dead and buried, has re-emerged in a political contagion which is spreading among the Arabs whose regimes (with the exception of the Gulf) are twisting in the winds.

Mubarak's Role and Mideast Peace

The uprising in Egypt has created turmoil for Israeli and Palestinian leaders, who have their own complicated relationships with the Mubarak regime.

For Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, President Hosni Mubarak has been his strongest ally in the region. At the same time, Mr. Mubarak has been a firm ally of the Palestinian Authority and a staunch supporter of the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Egypt has also tried to broker reconciliation talks (so far, unsuccessfully) between Fatah, the party governing the West Bank, and Hamas, which controls Gaza.

Palestinian Adversaries Unite, for Now, on Egypt

The Hamas rulers of Gaza and the rival Palestinian Authority leadership of the West Bank rarely see eye-to-eye on anything. But with mass protests rocking Egypt, across Gaza’s southern border, the Palestinian adversaries have united in maintaining a cautious silence, hedging their bets given the unpredictability of the outcome and clearly concerned about a possible spread of popular unrest to their areas.

Exit the Israel Alibi

One way to measure the immense distance traveled by Arabs over the past month is to note the one big subject they are not talking about: Israel.

For too long, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been the great diversion, exploited by feckless Arab autocrats to distract impoverished populations. None of these Arab leaders ever bothered to visit the West Bank. That did not stop them embracing the justice of the Palestinian cause even as they trampled on justice at home.

Now, Arabs are thinking about their own injustices. With great courage, they are saying “Enough!”

EGYPT AND ISRAEL: Israel approves first Egyptian military deployment in Sinai since 1979

Responding to a request from Egypt, Israel has approved the deployment of Egyptian troops in Sinai amid civil unrest in Egypt.

According to news reports, two battalions -- about 800 soldiers -- are headed for the resort of Sharm el Sheik. This is a first since the 1979 peace treaty between the two countries, which limits the security presence in Sinai to police forces.

ISRAEL: Is the U.S. attitude to Egypt a message?

The U.S. position on Egypt has taken Israel by surprise and left people wondering what the Americans are doing and what this means for other allies in the region, including Israel.

Palestinian media mum on Egypt protests

Silence prevailed, from the Palestinian Authority, the government in Gaza, the factions and the people; all kept a safe distance from the Egyptian hot potato for fear that coming out on the wrong side would impact their future.

PA accuses Hamas of selling donated medicine

The Palestinian Authority Health Ministry on Monday accused its counterpart in the Gaza Strip of selling donated medical aid to private pharmacies.

The Ramallah-based ministry said five convoys had delivered almost 1,600 tons of medical aid to the coastal enclave so far in 2011.

However, only a few tons of the donated medicine reached the PA ministry's warehouse in the Gaza Strip, the ministry said in a statement.

PA: Israeli destruction of water resources must stop

Israel has "intensified its campaign of targeting Palestinian water cisterns for destruction," Minister of the Palestinian Water Authority Shaddad Attili said Tuesday, condemning the acts.

Speaking on the 10th anniversary of the Israeli-Palestinian Joint Water Committee's 'Declaration for Keeping the Water Infrastructure out of the Cycle of Violence,' Attili accused Israel of using water to target Palestinian communities in vulnerable areas and force their departure.

Palestinian Cabinet in West Bank says it will hold municipal elections 'as soon as possible'

Palestinian Cabinet in West Bank says it will hold municipal elections "as soon as possible."

2 Gaza rockets explode in Israeli towns

The Israeli military says two rockets fired from Gaza have exploded in Israeli towns. No one was hurt, but there was some damage.

The attacks came a few minutes apart late Monday. One rocket hit Netivot, 9 miles (14 kilometers) east of Gaza, and the second exploded in Ofakim, 15 miles (25 kilometers) from Gaza.

The military says the range indicates the rockets were Grads. Israel charges that Iran supplies Gaza militants with Grads.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Movement for equality

On the pale parquet floor of the Rabeah Murkus Dance Studio in Kfar Yassif a few students are warming up to a backdrop of purple walls and a decorated Christmas tree. After Murkus hustles the last of the lingerers in the dressing room, samba music starts coming through the loudspeakers and the lesson in modern dance begins. Couple by couple, the youngsters bound along the length and breadth of the space, energetically carving the air.

For Palestinians, Egyptian Unrest Is Bittersweet

Ordinary people cheer on protestors, but Hamas and Fatah are both hesitant to take sides

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and West Bank expressed both hope and anxiety as unrest went into its seventh day in Egypt, a country that has acted as a lifeline to besieged Gaza and a patron to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank but also as the object of anger and resentment.

Israel Denies Sending Egypt Riot Equipment

Israel has denied an Al Jazeera report that Egypt had requested Israel to send riot-dispersal gear and that two airplanes had landed in Cairo with the equipment.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry on Monday denied both that Egypt had made the request and that Israel had sent the equipment.

Some 250,000 protesters gathered Monday in Tahrir Square in Cairo as Egypt entered its seventh day of protests against the government of President Hosni Mubarak.

Israel's human rights abuses in the name of security

"Israeli security" is the sacred cow of the Israeli street and ruling establishment. Practically all the manifestations of Israeli racism directed at the state's Palestinian citizens, as well as those living under occupation in the West Bank and Gaza, fall within this elastic slogan. In the name of this slogan, too, Israeli human rights organisations working to expose the practices of the state and army have recently had restrictions placed upon them.

Maverick Sari Nusseibeh proposes an interim route to peace in the Middle East

Sari Nusseibeh's socks match these days, he's clean-shaven, and he's a university president rather than an anarchist student or faculty union leader. But his hair, though a bit shorter and a lot grayer than it was in the 1970s and 80s, is still unkempt. Despite his establishment perch and his foothold in East Jerusalem, his head is still in the clouds. It might be the distance between his extremities that makes him the most politically incorrect political activist in Palestinian politics.

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