March 4, 2011

Middle East News: World Press Roundup

ATFP president Ziad Asali says Arab uprisings are about accountability and corruption. Philip Wilcox says UNRWA is a good investment for American taxpayers. Palestinians reject Israeli proposals for an interim agreement. Israel bombs Gaza. Hamas proposes its own reconciliation plan. Palestinian citizens of Israel are criticized for having visited Libya. Israel seems to have concluded that no deal with the Palestinians is possible under present circumstances, and DM Barak says it's because of the makeup of the Israeli cabinet. Some Fatah leaders demand the ouster of PM Fayyad. Palestinians want international pressure to halt settler violence. PM Netanyahu says a binational state would be a disaster. Jonathan Schachter says Palestinians are looking for diplomatic options beyond Washington. Aluf Benn says Netanyahu may be moving to the center. An 11 year old Palestinian boy says he was beaten by Israeli police. Militant settlers plan for confrontations. Israel may seek to retain 40% of the West Bank. Elias Samo says the Arab Peace Initiative is the right basis for ending the conflict, but Yossi Alpher says it needs to be clarified.

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Washington must not be a global policeman or dictators' patron

The current uprisings in the Arab world demand a reassessment of current policy by all countries, especially the United States. One expects heightened demands for democracy, human rights, freedom of expression and regular elections, as well as a commitment to the people of the Middle East that their rights and aspirations will be properly reflected. It would not be surprising if all these demands were packaged as part of an initiative to address the Palestinian-Israel conflict and the establishment of a state of Palestine.

UNRWA: A Good Investment for American Taxpayers

The historic popular uprisings in Egypt and elsewhere in the Middle East are forcing the United States, for the first time in decades, to recalibrate American priorities there. In the past, we have weighted our diplomacy and resources toward order and stability, often at the expense of our commitment to freedom, democracy and development. The events of recent weeks make clear that we must give higher priority to supporting more just and accountable political institutions and to unfulfilled human needs. If we don't, the threat of violence and instability will surely grow.

Israel mulls interim peace plan

Amid the stalled Middle East peace process, the Israeli government is considering proposing an interim arrangement with the Palestinians. But Palestinian leaders said they would not accept such a provisional arrangement that stops short of settling on final borders for the creation of a Palestinian state.

Witnesses: Airstrike targets central Gaza

sraeli warplanes struck a car in central Gaza Friday morning causing no injuries, witnesses said.

Locals said Israeli fighter jets fired two missiles near the An-Nuseirat refugee camp, destroying a jeep belonging to a resistance fighter.

Many Israeli drones were hovering over Gaza at the time of the raid, residents said.

An Israeli military spokeswoman was not immediately familiar with the attack.

Hamas to present new reconciliation plan

A political advisor to Prime Minster Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza says Hamas will present an initiative within the coming days on its government shakeup and rejection of Salam Fayyad's unity government.

Yousef Rezqa told Ma'an that "Hamas, with all of its departments, is considering presenting this initiative to the Palestinians," saying it would "go into detail on what is obstructing the internal situation."

Israeli-Arab leaders under fire for Libya visit

Israeli-Arab leaders are on the defensive over a much-publicized visit to Libya last year, where they fawned over Moammar Gadhafi and posed for a series of photographs beaming alongside the longtime ruler.

Known as loud critics of Israel's treatment of its Arab minority, they are now facing uncomfortable questions about their long history of cozying up to some of the Middle East's most authoritarian leaders.

Israel: No Palestinian peace deal possible now

Israel has concluded that a final peace deal with the Palestinians cannot be reached at this time and is weighing alternatives to try to prove that it is interested in keeping peacemaking with the Palestinians alive, officials said Thursday.

With popular protests shaking up the Mideast, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under fierce international pressure to prove he is serious about getting peacemaking moving again, especially after the U.S. vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Israel's West Bank settlement construction last month.

Gaza banks shut down after Hamas confiscation

All banks in the Gaza Strip temporarily shut down on Thursday after Hamas-affiliated men forced a local branch to cash some $500,000 in checks.

Gaza bankers said the ruling Hamas militant group sent police to confiscate the money from a branch of the Palestine Investment Bank. They said the police were accompanied by members of a committee Hamas had appointed in 2009 to oversee the Palestine Investment Fund, which is run by the rival Palestinian government in the West Bank.

Barak reveals doubts Israeli cabinet can make peace

Defence Minister Ehud Barak said on Thursday he thought Israel's right-wing dominated government was "not really conducive to making diplomatic progress" with the Palestinians."

In an interview with Israel's Channel 10 television, Barak said he feared what he called "a tsunami approaching," or "growing international pressure to delegitimise Israel" over a six month stalemate in U.S.-brokered talks with Palestinians.

Major Palestinian party looks to oust Fayyad

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' dominant Fatah political faction has demanded that he sack Western-backed Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, according to a letter shown to Reuters on Thursday.

The letter, signed by senior Fatah officials, was sent to Abbas on Saturday, but the president "did not take it seriously", a Fatah official told Reuters.

However, the request underlined deep political friction at the heart of the Palestinian Authority, with many Fatah activists clearly frustrated by Fayyad, who has no significant political base of his own but wields substantial power.

World must act on settler violence: Palestinians

The Palestinian Authority on Wednesday urged the international community to take action to halt Jewish settler violence towards Palestinians.

Following a series of attacks against Palestinians across the West Bank, the Ramallah-based leadership issued a statement demanding the international community "intervene with Israel over the violent and provocative actions by settlers, which the Israeli authorities refuse to control."

Netanyahu: Binational state would be disastrous for Israel

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected in the coming weeks to put forward a peace initiative in a bid to break through the deadlock in the peace process and extricate Israel from international isolation.

Netanyahu has warned in recent days during closed meetings that “a binational state would be disastrous for Israel,” and therefore it is necessary to undertake a political move that will remove this threat.

Palestinians may be looking for peace beyond Washington

President Barack Obama has spoken more forcefully than any of his predecessors about the importance of a Palestinian state. His eagerness to advance that goal undoubtedly influenced his introduction of the unprecedented and unrealistic position ? then adopted by the Palestinian Authority ? to make a total Israeli construction freeze in the West Bank and East Jerusalem a precondition for further peace negotiations ?(though progress was scant following an earlier freeze?).

Netanyahu may be breaking away from the far-right to the center

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reached the point where he needs to make a decision, something he has avoided doing for two years: choosing between the ideology he was raised on and which is part of his internal belief system, and the duties of the leader of a small country entirely dependent on international support.

Like all of his predecessors, Netanyahu too has surrendered to external pressure and embarked on a political initiative that will break through the stifling isolation in which Israel finds itself.

Palestinian boy claims police beat him

An 11-year old boy arrested in east Jerusalem for throwing stones claims officers beat him while his hands were tied. Hospital tests confirm the boy sustained injuries to the eye, head, and stomach.

M. was arrested on Monday in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan. It was his fifth run-in with the law, and his two brothers were also arrested. The three were interrogated in the presence of their father, an imam and one of the leading figures in Silwan residents' protest against Israeli forces.

A peek into settlers' war room

In a small apartment on the second floor of a building in Hebron's Jewish quarter, 12 right-wing activists gathered to create plans on how best to disrupt life in Israel, or what they call their "day of rage".

The protests against police violence during the razing of illegal structures in Havat Gilad Monday, for which settlers vowed payback, began at 7 am Thursday, with activists blocking major junctions near Jerusalem. But the worst was yet to come. In their war room, organizers mapped out areas in which protesters would clash with security forces.

'PM told Abbas Israel demands to hold 40% of W. Bank'

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas some five months ago that Israel demands that 40 percent of of the West Bank remain under its control for an extended period, Fatah Central Committee member Nabil Shaat said on Friday, according to Israel Radio.

Shaat added that Netanyahu also said he wouldn't listen to one word from Abbas and not a word about borders or refugees until the Palestinians agree to recognise Israel as a Jewish state and about its security needs, Israel Radio reported.

PM likely to unveil diplomatic initiative in DC in May

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s new diplomatic initiative is likely to be unveiled in Washington in May, possibly during an address to Congress.

In the meantime, his envoy Yitzhak Molcho is expected to ask Quartet representatives traveling to Jerusalem next week to refrain from issuing statements fundamentally changing the Quartet’s position on the conflict, until Netanyahu unveils his new initiative.

Netanyahu ponders peace initiatives

Israel has concluded that a final peace deal with the Palestinians cannot be reached at present and is weighing alternatives to try to prove that it is interested in keeping peacemaking with the Palestinians alive, officials said yesterday.

With popular protests shaking the Middle East, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under international pressure to prove he is serious about peacemaking, especially after the US vetoed a UN Security Council resolution condemning Israel's West Bank settlement construction last month.

If not now, then when?

The Arab Peace Initiative, unanimously approved at the 2002 Beirut Arab League summit, is divided into two operative parts. The first, paragraph 2, which represents minimum Arab demands, calls for full Israeli withdrawal and a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem its capital. The second, paragraph 3, which represents the maximum Arab offer to Israel, affirms a commitment to consider the "conflict ended and enter into a peace agreement with Israel".

Not a clear enough incentive

According to the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002 and 2007, once Israel has made peace with all its neighbors in accordance with a specific list of conditions (1967 borders, a just and agreed solution to the refugee issue, the Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem), "the Arab countries . . . consider the Arab-Israeli conflict ended, and enter into a peace agreement with Israel." This, together with "security for all the states of the region" (an important issue that warrants a separate discussion), is the Arab "payoff" to Israel in return for peace.

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