March 8, 2011

Middle East News: World Press Roundup

Seven Palestinians are wounded in clashes with settlers, and Palestinian officials hold the Israeli government responsible. Palestinians launch a new diplomatic initiative for statehood. Aaron David Miller says the US will not be abandoning Israel. Israel is still considering proposing a provisional Palestinian state. Hamas says it will reshuffle its cabinet. Israel says it will demolish unauthorized outposts by the end of the year. DM Barak says Israel may ask the US for $20 billion in additional military aid. The former Dutch PM says European leaders can’t trust PM Netanyahu. Menachem Klein says Israel won’t be able to use force against the next Palestinian uprising. An extremist Rabbi calls on settlers to use violence against Israeli soldiers. Israel worries about gas supplies from Sinai. A Palestinian woman launches a successful café chain in the West Bank. Jewish students at Berkeley talk about Israel activism. Ghassan Khatib says Palestinians see a win-win scenario for peace. Yossi Alpher says weak leaders are reacting poorly across the board.

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West Bank: Clash Over Olive Trees Leaves 8 Wounded

At least seven Palestinians were wounded by gunfire and rubber bullets in clashes with Israeli settlers and soldiers in the northern West Bank on Monday, according to a Palestinian official and the Israeli military. One settler was reported wounded after being hit by a rock. Palestinians accused the settlers of having uprooted olive trees in the area. A military spokeswoman said that settlers and soldiers opened fire after being attacked by Palestinian stone throwers.

Palestinians make risky gambit for statehood

Palestinian leaders are embarking on a risky statehood strategy that will seek to isolate Israel's hawkish government in the international community and rely less on U.S. backing, a move that reflects growing disappointment here with the Obama administration.

The campaign will include U.N. resolutions such as one proposed last month on Israeli settlement building, boycotts against Israeli products, complaints in international courts and attempts to win formal recognition from as many countries as possible, Palestinian officials say.

For Better or for Worse

Israelis, like most Jews, worry for a living. The dark side of Jewish history and the security challenges of their national life compel them to. And these days there's plenty to worry about. Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, and turbulent changes in the Arab world unleashed by the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia are shifting the power balance against Israel. Indeed, its position in the neighborhood -- in part as a consequence of its own policies -- is growing increasingly precarious.

Israeli PM: Military must remain in West Bank

Israel's prime minister declared Tuesday that his country must retain a strategic section of the West Bank under any future peace deal — a position unlikely to win Palestinians over to his reported plan to offer them a temporary state.

In a rare visit to the occupied territory, Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters that Israel's security depends on maintaining a military presence in the Jordan Valley — a strip of West Bank land along the border with Jordan. Without troops there, Israel fears militants could smuggle weapons into the West Bank.

Palestinian official says Israeli government responsible for settlers assaults

A senior Palestinian official on Monday held the Israeli government fully responsible for the ongoing attacks of the Jewish settlers against the Palestinians in the West Bank.

Tayseer Khaled, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) executive committee, told Xinhua that the PLO condemns the recent settlers' attacks on Monday during which eight Palestinians were wounded.

"What happened on Monday in the village of Qasrra near Nablus is not far away from the atmosphere that the Israeli government is encouraging and its silence towards the acts of the settlers," said Khaled.

Hamas leader says to reshuffle government

Prime Minister of the deposed Hamas government in Gaza Ismail Haneya said on Monday that he will reshuffle his deposed government soon.

He told a gathering of his government's representatives in Gaza that the move aims at pumping new blood to the government.

"The activities of the government are not linked with this minister or that one, the ministers come and go, and we are going to reshuffle the government soon," said Haneya.

He noted that his government had held consultations "with everyone without exception, adding that there are some people who refused to join the government.

Israeli gov't orders demolition of illegal West Bank outposts by year end

The Israeli government is committed to removing illegal outposts on private Palestinian land in the West Bank by the end of 2011, a government official told Xinhua on Monday.

The decision by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet followed a petition filed by the Israeli left-wing NGO Peace Now to the High Court, demanding the razing of six controversial outposts, including locales known as Givat Asaf, Mitzpe Yitzhar and Mitzpeh Lachish.

Israel may ask U.S. for $20 billion more in security aid, Barak says

Israel may request an addition $20 billion in military aid from the United States in light of the unrest sweeping the Arab world, Defense Minister Ehud Barak told The Wall Street Journal in an interview published Monday.

Barak deemed the changes in the region a "movement in the right direction", and said that in the long run, Israel should not fear the "movement of Arab societies toward modernity."

But in the more immediate future, he told the WSJ, Israel would have to contend with the fact that Iran and Syria "might be the last to feel the heat" and join the trend of unrest.

Former Dutch PM tells Haaretz: European leaders can't trust Netanyahu

The red carpet was not rolled out to greet 80-year-old Dries van Agt upon his arrival at Ben-Gurion International Airport. The man who was prime minister of Holland from 1977 to 1982 is known here as one of the leading delegitimizers of Israel.

Israel can't use force against the next Palestinian uprising

If the South Sudanese and East Timorese gained independence before the Palestinians, something went seriously wrong. How can one compare these places to the religious and international standing of Palestine? This must be the thinking of any Palestinians who have calculated their private profit and loss columns since the Oslo Accords.

Rabbi Wolpo: Fire rubber bullets back at soldiers

SOS Israel Chairman Rabbi Shalom Dov Wolpo called on West Bank settlers living in outposts and their supporters to use violence against soldiers and officers who use crowd dispersal means during evacuations.

In a radio interview Saturday night, Rabbi Wolpo estimated that Israel was heading toward a civil war. "The army decided to fight against settlers and against the people and State of Israel.

As Gas Supplies Are Cut, Israel Sees First Worrying Sign of New Mideast

A month after militants attacked a Sinai pipeline, supply has yet to resume

Israel’s energy industry looks like it’s on its way to becoming the country’s first casualty of the emerging new Middle East, where governments are responding to public pressure for an end to secret deals and taking a harder line on the Jewish state.

Palestinian Woman Serves Up Success With West Bank Café Chain

When Huda El-Jack speaks, it’s with more than an American accent. She exudes an American entrepreneurial drive that she has brought to the Palestinian Authority and, in her own energetic way, she’s paving a path for Palestinian women to assume a greater role in the economy.

At Berkeley campus, Jewish students from left to right on Israel talk about their motivations

It’s March, which means the days get longer and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict heats up on campuses across North America with the annual staging of Israel Apartheid Week.

Last year, pro-Israel activists countered Apartheid Week events ranging from anti-Israel speeches to the staging of mock Israeli army checkpoints with pro-Israel events on 28 campuses highlighting Israel’s diversity and progressive character. This year, more campuses are expected to join in.

A PALESTINIAN VIEW: Sharing the search for freedom

The wave of protests demanding change in a growing number of countries marks a new era in the recent history of the Arab world. It is not a coincidence that Egypt has taken the lead in its revolution for political and social development. It comes half a century after Egypt took the lead in an Arab liberation movement that succeeded in ending direct colonial control over the region.

AN ISRAELI VIEW: Weak leaders responding poorly

The revolutionary events sweeping the region, Egypt especially, have thus far produced a knee-jerk reaction on the part of the PLO and Palestinian Authority leadership that seemingly reflects a shallow decision-making process in Ramallah. The same, undoubtedly, can be said for the Netanyahu government in Jerusalem.

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