March 14, 2011

Middle East News: World Press Roundup

Israel hunts for killer of a settler family, and vows more settlement construction in response to the murders drawing US criticism. Pres. Abbas calls the murders "inhuman" and says the PA would have prevented them if they could have. The killings spark fears of renewed violence, and even Jewish terrorism, as settlers lash out. Palestinians of all political stripes seem embarrassed by the attack. Hamas says the culprits may not be Palestinians and insists the attack has no connection to Gaza. No major Israeli policy changes are expected. Some Palestinians in the West Bank honor a hijacking leader. FM Lieberman says Hamas could take over the West Bank. Israel's mayor in Jerusalem says the city will never be divided. Foreign Policy looks at the plight of Bedouins in the Negev.

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Suspecting Palestinians, Israeli Military Hunts for Killers of 5 West Bank Settlers

It was close to midnight on Saturday when the bodies of five members of the Fogel family were removed from their home in this Jewish settlement in the hills of the northern West Bank, more than 24 hours after intruders, suspected to be Palestinians, stabbed them to death in their sleep.

The bodies were brought out in order of age — first the parents, Udi, 36, and Ruth, 35, then the three children, Yoav, 11, Elad, 4, and Hadas, a baby girl of 3 months. They were the victims of the deadliest attack inside a settlement in years.

Israel to Step Up Pace of Construction in West Bank Areas

Israel said Sunday that it would build hundreds of new housing units within the populous West Bank settlement blocs, ending a slowdown in government-supported construction that had lasted several months.

The move is meant to assuage settlers’ anger, particularly after the killings of five family members in the Itamar settlement late Friday. But it is also likely to complicate international efforts to revive the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

Brutal West Bank killings shock Israel, stir fears of renewed violence

A grisly trail of toys and blood led paramedics to the first three bodies: a mother, father and their 4-month-old infant, stabbed to death in their bed. In the next room, medics say they found the body of an 11-year-old sibling.

Finally, with growing dread, they reached the last bedroom, where a 4-year-old boy with knife wounds and a faint pulse was fighting for his life, ambulance workers said Saturday on Israel Radio. The medics worked frantically, but unsuccessfully, to resuscitate the toddler. One called it a scene of "incomprehensible horror."

Settler violence continues across West Bank

ettlers were seen setting fire to an agricultural field north of Ramallah overnight, while a mob entered a town east of Qalqiliya and set fire to civilian vehicles as Palestinians in the West Bank remain fearful.

Palestinian security had been warning residents against travel to areas of settler violence on Sunday afternoon, but drivers continue to fear roadside attacks on shared settler roads, while Palestinians living near settlements fear attacks from roving mobs of settlers seeking vengeance for the murder of a family in the northern West Bank in Friday night.

Gaza govt: Settler attackers may not be Palestinian

Palestinians may not be responsible for killing a family of five Israelis in Itamar settlement overnight Friday, the Gaza government said Sunday.

Israeli authorities immediately blamed Palestinians for the attack, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the Palestinian Authority of "daily incitement" against Israel in his response to the killings.

However, Gaza government spokesman Taher An-Nunu said the Israeli government should not rule out the possibility that the attack was perpetrated by Israeli criminals.

Hamas has denied any involvement in the attack.

US criticizes Israeli settlement construction plan

The U.S. Embassy said Monday it was "deeply concerned" by Israel's plans to build hundreds of new homes in the West Bank following a deadly attack on a settler family, calling Israeli settlements "illegitimate" and an obstacle to peacemaking.

In a rare interview to the Israeli media, the Palestinian president reached out to the Israeli public, decrying the weekend attack in the settlement of Itamar as "despicable, immoral and inhuman." But he rejected the Israeli suggestion that his government was indirectly to blame.

Settlement killings inhuman, Abbas tells Israel

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Monday the killing of a Jewish settler couple and three of their children was "inhuman", telling Israel he was determined to help catch those responsible.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had complained that Abbas's administration insufficiently condemned the attack and even encouraged such bloodshed through "incitement" in official Palestinian forums.

"This was inhuman and immoral. We deplore this incident, without a doubt. It is an abomination," Abbas told Israel Radio.

Abbas: PNA would have prevented deadly attack if it had early information

The Palestinian National Authority would have prevented a deadly attack on a Jewish settlement if it had information in advance, President Mahmoud Abbas said Monday.

"If we had known, we would have prevented it using all our ways, " Abbas said in an interview with Israel Radio. "We want to know who committed the operation," Abbas added, referring to the stabbing of five Israeli settlers, members of one family, to death in the West Bank settlement of Itamar early Saturday.

No major policy changes expected in Israel following deadly attack

The Israeli government on Saturday night responded to the murder of five settlers in Itamar neighborhood by allowing the construction of about 500 new homes in settlements across the West Bank.

During Sunday's cabinet meeting, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed the Palestinian National Authority's tolerance of "incitement" for the Itamar tragedy.

"We expect much more unequivocal condemnation, but even more than that, we want to see unequivocal action by the Palestinian National Authority to stop allowing this incitement," Netanyahu said in a statement.

Hamas: No connection between Gaza groups and West Bank murdering

Hamas on Sunday denied any connection between the Gaza-based militant groups and the murdering of five Israelis in a West Bank settlement.

Taher Al-Nounou, spokesman for Hamas' government that controls Gaza, said that Israel tries to implicate Gaza in the attack that happened in Itamar settlement "to justify an aggressive act against the Gaza Strip."

Al-Nounou said that the killing might be a result of a criminal act, while some Israeli officials said there was a connection between Hamas and the attackers.

Palestinians honour highjack leader, defying Israel

Palestinians from President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction named a town square on Sunday after the leader of a 1978 bus hijacking in which 35 Israelis were killed.

The ceremony, in Al-Bireh, a town near the Palestinian city of Ramallah, was held while Israelis mourned five members of a Jewish settler family knifed to death on Saturday in a West Bank settlement in an attack Israel blamed on Palestinians.

Many Palestinians see Dalal al-Mughrabi, a member of the then-underground Fatah movement, as a heroine for her role in hijacking the bus on Israel's Haifa-Tel Aviv highway.

Settlement attack could trigger terrorism by Jewish extremists

The horrific act perpetrated in Itamar late Friday night turns the clock back to a darker time in the West Bank. The two Palestinian terrorists who murdered five family members - a father, mother and their three children - provided a jolt whose impact is likely to be far-reaching. Its consequences will cast a pall over Israelis' and Palestinians' sense of security in the northern West Bank, the intelligence cooperation between Israel and the Palestinian security services, and perhaps the lofty goal of restarting the diplomatic process.

Lieberman: Hamas can take over West Bank

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Monday that "the Foreign Ministry believes, in contrast with other authorities, that Hamas is currently stronger than Fatah in Judea and Samaria".

"Hamas does not currently desire to take hold of power there," he told a debate at the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

"They are waiting for the day after Abbas and Fayyad extract the maximum they are able to get out of the international community, and then they will seize power."

Jerusalem will never be divided, says Barkat

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat insisted that Jerusalem is not up for negotiation in a future peace process during a conversation with Jerusalem Post Editor-in-Chief David Horovitz on Saturday night at the Great Synagogue in Jerusalem.

“In [the peace negotiations] there are a lot of pink lines, but I have one red line: It’s called Jerusalem, don’t negotiate with Jerusalem,” the mayor told the crowd of 500, eliciting cheers.

Noting that he considers the idea of a divided Jerusalem “dead on arrival,” the mayor added that “There is no good example of a split city that works.”

Palestinians Embarrassed, Not Proud, of Settlement Attack

Far from gloating over a terrorist attack Friday night that left five Israeli family members dead in Itamar, a Jewish town located beyond Israel’s pre-1967 borders, Palestinians across the political spectrum reacted with embarrassment. Many preferred to put the blame for the attack on hidden Israeli hands than put the onus on any Palestinian group.

Erasing links to the land in the Negev

Hiding in the cemetery where her parents are buried, Hakma al-Turi, an Israeli citizen, has watched bulldozers demolish her village -- al-Araqib -- more than 20 times. The Israel Land Administration first demolished the 45 structures on this patch of land in the Negev desert eight months ago. When the 300 Israeli Bedouin who lived here defiantly rebuilt tarp-covered shacks, the Israel Land Administration demolished them again and again, the last time on March 7.

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