January 27, 2009

Middle East News: World Press Roundup

In his first interview with Arabic television President Obama reaches out to the Muslim world and says that peace talks should resume (1). Israel launches fresh attacks into southern Gaza after an IDF soldier was killed by a bomb planted on the Gaza-Israel border (2). Newly appointed Mideast envoy George Mitchell is in Cairo on the first leg of his week-long tour of the region (3). The British Gaza appeal by the Disasters Emergency Commission raises record funds despite being refused airtime by the BBC (4). Egypt proposes a start date of February 22nd for Palestinian reconciliation talks (5). The situation in Gaza could complicate Pope Benedict XVI’s planned trip to Israel (6). Benjamin Netanyahu, along with a third of the Likud candidates, refuse to sign a loyalty oath ruling out the possibility of a Palestinian state (11).

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Obama tells Al Arabiya peace talks should resume

In his first interview since taking office, President Barack Obama told Arab satellite station Al Arabiya that Americans are not the enemy of the Muslim world and said Israel and the Palestinians should resume peace negotiations.

“My job to the Muslim world is to communicate that the Americans are not your enemy,” Obama told Al Arabiya’s Hisham Melhem in an interview broadcast Tuesday morning.

Israel launches attacks in Gaza

Israel launches attacks in Gaza

Israel has carried out an air attack in the Gaza Strip and launched an incursion with tanks and bulldozers across the border.

Palestinian sources say there has been fighting near Khan Younis in southern Gaza, with people fleeing their homes.

The incursion follows a bomb attack which killed one Israeli soldier and wounded three near the Gaza border.

It is the worst violence since Israel's offensive against Hamas in Gaza ended with both sides declaring ceasefires.

Obama envoy Mitchell in Cairo on first leg of Mideast tour

U.S. President Barack Obama's new Middle East envoy, George Mitchell, arrived in Cairo on Tuesday as he embarked on a week-long tour to the region and Europe. The trip kicks off the new administration's efforts to revive Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking and shore up a shaky Gaza truce.

Mitchell, a former U.S. senator, was to meet Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Wednesday at the start of the trip, which will also take him to Israel, the West Bank, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, France and Britain.

Public gives £600,000 to Gaza appeal before broadcasts are aired

The Gaza appeal which the BBC is refusing to broadcast raised £600,000 before it was shown. Donations flooded in to the Disasters Emergency Committee website before the initial transmission of the two-minute appeal on ITV1 last night.

On previous occasions the DEC has not accepted donations until an appeal has gone out live but members of the public have been able to donate to the Gaza appeal since Thursday. Charity chiefs will be hoping that the controversy over the broadcast has increased public awareness that a way of donating to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is available.

Egypt: Palestinian reconciliation talks to begin on February 22

Egypt has proposed Feb. 22 as the date for the start of a dialogue between Palestinian groups, several of the groups said in reports published on Tuesday.

Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit of Egypt, which has been mediating between the groups, told reporters: "We will invite the Palestinian groups. We hope we will succeed in this in the third week or at the end of the third week of February."

Gaza situation could ‘complicate’ Pope’s Israel trip - prelate

A planned trip by Pope Benedict XVI to Israel could be “complicated” by the situation in Gaza, but not by a controversy over his decision to reverse the excommunication of an apparent Holocaust denier, a high-ranking prelate said Monday.

Did Israel Commit War Crimes in Gaza?

Did Israel violate international law in Gaza? The immense number of Palestinian civilian casualties suggests that it did. But can the laws of war really be applied to asymmetrical conflicts such as Israel's war with Hamas?

The Palmachim air force base is 15 kilometers (9 miles) south of Tel Aviv, tucked away in the dunes along the Mediterranean shore. A thin, bald man wearing rectangular, rimless glasses is standing in front of half a dozen combat helicopters on the airfield at the base.

Israel 'must sack' military rabbi

A human rights group in Israel has called for the military's chief rabbi to be dismissed for alleged incitement against Palestinians.

The group, Yesh Din, said Rabbi Avichai Rontzki distributed a booklet to troops in the Gaza offensive, which advised them they were fighting "murderers".

The booklet, citing an ultra-nationalist rabbi, told soldiers to show no mercy to a "cruel enemy".

The Israeli military has not yet commented on the issue.

Gaza: Humanitarian situation

Gaza: Humanitarian situation

Aid agencies are battling to meet the urgent needs of tens and thousands of displaced, homeless and injured people in Gaza, as well as to get damaged water, power and sewage infrastructure back even to their ailing pre-war levels.

That stage alone will cost "hundreds of millions" of dollars, while long term reconstruction will run into "billions," the UN has said.

Two separate Palestinian surveys have put the cost of the damage just under $2bn.

Turkey calls on Hamas to pick politics over arms

Turkey's government, accused of siding with Hamas during Israel's Gaza offensive, has called on the Islamist group to use peaceful means to achieve its aims rather than armed struggle, its foreign minister said.

The government has come under criticism for the strong rhetoric it used against Israel during the offensive in the Gaza strip. Turkish opposition parties, ex-diplomats and columnists have accused the government of taking a pro-Hamas stance.

Bibi won't rule out Palestinian state

Likud chairman Binyamin Netanyahu and three quarters of the Likud's candidates declined to sign a loyalty oath ruling out a Palestinian state that was distributed to all the parties on the Right.

The oath, distributed by the Matot Arim organization, included a vow not to lend a hand to the formation of a Palestinian state.

The National Union, Habayit Hayehudi, Israel Beiteinu and Shas signed the document.

Shas chairman Eli Yishai signed the document on behalf of his party. Meir Porush was the only United Torah Judaism MK who made the pledge.

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