March 16, 2012

Middle East News: World Press Roundup

NEWS: PM Erdogan is meeting with Hamas leaders. Africans in Israel unite to lobby for better treatment. Intermittent attacks continue between Israel and militants in Gaza, with no injuries reported. Palestinian national unity activists ponder their next moves. The Syrian regime threatens to raid Yarmouk refugee camp due to Fatah's support for demonstrations against Pres. Assad. Israeli soldiers kill a man trying to cross the border with Egypt. The PA calls on the international community to pressure Israel to lift economic restrictions. Controversy follows comments from Gilad Shalit's father that, were he a Palestinian, he might want to kidnap Israeli soldiers. Suha Arafat says she is considering a role in Palestinian politics. IDF Chief of Staff Gantz will visit the US and Canada. COMMENTARY: L. Michael Hager says any US support for an Israeli attack on Iran would violate US and international law. David Landau says PM Netanyahu's speech at AIPAC reflected the lingering effects of the Holocaust on Jewish thinking. Ron Gerlitz says foreign donors are pushing to rid Israel of Arabic as an official language. Sari Hanafi says Lebanon must stop humiliating Palestinian refugees. Mkhaimar Abusada looks at the impact on Palestinians of the US-Israeli confrontation with Iran. Gershon Baskin says rather than lurching from crisis to crisis, Palestinians and Israelis need to look for opportunities to move forward. Lara Friedman outlines the dangers she sees in Jewish-American groups taking the lead on pushing for war with Iran. Naomi Paiss critiques the BDS movement. George Hishmeh says that if Israel allowed the Palestinians to live in dignity, it would not have to live in fear. Carlo Strenger says Hamas bears direct responsibility for the fate of Palestinians living under its control.

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Turkey’s Erdogan to Discuss Palestinian Reconciliation Efforts with Hamas’ Exiled Leader

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey’s prime minister is meeting Hamas’ chief Khaled Mashaal to discuss reconciliation efforts between the rival Palestinian factions.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday he would be discussing developments concerning Palestinian unity in Ankara on Friday with Hamas’ top leader in exile.

Reconciliation efforts between Hamas — shunned by the West as a terror group — and Fatah continue, but they have encountered new obstacles.

Members of Israel’s Diverse African Community Join Forces to Lobby for Better Treatment

DIMONA, Israel — For years, Israel’s array of African communities had little interaction, divided by religious, linguistic and cultural differences. That is changing.

They are facing a common situation in Israel — relegated to bottom rungs, partly because of discrimination over their skin color. That has brought some members of a wide range of communities together, including Jewish Ethiopians, nomadic Muslim Arabs and migrants from Eritrea and Sudan.

Israel Aircraft Open Fire West of Gaza City

GAZA CITY (MA’an) -- Israeli helicopters opened fire toward farmland in the Sheikh Ajlen area west of Gaza City late Thursday, witnesses said.

No injuries were reported.

An Israeli military spokeswoman said aircraft fired warning shots in response to rocket fire.

Earlier, several rockets were fired toward the western Negev, Israeli media reported.

A Grad rocket was intercepted by a nearby "Iron Dome" battery, and another rocket landed in an open area in the Eshkol regional council outside Hof Ashkelon, Israel's Ynet news service reported.

A Year On, Unity Activists Ponder Next Steps

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The anniversary of the March 15 movement to restore unity to the occupied territories passed quietly Wednesday, with no major rallies in Palestinian cities.

The principle demands of the masses who demonstrated in the West Bank and Gaza have yet to be met, although the leaders of Fatah and Hamas technically agreed to reconcile in May 2011. Progress has stalled ever since.

Syrian Security Forces ‘Warn Palestinian Camp’

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- Sources in Damascus say Syrian security forces threatened to raid the Yarmuk refugee camp due to Fatah's alleged support of demonstrations against Syrian leader Bashar Assad.

“Yarmuk is not more precious than (Homs neighborhood) Baba Amro, and it will be raided if the demonstrations which Fatah movement organizes” continue, a security agent was quoted as saying.

Syrian security forces have detained a number of Fatah members: Ayman Juda Abu Ala, public action official in Yarmuk, Jihad Abu Yousef, Abdul Wahed Kherma, Firas Tahmaz, and Amjad Sadya.

Israel Stops Infiltration From Egypt, 1 Killed

JERUSALEM — The Israeli military says soldiers have stopped an infiltration attempt along the Israel-Egypt border. One infiltrator was killed and three wounded.

A military statement said the incident occurred late Thursday.

It said soldiers saw the infiltrators and ordered them to stop. When they ignored the order, the soldiers opened fire. The statement said there was also gunfire from the Egyptian side of the border.

The statement did not say if the infiltrators were armed. Often, migrants from Africa try to sneak into Israel, seeking refuge or work.

PNA Urges Int’l Pressure on Israel to Save Economy

RAMALLAH, March 15 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) on Thursday called on the international community to pile pressure on Israel to prevent measures blocking the implementation of Palestinian development projects.

The call came as the World Bank issued a report warning that a severe fiscal crisis engulfing the PNA will deepen if the recent decline in donor assistance continues. It also warned that this situation "jeopardize gains" made in recent years in building strong institutions.

Gilad Shalit’s Father: I Would Kidnap Israelis if I were Palestinian

The father of an Israeli soldier held in captivity for more than five years by Hamas has said he would kidnap Israeli soldiers if he were a Palestinian.

Noam Shalit, who announced earlier this year that he would be standing for the opposition Labour party in the next Israeli elections, has provoked outrage among the Israeli right with the comments. His son, Gilad, was released in a prisoner swap in October 2011.

Arafat’s Widow Considers Role in Politics to ‘Continue Legacy’

The widow of the late Yasser Arafat has said the resistance leader sacrificed their marriage and a relationship with the couple's only daughter for the Palestinian cause.

In a rare interview with CNN, Suha Arafat shed light on the difficulties of being married to a man she described as the "Nelson Mandela of the Arab world", and said he pushed her away to focus on achieving an independent state.

Israel’s Military Chief Leaves for U.S., Canada

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benjamin Gantz left for his first official visit to the United States and Canada.

Gantz, who left Thursday on a trip that was delayed several days due to the violence on Israel's southern border, will meet with his counterparts in both countries, as well as security, government and military officials. They are scheduled to discuss joint military cooperation and mutual security challenges, as well as participate in briefings on the region.

Obama Help With Israeli Preemptive Strike on Iran Would Violate International, U.S. Law

If Israel should launch a unilateral attack on Iran in response to a mere threat to weaponize its nuclear program, should the United States come to Israel’s aid?

Before responding affirmatively, American policymakers should consider a word that has rarely appeared in the public debates on Iran or in the media. That word is 'law': international law and US law.

Backlash to Netanyahu’s Iran Speech Ignores the Holocaust’s Enduring Effect

Israelis needed, as we know, an entire generation until they were able to look the sights of the Holocaust, its refugees, the very fact of its occurrence, straight in the eye. We needed another entire generation until we began to acknowledge, or at least to consider, the claim that there was something cold and aloof in the Yishuv's response and in its conduct even during the time of the Holocaust itself.

Jewish Donors Can Influence Israel’s War on Arabic

Last week, I had to spend some time at the new children's wing of Hadassah University Hospital in Ein Karem, Jerusalem. The hospital serves Arabs as well as Jews, and it was my impression that all its patients are treated professionally and with equality. But Arabic-language signs are almost nonexistent in this brand-new and impressive wing.

Stop Humiliating Palestinian Refugees

In a recent talk at the American University of Beirut, Chile’s former president, Michelle Bachelet, described how her country’s parliament was forced to issue a general amnesty in 1978, as a condition imposed by the dictator Augusto Pinochet to abandon power. Yet Chilean judges have refused to implement the law. Along with a vibrant civil society, they refuse to grant immunity to those who violated human rights.

The impact of the US-Israeli confrontation with Iran

The debate over Iran's nuclear program has been at the forefront of official US-Israel deliberations. The recent meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and US President Barack Obama at the White House was overshadowed by Iran's nuclear program and whether an attack should be used to derail it. The debate is not over whether or not to attack, but rather when.

From crisis to crisis

A few weeks ago, when the "attack Iran chatter" in Israel took an upgrading shift in quality (of the people doing the chatter) and in quantity (the amount of times the chatter focused on operational options), I was convinced that a decision had been taken to hit Iran. In thinking about the consequences of that attack, I immediately pondered the unintended consequences as well.

Don't Prove Walt and Mearsheimer Right

A recent Saturday Night Live episode opened with a sketch that said a lot about America’s views on war with Iran. In the sketch, Andy Samberg, playing Rick Santorum, tells the audience that the coming presidential campaign is about two things: “One, making the family once again the center of our nation’s public policy, and two, starting a war with Iran, as a favor to Israel, whether Israel asks us to or not.” Samberg forgot to add: “and whether or not it’s actually good for the U.S., Israel or the Jews.”

A Leftist's Critique of BDS

What do you call a movement that polarizes and even penalizes the progressive community, increases the intransigence of ordinary Israelis, and provides political cover for the most extreme right-wing ultra-nationalists?

These days, progressives should call that movement Global BDS.

Root of Israeli paranoia

After failing to arm-twist Barack Obama over Iran’s nuclear programme, Benjamin Netanyahu thought he could take his frustration out on Palestinians, especially those in the Gaza Strip. But, if anything, Israel’s four-day aerial bombardment has once again underlined that the number-one issue in the Middle East remains Israel’s failure to negotiate a peaceful settlement with the Palestinians, most of whom lost 78 per cent of their homeland since 1948.

Open Letter to Hamas: You Are Responsible for Your People's Fate

The last days have brought another round of violence between Gaza and Israel. Most commentators assume that neither Hamas nor Israel in interested in further escalation of the hostilities that have been initiated by Islamic Jihad this time, ostensibly to jockey for position vis-à-vis Hamas. Iron Dome has prevented casualties on Israel's side, but it has almost paralyzed life in Southern Israel. So far the death toll in Gaza is 26, and we can only hope that it will not rise any further.

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