April 2, 2012

Middle East News: World Press Roundup

NEWS: Israel frees and deports to Gaza a hunger-striking Palestinian prisoner. Land Day protests lead to clashes with Israeli forces, and the death of at least one Palestinian protester. Deputy FM Ayalon says Palestinian protests are “political terrorism,” and an extension of the PLO's “diplomatic terrorism.” Palestinian authorities reportedly detain a woman for criticizing Pres. Abbas on Facebook. A Palestinian man dies from wounds sustained during an Israeli raid on his village last week. PA officials deny that the recent detention of 3 journalists had political or security motivations. Arab states pledge to fund the PA if Israel withholds Palestinian tax revenues. Occupation authorities give Hebron settlers 24 hours to vacate a Palestinian house they seized. Israel arrests 13 Palestinians accused of planning attacks against Israelis. PM Fayyad meets with Quartet representative Blair. Palestinian Christians have difficulty accessing Jerusalem on holy days. COMMENTARY: ATFP Pres. Ziad Asali says the West must support universal values in Palestine and the rest of the Middle East. Dennis Ross and David Makovsky say the US and Israel can find a common policy on Iran. Ha'aretz says Israel must cleanse its soccer scene of racism. Akiva Eldar says Jerusalem must be the capital of both Israel and Palestine. Jay Michaelson says J Street and other liberals need to reach out to working-class Israelis. The Forward says neither AIPAC nor J Street speak for Israel. Abdullah Iskandar says Hamas has only one real policy: keeping power in Gaza. Barbara Slavin interviews Peter Beinart. Lara Friedman says Israel may be thriving, but it's status as a “Jewish and democratic” state is in grave peril. Amira Hass says it's outrageous that a Palestinian journalist would be jailed for writing about alleged corruption in the PLO mission in Paris. Nagham Issa looks at how the Syrian uprising is changing attitudes in Palestinian refugee camps. Peter Beinart says even if he wins a second term, Pres. Obama won't pressure Israel.

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Israel Frees Palestinian Detainee After Hunger Strike of Weeks

JERUSALEM — A Palestinian woman who spent more than 40 days on a hunger strike to protest her detention by Israel without charge or trial was released from an Israeli prison on Sunday and sent into temporary exile in Gaza under a deal reached with the Israeli authorities.

Palestinians and Israeli Troops Clash Amid Protests

JERUSALEM — Thousands of Palestinians protested on Friday against Israeli policies of land seizure and control of Jerusalem, leading to clashes with Israeli troops in which a 20-year-old was killed and scores of others were injured.

The annual protest, known as Land Day, drew demonstrators in groups of hundreds in locations within Israel as well as in the West Bank, Jerusalem and Gaza. There were also solidarity marches in neighboring Lebanon and Jordan.

Israeli deputy FM: Arab demos 'diplomatic terror'

JERUSALEM — Israel's deputy foreign minister says an annual protest Palestinians mounted over the weekend is "political terrorism."

Danny Ayalon spoke Saturday in Bat Yam, near Tel Aviv. He said Land Day protests are "a continuation of the diplomatic terrorism (Palestinian Authority President) Abu Mazen is using against Israel in international forums."

Palestinian authorities detain woman for allegedly insulting president on Facebook

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Rights activists say a Palestinian university lecturer has been detained on accusations that her Facebook page insulted President Mahmoud Abbas.

Hadeel Hneiti of the al-Haq rights group said Monday that Palestinian security forces arrested Ismat Abdul-Khaleq after they found writing on her Facebook page accusing Abbas of being a traitor and demanding he resign. Hneiti said the 37-year-old Abdul-Khaleq was taken into custody Wednesday.

Man dies of wounds from Israeli West Bank raid

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- A young Palestinian man died on Monday morning from wounds suffered in an Israeli raid on his village near Ramallah last week, his family told Ma'an.

Rashad Theib Shoukha, 28, was critically injured by a gunshot to the chest during a dawn raid on Rammun village on Tuesday. His brothers Anwar and Akram were also injured in the raid.

An Israeli army spokeswoman said at the time that an Israeli soldier "was stabbed during routine activity ... the soldiers responded to the attackers in self defense, and three were injured."

Jailing of journalists 'not based on security complaint'

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The recent detentions of three Palestinian journalists in the West Bank are not based on security complaints but legal charges filed by individuals, the spokesman of the West Bank security services said Sunday.

"The Palestinian Authority's security services have no security-related problem with any journalist," Adnan Dmeiri told Ma’an.

Arab nations 'to pay PA if Israel freezes tax revenues'

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Arab nations meeting at a Baghdad summit last week pledged to compensate the Palestinian Authority if Israel freezes delivery of tax revenues, a senior official told government media.

Fatah official Muhammad Shtayyeh told Voice of Palestine radio on Sunday that nations agreed at the Arab League summit pay the PA $100 million per month, roughly the sum of customs taxes collected by Israel on the PA's behalf under international agreements.

IDF gives settlers 24 hours to evacuate Hebron house

The IDF has issued an eviction order for settlers who took over a house in the Arab part of Hebron last week.

According to the order, the settlers have until Tuesday at 3:00 PM to evacuate the house on their own will, after which "the authorities will act to restore the building to its previous state."

The security establishment has called the takeover a provocation, and says that the settlers' presence in the house constitutes a public disturbance. However, the move has won the support of some politicians.

'Red Crescent workers behind shooting attack'

The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) announced Monday that it uncovered and arrested a terrorist cell that included a number of Palestinian Red Crescent workers that was behind a shooting in the Ramallah area earlier this year.

The shooting near the Amari Refugee Camp on January 20 caused no injuries but did damage a number of IDF vehicles.

The weapons used in that attack, which were Kalashnikov automatic assault rifles, were provided by a senior officer in the Palestinian Authority's intelligence service, who is also in charge of security for the Red Crescent.

Blair meets PM, Fayyad in effort to engage sides

Quartet envoy Tony Blair met separately Sunday with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in an effort to keep the sides engaged and the situation stable.

Blair’s visit comes in advance of a scheduled meeting of the Quartet in Washington on April 11. On Monday he will hold meetings in Jordan and on Tuesday, US Middle East envoy David Hale will follow Blair to Israel and the Palestinian territories.

Tough road to Jerusalem for Palestinian Christians

JERUSALEM // If he could, Ibrahim Khoury would bring his family to this city every Sunday.

But in his way are Israel's walls and bureaucracy that restrict him and other Christian Palestinians from entering Jerusalem.

Unlike the 280,000 Palestinians who hold Jerusalem residency, he - like most Palestinians from the West Bank, Christian as well as Muslim - must get Israel's permission to visit the city that is his cultural and spiritual home.

But yesterday, the Khoury family was part of a group of Roman Catholics from Ramallah allowed in to celebrate Palm Sunday.

The West Must Support Universal Values in the Arab World

Over the past 14 months of uprisings in the Arab world, Iran has steadily lost influence throughout the Middle East. Recognizing this is crucial for understanding the way in which Palestine, Syria and other key strategic battlegrounds now play into Iranian calculations, and how new opportunities have emerged for both Arabs and the West.

The U.S. can meet Israel halfway on Iran

Dennis Ross, a counselor at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, was a special assistant to President Obama on the Middle East and a senior director on the National Security Council staff from July 2009 to December 2011. David Makovsky is a distinguished fellow at the Washington Institute and director of its Project on the Middle East Peace Process.

It's time to intervene against racism in Israeli soccer

In March alone, there were four recorded violent incidents linked to Israeli soccer.

Freedom for Jerusalem, the capital of Israel and Palestine

On the first night of Passover, the festival of freedom, the song "We were slaves but now we are free" will waft from homes throughout the country as Jews sit down to celebrate the seder. But every year, these words lose some of their luster. Every year, more Israelis go from being free men to slaves.

J Street's Blind Spot Is Class

I’m not one for political conventions. Good policy is subtle, but effective politics is broad — and I, for one, prefer the former. When friends of mine returned from the AIPAC conference in early March, inspired by (in the words of one of them) “thousands of Jews all united by a love of Israel,” I felt nauseated. I don’t want to be in a crowd of thousands of people united by anything.

Who Speaks for Israel?

The back-to-back national policy conferences of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and J Street — the Jewish version of March Madness for Israel advocates — have now concluded. The subtext of these gatherings is a desire to represent American Jewish opinion in the halls of Congress, the inner sanctum of the White House and the broader public square. Are you pro-Israel à la AIPAC? Or in the J Street mold?

Land Day and Gaza’s Hamas

Two days ago, Palestinians commemorated Land Day, when on March 30, 1967, Israeli forces stormed the towns of Galilee and confronted with gunfire their Arab inhabitants who were protesting the Judaization of their region. This day has represented for the Palestinians a declaration of their attachment to their identity, their freedom and their land, not just their rejection of the occupation and its practices.

Peter Beinart Targets 'The Crisis of Zionism'

In a provocative new book published this week, “The Crisis of Zionism,” Peter Beinart bemoans the trajectory of the State of Israel and of American Jews. His suggestions for saving both include a boycott of products from Jewish settlements in the West Bank, a plan that has aroused a torrent of criticism.

What happens when a Palestinian journalist dares criticize the Palestinian Authority?

Journalists who stood outside the court building exchanged jokes about the "six million dollars." No problem, we'll obtain them, someone said. That's small change, another said. But these light remarks did not hide concerns about their colleague, Yusuf Al-Shayeb, who was at the time on his way to the Magistrate's Court in Ramallah, to have his remand extended.

A revolution is taking place in Syria's Palestinian camps

There are no estimates as to how many Palestinians have been killed since the unrest in Syria began, but the growing call for the fall of the Syrian regime has not passed Syria's estimated 500,000 Palestinian community by. Increased tensions with the Syrian authorities could yet mark a change in direction for the revolution, particularly in the capital, home to Syria's largest Palestinian camp, Mukhyam Yarmouk.

Obama Won’t Pressure Israel If He Wins Second Term

In the wake of President Obama’s “hot mike” admission to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that “after my election, I have more flexibility” to make concessions on missile defense, conservatives are insisting that once sworn in for a second term, Obama will unveil the Michael Moore–esque foreign policy he’s been concealing these last three years. Especially on Israel.

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