April 10, 2012

Middle East News: World Press Roundup

NEWS: PM Fayyad praises Palestinian nonviolent resistance at a conference on “popular struggle.” Palestinians say Israel has been systematically undermining the two-state solution through settlement activity. Palestinians say a cabinet reshuffle is being delayed until Pres. Abbas completes some international trips. An Israeli court delays a verdict in a civil suit brought by the family of Rachel Corrie. The Knesset is considering a bill to allow itself to override rulings by the Supreme Court. Pres. Peres asks Pres. Obama to release convicted Israeli spy Pollard. Reports suggest the United States may have had a positive reaction to Abbas' letter to PM Netanyahu. Members of Congress say an award by the PA to Helen Thomas may damage US aid prospects. Newly released documents show intensive Canadian efforts to block Palestinian UN membership efforts last year. The New York Times profiles new Kadima leader Mofaz. COMMENTARY: Ha'aretz slams the new bill allowing a simple Knesset majority to override Supreme Court decisions, but the Jerusalem Post likes it. Sefi Rachlevsky says the controversy reflects a willingness by the current government to undermine Israeli democracy for its own purposes. Avi Issacharoff and Amos Harel say some Israeli officials see the conflict in Syria as boiling down to a struggle between Al Qaeda and Iran. Gershon Baskin says Israel has a strong interest in a robust Palestinian economy. Linda Heard says, rather than adapting to changing region, Israel is becoming more bellicose and intransigent. Khaled Elgindy says it's time for a careful and cautious dialogue between the US and Hamas. Smadar Perry says Israelis are suddenly left hoping Amr Moussa wins the Egyptian presidential election. Hamid Dabashi says by declaring Günter Grass persona non grata, Israel is criminalizing poetry, but Jeffrey Goldberg says Grass trivialized the Holocaust and distorted history.

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Fayyad hails popular resistance at Bil'in parlay

Popular resistance against Israel reflects the rights of Palestinians, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad asserted Tuesday.

Speaking at the Bil'in 7th International Conference for Popular Struggle, Fayyad said, "Popular resistance is one of the best forms of resistance and reflects the rights of Palestinians." The PA prime minister also charged that settlements violate international law and go against the peace process.

Palestinians accuse Israel of destroying prospects for two-state solution with new settlements

UNITED NATIONS — The Palestinians accused Israel on Monday of systematically destroying prospects for a two-state solution to their decades-long conflict with its continuing campaign of settlement building.

Palestinian U.N. observer Riyad Mansour sent a protest letter to the U.N. secretary-general, Security Council and General Assembly two days before the Quartet of Mideast mediators — the U.S., U.N., European Union and Russia — meets in Washington to discuss the long-stalled peace process.

Fatah: Govt reshuffle talks delayed until Abbas tour ends

RAMALLAH (Ma’an) -- Consultations over an expected reshuffle in the Palestinian Authority are to be delayed until President Abbas finishes as international tour due to start Monday, a senior Fatah official said.

Azzam al-Ahmad told Voice of Palestine radio that rumors about a disagreement between Abbas and PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad over a reshuffle were baseless.

Foundation: Court delays verdict in Rachel Corrie case

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- An Israeli court has postponed delivering a verdict in a civil case brought by the family of US activist Rachel Corrie, killed by an Israeli bulldozer during a demonstration in Gaza, the Rachel Corrie Foundation said Monday.

At the last hearing in July, Judge Oded Gershon said he would deliver a verdict in April 2012. The verdict has been postponed due to delays in the filing of closing arguments, the foundation said in a statement.

A new verdict date has not been set, the foundation added.

Bill to sidestep Israeli high court criticized

JERUSALEM — Israeli lawmakers are criticizing a bill proposed by the justice minister that would allow parliament to strike down Supreme Court decisions with a narrow majority.

It's the latest in a string of legislation by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government that critics say stifle dissent.

The new bill, proposed late last week, stipulates that if parliament passes a law which the Supreme Court rejects, parliament members can vote to keep the law and renew it indefinitely.

Israel asks Obama to release ill convicted spy

JERUSALEM — Israeli President Shimon Peres has dispatched a letter to President Barack Obama asking him to release convicted spy Jonathan Pollard.

The former U.S. Navy intelligence analyst received a life sentence in 1987 for leaking classified documents to Israel.

Many Israelis believe the sentence was too harsh, and officials often demand his release.

In his letter Monday, Peres pleaded with Obama to release Pollard for humanitarian reasons. The 57-year-old Pollard was hospitalized last week. Peres hosted Pollard's wife on Sunday.

Abbas receives positive U.S. signs over his political letter to Netanyahu

RAMALLAH, April 9 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas recently received positive hints from the U.S. on a political letter he intends to address to Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu soon, a well-informed source unveiled on Monday.

Abbas' letter to Netanyahu might be handed on Tuesday and would include a clear Palestinian position concerning the current developments in the stalled peace process and the margins for resuming it.

Congressmen to Abbas: Medal awarded to Helen Thomas may damage U.S. assistance to PA

The award given to controversial journalist Helen Thomas by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has sparked anger not only in Israel, but in the U.S. Congress as well. Two senior Congressmen sent Abbas a letter denouncing the award and hinting that such a move may hurt U.S. assistance to the PA.

Baird lobbied hard against Palestinian bid for statehood

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird personally took to the phones last year to try to swing countries to oppose Palestinian efforts to be recognized as a state by the United Nations, according to newly released documents that for the first time reveal in detail how intensely Canada worked behind the scenes to block the statehood resolution.

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird holds a news conference announcing that Canada is reopening its embassy in Libya's capital, Tuesday September 13 2011 on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.

Defying an Image With a Tilt to the Left

WHEN Shaul Mofaz took over as head of the opposition in Israel this week — having defeated Tzipi Livni to lead the Kadima Party — it was seen as further evidence of the country’s rightward shift. A former military chief of staff and defense minister, Mr. Mofaz was dismissed by many as a pale shadow of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a hawk who would try to join the governing Likud coalition.

Israeli Justice Ministry bypassing the High Court

Justice Minister Yaakov Neeman has pulled out an old-new way to bypass the High Court of Justice. This happened just after the court ruled unconstitutional the law that lets yeshiva students defer army service. This ruling is threatening the stability of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition.

Now the Justice Ministry has published a preliminary draft of a bill that would become the Basic Law on Legislation. It would allow the Knesset, with the support of at least 65 MKs, to pass a law that has been struck down by the High Court.

Balancing power

Judging from the reactions of opposition lawmakers one would think that a new legislative initiative called Basic Law: Legislation is downright undemocratic.

Meretz leader Zehava Gal-On quipped that Justice Minister Yaakov Neeman, the driving force behind the bill, misread the Passover Haggada, and “does not understand the meaning of the Festival of Freedom,” because the bill claims to protect freedoms, but actually violates them and called for “all parties who fear for democracy” to form a united front against the bill.

For fear of a political turnaround, Israel's government is destroying democracy

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is working to stamp out judicial review in order to perpetuate his governing coalition. Unlike most people on the center-left, the right-wing coalition knows that the most significant political differences are not that those that divide individual parties but those that divide the two major blocs: the right wing and the non-right.

Israeli officials see Syria falling into battle between al-Qaida, Iran

Israeli officials are very skeptical the Syrian government and opposition will stick to the cease-fire that UN envoy Kofi Annan hopes will take hold on Tuesday.

Annan, a former UN general secretary, has been traveling to Syria for several weeks in an attempt to broker a truce between President Bashar Assad and opposition forces, after many months of unrest.

Human rights reports show that more than 100 civilians have been executed so far this year, and the opposition says more than 150 civilians - including 17 children - were killed on Monday alone.

The economics of Palestine

Over the past couple of weeks I have been spending a considerable amount of time in Ramallah, assisting in the development of a project on trade facilitation which will be funded by the US government to help the Palestinian private sector to build the economy and ensure continued stability.

Israel endangers region by willfully courting trouble

The Middle East is evolving into an ever more dangerous neighborhood largely due to Israel’s increasing belligerence and intransigence.

Rather than attempt to mend diplomatic fences with its former “friends” Egypt and Turkey it is using its cash and US leverage to make new regional alliances. Israel is also flexing its muscles and openly making threats toward Iran, Lebanon and Egypt.

Is it Finally Time for Dialogue Between the US and Hamas?

This week’s visit to Washington by members of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood and its political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party, demonstrated just how much has changed in US-Arab relations in the wake of the Arab uprisings. The high-profile Egyptian delegation coincides with visits by representatives of other Islamist parties from Tunisia, Morocco, Jordan and Libya also in town this week for various meetings and conferences.

How Amr Moussa Became Israel's Dream Candidate

When it comes to dictators, it’s always best to keep your eye on Number Two. The ruler is at the front, all wrapped up in honorifics and princely manners, careful to maintain sycophancy in his inner circle — people who tell him what he wants to hear. He never takes his eyes off of his deputy, the one who does the dirty work far away from the limelight. That is what is happening now in Egypt as it teeters between the (temporary?) military council and the Muslim Brotherhood, which controls most of the seats in parliament.

Günter Grass, Israel and the crime of poetry

New York, NY - On Wednesday, April 4, 2012, the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung published Nobel laureate Günter Grass’ poem (the German original) that has created quite a stir not only in Germany, Israel and Iran, but also across the globe. As a result Israeli interior minister Eli Yishai has banned the Nobel laureate from entering Israel.

Israel-Iran History, Holocaust Perverted in Grass’s Poem

Guenter Grass, the German writer and recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature, brought forth last week an odious little poem that focuses on the threat to world peace posed by the Jewish state, and congratulates its author for the courage to point out this truth.

The poem, published in the German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung and elsewhere, was titled “What Must Be Said,” which is quite a vainglorious title. There is very little in the world that is safer (or less novel) than criticizing Israel in a European newspaper.
About Jeffrey Goldberg

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