May 10, 2012

Middle East News: World Press Roundup

NEWS: The murder of a respected West bank governor suggests lawlessness may be returning to towns like Jenin. Palestinians are hoping Egypt will help resolve the crisis over hunger striking prisoners. UNSG Ban says Israel should either charge prisoners or release them. Settlers are creating patrols in the West Bank, looking for Palestinian homes for Israel to demolish. The oldest Palestinian refugee camps run by the UN are slated for upgrades. The CEO of a construction company says settlers in "Ulpana" knew they were building on privately owned Palestinian land. A new Hamas force is reportedly thwarting rocket attacks against Israel. Palestine is attempting to participate in the upcoming United Nations Sustainable Development Conference as a state. A US congressional committee seeks to tighten controls on aid to the Palestinians and Egypt. Israel's separation barrier threatens an ancient way of life in West Bank villages. The Palestinian national air carrier, grounded since 2005, has resumed operations with flights between Egypt’s El-Arish and Amman. COMMENTARY: Fareed Zakaria says under PM Netanyahu Israel is now stronger than ever, but questions whether he can use his power for anything other than own survival in office. Gideon Levy says Israel's new coalition leaders are delegitimizing the country. The Boston Globe says the new government offers new hope for peace. Israel Harel predicts that the new coalition will mean that Likud's ideology shifts towards the center. Harriet Sherwood says Netanyahu outmaneuvered the militant pro-settler right in his own party. J.J. Goldberg says Kadima leader Mofaz got more out of the deal than Netanyahu. The Daily Star says Israel's unity government shows Palestinians also must reunify. Mya Guarnieri says African refugees and migrants have joined Palestinians as the most marginalized people in Israeli society. David Makovsky looks at how the new coalition might affect various Israeli policies. Yezid Sayigh says Hamas is struggling to turn the Arab uprisings into political gains.

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Model West Bank City Loses a Crime Fighter

JENIN, West Bank — Relaxing in their rooftop salon one recent night, Amal Qadoura headed to fetch ice cream for herself and her husband when the shooting began. First, she recalled, two bullets were fired at one side of the glass-enclosed porch, followed by a barrage from a hilltop on the other side.

Palestinian leadership expects Egyptian efforts to resolve hunger strike

RAMALLAH, May 10 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinian leadership expects that the Egyptian efforts will soon succeed in reaching a settlement between Israel and hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners, a Palestinian official said Thursday.

"We have positive signs that the results of these efforts will be seen by Saturday," said Ziad Abu Ein of the Palestinian Prisoners' Affairs Ministry. He refused to elaborate.

UN's Ban urges Israel to charge prisoners or free them

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday urged Israel to either charge or release Palestinian detainees "without delay."

Ban expressed concern for Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike in protest over their detention without charge and stressed "the importance of averting any further deterioration in their condition," in a statement issued through his spokesman Martin Nesirky.

Settler group patrols West Bank for demolition targets

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- A tiny village of Palestinian families in the southern West Bank has had an unwelcome visitor in recent months.

“He comes with small weapons and his camera, sometimes with armed forces, sometimes with settlers,” Susiya resident Nasser Nawaja says.

The armed visitor is Ovad Arad, the Judea and Samaria Director of Regavim, an Israeli non-governmental organization.

UN's oldest refugee camps look at sensitive upgrades

BETHLEHEM (Reuters) -- Three generations of Palestinians displaced by the founding of Israel in 1948 know only life in UN refugee camps, going to schools beneath the blue-and-white UN flag and drawing their food stocks from UN warehouses.

For these Palestinians whose long-cherished goal is the right of return to the lands they lost 64 years ago, the camps must be seen as temporary no matter how permanent they might seem to others.

Settler leaders knew homes were built on private Palestinian land, says Ulpana developer

Settler leaders knew from the start that Beit El's Ulpana neighborhood was built partly on privately owned Palestinian land, police documents reveal, even though residents claim they bought the houses in good faith.

Yoel Tsur, CEO of the company that built the neighborhood and owns 24 of the 30 houses that the High Court of Justice has ordered razed, admitted in a police interrogation three years ago that it was built on land whose purchase was never finalized.

New Hamas force in Gaza is foiling rocket attacks against Israel

The Hamas government in Gaza has been operating a force over the past few months whose sole task is to prevent the firing of rockets into Israel.

Hamas, which has always championed jihad against Israel, is now using its authority to foil the firing efforts of cells from other organizations such as the Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees.

PA seeks to take part in UN earth summit as state

As part of its continuing efforts [14] to gain international recognition as a state, the Palestinian Authority is requesting to take part in the United Nations Sustainable Development Conference (Rio+20) scheduled to take place in Brazil in June, Army Radio reported on Thursday.

The PA vowed to seek membership in various UN agencies after its bid for recognition as a state, presented to the Security Council in September, stalled.

US c'tee moves to control Egypt, PA money

WASHINGTON – A congressional subcommittee approved a foreign aid budget tightening control over money to Egypt and the Palestinians Wednesday following some members’ concern over developments in the region.

The House foreign operations appropriations subcommittee passed by voice vote the $40.1 billion foreign operations budget for 2013, which includes fully funding the $3.1b. US commitment to Israeli military assistance as part of the 10-year Memorandum of Understanding between the two countries.

West Bank barrier threatens villagers' way of life

In this part of the world, the supply and control of water is a major logistical and political issue. Yet the quaint village of Battir must be one of the luckiest and most blessed communities around - because Battir has water in abundance.

For more than 2,000 years, seven natural springs have given life to the village and its fields. Children still play, almost incongruously, in an old Roman bath built centuries ago at the spot, in the middle of the village, where one of the springs emerges.

Palestinian Airline resumes flights, with Amman route

The Palestinian national carrier, grounded since 2005, has resumed operations with flights between Egypt’s El-Arish and Amman, its director general told AFP on Thursday.

“We started yesterday from Amman to El-Arish and from El-Arish to Amman,” Palestinian Airlines director general Zeyad Albad said.

“We are going to have flights from El-Arish to Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) soon too, and we are trying to set up some new routes to Turkey and the (United Arab) Emirates,” he said.

Under Netanyahu, Israel is stronger than ever

While incumbents around the world are struggling to hold on, one is thriving. By bringing the rival Kadima party into his ruling coalition [19], Benjamin Netanyahu has become “king of Israel [20],” in Aaron David Miller’s phrase.

Netanyahu, Barak, and Mofaz are delegitimizing Israel