June 4, 2012

Middle East News: World Press Roundup

NEWS: PM Netanyahu reportedly vows that if the settlement housing units at the “Ulpana" outpost are dismantled, they will "be rebuilt tenfold elsewhere,” and says “our policy is to bolster the settlements.” The US says Israel is supportive of its policy of pursuing more sanctions against Iran. Israel enacts a new law allowing for the detention of migrants for up to 3 years, with Int. Min. Yishai saying many migrants “think the country doesn't belong to us, the white man." Two more Palestinians are injured in another Israeli airstrike on Gaza, as another dies of wounds sustained in a previous attack on Friday. PM Fayyad meets with the South African envoy and encourages a global boycott of settlement products. Arab states reportedly pledge $100 million per month in aid to the PA if Israel withholds Palestinian tax revenues. Israel's Navy continues to harass Gaza fishermen, even within the 3-mile limit in which they are supposedly allowed to operate. Der Spiegel reports that Dolphin submarines being purchased by Israel from Germany will be equipped with Popeye missiles that can carry nuclear warheads. An Israeli military investigation finds that settlers tied up and beat a captured Palestinian. Khaled Mishaal reportedly withdraws his pledge not to run and will stand for another term as head of Hamas' politburo. Palestinians in the notorious Lebanese Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp are optimistic for a better future. COMMENTARY: Ha'aretz says Netanyahu's approach to the Ulpana outpost is "adding insult to injury." Yossi Verter says Netanyahu seems to be on a collision course with extremists in his coalition over some settlements. Nirit Anderman contrasts films made about water by Israelis and Palestinians. Nahum Barnea says with Netanyahu's newfound power, Israel is becoming a monarchy in the Middle Eastern tradition, not a democracy. Barry Rubin asks why it seems that large amounts of international aid to the Palestinians is missing. Susan Hattis Rolef says Israelis only seem interested in those aspects of history that affected the Jewish people. Jonathan Owen says Israel is becoming the new South Africa as calls for cultural boycotts increase. Leonard Fein says, since Israel is already a Jewish state it doesn't matter if Palestinians formally acknowledge that. Adel Safty says the biggest problem facing the peace process is that there is no Palestinian leverage or international enforcement mechanism over Israel. Alan Dershowitz says Israel should offer Palestinians a settlement freeze conditional on the resumption of negotiations focusing on borders.

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Israeli PM to remove West Bank outpost

An Israeli official says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decided to remove a West Bank outpost ahead of a court deadline, and is mulling whether to demolish the buildings or relocate them.

The official said Saturday that Netanyahu said in a meeting that if Ulpana is destroyed its five apartment buildings will be built tenfold elsewhere. Otherwise, the buildings will be moved to the nearby settlement of Beit El. He spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.

Netanyahu: Israel must bolster West Bank settlements and follow law

Israel must bolster settlement activity in the West Bank while maintaining the rule of law, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Likud ministers on Sunday, in wake of a newly surfaced plan to relocate structures in the illegal outpost of Ulpana Hill so as to avoid their demolition.

On Saturday, sources close to Netanyau told Haaretz that the prime minister is examining a two-par solution to the issue of the Ulpana Hill outpost that will avoid the need for legislation on the matter.

US: Israel "supportive" on future Iran sanctions

The United States is conferring with Israel about new sanctions planned against Iran should international negotiations this month fail to curb the Islamic Republic's nuclear programme, a U.S. official said on Monday.

The comment offered a strong hint that Washington is continuing to apply the brakes on any plan by Israel to attack Iranian nuclear facilities preemptively.

Israel to jail illegal migrants for up to 3 years

Israel may jail illegal immigrants for up to three years under a law put into effect on Sunday, an Interior Ministry official said, a measure aimed at stemming the flow of Africans entering Israel across the porous desert border with Egypt.

"The law takes effect from today," said Interior Ministry spokeswoman Sabine Haddad. The controversial law was passed by parliament in January and denounced at the time by liberal politicians and human rights activists.

Medics: Man injured in Gaza airstrike

Israeli forces launched renewed airstrikes on the Gaza Strip overnight Sunday, injuring one person, medics said.

A dairy factory in a Gaza City neighborhood was hit in the third day of airstrikes on the coastal enclave. One man sustained moderate wounds, medics said.

Another airstrike targeted an open area east of Gaza City, witnesses said. No injuries were reported.

Fayyad meets South Africa envoy, applauds settler goods labeling

PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on Sunday applauded South Africa's move to label settlement goods, in a meeting with the country's representative in Ramallah, official media said.

Fayyad told the head of the South African representative office to the Palestinian Authority, N W Makalima, that he hoped other countries would follow South Africa's example, PA news agency Wafa reported.

"We hope this step will become international consensus both at popular and official levels," he said.

Arab states pledge $100 million per month to PA

Arab states on Saturday pledged to provide the Palestinian Authority with $100 million each month as a back-up if Israel withholds tax revenues, official PA media said.

The decision was taken at the meeting of the Follow-up Committee for the Arab Peace Initiative in the Qatari capital on Saturday, PLO official Saeb Erekat told PA news agency Wafa.

The old man and the 'strip and swim' procedure in Gaza

"Take off your clothes," ordered the soldier over his megaphone. The old man and his son removed their clothing. "Get into the water," the soldier continued shouting into the megaphone. The son, 18, entered the water from the fishing skiff and swam over to the Israeli navy gunboat.

Dolphin subs equipped with nuclear weapons

An in-depth report in German magazine Der Spiegel suggests that Israel's newly acquired Dolphin-class submarines will have extensive nuclear capabilities.

According to a Sunday report in Yedioth Ahronoth, the German-made U-boats – six of which have been purchased by the Israel Navy – will be equipped with Popeye missiles, which can carry nuclear warheads.

IDF investigation finds settler youth tied up, beat injured Palestinian

Jewish youth from the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar tied up and beat a Palestinian man shot by the settlement's emergency response team, an Israeli military investigation found. 

The weapons of the emergency response team were confiscated by the military after the incident, according to reports.

Meshaal's U-turn a setback for Hamas hardliners critical of his reforms

Khaled Meshaal is standing for re-election to lead Hamas four months after announcing he would step down.

The decision is a setback for hardliners in the Islamist movement who have criticised Mr Meshaal's recent reforms, which include dismantling Hamas's headquarters in Damascus, reconciling with its Palestinian rival Fatah and tentatively embracing unarmed struggle against Israel.

Hamas' senior leadership refused to accept Mr Meshaal's decision in January not to seek another term as the group's Political Bureau head, sources say.

Optimism reigns in most notorious refugee camp

A peculiar, indiscernible smell reigns in the Middle East’s most notorious Palestinian refugee camp: the odor of deep sorrow mixed with devastating poverty. But the residents of Ain al-Hilweh are known for a rare kind of optimism and a smile that never abandons their faces. Wearing the typical Palestinian outfit, a linen abaya and the legendary keffiyeh on the head, Hajj Abu Mahmoud laments the camp’s deplorable situation, which he blames on the dominant factions. “The situation in Lebanon now is no better,” he adds.

Adding insult to injury

High-ranking politicians' fear of the political might of the settlers, and of their patrons in Likud and other right-wing parties, has exposed a treasure trove of creativity. Their latest invention, to which we can credit the threat of a proposal aimed at legitimizing the theft of private property in the territories, recommends relocating the five homes slated for demolition in the Ulpana neighborhood of Beit El to a site that is next to the settlement. According to cautious estimates, the move can be expected to cost NIS 5 million - for each house.

The fight over West Bank neighborhood: Who's minding the store, Bibi or Feiglin?

On January 31 Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu trounced Moshe Feiglin in the Likud primary. The rematch could take place this week in the Knesset plenum, if the dangerous and scandalous bill to legitimize settlements built on private Palestinian land is put to a vote, against Netanyahu's wishes. Then we'll know who's really minding this store, a.k.a. Likud: the PM, or Feiglin & Co.

Israelis and Palestinians make very different movies about water

Nine jointly made films show the eyes of beholders can see very different things.

King Bibi the First

Kings, an American journalist who recently returned from a tour of several Middle Eastern states told me. Kings, this is what survives in the Arab world. The republican regimes fall, one after another. Look at what happened in Tunisia, in Egypt, in Libya. Look at what’s happening in Syria. At the oil emirates. On the other hand, the royal regimes are hanging in there. In Saudi Arabia too. In Morocco, the king adapted himself to the new winds and is surviving. Even in Jordan. The present belongs to the kings.

Where did the PA’s money go?

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad says that his regime is short of funds. And meanwhile a reader asks me: “Can you please explain to me why 20 years after Oslo and billions in dollars in foreign aid, the Palestinian Authority still has not built modern hospitals? Or rather, why do the donor countries pour money down the PA drain without expecting even some face-saving results?”

Good question. Short answer: Swiss bank accounts.

The importance of history

Last Tuesday Channel 10’s investigative TV program Hamakor (The Source) broadcast a report on the syllabi being taught in the national school system, with a special emphasis on history.

Israel is new South Africa as boycott calls increase