June 5, 2012

Middle East News: World Press Roundup

NEWS: PM Netanyahu vows to take a hard line against African migrants. FM Lieberman condemns attacks on migrants. Refugee advocates say draconian Israeli measures won't stop African migrants coming to the country. Israel is searching the email accounts of vistors, mainly of Arab or Muslim heritage. Palestinians say a new US bill on Palestinian refugees could harm peace efforts. The PA is conducting a law-and-order crackdown in the Jenin area. No men are allowed at a women-only coffee shop in Ramallah. The owner of a destroyed dairy factory in Gaza says he will sue Israel. A Palestinian man is shot after stabbing an Israeli soldier. Fatah and Hamas say they will hold talks soon on who should serve as PM in a possible new government. Pres. Obama once again invokes the waiver against moving the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. Palestinians mark Naksa Day, mourning the defeat in the 1967 war. Pres. Abbas says Palestinians don't want a state without its capital in Jerusalem. COMMENTARY: Moshe Arens says Israeli military figures turned politicians are too quick to resort to unilateralism. Amira Hass says Palestinian villagers live in fear of armed settlers. Daniel Levy says European diplomacy on Israel and Palestine has been intensified in three crucial ways. David Newman looks at property rights and land ownership for Bedouins in the Negev. Gershon Baskin says a Palestinian state must be prepared to treat Jewish citizens equally. Ben Sales asks if DM Barak's talk of Israeli "unilateral actions" in the occupied Palestinian territories was a trial balloon. The National says Khaled Meshaal seems to have consolidated power within Hamas. Elisheva Goldberg says the ideology of Kahanism dominated a recent pro-Israel rally New York. Jeffrey Goldberg says Israel can defeat itself by pursuing aggressive settlement policies or secure the gains of the 1967 war by beginning to remove outlying settlements unilaterally. Crispian Balmer says both Netanyahu and Abbas would like to see Ahmed Shafiq win the Egyptian presidential election.

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Israeli Leader Pledges Hard Line on Migrants

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised to step up efforts to deter, detain and deport illegal migrants to Israel, as tensions mount over an influx of asylum seekers from Africa. His pledge came a day before an early morning fire, apparently set by arsonists, ravaged an apartment occupied by about 10 Eritrean migrants on Monday. Four people were injured.

Though there have been a number of firebomb attacks against migrants in south Tel Aviv in recent weeks, the fire was the first attack on migrants in Jerusalem, the police said.

In unprecedented move, Israel's Foreign Ministry condemns violence against African migrants

The Foreign Ministry issued an unprecedented statement on Monday in which it harshly condemned the recent violence against African migrants living in Israel.

Referring to an arson attack on Sunday against an apartment rented by Eritrean migrants, the statement said, "There is no justification [for] such a heinous crime that puts people's lives in harm's way... No person has the right to violate the law and resort to violence against others, certainly not to endanger lives, for any reason whatsoever."

Israel's 'draconian' measures will not deter African migrants

Refugee advocates yesterday criticised as "draconian" Israel's announcement that it would begin jailing African asylum-seekers for up to three years, saying the measure would do little to deter more migrants from entering Israel illegally.

In another development that reflected hostility towards the newcomers arriving through the Israeli-Egyptian desert border, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli premier, said yesterday that Israel will step up deportation plans for 25,000 of the migrants.

Israel asks Arab visitors to open emails to search

When Sandra Tamari arrived at Israel's international airport, she received an unusual request: A security agent pushed a computer screen in front of her, connected to Gmail and told her to "log in."

The agent, suspecting Tamari was involved in pro-Palestinian activism, wanted to inspect her private email account for incriminating evidence. The 42-year-old American of Palestinian descent refused and was swiftly expelled from the country.

Palestinians: US refugee bill may delay peace

Palestinian advocates are warning that a new US Senate amendment dictating a reporting requirement on the issue of Palestinian refugees could set back efforts to reach a peace deal.

The amendment to a bill, recently approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee, mandates that the secretary of state must report how many of the Palestinians serviced by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency fled or left homes in Israel during the War of Independence and how many are only their descendants.

Palestinian Authority cracks down in West Bank town

In the narrow streets of the Palestinian refugee camp in Jenin and the scruffy villages beyond, masked special forces bundle suspects into civilian cars with grim regularity, whisking them away to faraway Jericho prison.

The near-nightly crackle of gunfire, sometimes from drive-by shootings against police stations, has accompanied a crime wave in the northern city of Jenin, once a hub of militants and suicide attackers who struck into nearby Israel.

No men allowed, the first 'women only' coffee shop in Ramallah

A few meters away from the popular men's coffee shop of Baladna in downtown Ramallah lays a new rebellious concept: a 'women only' coffee shop.

A billboard featuring three women on the sideways of the street advertises the coffee shop as well as a few radio and newspapers advertisements.

A pink sign right outside the coffee shop reads: "Ladies coffee shop: for women only." As opposed to the open men cafes, the pink and white balloons at the entrance of the coffee shop, lead to a closed, yet colorful place.

Owner of destroyed Gaza dairy factory challenges Israel

Ahmed Dalloul, 34-year-old owner of a dairy factory, stood near the rubble of his factory angrily and sadly. He was unable to find out a logical explanation for Israeli aerial attack that destroyed his factory Sunday night, the fourth time in three years.

Palestinian shot after stabbing Israeli officer

Israeli border police on Monday shot a Palestinian man who lightly injured an Israeli officer in Hebron, Israeli police and a local official said.

Zaid al-Jabaari, Hebron director of religious endowments, identified the Palestinian as Laith Mashaal, 27.

Mashaal prayed at the Ibrahimi Mosque on Monday afternoon before stabbing an Israeli officer outside the mosque, al-Jabaari said.

Medics told Ma'an that Mashaal was transferred to the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem with serious wounds.

Fatah, Hamas to hold talks on new PM

Senior Hamas and Fatah leaders will meet Tuesday to discuss nominations for the prime minister of a unity government, a Fatah official said Monday.

Fatah central committee member Jamal Muhesin told Ma'an that Azzam al-Ahmad, who leads Fatah's reconciliation delegation, would discuss possible candidates with Moussa Abu Marzouq, deputy-chief of Hamas' politiburo.

Al-Ahmad and Abu Marzouq will hand their recommendations to Fatah leader and President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas chief Khalid Mashaal, Muhesin said.

Obama extends Israel embassy waiver

President Obama extended a waiver for an additional six months that delays moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

Obama's waiver, issued June 1, follows in the footsteps of predecessors Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, who also extended the waiver every six months since a law was passed in 1995 mandating moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Presidents are permitted to delay the move on national security grounds.

Palestinians mark Naksa Day

Hundreds of Palestinians on Tuesday rallied in Gaza City to mark the anniversary of a 1967 Mideast war in which Israel defeated five Arab armies and seized the occupied territories.

Palestinians mark the Naksa, or 1967 setback, each year on June 5 with large rallies across the occupied territories. Israel seized the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem in the war.

Abbas Says Without Jerusalem, Palestinians Don’t Want State

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said his people don’t want to establish their own state unless they’re assured that Jerusalem will be its capital.

Abbas, speaking today at a meeting of the World Economic Forum in Istanbul, blamed Israel for the standstill in peace efforts and called on the U.S. to help break the deadlock.

Israeli leadership suffers from unilateral withdrawal syndrome

It seems that some of our military-men-turned-politicians are suffering from the unilateral withdrawal syndrome. It may be typical of the military mindset: Get it over with! Finish the job! Do something! Do anything! Actually, on some occasions that may be the correct strategy. It usually comes under the heading of "Cutting your losses." But often it may be the wrong way to go.

A Saturday of terror for Palestinians in the shadow of the settlers

It's a strange state of affairs when the Israeli army is the lesser evil.

EU diplomacy on Israel/Palestine shifts up a gear

Few issues of diplomatic conversation today have quite the same ability to generate a rolling of the eyes and turning of the page as the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Stuck is an understatement.

Israel’s government argues with its Supreme Court over re-locating a few dozen families from an illegal outpost to an illegal settlement, ignoring the bigger picture, whereby one in ten Jewish Israelis now reside in the Occupied Palestinian territories.

The politics of land ownership in the Negev

The opening session of the annual workshop of the Department of Middle Eastern Studies at Ben-Gurion University taking place this week focused on the complex issue of the law and politics of land rights and property among the Beduin in Israel.

The future Jewish citizens of Palestine

There are three possible solutions for dealing with the issue of settlers in a genuine peace agreement with the Palestinians.

Option 1: settlers wishing to do so can be repatriated to the State of Israel proper – within the “green line” borders.

Option 2: settlers wishing to remain in Judea or Samaria rather than returning to the borders inside of the “green line” can remain or resettle in those areas that will be annexed to the State of Israel by agreement with the Palestinians.

Was Barak’s call for unilateral action with the Palestinians a trial balloon?

Was Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak's recent suggestion that Israel take “unilateral action” to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict a hint at a policy under discussion or just an off-the-cuff remark? 

And how will the response of others -- such as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu -- shape the country’s fate in the coming months?

Meshaal returns to take a firmer hold on Hamas