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June 12, 2012

Middle East News: World Press Roundup

NEWS: Israel admits that it has revoked the residency rights of more than 250,000 Palestinians during the course of the occupation. Israel's Holocaust memorial is vandalized and officials suspect ultra-Orthodox Jewish culprits. Israel begins rounding up African migrants. Occupation authorities demolish an agricultural complex in East Jerusalem. The PA says it will continue to borrow money from banks if necessary. Palestinians are concerned that a new Israel-Vatican accord would indirectly recognize Israel's control of occupied East Jerusalem. A key Israeli MK and AIPAC are reportedly responsible for the drive to get the US to reclassify most Palestinian refugees. Officials say US-Israel military cooperation is “stronger than ever.” The border crossing between Egypt and Gaza is refurbished. The UK pledges $155 million for Palestinian refugees. The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics says more than a quarter of all Palestinians in the occupied territories live in poverty. COMMENTARY: Ha'aretz says Israel has been duly warned about the consequences of settlement activity and the prospects of a third intifada. Adam Gonn says Pres. Abbas is looking for ways to break the diplomatic deadlock with Israel. Leila Sansour says Palestinians in Bethlehem are being isolated by a wall and settlements. Ghanem Nuseibeh and Eli Epstein say Israel should provide humanitarian support to the Syrian people. Dov Waxman says Israel should not recognize the "university" in the West Bank settlement of Ariel. Bernard Avishai says Mitt Romney is growing closer to the Israeli far right. APN interviews Yossi Alpher on recent developments in Israel, especially settlement activity. Rabbi John Rosove says there is a one-state reality emerging between Israel and the occupied territories and the United States will have to act quickly after the elections to help or prevent it from becoming permanent. Amir Nizar Zuabi says Shakespeare has much to say about the Palestinian condition.


[5]



Israel admits it revoked residency rights of a quarter million Palestinians

Article Author(s): 
Akiva Eldar
Media Outlet: 
Haaretz
Date: 
June 12, 2012
Source Link(s): 
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israel-admits-it-revoked-residency... [6]

Israel stripped more than 100,000 residents of Gaza and some 140,000 residents of the West Bank of their residency rights during the 27 years between its conquest of the territories in 1967 and the establishment of the Palestinian Authority in 1994.

As a result, close to 250,000 Palestinians who left the territories were barred from ever returning.



Memorial Vandalized

Article Author(s): 
Isabel Kershner
Media Outlet: 
The New York Times
Date: 
June 11, 2012
Source Link(s): 
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/12/world/middleeast/israel-memorial-vandalized.ht... [7]

Vandals spray-painted graffiti overnight Monday on the walls of Yad Vashem, Israel [8]’s official Holocaust memorial, with messages attacking Zionism and blaming Zionists for the Holocaust. Nearly a dozen messages were scrawled around the Warsaw Ghetto Square monument and other parts of the campus.



Graffiti is 'classic anti-Zionist heradi rhetoric'

Article Author(s): 
Jeremy Sharon
Media Outlet: 
The Jerusalem Post
Date: 
June 12, 2012
Source Link(s): 
http://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishNews/Article.aspx?id=273506 [9]

The declarations and content of the slogans spray-painted at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial have led the to believe that ultra- Orthodox extremists are behind the vandalism perpetrated night.

Below one of the slogans spray-painted at the site, the vandals signed off in the name of “World Haredi Jewry.”

The content of the graffiti, including conspiracy theories about Zionist collaboration with the Nazis, is also consistent with the beliefs of some radical anti-Zionist elements within the haredi community.



Israel begins rounding up African migrants

Article Author(s): 
Josef Federman
Media Outlet: 
Associated Press
Date: 
June 11, 2012
Source Link(s): 
http://www.statesman.com/news/nation/israel-begins-rounding-up-african-migrants-... [10]

Israeli authorities detained dozens of African migrants in predawn raids early Monday, in the first major step toward what leaders say will be deportation of 4,500 people who have entered the country illegally.

The arrests were the harshest move yet against migrants, reflecting growing concern about the effect on Israel of tens of thousands of Africans who have sneaked into the country across the porous Egyptian border in recent years.



Israeli authorities 'demolish Jerusalem farm complex'

Media Outlet: 
Ma'an News Agency
Date: 
June 12, 2012
Source Link(s): 
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=494628 [11]
 
Israeli authorities demolished a complex of sheep barns in an East Jerusalem neighborhood on Tuesday morning, a local rights group said.

Bulldozers tore down the 700-square-meter steel buildings belonging to Aziz Jamil Jaabees in the al-Salaa neighborhood in Jabal al-Mukabbir, the Jerusalem Center for Social and Economic Rights said.



PA will borrow from banks if necessary

Media Outlet: 
Ma'an News Agency
Date: 
June 12, 2012
Source Link(s): 
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=494615 [12]
The Palestinian Authority will start talks with the private sector, and still has bank funds available to cover its financial crisis, the newly-appointed PA minister of economy Jawad Naji said Monday.

The Palestinian Monetary Authority chief Jihad al-Wazir said Sunday the PA had reached its maximum limit for bank borrowing. But the minister told Ma'an: "If we need, we will borrow from banks to pay salaries."

"In fact there are deposits and cash which we haven’t used so far," Naji continued.



Parties say Israel-Vatican accord accepts occupation

Media Outlet: 
Ma'an News Agency
Date: 
June 12, 2012
Source Link(s): 
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=494341 [13]

Palestinian political factions on Sunday condemned a draft economic agreement between Israel and the Vatican, saying it entails the Holy See recognizing Israeli legislation in East Jerusalem and occupied Palestinian territory.

The document outlining an agreement between Israel and the Vatican on legal and fiscal issues has been circulating in different circles, the PLO said in a statement.



Israeli MK, AIPAC behind Senate bid to cut total number of Palestinian refugees

Article Author(s): 
Barak Ravid
Media Outlet: 
Haaretz
Date: 
June 12, 2012
Source Link(s): 
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/israeli-mk-aipac-behind-senate-bid-to-... [14]

Capitol Hill in Washington was rocked late last month when the Senate Appropriations Committee approved an amendment requiring the State Department, for the first time, to do a "count" of Palestinian refugees.

The amendment required the State Department to specify how many of the five million Palestinians who receive aid from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency are refugees who were personally displaced from their homes in 1948, and how many are descendants of those refugees.



'US-Israeli military cooperation stronger than ever'

Media Outlet: 
The Jerusalem Post
Date: 
June 12, 2012
Source Link(s): 
http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=273510 [15]

US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta hosted President Shimon Peres at the Pentagon on Monday, saying that military cooperation between the US and Israel was "stronger than ever, stable and ongoing."

Peres visited the Pentagon as part of a multi-day visit to the US in which he is scheduled to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom from US President Barak Obama.

In addition to meeting Panetta, Peres took part in a roundtable discussion with other senior US officials, including US military chief Gen. Martin Dempsey.



Rafah Border Crossing Gets a Makeover

Article Author(s): 
Omar Ghraieb
Media Outlet: 
The Media Line
Date: 
June 7, 2012
Source Link(s): 
http://www.themedialine.org/news/news_detail.asp?NewsID=35315 [16]

Abu Yousef Hammouda shuffled into the Rafah border crossing to travel to Egypt for his periodic medical treatment and a smile grew on his weary face as he entered the newly renovated and air conditioned halls.

“I have traveled to Egypt many times before,” said Hammouda, who looked much older than his 30 years. “The arrival hall wasn’t modern or efficient but today I see what a huge effort has been made and what a great job has been done.”



Britain gives $155 million to Palestinian refugees

Media Outlet: 
Agence France Presse (AFP)
Date: 
June 12, 2012
Source Link(s): 
http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/06/12/220178.html [17]

Britain on Tuesday announced a 100 million pound ($155 million) aid package to support Palestinian refugees in the Middle East for the next three years.

The British embassy in Amman said International Development Minister Alan Duncan made the announcement after a visit to the Baqaa Palestinian refugee camp near the Jordanian capital.



Quarter of Palestinians suffer from Poverty, says Statistics Bureau

Media Outlet: 
WAFA
Date: 
June 12, 2012
Source Link(s): 
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=20030 [18]

Around 25.8% of Palestinians suffered from poverty in the Palestinian Territory in 2011, said a report by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) on Monday.

It showed that slightly more than one out of four individuals was living below poverty line in 2011, 17.8% in the West Bank and 38.8% in Gaza Strip.

Similarly about 12.9% of individuals were living below the deep poverty line in 2011, 7.8% in the West Bank and 21.1% in Gaza Strip.



The warning - and the responsibility

Media Outlet: 
Haaretz
Article Type: 
Editorial
Date: 
June 11, 2012
Source Link(s): 
http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/the-warning-and-the-responsibility-1.435581 [19]

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's problematic attitude toward the National Security Council was at the center of the complaints voiced against him by former NSC head Uzi Arad. This attitude was also discussed in a State Comptroller's Report that is due to be released shortly.



Abbas looking to break deadlock in negotiations with Israel

Article Author(s): 
Adam Gonn
Media Outlet: 
Xinhua
Article Type: 
Analysis
Date: 
June 11, 2012
Source Link(s): 
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-06/11/c_131645841.htm [20]

Palestinian National Authority ( PNA) President Mahmoud Abbas said he might be willing to hold talks with Israel, if it frees Palestinian prisoners and allows for weapons to be transferred to Palestinian security forces.

Abbas said that, since Israel has rejected both his previous demand to halt settlement construction on the West Bank or accept the cease-fire lines that existed prior to the 1967 war as the borders for a Palestinian state, he might be willing to attend talks if the new demands were meet.



Palestinian inhibition in the walled city of Bethlehem

Article Author(s): 
Leila Sansour
Media Outlet: 
Haaretz
Article Type: 
Opinion
Date: 
June 12, 2012
Source Link(s): 
http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/palestinian-inhibition-in-the-walled-city-of-beth... [21]

It is 45 years since Israel invaded the West Bank, including my hometown of Bethlehem; practically the whole of my lifetime. I have not known my city under any state except Israeli occupation.

A year ago, looking at a photo album of an old friend and neighbor, I became acutely aware of how alien his experience of Middle Eastern geography was to me. In the mid-Fifties, he would spend Saturday nights jitterbugging at the Everest, a restaurant coolly positioned on top of the highest hill in Bethlehem, and, at dawn, would drive to Beirut to continue the party.



Why Israel should help Syrians during this crisis

Article Author(s): 
Eli Epstein
Article Author(s): 
Ghanem M. Nuseibeh
Media Outlet: 
The Jerusalem Post
Article Type: 
Opinion
Date: 
June 11, 2012
Source Link(s): 
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-EdContributors/Article.aspx?id=273483 [22]

Israel’s regional and global image continues to sink to new lows. The political peace process continues to be stalemated.

As internal and external factors allow Israel to keep indulging in self-perpetuating isolationism, the anti-Israel camp finds no difficulty in recruiting sympathizers, further causing Israelis to recoil from the compromises needed to advance toward a final settlement.



Ariel versus Academia

Article Author(s): 
Dov Waxman
Media Outlet: 
The Daily Beast
Article Type: 
Opinion
Date: 
June 11, 2012
Source Link(s): 
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/06/11/ariel-versus-academia.html [23]

Israeli academia is about to suffer a major blow. Within the next few weeks, Israel’s Council for Higher Education, which oversees Israeli universities and colleges, is expected to approve the upgrade of Ariel College to full university status. This would be a big victory for right-wing political pressure and for the settlement enterprise in the West Bank, and it would greatly damage higher education in Israel.



Romney's Israel Brand

Article Author(s): 
Bernard Avishai
Media Outlet: 
The Daily Beast
Article Type: 
Opinion
Date: 
June 11, 2012
Source Link(s): 
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/06/11/romney-s-israel-brand.html [24]

When I joined the strategy consulting firm Monitor (now Monitor Group) in the spring of 1992, the first party its directors, my new colleagues, invited me to was at Mitt Romney's mansion in Belmont. Romney was at the time still with Bain Capital; Monitor’s founders had been Bainies before launching out on their own and remained his friends. Romney’s political ambitions were already clear.



Hard Questions, Tough Answers with Yossi Alpher

Media Outlet: 
Americans For Peace Now
Article Type: 
Interview
Date: 
June 11, 2012
Source Link(s): 
http://www.peacenow.org/entries/hard_questions_tough_answers_with_yossi_alpher_-... [25]

Yossi Alpher visited the Peace Now offices in DC last week, as Israel marked 45 years since the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem were captured in the Six-Day War.
 



An Emerging One-State Israel-Palestine Reality

Article Author(s): 
John Rosove
Media Outlet: 
Jewish Journal
Article Type: 
Opinion
Date: 
June 11, 2012
Source Link(s): 
http://www.jewishjournal.com/rabbijohnrosovesblog/item/an_emerging_one-state_isr... [26]

A resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict does not look promising, though it is still possible. The window for a two-state solution is rapidly closing, and conversation is shifting to consider the meaning of an emerging one-state reality. Though polls show that both Israelis and Palestinians still favor a two-state solution, facts on the ground and politics are allowing the status-quo to take root, and the status-quo supports a one-state reality. This will be good for no one!



Why Shakespeare is … Palestinian

Article Author(s): 
Amir Nizar Zuabi
Media Outlet: 
The Guardian
Article Type: 
Opinion
Date: 
June 11, 2012
Source Link(s): 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2012/jun/11/why-shakespeare-is-palestinian [27]

It is a well-known fact that Shakespeare is a Palestinian. And when I say "is" I do mean "is", not "was". The man might have been born in Stratford-upon-Avon four centuries ago, but he is alive and well today in Aida refugee camp, not far from the church of the nativity in Bethlehem. Shakespeare scholars may dispute this. But the reason I say this with such conviction (and even dare, sometimes, to believe it) is that, reading his plays, I have a sense of familiarity that can only come from compatriots.

Source URL (retrieved on Nov 3 2024 - 7:46pm): http://www.americantaskforce.org/world_press_roundup/20120612t000000

Links:
[1] http://www.americantaskforce.org/print/26019
[2] http://www.americantaskforce.org/printmail/26019
[3] http://www.americantaskforce.org/printpdf/26019
[4] http://www.americantaskforce.org/rss/wpr
[5] https://www.americantaskforce.org/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=1
[6] http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israel-admits-it-revoked-residency-rights-of-a-quarter-million-palestinians.premium-1.435778
[7] http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/12/world/middleeast/israel-memorial-vandalized.html?_r=1&ref=middleeast
[8] http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/israel/index.html?inline=nyt-geo
[9] http://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishNews/Article.aspx?id=273506
[10] http://www.statesman.com/news/nation/israel-begins-rounding-up-african-migrants-2397449.html
[11] http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=494628
[12] http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=494615
[13] http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=494341
[14] http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/israeli-mk-aipac-behind-senate-bid-to-cut-total-number-of-palestinian-refugees.premium-1.435787
[15] http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=273510
[16] http://www.themedialine.org/news/news_detail.asp?NewsID=35315
[17] http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/06/12/220178.html
[18] http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=20030
[19] http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/the-warning-and-the-responsibility-1.435581
[20] http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-06/11/c_131645841.htm
[21] http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/palestinian-inhibition-in-the-walled-city-of-bethlehem-1.435911
[22] http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-EdContributors/Article.aspx?id=273483
[23] http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/06/11/ariel-versus-academia.html
[24] http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/06/11/romney-s-israel-brand.html
[25] http://www.peacenow.org/entries/hard_questions_tough_answers_with_yossi_alpher_-_june_11_2012#.T9dt15hLW9J
[26] http://www.jewishjournal.com/rabbijohnrosovesblog/item/an_emerging_one-state_israel-palestine_reality_20120611/
[27] http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2012/jun/11/why-shakespeare-is-palestinian