July 16, 2012

Middle East News: World Press Roundup

NEWS: Hamas is hoping for a new Gaza policy from Egypt. A Palestinian investigator falls off a third floor building while in police custody. Backtracking on a public promise, Israel is planning more subsidies for a controversial settlement. Some Palestinians from Gaza are allowed to visit relatives jailed in Israel for the first time in five years. PM Fayyad will meet Sec. Clinton in Jerusalem. Pres. Abbas asks the Arab League for a date to revive the Palestinian UN bid, and help in establishing an international inquiry into the death of the late Pres. Arafat. A Palestinian intelligence officer accuses “Palestinian figures” of being responsible for Arafat's death. Israel considers sanctions against OCHA for “illegal activities.” Abbas and Fayyad welcome a $100 million donation to the PA by Saudi Arabia. Settlers continue a pattern of uprooting trees in Palestinian villages. Jewish American leaders send a letter to PM Netanyahu saying recommendations in a recent report promote the delegitimization of Israel. Israel accuses Hezbollah and Iran of plotting terrorist attacks in Cyprus. Palestinian women are building businesses in the West Bank. COMMENTARY: Scott Wilson provides a narrative of how Pres. Obama “failed on forging Middle East peace.” Harriet Sherwood says the rise of ultra-Orthodox religious soldiers in Israel raises the prospect of mutiny. Mel Levine says Obama has fulfilled his pledge to defend Israel. Leonard Fein suggests that, rather than boycotts, opponents of Israeli policy should seek to end US tax deductions for funds for settlements. George Hale says gaining UNESCO recognition for heritage sites doesn't constitute a Palestinian strategy. Peter Beinart says J Street's Washington strategy meant that it couldn't support the Presbyterian Church boycott effort. Aaron David Miller looks at Clinton's visit to Israel.

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Hamas seeks new Gaza policy from Egypt

Egypt's new president holds the key to blockaded Gaza, but he is signaling that he won't rush to help the territory's Hamas rulers by striking a border deal with them, even though they are fellow members of the region's Muslim Brotherhood.

A bilateral border agreement between Egypt and Hamas could hurt chances of setting up a single Palestinian state, made up of the West Bank and Gaza, alongside Israel.

"I don't think they (the Egyptians) are ready for that," said Palestinian economist and business leader Samir Hulileh.

Special investigator dies in Palestinian custody

A senior Palestinian official suspected of embezzling public funds fell to his death from the third-floor kitchen window of a West Bank security compound where he was being interrogated, officials said Monday.

The official investigating the incident said Osama Mansour jumped and that there is security camera footage to prove it. Mansour's family and a leading human rights activist called for an autopsy in the presence of an independent doctor.

Israel to grant settlement subsidy, despite pledge

The Israeli government has quietly agreed to grant subsidies to build more than 500 new homes in the West Bank, backtracking from a promise earlier this year to deny these incentives to the settlements, The Associated Press has learned.

The planned construction, at a time when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to shore up support among settlers, has enraged the Palestinians and could cloud a visit starting Sunday by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton as she tries to re-energize moribund Mideast peace efforts.

Gazans visit relatives jailed in Israel after 5 years

Israel allowed 40 Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to visit relatives held in Israeli jails on Monday, the first such visits in five years, implementing a deal reached in May that ended a prisoners' hunger strike, families and officials said.

"Forty people - families of 24 prisoners - arrived a short while ago at the Ramon prison," a Prisons Service spokeswoman said, adding that visits from prisoners' relatives in Gaza would now be held on a weekly basis.

Palestinian PM to meet Clinton in Jerusalem

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad will meet U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday during her visit to Israel, a Palestinian official said.

Ghassan al-Khatib, spokesman for the Palestinian government, said that Fayyad will head to Jerusalem to meet with Clinton, who arrived in Israel Sunday.

Clinton will not visit the Palestinian territories as she did in her last tour in the Middle East two years ago. Al-Khatib said that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is visiting Italy and that he coordinates with Fayyad over the meeting with Clinton.

Abbas to ask Arabs to set date for new UN bid

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will announce to the Arab League (AL) his decision to seek Palestinian membership in the United Nations, a Palestinian official said Sunday.

Abbas will ask the AL's Arab-Israeli relations committee to set a date for submitting the Palestinian request to the UN General Assembly, said Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator. The committee will meet next week in Doha, Qatar.

The decision comes as Israeli officials failed to meet their Palestinian counterparts to revive the peace talks that have been stalled for two years.

Palestinians to request Arab support in Arafat's probe

The Palestinian delegation to the Arab League (AL) will demand support for an international investigation into the death of former Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, Palestinian officials said on Sunday.

PLO senior official Saeb Erekat said he will use the emergency meeting next Tuesday to discuss new facts suggesting that Arafat was poisoned. The meeting was requested by Tunisia following an investigative program on the Arabic news channel al-Jazeera, aired on July 3. The AL is meeting in Doha, Qatar next Sunday.

Official: Palestinian figures responsible for Arafat's death

A Palestinian intelligence officer and member of an official investigation committee on Sunday accused Palestinian figures of killing late president Yasser Arafat.

Fahmi Shabana made the comments during an interview with Israeli journalist Yoni Bin Manahim, which was published Sunday on Israel's Reshet Bet new-site.

Shabana said that two Palestinian figures were involved in Arafat's death, a security figure from the Gaza Strip and a political figure who helped cover up the crime.

Israel mulls sanctions on UN agency in West Bank due to staffers' illegal activity

The Foreign Ministry and Israel Defense Forces are considering imposing sanctions against a UN agency in the West Bank and Gaza following allegations that agency employees have engaged in illegal activity such as illegal construction.

As senior officials in Jerusalem put it, Israel wants to “reassess” the role in the West Bank of the agency, the Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Saudi Arabia donates $100 million to Palestinian Authority

President Abbas on Sunday welcomed Saudi Arabia's decision to donate $100 million to the Palestinian Authority, official news agency Wafa reported.

Ramallah prime minister Salam Fayyad applauded King Abdullah for arranging the contribution through Saudi's ministry of finance.

Palestinian PM hails $100 million in Saudi aid

"Prime minister Salam Fayyad and the Palestinian people thank... King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz after he instructed the Saudi finance ministry to transfer $100 million to the Palestinian Authority treasury at the request of president Mahmoud Abbas," Fayyad's office said.

The money, the office added, would "support the Palestinian Authority and assist them in overcoming the financial crisis they are suffering from".

Uprooting Palestinian trees - and lives

The hummer and the jeep screeched to a halt on the path in the olive grove. The soldiers bravely climbed out of the vehicles, and proceeded toward the unknown. Armed and determined, they cleared their way through thorns, stones and rusty barrels; they headed toward the suspicious figures. Within a few minutes, the soldiers received reinforcements. Another hummer appeared on the scene, and its soldiers climbed out of it, armed and determined. Behind them the Swiss red rooftops of the Nachliel settlement jutted into the skyline. Standing before them was a group of thirty people.

U.S. Jews to Netanyahu: Report urging state to legalize settlements will aid those seeking to delegitimize Israel

More than 40 American Jewish leaders and philanthropists have sent a letter to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu expressing their concern about the recent Levy Committee report on the legality of settlements in the territories and urging him to make sure that the government does not adopt it.

PM blames Iran for thwarted Cyprus terror attack

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu blamed Iran on for what he described as an attempted Hezbollah attack against Israeli targets in Cyprus, the second time this month he has pointed a finger at Tehran for attempted terrorist attacks against Israelis abroad.

Palestinian women breaking into business

From corner fruit stalls in Hebron to chic Ramallah ballet studios, Palestinian women are making their mark in business, some out of necessity and others looking to break the gender mould and pursue a dream.

For Shyrine Ziadeh, a 24-year-old Birzeit University graduate, that dream was to open a dance studio.

Where Obama failed on forging peace in the Middle East

It was their first meeting with the new president, and the dozen or so Jewish leaders picked to attend had made an agreement among themselves: No arguing — either with each other or their host.

The pledge would be hard to keep.

Mutiny fear in Israeli army as religious Zionists gain influence