July 30, 2012

Middle East News: World Press Roundup

NEWS: The emergent Palestinian IT sector in the occupied West Bank evades Israeli restrictions on physical movement. Sec. Panetta says he does not believe Israel has made a decision regarding what to do about Iran. Mitt Romney courts donors and raises cash in Israel, declares Jerusalem to be Israel's capital, and says differences with the United States embolden the enemies of both countries. PM Fayyad meets with Romney. A Palestinian man is killed at an Israeli checkpoint. Pres. Abbas says he's confident Palestinians can gain further recognition at the UN. Israel plans to deploy new rocket interceptors in 2013. A member of the committee looking into the question says trying to determine the cause of death of the late Pres. Arafat is “like looking for a needle in the ocean.” Palestinians say Israeli settlers are draining West Bank water supplies. The EU is pressuring Israel to change its policies towards “Area C,” and complains about wide-ranging human rights violations. The US has reportedly presented Israel with a contingency plan for a strike against Iranian nuclear facilities. Another mysterious incident raises the question of Israeli espionage in the United States. Former Obama aide Dennis Ross reportedly will not be campaigning for the president's reelection. COMMENTARY: Israel Hayom interviews Romney. Barak Ravid says PM Netanyahu has embraced Romney as no Israeli prime minister has ever embraced the US candidate before. Gershom Gorenberg says Romney didn't really have much to gain by visiting Israel. Herb Keinon says Israel has become a backdrop set for US presidential politics. Jan Schakowski asks what exactly Romney is proposing that would be so different from what Pres. Obama has done with regard to Israel, and Abraham Katzman suggests some examples. Uri Avnery says Israelis are avoiding looking at the contradictions of their own ideology and politics. The Independent publishes extracts from Raja Shehadeh's new book “Occupation Diaries.”

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West Bank’s Emerging Silicon Valley Evades Issues of Borders

The spotless cafeteria is fashionably furnished with fluorescent orange and lime green tables, and there are table tennis and foosball tables in the basement. What else could it be but a tech start-up, even here?

Panetta Sidesteps Issue of Israel’s Plans on Iran

Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said Sunday that he did not think Israel had yet made a decision to strike Iran, but that his goal in meeting with the Israeli leadership this week was to strengthen ties with the United States “so that we can be fully prepared to deal with any contingency that may happen.”

Romney comments at fundraiser outrage Palestinians

Mitt Romney told Jewish donors Monday that their culture is part of what has allowed them to be more economically successful than the Palestinians, outraging Palestinian leaders who called his comments racist and out of touch.

In Israel, Romney declares Jerusalem to be capital

Standing on Israeli soil, U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Sunday declared Jerusalem to be the capital of the Jewish state and said the United States has "a solemn duty and a moral imperative" to block Iran from achieving nuclear weapons capability.

"Make no mistake, the ayatollahs in Iran are testing our moral defenses. They want to know who will object and who will look the other way," he said. "We will not look away nor will our country ever look away from our passion and commitment to Israel."

Romney: US, Israel differences embolden enemies

Mitt Romney says any public differences between the United States and Israel only embolden adversaries.

The U.S. presidential candidate says it is a "basic truth" that the United States and Israel will always stand together.

Without mentioning the tensions between President Barack Obama and Israel's leaders, Romney suggested in a Jerusalem speech Sunday that the diplomatic differences only encourage Israel's enemies.

Fayyad meets US presidential candidate Romney

Palestinian Authority prime minister Salam Fayyad met with Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Sunday, PA spokesman Ghassan al-Khatib said.

The former Massachusetts governor was in Jerusalem on the second leg of a trip to strengthen his foreign policy credentials in his race to unseat Obama.

After talks with Israeli leaders, Romney met with Fayyad. He then visited the Western Wall, Judaism's most revered site.

Israel troops shoot dead Palestinian at checkpoint

Israeli border police have shot dead a Palestinian man and wounded two others at the entrance to Jerusalem.

Border police spokesman Shai Hakimi says 40-year-old Akram Badr was traveling in a car that burst through a checkpoint at high speed early Monday and tried to run over officers who ordered him to stop.

Palestinian police said the car had entered a wrong lane and was backing up to enter the right one when Israeli border police mistakenly thought it was trying to hit them and opened fire.

Abbas confident in Palestinian bid for UN recognition

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday expressed confidence that the Palestinian bid for the United Nations' recognition of a Palestinian state will succeed this time once the bid is applied.

Abbas, who paid a visit to the West Bank's northern city of Jenin to have Iftar meal with city notables during the holy month of Ramadan, said that "we went to the UN and we didn't succeed in the first time, but next time we will."

Israel to deploy two new rocket interceptors in 2013

The Israel Air Force (IAF) is expected to deploy two additional Iron Dome missile-defense batteries early next year, The Jerusalem Post reported Sunday.

The new batteries have reportedly been outfitted with upgraded software and radars that will enable interception at extended ranges, and will be operated by reservists, according to the report.

The batteries will join the four currently at the disposal of the IAF, with additional systems scheduled for supply in the coming years.

Arafat inquiry like looking for 'needle in the ocean'

The investigation into late President Yasser Arafat's death is ongoing, director of the committee responsible for the inquiry said Sunday.

Tawfiq al-Tirawi told Ma'an that a medical committee headed by Abdullah al-Basheer is undertaking research in coordination with international specialists and will brief officials on the results once investigations reach their final stages.

Attili: Israeli settlers draining Palestinian water supply

Israel allocates 70 times more water to each settler than to the average Palestinian in the West Bank, the head of the Palestinian Water Authority said Sunday.

At a press conference in Ramallah, Shaddad Attili said Palestinians received 105 million cubic meters of water, less than the amount allocated in the 1995 Oslo Accords and around a quarter of the 400 million cubic meters needed according to international standards.

EU pressure for aid change in Area C

As demolition orders continue to threaten the work of humanitarian organizations in Israeli-controlled Area C in the West Bank, the European Union and humanitarian agencies are pressing to change the rules of the aid game.

EU slams Israel’s 'human rights violations'

In a recent statement issued by the EU-Israel Association Council, the European Union (EU) sharply criticized Israel for what it referred to as a wide range of human rights violations in the Jewish state and the "occupied Palestinian territory (OPT)."

U.S. presented Netanyahu with contingency plan for Iran strike

The U.S. national security adviser has shared with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the United States' contingency plans for a possible attack on Iran.

According to a senior American official, National Security Advisor Tom Donilon briefed Netanyahu on the plans during Donilon's visit to Israel two weeks ago. According to the official, who requested anonymity, Netanyahu hosted Donilon at a three-hour dinner. For part of the time, Israel's national security adviser, Yaakov Amidror, was on hand.

US sees Israel as spy threat

The CIA station chief opened the locked box containing the sensitive equipment he used from his home in Tel Aviv to communicate with CIA headquarters in Virginia, only to find that someone had tampered with it. He sent word to his superiors about the break-in.

The incident, described by three former senior US intelligence officials, might have been dismissed as just another cloak-and-dagger incident in the world of international espionage, except that the same thing had happened to the previous station chief in Israel.

Key Pro-Israel Obama Ally Splits

As Republican donors are financing multimillion-dollar campaigns to bring Jewish voters over to Mitt Romney, one of President Obama’s most important liaisons to the pro-Israel community has opted to sit out the 2012 election cycle.

Romney to Israel Hayom: Israel deserves better treatment than it's getting from Obama

Israel deserves better treatment than it received during the term of U.S. President Barack Obama, Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney told Israel Hayom in a special interview this week. "I would treat Israel like the friend and ally it is. We share not only common interests, but also common values."

"I cannot imagine going to the United Nations, as Obama did, and criticizing Israel in front of the world," he said. "You don't criticize your allies in public to achieve the applause of your foes."

In Jerusalem speech, it was Romney's voice but Netanyahu's words

Romney's staff picked the 150 guests carefully. Religious American immigrants dominated the crowd; secular Jews and native-born Israelis were few and far between. Those present included Jewish-American millionaires, settler leaders like the former chairman of the Yesha Council of settlements Israel Harel, and former Netanyahu aides such as Dore Gold, Naftali Bennett, Ayelet Shaked and Yoaz Hendel.

Mitt, Are You Sure This Trip Was a Good Idea?

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