NEWS:
Pres. Abbas will reportedly call for renewed negotiations with Israel without preconditions following a UN vote in November. PM Netanyahu announces new Israeli elections for early 2013. Former Israeli PM Olmert may be considering a comeback. More rockets are fired at southern Israel from Gaza following renewed Israeli airstrikes. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has softened his stance towards the Palestinians. Palestinian refugees in Lebanon face growing health concerns. Hamas says it will investigate reports that its forces abused journalists. The Israeli military says it may reinstitute Arabic translations during military tribunals in the occupied West Bank. The unemployment rate among Palestinian citizens of Israel appears to be twice as high as previously thought. The PA reiterates that lack of interest from donors has intensified its cash crisis. The PA approves the first private-sector Palestinian minimum wage.
COMMENTARY:
Hussein Ibish says settler violence is inherent to the social dynamics and ideology of the occupation. Andrew Quinn says Romney's Middle East policy speech was short on details. Chris McGreal asks if there any real differences between Romney's policies and Pres. Obama's. Sefi Rachlevsky says it's possible for a coalition of non-right-wing political parties to prevail in the next election. Gershon Baskin says turning away from a two-state solution would be a disaster for both Israeli and Palestinian self-determination. Emad El Din Adeeb thinks the 1973 war was an Arab military victory. Reuven Pedatzur says Israel can deter Iran. A new film looks at sexual affairs between Jews and Arabs in Israel. Aaron David Miller says neither Obama nor Romney are as "good" or "bad" on Israel as Jewish Americans think. Abdullatif Al-Mulhim says the Arab world has wasted billions of dollars and tens of thousands of innocent lives quixotically fighting Israel.
Abbas believes that a freeze on illegal settlement building may not be necessary to engage in talks if the UN recognizes a Palestinian state which includes all of the West Bank, AP reported.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is considering a political comeback to challenge incumbent Benjamin Netanyahu in the upcoming elections, aides said Wednesday.
Gaza rockets hit southern Israel following air strike
JERUSALEM, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Militants in the Gaza Strip early Wednesday fired more rockets at Israeli communities in the western Negev, as a new round of hostilities entered its fourth day.
Will Palestinians accept Romney's outstretched hand?
Article Author(s):
Joshua Mitnick
Media Outlet:
Christian Science Monitor
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has softened his message to Palestinians, even as he makes mending ties with Israel a main foreign policy plank.
Hidden health crisis facing Palestinian refugees in Lebanon
JOHANNESBURG (IRIN) -- New research has uncovered the hidden health toll that refugee life in Lebanon has taken on more than 400,000 Palestinians.
Gaza ministry to investigate journalist complaints
Media Outlet:
Ma'an News Agency
GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- The Gaza Ministry of Interior will launch an inquiry into complaints by journalists against reporting restrictions in the coastal enclave, a spokesman said Wednesday.
Interior minister Fathi Hammad issued the decision to form the committee, ministry spokesman Islam Shahwan said.
He called on the media to cooperate with the committee.
IDF may reinstitute Arabic translations in West Bank military courts
Article Author(s):
Amira Hass
The IDF is willing to resume its one-time habit of translating into Arabic the indictments it submits to military courts in the West Bank, but insists there is no need or duty to translate other documents, such as verdicts or court transcripts.
The IDF's position was included in the state's response to a petition submitted to the High Court of Justice by four Palestinian attorneys, who claimed that the fact that all documents in military courts are exclusively in Hebrew damages defendants' rights to due process.
Arab unemployment higher than previously thought
Article Author(s):
Ilene Prusher
Media Outlet:
The Jerusalem Post
The rate of unemployment among Arabs in Israel is much higher than previously believed, according to a new analysis by Professor Eran Yashiv, chairman of the Economic Policy Program at Tel Aviv University’s Taub Center.
West Bank cash crisis as donors fail to pay
Article Author(s):
Matthew Kalman
Media Outlet:
The Independent
The Palestinian Authority, facing a major cash crisis, has warned 150,000 employees it does not know when they will receive their September salaries.
Palestinians set first private sector minimum wage
Media Outlet:
Agence France Presse (AFP)
RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories — The Palestinian government on Tuesday approved a minimum wage of 1,450 shekels ($376, 290 euros) a month for the private sector, labour minister Ahmed Majdalani said.
"This is an unprecedented decision... on which we can build," Majdalani told AFP, dismissing criticism that the rate was to low.
Where Settler Terrorism Comes From
Article Author(s):
Hussein Ibish
Media Outlet:
The Daily Beast
Following a series of violent incidents involving settler and pro-settler Jewish Israeli extremists, including the attempted lynching of a Palestinian youth in Jerusalem, many Israelis expressed concern about the rise in violent hatred within their society and wondered where it was coming from. Several incidents over the weekend demonstrated that this trend is only intensifying and clearly pointed to why.
Romney spares details as he hits Obama on foreign policy
Article Author(s):
Andrew Quinn
WASHINGTON, Oct 8 (Reuters) - Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney on Monday ratcheted up his campaign to cast President Barack Obama as a weak steward of U.S. power, but offered few specific clues about how he would handle world crises differently.
Is Romney's foreign policy a radical departure from Obama's?
Article Author(s):
Chris McGreal
Media Outlet:
The Guardian
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has given his most detailed foreign policy speech to date. But how does Romney's vision for America's place in the world compare to the policies currently being pursued by the Obama administration – and there any contradictions?
Syria
61 seats - mission possible
Article Author(s):
Sefi Rachlevsky
A year ago, in private conversations, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak marked the winter of 2013 as the time for elections - and not because of the budget. The reason was U.S. President Barack Obama. Netanyahu wanted Obama to have as little time as possible to take revenge on him. The thing is, now Republican candidate Mitt Romney might win. To risk losing eight months with him as president - months so decisive for a war with Iran - is a tough gamble for Netanyahu.
Zionist fantacide
Article Author(s):
Gershon Baskin
Media Outlet:
The Jerusalem Post
A day doesn’t go by when I am not asked “isn’t the two-state solution dead?” Today I was asked twice.
A former staunch Israeli supporter of this solution called me this evening and said he wanted to begin talking to Palestinians about other options because “it is too late to move the settlers out of the West Bank, they are there to stay and we have to find some way to live together.”
The miraculous October 1973 victory
Article Author(s):
Emad El Din Adeeb
Media Outlet:
Asharq Alawsat
I find it particularly painful when some of my colleagues show a lack of appreciation for the victorious October 1973 war; a miraculous humanitarian and military victory by any standards.
Israel Can Deter Iran
Article Author(s):
Reuven Pedatzur
The failure of Israeli policymaking with regards to the Iranian nuclear threat is rooted in the fact that Israeli leaders are completely ignoring the need to discuss Israel’s policy in the event that Iran succeeds in equipping itself with nuclear weapons. In all the discussions taking place in the closed forums led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the focus is on one question alone: whether or not to attack the Iranian nuclear facilities.
New Film Explores Israeli, Arab Views on Sex With the ‘Other’
Article Author(s):
Sophie Claudet
PARIS — It all started when Yolande Zauberman and her partner in life and work, Selim Nassib, began to work on a screenplay of Nassib’s novel, The Palestinian Lover, which tells the story of an alleged, passionate affair between Golda Meir and a rich Arab banker in then British-administered Palestine.
Enough Already
Article Author(s):
Aaron David Miller
Media Outlet:
Foreign Policy
Once every four years, rational, right-thinking Americans get crazy. Election ads clearly hype up an already polarized electorate. And right about now, on the hot-button issues of the day -- debt, deficit, who's leading from behind in foreign policy and who's not -- many Americans seem to lose the capacity to think for themselves.
Arab Spring and the Israeli enemy
Article Author(s):
Abdulateef Al-Mulhim
Thirty-nine years ago, on Oct. 6, 1973, the third major war between the Arabs and Israel broke out. The war lasted only 20 days. The two sides were engaged in two other major wars, in 1948 and 1967.
Links:
[1] http://www.americantaskforce.org/print/28150
[2] http://www.americantaskforce.org/printmail/28150
[3] http://www.americantaskforce.org/printpdf/28150
[4] http://www.americantaskforce.org/rss/wpr
[5] https://www.americantaskforce.org/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=1
[6] http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=527635
[7] http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/07/world/middleeast/netanyahu-calls-for-early-israeli-elections.html?_r=1&ref=middleeast
[8] http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/n/benjamin_netanyahu/index.html?inline=nyt-per
[9] http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/israel/index.html?inline=nyt-geo
[10] http://www.statesman.com/ap/ap/crime/aide-israels-ex-pm-olmert-considering-comeback/nSYtj/
[11] http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2012-10/10/c_131898382.htm
[12] http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2012/1009/Will-Palestinians-accept-Romney-s-outstretched-hand
[13] http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=527417
[14] http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=525619
[15] http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/idf-may-reinstitute-arabic-translations-in-west-bank-military-courts.premium-1.469132
[16] http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=287179
[17] http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/west-bank-cash-crisis-as-donors-fail-to-pay-8204462.html
[18] http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5if9jE720JGyYhZ2gXI2SPjsCigFw?docId=CNG.af1b23fe03686edb11f1d5f20e2e62a9.371
[19] http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/10/09/where-settler-terrorism-comes-from.html
[20] http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/analysis-romney-spares-details-as-he-hits-obama-on-foreign-policy/
[21] http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct/08/romneys-foreign-policy-radical-departture-obama
[22] http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/61-seats-mission-possible.premium-1.468986
[23] http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Article.aspx?id=287167
[24] http://www.asharq-e.com/news.asp?section=2&id=31373
[25] http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/security/01/10/the-iranian-threat-against-israe.html
[26] http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2012/al-monitor/would-you-have-sex-with-an-ar-1.html
[27] http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/10/09/enough_already
[28] http://www.arabnews.com/arab-spring-and-israeli-enemy
PRINT ALL
EMAIL TO A FRIEND
DOWNLOAD TO PDF
RSS
Front Page Features