October 25, 2012

GAZA, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- Hamas is considering appointing Moussa Abu Marzouk, currently deputy head of the Hamas politburo, to replace Khaled Mashaal as the movement's chief, sources said Wednesday.

The Shurra council of Hamas, the Islamic Palestinian movement that rules the Gaza Strip, made the decision to appoint Abu Marzouk after a series of meetings in Cairo last week, the sources said.

Momentum builds for Gaza to secede, Israel and West Bank to become one

After decades of the "two states for two people" blueprint more or less dominating proposals for Israeli-Palestinian peace, a new paradigm is gaining momentum. Under this model, Israel absorbs the West Bank and its 2.5 million Palestinians, while Hamas-run Gaza becomes a separate entity aligned with the Middle East’s rising Islamist powers.

Israel re-opens 2 Gaza Strip crossings

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Israeli authorities have re-opened the Kerem Shalom and Erez crossings into the Gaza Strip after closing them a day earlier, Palestinian and Israeli officials said Thursday.

Palestinian border official Raed Fattouh told Ma'an that Israel would allow 167 truckloads of medical aid, clothes, shoes, fruit, and livestock to enter Gaza.

An Israeli liaison official confirmed that both crossings were operating Thursday. They had been closed due to the "security situation" on the border, an official said Wednesday.

Israel: UN bid risks 'far-reaching consequences'

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israel on Wednesday threatened "difficult and far-reaching consequences" of plans to upgrade Palestine's status in the United Nations next month.

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman relayed the warning during talks with visiting EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton in Jerusalem, a statement from his office said.

If President Mahmoud Abbas "continues unilateral measures against Israel in the UN General Assembly, there will be difficult and far-reaching consequences," Lieberman told Ashton.

U.S. extends $4 billion loan guarantees to Israel

The United States extended its $4 billion loan guarantees to Israel by another four years on Wednesday.

U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner and Doron Cohen, the director general of Israel's Finance Ministry, signed an agreement extending the loan program until 2016.

'Morsi harsher on Hamas than previous regime'

Defying expectations, the current regime in Egypt has acted more harshly against Hamas than the previous one, Vice Premier Silvan Shalom told Israel Radio on Thursday.

"It's good for the public to know that the current leadership is acting against Hamas in a very tough way," Shalom said, specifying that it is destroying tunnels "one after the other," limiting movement and blocking it from carrying out terrorist activity from Egyptian territory.

Israel deports activists from Gaza-bound ship

Immigration authorities on Wednesday deported 15 international activists who were arrested after their ship, the Estelle, attempted to break Israel's naval blockade of Gaza.

The pro-Palestinian activists were sent back to their homelands, with two more scheduled to be deported late Wednesday night. Ten other activists were deported on Sunday and Monday. Three of the activists are Israeli and were released on bail.

ZOA Cancels Annual Fundraising Dinner

The Zionist Organization of America has canceled its annual fundraising dinner because of the loss of its tax-exempt status, the organization has confirmed.

The fundraiser, usually held in late November or early December, is a key annual event for the group. Recent galas have drawn such high-profile speakers as conservative talk show host Glenn Beck and Republican Rep. Eric Cantor, the House majority leader.

Palestinians Stage Elections; Young Voters Shrug

Ramallah, West Bank — Despite Hamas’ boycott of the Palestinian municipal elections and a discouraging 55% turnout, candidates and observers alike saw the Oct. 20 poll as essential to re-establish political legitimacy in the city councils after a seven-year voting hiatus. But among the young electorate, Al-Monitor found few who believed their vote mattered.

Palestinian Authority Hotels Boast A 90% Room Occupancy Rate

Over 90% occupancy has been recorded in the Palestinian Authority hotels, and 95% of the guests are tourists. It has thus been reported by the Palestinian Hotel Association. In Bethlehem and its environs, for instance, 3,000 hotel rooms are available in 30 hotels — an increase of 1,000 rooms since September 2011. In 2013, 700 additional hotel rooms are expected to be built.

American Elections Matter and the System is Open

The silly season, the protracted multibillion dollar period of escalating frenzy leading up to US national elections, is coming to a close. All that is said or done in this season is fair if it is deemed legal. The game ends with one winner while two parties share the uneven pie of diffuse power across the nation.

 The United States and its elections matter. What other countries do not know about the US system, including elections, cost them.

Hamas Rising?

Is everyone conspiring to undermine the Palestinian Authority and promote Hamas? This morning, in the context of yesterday's visit of the Emir of Qatar to Gaza, with his pledges of massive financial and diplomatic support, it sure looks that way.

Gaza and Qatari guardianship

The visit of Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar, to the Gaza Strip has raised some criticism, specifically from the Palestinian Authority. However this visit also raises a lot of questions, most importantly: Does the visit of Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa mean that Gaza is now under Qatari guardianship, after it was previously under the guardianship of Iran and Bashar al-Assad?

Qatar initiative in Gaza signals a regional shift

For a visit that last just six hours - the same as a return flight from Doha to Cairo - the visit of the Emir of Qatar to the Gaza Strip could have remarkable consequences for long-term regional events.

For Palestinians hammered by Israel's blockade since 2007, it represented a victory: not merely a challenge to the blockade by an Arab state, but a reminder that Gazans are not alone and not forgotten. Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani was the first Arab leader to visit the Strip since Jordan's King Abdullah in 1999.

Meet the Israelis

Nice to make your acquaintance, we're racist and pro-apartheid. The poll whose results were published in Haaretz on Tuesday, conducted by Dialog and commissioned by the Yisraela Goldblum Fund, proved what we always knew, if not so bluntly. It's important to recognize the truth that has been thrown in our faces and those of the world (where the survey is making waves ). But it's even more important to draw the necessary conclusions from it.

The Spymaster

In December 1998, then Secretary of State Madeleine Albright sent me to Israel and the West Bank to monitor the first phase of the recently concluded Wye River Memorandum, a soon-to-be-forgotten agreement President Bill Clinton had brokered between then Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Disappointing Palestine Elections Point to Fundamental Issues

The results of the municipal elections did not meet the expectations of election officials in the West Bank. In fact, the outcome of the elections reflects the worsening political scene across the Palestinian territories.

These local elections, which were supposed to be a cause for celebration for Palestinians, were a far cry from the 2006 legislative elections, which many Arabs wish to witness again.

These were the first municipal elections to take place in seven years, and only occurred following repeated delays.

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