February 20, 2008

Middle East News: World Press Roundup

The New York Times report on the struggle between Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to move talks forward (1) while the Jerusalem Post reports on a conversation with Prime Minister Fayyad detailing his concerns that a peace deal in 2008 may be in peril (3). In a National Interest opinion Ted Galen Carpenter discusses what the thinks about sending NATO peacekeepers into the West Bank (5). A Yehudit Barsky opinion in the JTA examines Hezbollah’s next move (8). In Haaretz, Barak Ravid reports on a possible declaration of independence in the even peace talks with Israel fail (11).

---

---

[5]

---

For Palestinians, The Power Of Mass Non-violence Would Be Undeniable

Now that Fidel Castro has taken the carriage clock, international affairs has all too few fixed points of continuity. Her Majesty the Queen is still in place. The King of Thailand has been on the throne since 1946. Otherwise one has to turn to the Middle East for reassurance that some things never change. Fly-by-nights like Castro may come and go, but the Israel-Palestine conflict will, it seems, always be with us.

Jihadi Regime

As Americans debate whhich presidential candidate is best to confront the jihadists or at least preempt their offensives worldwide, the latter almost seized a key African country for the forthcoming Darfur peace missions.

Fayad To 'post': 2008 Peace Deal In Peril

If Israel and the Palestinians don't change their behavior faster in the West Bank, they will fail to finalize a peace agreement in 2008, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salaam Fayad told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday.

He spoke with the Post briefly in the aftermath of a rare address to the annual Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, which is meeting in Jerusalem this week.

"There must be a greater focus. What we need to do is to pay close attention to the road map," said Fayad.

Inside Track: Nato’s West Bank Nightmare

Washington is sending up a trial balloon about stationing NATO troops as peacekeepers on the West Bank. The Jerusalem Post reports that former NATO supreme commander General James Jones, now the Bush administration’s special envoy to the Middle East, is floating the idea to various European countries.

Jordan Warns Israeli Practices Yeild To Extremism

Jordan on Tuesday warned of Israeli measures that lead to exacerbating the living conditions in the Palestinian territories, describing these practices as a recipe for extremism.

Israeli sieges and closures of roads contribute only to worsening the situation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Minister of State for Media Affairs and Communications Nasser Judeh told the opening session of a two-day seminar by the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People.

Op-ed: Hezbollah Will Strike Back, Question Is Where And When

For many of his victims around the world, the recent car-bomb assassination of Imad Fayez Mughniyeh -- one of the world’s most wanted terrorists for two decades -- has the ring of true justice. At least in the short term, the killing of Mughniyeh will have a deterrent effect and hamper Hezbollah’s capability to carry out a revenge attack.

Construction Continuing In West Bank Settlements Despite Pm's Pledge

A new neighborhood comprising 27 trailers is currently under construction at the settlement of Eli, north of Ramallah, even though Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed publicly after the Annapolis conference that any such building would cease.

Even though some of the trailers are being set up on land privately owned by Palestinians, the authorities are taking no action.

Similar unauthorized construction has taken place in the settlement of Maskiot in the northern Jordan Valley.

Netanyahu: Olmert Government Taking Measures To Cede Jerusalem

Likud leader and chairman of the opposition MK Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that the Olmert government is taking measures to divide Jerusalem, and urged the key Shas party to bolt the coalition and topple the government in order "to save Jerusalem."

Netanyahu was reacting to ongoing wrangling between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas over Olmert's assertion that the sides had agreed to defer discussions over the status of Jerusalem to a future final phase of negotiations.

Abbas Cool To Aide's Call For Kosovo-like Declaration Of Statehood

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, responding to an aide's call on Wednesday for a unilateral declaration of statehood if peace talks with Israel continued to falter, ruled out taking any such step soon.

"We will pursue negotiations in order to reach a peace agreement during 2008 that includes the settlement of all final status issues including Jerusalem," Abbas said in a statement.

---

---