April 24, 2008

Middle East News: World Press Roundup

Glenn Kessler reports on the disclosure of a 2004 letter from President Bush purporting to acquiesce to expanded Israeli settlements (1) while Prime Minister Olmert mulls supporting a new bill to compensate settlers for leaving the occupied territories (2). New movements build speculation on the possibility of a peace deal between Syria and Israel (6) (9). Richard Hass discusses a future world absent dominant world powers (8). Finally, President Bush prepares his agenda for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ forthcoming visit.

---

---

[5]

---

Israeli Law Would Pay Settlers To Leave West Bank

When the Ventura family moved to this West Bank settlement from a Tel Aviv suburb 20 years ago, they sought open spaces and mountain air.

But years of Israeli-Palestinian fighting have scared away their children and grandchildren. Now the retired couple wants to move back.

"We came here for quality of life when there were no worries here," said Tzuri Ventura, 68, a retired truck driver. "We just want to get out of here ... but we don't have enough money."

Bush Seeks Boost For Abbas, Mideast Peace Bid

President George W. Bush hosts Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the White House on Thursday to try to bolster him and shore up a fragile U.S.-backed peace effort with Israel.

With 10 months left in office, Bush will hold talks with Abbas in the face of deep skepticism over the chances for securing a Middle East peace deal before the U.S. president finishes his term early next year.

U.s. Briefing On Syria Sets Off Tension In Israel

A CIA briefing to members of Congress about Syria’s nuclear capabilities is causing tension in Jerusalem, which is rumored to be engaged in negotiations with Damascus over the Golan Heights.  

The Bush administration is presenting lawmakers with proof that the Syrian facility Israel is suspected of having bombed last September was, indeed, a nuclear weapons facility being built with the assistance of North Korea. 

Palestinians Pledge Fuel For Aid Agency Amid Shortages

Palestinian fuel distributors in the Gaza Strip agreed today to provide an emergency shipment to a UN aid agency that had warned it would have to halt food distribution unless its trucks received fuel.

UN food assistance to 650,000 Palestinian refugees had been scheduled to stop today due to fuel cuts, but Mahmoud al-Khuzundar, of the Association for Petrol Station Owners in the Gaza Strip, said 50,000 litres (13,209 gallons) of diesel would be delivered to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).

Israeli Premier Willing To Give Back Golan Heights: Syrian Cabinet Minister

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has told Turkey that Israel is willing to give back Syria’s Golan Heights in return for peace with the Arab state, a Syrian Cabinet minister said yesterday.

“Olmert is ready for peace with Syria on the grounds of international conditions; on the grounds of the return of the Golan Heights in full to Syria,” Expatriates Minister Buthaina Shaaban told Al Jazeera television. She said the message about the Heights occupied by Israel since 1967 was made through Turkey.

Israeli Imbroglio

If secret agents are supposed to be handsome, or seductive, masters of derring-do, then America’s latest spy scandal has to come as something of a disappointment.  The octogenarian Ben-Ami Kadish, whom the Justice Department is accusing of operating as an Israeli spy from 1979 to 1985 and who faces four counts of conspiracy, clad in a blue windbreaker and black sweatpants as he headed toward the courthouse, simply doesn’t cut the mustard. But his arrest has already created an uproar in Israel, where officials are scrambling to deflect blame.

We Must Guard Against The Worst In A Nonpolar World

Today's world is dominated not by one or two or even several powers, but rather is influenced by dozens of state and nonstate actors exercising various kinds of power. A 20th century dominated first by a few states, then, during the Cold War, by two states, and finally by American preeminence at the Cold War's end, has given way to a 21st century dominated by no one. Call it nonpolar.

Don't Be Afraid Of Peace With Syria

Peace with Syria is once again knocking at our door, and it even seems to be meeting with a less-frosty reception on the Israeli side. The time is ripe for negotiations with Syria, especially since U.S. President George W. Bush's reign is drawing to a close, and among his potential successors, whether Democrat or Republican, there is a willingness to negotiate with Bashar Assad instead of boycotting him.

White House: Syria Must 'come Clean' About Nuclear Facility

The White House on Thursday urged Syria to "come clean" about an alleged nuclear facility, which a senior U.S. official said earlier in the day had been near completion when it was reportedly targeted and destroyed by the Israel Air Force in September 2007.

"The Syrian regime must come clean before the world regarding its illicut
nuclear activities," White House press secretary Dana Perino said, shortly after U.S. intelligence officials presented members of Congress with evidence that Pyongyang had assisted a secret Syrian nuclear program.

---

---