July 11, 2008

Middle East News: World Press Roundup

American efforts to secure travel for three Fulbright scholars out of Gaza continue (1). Palestinian Security Forces in the West Bank city of Jenin are undermined by Israeli interventions (2). The United Nations issues a report criticizing the West Bank separation barrier (5). Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad urges Palestinians to resist Israeli attempts to shut down a major business complex in the West Bank city of Nablus (6). Ceasefire violations continue on the Gaza border (8) (10).

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Palestinians: Let Us Tame Wild Jenin

Throughout most of the decade, Jenin has been synonymous with what Palestinians generally call fawda: a mix of chaos with the might of gun-toting militants trying to impose their own brand of law and order.

Today, the Palestinian Authority (PA) police and paramilitary forces, recently returned from US-sponsored training in Jordan, have fanned out around Jenin as part of a new security campaign to regain control of West Bank cities such as this one, which have been in disarray since the start of the Al Aqsa intifada nearly eight years ago.

Obama In Israel

Senator Obama’s decision to include Israel in his overseas tour makes a lot of sense. Although he has been there before, the ever-changing Israeli scene needs to be experienced firsthand. I only hope Obama is not going to Israel in order to impress a small but vocal minority of Jewish Democrats who are uncomfortable with his candidacy.

Ehud Olmert Will Not Contest Leadership, Officials Say

Ehud Olmert's tenuous grip on power weakened further yesterday when officials of his ruling Kadima party suggested that he would not contest the leadership primaries in September.

Already reeling from a corruption scandal, the fallout from the disastrous war in Lebanon two years ago and poor opinion poll ratings, the Israeli Prime Minister is being asked not to run for re-election by concerned members of his own party.

Un Criticises West Bank Barrier

The West Bank barrier Israel is building will be devastating for Palestinians if completed along its proposed route, the UN says.

In a report, the UN said thousands of Palestinians had already been cut off from their jobs, land or key services.

The report blamed Israel's decision to build the barrier inside the West Bank rather than along the agreed border.

The report was compiled to mark four years since an International Court of Justice ruling on the barrier.

Fayyad Calls On Palestinians To Defy Israeli Army

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad called on Palestinians on Thursday to defy an Israeli army attempt to shut down a major commercial center in Nablus.

In a striking intervention in an affair that Israel says is aimed at disrupting funding for Fayyad's Islamist opponents in Hamas, the Western-backed premier visited the modern complex which rises above the center of the West Bank city and urged businesses to reopen there despite an Israeli raid on Tuesday.

Israeli Troops Kill Gunman In West Bank Clash

West Bank (AP) -- Israeli troops killed a Palestinian gunman who opened fire on an Israeli civilian driving in the West Bank early Friday, the military and Palestinian officials said.

An Israeli officer was also wounded in the nighttime clash, the military said.

The gunman opened fire on the civilian driving near the Palestinian town of Qalqilya just after midnight, lightly wounding him, the military said, and then shot at troops who arrived on the scene.

Hamas Arrests Fighters After Rockets Are Fired Into Israel

Hamas has arrested three fighters who fired cross-border rockets into southern Israel from the Gaza Strip  on Thursday.

It is the first such detentions since the Islamists and Israel agreed a truce last month, fighters said.

An official with the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a militant faction of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement, said Hamas security forces arrested three of its members who were involved in firing two rockets at Israel.

"They chased them after they fired the rockets and abducted them," the official said.

U.s., Syria Should Talk (about Everything)

The recent compromise on power sharing in Lebanon spares the country further bloodshed and allows its people to return to a modicum of normalcy. However, the underlying causes of the conflict remain, and Lebanon continues to be an arena where external powers play out their rivalries. Unless and until Syria and the United States reach a grand bargain, the Lebanese will continue to pay the price.

Israeli Soldiers Kill Unarmed Palestinian Lad

A 17-year-old boy who crossed into Israel in search of work was killed by Israeli troops yesterday.

Mouawiya Hassnin, a Health Ministry official, told Arab News that the teenager, identified as Salem Hamedi, was wearing a T-shirt and jeans and had sustained bullet wounds to the stomach and shoulder.

High Court Ruling Keeps Palestinian Village In Limbo

The 200 Palestinians living in El-Nu'man, a village in the extreme southeast corner of Jerusalem, will continue to live in their never-never land, trapped without status between the West Bank and Jerusalem, in the wake of a High Court of Justice decision handed down earlier this week.

4 Israelis Arrested For Allegedly Selling Weapons To Palestinians

Security forces last month arrested four Israeli citizens suspected of selling weapons to Palestinians, a gag order lifted on Friday revealed.

The Shin Bet security service and the Galilee District Police arrested three residents of the northern village of Kafr Makr and a resident of Acre for allegedly carrying out the crime.

The official complaint was lodged against the suspects on Friday, ahead of the indictment.

Strengthening Israel’s Moral Center

Muhammad Abu Ayesha remembers his Jewish neighbors in Hebron fondly. They celebrated weddings together, and they comforted each other during times of mourning. In 1929 when some Arabs came to massacre the Jewish community, Muhammad's father sheltered Jews. His name has a place of pride in the "Book of Hebron," produced to commemorate the Jewish community.

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