May 8, 2009

Middle East News: World Press Roundup

Pope Benedict XVI arrives in the Mideast for his highly anticipated visit (1) (2) (3). An article in The Guardian looks at the West Bank village of Nu'man, which is surrounded on three sides by the Israeli separation barrier (4). In the Washington Post, Charles Krauthammer assesses cease-fire terms recently proposed by Hamas leaders (5). Senior Israeli officials express concern over the shifts in the state of the U.S.-Israel relationship under the new governments in both countries (8). The Israeli organization Peace Now petitions the High Court of Justice for an immediate cessation of settlement construction in the West Bank settlement of Halamish - Neve Tzu (9). Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad calls for an end to land expropriation in the "E1" area near Jerusalem (11).

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Pope, Hope in Hand, Arrives in Mideast

When Pope John Paul II traveled to the Holy Land in 2000, the visit was history, the first by a pope to recognize the state of Israel or visit sites holy to Islam.

Pope begins Mid-East pilgrimage

Pope Benedict XVI stressed his "deep respect" for Islam as he arrived in Jordan to begin a Middle East visit.

He described religious freedom as a fundamental human right, and said he hoped the Catholic church could play a role in the Middle East peace process.

The Pope says he is going on his eight-day tour - his first to the region as pontiff - as a "pilgrim of peace".

But Jordanian Islamist leaders have demanded that he apologise for a speech in 2006 that linked Islam and violence.

After Jordan, the Pope's tour will take him to Israel and the West Bank.

Pope in the Holy Land: The issues

As the Pope visits Jordan, Israel and the West Bank, he faces a combustible cocktail of issues combining relations between the world's three main monotheistic religions, one of the world's most intractable political conflicts and the legacy of the Holocaust. The BBC News Website looks at the areas of controversy he will have to navigate.

CATHOLIC-JEWISH RELATIONS

The Catholic Church has moved in recent decades to make amends for a long history of anti-Semitism.

Life in Nu'man land

The Palestinian villagers of Nu'man have lived on their hilltop for generations, looking out across sweeping views of the terraced olive-tree slopes of the West Bank. But their view is changing dramatically and they fear there will be little place for Nu'man in the new landscape.

The Hamas 'Peace' Gambit

"Apart from the time restriction (a truce that lapses after 10 years) and the refusal to accept Israel's existence, Mr. Meshal's terms approximate the Arab League peace plan . . ."

-- Hamas peace plan, as explained by the New York Times

"Apart from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?"

-- Tom Lehrer, satirist

Damascus Deporting Mishal is a Good Step

I ask readers not to judge this commentary by its title, and hope they will read it to the last line.

Where Will Israel Respond?

Every time it finds itself cornered, Israel resorts to a balance-shattering violence that deflects attention away from the main problem at hand by depicting it as less important than reaching a ceasefire for example or ending the torture of civilians or the destruction of their economy - as has repeatedly happened with Lebanon and the Palestinians.

Jerusalem worried over breakdown of U.S.-Israel cooperation under Obama

Senior officials in Jerusalem expressed concern recently over the sharp decline in the coordination between Israel and the United States on security and state affairs since President Barack Obama's entered the White House and especially since the formation of Israel's new government.

Senior White House officials told their Israeli counterparts that Obama will demand Netanyahu completely suspend construction in the settlements, the officials said.

Peace Now petitions court to stop settlement construction

Peace Now petitioned the High Court of Justice on Thursday, demanding that court instruct Defense Minister Ehud Barak and head of the IDF Central Command, Major-General Gadi Shamni, to order the immediate cessation of construction activities in the West Bank settlement of Halamish – Neve Tzuf.

The organization further demands to know why no stop-work orders were issued, why the existing construction has not been demolished and why the necessary steps have not yet been taken to investigate and begin legal proceedings against those responsible for the illegal project.

U.S. incorporating Livni's ideas into peace process

The United States has adopted some of former foreign minister Tzipi Livni's recommendations about enlisting the Arab world into the peace process and have incorporated them into its Middle East policy, American and Israeli officials have told Haaretz.

Livni's recommendations, which she passed on to U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell during his visit to Israel a few days before she left her post, deal with enlisting the Arab world to take part in the peace process and to advance gradual normalization of diplomatic relations with Israel as part of a regional process.

Fayyad calls for end to land expropriation

Battle over east Jerusalem lands heating up: Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on Friday took part in a prayer held on disputed lands in the Abu Dis area, where protest tents have been set up following the Israeli demand to expropriate lands.

Fayyad participated in the prayer held by Kadi Taysir Tamami, head of the Palestinian Authority's Sharia courts, near Area E1, which is the focus of a dispute between the Palestinians and Israel, which seeks to build the community of Keidar and connect between Jerusalem and Ma'aleh Adumim. Hundreds of Jerusalem residents attended the prayer.

UN says Israel gnawing at Bethlehem sovereignty

Only 13% of the Bethlehem area is under the control of the Palestinian Authority – a new report released by the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs on Thursday said.

The report was issued less than a week ahead of Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the Middle East. The pontiff is scheduled to travel to Bethlehem during his time in the West Bank.

Good cop, bad cop

Under the auspices of AIPAC’s annual conference this week, we got the first hints as to what is going through the minds of President Obama and his aides. At a time when Pakistan is burning and the economy is slumping, White House officials went to great lengths in order to free up precious time for three meetings between Peres and the American president, his VP Joe Biden, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Netanyahu can be a peacemaker, says Quartet emissary Blair

Quartet emissary Tony Blair on Thursday offered a strong endorsement of Binyamin Netanyahu's capacity to achieve peace, backing the prime minister's focus on fostering West Bank economic growth and bolstering the Palestinians' security capacity.

Netanyahu "most certainly can play the role of peacemaker," Blair told The Jerusalem Post in an interview, adding that there was now "a moment of opportunity" that required both negotiation from the "top down" and improving the economy and security realities from the "bottom up."

'Lieberman sees Europeans as cowards'

A day after Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman wrapped up his first diplomatic trip to Europe with a meeting with his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Berlin, German lawmakers on Friday said the visit left them somewhat disappointed.

"It was a swan song of soft power in every way," Werner Hoyer, a foreign policy expert for the pro-business Free Democrats told the Berliner Zeitung newspaper, according to a translation provided by the German English language Web site The Local. "Lieberman sees us Europeans as a pile of cowards."

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