August 4, 2009

Middle East News: World Press Roundup

As the Fatah party holds its first general congress in 20 years, several articles speculate on the possible consequences. Meanwhile, Fatah members not permitted to leave Gaza by Hamas are relegated to watching the congress on television. The Christian Science Monitor assesses the possibility of resignation by Israel's controversial Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman. An op-ed in The Guardian discusses how the recent evictions in Jerusalem have added to international opposition to Israeli settlement activity. In Haaretz, Akiva Eldar argues that the recent growth of the Palestinian economy in the West Bank is despite Israel's actions, not because of them. The Obama administration is reportedly anticipating that it may be able to formally re-launch peace negotiations in the coming weeks.

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Fatah holds key party congress

Speaking at the congress, Mr Abbas said Palestinians sought peace with Israel but "resistance" remained an option.

Fatah is widely seen as corrupt and ineffective, the BBC's Middle East correspondent Tim Franks says.

Our correspondent says there will be close interest in who is elected to the faction's main internal positions of power.

Some 2,000 delegates are convening for Fatah's three-day congress in the West Bank town of Bethlehem.

Why Lieberman, Israel's anti-Arab leader, could resign

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Monday he will resign from his position if he's indicted, a day after Israeli police recommended that he be tried for charges including bribery, money laundering, and obstruction of justice.

Mr. Lieberman's legal woes add to the possibility of a shakeup in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition government, as the parliament paved the way Monday for members of the opposition Kadima party to split with leader Tzipi Livni and join the government.

Make way, Fatah young guns tell Arafat generation

Fatah, the dominant Palestinian movement under Yasser Arafat that has gone from debacle to defeat since his death, begins its first leadership convention in 20 years today.

The big question as more than 2,000 delegates gather in Bethlehem is whether the secular group on which the world pins any remaining hopes for a peace deal with Israel can cast off the taint of corruption, regain its legitimacy and put forward new faces who can take back the ground lost to the Islamic fundamentalist Hamas movement.

Reforming Fatah from the grassroots up

Fatah has long been the driving force of Palestinian nationalism but as a party of government it proved itself inept, divided and, in the early years especially, brazenly corrupt. It ran a disastrous parliamentary election campaign in 2006 which ended in a Hamas victory. This should have been a wake-up call but the party has struggled to reform. The conference in Bethlehem, which opened this morning, is the party's first real public test.

Israel's evictions upset even its friends

It isn't necessary to be unduly cynical to wonder exactly what it takes for British diplomats to be "appalled" by anything. But that was the reaction to Israel's eviction of Palestinian families from the east Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah – the ugly face of ethnic cleansing and the creation of new "facts on the ground" that make nonsense of hopes for any movement in the moribund peace process.

Stuck in Gaza, Fatah men watch congress on TV

A Fatah member stuck in the Gaza Strip while his Palestinian movement holds its first congress in 20 years said on Tuesday he hoped it emerges stronger, to meet challenges including Hamas Islamists who control the enclave.

In a stark illustration of the deep split in Palestinian ranks, nearly 400 members of Fatah were barred by their rival Hamas from leaving Gaza to attend the convention, in the West Bank city of Bethlehem.

Hamas goes to the movies

The audience in the Gaza Strip clapped and cheered as the actor delivered the movie's most memorable line – "To kill Israeli soldiers is to worship God".

Imad Aqel, which premiered at the weekend, is the first feature film produced by the Islamist Hamas movement and the title is the name of a Palestinian militant whom Israel held accountable for the deaths of 13 soldiers and settlers.

Obama wants peace, but will Congress pressure Israel?

President Barack Obama is investing a good measure of his political capital in the Middle East without receiving, so far, much support from the United States Congress. Last week, the president’s special Middle East envoy, George Mitchell, was in Israel to work toward reaching a better understanding over limiting Israeli settlements. US Defense Secretary Robert Gates and National Security Advisor James Jones were also in Israel to offer assurances of continued American loyalty. But will Obama be pressured to slow down peace promotion by Israel’s supporters in the Congress?

Backgrounder: Palestinian Fatah General Assembly

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party launches its sixth convention Tuesday for the first time in 20 years to renew its leadership.

During the sixth conference since its foundation in 1965, Fatah would elect members for the movement's central committee and the revolutionary council, the highest decision-making bodies.

THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE

The continuing Nakba

Walk down what was formerly Al-Borj Street in Haifa, Israel, and you might catch sight of an old Jerusalem-stone building with arched doorways and windows cemented-over and a large Re/Max (an international real estate franchise) banner draped across the front. The house belongs to the Kanafani family, most of whom are living in exile in Lebanon but some of whom are now living as far away from home as San Francisco.

Abbas: We choose peace, but reserve right to resistance

Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says his people must not "mar their legitimate struggle with terror" and that while his government seeks peace with Israel, it reserves the right to resort to "resistance."

Abbas spoke Tuesday to about 2,200 Fatah delegates gathered in the West Bank. The meeting is the first first convention held by the movement in two decades.

Fatah's last conference was held in 1989 in Tunis under late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

Palestinian economy isn't recovering thanks to Israel, but in spite of it

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu misses no opportunity to flaunt the flourishing of the Palestinian economy - in the West Bank, of course; not in Gaza.

During a sweaty and well-publicized visit he held last weekend at the Allenby Bridge crossing, Netanyahu boasted of the fact that economic growth in the West Bank had reached 7 percent.

At the cabinet meeting on Sunday the growth rate grew to double digits: 10 percent. Thus will be done to good Arabs who maintain Israel's security and don't launch Qassam rockets at the country.

Settlers: State colluding with left-wing groups against us

Tension between the Defense Ministry and the official body representing West Bank settlers reached a boiling point after the latter accused the state of colluding with leftist groups in filing anti-settler petitions to the High Court of Justice, according to Army Radio.

Volunteers rebuild houses demolished in Jerusalem

On the backdrop of the eviction of Arab families from east Jerusalem and tensions with the United States and the West, a group of some 80 Israeli, Palestinian and foreign activists have embarked on a unique mission to rebuild the houses that were destroyed.

The activists, who come each year to a "summer camp" in the Anata neighborhood in the northeast section of Jerusalem, are rebuilding two family homes that were destroyed in an eviction by Israeli authorities during the families' eviction.

Abbas at Fatah congress: Jerusalem promised to us

Former Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia on Tuesday morning launched the historic Fatah congress in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, which is slated to elect the future leadership of the Palestinian movement.

"In the name of the shahidim (martyrs) and in the name of Jerusalem, the capital of the Palestinian state, we hereby declare the opening of the sixth congress of our movement, the Fatah movement," Qureia said, standing next to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

The chutzpah of Obama's Jewish critics

US President Barack Obama and his administration are making an unprecedented effort to reach out to the Jewish community. The president has made moving the Middle East toward peace a priority and has spoken of the "unbreakable" bond we share with Israel. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons "futile," and last week Obama had some of his most senior foreign policy figures meet with top Israeli officials - in Israel.

'Continue talks while there's hope'

At the opening of Fatah's sixth general assembly Tuesday morning, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said that his people must persist with peace negotiations with Israel "as long as there is a tiny bit of hope." He added that Palestinians must not mar their "legitimate struggle with terror."

US Mideast plan anticipated 'in matter of weeks'

Despite recent Arab statements opposing US demands for confidence-building steps towards Israel, the US anticipates it will have the pieces in place to formally re-launch the Arab-Israel peace process in the coming weeks.

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