August 7, 2009

Middle East News: World Press Roundup

Fatah postpones elections for its decision making body, but extends the party conference for at least two more days. President Obama's decision to bestow the Presidential Medal of Freedom to former Irish president Mary Robinson draws criticism from some Jewish American groups. Following international criticism, the Israeli military is considering new measures to warn Palestinian civilians of impending aerial attacks. Palestinian officials report that the U.S. will push for the borders of an independent Palestinian state to be the first issue focused on in any renewed permanent status peace negotiations. A recently released poll shows that more Israelis would prefer Kadima party leader Tzipi Livni over Benjamin Netanyahu for Prime Minister. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak will meet with President Obama in Washington next month.

---

---

[5]

---

Fatah Postpones Elections, but Extends Conference

Amid stormy meetings and acrimonious disagreements over voting procedures, leaders of Fatah, the mainstream Palestinian nationalist movement, postponed elections for its decision-making bodies that were scheduled for Thursday. They said the landmark party conference taking place here would go on for at least two more days.

Jewish Groups Say Obama’s Pick for Medal Has Anti-Israel Bias

President Obama’s decision to bestow one of the nation’s highest honors on Mary Robinson, the first woman to serve as Ireland’s president, has touched off protests by Jewish groups and lawmakers, who claim she has shown a persistent anti-Israel bias in her work as a human rights advocate.

Mr. Obama plans to award the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, to Mrs. Robinson and 15 others at a ceremony next week at the White House.

New Israeli Plan to Warn of Impending Attacks

The Israeli Defence Force (IDF) is taking new measures to warn Palestinian civilians about impending aerial attacks. This comes in response to questions raised over whether Israel had complied with international laws during its 2006 war in Lebanon and the Gaza offensive earlier this year.

Fatah’s summit fails to heal ills

Far from being the unifying panacea to Fatah’s ills that it was meant to be, the Palestinian national movement’s Sixth General Conference has proven an ill-tempered and divisive affair, much, say some, in keeping with the party’s record.

Indeed, so contentious has the conference been that organisers have been forced to extend policy discussions and delay voting to the two main bodies in the movement, the ruling Central Committee and the Revolutionary Council, until at least tonight, possibly tomorrow.

The conference was supposed to end yesterday.

Erekat: Fatah conference to define a future program

The major task of the on-going Palestinian Fatah party's Six General Conference is to make up the main stream Palestinian faction's future strategy, senior Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told Xinhua.

The long-awaited general conference of President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party started Tuesday in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, and extended to Friday, due to "stormy" discussions and argument between the members and internal election requirement.

Locals Pessimistic Over Conference

Residents of Bethlehem, where a key Fatah conference is taking place, are not optimistic that the outcome of the conference will bring them prosperity and improve their economic situation.

Many harbor resentment towards Fatah, accusing the movement of nepotism, corruption, and neglecting their fellow Palestinians.

In this West Bank town just south of Jerusalem whose economy relies largely on tourism by Christian pilgrims, locals complain of soaring unemployment and lack of prospects. They are pinning little hope on the Fatah conference.

PA officials: U.S. wants borders to top peace talks

The U.S. administration will demand that Israel and the Palestinians address the issue of borders as the first step in the Middle East peace plan, senior Palestinian officials said Thursday.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Wednesday that Washington will present its new plan for a comprehensive Middle East peace soon.

The Americans will also outline proposals for an Israeli peace with Syria and Lebanon, the Palestinian officials said Thursday.

Poll: More Israelis would prefer Livni as prime minister

For the first time since taking office, the public considers Benjamin Netanyahu less suitable to serve as prime minister than opposition leader MK Tzipi Livni, a new Channel 10 poll said Thursday.

According to the poll, when asked, "Who would you rather see as the next prime minister?" Tzipi Livni was named most qualified, with 36 percent of respondents.

Only 23 percent of those polled said Netanyahu was fit to serve as prime minister.

Israeli envoy: Obama row causes strategic damage

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's attitude toward the Obama administration is causing Israel strategic damage, in the view of a senior Israeli diplomat in Boston, Channel 10 television reported yesterday.

Consul General Nadav Tamir's reported comment is a rare internal rebuke, highlighting the growing tension between Washington and Jerusalem.

Tamir is a highly regarded veteran diplomat whose opinions on foreign policy matters carry considerable weight.

Such blunt, pointed criticism of a prime minister's policies by a professional diplomat is considered unusual.

Fatah vote contractors making promises to everyone

The Fatah movement entered the last straight Thursday night ahead of the conclusion of its historic congress. Thousands of phone calls were made, with the most common phrase uttered by the conference's delegates being "what you want is what will be."

During a break in Thursday's discussions, a group of vote contractors sat in the al-Khayma ("the tent") restaurant in the West Bank town of Beit Sahour, near Bethlehem, and made phone calls to candidates wishing to be included in Fatah's future leadership.

'No talks unless Israel frees prisoners'

Fatah delegates meeting here Thursday resolved not to renew peace negotiations with Israel until all Palestinian prisoners are released from Israeli jails, all settlement-building is frozen and the Gaza blockade is lifted.

Nabil Sha'ath, a Fatah Central Committee said these were some of 14 preconditions for a resumption of peace talks.

Analysts noted that the conditions are not binding on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, but also that they broadly accorded with the positions had Abbas had himself set out in an address to the gathering on Tuesday.

Feed Them Against Hunger…And May God Protect Them!

In Gaza, men cannot walk along the beach bare-chested, shop owners are requested to hide mannequins, summer camps for children are being discouraged based on the pretext of free mixing between the sexes, and cafes and Christian symbols are being targeted. In fact it has reached such a level that an explosion went off at a wedding party based on the claim that music is haram [prohibited in Islam].

Mubarak’s Visit to the US… and the Cards of the Palestinian Cause

For about six years, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has not visited the United States for well-known reasons, most prominently of course the deteriorating relations between the two countries during former President George Bush’s second term. And here is the Egyptian President now preparing for his first visit to the US capital next month, in the first year of President Barack Obama’s first term in office.

Israel’s broken pledges are not redemption

The Israeli right-wing has a curious word to describe what happened this week in the Sheikh Jarra neighbourhood of east Jerusalem, where 52 Palestinians were forcibly evicted from their homes: redemption. If this is what redemption looks like than it is difficult to imagine what peace would mean.

Regardless of one’s religious beliefs or politics it is difficult to find a redeeming value to theft. The Hanun and Gawi families now live on the street; Israeli settlers now live in their homes. And this is not the story of just these two Palestinan families but of thousands of others.

Damaging divide

King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia summed up the sentiments of the entire Arab and Muslim worlds well when he said that Palestinian divisions constitute a greater danger to the Palestinians and their cause than all the threats and acts of aggression committed by Israel.

In a letter to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas marking Fateh’s first congress in 20 years, the Saudi king stressed that all Palestinian factions need to come together to make an independent Palestinian state possible.

---

---