November 7, 2008

Middle East News: World Press Roundup

MJ Rosenberg comments on the Presidential elections and the Jewish vote (1). The White House announces that a peace deal won’t be reached during the Bush administration (2) (5). Fatah and Hamas will meet in Cairo for talks (3). The Financial Times urges President-elect Obama to name a Middle east Peace Envoy (4). Vice Premier Haim Ramon slams settler violence against security forces (8).

---

---

[5]

---

The New President and Israel

It was quite an election night, and quite an election.

The Jewish vote went 78 percent for Barack Obama. It is now safe to say that, after 80 years of consistently voting Democratic for President, the Jewish vote is no less predictable than the African-American vote or the vote of union households. Jews are, as the old phrase goes, “yellow dog Democrats.” It is almost odd that a community that is so fragmented on so many issues stands pretty much as one every four years.

No Mideast Deal Under Bush, White House Says

The White House made it official yesterday: There will be no Middle East peace pact on President Bush's watch.

The long-shot effort by Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had been written off months ago by many analysts in both the region and the United States, but the White House had insisted that a deal remained possible. Yesterday, however, just two days after Barack Obama was elected president, officials confirmed that they will leave the issue to the new president.

Fatah and Hamas in unity government talks

The rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah will meet in Cairo on Sunday for the first time in more than a year in an Egyptian-led effort to agree a unified government and end their divisions.

Egyptian officials have prepared an outline deal that would include a "national reconciliation government", but it is short on details and could take weeks of negotiation. The last effort at a unity government, arranged by the Saudis in February 2007, collapsed and the factions reverted to a near civil war until Hamas seized full control of Gaza months later.

Time to appoint a Middle East envoy

In speech after spell-binding speech, Barack Obama made clear throughout his campaign his intention to restore America’s reputation in the world; that, as he told the vast crowd at his Chicago victory rally, “America’s beacon still burns as bright”. In the Middle East and throughout broad swathes of the Muslim world, that beacon is invisible after eight years of the Bush administration’s bungling. President-elect Obama has a unique chance to rekindle it.

Bush punts unfinished Mideast peace deal to Obama

The Bush administration has conceded that an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal is no longer possible by the end of its term and is preparing to hand the fragile, unfinished U.S.-backed peace effort to President-elect Obama.

Obama may not want it, at least as designed by the Republican Bush administration, seen as slow to embrace the role of honest Mideast broker. Many of Obama's foreign policy advisers were players in the Clinton administration's extensive Mideast peace efforts and are unenthusiastic about President Bush's hands-off approach.

Gaza militants fire more rockets

Palestinian militants in Gaza have fired missiles into Israel for the third day running.

The Israeli army said three missiles had been fired. No injuries or damage have been reported. Islamic Jihad said it was behind the attack.

Despite the recent clashes, including Israeli army raids in which seven militants were killed, both sides say they are committed to a truce.

This has largely held since June, greatly reducing the level of violence.

Both sides have sought to contain the fallout from recent fighting while accusing each other of breaching the truce.

Rice insists peace attainable, despite deadline miss

Faced with the failure of Israelis and Palestinians to meet an end of year deadline for a peace deal, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice nonetheless insisted Friday that a final settlement of the dispute between the sides was attainable.

President George W Bush's vision of a Palestinian state living alongside Israel 'will not come in a single dramatic moment, but it will come,' she told a news conference in Ramallah.

Ramon: Hundreds of extremists rebelling against State

Hundreds of people have declared a revolt against the State of Israel's legitimate government and refuse to accept decisions made by the government and Knesset, Vice Premier Haim Ramon said Sunday in response to West Bank settlers' acts of violence against the security forces.

"If the government really wants to deal with this, it's very easy," Ramon said during the weekly cabinet meeting. If 20 Palestinians had been bothering the Central Command chief, they would have been in jail a long time ago.

IDF troops film themselves humiliating bound Palestinian

Channel 10 on Thursday released footage taken by Israel Defense Forces soldiers of themselves humiliating a bound and blindfolded Palestinian man at a West Bank checkpoint.

The footage shows the Palestinian kneeling and repeating sentences given to him to say by the soldiers, who belong to the Golani infantry brigade.

One of the lines is: "Golani will bring you a log to stick up your ass." As the detainee repeats the words, the soldiers are heard laughing raucously in the background.

Later Thursday, the army issued a harsh condemnation of the troops' actions.

IDF asks police, Shin Bet for info on left-wing figures active in W. Bank

The Israel Defense Forces has asked the Shin Bet security service and the police to provide it with information on left-wing figures active in the West Bank so it will be easier to issue restraining orders against them, Haaretz has learned.

Since the IDF does not gather intelligence on Israeli citizens, the GOC Central Command depends on evaluations by the Shin Bet prior to signing restraining orders.

---

---