Middle East News: World Press Roundup

Yesterday's violence on the Gaza border again threatens the truce that has been in place since June (1) (6). The United Nations is forced to suspend food aid to 1.5 million people after Israel refuses to allow emergency supplies into Gaza (2). Israeli President Shimon Peres lauds Saudi King Abdullah's work on the Arab peace initiative (3) (9). Mayor-elect of Jerusalem, Nir Barakat, vows to keep the city "undivided" (5). Ehud Barak, Israeli defense minister and head of the Labor party, announces that Labor will not join a coalition government that is not committed to advancing peace talks with the Palestinians (7).

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Deadly Gaza Border Clash Threatens Truce ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Isabel Kershner - November 12, 2008 - 8:00pm Four Hamas gunmen were killed in a clash with Israeli soldiers along the Gaza border on Wednesday, further testing a shaky truce that took effect in June. The Israeli military said in a statement that its forces had identified a group of gunmen trying to place an explosive device near the border fence, leading to an exchange of fire. Four of the gunmen were fatally hit and an Israeli soldier was lightly wounded, the statement said. » Read more

UN suspends food distribution in Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP) November 12, 2008 - 8:00pm The United Nations announced it was suspending food distribution to half of Gaza's 1.5 million people on Thursday after Israel failed to allow emergency supplies into the Palestinian territory. Israel had said it would allow 30 trucks to deliver supplies to Gaza on Thursday after it sealed off the Gaza Strip on November 5, but later said rocket and mortar fire by Gaza militants made it impossible to do so. "They have told us the crossings are closed today. At the end of today we will suspend our food distribution," said UN Relief and Works Agency spokesman Chris Gunness. » Read more

Israel lauds Saudi peace plan before King Abdullah ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Louis Charbonneau - November 12, 2008 - 8:00pm Israeli President Shimon Peres seized the rare opportunity of being in the same hall as Saudi King Abdullah on Wednesday to praise a Saudi peace initiative that he said had brought hope to the Middle East. Addressing a special high-level U.N. General Assembly meeting on dialogue between different religions, Peres termed some of the language in an Arab peace proposal based on the Saudi initiative "inspirational and promising -- a serious opening for real progress." » Read more

Gaza security costs girl her dream ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent by Donald MacIntyre - November 12, 2008 - 1:00am An outstanding Palestinian student has lost her best chance of realising a burning ambition to study medicine in Britain because she was trapped in Gaza until it was just a day too late to take a crucial written exam in Jordan. Last week Diana Alsadi, 18, was supposed to take the Cambridge biomedical exam that is required by those who want to study at the top four UK medical schools. » Read more

Mayor-elect vows to keep Jerusalem occupied ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP) November 12, 2008 - 8:00pm A secular tycoon celebrating his election as Occupied Jerusalem mayor on Wednesday vowed to turn the holy city into a world metropolis and bolster its illegal status as Israel's "undivided" capital. Nir Barkat won 52 percent of the vote in Tuesday's poll, routing an ultra-Orthodox rabbi, a scandal-plagued Russian-Israeli arms dealer and a pro-cannabis candidate. Media hailed his triumph as a secular revolution after five years under ultra-Orthodox Mayor Uri Lupolianski. » Read more

UN: Israel's border closures leave us with no food for Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amira Hass - November 12, 2008 - 1:00am The United Nations on Thursday warned its stocks had run so low that it would not be able to make its next delivery of food to 750,000 needy Gazans on Saturday. "We've been working here from hand to mouth for quite a long time, so these interruptions on the crossing points affect us immediately," said John Ging, director of UN Relief and Works Agency operations in Gaza. » Read more

Labor won't join coalition not interested in advancing peace talks, says Barak ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Akiva Eldar - November 12, 2008 - 8:00pm Labor Party chairman and Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Thursday that his faction had no intention of joining a coalition government uninterested in advancing the peace process with Palestinians. The statement, issued by the Labor Party chairman's office, came after Haaretz reported that he has refused to promise that Labor would not join a government headed by Likud chairman Benjamin Netanyahu after the February elections. » Read more

New 'pro-Israel, pro-peace' lobby J Street hopes for Obama-era growth ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Natasha Mozgovaya - November 12, 2008 - 8:00pm Will the "Obama effect" that enabled Democratic candidates to ride the party's presidential candidate into Congress also contribute toward changing the map of Jewish influence on Capitol Hill? J Street, the "pro-Israel, pro-peace" lobbying group and Political Action Committee (PAC) formed just last April and seen as the left's answer to the veteran American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), is counting on it. » Read more

Peres: Arab peace plan - a serious opening for real progress ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Shlomo Shamir - November 12, 2008 - 8:00pm President Shimon Peres told world leaders on Wednesday at an interfaith dialogue in New York that the Arab peace initiative must be seriously considered as "a serious opening for real progress" in Middle East peace. The proposal, initiated by Saudi Arabia in 2002 and ratified by Arab foreign ministers last year in Damascus, offers pan-Arab recognition of Israel in exchange for Israel's withdrawal from Arab lands c Advertisement aptured in 1967. (click here to read Peres' entire speech) » Read more

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