Middle East News: World Press Roundup

The Forward looks at possibilities for US-Syrian diplomacy under incoming President Obama (1). Haaretz interviews Prof. Rashid Khalidi (2). Israeli troops confront and evict settlers in Hebron (4, 5, 7, 10). The plight of Palestinians in Gaza continues to draw international attention (3, 9). The Middle East Times examines prospects for an Israeli-Palestinian Confederation (11).

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Obama's New Foreign Policy Team Looks Toward Syria ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Nathan Guttman - December 4, 2008 - 1:00am Breaking with the Bush administration, the incoming foreign policy team of President-elect Barack Obama is expected to embrace Israeli–Syrian peace talks and might actively take part in negotiations that until now the Americans have shunned. This assessment is shared by Middle East experts trying to gauge the foreign policy priorities of the incoming administration based on statements from the transition team. The negotiations on an accord between Israel and Syria would run parallel to efforts to secure a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. » Read more

Obama's 'Palestinian friend' laments catastrophic U.S. policy in Mideast ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Akiva Eldar - December 5, 2008 - 1:00am No one stopped Rashid Khalidi, the Columbia University professor of Modern Arab Studies, at Ben-Gurion airport. Having just landed after the long flight from New York, the professor was anticipating the traditional reception from airport security personnel reserved for visitors with "suspicious" names. To his surprise, he entered the airport like anyone else, with no problems or delays. Perhaps word had gotten around at Ben-Gurion that he was the Palestinian friend of United States President-elect Barack Obama. » Read more

Action, not words ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Karen Koning Abuzayd - (Opinion) December 5, 2008 - 1:00am As we approach the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the steadily rising death toll in Gaza highlights the painful gap between its peaceful rhetoric and the desperate reality for Palestinian people. » Read more

Israeli troops evict settlers in the West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Ethan Bronner - December 5, 2008 - 1:00am HEBRON, West Bank — Israeli troops forcibly evicted about 200 hard-line Jewish settlers from a contested building in this volatile biblical city on Thursday, the first serious clash in what seems to be a spiraling confrontation between the government and defiant settlers. The operation, carried out by 600 soldiers and policemen with stealth and efficiency, took half an hour and resulted in two dozen relatively light injuries. But events did not end there. Young settlers then rampaged through Palestinian fields and neighborhoods, setting olive trees on fire and trashing houses. » Read more

Hebron clash tests Israeli ability to remove outposts ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Joshua Mitnick - December 5, 2008 - 1:00am Tel Aviv - Hundreds of Israeli police in riot helmets and flak jackets dragged about 250 Jewish settlers from a Palestinian building Thursday in the West Bank city of Hebron, the first major test in two years of the government's readiness to dismantle the dozens of illegal outposts that have complicated peace negotiations. » Read more

Tense Egypt-Hamas relations take a turn for the worse ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP) December 5, 2008 - 1:00am CAIRO (AFP) - Already tense relations between Egypt and Hamas have soured after Cairo for the first time openly accused the Islamists of torpedoing Palestinian reconciliation talks. Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit was quoted as saying on Thursday that months of Egyptian-mediated talks between rivals Hamas and Fateh failed in November because of "Hamas' lack of enthusiasm towards reconciliation". » Read more

Israelis fight Israelis on withdrawal plan ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Times by Joshua Mitnick - December 5, 2008 - 1:00am A bloody clash Thursday between Israeli settlers and Israeli police in Hebron could mark the beginning of violent Jewish resistance to a proposed Israeli withdrawal from much of the West Bank under a peace accord. ASSOCIATED PRESS Israeli police drag away a Jewish settler during an eviction Thursday of a disputed house in Hebron. Some of the 250 settlers who barricaded themselves inside hurled rocks at police in the first major West Bank eviction since a 2006 confrontation. » Read more

Freedom Fighters ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New Republic by David Keyes - December 5, 2008 - 1:00am The word "Freedom" is scribbled on the light-blue door of Jameel Aldweek's classroom in the New Kufar Aqab Girls School on the outskirts of Ramallah. It is a welcome reprieve from the swastika and "All Jews are pussies" emblazoned on the security barrier as I entered the West Bank. Aldweek, director of the Al-Razee Association and co-teacher of a new pilot project in two Palestinian schools, begins by asking the dozen sixth-grade girls in attendance, "What does democracy mean to you?" "Liberty and responsibility," one student immediately shoots back. » Read more

Palestinian bickering strands Gaza's pilgrims ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by Ben Hubbard - December 5, 2008 - 1:00am Mohammed Habboush and his wife Ikram wanted so badly to make the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca from their Gaza home that they sold her gold jewelry to pay for the trip. But while Muslims from around the world head to Saudi Arabia for the annual "hajj" pilgrimage, which starts Sunday, the couple remains at home, two of thousands of Gazan pilgrims prevented from traveling by the latest round of Palestinian squabbling. » Read more

UN ME envoy slams settler violence ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Yaakov Katz, Tovah Lazaroff - December 4, 2008 - 1:00am The United Nations Middle East envoy on Friday praised Israeli security forces for evacuating the Beit Hashalom house in Hebron, but condemned the violence which followed, and promised that the UN would "closely monitor" the developments. » Read more

Is an Israeli-Palestinian Confederation Feasible? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Middle East Times by Rachelle Kliger - December 5, 2008 - 1:00am JERUSALEM -- With time running out on the U.S. George W. Bush administration and without a settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute having been reached, as was hoped, the idea of a Palestinian-Israeli confederation is gradually replacing that of a two-state solution. The notion has been floating around for several years now, in various forms. Josef Avesar, an Israeli-born attorney now based in California, is the founder of the Israeli Palestinian Confederation committee (IPC). » Read more

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