Middle East News: World Press Roundup

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' recent appointment of a new cabinet in the West Bank elicits speculation on the widening gap between Palestinian political factions (1) (3) (11) (12). Israel removes a West Bank settler outpost in a gesture to President Obama (5), while the Administration continues to insist on a full halt to all settlement activity (4) (14). Senior members of Prime Minister Netanyahu's staff dismiss mounting international calls for peace based on two states (16). An op-ed by a Palestinian resident of the West Bank town of Hebron describes the severe restrictions on movement in the area (17).

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Palestinians Try to Prune Branches of Core Party ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Ethan Bronner - (Analysis) May 20, 2009 - 12:00am There is the Central Committee and the Revolutionary Council, the Old Guard and the Young Guard. There are the insiders, the outsiders, the cell leaders, branch chiefs and district heads. And there is the Office of Mobilization and Discipline, also known as the Office of Indoctrination. Fatah, the core of the Palestinian national movement for five decades, has the organizational transparency of a Soviet republic and was long run like one by its founder, Yasir Arafat. Talk of reform arose after his death five years ago and again when Hamas defeated it in legislative elections in 2006. » Read more

Keeping Score on Obama vs. Netanyahu ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Helene Cooper, Mark Landler - (Analysis) May 20, 2009 - 12:00am After the much anticipated White House meeting on Monday between President Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, one question being asked in diplomatic circles is this: Did Mr. Obama give up more than he got? The meeting between the two, their first as leaders, was mainly an exercise in breaking the ice. But at the early stages of a relationship between the nations’ leaders that is likely to be more strained than it was during the Bush years, their dealings are being analyzed for signs of who has the upper hand. » Read more

Vote Fatah (or Hamas) ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Khalil Shikaki - (Opinion) May 20, 2009 - 12:00am THE performance of the Palestinian Authority during the past 17 months has been impressive. It has managed against the odds to restore order in the West Bank to a degree not seen in many years. And it has confronted and disarmed nationalist and Islamist groups. Corruption is also not as rampant as it was a few years ago. » Read more

Obama demands that Israel stop settlements. But how feasible is that? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Joshua Mitnick - May 21, 2009 - 12:00am This week, US President Barack Obama conveyed a clear message to his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu: the expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank must stop. On Thursday, Israeli police evacuated an unauthorized settlement outpost of Maoz Esther, but Israeli peace activists said the move was a public relations stunt, since no settlers live there on a permanent basis. » Read more

Israel removes West Bank settler outpost ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Baz Ratner - May 21, 2009 - 12:00am Israeli police broke up an unauthorized settler outpost in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, bulldozing makeshift cabins, police said. About 40 members of paramilitary border police evacuated five settler families from a hilltop camp called Maoz Esther where they were living in wooden huts with sheet metal roofs. The camp was about 300 meters from the Jewish settlement of Kokhav Hashahar, northeast of the West Bank city of Ramallah. » Read more

Obama and the Israeli Rejection ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat by Randa Takieddine - (Opinion) May 20, 2009 - 12:00am The talks between US President Barack Obama and his guest, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, clearly show the deep difference in their stances on the Palestinians and Iran; this difference will continue to dominate the relationship between the White House and the current Israeli government. » Read more

Clock ticking on peace process ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News by Francis Matthew - (Opinion) May 20, 2009 - 12:00am The leaders of the Arab world have become very clear in the past few months that there is a deadline for the Arab peace initiative, and they are not willing to let Israel continue stalling them for decades without any consequence as it refuses to withdraw from the West Bank, continues to expropriate land, and expands its colonies. » Read more

Determined Obama is key to resolution ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News by George S. Hishmeh - (Opinion) May 20, 2009 - 12:00am The Arab world was generally anxious that President Barack Obama would retreat from his view, reiterated recently by several of his key officials, that a Palestinian-Israel settlement merits top and immediate attention, especially from Israel. But the fact that he did not in his talks last Monday with the hawkish Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and had actually stressed the need for several more positive steps, was generally well-received in the Arab world. » Read more

The most effective stick to use with Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times by Michael Jansen - (Opinion) May 21, 2009 - 12:00am The most interesting thing about Monday’s allegedly momentous meeting between US President Barack Obama and Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu is that the two men agreed on nothing. Obama gave precedence to fruitful negotiations for a Palestinian-Israeli deal while Netanyahu continued to insist that the threat posed by Iran’s non-existent nuclear weapons should be given priority. Obama insisted on early Palestinian-Israeli negotiations without conditions, Netanyahu reiterated his demand for recognition of Israel as a Jewish state before talks could resume. » Read more

Arabs willing to give Obama a chance ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Steven Stanek - May 20, 2009 - 12:00am About half of the Arabs in six countries said in a recent poll they have a favourable view of Barack Obama and were hopeful about US foreign policy. Analysts emphasised, however, that the mood could quickly change based on how the US president deals with a number of upcoming foreign policy challenges in the region, from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to withdrawing troops from Iraq. » Read more

Rift deepens between Palestinian factions ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Omar Karmi - May 21, 2009 - 12:00am The swearing-in of a new, extended cabinet by Mahmoud Abbas is a “deliberate attempt” to undermine ongoing unity talks in Cairo, Hamas said yesterday. Mr Abbas, the Palestinian Authority president, swore in the cabinet on Tuesday evening. The new government, which in effect will rule only over the parts of the occupied West Bank not under direct Israeli control, is headed by Salam Fayyad, who also led the previous Palestinian administration. » Read more

Mr Abbas and a dangerous gambit ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National (Editorial) May 20, 2009 - 12:00am The reappointment of Salam Fayyad, a respected independent, as the Palestinian prime minister should have been a welcome development. The PLO desperately needs a leader aloof from the cronyism and factional strife that define Palestinian politics. Unfortunately that is not the case. If anything, Mr Fayyad risks becoming a victim of naked partisanship. » Read more

Israeli Arabs blast plan for PA to cede Temple Mount sovereignty ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Aluf Benn, Avi Issacharoff, Jack Khoury, Barak Ravid - May 21, 2009 - 12:00am The northern branch of the Islamic Movement blasted Thursday a proposal for the Palestinian Authority to relinquish sovereignty over the Temple Mount in exchange for international Islamic control of the site. "The proposal to transfer sovereignty to a third state stems from the attempted to internationalize the Al Aqsa Mosque, and actually this is a proposal whose significance is the continuation of the occupation; therefore, such a proposal must be aggressively rejected," the Israeli Arab group said in a statement. » Read more

Clinton calls on Israel to halt 'any kind' of settlement activity ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Natasha Mozgovaya - May 21, 2009 - 12:00am U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton took a hard line against settlement construction in the territories Wednesday, including a call to freeze building for natural growth. Her statement came in contrast to the general terms U.S. President Barack Obama expressed about the issue to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier in the week. "We want to see a stop to settlement construction - additions, natural growth, any kind of settlement activity - that is what the president has called for," Clinton said in an interview with Al-Jazeera. » Read more

A friend of Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Gideon Levy - (Opinion) May 21, 2009 - 12:00am It's already clear: the U.S. president is a great friend of Israel. If Barack Obama continues what he started this week, he might prove to be the friendliest president to Israel ever. Richard Nixon saved Israel from the Arab states in 1973, and Obama is about to save Israel from itself. Nixon sent us arms and ammunition at a critical time, and Obama is sending us, at a time no less critical, the substance of a complete peace plan, a plan that would save Israel. » Read more

"Fixation on two-state solution is childish" ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Roni Sofer - May 21, 2009 - 12:00am "This idea of two states for two peoples is a stupid and childish solution to a very complex problem," senior members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu staff said on Wednesday as the entourage made its way back to Israel from Washington. They were determined to emphasize that Israel would continue to build in the larger settlement blocs and Jerusalem despite US President Barack Obama's resolute opposition. » Read more

Don't do us any favors ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Issa Amro - (Opinion) May 20, 2009 - 12:00am I am unfamiliar with any location in Israel or in the occupied territories where a Jew cannot travel to his own home in his car. Yet for us, the Palestinians in Hebron, this is the norm. Since 2001, the main street in Hebron's Wadi Hassan, which you refer to as the Zion Route, has been closed off to the movement of Palestinian vehicles. The street is only open to Israelis, even though all its residents are Palestinian. Not even one Jew resides on this street. » Read more

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