Middle East News: World Press Roundup

Lara Friedman and Hagit Ofran counter popular arguments for opposing a full Israeli settlement freeze (1). The Los Angeles Times speculates on how public disagreement with Israel will impact President Obama’s image (2). On Ibishblog.com Hussein Ibish examines the role of outrage in politics (5). Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak voices his optimism about peace talks (6). The AP looks at the Gaza Strip, two years after Hamas took power (7). Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announces that he will free all Hamas prisoners before the renewal of inter-factional talks (11).

---

---

---

Top 5 Bogus Excuses for Opposing a Settlement Freeze ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Americans For Peace Now June 19, 2009 - 12:00am A settlement freeze is good for Israel and good for peace. Settlements are bad for Israel. They constitute a burden to Israel's security services. They create points of friction between Israelis and Palestinians. They drain Israel's financial resources. They create a false impression that Israelis are not interested in a two-state solution. » Read more

Tussle with Israel puts Obama credibility on the line, observers say ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Richard Boudreaux, Paul Richter - June 20, 2009 - 12:00am President Obama's public quarrel with Israel over the growth of Jewish settlements in the West Bank is developing into a test of the U.S. leader's international credibility, say foreign diplomats and other observers. Obama and his senior aides have insisted for weeks that the Jewish state completely halt the expansion of its settlements. But now, with U.S. and Israeli officials apparently close to an agreement on the issue, it is widely expected in Israel and the Arab world that the administration will give ground and support at least some growth in the 120 communities. » Read more

Opinion: Fictions on the Ground ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Tony Judt - (Opinion) June 22, 2009 - 12:00am I am old enough to remember when Israeli kibbutzim looked like settlements (“a small village or collection of houses” or “the act of peopling or colonizing a new country,” Oxford English Dictionary). I am old enough to remember when Israeli kibbutzim looked like settlements (“a small village or collection of houses” or “the act of peopling or colonizing a new country,” Oxford English Dictionary). » Read more

The Obama World Order ATFP World Press Roundup Article from New York Magazine by Michael Tomasky - (Editorial) June 19, 2009 - 12:00am It’s a long-held piece of Washington conventional wisdom—and, unlike most long-held pieces of Washington conventional wisdom, this one actually happens to be true!—that Democratic presidents tend to be more interested in domestic policy, while Republicans like making foreign policy. » Read more

Outrage is not a Strategy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ibishblog by Hussein Ibish - (Blog) June 21, 2009 - 12:00am A recent exchange with several people for whom I have respect and affection regarding the question of the right of return for Palestinian refugees and the Palestinian national strategy and interest raises a crucial point that needs much more serious examination in the conversation among Arab-Americans and their supporters regarding the role of outrage in political life. It boils down to this: being upset is not a strategy, and outrage, however moral, is not a political program. » Read more

Israel's Barak sees chance for peace progress ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Cynthia Johnston - June 21, 2009 - 12:00am Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Sunday he saw a chance to advance peace talks with Palestinians and that a policy speech by Israel's premier, dismissed by Egypt as flawed, was a major step forward. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu endorsed -- with tough conditions -- the establishment of a demilitarized Palestinian state in a policy speech a week ago, but Cairo said the proposal fell short of the Palestinian state Arabs seek. » Read more

Gaza's 2 years under Hamas: order and absurdity ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Steven Gutkin, Karin Laub - (Analysis) June 21, 2009 - 12:00am AZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) -- Two years after Hamas seized power, the Gaza Strip is a jumble of absurdities: an economy sustained by smuggling through tunnels, a civil service that gets paid on condition it doesn't work, and a population no longer fearful of gangs but feeling muzzled under the thumb of Hamas. Under a border closure enforced by Egypt and Israel, the U.N. says, shampoo can come in but conditioner can't. Nor can toys, candy or footballs. » Read more

Lawsuit brings murky West Bank land deals to light ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Amy Teibel - June 20, 2009 - 12:00am OFRA SETTLEMENT, West Bank (AP) — It reads like a standard real estate contract between a Zionist institution and an Israeli couple. But it offers a rare glimpse into the bureaucratic smoke screen that helps ensure a strong Jewish presence on lands claimed by the Palestinians for a future state. » Read more

Thank God Obama favors the 'old' Mideast ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star by Leon Hader - (Opinion) June 19, 2009 - 12:00am In July 2006, then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice travelled to Lebanon in an effort to bring an end to the war raging there between Israel and Hizbullah. At the time, she tried to market to reporters in Washington a somewhat odd spin on the violence taking place, not only in Lebanon but also in Iraq and Israel and Palestine. "What we're seeing here is, in a sense, the growing - the birth pangs of a new Middle East, and whatever we do, we have to be certain that we're pushing forward to the new Middle East, not going back to the old Middle East," Rice explained. » Read more

Netanyahu: No foreign troops in PA territory ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Herb Keinon - June 22, 2009 - 12:00am The international guarantees Israel is seeking to ensure that a future Palestinian state remains demilitarized does not mean the introduction of foreign forces, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told the cabinet at its Sunday meeting. » Read more

Abbas to free all Hamas prisoners ahead of unity talks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amos Harel, Jack Khoury - June 22, 2009 - 12:00am In a goodwill gesture to his political rivals Hamas, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has ordered his security forces to release all prisoners belonging to the Islamist organization before the renewal of inter-factional talks. Representatives of Abbas' Fatah faction, which has been the dominant player in Palestinian politics since the inception of the Palestine Liberation Organization, will meet with Hamas officials later this week in an attempt to hammer out an agreement on national unity. » Read more

Luxury Palestinian mall signals transformation of 'terror capital' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Avi Issacharoff - June 22, 2009 - 12:00am The skies lit up over Jenin last month, and it wasn't tracer bullets or flash bombs but celebratory fireworks, set off to mark the occasion of the opening of Hirbawi Home Center, a new luxury establishment on the city's outskirts. The five-story building near the Jalame checkpoint cost $5 million to build, says its owner, and it is filled with deluxe, foreign-made products seen mostly in the pages of newspaper supplements. » Read more

Abbas, get off your high horse ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Akiva Eldar - (Opinion) June 22, 2009 - 12:00am The "anger" of Mahmoud Abbas directed at Benjamin Netanyahu is tantamount to a child who threatens his parents that unless they buy him an ice cream, he won't go with them to the circus. » Read more

---

---