Middle East News: World Press Roundup

Israeli police began arresting settlers resisting the building moratorium, and their leaders reject PM Netanyahu's plea to respect the order. Defense Minister Barak says settlers can continue to authorize minor construction projects. Middle East Progress interviews Special Envoy George Mitchell. The world financial crisis is spurring new Jewish immigration to Israel. The EU is likely reject a Swedish proposal to recognize occupied East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital. A Kuwaiti newspaper says captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit has been moved to a secret location in Cairo in preparation for prisoner swap. Israeli occupation forces raid the West Bank village of Jenin. YNet argues that Netanyahu cannot reverse course on the settlement moratorium. The Jerusalem Post looks at international moves to boycott Israel and Israeli military efforts to use new social media for propaganda purposes. A commentary in the Guardian says Israel's abuse of Bedouins in the Negev desert shatters the myth that Israeli democracy. Michael Young argues that critics of Pres. Abbas make little sense. The Jordan Times calls Israel's stripping of Jerusalem residency from Palestinians ethnic cleansing, and Daoud Kuttab says the future of peace talks will be determined in the next few weeks.

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Israel Arrests Settlers Fighting Freeze ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Isabel Kershner - December 2, 2009 - 1:00am EFRAT, West Bank — The Israeli police made their first arrests on Wednesday as part of the state’s effort to enforce a temporary construction freeze in Jewish settlements in the West Bank, briefly detaining the mayor of a settler council and at least two Jewish protesters. Both sides are trying hard to show how determined they are — the state in enforcing the moratorium, and the settlers in thwarting the state’s plans. » Read more

Israel forces detain Jewish settlement mayor ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Richard Boudreaux - December 3, 2009 - 1:00am Israeli security forces arrested the mayor of a Jewish settlement Wednesday as he and other residents tried to prevent government inspectors from entering the community to enforce new restrictions on building in the West Bank. The skirmish in Beit Aryeh was the most serious in five days of confrontations across the territory between a government that appears intent on limiting settlement growth over the next 10 months and a settler movement determined to defy the effort. » Read more

Progress Requires Patience, Compromise and Courageous Leadership ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Middle East Progress (Interview) December 1, 2009 - 1:00am What is the significance of the Israeli government’s announcement on a settlement construction freeze in the West Bank? What are your next steps now that the Israeli government has made this announcement? » Read more

Crisis Spurs Migration to Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Wall Street Journal by Sarah Toth Stub - December 3, 2009 - 1:00am JERUSALEM -- Immigration into Israel and the Palestinian West Bank is surging after the financial crisis and economic downturn evaporated jobs elsewhere. After years of a brain drain from the region, and despite the lack of a peace settlement, by the end of this month about 4,000 North American Jews will have immigrated to Israel this year, an increase of 33% over 2008 and the most in one year since 1973, according to Nefesh B'Nefesh, an organization that oversees and assists with immigration to Israel from North America. » Read more

EU likely to reject Swedish East Jerusalem capital call ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua by David Harris - December 3, 2009 - 1:00am When European Union (EU) foreign ministers meet on Monday and Tuesday next week, they are scheduled to discuss a Swedish proposal to recognize East Jerusalem as capital of a future Palestinian state. The Swedes have also called for reopening Palestinian governmental institutions in the Israeli-controlled eastern section of the city, according to a draft of the proposal that was leaked to Israeli daily Ha'aretz. » Read more

Abu Mujahid: No Shalit deal yet ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency December 3, 2009 - 1:00am Gaza – Ma’an – A spokesman for the captors of Gilad Shalit in Gaza denied on Thursday a report that the Israeli soldier was transferred to Egypt as a step toward a prisoner exchange. Popular Resistance Committees spokesman Abu Mujahid said in a statement that Israel is propagating false information about Shalit in order to force the hand of the Palestinian negotiators. "The ball is in Israel's court," he said, noting that a "deal is not over yet." » Read more

Jenin: Israeli forces herd men into town square ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency December 3, 2009 - 1:00am Jenin – Ma’an – Israeli forces carried out a wide-scale detention campaign east of Jenin overnight Wednesday, targeting young men in the village of Deir Abu Daif. Israel's military said 15 were detained from across the West Bank, but local sources said troops seized 20 men during the raid. Thirteen were released by Thursday morning, according to locals. » Read more

Settlers reject Netanyahu plea to respect settlement freeze ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Chaim Levinson, Barak Ravid - December 3, 2009 - 1:00am Defiant West Bank settler leaders rejected on Thursday a personal plea from the prime minister to respect a construction freeze in the territories, vowing to keep confronting security forces sent to enforce the edict. In the West Bank, settlers blocked inspectors from entering a settlement to search for unauthorized construction, the third straight day of such confrontations. There has been no violence, but authorities have made at least six arrests. » Read more

Barak: Settlements are part of Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Tal Rabinovsky - December 3, 2009 - 1:00am Defense Minister Ehud Barak met with four West Bank council heads in his office on Wednesday, and stressed to them that "the settlement blocs are an inseparable part of Israel in all future negotiations with the Palestinians. The Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea are regions that are dear to my heart." Present at the meeting were Alfei Menashe Council head Hasdai Eliezer, Megilot Council head Mutzi Dahman, head of the Jordan Valley Regional Council David David Elhayani, and Oranit Council head Shumi Langer. » Read more

There’s no turning back ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Shimon Shiffer - (Opinion) December 2, 2009 - 1:00am It was hard to believe the prime minister Tuesday evening when he declared that the settlement freeze is a temporary one-time move, to be followed by resumed construction; a statement he made in a bid to mitigate the anger of the settlers. However, it appears that nothing is more permanent than the temporary: This assumption may turn out to be accurate in respect to the cabinet’s decision to freeze settlement construction for 10 months. » Read more

Boycott revival? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Jon Haber - December 2, 2009 - 1:00am After a three year slumber, the divest-from-Israel "movement" in the US is making an attempt at self-resurrection. It remains to be seen if history will repeat itself this time as tragedy or farce. » Read more

War zone 2.0 ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Gwen Ackerman - December 3, 2009 - 1:00am A new IDF unit formed to help fight the nation's public-relations war is recruiting and training soldiers for the virtual battlefields of Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. "The Internet, and especially social networks, Web 2.0 and bloggers, are an increasingly important and powerful way to disseminate information," said Sgt. Aliza Landes, who heads the unit, which was formed in September. "Facebook has the same number of subscribers as the entire population of the US and provides a new opportunity for us to reach audiences we wouldn't reach otherwise," she said. » Read more

Shattering Israel's image of 'democracy' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Ben White - (Opinion) December 3, 2009 - 1:00am A struggle over land, home demolitions, and an Israeli government working with Jewish agencies to "develop" the land for the benefit of one group at the expense of another. It could be a picture of the illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, but in fact, it's inside Israel – in the Negev. The Negev, or al-Naqab in Arabic, is an area that since the inception of the state has been targeted by Israeli governments, along with agencies like the Jewish National Fund (JNF), for so-called "development". » Read more

Turkey, the Kurds and Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat by Patrick Seale - (Opinion) November 28, 2009 - 1:00am In launching his ‘Democratic Opening’ towards Turkey’s 15 million Kurds earlier this month, Prime Minister Tayyip Recep Erdogan has embarked on possibly the most perilous phase of his political career. His Kurdish initiative could lose him precious votes at the next election. If it misfires, it could even bring an end to the AKP’s domination of the Turkish political landscape, which began with its first electoral victory in 2002. The initiative has already aroused the fierce hostility of diehard Turkish nationalists, who condemn it as a treasonous plot to dismember the country. » Read more

Critics of Mr Abbas are rarely a logical or loyal opposition ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Michael Young - (Opinion) December 3, 2009 - 1:00am It isn’t difficult to grasp why the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, elicits such tepidness. Judged by the dual benchmarks of charisma and political success, he fails on both counts. To many people he seems a man out of touch with his people’s revolutionary situation. » Read more

Ethnic cleansing, pure and simple ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times (Editorial) December 3, 2009 - 1:00am Israel stripped over 4,500 Jerusalemite Palestinians of their “residency rights” in 2008. This marks a huge acceleration of a policy that has been in force since Israel occupied East Jerusalem in 1967. In these 41 years, Israel has now stripped over 12,000 Palestinians of their “permits” to live in Jerusalem, 35 per cent or so of those in 2008 alone. It also maps out exactly where the current right-wing Israeli government, which has made no secret of its wish to Judaise Jerusalem, a travesty of history if ever there was one, is heading. » Read more

Breakthrough or more of the same? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times by Daoud Kuttab - (Opinion) December 3, 2009 - 1:00am Ever since the announcement by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that he will not run in the next Palestinian presidential elections, political circles in Palestine have been witnessing a sort of paralysis. Gone are the daily meetings in Ramallah’s muqatta with foreign leaders, and gone are the almost daily statements by US, Israeli and Palestinian officials. Naturally, with the presidency in deep freeze, the Palestinian issue has been dropped from the headlines. Except for a brief moment when a prisoner exchange appeared to be happening, Palestine has become a nonstory. » Read more

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