Middle East News: World Press Roundup

The New York Times covers evictions of Palestinians in East Jerusalem. Israel's announcement of 1600 new settlement units in occupied East Jerusalem disrupts VP Biden's trip. Israeli officials say no slight was intended. PM Fayyad, Biden and the White House condemn the move, and the Vice President says Palestinians deserve a viable state and that the US supports state and institution building efforts. Two commentaries and a report from Human Rights Watch highlight Israel's crackdown on nonviolent Palestinian protests. The PA postpones commemoration of the death of a militant. Gaza hairdressers protest Hamas' ban. Palestinians say Arab states have withdrawn their support for proximity talks. Ha'aretz says Israeli policy allows settlers to rampage unchecked. Daoud Kuttab says complaints about New York Times coverage of Palestine has only produced the loss of its Palestinian correspondent in Gaza.

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The People of Gaza and a Reporter: Victims of the NY Times' Subbornness ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Huffington Post by Daoud Kuttab - (Opinion) March 8, 2010 - 1:00am The people of Gaza appear to have been the recent victims of the arrogance (or what some believe to be the bias) of the NY Times. The stubbornness of Bill Keller, the executive editor of the NY Times, in refusing to relocate his Jerusalem reporter has caused a considerable drop in the paper's coverage of Gaza. The Times has refused to relocate their reporter covering Israel and Palestine after the appearance of a conflict of interest surfaced. The Electronic Intifada and the US media watchdog FAIR first reported the conflict of interest case in January 25th and 27th respectively. » Read more

Bibi's snub to Biden may backfire ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Simon Tisdall - March 10, 2010 - 1:00am It's not the first time that Israel has stiffed Barack Obama over his attempts to kick-start Middle East peace negotiations. But the sudden, highly inflammatory announcement of plans to build an additional 1,600 homes in occupied East Jerusalem, in the midst of a visit to Israel of US vice-president Joe Biden, was certainly the most brutally contemptuous rebuff so far to American peacemaking. » Read more

Yishai: Sorry for distress over East Jerusalem Plan ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Nir Hasson, Avi Issacharoff, Anshel Pfeffer, Barak Ravid - March 10, 2010 - 1:00am Interior Minister Eli Yishai apologized on Wednesday for causing domestic and international distress as a result of Israel's recent decision to approve 1,600 more homes in East Jerusalem. Yishai was responding to the recent wave of condemnations, particularly on the part of the United States and visiting Vice President Joe Biden, surrounding the recent plan to build 1,600 more housing units in an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood in East Jerusalem. » Read more

When Israelis degrade Israel by humiliating Joe Biden ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Bradley Burston - (Opinion) March 10, 2010 - 1:00am Why would Israeli officials degrade Israel by humiliating the vice-president of the United States? What conceivable advantage is there in the Interior Ministry choosing the occasion of a high-profile visit by Joseph R. Biden, Jr., a mission aimed at soothing strained relations between Israel and the Obama administration, to announce the approval of 1,600 new homes for Israelis in East Jerusalem? Or to add, in insult to injury, that construction on the new homes could begin as soon as early May. » Read more

Israel policy allows settlers to rampage unchecked ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Avi Issacharoff - March 10, 2010 - 1:00am From a Palestinian perspective, it's hard to imagine better timing for U.S. Vice President Joe Biden's visit to Ramallah on Wednesday. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas won't have speak at great length nor lay on the charm to persuade Biden, White House staff or the U.S. Consulate in East Jerusalem that Netanyahu government is not serious when it says it wants peace. One must admit that the current diplomatic process between Israel and the Palestinians is not about reaching a peace deal - each side is convinced that the other is either not serious or incapable. » Read more

Arabs withdraw support to proximity talks: PLO official ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua (Editorial) March 10, 2010 - 1:00am Arab states have withdrawn their support to indirect proximity talks between the Palestinians and Israel after the latter approved plans to expand a Jewish settlement in East Jerusalem, a Palestinian official said Wednesday. "Some Arab countries told the U.S. administration that the Arab League (AL)'s decision regarding the indirect talks is no longer existed," Yasser Abed Rabbo, a member of the executive committee of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), told Voice of Palestine radio. » Read more

U.S. supports Palestinian state-building efforts: Biden ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua (Editorial) March 10, 2010 - 1:00am U.S. Vice President Joe Biden Wednesday said Washington supports Palestinians in building their institutions for a "viable" Palestinian state. The United States "strongly supports the Palestinian (National) Authority's efforts to build its institutions and the develop the economy of the state," Biden told a joint news conference with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, referring to Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's two-year state building plan. » Read more

Gazan hairdressers protest Hamas restrictions ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman March 10, 2010 - 1:00am GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Gaza's male hairdressers have filed a complaint with a human rights group over a Hamas edict banning them from cutting women's hair. Gaza's Islamic militant rulers announced the ban last week. It affects only five coiffeurs but highlights Hamas' increasing attempts to impose a strict version of Islam in the already conservative Palestinian territory. » Read more

Biden: Palestinians deserve 'viable' state ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Karin Laub - March 10, 2010 - 1:00am RAMALLAH, West Bank — Vice President Joe Biden's displeasure over an Israeli plan to enlarge an east Jerusalem settlement was on display Wednesday as he warned against actions that "inflame tensions" and reassured his Palestinian hosts that they deserve a sustainable, independent state. » Read more

Palestinians postpone commemoration of militant ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Ali Sawafta - March 10, 2010 - 1:00am RAMALLAH, West Bank, March 10 (Reuters) - The Palestinian Authority ordered on Wednesday the cancellation of a ceremony to honour a woman who led a 1978 hijacking of a civilian bus in Israel in which 35 people were killed. The cancellation of Thursday's ceremony coincided with a visit to the occupied West Bank by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, who met with Palestinian leaders as part of Washington's efforts to revive the moribund Middle East peace process. » Read more

Israel: End Crackdown on Anti-Wall Activists ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Human Rights Watch March 5, 2010 - 1:00am (Jerusalem) - Israel should immediately end its arbitrary detention of Palestinians protesting the separation barrier, Human Rights Watch said today. Israel is building most of the barrier inside the West Bank rather than along the Green Line, in violation of international humanitarian law. In recent months, Israeli military authorities have arbitrarily arrested and denied due process rights to several dozen Palestinian anti-wall protesters. » Read more

Peaceful protest in Israel can lead to arrest ATFP World Press Roundup Article from New Haven Register by Mazin Qumsiyeh - (Opinion) March 9, 2010 - 1:00am THIS week, when I return to my village in the occupied West Bank, I face possible arrest by Israel for engaging in nonviolent protests against abusive Israeli policies opposed by our own government. This prospect is difficult after 29 years of living in the United States, where such activities are fully protected. It was this openness that attracted me to the U.S. I became a proud citizen and pursued work not only in my profession but also as a human rights advocate. » Read more

Why Israel jailed me for 'talking too much' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Jamal Juma' - (Opinion) March 9, 2010 - 1:00am East Jerusalem The Palestinian elected leadership is weak. And even with Vice President Joe Biden’s visit to Israel, the West Bank and Jordan this week, the renewed Middle East peace process appears to be little more than a charade. Israel has taken this opportunity to crack down on Palestinians who advocate nonviolent protests against the Israeli West Bank segregation barrier and charged them based on questionable or false evidence. I know: I was arrested for talking too much. All we Palestinians want is a life free from racial discrimination. » Read more

Biden's Israel visit takes a rocky turn ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Paul Richter - March 9, 2010 - 1:00am Reporting from Jerusalem - In the midst of a high-profile trip by Vice President Joe Biden, Israel unveiled plans for new housing in disputed Jerusalem on Tuesday, a surprise step that embarrassed and angered the highest ranking Obama administration official yet to visit the country. Biden, who had come to try to smooth relations with a longtime ally and promote new peace talks, denounced Israel's plans to build 1,600 housing units in traditionally Arab East Jerusalem as a threat to the search for peace. » Read more

Palestinian leader joins Biden in condemning Israeli housing decision ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Janine Zacharia - March 10, 2010 - 1:00am RAMALLAH, West Bank -- Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, meeting with Vice President Biden on Wednesday, said Israel's decision to approve 1,600 housing units in east Jerusalem would undercut U.S. efforts to revive a dormant Israeli-Palestinian peace process. "It's damaging for sure," Fayyad said in his office in Ramallah after greeting Biden. "This is a moment of great challenge to the effort led by the United States to get the political process going again." » Read more

With Biden in West Bank, Settlements Cloud Talks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Ethan Bronner - March 10, 2010 - 1:00am RAMALLAH, West Bank— Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. arrived here on Wednesday to meet with Palestinian leaders as the Palestinian prime minister, Salam Fayyad, expressed dismay at Israel’s announcement a day earlier that it planned to build 1,600 new housing units for Jews in East Jerusalem » Read more

An Eviction Stirs Old Ghosts in a Contested City ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Isabel Kershner - March 9, 2010 - 1:00am ERUSALEM — Having been removed in favor of Israeli nationalist Jews, members of the Palestinian Ghawi family have been sheltering this winter in a tent on the sidewalk opposite their home of more than five decades in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. For those who want to see a peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the eviction of the Ghawis has touched on two sensitive nerves: the fate of East Jerusalem, where Israel and the Palestinians vie for control, and the abiding grievances of Palestinian refugees from the 1948 war. » Read more

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