Middle East News: World Press Roundup

Palestinians have reportedly opened proximity talks with a surprisingly generous offer on borders. Israel is blocking official mail between the West Bank and Gaza. PA boycott volunteers say the Israeli army is searching for them. Israel says it is determined to break the boycott. Settlers in occupied East Jerusalem denounce negotiations. Experts say water may not prove a difficult issue. Palestinians accuse Israel of going ahead with planned home demolitions. Palestinian officials deny they are secretly negotiating with NATO. Shaul Mishal and Doron Mazza say Israel should propose a Palestinian state with provisional borders. Israel bombs three Gaza tunnels. The Economist profiles Palestinian state building efforts and Israeli extremists protest against the project. The Jerusalem Post says negotiations are off to a rocky start. Jonathan Power says Israel's policies are self-defeating.

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Palestinians Offer Wider Concessions on Land ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Wall Street Journal by Charles Levinson - May 21, 2010 - 12:00am Palestinian negotiators have surprised Washington with a bold opening offer to White House peace envoy George Mitchell that includes concessions on territory beyond those offered in past Palestinian-Israeli peace talks, according to officials briefed on the current negotiations. » Read more

Israel blocks mail between Gaza, West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency May 21, 2010 - 12:00am Israel has halted the flow of government sector mail between Gaza and the West Bank, causing a delay in the receipt of official documents, officials said on Thursday. Maher Abu Ouf, Palestinian director for the Erez crossing between Gaza and Israel, said Israel shut-down all mail services last Wednesday after forces detained Gaza-based postal service official Sufian Abu Zubda. "We do not know the reasons for Abu Zubda's detention," Abu Ouf told Ma'an. » Read more

Boycott volunteers say army searching for them ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency May 21, 2010 - 12:00am Volunteers with the Palestinian Authority's House to House settlement goods boycott campaign said Israeli forces entered the Husan village, west of Bethlehem, searching for them. Volunteer Ahmad Jaz'ul told Ma'an that four Israeli military jeeps "raided the village at 1pm in the afternoon, searching for the campaign's volunteers, stopping passer-bys and asking where we were." "We hid our uniforms and ID cards. Some volunteers stayed hidden in their homes until the Israeli army withdrew," he added. » Read more

Jews in Arab east Jerusalem defy Obama peace push ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman by Tia Goldenberg - May 21, 2010 - 12:00am When Devorah Adler's children go to school, they pass underneath the gun-toting security officer who stands on their roof 24-hours a day, walk down a path dotted by surveillance cameras and get in a van manned by another armed guard. Adler is one of 2,000 Jews who reside in predominantly Arab neighborhoods in the heart of east Jerusalem, part of a movement that aims to ensure Israel's hold on the sector, which Palestinians seek as the capital of a future state. » Read more

Water may not be big hurdle to Palestinian-Israeli peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua by David Harris - May 20, 2010 - 12:00am U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Thursday, two days after he held talks in Ramallah with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. No details of the sessions have been made public other than the Israelis' desire to move as soon as possible from indirect to face- to-face meetings and the fact that the talks are initially concentrating on the issues of borders and security. » Read more

Palestinian official accuses Israel of demolishing houses of Arab Jerusalemites ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua May 20, 2010 - 12:00am A Palestinian official has accused Israel of demolishing houses belong to Arabs in Jerusalem, saying the Israeli municipality of Jerusalem has handed demolition notices to Arab Jerusalemites. "These new procedures against the Palestinian residents of Jerusalem are very dangerous and will lead to a dead end" in newly- launched indirect talks with Israel, Hatem Abdul Qader, a Fatah official in charge of Jerusalem affairs told Voice of Palestine radio on Thursday. » Read more

Palestinian official denies secret contacts to bring NATO forces ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua May 20, 2010 - 12:00am A senior Palestinian official on Thursday denied reports that the Palestinian National Authority ( PNA) was holding secret talks to persuade the NATO to monitor the borders of the future Palestinian state. "There are in-depth contacts with Jordan and all other Arab countries to brief them on the situation in the region, but there are no secret contacts with international forces," chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said. » Read more

Israel seeks to halt Palestinian boycott of settlement products ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Ora Coren - May 21, 2010 - 12:00am The Manufacturers Association has asked the Industry, Trade and Labor Ministry for compensation for its members who have been hurt by the Palestinian boycott against goods produced in the West Bank. Ministry officials have already approached their Palestinian counterparts and international bodies to ask them to act to cancel the boycott, which they say violates international trade rules and policies. Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer raised the issue with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in a recent meeting. » Read more

A state within temporary borders plus ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Shaul Mishal - May 21, 2010 - 12:00am The latest American and Palestinian steps to promote a diplomatic agreement between Israel and the Palestinians confronts Israel with two bad alternatives. The first is conducting negotiations à la U.S. President Barack Obama, which repeats the model for a final-status solution and an end to the conflict that failed in the past decade. The second is Palestinian sovereignty that would be promoted by both Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in the West Bank and the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip. » Read more

IDF attacks 3 Gaza tunnels ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews May 21, 2010 - 12:00am Israel Air Force jets attacked three tunnels in the Gaza Strip in a joint Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet operation on Thursday night, several hours after a Qassam rocket hit the Ashkelon Coast Regional Council. Two of the targets attacked were in the southern Strip and one was in the northern Strip. According to the IDF, terrorists were using the tunnels to try to infiltrate Israel. » Read more

Hundreds protest new PA city ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post May 21, 2010 - 12:00am Hundreds participated in a march on Friday to protest the ongoing construction of a new Palestinian city – Rawabi, by the Palestinian Authority, on land slated by the government for nearby settlements, north-east of Ramallah. The protesters, mostly settlers from the Binyamin region, stressed that their protest was directed at government policy. "This is not a local problem, this is about the tacit agreement and acquiescence of the Israeli government to the laying of foundations for a Palestinian state," the demonstration organizers from the Binyamin Citizens' Committee said. » Read more

Proximity talks off to rocky start ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Herb Keinon - May 21, 2010 - 12:00am US envoy George Mitchell left Israel on Thursday afternoon, ending the second round of proximity talks, with each side claiming their contacts with the American mediator focused on something completely different. Following a three-hour meeting with Mitchell, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu issued a statement saying the second part of their meeting focused on water issues, while the first part of the talks dealt with a number of issues, including gestures Israel might make to the Palestinians. » Read more

Can Palestinians peacefully build a state? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Economist May 20, 2010 - 12:00am A PORTLY official from the office of the Palestinian prime minister, Salam Fayyad, planted a kiss on Musa Abu Mariya’s right eye, enveloped him in a bear hug and sped off in his sport utility vehicle trailing a cloud of dust. Mr Abu Mariya organises protests in Beit Omar, a town on the West Bank, against Israel’s appropriation of land for settlements and security walls that can cut through Palestinian farms and hurt the villagers’ livelihood. As official visits go, it was better than most. But the kiss left Mr Abu Mariya squirming. » Read more

Heat rises in boycott of Israeli settlers' goods ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Omar Karmi - May 21, 2010 - 12:00am As thousands of volunteers took to the streets of the West Bank to distribute lists of companies whose products the Palestinian Authority wants to ban from shelves in shops and homes, Israeli groups representing settlers and manufacturers mulled their own response to what is quickly becoming a new front in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. » Read more

Israel is shooting itself in the foot - and the back ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times by Jonathan Power - May 21, 2010 - 12:00am Too many Jews in Israel don’t want a settlement with the Palestinians. At every turn, whatever the compromising rhetoric of those at the top of the pyramid of power, there are enough hardliners with enormous influence that are determined to undermine such a deal. This became abundantly clear when, in 1995, prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, in the process of reaching out to the Palestinians, was murdered by an extremist Jewish militant. Although there was an outpouring of grief, there were a good 30 to 40 per cent who thought, and even said, “good riddance”. » Read more

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