Middle East News: World Press Roundup

Lebanon grants employment rights to Palestinian refugees. Aaron David Miller recalls trying to arrange a visit for Pres. Arafat to the Holocaust Museum. An American woman seeks justice for her Palestinian husband. An elderly woman is killed by unknown assailants in Gaza. Palestinians say Israeli settlers beat a 10-year-old Palestinian girl. The PA allocates $1 million for student fees. Israeli academics say they're being threatened by the extreme right. Announcement of direct negotiations continues to be delayed and the Quartet is reportedly ironing out differences on a statement. Three Palestinian children are held under onerous conditions by Israel. Four Palestinians face criminal charges for selling banned settlement goods. Edna Canetti says the occupation has become part of Israeli culture. Israeli teachers are ordered not to attend a Nakba seminar. Israel demolishes a Bedouin village for the fourth time in four weeks. Hamas says Israel is blocking mail services to Gaza. A Palestinian man seeks justice for the rubber bullet killing of his 10-year-old daughter by Israeli troops.

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Lebanon Gives Palestinians New Work Rights ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Nada Bakri - August 17, 2010 - 12:00am Lebanon passed a law on Tuesday granting Palestinian refugees here the same rights to work as other foreigners, a step in ending years of discrimination that had restricted them to the most menial of jobs. » Read more

Ground Zero's wounds are still too deep to build upon ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Aaron David Miller - August 18, 2010 - 12:00am If there is one lesson to be learned from the controversy over the proposed mosque near Ground Zero, it is that messing with memory, particularly traumatic memory of the first order, is akin to messing with Mother Nature: It rarely ends well, no matter how good the intention. » Read more

An American woman seeks justice for Palestinian husband ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Edmund Sanders - August 18, 2010 - 12:00am Get the girls ready, Ziad Jilani's wife recalls him saying as he rushed out the door, and when I'm back from prayers we'll have a day at the beach. With temperatures soaring and school in recess, the Jilani family was looking forward to a little fun and relaxation. After Friday prayers at Al Aqsa mosque in the Old City, Jilani jumped into his white Mitsubishi pickup and began driving through a crowded East Jerusalem neighborhood. His family believes he was planning to buy fruit for his eldest daughter and make a quick stop to visit his grandmother. » Read more

Medics: Elderly woman shot dead in Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency August 18, 2010 - 12:00am Unidentified gunmen shot and killed a 60-year-old woman in Gaza City on Tuesday night, medical sources told Ma'an. Relatives of the woman brought her into the Ash-Shifa Hospital from her home of Al-Abeed Street in the city center. She was pronounced dead on arrival, medics said. Gaza emergency medicine director Muawiya Hassanein said the unidentified woman's body was taken to the coroner's office for autopsy and that police had opened an investigation into the incident.

Witnesses: Settlers beat 10-year-old Palestinian girl ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency August 18, 2010 - 12:00am Israeli settlers assaulted a 10-year-old Palestinian girl on Sunday evening and an Israeli military jeep struck an 8-year-old boy in Hebron, witnesses said. Inas Mazen Qaaqour was beaten by residents of the illegal Tel Rumeida settlement and treated at the Hebron Government Hospital where medics said she was bruised all over her body. Sameh Natshe Jacob was taken to the same hospital, and medics described his condition as stable. An Israeli military spokesman did not respond to several requests for comment. » Read more

PA allocates more funding for university fees ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency August 18, 2010 - 12:00am The Palestinian Authority Cabinet has allocated $1 million to cover university fees for students enrolling this year. The cabinet agreed to the Education Ministry’s proposal in its weekly meeting in Ramallah. The announcement came after a union of university students threatened protests at the ministry if scholarships and loans were not transferred. » Read more

Israeli Left, Right academia in turmoil over "threat letter" ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua August 18, 2010 - 12:00am A group of Israeli academics have come out strongly against what they are calling a "threat letter" sent by rightist group "Im Tirtzu" to the President of Ben- Gurion University (BGU) in Beersheba. The letter demands the school offer what it considers equal teaching and learning opportunities to those not in line with what it claims is a hard-core left-wing doctrine among the center's educators and leadership. Im Tirtzu charges that BGU's Politics and Government Department is the most left-wing in the country. » Read more

Last-minute hitch before Palestinians, Israelis launch direct talks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua by David Harris - August 17, 2010 - 12:00am A statement is anticipated any day now to announce the commencement of direct Israeli-Palestinian talks. However, the news initially expected as early as Sunday has been put on ice as the parties continue to argue about the terms of reference. DOMESTIC CONSIDERATION The Jewish settlement issue is still on the way leading to the direct talks, as the Palestinians are reportedly insisting the statement stressing there be an Israeli settlement freeze in the West Bank and that a final deal be signed in two years. » Read more

Palestinian minors held 3 weeks on suspicion of arson ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amira Hass - August 18, 2010 - 12:00am Palestinian minors suspected of perpetrating even minor crimes against settlers are subject to extreme pressure during detention and interrogation in an effort to extract a confession, the Palestinian branch of Defense for Children International claims. » Read more

4 Palestinians to be tried for violating settlement boycott ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Ali Waked - August 17, 2010 - 12:00am The Palestinian Finance Ministry decided Tuesday to indict four merchants who violated the boycotted on products made in West Bank settlements. The four Palestinians are expected to face harsh penalties. Moreover, the law states that Palestinians caught selling settlement products may have their license revoked and vehicle impouned. Despite this, Fayyad's counterpart in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, said he believes the Palestinian Authority is not being firm enough with Israel. Hamas unimpressed » Read more

The banality of occupation ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Edna Canetti - August 18, 2010 - 12:00am Those who want to know what’s happening know it. The truth screams from all directions. The Breaking the Silence movement publishes detailed reports about the conduct of IDF soldiers in the territories. The same is true for B’Tselem, Machsom Watch, and journalists such as Gideon Levy and Amira Hass. » Read more

Quartet dispute delays statement on direct talks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Gil Hoffman - August 18, 2010 - 12:00am A statement by the Quartet that was expected to lead to long-awaited direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians has been delayed due to disputes between the United States and European Union, Israeli diplomatic sources revealed Tuesday. The Quartet, which is made up of the US, EU, UN, and Russia, was expected to bring Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to the negotiating table by releasing a statement early this week about the basis for direct talks. » Read more

Teachers told not to attend Nakba seminar ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Or Schwartz - August 18, 2010 - 12:00am The Ministry of Education on Tuesday instructed preschool kindergarten teachers not to attend a Nakba studies seminary held by the extremist left-wing organization Zochrot, according to the Legal Forum for the Land of Israel. The seminary, intended specifically for preschool teachers, was held on Tuesday and discussed the subject of "nakba," and whether the topic should be taught to kindergarten children. The central issue of the seminary was the study plan of the subject. » Read more

State demolishes Beduin village for fourth time ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Benjamin L. Hartman - August 18, 2010 - 12:00am For the fourth time in less than four weeks, illegally built structures in the unrecognized Beduin village of Kafr al-Arakib were demolished early on Tuesday morning by staffers from the Israel Lands Administration escorted by police. Around 100 officers secured the operation, and around 25 tents were destroyed, the Southern Police District spokeswoman said. There were no injuries or arrests, although one man was taken in for questioning after he refused to leave a tent. » Read more

Hamas Blames Israel for Mail Embargo ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line by David Miller - August 17, 2010 - 12:00am Israel is imposing a postal blockade on Gaza, officials in the Hamas government have claimed, calling on the international community to intervene. Yousef Al-Mansi, Hamas Minister of Communications and Information Technology, called Monday for the Universal Postal Union and international human rights groups to intervene and pressure Israel into allowing mail to enter and exit the Gaza Strip. » Read more

Bassam Aramin's search for justice ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent August 18, 2010 - 12:00am On a hot August afternoon exactly three years ago Bassam Aramin was adamant that he did not want revenge for the death of his ten-year-old daughter, Abir, but justice. At the time, he added quietly: "I have to prove my daughter was killed: that is my problem." Yesterday he had the satisfaction of knowing that his three-year fight to do just that had been vindicated by a judge's ruling that Abir Aramin had indeed been shot dead by a border policeman with a rubber bullet, that the killing was "totally unjustifiable" and that the state should pay her family compensation. » Read more

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