Middle East News: World Press Roundup

FM Lieberman may be indicted on corruption charges. Palestinians gain crucial international support for independence at a Brussels donor meeting. Fatah officials say there are no political prisoners being held in the West Bank. PM Fayyad says Palestinians have received the international “birth certificate” for their state. Fatah wins student elections at Bethlehem University. Palestinians say a new US peace effort must come soon. Analysts say a possible plan by PM Netanyahu for a partial West Bank pullout is an effort to avoid a diplomatic “tsunami” in September. The Palestinian FM says he doesn’t expect talks to resume soon. Some of Judge Goldstone’s co-authors don’t agree with his reconsiderations. The EU grants Palestinian produce duty-free status. 1,000 American Christians are asking to become West Bank settlers. Palestinians say settlers cut down 150 trees. Larry Derfner says Israelis are blind to realities in Gaza. D. Bloomfield says both sides are wasting time on peace. Jewish Voice for Peace is reportedly isolated by its refusal to endorse a two-state solution. The State Department annual human rights report criticizes Israel, the PA and Hamas. The Israeli military will move towards “smart warfare.” George Hishmeh says Netanyahu has been caught flat-footed by the wave of international support for Palestinian independence. Daoud Kuttab says US diplomacy is suffering because it’s not doing enough on Palestine. Ghada Karmi says Israel’s narrative about Palestinian refugees is bogus.

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Israeli Foreign Minister Faces Indictment on Corruption Charges ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Ethan Bronner - April 13, 2011 - 12:00am Israel’s attorney general on Wednesday announced his intention to indict the foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, on corruption charges, but said he would allow Mr. Lieberman a hearing to contest an indictment before issuing a formal charge sheet. Charges against the Israeli foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, involve accusations that while in the private sector he used a company to funnel illicit gifts and contributions. » Read more

Palestinians build support for statehood at Brussels meeting ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Joshua Mitnick - April 13, 2011 - 12:00am Palestinians accelerated their drive toward statehood recognition at an international meeting in Brussels Wednesday, but it comes amid worry that Middle East unrest may further complicate prospects for peace by altering the regional landscape. With peace talks with Israel already mothballed, Palestinians are pursuing a United Nations vote on statehood in September – a goal that seems more likely after foreign donors heard upbeat endorsements of the Palestinian Authority's (PA) ability to govern a sovereign state. » Read more

Fatah insists 'there are no political prisoners' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency April 14, 2011 - 12:00am No promises were made to meet pro-unity protestors’ demands, and no political prisoners were being held, a Fatah official told Ma’an Thursday. Ma’an released documents Tuesday, which March 15 demonstrators say detail the names, detention dates and court verdicts ordering the release of 23 men being held illegally by the Palestinian Authority, and whom Abbas promised to release. » Read more

Fayyad claims 'birth certificate' for Palestinian statehood ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency April 13, 2011 - 12:00am Caretaker prime minister Salam Fayyad said Wednesday that UN endorsement of his administration's readiness to govern amounted to "a birth certificate" for statehood. Fayyad made the claim after the United Nations special coordinator for the Middle East peace process said in a report that the Palestinian Authority was "sufficient for a functioning government of a state." » Read more

Fatah wins Bethlehem University elections ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency April 13, 2011 - 12:00am Fatah has won the student council elections at Bethlehem University in a vote that was boycotted by Hamas. Fatah picked up 18 seats, defeating a joint list by the Popular and Democratic Fronts for the Liberation of Palestine that won 13. About 60 percent of students participated in the elections, student elections officials said. Hamas and Islamic Jihad boycotted the vote and others at universities in the Fatah-run West Bank.

New U.S. peace push must come soon - Palestinians ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Ali Sawafta - April 13, 2011 - 12:00am The United States must move fast on its planned drive to revive Middle East talks before Palestinians seek recognition as a state, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Wednesday. "It's time for the American administration to move before September," the spokesman, Nabil Abu Rdainah, said. » Read more

Netanyahu's pulling-out plan preemptive act to avoid diplomatic tsunami ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua by Saud Abu Ramadan - April 14, 2011 - 12:00am The Palestinians were not surprised at the Israeli media reports that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is considering measures to defy a "diplomatic tsunami," if the UN recognizes a Palestinian state on the territories Israel occupied in 1967. Since the suspension of the direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians in last October, one month after it was launched in Washington, due to Israel's refusal to halt settlement construction, the Palestinians threatened to use diplomatic options, including grabbing international recognition of a Palestinian state. » Read more

Palestinian FM does not expect resuming peace talks soon ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua by Fares Akram, Chen Xu - April 13, 2011 - 12:00am Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Al-Maliki on Wednesday said Israel's positions make the resumption of peace talks with the Palestinians more difficult. In an interview with Xinhua, Al-Maliki said the Palestinians will seek recognition of their state from the United Nations as a response to the failure of the latest round of U.S.-brokered peace negotiations. » Read more

Gaza war report co-authors reject Goldstone's retraction ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz April 14, 2011 - 12:00am The three co-authors of the damning United Nations report on the 2008-2009 Gaza war rejected on Thursday an op-ed by the fourth member and chairman Richard Goldstone in which he retracted key conclusions of the report – in particular saying that Israel had not intentionally targeted civilians during the war. » Read more

EU grants Palestinian produce duty-free access ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz April 13, 2011 - 12:00am The European Union announced Wednesday it would grant duty-free access to produce from the West Bank and the Gaza strip in a bid to support Palestinian state building. The deal was announced during a visit by Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, who was in Brussels for a meeting with international donors. "Facilitating Palestinian trade is a crucial element of the state building process which the EU is supporting both politically and financially," EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said in a statement. » Read more

The new Christian settlers ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Yair Altman - April 14, 2011 - 12:00am About 1,000 Americans have signed a document requesting to convert to Judaism, move to Israel, and settle in Samaria. The group members are seeking to serve in the IDF and later establish communities based on the Kibbutz movement model. The document was presented to Yisrael Beiteinu Knesset Member Lia Shemtov, who met with the group's representative last week and promised to offer her help in facilitating the initiative. The Christian group's representative, Baruch Abramovich, said he was hopeful that MK Shemtov would be able to elicit the government's support for the initiative. » Read more

Palestinian says 150 trees cut by settlers ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Elior Levy - April 13, 2011 - 12:00am Palestinian villager Ibrahaim Salah faced a rude welcome after arriving at his olive grove Tuesday, claiming that his trees were cut down by settlers. "I arrived at my land Tuesday morning and couldn't believe my eyes," said the Samaria resident, who is allowed to access his grove only a few times a year with a security escort. "We found some 150 olive trees that are dozens of years old cut down." Salah says that only 60 trees remain in his plot of land at this time, yet most of them are too young and do not produce commercial quantities of trees. » Read more

Rattling the Cage: We got out of Gaza, didn’t we? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Larry Derfner - (Opinion) April 13, 2011 - 12:00am Do people here know that we’ve prevented trucks from delivering cooking oil, flour or sugar to Gaza since last Thursday, when Hamas fired an anti-tank missile at a school bus, gravely injuring a 16- year-old boy? Do people here know or care what we do to Gaza’s civilians? » Read more

Washington Watch: Playing ball at the peace table ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by D. Bloomfield - (Opinion) April 13, 2011 - 12:00am If the Palestinian-Israeli peace process were a basketball game, both sides would be called for stalling. There’s a lot of trash talk going on, but no serious action. But it isn’t a basketball game, it’s a blame game. Neither side seems seriously interested in returning to the peace table, just in going through the motions to impress the fans. It’s a lot like last week’s budget battle between Republicans and Democrats; the real issue wasn’t what good we can achieve for the country, but who is going to get blamed when it all goes south. » Read more

Goldstone report: Statement issued by members of UN mission on Gaza war ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Christine Chinkin, Hina Jilani, Desmond Travers - April 14, 2011 - 12:00am In recent days some articles and comments appearing in the press with respect to the report of the United Nations (UN) fact-finding mission on the Gaza conflict of 2008-2009 have misrepresented facts in an attempt to delegitimise the findings of this report and to cast doubts on its credibility. » Read more

JVP, Harsh Critic Of Israel, Seeks a Seat at the Communal Table ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Gal Beckerman - April 13, 2011 - 12:00am On a recent Wednesday night in New York City, Rebecca Vilkomerson, executive director of Jewish Voice for Peace, an organization that critics label anti-Israel, made the case for her group’s main protest tactic: a targeted campaign of boycott, divestment and sanction — or BDS, as it has become known — against Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. » Read more

U.S. Report Details Rights Abuses ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Josh Nathan-Kazis - April 13, 2011 - 12:00am An annual report by the U.S. Department of State on human rights in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza paints a stark picture of human rights conditions among minority populations in Israel, and Palestinian populations in the West Bank and Gaza. “Principal human rights problems were institutional, legal, and societal discrimination against Arab citizens, Palestinian residents of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip… non-Orthodox Jews, and other religious groups,” begins the segment dealing with Israel and the Golan Heights. » Read more

Pushed by Goldstone, Israeli army embraces new ‘smart’ warfare ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) by Leslie Susser - April 11, 2011 - 12:00am Despite Israel’s rejection of the Goldstone report on the Gaza war a year-and-a-half ago, the international criticism it engendered has led the Israel Defense Forces to make a number of significant changes in policy and doctrine. And they'll stay even though Richard Goldstone has recanted one of the most significant findings of his committee's report -- that Israel intentionally targeted civilians and may have perpetrated war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. » Read more

Israel on the back foot ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News by George S. Hishmeh - (Opinion) April 14, 2011 - 12:00am There has been lots of good news in the Arab world this week, thanks to the successful uprisings against autocratic regimes ushered in by the glorious Arab Spring and the international community’s encouraging response. An overwhelming majority or two-thirds (65 per cent) of Americans — more Democrats than Republicans — believe that “greater democracy in the Middle East would be positive for the US”. And in the long run, more than three-quarters (76 per cent) of Americans say democratisation would be mostly positive for the US. » Read more

America,s Arab comeback - except for Palestine ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times by Daoud Kuttab - (Opinion) April 14, 2011 - 12:00am The past few months have seen no anti-American demonstrations and no burning of US flags across the Arab world. Arabs seem increasingly willing to accept - and even applaud - the Obama administration’s policy towards the region. Of course, Arabs are still unhappy with the continued US bias in favour of Israel. Its inability to end the 44-year military occupation of Palestinian lands has not gone unnoticed. But many Arabs nowadays prefer to give the US a break. » Read more

Blowback: Israel's bogus narrative on Palestinian refugees ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Ghada Karmi - (Opinion) April 12, 2011 - 12:00am Ghada Karmi, author of "In Search of Fatima: A Palestinian Story," responds to The Times' April 7 article on Lifta, the last intact pre-1948 Palestinian village. » Read more

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