Middle East News: World Press Roundup

NEWS: An aide to Pres. Abbas says Palestinians still prefer negotiations over UN initiatives. Hamas leaders say unity talks are making progress. Gaza’s economy remains desperate. Israeli security figures differ on the "dangers" of the flotilla. Some Palestinians say they need stability more than a UN resolution. Public outrage over a so-called “honor killing” in the West Bank prompts harsher sentences. Israeli Amb. Oren describes Israel’s ideas for negotiating terms of reference. Jordan’s FM says his country supports Palestinian UN initiatives. ATFP and APN announce another joint summer internship program. COMMENTARY: Ha’aretz says PM Netanyahu should take Ronald Lauder’s warnings seriously. Doron Rosenblum says Israel is in danger of becoming a theocracy. The Jordan Times says Palestinians need to unify before going to the UN. Samah Sabawi says Palestinians have both a right to return and to remain. Stuart Littlewood says Israel’s approach to the flotillas violates the law of the sea. Amos Guiora says Israel’s blockade of Gaza is self-defense. Neil Steinberg says Israelis and Palestinians both need a two-state solution. Daniel Levy looks of the role of borders in negotiations.

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Abbas adviser: Palestinians ready to replace UN bid with talks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency July 1, 2011 - 12:00am BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- Presidential adviser Nimir Hammad said Thursday that Palestinian leaders would delay the September bid for UN recognition of a Palestinian state, if Israel agrees to negotiations based on a French peace initiative. In an exclusive interview with Ma’an, the political adviser to President Mahmoud Abbas said the leadership are preparing the text for the declaration that will presented to the UN in September, should talks not go ahead. » Read more

Haniyeh: Reconciliation is progressing despite delays ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency July 1, 2011 - 12:00am GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said Thursday that progress is being made to implement the Palestinian reconciliation agreement "even if it is slow." Hamas and Fatah signed a unity agreement on May 4, ending years of hostility. However, a meeting in Cairo to finalize the formation of a unity government was postponed. Officials from both parties have said talks stalled over a leadership row. Hamas rejected Fatah's nomination of Salam Fayyad for the post of Prime Minister in the new government. » Read more

Gaza shelves stocked, but hope in short supply ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Alertnet by Nidal Al-Mughrabi - June 30, 2011 - 12:00am GAZA, June 30 (Reuters) - If pro-Palestinian activists unexpectedly manage to slip past Israel's naval blockade on the Gaza Strip in the coming days, they might be surprised by what they see in the Hamas-controlled enclave when they disembark. Roads are being paved, houses are being built, new cars have taken to the busy streets and shops are full of myriad products. Even the longtime scourge of unemployment is easing marginally, boosting living standards for a lucky few. » Read more

Israeli security chiefs differ on Gaza flotilla's potential danger ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua June 30, 2011 - 12:00am JERUSALEM, June 30 (Xinhua) -- Israel's security establishment is at odds over the scope of threat posed by an aid flotilla that had planned to set sail to the Gaza Strip in coming days, and over predictions that violence will ensue if Israel tries to block it. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has played down military assessments in recent days that pro-Palestinian activists are gearing up for violent clashes with Israeli navy troops to be dispatched to intercept the 10-vessel flotilla. » Read more

In Balata, the future is scarier than September ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Avi Issacharoff - July 1, 2011 - 12:00am BALATA REFUGEE CAMP, NABLUS - Several days before the first intifada broke out, a few hundred people in the Balata refugee camp marched toward the drawn guns of raiding Israeli soldiers. The soldiers withdrew at the order of then-GOC Central Command Amram Mitzna, who wanted to avoid bloodshed, and Balata became a symbol of the struggle against the Israeli occupation that broke out on December 9, 1987. » Read more

Death in the West Bank: the story of an 'honour' killing ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Harriet Sherwood - June 30, 2011 - 12:00am As Ibrahim Baradiya recounts the events surrounding the last moments of his daughter's life at the bottom of a dark well, the agony of grief is drawn across the face of his wife, Fatima. She says almost nothing. Her eyes are half-closed. She shakes her head with small, rapid movements. A deep frown furrows her forehead. When the story is finished, she fetches her daughter's trinkets – beads, bangles, a hair clasp, a key ring, a purple pom-pom – and spreads them over the table and she weeps. » Read more

Oren presents Israel’s priorities for talks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) June 30, 2011 - 12:00am WASHINGTON (JTA) -- Israel's U.S. ambassador, Michael Oren, outlined for Jewish leaders his country's list of priorities in framing peace talks with the Palestinians. Oren, speaking Thursday in a conference call, said Israel is looking into President Obama's recent proposals for renewing talks. Such talks, Oren said, should be framed by what he called the "terms of reference": the recognition of Israel as a Jewish state; no return of Palestinian refugees; and a long-term military presence for Israel along the Jordan-West Bank border. Also, that an agreement would end all claims. » Read more

Jordan committed to Arab consensus in support of Palestinian UN bid ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times by Hani Hazaimeh - June 30, 2011 - 12:00am AMMAN - Jordan is committed to the Arab consensus supporting the Palestinian leadership’s pursuit of recognition of a state by the UN General Assembly if Israel continues to reject relevant international resolutions, Minister of Foreign Affairs Nasser Judeh said on Thursday. Judeh reaffirmed Jordan’s continued support for the Palestinians in their efforts to establish their own independent state on the national Palestinian soil with East Jerusalem as its capital, on the basis of the two-state solution. » Read more

Leading Palestinian and Jewish American groups announce joint internship program ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News June 30, 2011 - 12:00am WASHINGTON: The American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) and Americans for Peace Now (APN) started their joint summer internship program on Thursday. ATFP is hosting an Israeli student, and APN is hosting a Palestinian student. This is the third time that ATFP and APN, a pro-Palestinian organization and a pro-Israeli organization, are cooperating on a joint internship program, making it a tradition intended to underscore that Americans who care about Middle East peace — be they Arab or Jewish — have more in common than what sets them apart. » Read more

A warning from a good friend ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz (Editorial) July 1, 2011 - 12:00am An unexpected voice joined the critics of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's standstill policy this week: Ron Lauder. The president of the World Jewish Congress has been a close friend, confidant and clear supporter of Netanyahu throughout his political career. Speaking in Jerusalem, he warned that the political standstill on the Palestinian front is dangerous for Israel. Lauder called on Netanyahu to launch a diplomatic initiative, even if this would mean "political suicide." » Read more

Our Tahrir Square ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Doron Rosenblum - (Opinion) July 1, 2011 - 12:00am The trend of looking to imitate the Arab uprisings by finding "our" Tahrir Square met only partial success in the cottage cheese boycott and the celebrities filmed sitting in solitary confinement in support of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit. Neither gesture involved blood, tears or even sweat. From the start, it was clear that this was not the real thing. Where was the spirit of revolt in the street? Where were the stormy emotions and the self-sacrifice? Where were the assaults on institutions, as part of the plan to destroy the regime down to its foundations? » Read more

Reconciliation First ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times (Editorial) July 1, 2011 - 12:00am Much hope was pinned on the initial agreement between Fateh, the main Palestinian faction, and Hamas, the movement ruling Gaza, to forge a united Palestinian front at this critical time. The Palestinians need a unity government in order to push forward their plan to seek recognition by the UN General Assembly as an independent state. Unfortunately, so far, the two Palestinian factions failed to seal their initial accord by agreements on several fronts, including holding presidential and parliamentary elections, and forming a national unity government. » Read more

The Palestinian right to remain and return ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Ahram by Samah Sabawi - (Opinion) June 30, 2011 - 12:00am I was 12 years old when for the first time in my life I became a citizen of a country -- Australia. Before that, I was a stateless Palestinian refugee. There were two laments my parents always repeated whenever they spoke of their place of origin, Palestine: if only we could have stayed and if only we could return. » Read more

Israel's contempt for the law of the sea ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Ahram by Stuart Littlewood - (Opinion) July 30, 2011 - 12:00am In 2008, two humanitarian vessels got through to Gaza, and in an article entitled "Keeping the Sea-Lane to Gaza Open", I wrote at the time that "the success of the âê˜Free Gaza' boats in breaking the siege, and their safe arrival and departure, was due to the intervention and good offices of the British Foreign Office." » Read more

Israel's Gaza sea blockade is an act of self-defense ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Amos Guiora - (Opinion) July 1, 2011 - 12:00am Self-defense against threats to national security and individual citizens is a core right and duty of all nation-states. No one seriously disagrees. And yet this week, the Mediterranean Sea will once again be the site of a dangerous attack on this basic right. » Read more

Palestinian crisis solved in 814 words ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Chicago Sun Times by Neil Steinberg - (Opinion) July 1, 2011 - 12:00am Did you hear that the flotilla planning to run the Israeli blockade of Gaza didn’t get off as scheduled? Insurance problems, alas, sparked by an Israeli ploy, plus one of the 10 ships had its propeller mysteriously cut. I sure hope Alice Walker doesn’t run into a scheduling conflict — maybe a Marin County book-signing — that would call her away from yet another chance to remind the world that the Israelis are the Star Wars Evil Empire, the Nazis and the Klingons all rolled into one. » Read more

The Role of the Border in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict ATFP World Press Roundup Article from New America Foundation by Daniel Levy - (Opinion) June 30, 2011 - 12:00am In March of this year, the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution hosted a crisis simulation exercise on the Israeli-Palestinian issue. The participants, myself included, assumed the roles of key players from the US, Israeli, and Palestinian sides and were presented with a scenario in which the protagonists were two weeks into the implementation of a US-brokered agreement on borders and security. » Read more

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