Middle East News: World Press Roundup

NEWS: A pending Knesset bill would drop the word “democratic” from Israel self-definition and eliminate Arabic as an official language. A gruesome “honor killing” shocks Palestinians and prompts harsher penalties. New US ambassador Dan Shapiro says Pres. Obama hopes to visit Israel soon. Analysts say new settlement construction would do nothing to offset Israel's cost-of-living crisis. An Israeli parliamentary report says Palestinian violence in September is “unlikely,” but its security forces are preparing for many contingencies. The Arab League says it's finalizing plans for a UN statehood initiative, and Palestinians say their "train is headed towards New York." Gazans show no sympathy for ex-president Mubarak, now on trial in Egypt. COMMENTARY: Nicholas Kristof says the US needs a more balanced policy towards Israel and the Palestinians. Dimi Reider and Aziz Abu Sarah say the cost of living crisis in Israel is strongly linked to the occupation. Michael Jansen says Israel's economic crisis is a classic guns versus butter dilemma. Ian Bremmer says Palestinian statehood is coming and Israel and the United States will find themselves isolated. Americans for Peace Now issues “principles” for Palestinian international recognition and the UN.

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Lawmakers seek to drop Arabic as one of Israel's official languages ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Jonathan Lis - August 4, 2011 - 12:00am Forty lawmakers from both the coalition and opposition Wednesday submitted a proposal to the Knesset for a new Basic Law that would change the accepted definition of Israel as a "Jewish and democratic state." The bill, initiated by MKs Avi Dichter (Kadima ), Zeev Elkin (Likud ) and David Rotem (Yisrael Beiteinu), and supported by 20 of the 28 Kadima MKs, would make democratic rule subservient to the state's definition as "the national home for the Jewish people." The legislation, a private member's bill, won support from Labor, Atzamaut, Yisrael Beiteinu and National Union lawmakers. » Read more

West Bank murder smashed the lie of 'honor killings' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency August 3, 2011 - 12:00am Aya's remains were found bound, decomposed at the bottom of a well more than a year after she vanished without a trace, leaving her family beside themselves with worry. The university student's disappearance in April 2010 left her relatives increasingly ostracized in their southern West Bank village, an area known for its deeply conservative traditions and morals. Neighbors assumed the worst -- that their daughter had run away with a lover. » Read more

President Peres Accepts Credentials of U.S. Ambassador to Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Embassy of Israel to the United States August 3, 2011 - 12:00am President Shimon Peres accepted the credentials today (August 3) of the incoming Ambassador of the United States to Israel, Daniel Shapiro. » Read more

New US ambassador says Obama might visit Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman by The Associated Press - August 3, 2011 - 12:00am The new U.S. ambassador to Israel says President Barack Obama hopes to visit. Daniel Shapiro presented his credentials to Israeli President Shimon Peres on Wednesday. The 42-year-old Shapiro is Jewish and speaks Hebrew and Arabic. He told Israeli TV stations the U.S. is trying to restart peace talks to head off the Palestinian effort to win recognition from the U.N. He told Channel 2 TV the U.S. is hopeful but that "it's not certain that we will be able to achieve a formula." » Read more

News analysis: Settlement construction can not answer Israeli housing crisis ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua by Adam Gonn - (Analysis) August 4, 2011 - 12:00am As nationwide demonstrations against the costs of living and lack of affordable housing enter the third week, 42 Israeli cabinet ministers and Knesset (parliament) members signed a petition to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to solve the crisis by building in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The petition calls on Netanyahu and the government to "consider all possible solutions, including the immediate housing of tens of thousands of citizens in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank), as well as Jerusalem." » Read more

Israeli report says Palestinian violence in September unlikely ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by The Associated Press - August 3, 2011 - 12:00am An internal Israeli parliamentary report shows Israel doesn't anticipate violence around a symbolic UN endorsement of Palestinian independence expected next month, but it proposes reserve soldiers be called up just in case. The report, based on Israeli intelligence assessments, was drafted for parliament's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. It was presented to the committee on Wednesday. An official disclosed main points to reporters. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the material. » Read more

Israel in Quandary of What September Holds ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line by Arieh O'Sullivan - August 3, 2011 - 12:00am If the Palestinians succeed in their quest to get recognition of a state from the United Nations in September, Israel has no strategy to deal with it, according to a new report being drafted in the parliament (Knesset). Entitled “The September Process: Findings, Developments and Recommendations,” the report was put together at the request of Shaul Mofaz, head of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and a leader in the Kadima opposition party. » Read more

Arab League finalizing PA statehood application for UN ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Khaled Abu Toameh - August 4, 2011 - 12:00am Representatives of the Arab League were scheduled to meet in Doha, Qatar on Wednesday night to lay the final touches on the Palestinian Authority’s application to the UN for recognition of a Palestinian state on the pre-1967 lines. The meeting comes as the PA leadership in Ramallah continues to face pressure from the US and EU to abandon its statehood plan and return to the negotiating table with Israel. The meeting in Doha was being attended by several Arab legal experts who were invited by the PA to help in the wording of the application to the UN in September. » Read more

Palestinians 'moving ahead' with UN bid: Erakat ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP) August 4, 2011 - 12:00am Palestinians are determined to go ahead with their UN membership bid as an Arab League follow-up committee endorsed a final draft of the request to be presented to the UN General Assembly, a top official said. Saeb Erakat brushed off as a public relations stunt Israeli attempts to lure the Palestinians back into peace talks based on the 1967 borders if they abandon the UN membership campaign. "The Palestinian train is now heading towards New York," Erakat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, told AFP during the committee's meeting in Doha, Qatar, late on Wednesday. » Read more

Egyptians unite behind Mubarak’s trail ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line by Joseph Mayton - August 4, 2011 - 12:00am Cheers went up at the local café as the crowd applauded and watched on television former President Hosni Mubarak being wheeled into his courtroom cage, locked up like a dog. This trial of the man who ruled Egypt for nearly three decades was going to be as popular as a World Cup football final, with people tuning into to their radios or crowding around televisions as the streets wind down to a standstill. » Read more

Seeking Balance on the Mideast ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Nicholas D. Kristof - (Opinion) August 4, 2011 - 12:00am Congress periodically showcases the warts of democracy, occasionally even the deformities and disfigurements, and it might seem difficult to top the latest debt ceiling horrors. But there’s one area where Congress has been even more obstructionist: the Middle East. » Read more

In Israel, the Rent Is Too Damn High ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Dimi Reider and Aziz Abu Sarah - (Opinion) August 3, 2011 - 12:00am THERE are profound and institutionalized economic disparities between Arabs and Jews in Israel. But when it comes to housing prices, an Israeli Arab who makes $1,000 a month and pays $500 in rent can still find common ground with an Israeli Jew making $2,000 and giving $1,000 to the landlord. » Read more

Israel’s guns, butter and colonies ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times by Michael Jansen - (Opinion) August 4, 2011 - 12:00am Ongoing demonstrations in Israel are said to be the largest protests ever over social and economic issues. Criticism of the government began over the rising price of cottage cheese, a product on many Israelis’ breakfast table. Youths broadened their protest to encompass rising rents and the skyrocketing prices of food and set up Tahrir Square style camp-ins in Tel Aviv and other cities. » Read more

The coming Palestinian statehood ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Ian Bremmer - (Opinion) August 3, 2011 - 12:00am As violent protests rock the Arab world, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Israeli government has tried to keep a low profile. It has largely succeeded. That’s about to change. » Read more

APN Principles on the Palestinians, International Recognition & the UN ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Americans For Peace Now by Lara Friedman - (Opinion) July 28, 2011 - 12:00am A great deal of attention is focused today on September 2011, when it is expected that the UN will take up some kind of initiative related to the Palestinians. Both the form and the content of such an initiative remain unknown and in all likelihood are in fact still undecided - realities that have not stopped pundits and organizations from rushing to judgment and staking out hard-line positions opposing the effort. » Read more

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