Middle East News: World Press Roundup

NEWS: Israel launches more airstrikes on Gaza, with no reported injuries, after more rocket attacks on southern Israel, but the truce is still being mostly observed by both sides. The BBC looks at how Palestinians in Gaza have dealt with years of war and blockade. A Hamas official says its leadership is unlikely to fulfill the agreement with Pres. Abbas this year. A new report by an Israeli human rights group says Israel has been illegally seizing land in the occupied West Bank. The World Bank warns that the Palestinian financial crisis and Israeli restrictions are threatening the institution-building program. Israel is going forward with plans to destroy Palestinian solar energy panels in the occupied territories. The Israeli military plans to acquire more long-range rockets. COMMENTARY: Hussein Ibish says the latest round of violence helps set the stage for a potential third intifada. Maath Musleh says Palestinian youth should continue to demand national unity. Xinhua says the recent violence features new and old elements. Gideon Levy says Israelis have displayed a "destructive apathy" about the flareup of violence and deaths in Gaza. Ben Harris outlines the deep confusion behind recent state legislation in the US about Israel's occupation. Mya Guarnieri critiques Israel's policy of extra-judicial executions. Bilal Hassan reiterates that confronting Israeli occupation is a task for the whole Arab world, not just the Palestinians. Dawoud Abu Lebdeh asks if the "Arab Spring" has been good for the Palestinians or not. George Hale describes the difficulties journalists face dealing with Hamas. Peter Beinart says Jewish-American groups cannot be selectively opposed to one-state rhetoric depending on what perspective its coming from.

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Airstrikes target Gaza Strip ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency March 15, 2012 - 12:00am GAZA CITY (Ma’an) -- Israel launched airstrikes on two sites in the Gaza Strip overnight Wednesday, less than 48 hours after agreeing to an Egypt-brokered truce. Witnesses said that Israeli missiles landed on agricultural land, causing a fire and severe damage. No injuries were reported. In a statement, the Israeli army said its warplanes targeted "a rocket launching site in the northern Gaza Strip and a terror tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip." Earlier, a rocket fired at Beersheva was intercepted by the Iron Dome active missile defense system, the army said. » Read more

Israeli aircraft hit Gaza in response to rockets ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Amy Teibel - March 15, 2012 - 12:00am JERUSALEM — The Israeli military says its aircraft have struck militant sites in the Gaza Strip in response to continued rocket fire on southern Israel. The two sides agreed earlier this week to halt a four-day flare-up of violence but sporadic rocket fire and retaliatory airstrikes have persisted. Thursday's airstrike came after three rockets were fired at Israel a day earlier. No one was hurt. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has blamed Iran for the latest violence. » Read more

Israel-Gaza truce mostly observed ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Nidal Al-Mughrabi - March 13, 2012 - 12:00am GAZA, March 13 (Reuters) - An Egyptian-brokered truce between Israel and militant groups in the Gaza Strip was largely observed on Tuesday after four days of violence in which 25 Palestinians were killed and 200 rockets were fired at Israel. The number of Palestinian rocket attacks dropped sharply after the deal took effect overnight, with less than 10 rockets reportedly fired since then. In a further sign of a return to normality, towns and cities in southern Israel announced plans to reopen schools that had been kept shut for the past three days. » Read more

Gaza-Israel clashes: The view from each side ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News by Rupert Wingfield-Hayes - March 12, 2012 - 12:00am Sitting in the centre of Gaza City this mini-conflict has an almost surreal quality. With the windows open, a distant rumble very like thunder rolled across the city each time an Israeli strike hit home. But down below on the streets the cars kept passing, the shops stayed open, pedestrians kept walking home with their groceries. After years of blockade and repeated rounds of air strikes Gazans appear almost inured to the endless conflict. Further out of the city, closer to the Israeli border, the atmosphere is different. The streets are quieter. » Read more

Unity deal 'next year' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency March 15, 2012 - 12:00am BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Hamas' leadership in the Gaza Strip is unlikely to follow through on its end of the reconciliation deal with Fatah anytime soon, a senior party official said Wednesday. The party's external leadership agreed in Qatar to implement the deal in a joint announcement by politburo chief Khalid Mashaal and Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah, disappointing the leadership in Gaza. » Read more

Study: Israeli 'state land' illegally taken from West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency March 15, 2012 - 12:00am BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israel has designated some 900,000 dunams of the occupied West Bank as Israeli state land, using procedures that break local and international laws, an Israeli human rights group said Wednesday. "Large swaths of land have been classified state land and designated for use by settlements, despite the fact that they belong to Palestinian individuals or communities," according to a new report by B'Tselem. The study says Palestinian land "was taken from their lawful owners by legal manipulation and in breach of local law and international law alike." » Read more

World Bank: Economic slowdown in Palestinian Authority endangers state-building efforts ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Avi Issacharoff - March 15, 2012 - 12:00am Budgetary problems, a drop in international aid and an economic slowdown in the West Bank are hampering the efforts of the Palestinian Authority to build the institutions of an independent state, according to a new report by the World Bank. According to the bank's data, the gross national product in the West Bank grew at a rate of 5.8 percent during the first three quarters of 2011, compared to a rate a 7.5% during the same period in 2010. The bank predicted a further drop in growth, to 5%, in 2012. According to the data, the economic slowdown in the West Bank began in 2008. » Read more

'Israeli restrictions deepen PA's fiscal crisis' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Tovah Lazaroff - March 15, 2012 - 12:00am The Palestinian Authority’s fiscal crisis has grown worse due to a decline in donor funds and continued Israeli restrictions, the World Bank warned in a report it published on Thursday. The report was prepared in advance of a meeting in Brussels next Wednesday of a donor forum for the Palestinian Authority known as the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee. “Stabilization of the PA’s fiscal position compels immediate action by the donor community,” said Mariam Sherman, World Bank country director for the West Bank and Gaza. » Read more

Palestinians prepare to lose the solar panels that provide a lifeline ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Phoebe Greenwood - March 14, 2012 - 12:00am Two large solar panels jut out of the barren landscape near Imneizil in the Hebron hills. The hi-tech structures sit incongruously alongside the tents and rough stone buildings of the Palestinian village, but they are fundamental to life here: they provide electricity. Imneizil is not connected to the national electricity grid. Nor are the vast majority of Palestinian communities in Area C, the 62% of the West Bank controlled by Israel. The solar energy has replaced expensive and clunky oil-powered generators. » Read more

Israeli army to acquire long-range rockets ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua March 15, 2012 - 12:00am JERUSALEM, March 14 (Xinhua) -- In the face of growing threats posed by rockets at the disposal of Israel's foes, the Israeli military will acquire rockets of its own, the Yediot Aharonot daily reported Wednesday. Brig.-Gen. David Suissa, the commander of the army's Artillery Corps, is promoting the procurement of precision-strike rockets with ranges of 40 and 150 km, according to the paper's business section. » Read more

Match, Spark... ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) March 14, 2012 - 12:00am The recent flareup of violence between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza has all the disturbing qualities of a foretaste of more bitter things to come. Most troublingly, this latest round of attacks and counterattacks, which achieved nothing for either side, brings us ever closer to a possible third Palestinian intifada. » Read more

Compete on sacrifices, not leadership ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency by Maath Musleh - (Analysis) March 15, 2012 - 12:00am On March 15, 2011, Palestinians took to the streets in the occupied West Bank and Gaza calling for unity and elections to the Palestinian National Council. The youth took the lead, inspired by the Arab uprisings, mainly in Tunisia and Egypt. Was it a trend or a natural development? What lasting effects did it have on Palestinian politics? Both Hamas' government in Gaza and Fatah's in the West Bank were ready for the movements. They had never dealt with such a mass movement, but they definitely planned to hijack it and direct it to their paths. » Read more

Conflicts between Israel, Gaza militants feature both old, new elements ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua by Adam Gonn - (Analysis) March 15, 2012 - 12:00am JERUSALEM, March 14 (Xinhua) -- The four-day conflicts between Israel and militant groups in the Gaza Strip starting from Friday and ending with an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire, has been one of the longest of the year, which features both new elements such as the Iron Dome anti-rocket system and the old elements of the previous rounds. » Read more

The storm over Bamba and apathy concerning Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Gideon Levy - (Opinion) March 15, 2012 - 12:00am For four consecutive days and nights, millions of citizens of this country once again lived under conditions of fear and terror. The innovation was that, this time, no one tried to whitewash things. The mass terror was to be expected and it stemmed directly from an Israeli act of violence. Nevertheless, no one thought of expressing opposition. » Read more

Did Florida’s Legislature endorse a one-state solution and Israeli citizenship for Palestinians? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) by Ben Harris - (Opinion) March 12, 2012 - 12:00am NEW YORK (JTA) -- The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a hotly debated issue -- but not in the Florida Legislature. Both houses of the state's Legislature voted unanimously in February to stake out a bold position on the issue -- but it’s not entirely clear what, exactly, Florida lawmakers were trying to say. » Read more

The killing of Zuhair al-Qaissi exposes Israel's attitude to its supreme court ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Mya Guarnieri - (Opinion) March 14, 2012 - 12:00am The recent escalation between Israel and Gaza began after Israeli forces assassinated Zuhair al-Qaissi, a leader of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), a militant group composed of members of various Palestinian parties. Haaretz noted that the PRC was "the organisation that captured Gilad Shalit", the Israeli soldier who was freed in October 2011. The army says that al-Qaissi was behind the August 2011 attack that took place on the Israeli-Egyptian border – even though the PRC denied involvement and it was later revealed that the militants came from Sinai, not Gaza. » Read more

The theories of resisting occupation ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat by Bilal Hassan - (Opinion) March 14, 2012 - 12:00am Two theories are prevalent regarding the current Palestinian situation under the Israeli occupation: The first is the predominant traditional theory that advocates armed struggle in order to resist the occupation, whereas a contrasting second theory has been adopted by the President of the Palestinian National Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, who champions a form of peaceful, popular resistance. » Read more

The Arab Spring: Good or bad for the Palestinian cause? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News by Dawoud Abu Lebdeh - (Opinion) March 15, 2012 - 12:00am Many Palestinians are now wondering what effect this past year’s developments in the Arab world will have on their own struggle for independence. » Read more

A Journalist's Battle with Hamas ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by George Hale - (Opinion) March 14, 2012 - 12:00am Several prominent critics of Hamas have departed the Gaza Strip in recent weeks, relocating abroad nearly one year since grassroots activists launched a popular movement to democratize Palestinian politics and re-unite the occupied West Bank and Gaza. The failure of the so-called March 15 movement to end the division between Fatah and Hamas has wreaked havoc on freedom of speech and the press for residents of the occupied territories, who continue to be ruled by rival regimes. The news agency I work for, Maan, is no exception. » Read more

The Other One Staters ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by Peter Beinart - (Opinion) March 15, 2012 - 12:00am Sometimes I love right-wing Christians. In the past few weeks, in the wake of pro-BDS conferences at Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania, American Jewish groups have been venting their outrage about the legitimacy that powerful institutions are giving to people who support turning Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip into a single state. This Jewish outrage is not surprising, explains the Anti-Defamation League, because the “ADL has consistently expressed opposition to any notion of a one-state solution.” » Read more

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