Middle East News: World Press Roundup

NEWS: The Israeli government is scrambling to find ways to recognize "unauthorized" settlement outposts. The mayor of Bethlehem urges Israel not to humiliate vistors to the occupied Palestinian territories, as Israel is preparing to bar the entrance of hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists. Iran says it has arrested several "Israeli-linked mercenaries." Hamas accuses Egypt of blocking Qatari fuel bound for Gaza. An occupation soldier is accused of stealing gold from Palestinians during an Israeli raid in the West Bank. The Israeli military admits it has been barring Palestinian farmers from their lands in a West Bank village. Israel closes the center of the town of al-Ram in the occupied West Bank to traffic. Settlers clash with Israeli security forces. Expectations are low for an upcoming meeting of the MIddle East Quartet. Human rights groups call for a moratorium on executions by Hamas. COMMENTARY: Carl Perkal says Daniel Pipes has written an inexplicable and agressive attack against Palestinian citizens of Israel. Zvi Bar'el says the High Court and B'Tselem are crucial to Israeli democracy. Ha'aretz says Israel should stop public demands for the US to free convicted Israeli spy Pollard. Douglas Bloomfield says Republican candidates cannot reach most Jewish-American voters by grandstanding on Israel. Daniel Bettini says Israel's ban on Günter Grass is cynical and populist, but Daniel Goldhagen says Grass is the cynic. Osama Al Sharif says three letters now circulating sum up the present Palestinian dilema. Lara Friedman says the threats to Israeli democracy are all too real. Rashid Khalidi says plans by the Simon Weisenthal Center to build a "Museum of Tolerance" on the Muslim Mamilla cemetery are an effort to erase Palestinian history in Jerusalem. Benny Morris says the main obstacle to peace is "Palestinian rejectionism," not Israeli settlements.

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Israel Tries to Save West Bank Settlements it Vowed to Dismantle ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Edmund Sanders - April 10, 2012 - 12:00am JERUSALEM —Israel's government is scrambling to find ways to save some of the unauthorized West Bank settlements it once promised to dismantle, including some that are built partly on private Palestinian land. The new strategy seeks to retroactively legalize some outposts and, in other cases, relocate Jewish settlers to nearby land that is not privately owned, in effect creating what critics say would be the first new West Bank settlements in years. » Read more

Bethlehem Mayor to Israel: Allow our Friends to Visit ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency April 11, 2012 - 12:00am BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The mayor of Bethlehem on Tuesday urged Israel not to humiliate hundreds of tourists invited to a week-long tour of Palestine. Some 25 Palestinian organizations have invited internationals to visit Palestine from April 15 - 21 and Mayor Victor Batarseh urged Israel to let them enter and not to humiliate them, at a news conference in Bethlehem. "We demand our international friends have access to Bethlehem," the mayor said. "It is our right to welcome visitors." » Read more

Israel Readying to Prevent Entry of Protesters ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Tia Goldenberg - April 10, 2012 - 12:00am JERUSALEM — Israel vowed Tuesday to prevent the entry of hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists from Europe and North America expected to arrive in the country this weekend, calling them provocateurs who are intent on disturbing public order. The activists are set to board flights to Israel with the aim of participating in demonstrations against Israeli policy in the West Bank. Although organizers say all protests will be peaceful, Israeli officials said the activists would be deported. » Read more

Iran Media: Israel-Linked ‘Mercenaries’ Arrested ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press April 10, 2012 - 12:00am TEHRAN, Iran — Iran's official news agency says the country's intelligence department has dismantled an Israeli-linked assassination and sabotage network. The Tuesday report by Irna says several "mercenaries" were arrested in different parts of the country and that large quantities of weaponry and telecommunications equipment were seized. It said more details will be revealed at an appropriate time in the future. Iran periodically announces the capture or execution of alleged U.S. or Israeli spies, and often no further information is released.

Hamas Accuses Egypt of Blocking Qatari Fuel Supplies to Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua April 10, 2012 - 12:00am GAZA, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Hamas government on Tuesday accused Egypt of blocking a Qatari ship, loaded with fuel for the only power plant in the Gaza Strip, of delivering its shipment to the Palestinian enclave. "Some Egyptian sides insist to prevent the Qatari fuel from coming to Gaza," said Mohammed Awad, Hamas' foreign minister. "We negotiate with Egyptian authorities to bring in the fuel to Gaza when the ship docks in Egypt." Last week, Hamas authorities said that Qatar would send 25 tons of diesel to Gaza's power plant, which suffers frequent shut-downs. » Read more

IDF Soldiers Suspected of Stealing Palestinian’s Gold in West Bank Raid ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Gili Cohen, Avi Issacharoff - April 11, 2012 - 12:00am The Military Police is investigating allegations that soldiers stole pieces of gold worth tens of thousands of shekels from the home of a Palestinian man during a late-night raid in a West Bank village last week. The investigation began after the head of the household, Ata Shatwi, submitted a complaint to the Civil Administration. » Read more

IDF Admits Barring Palestinians’ Access to Own Fields ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Chaim Levinson - April 11, 2012 - 12:00am The state has confirmed that, acting without a court order, the army has barred Palestinian villagers from freely accessing their farmland for two years. The admission was made in the state's response to a High Court petition filed last year by Beit Furik residents. » Read more

IDF Closes Off Central Palestinian Town to Vehicles ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Oz Rosenberg - April 11, 2012 - 12:00am The Israel Defense Forces is not allowing vehicles in or out of A-Ram, a Palestinian city of 60,000 northeast of Jerusalem, because of a recent increase in stone and firebomb throwing at army patrols by local youth, the army said. Late Sunday night, soldiers placed large boulders across all four lanes of the road at the city's main entrance to block incoming and outgoing vehicular traffic. Pedestrians are not restricted, the IDF said. The entrance to A-Ram northeast of Jerusalem, which has been blocked by the military. » Read more

West Bank: Teens Erect Outpost, Clash with Security Forces ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Itamar Fleishman - April 10, 2012 - 12:00am Several dozen Jewish teenagers on Tuesday took advantage of the Passover holiday to erect a new outpost near the Hashmonaim community in the West Bank. The teens, who called the outpost "Or Hadash (new light)," clashed with security forces at the scene. The security forces confiscated tools that were used to build the outpost. Two teenage girls who tried to snatch the tools back were held for questioning but released a short while later after agreeing to identify themselves. » Read more

Quartet to Meet in DC, but Expectations are Low ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Herb Keinon - April 11, 2012 - 12:00am Senior Quartet representatives will meet in Washington on Wednesday amid little expectation that they will have more luck this time kick-starting direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, UN Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon and Quartet envoy Tony Blair will meet on the sidelines of the G-8 foreign ministers’ meeting in Washington and discuss the Israeli-Palestinian diplomatic process. » Read more

Gaza Executions: Hamas Condemned Over ‘Inhuman Punishment’ ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Harriet Sherwood - April 10, 2012 - 12:00am Human rights groups have condemned the execution by the Hamas government in Gaza of three prisoners at the weekend, and are demanding that the death sentence of a fourth be commuted. The three men, identified only by their initials, were hanged on Saturday at a Hamas security base in Gaza City. The cases were unrelated: WJ, 27, had been convicted of treason by collaborating with Israel; MB, 49, had been convicted of murder; and MA, 20, had been convicted of abducting, raping and killing a child. » Read more

Daniel Pipes' attack on Israeli Arabs is baseless and inflammatory ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Carl Perkal - (Opinion) April 11, 2012 - 12:00am Middle East expert Daniel Pipes was in Israel recently and subsequently published an article entitled “Israel’s Arabs, living a paradox” in the Washington Times. I don’t know Dr. Pipes personally, but I feel compelled to call him to task for his baseless and inflammatory attack on the Arab citizens of Israel. Pipes has written an aggressive and confused jumble of half-truths and misunderstandings about the Arabs citizens of Israel. » Read more

Israeli democracy without the High Court and B'Tselem ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Zvi Barel - (Opinion) April 11, 2012 - 12:00am This is how a democracy should look: If the people's elected representatives pass laws that contradict the country's constitution or its Basic Laws that they themselves legislated, the court has the authority to invalidate them. This is a power that the lawmakers themselves granted the High Court of Justice here, in order to protect citizens - in case the legislature fails to carry out its task properly, and decides to grab more power for itself than the public agreed to grant it. » Read more

Israel should refrain from public calls to free Jonathan Pollard ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz (Editorial) April 11, 2012 - 12:00am On Monday, under pressure from Jonathan Pollard's wife and activists campaigning for his release, President Shimon Peres asked U.S. President Barack Obama to free the convicted spy, who is serving a life term for spying against the United States on Israel's behalf. » Read more

Republicans have ‘a real Jewish problem’ ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Douglas Bloomfield - (Opinion) April 10, 2012 - 12:00am Republicans found some encouragement in the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) 2012 Jewish Values survey released last week and quickly declared it evidence that Barack Obama’s Jewish support is falling. It is not an entirely invalid conclusion since he got 78 percent of the Jewish vote in 2008 and this survey shows 62% of Jewish voters say they would like to see him reelected and 30% prefer an unnamed Republican candidate. » Read more

Israel’s Grass fiasco ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Daniel Bettini - (Opinion) April 10, 2012 - 12:00am Interior Minister Eli Yishai’s decision to declare Guenter Grass a persona non grata appeared cynical and populist from the get-go. It was clear that not much time would elapse before the overwhelming support for Israel in the German and global media, and the criticism over Grass’ despicable poem, would turn around as result of our interior minister’s statement. » Read more

Grass: Ignorant or Calculating Cynic? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Daniel Jonah Goldhagen - (Opinion) April 10, 2012 - 12:00am As a falsifier of his own Nazi past and that of Germany’s, Grass’s moral and intellectual authority to speak on these issues is zero. » Read more

The three letters on Palestine ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News by Osama Al-Sharif - (Opinion) April 11, 2012 - 12:00am Three missives that sum up the predicament of Palestinians under occupation came under the limelight in the past few days. The first was sent by imprisoned Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti to the Palestinian people and their leadership on the eve of Land Day, which marks the killing of six Arabs in 1976 and protests Israel’s land grab policies. In his open letter Barghouti, who was arrested in 2002 and is serving five life sentences in an Israeli jail, called on Palestinians to launch widespread popular resistance against Israeli occupation. » Read more

Israel's Less-Than-Resilient Democracy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by Lara Friedman - (Opinion) April 10, 2012 - 12:00am According to the latest article by Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren, Israeli democracy is “more robust and effervescent than ever.” Reading his lengthy piece, a variation on Queen Gertrude’s quip comes to mind: “The Ambassador doth protest too much, methinks.” Oren’s most breathtaking assertion is that the occupation is simply an “anomaly,” akin to anomalies like the taxation and voting status of Americans living in Washington, DC, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Virgin Islands. » Read more

Talks Will Go Nowhere ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by Benny Morris - (Opinion) April 10, 2012 - 12:00am The prime ministers of Israel and the Palestine National Authority are scheduled to meet next week in the first high-level meeting in two years. But no real progress toward peace is expected by either party. Both sides’ starting positions and their red lines are simply too far apart. » Read more

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