Middle East News: World Press Roundup

NEWS: In Gaza, hopes for a better life under Hamas rule have turned into frustration and disappointment. Israel says it will be disciplining the soldier who was documented to have struck a Danish pro-Palestinian activist in the face with his rifle. PM Fayyad meets with the assaulted Danish activist. UN officials condemn Israel's eviction of a Palestinian family from their home in occupied East Jerusalem in favor of settlers. Fatah officials blame Hamas for the impasse in national unity negotiations. Journalist turned politician Yair Lapid says he'd be willing to serve in an Israeli coalition cabinet. Israeli settlers are building new outposts on privately-owned Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank. Jewish-American lawmakers are unhappy with a Justice Department ruling regarding the difficulties of prosecuting Palestinians who allegedly killed Americans outside the United States. The US Supreme Court rules that Palestinian-Americans cannot sue the PA and PLO for alleged abuse in custody in the occupied territories. The Grand Mufti of Egypt is making a rare visit to Jerusalem. COMMENTARY: Ha'aretz says the Israeli public is in the grip of a terrifying apathy. Israel Harel says the soldier disciplined for striking the Danish activist is a scapegoat for the failings of the senior command. Ofer Shelah says the assault just shows the extent to which Israel doesn't know what to do with the occupied territories. The Jerusalem Post says Israelis were unrealistic to think that the UK would be harsher on Palestinian activist Raed Salah than Israel, of which he is a citizen. Salah explains why he went to the UK in the first place. Jonathan Rosen says Holocaust analogies and other exaggerations are allowing fear to drive Israeli policies. David Wilensky says Title VI should not be used to squelch free speech on campuses. Michael Young says the shadow of another possible Israel-Hezbollah war looms over southern Lebanon. Michael Jansen says, despite the risks, dissolving the PA could be a dramatic “game changer” between Israel and the Palestinians. Shibley Telhami looks at the Arab and Israeli dimensions of the controversy over Iran's nuclear program.

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In Gaza, Hamas rule has not turned out as many expected ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Karin Brulliard - April 18, 2012 - 12:00am GAZA CITY — The housing stipends, promised by Hamas social workers after much of Umm Mohammed’s neighborhood was demolished in an Israeli military assault three years ago, never came. The water barrels pledged by municipal authorities seemed to go only to Hamas cadres. Electricity is a rarity. And as Israeli airstrikes targeting Palestinian militants pounded the Gaza Strip last month, the housewife said, the enclave’s Hamas rulers watched from “their chairs” — lingo here for cushy seats of power. » Read more

Israeli Officer Who Struck Protester Is Dismissed ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Isabel Kershner - April 18, 2012 - 12:00am JERUSALEM — The Israeli military announced on Wednesday that a senior officer caught on videotape striking a Danish pro-Palestinian activist in the face with an M-16 rifle during a standoff in the West Bank was to be dismissed from his post “on moral grounds.” In addition, the officer, Lt. Col. Shalom Eisner, will not receive a planned promotion to serve as the deputy commander of the military’s prestigious officer school, and will not be eligible to serve in a commanding position for the next two years, the military said in a statement. » Read more

Fayyad meets Danish activist injured by soldier ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency April 19, 2012 - 12:00am RAMALAH (Ma'an) -- The prime minister in Ramallah Salam Fayyad on Wednesday met with Andreas Ias, a Danish activist who was injured Saturday by an Israeli officer. Fayyad condemned the attack and all of Israel's "continuous violations" against foreign activists, including the recent efforts by Israel to prevent over 1,000 visitors from visiting Palestine. "When we talk about Israeli violations against out people, we won't forget the attack on Andreas, who arrived in solidarity, nor the Israeli and international campaign to play down the attack," Fayyad said. » Read more

UN envoy condemns Israel's eviction of Palestinian family ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency April 19, 2012 - 12:00am BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- A senior UN official on Wednesday condemned Israel's eviction of Palestinians from their homes in Beit Hanina, East Jerusalem. "Evictions of Palestinians from their homes and properties in occupied territory contravene international law, including the Fourth Geneva Convention, and should cease," said UN humanitarian coordinator Maxwell Gaylard in a statement. Israeli police on Wednesday evicted a Palestinian family from their home in Beit Hanina, shortly before Jewish settlers moved in. » Read more

Fatah official blames Hamas for reconciliation delay ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency April 19, 2012 - 12:00am BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- The secretary-general of Fatah's revolutionary council said Thursday that Hamas was to blame for suspending reconciliation talks. Amin Maqboul told Ma'an that some members of Hamas in Gaza are afraid to lose their privileges if a unity government is formed and presidential and parliamentary elections are held. He added that Fatah is open to all initiatives, whether Arab or Palestinian, to revive reconciliation talks. "There are some verbal initiatives, but we don't rely on such announcements or meetings if it doesn't aim to end the split totally," Maqboul said. » Read more

Yair Lapid: Unlike Tzipi Livni, I'll join cabinet and fight for my beliefs ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Ophir Bar-Zohar - April 19, 2012 - 12:00am Would-be politician and former news anchor Yair Lapid criticized Kadima for failing to join Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government, saying on Wednesday that he his party would join a future cabinet in a bid to "fight for what he believes in." Lapid's comments, coming during a speech to students in Sapir College, came after on Sunday he announced that his new political party will be called Atid, which means "future," adding that he has yet to tell the public whose faces - other than his own – will man the party. » Read more

Settlers in West Bank outpost build new homes on private Palestinian land ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amos Harel, Chaim Levinson, Jonathan Lis, Barak Ravid - April 19, 2012 - 12:00am Some 20 homes that have been built in the Mitzpeh Cramim outpost during the past year could spark a similar coalition crisis to the one recently created by the Ulpana neighborhood in the settlement of Beit El, according to sources in the defense establishment. The prefabricated and permanent homes, in the outpost northeast of Ramallah, were all built on land that the state officially recognizes as being privately owned by Palestinians. » Read more

Dept. of Justice response on prosecuting Palestinian killers unsatisfying for lawmakers ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) by Zach Silberman - April 18, 2012 - 12:00am WASHINGTON (JTA) -- U.S. House lawmakers want more answers after the Department of Justice reiterated the obstacles it says stand in the way of prosecuting alleged Palestinian terrorists who killed Americans. Assistant Attorney General Ronald Welch in his April 5 letter was responding to a March 1 letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder from Congress members that called on Holder to pursue prosecutions against Palestinian terrorists who were responsible for killing Americans and were recently released by Israel as part of the deal to free captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. » Read more

US: Torture law doesn't apply to PLO, PA ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters April 19, 2012 - 12:00am WASHINGTON - The Palestinian Authority and PLO cannot be sued under a 1991 US victim protection law over the alleged torture of an American in a West Bank prison, the Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday, holding that the law only applies to individuals. The justices unanimously agreed with the Obama administration that the Torture Victim Protection Act allowed civil lawsuits in US courts only against a person who had engaged in torture or killing, not against groups. » Read more

Grand Mufti of Egypt on controversial Jerusalem visit ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Hugh Naylor - April 19, 2012 - 12:00am JERSUALEM // Egypt's top cleric visited Jerusalem yesterday, breaking decades of opposition by Muslim leaders to travelling to areas under Israeli control. The Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa described his visit on Twitter as a show of solidarity with the Palestinians. It was the first time an Egyptian grand mufti had visited Jerusalem since Israel captured the area in the Arab-Israeli war of 1967. Palestinian leaders hailed the visit as an important show of support for Palestinian claims to the eastern part of the city for their future state. » Read more

Israel has been taken over by a deep, horrifying apathy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz (Editorial) April 19, 2012 - 12:00am The incident Yaniv Kubovich reported in Monday's Haaretz is deeply troubling. At high noon, in front of dozens of people, a group of men had sexual intercourse with a half-naked young woman on a Tel Aviv beach for several hours. Not all the circumstances of the peculiar occurence are clear yet and the conduct of the Tel Aviv police - who were very late in arriving at the beach and claimed at first that "no event had taken place" - is inexplicable to say the least. » Read more

Israel's army sacrificed IDF officer on the altar of PR ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Israel Harel - (Opinion) April 19, 2012 - 12:00am "You shouldn't join the chorus of rabbis and politicians who are trying to make Lt. Col. Shalom Eisner's case into one that divides the religious and the secular, and the left from the right," B. begged me. B.'s views are well considered and highly regarded. From his point of view, the media lynching of Eisner, after a recording surfaced on the Internet of a confrontation in which the officer hit a Danish activist in the face, has engendered precisely the opposite reaction - a natural sense of empathy with Eisner that cuts across various communities. » Read more

Israeli Officer's Aggression Worsens 'Impossible Situation' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Yedioth Ahronoth by Ofer Shelah - (Opinion) April 17, 2012 - 12:00am The IDF's upper echelon first learned of the assault on the Danish peace activist by Shalom Eisner, the deputy commander of the Jordan Valley Brigade, when the video clip showing the IDF officer striking the Danish protester with his M16 rifle was uploaded to the Internet Saturday, April 15, around 7:30 pm. » Read more

Raed Salah’s return ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post (Editorial) April 18, 2012 - 12:00am Sheikh Raed Salah, leader of the Islamic Movement’s Northern Branch and an Israeli Arab convicted Hamas collaborator, arrived back to a hero’s welcome Monday after 10 months under restrictive bail conditions in the UK, during which he fought and defeated a deportation order. Some 300 supporters hailed him at Ben-Gurion Airport with earsplitting chants of “Allahu Akhbar.” » Read more

Britain's duty to the Palestinian people ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Raed Salah - (Opinion) April 18, 2012 - 12:00am In June 2011 I came to Britain to begin a speaking tour to draw attention to the plight of my people, the Palestinian citizens of Israel. The tour was meant to last 10 days. Instead I had to stay for 10 months in order to resist an attempt by the home secretary, Theresa May, to deport me – itself the result of a smear campaign against me and what I represent. I fought not just for my own sake, but for all who are smeared because they support the Palestinian cause. » Read more

Foreign policy in shadow of Holocaust ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Jonathan Rosen - (Opinion) April 18, 2012 - 12:00am Holocaust Remembrance Day presents Israelis with an opportunity to rise above their mundane pursuits and trivial concerns to honor the memory of the victims and survivors of the Nazi death machine. No less importantly, this day is an occasion for Israeli citizens, both as individuals and as members of broader communities, to reflect on the enduring mesh of personal, national and universal lessons that are to be drawn from the Holocaust. » Read more

Title VI should be used only on true hatemongers, not political opponents ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) by David. A.M. Wilensky - (Opinion) April 18, 2012 - 12:00am NEW YORK (JTA) – In the eyes of the Zionist Organization of America, the most depraved enemies of the Jewish people are obnoxious college campus loudmouths. As the editor of New Voices, a national magazine by and for Jewish college students, I have a different perspective. The ZOA led the campaign to have discrimination against Jewish students recognized as a violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, originally passed in 1964 to remedy racial discrimination in programs that receive federal funding. But in its charge to circle the Jewish communal wagons, the ZOA has overreached. » Read more

Shadow of another war hangs over southern Lebanon border ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Michael Young - (Opinion) April 19, 2012 - 12:00am The negotiations in Turkey over Iran's nuclear programme last weekend were not particularly high in the attentions of the Lebanese living along their country's southern frontier with Israel. And yet if Iran is one day attacked militarily because the talks have failed, the Marjayoun-Hasbayya district will probably again become a front line in a destructive confrontation between Hizbollah and the Israelis. » Read more

Game changer ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times by Michael Jansen - (Opinion) April 18, 2012 - 12:00am While Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas does not intend to dismantle the Palestinian Authority, he has, at long last, admitted that the body, created under the flawed and defunct 1993 Oslo accords, has no authority. Abbas rightly blamed Israel for the failure of the “Oslo process” and said Israel stripped the Palestinian Authority of any “meaningful jurisdiction in the political, economic, territorial and security spheres”. » Read more

The Israeli and Arab Dimensions of Iran's Nuclear Program ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Brookings by Shibley Telhami - (Analysis) April 10, 2012 - 12:00am Suzanne Maloney draws attention to many important angles of the international crisis over Iran’s nuclear program and America’s policy choices. But there are also others for Washington to consider—namely, the Israeli and Arab dimensions. Here are ten brief points for the next president to reflect on. » Read more

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