Middle East News: World Press Roundup

NEWS: PM Netanyahu's new coalition has greatly increased his political power, while Kadima leader Mofaz will add a more moderate voice to the government. The new coalition is already arguing about Jewish religious privileges and exemptions. The CSM looks at how the new Israeli government's policies might change regarding Iran and the Palestinians. A second hunger-striking Palestinian prisoner is hospitalized. Pres. Abbas warns of a “disastrous” backlash if one of the hunger strikers dies. Abbas says he's ready to move forward with negotiations with Israel providing it offers “anything promising or positive.” Israel's attorney general is considering criminal prosecution against a Palestinian documentary filmmaker. An extremist Jewish Israeli organization takes out ads warning parents to keep their daughters away from Arabs. Palestinian citizens of Israel seem to be losing their enthusiasm for “National Service.” COMMENTARY: Reuters interviews PM Fayyad, who says Palestinians are internationally isolated and short on funds. The LA Times says it would be irresponsible and tragic to give up on a two-state solution. Shmuel Rosner says Netanyahu's new huge coalition majority can only be justified if it has similarly ambitious policies. Ha'aretz says the new coalition has stripped Netanyahu of any excuse not to move forward on peace. Carlo Strenger says Mofaz's two-stage peace plan could prove a moment of truth for both Netanyahu and Abbas. Uriel Epstein says self-determination for Israelis and Palestinians depends on a two-state solution. Ronald Tiersky says the answer might be a creative Israeli-Palestinian Confederation. The Jordan Times says Israel's new coalition is “dirty politics” and “temporary.” Barbara Slavin says Israel's new government will have to deal with a growing international boycott movement. Bernard Avishai says he should be appalled by the cynicism behind the new Israeli coalition, but he's actually relieved. Benny Morris says Israel's new coalition looks a lot like the one formed right before the 1967 war, and might be a prelude to an attack on Iran.

---

---

---

Master Tactician in Israel Adds Power in a Coalition Deal ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Jodi Rudoren - May 8, 2012 - 12:00am JERUSALEM — Striking a secret deal with the leader of the opposition in the small morning hours, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel significantly expanded his power on Tuesday, creating the largest and broadest c » Read more

New Israel Partner Offers Moderate Voice on Iran ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Isabel Kershner - May 8, 2012 - 12:00am JERUSALEM — Less than two weeks ago, Yuval Diskin, the recently retired chief of Israel’s internal security agency, carried out a blistering verbal assault on Prime Minister » Read more

First rifts emerge in new Israeli coalition ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Josef Federman - May 9, 2012 - 12:00am JERUSALEM — The first rifts in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's expanded coalition emerged just a day after the Israeli leader brought the main opposition party into his government, with religious and secular parties exchanging threats Wednesday over draft exemptions for ultra-Orthodox Jews. » Read more

How Netanyahu's 'unity' government may affect Palestinians, Iran ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Joshua Mitnick - May 8, 2012 - 12:00am A stunning overhaul in the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could produce progress on the peace process with the Palestinians but also enhance Israeli threats to attack Iran’s nuclear program. » Read more

Second Palestinian on hunger strike hospitalized ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press May 9, 2012 - 12:00am JERUSALEM — A spokeswoman for Israel's prison service says a Palestinian prisoner refusing to eat food for the past 71 days has been transferred to a civilian hospital. Sivan Weizman says Thaer Halahleh was hospitalized early Tuesday after he refused to drink water. Halahleh is the second hunger striker to be transferred. Bilal Diab, also on a 71-day hunger strike, was hospitalized last week. » Read more

Abbas warns of disaster if hunger-striker dies ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Ali Sawafta - May 9, 2012 - 12:00am RAMALLAH (Reuters) -- President Mahmoud Abbas warned on Tuesday that the death of any one of the hundreds of Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike in Israel would be a "disaster" and could trigger a backlash that might slip out of control. "It is very dangerous," Abbas told Reuters on a day when the Red Cross urged Israel to transfer to hospital six detainees who it said were close to death after not eating for two months. » Read more

Abbas says ready to engage with Netanyahu on Middle East peace process ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters May 9, 2012 - 12:00am Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Tuesday he was ready to engage with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on a Middle East peace agreement if he proposes "anything promising or positive." Abbas, speaking to Reuters after Netanyahu announced a grand coalition that will strengthen the Israeli leader's hand, said Netanyahu had to realize that Israeli settlements in the West Bank were destroying hopes of peace and must cease. » Read more

Israel's AG mulling charges against 'Jenin, Jenin' director ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Tomer Zarchin - May 9, 2012 - 12:00am The attorney general will soon decide whether to file charges against Mohammed Bakri, director of the controversial film "Jenin, Jenin," which implies that Israel Defense Forces soldiers committed war crimes in a 2002 military operation in the Palestinian refugee camp. » Read more

Jerusalem: Ads warn parents – keep daughters away from Arabs ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Ari Galahar - May 8, 2012 - 12:00am Lehava, the extremist Jewish organization for the prevention of assimilation in the Holy Land, has come up with a new gimmick that is creating a stormy debate on the issue of mixed marriages between Jews and Arabs. » Read more

Israeli-Arabs Grow Cooler to National Service ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line by David Rosenberg - May 9, 2012 - 12:00am Five years after the government launched a program to encourage Israeli-Arab youth to take time off from school and work to perform volunteer work in lieu army service, Israeli-Arab support for the program is lower than ever. » Read more

Palestinians isolated and short of funds -Fayyad ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Samia Nakhoul, Michael Stott - (Interview) May 8, 2012 - 12:00am RAMALLAH, West Bank, May 8 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said on Tuesday the Palestinians may have "lost the argument" on the international stage for an independent state but cautioned that continued Israeli occupation was unsustainable. In an interview with Reuters, Fayyad struck a note of discord with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas by calling for elections that have long been delayed because of deep political divisions between the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank. » Read more

Is a two-state solution dead? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times (Editorial) May 9, 2012 - 12:00am It's hard to imagine now, but there was a time when a comprehensive rapprochement between Israelis and Palestinians seemed not just possible but inevitable. In the mid-1990s, the two-state solution was gaining support on both sides. Hamas and Islamic Jihad were losing influence. » Read more

Coalition of the Willing ATFP World Press Roundup Article from International Herald Tribune by Shmuel Rosner - (Opinion) May 9, 2012 - 12:00am JERUSALEM — Monday morning I was on the phone with Doron Avital, a smart if quirky Knesset back-bencher from the Kadima Party. The announcement that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party was forming a grand coalition with Kadima was still a day away. » Read more

Netanyahu-Mofaz unity deal provides a great opportunity for Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz (Editorial) May 9, 2012 - 12:00am Kadima's entry into the government puts Benjamin Netanyahu at the head of a broad coalition of 94 Knesset members. That gives him almost complete freedom of action over the remaining year and a half of the 18th Knesset's term. The parliamentary opposition has been dwarfed and neutralized, while coalition factions will have trouble threatening to topple the prime minister from power. » Read more

Netanyahu’s and Abbas’ moments of truth ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Carlo Strenger - (Opinion) May 9, 2012 - 12:00am Yesterday’s political bombshell, for obvious reasons, has left both citizens and commentators dumbfounded. It has been pointed out that Netanyahu is now the undisputed king of Israeli politics: basically no single coalition party has any real power over him; each and every one of them now knows that Netanyahu can live without them. » Read more

National freedom demands a two-state solution ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Uriel Epshtein - (Opinion) May 8, 2012 - 12:00am The one-state solution has suddenly reappeared in the discourse surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Harvard recently hosted an entire conference promoting this solution and the former Palestinian prime minister, Ahmed Qurei, came out on Saturday in support of it. Though Qurei may have been pressed by political expediency, not only is this position completely unfeasible in practice, but it also represents a denial of the very purpose for Israel’s creation and a misunderstanding of the philosophy behind national movements. » Read more

Toward confederation ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Ronald Tiersky - (Opinion) May 8, 2012 - 12:00am Israel’s strategic problem in historical terms is, ultimately, how to win a war well. The Palestinian problem is to avoid losing this war in the most drawn-out, worst possible way. Palestinians (including any realistic Hamas leaders), know approximately what they will have to accept. Finding the least bad solution consonant with defeat is their unenviable task. Yet neither is Israel completely free, because victory can be dangerous. Israel needs a strategy that isn’t in the end self-defeating. » Read more

Temporary deal ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times (Editorial) May 8, 2012 - 12:00am Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may have succeeded in pulling a rabbit from his hat when he struck a deal, in the wee hours of Tuesday, with Shaul Mofaz, leader of the main opposition party Kadima, forging a national unity government and thus averting the need to hold snap elections. » Read more

Israel Faces Challenges From Boycott Campaign ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor by Barbara Slavin - (Opinion) May 7, 2012 - 12:00am As he consolidates his power with a new coalition, incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is likely to continue his unremitting focus on Iran as an existential threat. However, a bigger challenge to Israel over the long run may be the international campaign to deny the country’s status as a Jewish-governed polity that rules a growing and disenfranchised Palestinian population in the West Bank. » Read more

Netanyahu's Globalists ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by Bernard Avishai - (Opinion) May 8, 2012 - 12:00am I know I should be appalled by Shaul Mofaz's opportunism and Benjamin Netanyahu's grin, but I confess to being just a little relieved. » Read more

1967 All Over Again? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Tablet Magazine by Benny Morris - (Opinion) May 9, 2012 - 12:00am One thing’s certain: Tuesday’s sudden and dramatic expansion of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government—he now has the support of 94 Knesset members in the 120-seat house—considerably strengthens Netanyahu’s mandate to take what commentators insist on calling “historic steps.” But it is unclear whether the cooption of Shaul Mofaz and his Kadima faction makes an Israeli preemptive strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities more likely or more remote. » Read more

---

---