Middle East News: World Press Roundup

NEWS: Pres. Abbas complains that Israel has been refusing to allow Palestinian security forces to import weaponry and says that he is very afraid of the consequences of the death of any hunger striking prisoner, and Quartet envoy Blair echoes this concern. Israel seems near to reaching a deal with hunger striking Palestinian prisoners. Palestinian families cherish photos of imprisoned relatives. PA police arrest a noted activist with a militant past following the assassination of the governor of Jenin. Israel continues to expand its naval power. Palestinian officials dismiss a letter from PM Netanyahu responding to an earlier one to him from Abbas. Occupation forces order the demolition of a Palestinian elementary school to make way for a military training ground. Israeli officials are increasingly concerned about possible international legal action regarding some settlement activity. Palestinians in Lebanon are wary of a Nakba Day march towards the Israeli border given last year's deadly violence. European human rights groups say Israeli occupation authorities have destroyed numerous Palestinian development projects in the occupied territories financed by EU funds. Arab writers returning from a Gaza literary festival decry Hamas oppression. COMMENTARY: ATFP Pres. Ziad Asali says Palestinians must honor the memory, but also learn the lessons of, the Nakba. Shaul Arieli says both Palestinians and Israelis are misreading the international mood by insisting on maximal claims. Jeff Barak says it will be easy to measure the performance of the new Israeli coalition government. The Forward says the new government offers many positive possibilities. Fareed Zakaria wonders if Netanyahu can use his new power for anything more constructive than political survival. Amihai Attali says Palestinians are using their own version of the settlers' outposts strategy. Eli Brandstein says there are strong indications that Netanyah and his new coalition partner Kadima leader Mofaz have reached an understanding on Iran policy. Sharif Elmusa says that through their hunger strikes, Palestinian prisoners are acquiring their own public identities. Yossi Alpher says Israeli-Palestinian track II diplomacy has ground to a halt because there is nothing left to talk about, but Ghassan Khatib says they can still play an important role.

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West Bank Leader Says Security Forces Can’t Get Guns ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Jodi Rudoren - May 12, 2012 - 12:00am RAMALLAH, West Bank — President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority said Saturday that his security forces were struggling because » Read more

Tony Blair urges Israel to keep hunger strikers alive ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent by Donald MacIntyre - May 14, 2012 - 12:00am Tony Blair has stepped into the crisis triggered by a mass hunger strike of Palestinian prisoners, pressing Israel to take steps to prevent the "tragic" outcome of any of them dying. » Read more

Deal looks near to end Palestianian hunger strike ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Ian Deitch - May 13, 2012 - 12:00am JERUSALEM — Egyptian and Palestinian officials said Sunday they were close to reaching a deal with Israel that would end a mass hunger strike by Palestinians in Israeli jails. Some 1,600 Palestinian prisoners are on strike, most for a month, but three have refused food for more than 70 days. They launched the strike to press their demands for better conditions and an end to detention without trial. » Read more

Palestinian prisoners portraits underscore absence ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Dusan Vranic - May 13, 2012 - 12:00am KUFR RAI, West Bank — For the thousands of Palestinian families who have a relative in Israeli detention, a photograph is the only real contact with their loved ones. In homes, the images are usually decked in elaborate frames alongside the portraits of dead ancestors, marking the conspicuous absence of the prisoners. » Read more

Palestinian forces seize ex-fighter in West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Mohammed Ballas - May 13, 2012 - 12:00am JENIN, West Bank — Palestinian security forces detained a prominent ex-fighter Sunday, stepping up a campaign of arrests following the death of the governor of the northern West Bank district of Jenin, residents said. Masked security men seized Zakariya Zubeidi in Jenin after halting his car, blindfolding him and shackling him before bundling him into another car and speeding away, residents said. » Read more

Israel's military looks to the sea ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Edmund Sanders - (Analysis) May 11, 2012 - 12:00am TEL AVIV — With the acquisition this month of a sixth German-made submarine, Israel is seeking to position itself as the region's undisputed naval powerhouse. From spying on enemies to intercepting illegal arms shipments to blockading the Gaza Strip, Israel's naval capabilities are playing a more prominent role in the nation's security. The latest advanced German sub, with a price tag of more than $500 million, is Israel's most expensive piece of military equipment. » Read more

PLO officials: Netanyahu letter on peace a non-starter ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency by Ali Sawafta - May 14, 2012 - 12:00am RAMALLAH (Reuters) -- The formal response of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Palestinian grievances over frozen peace negotiations contains nothing that could revive the talks, Palestinian officials said on Sunday. Netanyahu's reply on Saturday to a letter he received last month from Mahmoud Abbas rejected the Palestinian president's demand to halt Jewish settlement building in occupied territories and repeated a call for an unconditional return to talks that collapsed in 2010, according to the officials. » Read more

IDF closes Palestinian school to make way for West Bank training zone ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Akiva Eldar - May 14, 2012 - 12:00am A Palestinian elementary school was shut down last week after Israel's Civil Administration confiscated the vehicle used to transport teachers to it. Teachers initially tried coming to the school, located in the Jinba cave village in the southern Hebron hills, by donkey, but this proved disruptive since they were often late. » Read more

Netanyahu ordered evacuation of Hebron home over fears of war crimes suits ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Chaim Levinson - May 13, 2012 - 12:00am Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the evacuation of a Hebron home taken by settlers last month after being informed that the expropriation of Palestinian homes and lands could complicate Israeli officials in war crimes litigation, Haaretz learned on Sunday. » Read more

Lebanon’s Palestinians wary of Nakba march ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star by Mohammed Zaatari - May 12, 2012 - 12:00am AIN AL-HILWEH, Lebanon: In the run-up to next week’s annual commemoration of the Nakba – the Palestinian catastrophe of 1948 – the enthusiasm of refugees is mixed about heading to the border and staging a protest on the edge of their homeland. This year, the event will be marked north of the Litani River, as with the commemoration of Land Day at the end of March – no angry gatherings are expected to take place next to the border fence. » Read more

EU Palestinian aid projects destroyed by Israel: NGOs ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP) May 14, 2012 - 12:00am JERUSALEM — Israel demolished dozens of Palestinian homes, water cisterns and farm buildings built with European funds in 2011, and over 100 such structures are at risk, aid groups said in a report on Monday. The figures, compiled by a group of local and international NGOs chaired by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), were published just ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels. » Read more

Arab writers return from Gaza, overshadow literature festival with anti-Hamas testimonies ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ahram Online by Mohammed Saad - May 13, 2012 - 12:00am The closing ceremony of the fifth Palestine Festival of Literature (aka Palfest) was overshadowed by politics as writers who returned from a trip to the Gaza Strip gave their testimony on the situation there and described Hamas’s “repressive rule.” At the Palfest closing ceremony, which was held in Cairo on Friday at the Rawabet Theatre, writer Ahdaf Soueif presented the Egyptian and Arab guest writers, including Khaled El-Khamisi, Sahar El-Mougy, poet Amin Haddad, Tunisian writer Khaled Najjar and Palestinian Poet Tariq Hamdan. » Read more

The Lessons of the Nakba ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by Ziad Asali - (Opinion) May 11, 2012 - 12:00am I do not need anyone to teach me about the Palestinian Nakba. It is the defining moment of my existence. I do not need anyone to lecture me about it either. » Read more

Who's afraid of Nakba Day? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Shaul Arieli - (Opinion) May 14, 2012 - 12:00am The Palestinians refused to see the UN Partition Plan, which was approved by a majority of the General Assembly on November 29, 1947, as the international community saw it: as a way to correct an injustice through an amendment to the British Mandate of 1922, which stripped them of their right to self-determination. They rejected all division or unification proposals that recognized the national rights of the Jewish people. » Read more

Afraid of the future ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Jeff Barak - (Opinion) May 13, 2012 - 12:00am As someone who devoutly wishes to see the end of Binyamin Netanyahu as Israel’s prime minister, I was nevertheless delighted with last week’s turn of events which have all but guaranteed his remaining in power until the end of 2013 when this government’s official term of office expires. » Read more

If It's Okay for Mofaz... ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward (Editorial) May 14, 2012 - 12:00am The dramatic announcement that Israel was going to have a new unity government instead of national elections scrambled the political calculus in the Knesset, left a shrunken opposition rudderless, and proved once again that Benjamin Netanyahu is one heck of a politician. It has also opened up opportunities for American Jewish dialogue on Israel. » Read more

Israel is strong, but does Netanyahu want peace? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star by Fareed Zakaria - (Opinion) May 14, 2012 - 12:00am While incumbents around the world are struggling to hold on, one is thriving. By bringing the rival Kadima party into his ruling coalition, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has become “king of Israel,” in Aaron David Miller’s phrase. He has an unusual, perhaps unique, opportunity to use his new power to secure Israel’s future. » Read more

Settlements, Palestinian Style ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'ariv by Amihai Attali - (Opinion) May 10, 2012 - 12:00am Several weeks before Passover 2011, a factory in the industrial area of Mishor Adumim received an unusual request: a Palestinian client urgently ordered more than 80 prefab structures. The factory's owner had never encountered such a large, urgent order before, but succeeded in meeting the deadline. Several weeks later, when the inspectors of the civil administration were enjoying their Passover vacation, hundreds of Palestinians congregated in the area of the Keidar channel under Maale Adumim and erected all the prefab structures within a short time period. » Read more

After Years Of Clashes, Mofaz And Netanyahu Agree On Iran ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'ariv by Eli Brandstein - (Opinion) May 10, 2012 - 12:00am In the three meetings Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held with Kadima chairman Shaul Mofaz on May 7, the two discussed at length the issue of Iran's nuclear program. Netanyahu sought to clarify whether Mofaz supported his policy on the issue and his position on the way to stop the Iranian race toward a nuclear bomb. » Read more

In their hunger, Palestinian strikers are acquiring names ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Egypt Independent by Sharif S. Elmusa - May 12, 2012 - 12:00am With the hunger strike of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel gathering momentum, I wanted to know names, look closely at faces, read biographies. » Read more

Sadly, nothing left to talk about ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons by Yossi Alpher - (Opinion) May 14, 2012 - 12:00am A few weeks ago, after much soul-searching, I reluctantly accepted an invitation to a meeting about the peace process with Palestinian colleagues, held under the auspices of a veteran third-party convener who is truly dedicated to the cause of Israeli-Palestinian understanding and reconciliation. I have been turning down such invitations regularly for several years now, ever since concluding that the meetings had become pointless and were not worth the price I would pay in pure frustration. » Read more

Informal talks still have a role ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons by Ghassan Khatib - (Opinion) May 14, 2012 - 12:00am "Track II" or informal diplomacy played its most significant and constructive role in the history of Israeli-Palestinian relations prior to the Oslo breakthrough when the Palestine Liberation Organization started direct negotiations with the Israeli government. The reason track II talks flourished at that time--the late eighties and early nineties--was that Israel was refusing to deal directly with the Palestinian leadership. » Read more

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