Middle East News: World Press Roundup

NEWS: PM Fayyad reshuffles the PA cabinet. US Amb. to Israel Shapiro says the US is prepared to attack Iranian nuclear facilities if it decides to, although it prefers to continue negotiations. Questions begin to emerge about how much effect Israel's new coalition will have on moving its policies towards the political center. In spite of the agreement between Israel and Palestinian prisoners, seven still remain on hunger strike. Occupation forces arrest a Palestinian TV producer and confiscate his equipment. Seven Palestinians are injured by Israeli artillery fire in Gaza. The PA says it will hold municipal elections in the West Bank even without the cooperation of Hamas in Gaza. The Israeli military demolishes two small “unauthorized” settlement outposts. The Independent profiles the plight of Palestinian villagers in a border area designated as a military zone by Israel. According to an annual BBC poll, Israel's negative international image continues to decline, outstripped only by Iran and Pakistan, and coming in jointly third with North Korea. COMMENTARY: Ari Shavit says Palestinians must recognize the Jewish narrative and grand catastrophe in order for Israelis to reciprocate. Ha'aretz says Israel must change its attitude towards Palestinian prisoners. Roni Schocken says Israel's “Nakba Law” is an attack on human rights. Jonathan Rosen says that over time the question of Palestinian refugee return has become more an abstract principle than a specified demand. Jessica Montell says Israel must find a new way of dealing with Palestinian “administrative detainees.” Bernard Avishai says that by insisting on a distinction between Jewish nationality and Israeli citizenship, Israel has yet to fully recognize itself. Jamal Muqbel says peace seems farther off than ever. Amr Ezzat recounts his experiences attending a recent literary festival in Gaza. Aaron David Miller says Israel's plummeting international image isn't primarily due to a campaign of delegitimization, but its own policies and actions. Hussein Ibish asks if the new Israeli coalition government is really going to break from the hard-line positions, especially on settlement outposts, of the previous one.

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Palestinian PM reshuffles Cabinet in West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Dalia Nammari - May 16, 2012 - 12:00am RAMALLAH, West Bank — Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad replaced almost half of his West Bank-based Cabinet on Wednesday, a clear sign that efforts to end the Palestinian political split are stuck. A unity deal reached in February was to have ended five years of separate Palestinian governments, one run by Fayyad in the West Bank and the other by the Islamic militant Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Under its terms, President Mahmoud Abbas was to head an interim unity government ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections. » Read more

US envoy to Israel: US ready to strike Iran ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press May 17, 2012 - 12:00am JERUSALEM — Washington's envoy to Israel says the U.S. has plans in place to attack Tehran if necessary to prevent it from becoming an atomic military power. In remarks before the Israel Bar Association, Dan Shapiro said the U.S. hopes diplomacy and economic sanctions will pressure Iran to abandon its suspect nuclear program. » Read more

Israel's unity government: How big was the shift to the center? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Joshua Mitnick - May 15, 2012 - 12:00am When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu joined forces last week with the centrist Kadima party to form one of Israel's largest-ever coalition governments, it appeared to give him maneuvering room to pursue Palestinian peace talks over the objections of his hardline political base. » Read more

Several prisoners still on hunger strike in Israeli jails ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency May 17, 2012 - 12:00am RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Several prisoners in Israeli jails are still on hunger strike, officials said Thursday, days after a deal was struck to end a mass hunger strike movement. Israeli Prisons Service spokeswoman Sivan Weizman told Ma'an that Mahmoud al-Sarsak and Akram al-Rekhawi are refusing food. They are being held in Ramle prison clinic, she said. » Read more

Israel 'arrests TV director, confiscates equipment' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency May 17, 2012 - 12:00am JENIN (Ma’an) -- Israeli forces arrested the director of a Jenin-based satellite channel on Thursday after raiding his home, the executive director of the channel said. Saher Qassem, chief of the Al-Asir channel, told Ma'an that a group of soldiers arrested Baha Khayri Ata Musa, 32, after raiding his home in Mirka village. Soldiers confiscated the TV station's broadcasting equipment from Musa's home, preventing the channel from being able to continue its coverage, Qassem said. » Read more

Israeli tanks fire on Gaza Strip, 7 injured ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency May 17, 2012 - 12:00am GAZA CITY (Ma’an) -- Seven people were injured on Thursday when Israeli forces fired artillery rounds at the northern and eastern Gaza Strip, medics said. Gaza medical spokesman Adham Abu Salmiya told Ma'an that two people were seriously wounded and five moderately injured when Israeli forces opened fire on Beit Lahiya, north Gaza, and east of Gaza City. Most of the victims were farmers, Abu Salmiya said. An Israeli army spokeswoman said forces opened fire toward "several suspects approaching the security fence." » Read more

Palestinians to hold municipal elections without Hamas' Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua May 17, 2012 - 12:00am RAMALLAH, May 17 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas issued a decree to hold local elections in the West Bank, excluding the Gaza Strip where his rival Hamas movement holds sway, a Palestinian official said Thursday. The decree authorizes the reshuffled government, which was sworn in on Wednesday, to hold the municipal elections in stages, said Khaled Al-Qawasmi, minister of local governing. » Read more

Israeli army demolishes 2 illegal W. Bank outposts ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua May 17, 2012 - 12:00am JERUSALEM, May 17 (Xinhua) -- Israeli police and army units evacuated and razed two illegally-built structures in two West Bank outposts near Ramallah overnight Thursday, due to what they said was lack of proper building permits. Police at the Ramat Migron and nearby Oz Tzion communities detained six Israelis at both areas on charges of trespassing in a closed military area, disturbing the peace, and interfering with a public employee, according to The Jerusalem Post. » Read more

Palestinian cave dwellers caught in Israel's crossfire ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent by Catrina Stewart - May 17, 2012 - 12:00am Generations of Jabareens, a Palestinian family, were born in the cave hewn into the rugged hillside just a few miles from the Green Line delineating the occupied West Bank from Israel. Over the decades, the cave has acquired a few comforts, including generator-run electricity, a door offering protection against the elements, and a toilet installed at the expense of the British government. » Read more

Israel ranked alongside Iran as one of countries with most negative global influence ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Barak Ravid - May 17, 2012 - 12:00am Israel has been ranked in the top four countries that most negatively influence the word, according to a global public opinion poll conducted by the BBC. The poll, which surveyed citizens from 22 countries around the world, places Iran in first place, with 55 percent of those surveyed rating it as a negative country. Pakistan ranked second with 51 percent, and in joint third place were Israel and North Korea, with 50 percent of respondents negatively evaluating both countries. » Read more

The Palestinian tragedy mustn't be used to spark a Jewish one ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Ari Shavit - (Opinion) May 17, 2012 - 12:00am Not a day goes by when I don't think about their tragedy. How can I not? When I walk around the beautiful Jerusalem neighborhood I've lived in half my life, their houses gaze at me. When I stroll through Jaffa's alleyways, their absence strikes me. When I hike in the Judean Hills, the ruins of their villages won't let go of me. The vanishing fig trees, the wilting prickly pear cactuses, the debris. The Palestinians were here and the Palestinians are no longer here, and their tragedy is an inseparable part of me. The Nakba is flesh of my country's flesh. » Read more

Israel has to change the way it views Palestinian prisoners ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz (Editorial) May 17, 2012 - 12:00am Palestinian society, like every society waging a struggle for national liberation, feels a special responsibility toward those of its sons and daughters who have sacrificed their lives or their freedom for the collective. Palestinians consider the people we call "terrorists" or "murderers" as "freedom fighters" and "national heroes." In many cases, as in South Africa and Northern Ireland, it was prisoner leaders who effected reconciliation. » Read more

Chilling effect of the Nakba Law on Israel's human rights ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Roni Schocken - (Opinion) May 17, 2012 - 12:00am By rejecting the petition calling for the repeal of the Nakba Law in January of this year, the High Court of Justice ignored the violation of human rights inherent in the danger that institutions may now preemptively refuse to fund activities that involve the exercise of free speech, for fear of financial sanctions. » Read more

Inside Out: Nakba lessons ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Jonathan Rosen - (Opinion) May 16, 2012 - 12:00am Palestinians and their supporters commemorated Nakba Day on Tuesday, marking the 64th anniversary of what they refer to as the “catastrophe” of the fall of Palestine and the creation of the Palestinian refugee problem. In the course of the War of Independence in 1948-9 hundreds of thousands of Palestinians lost their homes and livelihoods, and subsequently found themselves unable to go home. Many of the refugees and their descendants still live in squalid refugee camps across the Middle East, clinging to a dream of a personal return and national restoration. » Read more

Time for a new deal for administrative detainees ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Jessica Montell - (Opinion) May 17, 2012 - 12:00am Back in 1997, not long after I joined the B’Tselem staff, one of the first projects I was assigned was to research the issue of administrative detention. I collected hundreds of individual detention orders and pored over hundreds of transcripts from administrative detention appeal hearings. What struck me most about Israel’s use of administrative detention was the sense that the system functioned like an assembly line, issuing cookie-cutter detention orders. » Read more

Israel Must Recognize Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by Bernard Avishai - (Opinion) May 17, 2012 - 12:00am The Israeli judiciary today reaffirmed that Israel is the only country on earth that does not recognize itself.  » Read more

Prisoners and the wounded, crossing borders ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons by Jamal Muqbel - (Opinion) May 17, 2012 - 12:00am About four years ago, a friend of mine told me about a meeting between Israelis and Palestinians near the Dead Sea. I really did not want to get involved at all, but my friend said to me, "Just come with me and you do not have to talk or participate." » Read more

Ice cream in Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Egypt Independent by Amr Ezzat - (Opinion) May 15, 2012 - 12:00am In 2008, stifled by an Israeli blockade exacerbated by a weak Egyptian position, Gazans barged through Egypt’s borders to get needed supplies of food and other products. At the time, some Egyptians sympathized with our brothers in Gaza, while others condemned their act, saying their break-in violated Egypt's sovereignty. In response I published an article in my blog titled “Crossing the lines,” in which I mocked those who were more angered by the Palestinians’ transgression of the borders than they were by their suffering and suppression.  » Read more

Israel's Image Revisted ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy by Aaron David Miller - (Opinion) May 16, 2012 - 12:00am Writing in the Wall Street Journal this week on the occasion of Israeli Independence Day, Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren penned a powerful op-ed on the erosion of Israel's image. His conclusion: Israel's image has deteriorated in large part because of a "systematic delegitimization of the Jewish state." » Read more

Is Israel united in obstruction? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from NOW Lebanon by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) May 15, 2012 - 12:00am The new coalition government suddenly formed last week by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the new leader of the Kadima party, Shaul Mofaz, remains something of a mystery. It is essentially a deal between two men, not two parties. Only Netanyahu and Mofaz really know the terms under which they joined forces.  » Read more

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