Middle East News: World Press Roundup

NEWS: DM Barak says if negotiations with Palestinians fail, Israel will have to consider unilateral acts in the occupied West Bank and calls for more international action against Pres. Assad. An elaborate tunnel system and economy is the heart of life in Gaza. Israeli offshore natural gas discoveries offer potential windfalls but pose a challenge to its small navy. PM Netanyahu urges Palestinians to return to negotiations. Gaza journalist Asma al-Ghoul wins an international award for courage. Israel will return the bodies of 91 Palestinians buried in an Israeli cemetery. The PA is seeking UN recognition of a threatened West Bank village as a world heritage site. An Israeli MK says human rights activists should be put in prison camps. Israeli judges approve an extremely unusual plea bargain in the case of a Jewish terrorist found responsible for murdering Palestinians. Israeli prosecutors decide not to indict two rabbis who authored a book that provides religious justification for the killing of non-Jews. Palestinians say there has been a sharp increase in home demolitions by Israeli occupation authorities. COMMENTARY: Shlomo Ben-Ami, Thomas Schelling, Jerome Segal and Javier Solana call for the creation of a new UN Special Committee on Palestine. Zvi Bar'el says Iran is signaling a new willingness to engage in the West on its nuclear program. Aeyal Gross says security protection must apply to the Palestinians as well as Israelis. Controversy surrounds an Israeli production of the Merchant of Venice being staged at an international Shakespeare Festival in London. Nathan Guttman says Israeli politicians are increasingly looking for support from American donors. Ilan Baruch says nonviolent protests make sense for Palestinians, but they have to be careful about the counterproductive impact of sweeping boycotts. Rubik Rosenthal says Israel is still fundamentally a European country. Zvika Krieger says some right-wing Israelis think the “Arab Spring” is good for Israel.

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Ehud Barak: If negotiations fail, Israel must consider unilateral withdrawal from West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Barak Ravid - May 30, 2012 - 12:00am Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on Wednesday that Israel should consider unilateral moves if negations with the Palestinians fail to bear fruit. "We are a coalition of 94 MKs, this is the time to lead a diplomatic process," Barak said Wednesday morning in a speech at Tel Aviv University's Institute for National Security Studies. "But if it isn't possible to reach a permanent agreement with the Palestinians, we must consider an interim arrangement or even a unilateral move." » Read more

Israel’s Defense Minister Calls for More Action Against Assad ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Jodi Rudoren - May 30, 2012 - 12:00am Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Wednesday praised the United States and other countries for ousting Syrian diplomats but said it was not sufficient, declaring that the massacre of 100 people in Houla “compel the world to take action — not just talk, but action.” » Read more

Shuffling Through an Underground Artery to Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Ruqaya Izzidien - May 29, 2012 - 12:00am They stood just outside the gates of the Rafah crossing on the Egyptian side of the border with Gaza, a couple of inconspicuous Bedouin men waiting for people to be denied entry. As the disappointed travelers retreated, the Bedouins whispered from behind the gates: “You want to go to the tunnels? Fifty dollars.” Their gaze fixed on the Egyptian border police officers, who turn a blind eye to the Bedouins so long as they do not mention the tunnels within earshot. » Read more

Israel gas finds launch navy into troubled waters ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Dan Williams - May 29, 2012 - 12:00am TEL AVIV, May 29 (Reuters) - When Israeli economists contemplate their country's untapped natural gas finds far out in the Mediterranean, they dream of energy independence and lucrative export deals. Those charged with Israel's defence, however, worry that the navy - small and long a middling priority in budgets - may be hard put to protect the multinational drilling platforms and rigs out at sea. » Read more

Israeli PM calls on Palestinians to "give peace a chance" ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua May 30, 2012 - 12:00am Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday said he would like to restart the peace negotiations with the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), but only if there is an answer from the Palestinian side. Speaking at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), Netanyahu blamed the PNA for the breakdown of negotiations and said that in spite of Israel's approach, peace is not "always reciprocated." » Read more

Gaza journalist wins courage award ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency May 26, 2012 - 12:00am Gaza journalist Asma al-Ghoul has won an international award for courage in journalism, the International Women’s Media Foundation said. Al-Ghoul, 30, was awarded the 2012 IWMF prize alongside female journalists Reeyot Alemu from Ethiopia, Khadija Ismayilova from Azerbaijan and Zubeida Mustafa from Pakistan. She has worked for Palestinian newspaper Al-Ayyam and her popular blog, AsmaGaza, was discontinued in February for unstated reasons. » Read more

Israel to return 91 bodies on Thursday ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency May 30, 2012 - 12:00am The Palestinian Authority civil affairs minister said late Tuesday that Israel will return the bodies of 91 Palestinians buried in an Israeli cemetery on Thursday. Hussein al-Sheikh released a list of names agreed with Israel, whose remains will now be handed to the PA in what the minister described as the first stage of the return of 100 Palestinians. The hand-over of Palestinian remains was promised on May 14 by Ofir Gendelman, spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as a "gesture" to President Mahmoud Abbas. » Read more

Palestinians to ask UN to recognize West Bank village as World Heritage site ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Barak Ravid - May 30, 2012 - 12:00am The Palestinian Authority is expected to ask UNESCO on Wednesday to recognize the West Bank village of Batir as a World Heritage site and prevent the construction of the separation fence there. Haaretz has obtained a copy of the request, which seeks to preserve the village's ancient agricultural terraces.

Kadima MK: Send human rights activists to prison camps ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Omri Efraim - May 29, 2012 - 12:00am If given the opportunity, some Israeli human rights groups "would be the first to put haredim and settlers on buses and transfer them," Knesset Member Yulia Shamalov Berkovich said Tuesday during a heated House Committee debate of on the influx of foreign migrants into the country. » Read more

Court determines Teitel murdered Palestinians ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Joanna Paraszczuck - May 29, 2012 - 12:00am The Jerusalem District Court on Monday approved an unusual plea bargain made between the district attorney and lawyers representing Jack Teitel, and determined that the defendant had murdered two Palestinians and committed other violent crimes. Judges Segal, Moshe Hacohen and Moshe Yair Drori said that the court determined that Teitel committed the acts attributed to him in an amended indictment. » Read more

No charges on 'racist' King's Torah text ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent by Donald MacIntyre - May 30, 2012 - 12:00am Israel's Attorney General has decided not to prosecute two rabbis who wrote a controversial religious text proposing circumstances in which it is permissible to kill non-Jews even if they pose no direct physical threat of violence. » Read more

Palestinians see 'sharp increase' in demolitions ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News by Jon Donnison - May 29, 2012 - 12:00am "Wood-fired barbecue was our speciality. Delicious," says Ramzi Kasiyah as he picks his way gingerly over a pile of rubble and twisted metal. Broken glass crackles under his feet. "We had a beautiful terrace. Now I have nothing." Up until a few weeks ago Ramzi was the proud owner of the Palestinian Al Mukhrur restaurant just outside Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank. Now he presides over what looks like a bomb site, a grey scar in a beautiful, small valley, still lush from the winter's rains. » Read more

Going Directly to Israelis and Palestinians ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Shlomo Ben-Ami, Thomas C. Schelling, Jerome M. Segal, Javier Solana - (Opinion) May 30, 2012 - 12:00am With no prospect of meaningful negotiations between the Palestinians and the Netanyahu government, a new approach to peace is needed, one that focuses on the Israeli and Palestinian people themselves. Though not a perfect analogy, let’s call it UNSCOP-2 because the work of UNSCOP, the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine, in 1947, is the closest precedent for what is needed today. » Read more

Iran gingerly signaling new willingness to engage with U.S. ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Zvi Barel - (Opinion) May 30, 2012 - 12:00am "It was March 2004. Mohamed ElBaradei [then chairman of the International Atomic Energy Agency] told me he wanted to come to Tehran, and he arrived quickly. I thought he had come to talk about nuclear issues, but he wanted to talk to me privately. He told me he had visited Washington a week earlier and had told President [George W.] Bush that the United States had to enter direct negotiations with Iran on nuclear issues. » Read more

Security for Israeli settlers, not for Palestinians ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Eyal Gross - (Opinion) May 29, 2012 - 12:00am When the High Court of Justice upheld the constitutionality (in 2006 and again in January ) of the Citizenship Law clause prohibiting residency permits in Israel for Palestinians from the territories, even if they have an Israeli domestic partner, it based its ruling on the state's justification for the clause. That justification ostensibly stems from security concerns: The state said that in 54 cases since 2001, Palestinians who where involved in terror, or their parents, were legal residents in Israel. » Read more

The Merchant of Venice: A protest within a play ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News by Will Gompertz - (Theater Review) May 30, 2012 - 12:00am An Israeli theatre company performing a Hebrew production of The Merchant of Venice - Shakespeare's troublesome play about anti-Semitism - arrived at London's Globe Theatre amid calls for and against a boycott. Cue action on and off stage. A festival consisting of all 37 of Shakespeare's plays performed in a short space of time is likely to induce some confusion into the mind of even the bard's most ardent fan. Richards can become muddled with Henrys, shipwreck locations misplaced. » Read more

Israeli Politicians Court American Donors ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Nathan Guttman - (Opinion) May 30, 2012 - 12:00am For wealthy Americans these days, appeals for political contributions from candidates, party committees and now from super PACs seem never-ending. But for wealthy American Jews involved with Israel, there is, increasingly, yet one more hand outstretched, from abroad, seeking political largesse. Israeli candidates, vying for seats in the Knesset, the country’s parliament, have found a reliable funding base in American Jews willing to add their dollars to the pile of shekels fueling primary races in Israel’s major political parties. » Read more

How the Palestinian Boycotts Can Work ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor by Ilan Baruch - (Opinion) May 24, 2012 - 12:00am About a year ago I left the foreign ministry after 36 years of diplomatic work. I left for political reasons: I felt that I could no longer faithfully represent a government striving to achieve political ends that I viewed as unrealistic and immoral, a government intent on abandoning the goal of ending the occupation by coming to an arrangement based on “two states for two nations.” » Read more

Israel’s Identity Still European ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'ariv by Rubik Rosenthal - (Opinion) May 21, 2012 - 12:00am Europe is in one of its most painful periods of turmoil since the end of the Cold War. The crisis is mostly economic and financial, but it also unearths complex questions about nationalism and identity, and about the intersection between Europe on one hand, and Asia and Africa on the other, under threat by the latter’s waves of migrants who will change its identity. » Read more

The Right-Wing Israeli Case That the Arab Spring Is Good for Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Atlantic by Zvika Krieger - (Opinion) May 30, 2012 - 12:00am The conventional wisdom, both here in Israel and abroad, is that the popular movements sweeping across the Arab world are bad news for Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently described the Arab Spring as an "Islamic, anti-Western, anti-liberal, anti-Israeli, and anti-democratic wave," saying that "Israel is facing a period of instability and uncertainty in the region. This is certainly not the time to listen to those who say follow your heart." » Read more

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