Middle East News: World Press Roundup

NEWS: Israeli workers constructing a barrier along the Gaza border are attacked and one is killed, along with two of the assailants. Two Palestinians are killed in Israeli shelling of northern Gaza. Israeli officials accuse the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood of ordering a missile attack on southern Israel from Gaza. An Israeli truck driver kills two Palestinians and wounds another in what he says was an attempt to foil an armed robbery. Israel may fit drones with a new sensor. Pres. Abbas accuses Israel of not being committed to a two-state solution. Palestinian anti-corruption authorities say PA and PLO officials are under investigation. Extremist Israeli settlers issue a guide to "struggling against evictions" by the Israeli government. Israel begins expelling hundreds of African migrants. The Israeli government is trying to increase the employment rate of Palestinian citizens of Israel. Refugees processed in southern Lebanon after a Palestinian refugee is killed in a confrontation with the Lebanese army. EU diplomats visit a Palestinian town near Hebron ordered demolished by Israeli occupation authorities. COMMENTARY: Raja Shehadeh says classical music is gaining a foothold in Palestinian society. Adam Gonn says Deputy PM Mofaz may be trying to chart his own foreign policy course. Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff say Egypt is becoming a “hotbed of terrorism” and Israel is powerless to stop it. Akiva Eldar says recent remarks by Deputy PM Ya'alon reveal PM Netanyahu's real intentions. Naomi Chazan says Israel's best friends are human rights watchdog groups. Adel Safty says legalizing land theft is part of Israel's broader strategy. Emily Hauser explains why she still believes in a two-state solution. Noga Tarnopolsky says an unused waste treatment plant in the Israeli settlement of Ofra in the West Bank has come to symbolize the conflict.

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At least 3 killed in attack on Israel-Egypt border ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Maayan Lubell - June 18, 2012 - 12:00am Militants fired on an Israeli crew building a border barrier on the Egyptian frontier on Monday, killing one of the workers, and Israeli soldiers shot dead two of the infiltrators, the military said. The incident, hours after Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood declared victory in the country's presidential election, raised Israeli concern about lawlessness in Egypt's Sinai desert since the fall of Hosni Mubarak in 2011. » Read more

Medics: Israeli forces shell north Gaza, 2 killed ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency June 18, 2012 - 12:00am Two Palestinian men were killed on Monday when Israeli military forces shelled the northern Gaza Strip, medics said. Witnesses told Ma'an the men were riding a motorcycle in a field near Beit Hanoun when Israeli forces bombed the area. Four others were injured and taken to Beit Hanoun hospital, they said. » Read more

Hamas ordered Grad attack on Israel at request of Muslim Brotherhood ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Gili Cohen, Avi Issacharoff - June 16, 2012 - 12:00am Israeli security officials say that the rockets that landed on Friday in the area near Ovda and Mitzpeh Ramon, were launched after a request by senior leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. According to these officials, the rockets were launched from the Sinai Peninsula by a Bedouin unit, according to Hamas orders, even though Hamas itself wasn't the initiator of the launching, but responded to the request of the Brotherhood, who wanted such an event on the eve of the second round of presidential elections in Egypt. » Read more

Israeli driver kills 2 Palestinians, wounds 1 ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press June 17, 2012 - 12:00am An Israeli tow truck driver shot dead two Palestinians and wounded one Sunday during what police said was an attempted car robbery in the West Bank. Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the Palestinian men ambushed the Israeli's vehicle and beat him over the head with chains and bars before the driver opened fire in self-defense. He said the driver is being treated for head wounds at an Israeli hospital, and a police investigation is continuing. The Palestinian men have criminal records, according to Palestinian police. » Read more

Israel may fit drones with sensor that pinpoints terror sites ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua June 17, 2012 - 12:00am The Israel Air Force is testing a new sensor designed to enable its Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to spot underground tunnels and other well-concealed assets used by militant groups, The Jerusalem Post reported on Sunday. UAVs, better known as drones, routinely fly reconnaissance and surveillance missions over Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, where camouflaged tunnels are used for smuggling weapons and shielding militants from airstrikes. » Read more

Abbas slams Israel's refusal to two-state principle, likely to meet senior Israeli official ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua June 17, 2012 - 12:00am Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday slammed Israel for not accepting the principle of two-state solution, as he is expected to meet early next month with Israeli Vice Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz. During a conference held in Ramallah, Abbas held Israel responsible for the deadlock of peace process, adding that " reviving the clinically dead peace process is in their hands." "The Israeli rejection to keep its commitment to the peace process would make the principle of two-state solution just an illusion," Abbas said. » Read more

Anti-corruption chief: PLO, PA officials under investigation ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency June 16, 2012 - 12:00am Several top-ranking Palestinian officials are under investigation by the Palestinian Authority anti-corruption commission, the head of the anti-graft body said this week. Rafiq al-Natsheh confirmed PA Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki faces an inquiry by the commission. He declined to comment on the accusations against al-Malki, in comments on Ma'an TV program More Than a Question, to be broadcast Saturday night. » Read more

Extremists' guide to 'struggle against Ulpana evacuation' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Itamar Fleishman - June 18, 2012 - 12:00am Committing 'price tag' acts, infiltrating IDF bases, blocking roads and protesting outside the homes of senior security establishment officials – this how extreme rightists plan to thwart the evacuation of homes in the Ulpana neighborhood, according to a brochure titled "The practical plan to save the outposts and hills in the Land of Israel." » Read more

Israel starts deporting South Sudanese ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Vita Bekker - June 18, 2012 - 12:00am Israel yesterday deported 120 South Sudanese and said it plans to expel hundreds more in coming weeks as part of its plan to oust tens of thousands of illegal African asylum-seekers from the country. The expulsion of the South Sudanese has drawn extensive media attention because it involves the biggest group of illegal migrants - some 700, according to activists' estimates - to be deported in recent years by Israel within a period of a few weeks. » Read more

Israel Seeks to Boost Hiring Of Arab University Graduates ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Yedioth Ahronoth by Gad Lior - June 10, 2012 - 12:00am Arab university graduates earn an average monthly income of $1,885, as compared to $3,149 in the Jewish sector, according to research that explores the integration of minority populations in the job market in Israel. It has also been found that the employment rate among Arab university graduates stands at about 81%, compared with 90% in the Jewish sector. At the same time, many of the Arab university graduates are not employed in their fields of expertise. » Read more

Dozens protest at Palestinian refugee camp in south Lebanon ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star June 18, 2012 - 12:00am Dozens of Palestinians protested Sunday at the Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp in the southern coastal city of Sidon over recent clashes that led to the killing of a Palestinian teenager near a refugee camp in north Lebanon. Protesters chanted slogans condemning the use of arms against Palestinian civilians and called for establishing a committee to probe the circumstances surrounding the Friday killing of Ahmad Qassem, 15, near the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in north Lebanon. » Read more

EU diplomats concerned by Hebron village demolition threat ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency June 18, 2012 - 12:00am European Union diplomats on Friday visited a village in the south Hebron hills under threat of demolition by Israeli authorities. The envoys toured Susiya to "show their concerns over the humanitarian impact and political implications of the recent demolition orders," an EU statement said. » Read more

Music for the Masses ATFP World Press Roundup Article from International Herald Tribune by Raja Shehadeh - (Blog) June 13, 2012 - 12:00am Monday night I attended a piano concert in Ramallah given by the internationally acclaimed Palestinian pianist Saleem Abboud Ashkar who was born in Nazareth and now lives in Berlin. Despite the hardship of the Israeli occupation, a vital classical music revival has emerged in the West Bank in the last few years. » Read more

Former Israeli opposition leader charting his own foreign policy course ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua by Adam Gonn - (Analysis) June 17, 2012 - 12:00am In his first major foreign policy speech, Israeli deputy Prime Minister and former opposition chairman Shaul Mofaz called on the Palestinians to sit down to launch unconditional talks with Israel. Mofaz's statement came only days after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas made remarks indicating that he might be willing to soften his demands on Israel before direct negotiations, which have been held up since September 2010, can resume. » Read more

Egypt on way to becoming hotbed of terrorism, but Israel's hands are tied ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amos Harel, Avi Issacharoff - (Analysis) June 18, 2012 - 12:00am The terrorist attack on Monday morning near Be'er Milka and the firing of Grad rockets toward Ovda and Mitzpeh Ramon over the weekend, alongside numerous reports in Egyptian media of increased activity among Palestinian terrorists in the Sinai Peninsula over the two-day voting period, make it clear that certain sources in Egypt have a clear interest in heating up the Israeli border. » Read more

Vice premier Ya'alon revealed Netanyahu's true intentions ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Akiva Eldar - (Opinion) June 18, 2012 - 12:00am If the recent remarks by Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya'alon had been made by MK Aryeh Eldad of National Union or MK Miri Regev of Likud's lunatic wing, we might be able to take a deep breath and hope for the best. But when Ya'alon proposes to Ari Shavit, as he did in Haaretz Magazine over the weekend, that we live another hundred years by the carrot and the stick, our hearts skip a beat. » Read more

Israel's Best Friends ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Naomi Chazan - (Opinion) June 18, 2012 - 12:00am ‘I am obligated to uphold the law and preserve the settlements, and I say here that there is no contradiction between the two.” » Read more

Legalising land theft ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News by Adel Safty - (Analysis) June 18, 2012 - 12:00am One of the thorniest issues facing Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiators is undoubtedly the question of Israeli colonies in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Israeli leaders have maintained that they were entitled to build colonies in the territories which they designate by their biblical name (Judea and Samaria), invoking a historic right over the land which they describe as disputed, not occupied. » Read more

Why I'm Still a Two Stater ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by Emily L. Hauser - (Opinion) June 15, 2012 - 12:00am In recent years, it’s become all the rage to support —or accept, or give in to—the notion of a “one-state solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. » Read more

A perfect metaphor for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Global Post by Noga Tarnopolsky - (Analysis) June 18, 2012 - 12:00am In a metaphor its opponents may relish, the Israeli settlement movement finds itself mired in a sewer. For 30 years, the settlement of Ofra, located about 40 minutes north of Jerusalem and about 15 minutes from Ramallah, has disposed of its raw sewage in the local valley, soiling pristine streams and damaging the nearby mountain aquifer. » Read more

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