Middle East News: World Press Roundup

NEWS: Efforts by PM Netanyahu to fracture the opposition Kadima party appear to have failed. Egypt is now reportedly allowing Palestinians to enter the country without advance permits, but Egyptian airport officials say they've received no such instructions. The Arab League endorses Palestinian plans to renew recognition efforts at the UN but does not set a date. Palestinian filmmakers try to depict life under occupation. Israel is concerned that Syrian nerve gas or rockets may end up in the hands of Hezbollah. A second group of Gaza families is allowed to visit relatives in Israeli jails. Israeli settlers reportedly seize large tracts of land, and Israel orders the demolition of eight Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank. Hamas leaders vow not to try to separate Gaza from the West Bank. Sacha Baron Cohen settles a slander suit with a Palestinian grocer he had depicted as a terrorist in “Bruno.” The PA fiscal crisis appears to be boosting support for Hamas. The EU is planning to upgrade its relations with Israel. In a “goodwill gesture” Israel transfers an advance to the PA on its tax revenues.COMMENTARY:Jodi Rudoren writes about attending a film festival in Jerusalem. Amira Hass recounts details of a raid on a Palestinian home by Israeli soldiers. Khaled Diab recalls Egyptian-Israeli relations immediately following the 1952 coup. Jeff Barak says Netanyahu has damaged his reelection prospects. Leonard Fein says the Levy Committee report threatens Israel's legitimacy. Michael Felsen says a recent short story about the dynamics at the checkpoint examines the common humanity of Israelis and Palestinians. Nathan Brown says Egypt isn't going to change its policies towards Israel and Palestine now, but eventually probably will. Jillian Kestler-D'Amours says Israel is literally walling itself in on all sides. Shaul Arieli says in expanding its occupation, Israel is ignoring the simple mathematics of demographics.

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Netanyahu attempt to split Kadima falters ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by Amy Teibel - July 23, 2012 - 12:00am Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched a botched attempt to fragment Israel's main opposition party on Monday by wooing some of its lawmakers to rejoin his governing coalition just days after the bloc bolted his coalition. But the maneuver failed after he managed to win over only four Kadima Party lawmakers, leaving him with a relatively fragile majority that could be hard-pressed to survive challenges like a contentious court-ordered reform of the military draft and the 2013 budget. » Read more

Egypt allowing Palestinians freer entry ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by Sarah El Deeb - July 23, 2012 - 12:00am Egyptian and Palestinian officials say Egypt is allowing freer entry for Palestinians into the country, in an unprecedented move that eases long held travel restrictions particularly on Gazans but caused confusion among security agencies here. Airport officials said seven Gazans were allowed into Egypt Monday without the usual restrictions under which transiting Gazans under 40 years old were "deported" — taken in security escorts from the airport directly to Gaza, often after long detentions at the airport. » Read more

Palestinians still need visa to enter Egypt: Airport source ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ahram Online July 23, 2012 - 12:00am A source at Cairo Airport told Ahram Online employees have not received any instructions to allow Palestinians to enter Egypt without a visa. Earlier on Monday, Associated Press news agency quoted Egyptian Airport officials saying that Egypt has started allowing Palestinians free entry into the country, ending part of a five-year blockade on the Gaza Strip. The decision would mean Palestinians can freely leave Gaza, says AP, pointing out that the decision also applies to Palestinians in the West Bank and Jerusalem. » Read more

Arab League backs bid for UN nod to Palestine ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by Mohammed Daraghmeh - July 22, 2012 - 12:00am The Arab League on Sunday backed a Palestinian plan to ask the U.N. General Assembly to recognize a state of Palestine, but stopped short of setting a date for the bid, Palestinian officials said. Instead, Arab League representatives meeting in Doha asked a committee to prepare the U.N. appeal and report back on Sept. 5, said Saeb Erekat, an aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, speaking by phone from Doha. Timing is crucial, with a U.N. bid before November potentially disrupting the U.S. presidential race. » Read more

Drama meets daily life in Palestinian film ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Noah Browning - July 23, 2012 - 12:00am Brazen and in broad daylight, "Israeli infantry" plunge deep into the West Bank Palestinian capital of Ramallah, hoisting a flag atop a makeshift checkpoint. A motley crowd of children, veiled ladies and young men in jeans chant defiantly in the summer sun at the soldiers clad in olive drab and facing them with rifles. A clash looms. "Cut!" Director Rashid Masharawi steps into the fray, his cargo shorts and straw sun hat breaking the illusion created by the actors and production company at the set of feature-length film "Palestine Stereo". » Read more

Israel fears Syrian missiles, nerve gas reaching Hezbollah ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua by Adam Gonn - July 23, 2012 - 12:00am Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Friday said that he has ordered the army to prepare to intervene should Syria start to transfer missiles and chemical weapons to the Lebanese group Hezbollah. "Syria has advanced anti-aircraft missiles, surface-to-surface missiles and elements of chemical weapons," Barak told local Chanel 2 TV, adding that "I directed the Israel Defense Forces ( IDF) to prepare for a situation where we will need to consider the possibility of an attack." » Read more

2nd group of Gaza families visit relatives in Israeli jails ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency July 23, 2012 - 12:00am A group of families from the Gaza Strip visited relatives in Israeli jails early Monday, in the second visit of its kind since 2007, a prisoners group said. A bus carrying 52 people set out from the offices of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Gaza City to the Erez crossing, before family members were transferred to Nafha prison facility, Gaza-based prisoners group Waed said. The Palestinian liaison department said only 33 out of a group of 57 family members were allowed to continue their journey by Israeli authorities. » Read more

Settlers seize over 50 dunams of land across West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency July 23, 2012 - 12:00am Settlers on Monday appropriated over 50 dunams of land in the northern and southern West Bank, official news agency Wafa reported. In the Tubas area of the Jordan Valley, settlers seized nearly 50 dunams of land and began farming it, village council head Aref Daraghmeh said. The land, which belongs to villagers, had previously been used by the Israeli army as a tank yard, he added. In Hebron, settlers from Susiya settlement seized five dunams of private Palestinian land near the town of Yatta, popular committee coordinator Rateb al-Jabour said. » Read more

Israel orders demolition of 8 Palestinian villages, claims need for IDF training land ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amira Hass - July 23, 2012 - 12:00am Defense Minister Ehud Barak has ordered the demolition of eight Palestinian villages in the South Hebron Hills because the territory is needed for Israel Defense Forces training exercises, the state told the High Court of Justice on Sunday. The residents of the targeted villages will be moved to the town of Yatta and its environs; the state claims, based on information it obtained from local informers, that most of these people have permanent homes in that area. » Read more

Zahhar: Hamas will not separate Gaza from the West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency July 23, 2012 - 12:00am Senior Hamas official Mahmoud Zahhar on Sunday denied media reports that the Islamist group is considering declaring the Gaza Strip a separate entity from the Palestinian Authority controlled West Bank. "Such news is being disseminated by the enemies of Hamas seeking to maintain the siege on Gaza," Zahhar told Ma'an. "This issue hasn’t been addressed officially within Hamas, but some people posed it privately on their own," he added. » Read more

Sacha Baron Cohen settles slander suit with Palestinian grocer ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz July 22, 2012 - 12:00am A Palestinian grocer portrayed as a terrorist in the comedy "Bruno" has settled his slander suit against Jewish actor Sacha Baron Cohen and talk show host David Letterman, according to a report by the Daily Mail. » Read more

Palestinian Financial Crisis Boosts Support for Hamas ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line by Mohammed Najib - July 22, 2012 - 12:00am The Palestinian Authority (PA) is suffering an intensifying financial crisis that is threatening its stability and strengthening the rival Islamist Hamas. Palestinian security officials warn that if the international community fails to pay its pledges to the PA, it will not be able to pay salaries in the coming months. » Read more

EU move to upgrade relations with Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Phoebe Greenwood - July 22, 2012 - 12:00am The EU will offer Israel upgraded trade and diplomatic relations in more than 60 areas at a high-level meeting in Brussels on Tuesday, just weeks after European foreign ministers warned that Israeli policies in the West Bank "threaten to make a two-state solution impossible". In advance of the annual EU-Israel Association Council on Tuesday meeting, a diplomatic source shared with the Guardian details of the package of benefits that will be offered to Avigdor Lieberman, Israel's foreign minister. » Read more

Israel advances PA NIS 180m. to ease finance crisis ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Herb Keinon - July 23, 2012 - 12:00am Israel, in a “goodwill gesture” to the Palestinian Authority, gave Ramallah over the last few days a NIS 180 million advance on tax money it transfers on a monthly basis, The Jerusalem Post has learned. The money was transferred before Ramadan, which began Friday, to help the PA – currently in the midst of a severe financial crisis – pay the monthly salaries of public sector employees. » Read more

Israel, When the Lights Go Down ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Jodi Rudoren - (Film Review) July 21, 2012 - 12:00am Sitting in a darkened movie theater one recent morning, I had to suppress the urge to clap along as a dozen young male adherents of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov — well, actors playing Breslovers — danced around their black-hatted rabbi to an improvised ditty, “Ani lo yodea klum,” Hebrew for “I don’t know anything.” The rabbi had started the romp with that simple statement, trying to explain that wisdom was in the text for the taking. » Read more

Defying the occupation with a camcorder ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amira Hass - (Opinion) July 23, 2012 - 12:00am Eight or nine of those who "carry the burden," to use the jargon of the recent public discourse on military service in Israel, burst into the house in the middle of the night. Their weapons pointed, they wear camouflage helmets, backpacks with walkie-talkies, and streaks of paint on their faces. In the house: parents, four children (two boys, two girls ), a grandmother (paralyzed after a stroke ), and two friends. » Read more

Israel's part in Egypt's revolution ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Khaled Diab - (Opinion) July 23, 2012 - 12:00am Monday marks the anniversary of the Egyptian revolution. Not the Tahrir Square revolution that began last year – that is on 25 January – but the 23 July revolution of 1952. At a recent event I attended in Ramallah to mark the occasion, an Egyptian diplomat said that 2011 was a continuation of 1952. » Read more

Netanyahu’s falling stock ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Jeff Barak - (Opinion) July 22, 2012 - 12:00am Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu must be kicking himself as the Knesset enters the final days of its summer session this week. Had he not buckled at the very last minute and cancelled his plans for calling early elections, he would now be only a couple of months away from an easy victory and his third term in the Prime Minister’s Office. » Read more

'No Occupation' Report Negates Israel's Legitimacy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Leonard Fein - (Opinion) July 23, 2012 - 12:00am Considerable attention has been focused these last several weeks on the report of Israel’s Levy Commission. No great surprise: The three-person commission, appointed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to render an advisory opinion regarding Jewish settlement in the West Bank, determined that there is no barrier to such settlement and, indeed, that the legality of all such settlements that may have been thought clouded could and should be retroactively affirmed. » Read more

A story addresses solidarity across Israeli roadblocks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star by Michael Felsen - (Book Review) July 23, 2012 - 12:00am “Means of suppressing demonstrations,” a short story by 25-year old Israeli author Shani Boianjiu that recently appeared in the fiction slot of the prestigious The New Yorker magazine, has garnered plenty of attention in the few weeks since it was published. Set at a checkpoint on a closed, deserted road in the West Bank, it explores a range of questions about human dignity and the effects of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on both the occupier and the occupied. Commentators are sharply divided on what the author intends with this simple story. » Read more

Palestine Can Wait…For Now ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by Nathan J. Brown - (Opinion) July 20, 2012 - 12:00am If an Israeli Rip Van Winkle had gone to sleep in 1992 and woken up in 2012 to find a news report that Palestinian leader Khalid Mishal had just concluded a meeting at the Egyptian presidential palace with President Muhammad Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, he might wonder if a previously unknown but particularly jarring piece of apocalyptic literature had somehow found its way into the daily paper.  He might go so far as to frantically turn to the weather page to see if a temperature was still listed for Tel Aviv or i » Read more

Israel Walls Itself In ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS) by Jillian Kestler-D'Amours - (Opinion) July 20, 2012 - 12:00am As Israel continues to build walls and fences along virtually each of its borders, analysts say the country’s isolationist policies and unwillingness to deal with the Palestinians and other Arab neighbours through anything other than forceful means spells disaster. » Read more

Contrary to the laws of math ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Shaul Arieli - July 23, 2012 - 12:00am For years, Israelis have ranked low in the sciences and mathematics - 41 out of 64 countries, according to the Program for International Student Assessment tests. That is not surprising when one examines the conduct of the state with respect to teaching these subjects, especially in the past decade. Following are a few simple mathematical problems whose answers could have gotten more than half the country out in the streets demonstrating if we had only studied the way we should have in elementary school. » Read more

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