Middle East News: World Press Roundup

NEWS: Individual “lone soldiers” from countries around the world are volunteering for Israeli military service. A Palestinian prisoner detained by Israel is refusing water after 2 months on hunger strike. An Israeli human rights group is asking a court to prevent the demolition of five Bedouin villages in the Negev desert to make way for new Jewish farms. Israel is training its diplomats in using Twitter and other social media. PM Netanyahu has reportedly decided to bury the Levy Committee Report rather than dealing in any way with its recommendations. Israel's ambassador to the US says Israel's clock on Iran is “ticking faster." Sec. Panetta says he doesn't think Israel has made any decision. A former Obama administration official says Israeli threats towards Iran should be taken “very seriously.” PA spokesman Khatib resigns. Despite Israeli restrictions, the PLO holds a Ramadan event in occupied East Jerusalem. Egypt is reportedly about to resume efforts to foster Palestinian national reconciliation. The South African government refutes Israel's claims that by boycotting settlement goods, it is boycotting Israel itself. Israel protests the inclusion of several localities on an EU list of Israeli settlements. The Lebanese Army is relocating in the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp. The PA grants 4.7 million NIS to West Bank universities. COMMENTARY: Hussein Ibish reviews a new book on key terms in the writings of Edward Said. Avi Issacharoff asks what's the point of Israel's psychological warfare against Iran. Carlo Strenger looks at a new film that refuses to portray Israeli soldiers as either monsters or heroes. Brandon Davis contrasts an Israeli settlement and a nearby Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank that share the same name, but little else. Emily Hauser says proposed new restrictions barring undocumented migrants and stateless Palestinians from filing suit in Israeli courts are part of a broader pattern of an Israeli siege mentality. Frida Ghitis says Israel may benefit from the “Arab Spring." Daniel Byman and Natan Sachs look at the rise of settler terrorism in the occupied West Bank.

---

---

---

Enlisting From Afar for the Love of Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Jodi Rudoren - August 14, 2012 - 12:00am Three days into Josh Warhit’s first-ever visit to Israel, as a 16-year-old on a summer tour, war broke out in Lebanon, which transformed the group’s itinerary — and his life plan. On Tuesday, with talk rampant about the possibility of an imminent Israeli attack on Iran, Mr. Warhit became a citizen of Israel to enlist in its army. » Read more

Palestinian prisoner refuses water after two months on hunger strike ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua August 15, 2012 - 12:00am A Palestinian prisoner on hunger strike for more than two months refused water on Wednesday in a new challenge, protesting the renewal of his administrative detention. The Palestinian Prisoners' Association said that Hassan Safadi went on a hunger strike on June 21 and was promised by Israeli authorities to be released by the end of his administrative detention term. However, this term has now been renewed for another six months, prompting him to refuse water. » Read more

Israeli rights groups ask court to stop razing of Bedouin villages ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua August 15, 2012 - 12:00am Several Israeli human rights organizations petitioned the High Court on Tuesday to prevent the demolition of five Bedouin villages. The petition is spearheaded by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) and is aimed at averting the construction of agricultural settlements in the area of Mevo'ot Arad, in the Negev. These Jewish settlements, seven of them, will be built after the existing Bedouin villages, which are home to hundreds of families, are razed. » Read more

Israel's Foreign Ministry gives envoys a lesson on twitter diplomacy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Barak Ravid - August 15, 2012 - 12:00am Israel’s Foreign Ministry updated online social media guidelines for representatives of the State of Israel worldwide, following a few recent unusual tweets and Facebook posts made by Israeli diplomats. The Foreign Ministry’s message to Israeli diplomats: Surfers on the web take everything you post as Israel’s official position. » Read more

Netanyahu set to bury Levy report on legalizing illegal West Bank outposts ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Chaim Levinson - August 15, 2012 - 12:00am Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has decided to bury the Levy Report, which recommends legalizing most unauthorized settlement outposts in the West Bank and making it easier for existing settlements to expand, a senior politician who spoke with the premier about the issue told Haaretz yesterday. » Read more

Ambassador Oren: Israel's clock on Iran 'ticking faster' than Obama's ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Natasha Mozgovaya - August 14, 2012 - 12:00am While White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Monday that the Obama Administration still believes that there is "time and space" for a diplomatic track, coupled with sanctions, to succeed in convincing Iranian leadership to stop the nuclear program, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren stressed in an interview to MSNBC that the Israeli clock "is ticking faster." » Read more

Panetta: No Israeli decision yet on attacking Iran ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Herb Keinon - August 15, 2012 - 12:00am US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on Tuesday that he did not believe that Israel had made a decision on whether to attack Iran over its nuclear program, and added that he thought there was still time for a stronger sanctions push. Panetta’s comments came at a Pentagon briefing against the background of the very loud and public debate in Israel about whether to attack Iran. Panetta held a round of talks in Israel two weeks ago, and met with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak. » Read more

Ex-Obama Official Warns: Take Israel Iran Threat 'Very Seriously' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor by Laura Rozen - August 14, 2012 - 12:00am Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Colin Kahl traveled to Israel 13 times during his tenure as the Obama administration’s top Pentagon Middle East civilian policy advisor from 2009 to the end of 2011. Kahl, now a Georgetown University professor, senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, and foreign policy advisor to the Obama campaign, told Al-Monitor in an interview Tuesday that he takes the signs that Israeli leaders are contemplating a fall strike on Iran “very seriously.” » Read more

PA spokesman Ghassan Khatib leaves post ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency August 15, 2012 - 12:00am Palestinian Authority spokesman Ghassan Khatib has decided to leave his position and return to teaching, the PA's official news agency Wafa reported Wednesday. Khatib had taken a three-year leave of absence from Birzeit University to work as a spokesman and head of the PA government media center at the request of PA prime minister Salam Fayyad. Three years is the maximum amount of leave a university employee can take, which is why Khatib is returning to his former position, a statement from the center said. » Read more

Despite ban, PLO leaders host Ramadan event in Jerusalem ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency August 15, 2012 - 12:00am PLO leaders hosted a Ramadan event in east Jerusalem late Monday, in the first official Palestinian gathering in the 18 years since Israel imposed a ban on such activities in the holy city. Hanan Ashrawi, a senior PLO leader, and Adnan Husseini, the Palestinian Authority governor of Jerusalem, hosted the Iftar meal and briefed diplomats on a bid to join the United Nations in the coming months. » Read more

Morsy to resume Hamas-Fatah unity efforts in Cairo ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Khaled Abu Toameh - August 14, 2012 - 12:00am Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy has decided to resume efforts to end the power struggle between Fatah and Hamas, Palestinian sources said Tuesday. The sources said that Morsy has invited representatives of the two rival parties to meetings in Cairo after the holiday of Id al-Fitr, which begins next week. Morsy’s decision to resume efforts to end the Fatah-Hamas dispute comes amid growing tensions between the two sides, especially in the wake of last week’s terror attack in Sinai, in which 16 Egyptian border guards were killed by unidentified terrorists. » Read more

South Africa: SA Not Boycotting Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from South African Government News Agency August 14, 2012 - 12:00am South Africa has no policy aimed at boycotting Israel, International Relations and Cooperation Deputy Minister Ebrahim Ebrahim said on Tuesday. But Pretoria did discourage people from visiting Israel because of the latter's continued occupation of Palestinian land, Ebrahim told reporters in Pretoria. "We have no policy that says boycott Israel but we believe that Israel is an occupying power and that we should discourage people from visiting that country," he said. » Read more

Israel blasts EU listing ATFP World Press Roundup Article from United Press International (UPI) August 15, 2012 - 12:00am Israel criticized a European Union listing that stated an Israeli city was a settlement and said its products will not be allowed duty-free entrance into Europe. "For anyone who deals in reality, there is not the slightest doubt that the Modi'in, Maccabim and Re'ut localities are an integral part of Israel, and their future is not in question," a Foreign Ministry statement published by The Jerusalem Post said. "The EU ignores reality when it extends the domain of conflict to places and issues that do not belong there. " » Read more

Lebanese Army relocating in Nahr al-Bared ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star August 15, 2012 - 12:00am The Lebanese Army is relocating in the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp to give residents space, and the government has reiterated its commitment to releasing detainees from recent clashes and removing the camps’ restrictive permit system. The head of the Lebanese Palestinian Dialogue Committee Khaldoun al-Sharif announced the state-backed steps Monday night at a committee iftar held in the camp, according to a statement from the organization. » Read more

PA grants 4.7 million NIS to West Bank universities ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency August 15, 2012 - 12:00am The Palestinian Authority Ministry of Finance on Wednesday transferred financial aid to seven universities, the PA education minister said. Ali al-Jarbawi said that Al-Najah University, Bethlehem University, Al-Istiqlal Academy, Bir Zeit, Hebron, the Open University and Palestinian polytechnic will all receive the funding, designed to alleviate the financial crisis affecting universities. The total amount of funding to be divided between the seven universities is 4.7 million shekels ($1.1 million). » Read more

What Edward Really Said ATFP World Press Roundup Article from NOW Lebanon by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) August 15, 2012 - 12:00am Few contemporary thinkers have been more revered and reviled than the late Palestinian-American professor Edward Said. But even his most ardent critics can hardly deny that Said was one of the most significant public intellectuals of our time. And while he is probably best remembered for his political activism, it was as a major literary theorist that he produced his most important work.  » Read more

What's the point of Israel's psychological warfare against Iran? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Avi Issacharoff - (Opinion) August 15, 2012 - 12:00am Full disclosure: Maj.-Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari, the commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, hasn’t spoken to me recently. Actually, he has never spoken to me at all. Nor has Iranian Defense Minister Gen. Ahmad Vahidi, or any other defense establishment officials in Tehran. » Read more

The Israeli film that refuses to portray IDF soldiers as monsters or heroes ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Carlo Strenger - (Film Review) August 15, 2012 - 12:00am David Grossman, in the introduction to his collection of non-fiction essays Death as a Way of Life, writes that beyond the sound, the fury and the grand political rhetoric, there is a silent place buried inside the soul of every Israeli and every Palestinian, where each one knows that this terrible conflict, in the end, is futile. Politicians are required to give the impression that they know where they are taking the country. Political commentators are supposed to make sense of events, and potentially suggest ways of action. » Read more

Contesting history: A tale of two Tekoas ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency by Brandon Davis - (Opinion) August 13, 2012 - 12:00am The Gush Herodion Development Corporation has big plans for Tekoa. Already boasting a pizza parlor, a swimming pool and a horse ranch, this idyllic "Jewish village" of approximately 1,600 will soon add six new buildings with eight "spacious" apartments each, designed by the architect Jacques Gabay. » Read more

On Laws and Walls ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by Emily L. Hauser - (Opinion) August 14, 2012 - 12:00am This past week, Israel’s Justice Ministry issued new regulations that, if implemented, will make it impossible for many Palestinians and all undocumented immigrants to file suit in Israeli courts. » Read more

How the Arab Spring might help Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Miami Herald by Frida Ghitis - (Opinion) August 15, 2012 - 12:00am A few months ago, as I was speaking to a non-profit group about how developments in the Arab world would affect Israel, I noticed the faces in the crowd looking back at me with deep skepticism. I understood the reason. I was arguing that there is a possibility — not a certainty — that Israel will eventually emerge safer than before as a result of the Arab revolutions, also known as the Arab Spring. I have not changed my mind. » Read more

The Rise of Settler Terrorism ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Affairs by Daniel Byman, Natan Sachs - (Opinion) August 14, 2012 - 12:00am Late this past June, a group of Israeli settlers in the West Bank defaced and burned a mosque in the small West Bank village of Jabaa. Graffiti sprayed by the vandals warned of a "war" over the planned evacuation, ordered by the Israeli Supreme Court, of a handful of houses illegally built on private Palestinian land near the Israeli settlement of Beit El. » Read more

---

---