Middle East News: World Press Roundup

NEWS: Six Palestinian militants are killed by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza. The UN says Palestinians are slipping deeper into poverty. The PA financial crisis continues to deepen. Palestinian sources tell Xinhua some factions in the West Bank, without naming them, are inciting people to protest against PM Fayyad. President Abbas says the “Palestinian spring” has begun. Hamas is trying to regain its popularity in Gaza. The PA says it has arrested suspects in the assassination of a senior security official in Jenin. Hamas is training its diplomats in preparation to challenge the PLO internationally. Israel agrees to pay damages to the family of a Palestinian detainee left to die on a highway. Three French magistrates investigating his death are planning to exhume the body of the late Pres. Arafat. Following a controversy, the Democratic Party platform restores language saying Jerusalem is Israel's capital. A new study suggests gaps may be growing between Palestinian citizens of Israel and those living under occupation. COMMENTARY: Rami Livni says Israel must end the occupation, not for the Palestinians but for itself. Anshel Pfeffer says there are further signs that Israel will not be attacking Iran any time in the foreseeable future. Yariv Oppenheimer says everything Israel has constructed in the occupation is reversible. The Jerusalem Post says Israel must be tough with the Palestinians regarding electricity payments. Douglas Bloomfield says a lot of Israeli rhetoric about attacking Iran may be designed to make the reelection of Pres. Obama more difficult. Asharq Al-Awsat interviews Ghazi Hamad, "Deputy Foreign Minister" for Hamas, about the organization's diplomatic initiative. Crispian Balmer says that Israel is backing down from threats against Iran after being rebuked by the United States. Alon Pinkas says in spite of PM Netanyahu's mistakes, there is no “crisis” with the United States. Laura Rosen outlines the process whereby the DNC platform reintroduced Jerusalem into its text. Daniel Seidemann and Josh Rogin separately also examine the controversy. Aaron David Miller says the controversy is silly and irrelevant.

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Gaza Strip: Israeli strikes 'kill six militants' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News September 6, 2012 - 12:00am Palestinians said three were killed by Israeli fire in the north of the strip on Thursday morning. Israel said they were planting a bomb near its fence. Hours earlier, an air strike in central Gaza killed three militants who Israel said were set to fire rockets. There has been a spate of rocket attacks and air strikes in recent days. In the latest incident, Israel said it had fired at a "terrorist squad that was planting an explosive device" near the town of Beit Hanoun. » Read more

Palestinians slipping deeper into poverty -UN ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Robert Evans - September 6, 2012 - 12:00am GENEVA, Sept 5 (Reuters) - The United Nations UNCTAD agency issued a gloomy outlook for the Palestinian economy on Wednesday, arguing that tougher Israeli policies and settlement expansion were pushing the occupied territories and Gaza deeper into poverty. The situation had been aggravated in 2011 by a sharp drop in foreign aid, which for years provided a vital support, dimming any hope for an upswing even in the longer term, a report from the trade and development body said. » Read more

Policy paralysis scuppers Palestinian economic dream ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Noah Browning - September 5, 2012 - 12:00am (Reuters) - Palestinian dreams of building a strong economy to speed up the state's drive towards independence could soon be plunged into darkness, quite literally. The cash-strapped government of the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Authority (PA), is so behind with its bills that the Israeli company that provides Palestinians' electricity has threatened to cut the power unless the PA pays outstanding debt of almost $80 million. » Read more

News Analysis: Tensions simmering in West Bank over high living cost ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua September 6, 2012 - 12:00am RAMALLAH, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- Protests against the high cost of living increasingly erupted all over the West Bank over the past few days, during which some demonstrators burned Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's posters while others attempted to set themselves ablaze. » Read more

President says Palestinian Spring has begun ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency September 6, 2012 - 12:00am CAIRO (Ma'an) -- President Mahmoud Abbas said Wednesday that the "Palestinian Spring" had begun, as Palestinians took to the streets across the West Bank in protest over rising prices. "The Palestinian spring has begun, and we are in line with what the people say and what they want," Abbas said, addressing a meeting of Arab League foreign ministers in Cairo. The president said the protesters' demands to reduce costs of basic goods and for regular payment of salaries were "right and fair." » Read more

Hamas: An Islamist party tries to regain its luster ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Christa Case Bryant - September 5, 2012 - 12:00am Hamas has refashioned its government in an apparent bid to adapt to the sweeping changes in the Arab world and bolster its support among Gazans who, six years after bringing Hamas to power, are largely disillusioned and desperate for better lives. Over the weekend, the Islamist rulers of Gaza replaced seven of their 14 government ministers, including those in charge of housing, justice, and finance, in what officials and analysts say was a move to put more popular, competent officials in power. » Read more

PA says suspects in custody after colonel shot dead in Jenin ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency September 6, 2012 - 12:00am BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Palestinian security services have detained suspects believed to be behind Wednesday's deadly shooting of a top security commander in Jenin, a security spokesman says. "There are some suspects who were detained for investigation, and there are security organizations working with us in the investigation process," Adnan al-Dmeiri said Thursday. » Read more

Hamas training diplomats, challenging PLO monopoly abroad ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters September 6, 2012 - 12:00am GAZA CITY (Reuters) -- Hamas has begun a training program for diplomats in the Gaza Strip where it rules, a senior official of the Islamist group said, raising the specter of divisions in the Palestinian national movement spreading to its representation abroad. » Read more

State settles with family of Palestinian left to die by Israel Police, will pay damages ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Chaim Levinson - September 6, 2012 - 12:00am The State of Israel will compensate the family of a Palestinian who was left to die by Israeli police officers four years ago, in a compromise agreement obtained by Haaretz on Thursday. » Read more

French to exhume Arafat's remains ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent by Matthew Kalman - September 6, 2012 - 12:00am Three French investigating magistrates will travel to Ramallah in the West Bank to exhume the remains of the late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat so they can take tissue samples to determine what killed him. » Read more

Amid some boos, Democrats return Jerusalem-as-capital language to party platform ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) by Ron Kampeas - September 5, 2012 - 12:00am CHARLOTTE, N.C. (JTA) -- At President Obama's behest, and to boos from some delegates, Democrats on Wednesday night inserted a few lines into their party platform affirming Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Two of the lines had appeared in the 2008 party platform but had been dropped for some reason when this year’s platform was released Monday night; no one could quite explain the omission. » Read more

Study: Gap grows between Israeli Arabs, Palestinians ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Ilene Prusher - September 5, 2012 - 12:00am Palestinians in the West Bank and Israeli Arabs show increasing signs of wanting to keep their distance from each other, and maintain different narratives about the history of the conflict, according to a new study conducted by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev researchers. Among some of the findings that researchers found most remarkable, 60 percent of Israeli Arabs surveyed said they would not want their daughter to marry someone from the West Bank, while 41% of West Bankers had the same attitude to their daughter marrying an Arab with Israeli citizenship. » Read more

It's not normal ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Rami Livni - (Opinion) September 6, 2012 - 12:00am It is difficult to persuade a person who feels happy that he is in fact depressed and despondent. Why should he believe it? With regard to everything about the occupation, the citizens of Israel feel fine. They brush off arguments about the effect it has on morals, about the demographic problem, the economic damage and the undermining of our international relations. Their apathy does not stem only from "proof" that Israel must not budge from the position in which it is entrenched, because of the failure of the diplomatic process and changes in the Arab world. » Read more

More signs signaling Israel will not be attacking Iran soon ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Anshel Pfeffer - (Opinion) September 5, 2012 - 12:00am If anyone needed further proof that Benjamin Netanyahu has buckled under the pressure and will probably not be giving the order to attack Iran in the next few months, at least not before the U.S. elections, the latest reported IDF appointments seem to supply it. » Read more

Everything is reversible ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Yariv Oppenheimer - (Opinion) September 6, 2012 - 12:00am The past few months have seen the formation of a strange alliance between some settler representatives and leading leftist figures, which is based on the lack of faith in the "two states for two peoples" paradigm. » Read more

The PA’s electricity tab ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post (Editorial) September 5, 2012 - 12:00am We Israelis love to grumble but on occasion, our gripes aren’t irrational. The spate of price hikes that recently hit us from all directions may be unavoidable due to factors outside anyone’s direct control but they hurt nonetheless. Electricity charges offer a cogent case in point. » Read more

Is Netanyahu planning an October surprise? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Douglas Bloomfield - (Opinion) September 5, 2012 - 12:00am As the Republicans and Democrats held their conventions and the presidential election moved into the home stretch, the rhetoric and pressure coming out of Israel for an attack on Iran intensified like the winds of Hurricane Isaac. It’s difficult to tell how much is aimed at keeping Iran from getting a nuclear weapon and how much at preventing Barack Obama’s reelection. » Read more

Hamas seeks to enter the world of diplomacy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat by Saleh al-Naami - (Opinion) September 5, 2012 - 12:00am   Gaza Asharq Al-Awsat – For the first time since the 2007 division between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, following the bloody confrontation between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority [PA] and Hamas’s subsequent takeover of the Gaza Strip, the Hamas government is seeking to appoint diplomats. This is a move that many believe is an indication that Hamas intends to announce an independent state in the Gaza Strip. » Read more

Rebuked by US, Israel scrambles to climb down from war rhetoric ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Crispian Balmer - (Opinion) September 6, 2012 - 12:00am STUNNED by a rebuke from the United States’ top general, Israel is preparing a climb-down strategy in its war of words over Iran’s nuclear program, aware that its room for maneuver is shrinking rapidly. » Read more

US-Israeli Relations in Crisis? No! ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor by Alon Pinkas - (Opinion) September 5, 2012 - 12:00am First, there was "a crisis." Then, there was "the worst crisis in US-Israel relations ever." Now, a mere 36 hours later, the "crisis recedes." » Read more

DNC adds Jerusalem to platform ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor by Laura Rozen - (Blog) September 5, 2012 - 12:00am Update: The Democratic National Committee on Wednesday added an amendment to its 2012 platform saying Jerusalem is and will remain the capital of Israel. The language, almost identical to that in the DNC 2008 platform, was added after its omission came under criticism from some Republican groups. “President Obama personally intervened to strengthen the language,” a Democratic aide involved in the process told Al-Monitor Wednesday. » Read more

Hurricane "Jerusalem" Hits the DNC ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by Daniel Seidemann - (Opinion) September 5, 2012 - 12:00am Jerusalem always comes up during U.S. political campaign season, and this year is no different. In July, GOP candidate Mitt Romney came to Jerusalem, where he skillfully bobbed and wove his way around the issue, expressing fidelity to Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, but stopping short of promising to move the U.S. embassy there the moment he becomes President. Now, apparently, it’s the Democrats' turn. » Read more

Democratic platform drafters defend Israel section ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy by Josh Rogin - (Blog) September 5, 2012 - 12:00am CHARLOTTE - Changes between the 2008 Democratic Party platform's language on Israel and the 2012 version were due to a deliberate effort to refocus the platform toward President Barack Obama's policies, two officials directly involved in its drafting process told The Cable. Leading pro-Israel groups such as AIPAC were heavily involved in the platform-drafting process, saw final language of the draft platform, and told platform drafters they were satisfied with it, both officials said. » Read more

Jerusalem omission's silly significance ATFP World Press Roundup Article from CNN by Aaron David Miller - (Opinion) September 5, 2012 - 12:00am (CNN) -- The flip-flop over the non-mention, and now inclusion, in the Democratic platform of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel reflects just how silly and sensitive matters can become in an election year. » Read more

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