Middle East News: World Press Roundup

NEWS: On American TV, PM Netanyahu makes the case for war against Iran. On the Jewish new year, many Israelis express concern about the possibility of war. A Hamas court sentences four Salafist extremists to death over the killing of an Italian activist. An all-female bloc is running in local Palestinian elections. Hamas claims an investigation has discovered that no Palestinians in Gaza were connected to an attack on Egyptian forces in Sinai. An Egyptian soldier is killed in a new clash with extremists in Sinai. Palestinians complain that 30 years after the massacre at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Lebanon, no one has been brought to justice. Palestinian trade unions are divided over the prospect of a new strike. The EU pledges €100 million for the PA. Former Israeli military intelligence chief Yadlin says the country would need international and American support before any attack against Iran. PM Fayyad posts a protest song calling for his resignation on his own Facebook page. The BBC looks at Jewish Israeli extremists who engage in “price tag” violence. Israelis defend their campaign on Jewish refugees as a way of “counteracting” the Palestinian refugee issue. COMMENTARY: Seth Anziska says American pressure might have prevented the massacre at Sabra and Shatila. Robert Fisk recalls the massacre. Aaron David Miller says the upcoming election won't change US Middle East policy much. Hamas leader Zahhar claims Gaza is "free of occupation" and more secure than the West Bank. Former US Amb. Indyk says he thinks the US may go to war with Iran in 2013. Mya Guarnieri says Israel's mistreatment of migrants doesn't stop at the border. Pierre Klochendler looks at a home in occupied East Jerusalem divided between Palestinians and settlers. Michael Melchior claims a surprisingly wide range of Islamists are ready for peace and coexistence with Israel. Ben Sales looks at the political implications for Israel and the PA of the Palestinian economic crisis.

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Israeli Leader Makes Case Against Iran on U.S. TV ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Steven Lee Myers - September 16, 2012 - 12:00am WASHINGTON — Having been rebuffed privately by President Obama last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel took to the airwaves in the United States on Sunday to warn that » Read more

On Jewish new year, Israelis fear Iran strike ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Daniel Estrin - September 16, 2012 - 12:00am JERUSALEM — Israelis ushered in the Jewish New Year on Sunday with a sense of uncertainty, fearful that war with Iran could break out this year. » Read more

Hamas court convicts 4 in Italian activist death ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Ibrahim Barzak - September 17, 2012 - 12:00am GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — A Hamas court convicted four men Monday in the abduction and slaying last year of a pro-Palestinian Italian activist in Gaza, sentencing two of the suspects to 35 years in prison each, a judicial official said. » Read more

All-female bloc runs in Palestinian elections ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Mohammed Daraghmeh - September 15, 2012 - 12:00am HEBRON, West Bank — A new group running for municipal elections in Hebron is offering residents an alternative to politics as usual in the conservative West Bank city: Women at the helm, instead of men. » Read more

Gaza govt: Inquiry cleared Palestinians in Sinai attack ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency September 17, 2012 - 12:00am GAZA CITY (Ma’an) -- The government in the Gaza Strip has conducted an investigation with Egyptian coordination into the deadly border attack last month, and found no Palestinians were involved, a Palestinian official said on Monday. Neither residents of the Gaza Strip nor other Palestinians played a part in the killing of 16 Egyptian security officials on Aug. 5, spokesman of Gaza's interior ministry, Ehab al-Ghasein, said in a statement. » Read more

'Egyptian soldier killed in Sinai terrorist clash' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post September 17, 2012 - 12:00am An Egyptian soldier was killed Sunday in an exchange of fire between terrorists and Egyptian troops and security forces in the Sinai Peninsula, army spokesman Colonel Ahmed Mohammed Ali said, according to AFP. , » Read more

Official: 30 years after camp massacre, justice still elusive ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency September 17, 2012 - 12:00am BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- On the 30th anniversary of the massacre of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon's Sabra and Shatila camp, a Palestinian official stressed that no one has been brought to justice. "Those responsible for slaughtering thousands have not been punished and Palestinian refugees continue to be denied their homeland," PLO official Saeb Erekat said in a statement Sunday. » Read more

Palestinian trade unions divided over strike action ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency September 17, 2012 - 12:00am BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Palestinian trade unions are divided over whether to continue strike action in protest against rising living costs, unionists said Sunday. Transport union leader Nasser Younis told Ma'an that strike action was not a goal in itself but a means to pressure the Palestinian Authority to listen to their demands. » Read more

EU pledges extra 100 million euros for PA ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency September 14, 2012 - 12:00am BRUSSELS (Reuters) -- The European Union will double its aid for Palestinian development and the Palestinian Authority to 200 million euros in 2012, the EU executive said on Friday. The development aid will be focused on water, sanitation and support for refugees. A further 100 million euros aid credits unspent last year will be also spent in 2012, the European Commission said in a statement. » Read more

Ari Shavit's countdown: Former Israeli intelligence chief breaks his silence on Iran ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Ari Shavit - September 13, 2012 - 12:00am Over the past 30 years, Amos Yadlin has fought against three nuclear programs that threatened our future. In 1981 he was one of the eight F-16 pilots who attacked and destroyed the Iraqi-French nuclear reactor in Osirak. In 2007, he was the Israel Defense Forces head of Military Intelligence who, according to foreign sources, was among the leaders of the campaign that led to the destruction of the Syrian-Korean nuclear reactor in Deir ez-Zor. » Read more

Fayyad posts protest song on his Facebook page ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Roi Kais - September 17, 2012 - 12:00am In wake of the Palestinian social protest, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad decided to take matters into his own hands: Fayyad on Sunday posted a popular anti-government protest song, which calls on the prime minister to resign, on his own Facebook page. » Read more

‘Price tag’ tactics of West Bank Jewish settlers ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News by Jane Corbin - September 16, 2012 - 12:00am With their hoodies, covered faces and cans of spray paint, they may in some ways look like average teenage vandals out for a night of trouble. » Read more

Israel hits back over refugee campaign ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Vita Bekker - September 17, 2012 - 12:00am TEL AVIV // Levana Zamir, a 74-year-old Jew born in Egypt, bitterly recalls her experiences on the day in May 1948 when David Ben-Gurion, Israel's first prime minister, declared the country's independence. » Read more

A Preventable Massacre ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Seth Anziska - (Opinion) September 16, 2012 - 12:00am ON the night of Sept. 16, 1982, the Israeli military allowed a right-wing Lebanese militia to enter two Palestinian refugee camps in Beirut. In the ensuing three-day rampage, the militia, linked to the Maronite Christian Phalange Party, raped, killed and dismembered at least 800 civilians, while Israeli flares illuminated the camps’ narrow and darkened alleyways. » Read more

The forgotten massacre ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent by Robert Fisk - (Opinion) September 15, 2012 - 12:00am The memories remain, of course. The man who lost his family in an earlier massacre, only to watch the young men of Chatila lined up after the new killings and marched off to death. But – like the muck piled on the garbage tip amid the concrete hovels – the stench of injustice still pervades the camps where 1,700 Palestinians were butchered 30 years ago next week. » Read more

Under Obama or Romney, U.S. Mideast policy won’t change much ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Aaron David Miller - (Opinion) September 14, 2012 - 12:00am A presidential campaign focused largely on domestic economic issues veered into foreign policy after the killing of America’s ambassador to Libya on Tuesday and the eruption of anti-U.S. protests from Egypt to Yemen. Both presidential candidates responded — and their differences have produced debates over which would be stronger on the world stage. Was President Obama forceful enough? » Read more

Zahhar: Gaza more secure than West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency (Interview) September 15, 2012 - 12:00am BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) – Seven years after Israel disengaged from the Gaza Strip, several things have changed both at the political and the economic level, Hamas official Mahmoud Zahhar said Friday. Speaking to Ma’an, Zahhar asserted that “Gaza is free of occupation, and contiguity with the outside world is easier as visitors from all over the world visited the coastal enclave.” » Read more

U.S. will go to war with Iran in 2013, says ex-U.S. ambassador to Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz (Interview) September 17, 2012 - 12:00am Former U.S. ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk said on Sunday that he thinks the U.S. will go to war with Iran over its nuclear program in 2013. Speaking during a panel on the CBS program Face the Nation, Indyk said, "I'm afraid that 2013 is going to be a year in which we're going to have a military confrontation with Iran." » Read more

Mistreatment of refugees in Israel doesn't stop at border ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Mya Guarnieri - (Opinion) September 17, 2012 - 12:00am Earlier this month, 21 Eritrean asylum seekers, including a 14-year-old child and two pregnant women, spent over a week trapped between fences on the Israeli side of the Israeli-Egyptian border. As the temperatures soared, one of the women reportedly miscarried. The group was not provided with any shelter; the "most moral army in the world" gave the refugees only small amounts of water and scraps of cloth to protect themselves from the sun. » Read more

When a Courtyard Becomes a Border ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS) by Pierre Klochendler - (Opinion) September 17, 2012 - 12:00am RAS EL-AMOUD, Occupied East Jerusalem, Sep 17 2012 (IPS) - Filistin Hamdallah looks disoriented, walking without purpose amidst the furniture strewn in the courtyard, as if she was moving home. Only the fresh laundry hanging on wires indicates that the Palestinian family is here to stay, to stay in conditions with Jewish neighbours that show just how difficult the divisions in Jerusalem can be. » Read more

Islam is ready for peace with Israel, says rabbi who has met with ‘whole strata’ of radicals ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Times of Israel by David Horovitz - (Interview) September 16, 2012 - 12:00am For 10 years, from 1999, Rabbi Michael Melchior was a member of Knesset, elected via the dovish Meimad faction — the political face of moderate religious Zionism. » Read more

Palestinian economic protests point to uncertain future for PA, Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) by Ben Sales - (Opinion) September 16, 2012 - 12:00am TEL AVIV (JTA) – Could the Palestinian Authority's budget woes end up costing Israel? Growing economic protests in the West Bank could lead to increased regional instability and perhaps even the end of the Palestinian Authority, experts are warning. At this point, however, they say the protests are unlikely to result in an eruption of violence against Israel. » Read more

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