Middle East News: World Press Roundup

NEWS: Violent clashes erupt at the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount in occupied East Jerusalem after extremist Israelis repeatedly enter Muslim holy areas. Some Jewish extremists in Israel dream of establishing a “Third Temple” on the site of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, and they are moving closer to Israel's social and political mainstream. Independent Israeli newspapers are under severe pressure from market and political forces. An unidentified American citizen kills one Israeli worker at an Israeli resort before being shot by police. A Lebanese man pleads not guilty in Cyprus to charges of planning to attack Israelis. A 20-year-old man is in hospital in Gaza after immolating himself. The PA says it's now starting to distribute public employees' August salaries. Large groups of American evangelical Christians march in Jerusalem in support of Israel. A prominent member of Ramla's Muslim community is found murdered inside the city's Great Mosque. Former Defense Secretary Gates says the US must prevent an Israeli attack against Iran. Israelis and Palestinians cooperate to lay optical cable for Internet services in Gaza. UK FM Hague expresses concern about Israel's West Bank separation barrier. COMMENTARY: Salman Masalha claims Jordan is meddling in Israeli politics. Ha'aretz profiles Marwan Makhoul, a poet who is a Palestinian citizen of Israel. Linda Gradstein says Israeli concerns about the consequences of the conflict in Syria are increasing. Tariq Alhomayed considers the absurdity of Syrian government condemnations of Hamas. Alex Fishman says the Israeli government is being hypocritical in its purported determination to fight settler “price tag” violence. Chuck Freilich says PM Netanyahu is stacking his cabinet in favor of an attack against Iran. Emily Hauser explains how poisonous anti-Semitism is for the Palestinian cause.

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Hundreds of Arabs assault guards at Temple Mount ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Times of Israel by Gabe Fisher, Yoel Goldman - October 5, 2012 - 12:00am Following the conclusion of Friday prayers at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, hundreds of Arabs threw stones at security guards in the area. Police charged through the Mughrabi Gate in the Old City and fired stun grenades to disperse the angry mob. Unconfirmed Palestinian reports suggested that several people were lightly injured. Police officials, having restored calm, said that they would arrest some of the stone throwers in the coming days. » Read more

Following the dream of a Third Temple in Jerusalem ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Shanty Littman - October 4, 2012 - 12:00am "Thanks to you I had a tremendous insight,” Yehuda Glick roared at me as I entered the room where a meeting of the joint directorate of the Temple movements was taking place. “I went up to the Mount of Olives today,” he continued, “and I looked toward the Temple Mount. And what do I see? Two round domes, next to each other! And then it came to me: Those who want to build the Temple want to suckle from the source! » Read more

Temple Mount Faithful: From the fringes to the mainstream ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Nir Hasson - October 4, 2012 - 12:00am Eight Jewish Israelis have been arrested on Temple Mount in Jerusalem over the past two days after police feared their attempts to pray there would incite violence. Among those arrested were right-wing Likud party member Moshe Feiglin and Yehuda Liebman, a prime figure at the Od Yosef Chai Yeshiva in the hard-line West Bank settlement of Yitzhar. Among the suspects is the more moderate Elyashiv Cherlow, son of Rabbi Yuval Cherlow, head of the Petah Tikva yeshiva, who is considered a relatively liberal religious Zionist leader. » Read more

Political and Market Forces Hobble Israel’s Pack of Ink-Stained Watchdogs ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Isabel Kershner - October 4, 2012 - 12:00am JERUSALEM — The mainstream newspaper Maariv is on the verge of closing, apparently having lost a fierce 64-year contest against the populist Hebrew tabloid Yediot Aharonot. On Thursday, Haaretz, the flagship broadsheet of Israel’s left-wing intelligentsia, was not published for the first time in three decades; the newsroom held a one-day strike to protest the planned layoff of scores of employees. » Read more

New York Man Kills Cook at Israeli Hotel, Then Is Shot by Police ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Jodi Rudoren - October 5, 2012 - 12:00am JERUSALEM — A New York man opened fire in the dining room of a hotel in the southern Israeli resort of Eilat on Friday and killed a kitchen worker before being shot dead by police officers, the authorities said. The gunman, William Hershkovitz, was born in 1989, and had just been fired after working at the hotel for a couple of weeks through Oranim, a company that provides tourists with internships in the industry, a company official told The Associated Press. » Read more

Cyprus attack plan suspect pleads not guilty ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Menelaos Hadjicostis - October 5, 2012 - 12:00am LIMASSOL, Cyprus —A Swedish-Lebanese man on Friday pleaded not guilty to charges he was planning an attack on Israeli citizens in Cyprus, in a case that Israel has said bears similarities to a suicide bombing that killed five Israeli tourists and a bus driver in Bulgaria last summer. » Read more

Gaza man self-immolates ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency October 5, 2012 - 12:00am GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- A 20-year-old man is in intensive care after setting himself on fire on Friday in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, the health ministry said. Witnesses told Ma'an that Muhammad al-Khudri doused himself in gasoline and set himself on fire. Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said al-Khudri was admitted to the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis with severe burns.

PA distributes August salaries ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency October 3, 2012 - 12:00am BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- The Palestinian Authority finance ministry said Wednesday that it was distributing late salaries to employees who have been waiting since early September to be paid. Ministry spokesman Rami Mahdawi said the salaries would be paid out on Thursday to employees making over 4,500 shekels per month. Their full salaries had been put on hold to pay lower wage earners. » Read more

Thousands of Christians march in Jerusalem in support of Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press October 5, 2012 - 12:00am Waving blue and white Israeli flags, thousands of evangelical Christians from around the world filled streets of downtown Jerusalem on Thursday in a show of support for the Jewish state. The annual march during the week-long Jewish Sukkot holiday brings together Christians from dozens of countries. » Read more

Prominent Ramla figure found murdered in mosque ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Eli Senyor - October 5, 2012 - 12:00am The body of a prominent member of Ramla's Muslim community was found Friday inside the city's Great Mosque. The victim was identified as Muhammad Taji Abu Jamil, an official who oversaw the affairs of the Waqf in the city. Magen David Adom emergency services were called to the scene but had no choice but to pronounce him dead. The Ramla Police have launched an investigation. » Read more

Gates: No blank check from US to Israel on Iran ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post October 5, 2012 - 12:00am Former US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates stated on Thursday that Washington must make it clear to Israeli leaders that the US must not permit Israel to harm American interests. Speaking at an event in Norfolk, Virginia, Gates commented that the Israeli leaders must be aware they "do not have a blank check to take action that could do grave harm to American vital interests." » Read more

Israel, Palestinians cooperate on Gaza Internet ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Tovah Lazaroff - October 4, 2012 - 12:00am For two days hostilities ceased along a half kilometer stretch of the Gaza fence as Israelis and Palestinians jointly toiled to provide the strip with its first high speed internet service. It will take another two weeks for the service to be up and running, said Maj. Adam Avidan who heads the foreign relations department for the Israeli Coordination and Liaison Administration to the Gaza Strip. “It will allow Gazans to connect to the world, and hopefully to peace,” he said. » Read more

William Hague intervenes over West Bank barrier ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Harriet Sherwood - October 4, 2012 - 12:00am The British foreign secretary and the Archbishop of Westminster have joined forces in opposing the route of Israel's vast barrier along the West Bank, which adversely affects a community of monks, nuns and Christian families near Bethlehem. In a private letter seen by the Guardian, William Hague told Archbishop Vincent Nichols that he shared his "concerns about the problem of land confiscation by the Israeli authorities affecting the people of Beit Jala and similar Palestinian communities in the occupied territories". » Read more

Royal corruption ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Salman Masalha - (Opinion) October 5, 2012 - 12:00am Is it conceivable that foreign governments are buying political parties and public figures in Israel? This no doubt sounds like an unthinkable fabrication to you. But such corruption is indeed taking place here, far from the eyes of the public. His Majesty King Abdullah of Jordan buys political parties and spiritual leaders in Israel. This is done quietly without anyone here showing the least bit of surprise. » Read more

Both Israeli and Arab, a poet straddles a conflict ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Eli Eliyahu - (Interview) October 3, 2012 - 12:00am Our interview has barely begun when Marwan Makhoul says to me, “It’s not easy for me to be interviewed by an Israeli newspaper. We, the Palestinian residents of Israel, are threatened by both sides, the Arab and the Israeli. We’re neither here nor there. We haven’t found a fitting definition for ourselves.” Makhoul, an Arab poet, and I, a Jewish journalist, are together to discuss the Hebrew-language publication of his book, “Land of the Sad Passiflora.” Many of the poems in this volume, he tells me, come straight out of his own biography. » Read more

Israelis Look Nervously Across to Syria ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line by Linda Gradstein - (Opinion) October 4, 2012 - 12:00am Fears that Syria’s Violence Could Spill Over Border into Israel » Read more

Khaled Mishal the “Zionist agent”! ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat by Tariq Alhomayed - (Opinion) October 4, 2012 - 12:00am During the Israeli war on Gaza in early 2009, the Hamas movement was criticized for its recklessness in exposing Gaza to destruction and havoc only to serve the goals of Iran, Hezbollah and Bashar al-Assad in the region. Wise commentators said that the war was not justified, and that it was just another adventure for Hamas after Hezbollah’s adventure in Lebanon in 2006. » Read more

Where Settlers' 'Price Tag' Policy Meets Israel’s Mask of Hypocrisy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Yedioth Ahronoth by Alex Fishman - (Opinion) October 4, 2012 - 12:00am When it comes to [the acts of vandalism perpetrated by Israeli right-wing extremists] "price tag" policy, the government of Israel is hiding behind a mask of pretense and double standards. On the one hand, it requests the law enforcement bodies to crush the phenomenon, the same way they are dealing with Arab terror. On the other hand, it refrains from putting at their disposal the legal measures that would enable them to do so. » Read more

Inside Bibi's Bunker ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy by Chuck Freilich - (Opinion) October 4, 2012 - 12:00am Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's use of a cartoon bomb to illustrate Israel's red lines regarding the Iranian nuclear program may have elicited guffaws among the foreign-policy punditocracy, but the issue is no laughing matter. In fact, Israel's entire defense bureaucracy has long been engaged in an exhaustive assessment of what is undoubtedly among the most difficult decisions Israel has ever faced -- and perhaps the most difficult since David Ben-Gurion declared independence. » Read more

Anti-Semitism—Bad for Palestinians, Too ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by Emily L. Hauser - (Opinion) October 5, 2012 - 12:00am Pro-tip: If your goal is to help the Palestinian people, anti-Semitism is a really poor tool. I happen to be among those who feel that the anti-Semitism accusation is often made far too lightly, flung about at the drop of a settlement boycott or a Goldstone Report, as if any criticism of anything that any Israeli ever does is, by definition, gratuitous Jew hatred. » Read more

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