Middle East News: World Press Roundup

NEWS: Pres. Abbas will reportedly call for renewed negotiations with Israel without preconditions following a UN vote in November. PM Netanyahu announces new Israeli elections for early 2013. Former Israeli PM Olmert may be considering a comeback. More rockets are fired at southern Israel from Gaza following renewed Israeli airstrikes. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has softened his stance towards the Palestinians. Palestinian refugees in Lebanon face growing health concerns. Hamas says it will investigate reports that its forces abused journalists. The Israeli military says it may reinstitute Arabic translations during military tribunals in the occupied West Bank. The unemployment rate among Palestinian citizens of Israel appears to be twice as high as previously thought. The PA reiterates that lack of interest from donors has intensified its cash crisis. The PA approves the first private-sector Palestinian minimum wage. COMMENTARY: Hussein Ibish says settler violence is inherent to the social dynamics and ideology of the occupation. Andrew Quinn says Romney's Middle East policy speech was short on details. Chris McGreal asks if there any real differences between Romney's policies and Pres. Obama's. Sefi Rachlevsky says it's possible for a coalition of non-right-wing political parties to prevail in the next election. Gershon Baskin says turning away from a two-state solution would be a disaster for both Israeli and Palestinian self-determination. Emad El Din Adeeb thinks the 1973 war was an Arab military victory. Reuven Pedatzur says Israel can deter Iran. A new film looks at sexual affairs between Jews and Arabs in Israel. Aaron David Miller says neither Obama nor Romney are as "good" or "bad" on Israel as Jewish Americans think. Abdullatif Al-Mulhim says the Arab world has wasted billions of dollars and tens of thousands of innocent lives quixotically fighting Israel.

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Report: Abbas to propose peace talks after UN vote ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency October 10, 2012 - 12:00am NEW YORK (Ma'an) -- President Abbas told European diplomats on Tuesday that he will resume peace talks with Israel after a UN vote on the Palestinian request for non-member status in the world body, The Associated Press reported. Abbas believes that a freeze on illegal settlement building may not be necessary to engage in talks if the UN recognizes a Palestinian state which includes all of the West Bank, AP reported. » Read more

Netanyahu Calls for Early Elections in Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Jodi Rudoren - May 6, 2012 - 12:00am JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel on Sunday called for early elections, vowing to win a “renewed mandate” and “form the broadest government that is possible&r » Read more

Aides: Israel's ex-PM Olmert considering comeback ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Aron Heller - October 10, 2012 - 12:00am JERUSALEM — Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is considering a political comeback to challenge incumbent Benjamin Netanyahu in the upcoming elections, aides said Wednesday. » Read more

Gaza rockets hit southern Israel following air strike ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua October 10, 2012 - 12:00am JERUSALEM, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Militants in the Gaza Strip early Wednesday fired more rockets at Israeli communities in the western Negev, as a new round of hostilities entered its fourth day. » Read more

Will Palestinians accept Romney's outstretched hand? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Christian Science Monitor by Joshua Mitnick - October 9, 2012 - 12:00am Tel Aviv, Israel Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has softened his message to Palestinians, even as he makes mending ties with Israel a main foreign policy plank. » Read more

Hidden health crisis facing Palestinian refugees in Lebanon ATFP World Press Roundup Article from IRIN October 10, 2012 - 12:00am JOHANNESBURG (IRIN) -- New research has uncovered the hidden health toll that refugee life in Lebanon has taken on more than 400,000 Palestinians. » Read more

Gaza ministry to investigate journalist complaints ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency October 10, 2012 - 12:00am GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- The Gaza Ministry of Interior will launch an inquiry into complaints by journalists against reporting restrictions in the coastal enclave, a spokesman said Wednesday. Interior minister Fathi Hammad issued the decision to form the committee, ministry spokesman Islam Shahwan said. He called on the media to cooperate with the committee. » Read more

IDF may reinstitute Arabic translations in West Bank military courts ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amira Hass - October 10, 2012 - 12:00am The IDF is willing to resume its one-time habit of translating into Arabic the indictments it submits to military courts in the West Bank, but insists there is no need or duty to translate other documents, such as verdicts or court transcripts. The IDF's position was included in the state's response to a petition submitted to the High Court of Justice by four Palestinian attorneys, who claimed that the fact that all documents in military courts are exclusively in Hebrew damages defendants' rights to due process. » Read more

Arab unemployment higher than previously thought ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Ilene Prusher - October 9, 2012 - 12:00am The rate of unemployment among Arabs in Israel is much higher than previously believed, according to a new analysis by Professor Eran Yashiv, chairman of the Economic Policy Program at Tel Aviv University’s Taub Center. » Read more

West Bank cash crisis as donors fail to pay ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent by Matthew Kalman - October 10, 2012 - 12:00am The Palestinian Authority, facing a major cash crisis, has warned 150,000 employees it does not know when they will receive their September salaries. » Read more

Palestinians set first private sector minimum wage ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP) October 9, 2012 - 12:00am RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories — The Palestinian government on Tuesday approved a minimum wage of 1,450 shekels ($376, 290 euros) a month for the private sector, labour minister Ahmed Majdalani said. "This is an unprecedented decision... on which we can build," Majdalani told AFP, dismissing criticism that the rate was to low. » Read more

Where Settler Terrorism Comes From ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) October 9, 2012 - 12:00am Following a series of violent incidents involving settler and pro-settler Jewish Israeli extremists, including the attempted lynching of a Palestinian youth in Jerusalem, many Israelis expressed concern about the rise in violent hatred within their society and wondered where it was coming from. Several incidents over the weekend demonstrated that this trend is only intensifying and clearly pointed to why. » Read more

Romney spares details as he hits Obama on foreign policy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Andrew Quinn - (Analysis) October 8, 2012 - 12:00am WASHINGTON, Oct 8 (Reuters) - Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney on Monday ratcheted up his campaign to cast President Barack Obama as a weak steward of U.S. power, but offered few specific clues about how he would handle world crises differently. » Read more

Is Romney's foreign policy a radical departure from Obama's? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Chris McGreal - (Opinion) October 8, 2012 - 12:00am Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has given his most detailed foreign policy speech to date. But how does Romney's vision for America's place in the world compare to the policies currently being pursued by the Obama administration – and there any contradictions? Syria » Read more

61 seats - mission possible ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Sefi Rachlevsky - (Opinion) October 10, 2012 - 12:00am A year ago, in private conversations, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak marked the winter of 2013 as the time for elections - and not because of the budget. The reason was U.S. President Barack Obama. Netanyahu wanted Obama to have as little time as possible to take revenge on him. The thing is, now Republican candidate Mitt Romney might win. To risk losing eight months with him as president - months so decisive for a war with Iran - is a tough gamble for Netanyahu. » Read more

Zionist fantacide ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Gershon Baskin - (Opinion) October 9, 2012 - 12:00am A day doesn’t go by when I am not asked “isn’t the two-state solution dead?” Today I was asked twice. A former staunch Israeli supporter of this solution called me this evening and said he wanted to begin talking to Palestinians about other options because “it is too late to move the settlers out of the West Bank, they are there to stay and we have to find some way to live together.” » Read more

The miraculous October 1973 victory ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat by Emad El Din Adeeb - (Opinion) September 10, 2012 - 12:00am I find it particularly painful when some of my colleagues show a lack of appreciation for the victorious October 1973 war; a miraculous humanitarian and military victory by any standards. » Read more

Israel Can Deter Iran ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor by Reuven Pedatzur - (Opinion) October 9, 2012 - 12:00am The failure of Israeli policymaking with regards to the Iranian nuclear threat is rooted in the fact that Israeli leaders are completely ignoring the need to discuss Israel’s policy in the event that Iran succeeds in equipping itself with nuclear weapons. In all the discussions taking place in the closed forums led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the focus is on one question alone: whether or not to attack the Iranian nuclear facilities. » Read more

New Film Explores Israeli, Arab Views on Sex With the ‘Other’ ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor by Sophie Claudet - (Interview) October 9, 2012 - 12:00am PARIS — It all started when Yolande Zauberman and her partner in life and work, Selim Nassib, began to work on a screenplay of Nassib’s novel, The Palestinian Lover, which tells the story of an alleged, passionate affair between Golda Meir and a rich Arab banker in then British-administered Palestine. » Read more

Enough Already ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy by Aaron David Miller - (Opinion) October 9, 2012 - 12:00am Once every four years, rational, right-thinking Americans get crazy. Election ads clearly hype up an already polarized electorate. And right about now, on the hot-button issues of the day -- debt, deficit, who's leading from behind in foreign policy and who's not -- many Americans seem to lose the capacity to think for themselves. » Read more

Arab Spring and the Israeli enemy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News by Abdulateef Al-Mulhim - (Opinion) October 6, 2012 - 12:00am Thirty-nine years ago, on Oct. 6, 1973, the third major war between the Arabs and Israel broke out. The war lasted only 20 days. The two sides were engaged in two other major wars, in 1948 and 1967. » Read more

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