Middle East News: World Press Roundup

NEWS: PM Netanyahu reiterates his willingness to strike Iran without any international support. Israel says it is preparing to “ensure the collapse” of a new Palestinian UN initiative, and is considering a range of retaliatory measures. Israel issues tenders for 1,200 new settlement housing units in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank.The Syrian government physically shutters Hamas' offices in Damascus.A Turkish court is trying four Israeli military officers in absentia over the deadly flotilla incident. Three Israeli soldiers are wounded by a bomb near the Gaza border. School teachers go on strike in the West Bank. Hamas denies it prevented a Fatah official from leaving Gaza. Russia says Hamas can play a vital role in advancing the Palestinian issue. Palestinians and Israeli settlers are locked in a court battle over the burning of wood for fuel. FM Lieberman's new level of influence is worrying some Israelis. An internal Israeli Foreign Ministry report allegedly contradicts many current government assumptions, including that Palestinian statehood would not threaten Israel, but the stalled peace process does. COMMENTARY: Hussein Ibish pens a memo to the incoming American president on Middle East policy. George Salem says Arab-Americans should vote for Mitt Romney, but Jim Zogby says they should reelect Pres. Obama. Bernard Avishai says a Romney administration would probably ignore the Israeli-Palestinian problem, and that would be a disaster. Adam Gonn says Pres. Abbas is trying to reinsert the Palestinian issue into Israel's election. David Grossman says Netanyahu urgently needs to talk to Abbas. Gershon Baskin says that in his recent interview with Israeli TV, Abbas merely reiterated long-established positions and again demonstrated he is a good partner for peace. J.J. Goldberg says Netanyahu will probably find himself in conflict with whoever wins the American election. Jonathan Yavin says the assassination of the late PM Rabin marked a turning point in Israel's history. Elisheva Goldberg profiles a generation of Israeli youngsters being inculcated with the extremist ideology of the late Rabbi Kahane. Philippe Assouline says both Hamas and the PA are suppressing aspects of Palestinian culture they don't like. Michael Koplow compares Abbas to Guy Fawkes.

---

---

---

Netanyahu Says He’d Go It Alone on Striking Iran ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Jodi Rudoren - November 5, 2012 - 1:00am JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday reiterated his willingness to attack the Iranian nuclear program without support from Washington or the world, returning to an aggressive posture that he had largely abandoned since his United Nations speech in September. » Read more

Israel preparing to ‘ensure collapse’ of Palestinian U.N. bid ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP) November 6, 2012 - 1:00am Israel is preparing to counter a Palestinian bid for enhanced United Nations status later this month, a foreign ministry spokesman told AFP on Tuesday. The comments came as Israel’s private Channel 10 reported that Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman last month pledged to ensure the “collapse” of the Palestinian Authority if the bid for non-member status at the General Assembly goes forward. » Read more

Senior Israeli ministers to discuss 'retaliatory actions' against Palestinians over UN bid ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Barak Ravid - November 6, 2012 - 1:00am Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's forum of nine senior ministers will meet on Tuesday to discuss the Palestinian Authority's decision to request an upgrade of its status at the United Nations. During the meeting, the country's most senior ministers will consider a range of retaliatory actions against the Palestinian leadership, an official in Jerusalem said. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to request the United Nations General Assembly to upgrade Palestine's status to "non-member observer state" during November. » Read more

Israel moves ahead building of 1,200 settler homes ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Amy Teibel - November 6, 2012 - 1:00am JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel said Tuesday that it was pushing forward with construction of more than 1,200 new homes in Jewish settlements, in an apparent warning to the Palestinians to rethink their plan to ask the United Nations to recognize an independent state of Palestine. » Read more

Syria shutters Hamas offices in break with group ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press November 6, 2012 - 1:00am GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip —A spokesman for Hamas says the Syrian government has sealed its offices in Damascus, finalizing the break between the Islamic militant group and its former patron. Spokesman Ayman Taha said on Tuesday that the move had been expected after Hamas openly switched sides to support the armed rebellion against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Taha says Monday's move by Damascus was "a result of our siding with the Syrian people in their just struggle." Taha spoke from Cairo. » Read more

Turkish court tries Israelis in Gaza flotilla case ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press November 6, 2012 - 1:00am ISTANBUL —A Turkish court on Tuesday opened a trial in absentia of four former Israeli military commanders in the killing of nine people aboard a Turkish aid ship that tried to break a Gaza blockade. Prosecutors have demanded life in prison for several officers in command at the time of the 2010 Israeli raid, but it appears unlikely that any sentence could be carried out. » Read more

3 Israeli soldiers wounded in bombing on Gaza border ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua November 6, 2012 - 1:00am JERUSALEM, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) -- Three Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers were wounded in a bombing by Palestinian militants along the southern Gaza border early Tuesday. The IDF said in a statement sent to Xinhua that one of the soldiers sustained moderate wounds and the other two were hurt lightly in the blast, which took place near Kibbutz Nirim. » Read more

Teacher strike closes West Bank schools ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency November 6, 2012 - 1:00am RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- The teachers union undertook large scale strike action on Tuesday, forcing most schools in the West Bank to close for the day. The union had announced Saturday that it would hold half-day strikes for two weeks, blaming the Palestinian Authority government for ignoring their salary demands. Union head Muhammad Sowan had told Ma'an that school teachers would leave at 12 p.m. each day starting Sunday, and on Tuesdays teachers would not go into work at all. » Read more

Hamas denies preventing Fatah official from leaving Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency November 6, 2012 - 1:00am GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- The Ministry of Interior in Gaza on Tuesday denied reports that security forces had prevented a Fatah official from leaving the Gaza Strip a day earlier, a statement said. Central committee member Amal Hamad waited at the Palestinian side of the Erez crossing for two hours before she was turned back, Fatah said on Monday. » Read more

Russia FM: Hamas can play vital role in advancing Palestinian issue ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Avi Issacharoff - November 5, 2012 - 1:00am Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday that the Palestinian issue must remain a top priority and should not be neglected as a result of the upheavals of the Arab Spring. Speaking after a meeting with the deputy head of Hamas' political bureau, Moussa Abu Marzouk, in Cairo, Lavrov clarified that Moscow thinks Hamas can play an important role in advancing the Palestinian issue. "We believe the Palestinian issue cannot be solved without Palestinian unity, and the same goes for solving the entire Middle East conflict." » Read more

Court addresses fumes, moving Palestinians ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Yonah Jeremy Bob - November 6, 2012 - 1:00am The High Court of Justice on Monday held another hearing in which settlers say Palestinians around Wadi Ara are harming them with the fumes created through coal production, while the Palestinians say that the settlers are just trying to force them off their land. » Read more

Avigdor Lieberman's New Role Raises Worries ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Nathan Guttman - November 4, 2012 - 12:00am Washington D.C. — Pro-Israel activists who have long depicted Israel’s firebrand foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, as a marginal figure are now pondering how to explain his enhanced role to American politicians and others following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to merge his party with Lieberman’s and effectively make Lieberman his chief deputy. » Read more

Palestinian statehood doesn’t threaten Israel — but stalled peace process might, internal Foreign Ministry report says ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Times of Israel by Raphael Ahren - November 5, 2012 - 1:00am The Palestinian statehood bid at the United Nations does not delegitimize Israel, Jerusalem’s demand for recognition as a Jewish state does nothing for the country’s legitimacy, and the stalled peace process harms Israeli interests. All these assertions, which read like the talking points of a European government or a pro-Palestinian NGO, are found in a report written by a senior official in the Foreign Ministry, of Israel. » Read more

A Memo to the US President ATFP World Press Roundup Article from NOW Lebanon by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) November 6, 2012 - 1:00am Dear Mr. President: congratulations on winning today's election. The third debate with your esteemed opponent reflected a broad consensus on foreign policy. Both of you therefore appeared well-positioned to make any necessary course corrections, but the job is yours. US Middle East policy needs to be tweaked rather than overhauled. On most pressing issues, current policies reflect a reasonable balance between American values and interests, and the really existing options and politically plausible positions for any administration.  » Read more

Mitt Romney Deserves the Arab-American Vote ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Hayat by George Salem - (Opinion) November 5, 2012 - 1:00am The coming presidential election presents a consequential choice for American voters. Many Americans are concerned with the direction their country is heading. Arab Americans are no different. As a community we are well integrated into American political life and an important voting constituency in many areas of the country. Our vote matters, as do the concerns and insight of our community matter this election season. In September 2012, the Arab American Institute released a poll on how the community will vote. » Read more

Barack Obama Understands the Arab-American Community and its Concerns ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Hayat by James J. Zogby - (Opinion) November 5, 2012 - 1:00am On November 6th, I will enthusiastically cast my vote to reelect Barack Obama as President of the United States. I will do so without hesitation despite the disappointment that I and many in my community feel with the lack of change or progress made during the past four years on many issues about which we care deeply. » Read more

What A Romney Win Means For Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from by Bernard Avishai - (Opinion) November 5, 2012 - 1:00am Most American Jews will vote tomorrow for reasons other than Israel but few will vote indifferent to it.  So let’s be clear what a Romney administration, reaching into the foreseeable future, really means. » Read more

Abbas tries to put Palestinian issue back on Israeli political agenda ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua by Adam Gonn - (Analysis) November 6, 2012 - 1:00am JERUSALEM, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian National Authority ( PNA) President Mahmoud Abbas over the weekend gave an interview to Israeli TV Channel 2, in which he touched on a number of issues that are central to Israeli-Palestinian relations, including the 1967 lines, the Palestinian refugees' right to return, and the Palestinian uprising. » Read more

An open letter to Netanyahu: It's time to speak to Abbas ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by David Grossman - (Opinion) November 6, 2012 - 1:00am What are you waiting for, Benjamin Netanyahu? Mahmoud Abbas, the head of the Palestinian Authority, said in an interview on Israeli television that he is willing to return to Safed, his hometown, as a tourist. Implicit in his words is the most explicit renunciation of the "right of return" that an Arab leader is capable of uttering at this time, before the start of negotiations. So, why are you waiting? » Read more

Encountering Peace: The leader and the leaderless ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Gershon Baskin - (Editorial) November 5, 2012 - 1:00am What Palestinian Authority chairman had to say to the people of Israel in his interview on Channel 2 on Friday night, I heard months ago in private meetings with him, following which I wrote detailed reports and analysis for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. Just to recap his main points for any who may have missed the interview: 1. As long as he is chairman of the PA, there will be no third intifada and no return to violence. » Read more

Can Bibi Make Nice? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by J.J. Goldberg - (Opinion) November 4, 2012 - 12:00am Regardless of who is sworn in as president next January 20, Israeli-American relations are headed for a period of profound uncertainty. We’ve been so focused on debating whether and how Barack Obama gets along with Israel that we’ve completely overlooked a more important question: Can Benjamin Netanyahu can get along with the United States? » Read more

Rabin’s Assassination Marked The End of an Era ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Yedioth Ahronoth by Jonathan Yavin - (Editorial) October 18, 2012 - 12:00am Seventeen years after the murder of [late Prime Minister] Yitzak Rabin, of blessed memory, the tears have dried, and so has the conversation. Enough time has passed, and naturally, the event has passed from the dark expanses of trauma to the junkyard of history. When people discuss the murder, they no longer focus on the incitement that preceded it, nor on the actions of Rabin the man, the soldier, the leader — but rather the results and the implications that we continued to live daily. The inquiries are purposeful: What happened to us since then? Where are we going? » Read more

'Kahane For Kids' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by Elisheva Goldberg - (Opinion) November 6, 2012 - 1:00am Last week, some four hundred followers—around 300 men, 100 women—marked Rabbi Meir Kahane's death in a dilapidated wedding hall in a poor religious neighborhood in Jerusalem. The lighting was poor, the food was cheap, but the guests were hardcore. Bentzi Gupstein, a graduate of the Kach movement and Kiryat Arba settler, announced that they picked the place it was where Kahane always held his public events. It is, he claimed, the only place in Jerusalem “where they never let Arabs in.” » Read more

Speaking power to truth in Gaza and the West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Times of Israel by Philippe Assouline, Daniel Putterman - (Editorial) November 4, 2012 - 12:00am Artists move us beyond dogmas. Think of the role of music in the anti-war movement of the 1960s. Think of the impact that “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” or “The Diary of Anne Frank” had on public consciousness. Art is the vanguard of progress. » Read more

The Palestinian Guy Fawkes ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Atlantic by Michael Koplow - (Opinion) November 5, 2012 - 1:00am Today is Guy Fawkes Day, which commemorates the plot by a group of English Catholics to blow up the Houses of Parliament and King James I along with it. The plot was disrupted on November 5, 1605, when Fawkes was discovered with the cache of gunpowder underneath Westminster. Ever since, Fawkes has been associated with the Gunpowder Treason and fated to be burned in effigy by English schoolchildren every November 5. » Read more

---

---