Middle East News: World Press Roundup

NEWS: Israel's relations with Europe are at a low point in many decades, but experts believe this is unlikely to lead to a widespread boycott of settlement goods. PM Netanyahu visits Germany as ties are strained over lack of progress on peace. Israel bars a dissident Jewish Israeli academic from a diplomatic event in Germany. Jordan's King Abdullah II visits the West Bank. Israel and the Palestinians both harden their position on proposed settlement expansions. Hamas leader Meshaal may visit Gaza on Friday, as speculation grows Israel may increasingly try to talk to him. In retaliation against the Tunisian Foreign Minister's visit to Gaza, Israel bars a Tunisian diplomat from resuming his post in Ramallah. Palestinians say Israel must be held accountable for settlement activity by the international community. Ordinary Palestinians quickly find the UN upgrade hasn't changed anything on the ground. Hamas says it wants to establish the first ever Palestinian "Defense Ministry." COMMENTARY: ATFP Executive Director Ghaith Al-Omari and David Makovsky of WINEP discuss Israel's settlement expansion on PBS' NewsHour. The LA Times says Israel's retaliation against the Palestinians, especially building the E1 settlement, only hurts itself. Ma'an interviews FM al-Maliki. Ari Shavit says the political right is becoming so extreme it is dangerous to Israel. Yossi Verter says Deputy FM Ayalon has been thrown off of his party list because he would not obey commands to keep quiet. Shaul Arieli says Ben Gurion and other early Israeli leaders understood an Israeli state is only possible next to a Palestinian one. Ami Ayalon says Palestine's UN upgrade presents an opportunity to revive peace talks. Shimon Shiffer says ordinary Israelis will pay the price for a collapse in relations with Europe. Shlomo Ben-Ami says Israel needs to launch a vigorous new peace initiative. Noam Sheizaf says Israel is addicted to the status quo. Lara Friedman outlines ways Pres. Obama can "get tough" with Netanyahu. Akiva Eldar says Israel's settlement expansion plans are meant to "punish" the US as well as the Palestinians.

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Israel faces lowest point in Europe relations in decades ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Christian Science Monitor by Christa Case Bryant - December 4, 2012 - 1:00am Jerusalem-The unusually strong European rebuke of Israel’s plans to tighten its grip on land sought for a Palestinian state marks at least a 30-year low point in relations, say Israeli foreign policy scholars. While the nature of Europe’s complaint is not new, the tone reflects both heightened urgency about salvaging the two-state solution, and accumulated impatience with a government seen as diplomatically tone deaf. » Read more

Despite souring relations with Israel, Europe not about to boycott settlement goods, sources predict ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Times of Israel by Raphael Ahren, Joshua Davidovich - December 6, 2012 - 1:00am Sources in the European Union on Thursday played down a report in the Hebrew daily Maariv that Europe was seeking to pass a series of harsh sanctions against Israel following Jerusalem’s announcement last week of plans to expand settlement construction. That move by Israel came in response to the upgrading of the Palestinians’ status the previous day at the UN. » Read more

Peace Process Pulls at Germany-Israel Ties ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Nicholas Kulish - December 5, 2012 - 1:00am BERLIN — Growing up as a teenager in Germany, Jonathan Logan’s opinion of the Middle East conflict was black and white. » Read more

Israel bars academic from Berlin diplomatic event ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Amy Teibel - December 6, 2012 - 1:00am JERUSALEM — Israel barred a dovish Israeli academic from taking part in a science symposium in Berlin on Thursday that was part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Germany, drawing renewed charges that his government has little tolerance for dissent. » Read more

Jordan king in West Bank to support Palestinians ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Dalia Nammari - December 6, 2012 - 1:00am RAMALLAH, West Bank — Jordan's King Abdullah II paid a rare visit to the West Bank on Thursday in a show of support for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' successful bid for U.N. recognition of a Palestinian state. » Read more

Israel, Palestinians escalate settlement showdown ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Amy Teibel - December 5, 2012 - 1:00am JERUSALEM — Palestinians and Israelis hardened their positions Wednesday over a contentious new settlement push around Jerusalem, with Israel going full throttle on plans to develop the area and the Palestinians trying to block it through an appeal to the U.N. Security Council. » Read more

Hamas chief to make first visit to Gaza on Friday ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Nidal al-Mughrabi - December 5, 2012 - 1:00am GAZA, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal will make his first visit to the Gaza Strip on Friday to attend the Palestinian Islamist group's 25th anniversary rally, Hamas sources said on Wednesday. The two-day visit comes in the wake of last month's air offensive by Israel against Hamas and other armed Islamist factions to stop them firing rockets from the enclave at southern Israeli towns. » Read more

Hitmen on hold, Israelis might talk to Meshaal ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Crispian Balmer - December 6, 2012 - 1:00am (Reuters) - Israel once tried to kill Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal in a botched assassination attempt on the streets of the Jordanian capital, Amman. Fifteen years later, it is starting to view him in a slightly different light and Israeli analysts say he might yet prove the man who can open a dialogue between the Palestinian Islamist movement and the Jewish state.   » Read more

Israel prevents Tunisian charge d'affaires in Ramallah from regaining his post ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua December 6, 2012 - 1:00am TUNIS, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- Israel prevented the Tunisian charge d'affaires in the West Bank city Ramallah from regaining his post on Wednesday, the official TAP press agency reported. Israel took this move following the visit by a high-level Tunisian delegation to the Gaza strip, TAP quoted a communique from the Tunisian presidency as saying. » Read more

Palestinians warn Israel must be held accountable over settlements ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters December 4, 2012 - 1:00am UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -- The Palestinians accused Israel in a letter to the United Nations of planning to commit further "war crimes" by expanding Jewish settlements after the Palestinians won de facto UN recognition of statehood and warned that Israel must be held accountable. » Read more

What exactly is Palestine? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Hugh Naylor - December 6, 2012 - 1:00am RAMALLAH // Mahmoud Abbas declared that Palestine had a state on his triumphant return from the United Nations, but many Palestinians are asking: what do we have and what do we call it? The Palestinian Authority (PA) president on Sunday lauded Palestine's "historic achievement" of being recognised as a non-member state at the UN. "Now we have a state," he told thousands gathered at his presidential compound in Ramallah. » Read more

Hamas wants a Gaza defense ministry ATFP World Press Roundup Article from United Press International (UPI) December 6, 2012 - 1:00am GAZA, Dec. 6 (UPI) -- A Hamas official said the group plans to establish a defense ministry in the Gaza Strip to enhance resistance efforts against Israel. Attending a ceremony in Gaza Wednesday to honor police officers injured during Israel's Operation Pillar of Defense, Hamas official Fathi Hamad said the Palestinian army must be prepared and ready to counter Israeli actions, Ahram Online quoted him saying. » Read more

How West Bank Construction Hampers Progress for a Two-State Solution ATFP World Press Roundup Article from PBS (Transcript) December 3, 2012 - 1:00am RAY SUAREZ: For more on what the construction of this settlement could mean for the stalled peace process, I'm joined by David Makovsky of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, and Ghaith Al-Omari, executive director of the American Task Force on Palestine. And, David, is this, strictly speaking, in response to the vote on observer status in the U.N., or is this some something that the Israelis have wanted to do anyway? DAVID MAKOVSKY:, Washington Institute For Near East Policy: Well, it's a little of both. » Read more

Israel takes a harder line ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Los Angeles Times (Editorial) December 4, 2012 - 1:00am When Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas announced that he would seek recognition from the United Nations for a Palestinian state, Israel complained that Abbas should have pursued that objective in face-to-face peace negotiations and warned of grave consequences, threatening to expand settlements or even to "cancel" the peace process altogether. » Read more

PA to use new UN status to create 'international front' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency by Faisal J. Abbas - (Editorial) December 6, 2012 - 1:00am BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) – The Palestinian Authority will seek to take advantage of the qualitative support by some European countries against Israel’s policies in the Palestinian territory through creating an international front to urge countries to take more strict positions against Israel, says the Palestinian minister of foreign affairs. » Read more

The right is a danger to Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Ari Shavit - (Opinion) December 6, 2012 - 1:00am Let's set aside values. Are we indeed prepared to reinforce our status as an occupying state that controls another people for a prolonged period? Let's set aside justice and morals. Are we indeed prepared to turn Zionism into an apartheid movement that denies millions of residents their basic rights? Let's set aside identity. Are we indeed prepared to exchange a Jewish democratic state for a state of ultra-nationalist zealotry that tramples on its minorities? » Read more

The real reason Lieberman ousted Deputy FM Danny Ayalon ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Yossi Verter - (Opinion) December 6, 2012 - 1:00am One day after the surprising ouster of Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon from Yisrael Beiteinu's next Knesset slate, a few details that appear to explain the move leaked out. Highly-placed sources in Yisrael Beiteinu said that party chairman and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman suspects Ayalon of an unforgivable sin - serial leaks to diplomatic reporters. » Read more

Ben-Gurion already agreed to a Palestinian state ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Shaul Arieli - (Opinion) December 6, 2012 - 1:00am In the first years of the Oslo Accords the Israeli government didn't question the Palestinian people's right to self-determination in the land of Israel. Israel also expressed this in its mutual recognition with the PLO. » Read more

Seize the opportunity ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Ami Ayalon - (Opinion) December 6, 2012 - 1:00am If there is one conclusion that can be drawn from the UN General Assembly vote on accepting Palestine as a non-member observer state, it is that the direct negotiations paradigm failed and has been replaced by a new concept: Constructive unilateralism. » Read more

We're going to pay ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Shimon Shiffer - (Opinion) December 6, 2012 - 1:00am In the past, prime ministers would react with scorn and contempt to the UN and European resolutions against Israel. "Um-Shmum," David Ben-Gurion said angrily (um is the Hebrew acronymic pronunciation for 'UN', and the 'shm'-prefix signifies contempt or irony). "Those anti-Semites," Yitzhak Rabin said of the Europeans. And Menachem Begin said after the Sabra and Shatila massacre: "What does the world want from us? » Read more

Israel’s missing peace offensive ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times by Shlomo Ben-Ami - (Opinion) December 5, 2012 - 1:00am Even before the latest ceasefire took hold, it had become clear that the dilemma facing Israel in Gaza entails more than simply developing military answers to the challenge posed by Hamas. » Read more

Israel’s Addiction to the Status Quo ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor by Noam Sheizaf - (Opinion) December 2, 2012 - 1:00am A well-known cliché in Israeli political discourse refers to a high rate of support among the Jewish public for a two-state solution. As the claim goes, despite the Second Intifada and the rounds of fighting against Hamas in Gaza, most Jews still prefer this solution to the annexation of the Palestinian territories. » Read more

How Obama Can Get Tough With Bibi ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by Lara Friedman - (Opinion) December 5, 2012 - 1:00am Recently, the European Union adopted harsh new Iran sanctions, strongly supported by Israel. Shortly thereafter, Israel announced new East Jerusalem settlement construction. The EU’s top official Catherine Ashton, who was about to visit Israel, condemned the announcement in measured terms; Israel’s Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, publicly told her, in effect, to shove it. » Read more

Netanyahu's Christmas Present ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National Interest by Akiva Eldar - (Opinion) December 6, 2012 - 1:00am Israel's declared intention to build settlement housing in the E-1 area could destroy the possibility of the two-state solution. There are two possible U.S. responses. The first would be akin to President George H. W. Bush's consistent and tough settlements policy. The other would resemble President Bill Clinton's incoherent and soft settlement approach. » Read more

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