Middle East News: World Press Roundup

NEWS: Pres. Abbas and Hamas leader Mishaal meet in Cairo. A car has exploded in Tel Aviv but no clear explanation is yet determined. Abbas rejects a conditional Israeli offer on Palestinian refugees from Syria. A Palestinian man in Gaza, and four in the West Bank, die due to extreme weather. Hamas' University in Gaza is training Hebrew teachers. At least two Palestinians are shot in confrontations with settlers near Nablus. Peace Now says the Israeli government has secretly approved yet another "unauthorized" settlement outpost. Israeli occupation forces demolish a Palestinian home in occupied East Jerusalem. Human rights groups express concern about the death of a Palestinian man in Hamas custody. Israel is persisting in new settlement expansion plans in occupied East Jerusalem in spite of unanimous international opposition. Rap music faces increasing censorship by Hamas in Gaza. COMMENTARY: Reuters interviews extremist Israeli politician Naftali Bennett. Zvi Bar'el says it's absurd that Israel's Arab citizens are so irrelevant to its elections and in the Knesset. Dov Weisglass says the only way forward now is the creation of a temporary Palestinian state with provisional borders, along the lines of Phase II of the Roadmap. Eitan Haber says Pres. Obama's appointment of Chuck Hagel signals Israel cannot move independently against Iran. Mendy Finkel says Israel's critics are too quick to dismiss prospects for a two-state solution. Chris McGreal says Hagel is a true friend of Israel. Laura Rozen says the campaign against Hagel has backfired against right-wing Jewish groups. Osman Mirghani says Hamas' acknowledgement that there is a big difference between opposition and governance, or fantasy and reality, should be a lesson to Islamists everywhere. Abeer Ayyoub says Iran has become the principal backer of Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Shlomi Eldar interviews MK Tibi. Aaron David Miller says the short-term future may be a three, not a two, state reality.

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Abbas and Hamas Leader Meet at Egypt’s Invitation ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Jodi Rudoren - January 9, 2013 - 1:00am   » Read more

Israeli police say blast criminally motivated ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press January 10, 2013 - 1:00am   » Read more

Palestinian leader rejects deal on Syria refugees ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Mohammed Daraghmeh - January 10, 2013 - 1:00am   » Read more

Storm leaves Gaza man dead, Jerusalem snowed in ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press January 10, 2013 - 1:00am   » Read more

Four Palestinians killed in West Bank flooding ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Yaniv Kubovich - January 10, 2013 - 1:00am   Four Palestinians have died in the West Bank as a result of this week's storm. On Wednesday morning Palestinian rescue personnel found two bodies of young Palestinian women who had been missing since Tuesday night, after the car they were riding in was swept away by floods between Nablus and Tul Karm. The car and its driver were found several kilometers away with the driver suffering from hypothermia. » Read more

Hamas flagship university grooms Hebrew teachers ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Diaa Hadid - January 9, 2013 - 1:00am   » Read more

Settlers clash with Nablus villages, 2 wounded by gunfire ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency January 10, 2013 - 1:00am Two Palestinians suffered gunshot wounds in clashes with Israeli settlers and soldiers in separate incidents in the northern West Bank on Thursday, an official said. Dozens of residents of Yitzhar settlement clashed with Palestinians who were playing in the snow in the nearby Urif village, south of Nablus, settler-monitoring official Ghassan Daghlas said. Israeli forces arrived at the scene and tried to persuade the Palestinian to leave, but they refused, he said. » Read more

Peace Now: Israeli govt secretly approved settler outpost ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency January 8, 2013 - 1:00am After the Israeli government gave official sanction to three settler outposts last year, a fourth illegal community has been included in the boundaries, an Israeli peace group said Tuesday. All Jewish settlements in the West Bank are illegal under international law. However, Israel distinguishes between settlements it has approved and the outposts which were never granted official authorization. In April 2012 the Israeli government retroactively authorized three outposts -- Rehelim, Sansana and Bruchin. » Read more

Israeli forces demolish house in East Jerusalem ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency January 8, 2013 - 1:00am Israeli forces demolished a house in East Jerusalem on Tuesday on the pretext that it was being built without a permit, a local official said. Fakhri Abu Diab, head of the Committee for the Defense of Silwan, told official news agency Wafa that Israeli bulldozers arrived early Tuesday and destroyed the home, which was under construction at the time.  The house, located in the Silwan neighborhood south of Jerusalem's Old City, was uninhabited at the time. » Read more

Rights groups concerned by Gaza death in custody ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency January 9, 2013 - 1:00am The death of a Palestinian man while in the custody of the Gaza government in recent weeks must be thoroughly and transparently investigated, human rights groups say. Atef Khamis Derbas, 52, was being held in the central Ansar prison in Gaza City for unpaid debts, before he died on Dec. 27. His family told the Al-Haq human rights group they had informed prison authorities of his pre-existing medical problems, and that he was suffering in jail due to cold conditions and not taking his medication regularly. » Read more

Israel to market disputed East Jerusalem housing project before election ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Yair Ettinger - January 10, 2013 - 1:00am   The Israeli government and the Jerusalem municipality are hard at work on the goal of offering for sale 1,500 housing units in the capital's Ramat Shlomo neighborhood, the focus of international censure, before the January 22 elections. Plans for the project, which is over the Green Line, were approved last month by the National Planning and Building Council, causing tension between Jerusalem and the West. » Read more

Rap Musicians Censored in Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor January 8, 2013 - 1:00am   Mohammad Antar is a 26-year-old rapper. For over a year, Mohammed has been practicing the songs he has written in front of the mirror. He will be lucky if he even gets a chance to perform them during an "underground" concert, with only his friends as the audience. » Read more

Right-wing millionaire is Israel campaign's surprise star ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Maayan Lubell - (Opinion) January 9, 2013 - 1:00am   A right-wing millionaire who says a Palestinian state would be suicide for Israel has emerged as the surprise success story of the country's election campaign. » Read more

The Arab elephant in the Knesset ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Zvi Barel - (Opinion) January 8, 2013 - 1:00am   » Read more

Back to the Road Map? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Dov Weissglas - (Opinion) January 10, 2013 - 1:00am The Israeli-Palestinian horizon is getting so dark there is almost no hope left. The complete diplomatic stalemate, the deteriorating economic situation, the weakening of the Palestinian Authority and Hamas' growing power (to some extent as a result of intentional Israeli activity) – all of these have brought the Palestinians back to the streets and intensified the rioting and acts of violence. » Read more

White House changed the rules ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Eitan Haber - (Opinion) January 10, 2013 - 1:00am You would have to be deaf, a fool and a minor – as it says in the Talmud – not to understand the message relayed this week from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington to the residents of Kaplan 3 Street in Jerusalem: The people in the White House changed the rules of the game and have informed Benjamin Netanyahu of the change. » Read more

Why are Israel’s critics trying to kill two-state solution? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post (Opinion) January 9, 2013 - 1:00am The two-state solution apparently has seen better days. Indeed, according to The Atlantic’s Robert Wright the two-state solution is on its “deathbed,” while the Daily Beast’s Andrew Sullivan has already lost all hope in the prospects of an independent Palestinian state. » Read more

What makes Chuck Hagel a true friend of Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Chris McGreal - (Opinion) January 9, 2013 - 1:00am   » Read more

Chuck Hagel Failure May Haunt Hawks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Forward (Opinion) January 9, 2013 - 1:00am   Hawkish groups that sought to pre-emptively sink Chuck Hagel’s candidacy for secretary of defense may have been trying to teach President Obama and his supporters a lesson — but it seems they’re the ones who may look back at this episode as a cautionary tale. » Read more

The confessions of Hamas are a message to the Islamists ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat by Osman Mirghani - (Opinion) January 9, 2013 - 1:00am   Speaking before the Islamists and Democratic Governance Conference a few months ago, Khaled Mishal, head of the Hamas political bureau, acknowledged there was a difference between opposition and governance, between imagination and reality, and between being a critic and a practitioner. He concluded that the Islamists in general had to admit that governance was harder than they had first imagined, and this applies to Hamas as well. » Read more

Iran Top Backer of Palestinian Islamic Jihad ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor by Abeer Ayyoub - (Opinion) January 9, 2013 - 1:00am   As far as the Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, are concerned, 2012 was their golden year. For the first time, it managed to use qualitative weapons that seemingly altered the pace of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. » Read more

Ahmad Tibi: No Apologies For Being a 'Palestinian Patriot' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor by Shlomi Eldar - (Opinion) January 9, 2013 - 1:00am "I’m a Palestinian patriot whether you like it or not. If I wasn’t, I wouldn’t be Ahmad Tibi.” That’s how the Arab Knesset member who has spent fourteen years on the opposition benches of Israel’s parliament, describes himself in a special interview with Al-Monitor. » Read more

The Three-State Solution ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy by Aaron David Miller - (Opinion) January 10, 2013 - 1:00am   » Read more

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