Middle East News: World Press Roundup

NEWS: Hamas is moving forward with teaching Hebrew to Gaza schoolchildren. Pro-Hamas students face serious difficulties completing their education in the West Bank. The EU expresses “concern” over the arrest of a leader of Palestinian nonviolent protests. The rebirth of Palestine's national air carrier is part of a move towards state sovereignty. The PA says Israel has violated an Egyptian-brokered prisoner exchange agreement. South Africa demands Israeli settlement produced goods be clearly labeled as distinct from those from Israel. Armed settlers attacked a village near Nablus while Israeli soldiers apparently do nothing to prevent the use of live ammunition. A new study shows 70% of Palestinians living in occupied East Jerusalem exist below the poverty line. The Knesset is moving forward with a bill to retroactively “legalize” unauthorized settlements. Palestinian writer Salameh Kaileh describes Syria as a “slaughterhouse.” COMMENTARY: Thomas Friedman says now is the time for constructive unilateralism on Israel's part. Amira Hass says Israel is encouraging Hamas ruling Gaza because it wants to detach it from the West Bank. Denis MacShane says Israel cannot be compared to apartheid South Africa. Ray Hanania says Israel's withholding of Palestinian tax revenues is a serious threat to calm and stability. Leonard Fein says for many young Jewish Americans, Israel is nothing but a headache. Peter Beinart says Palestinians and Israelis have in fact been negotiating, even though everybody thinks they have not been. Elliott Abrams says the Hamas-Fatah agreement for national elections might displace PM Fayyad but not produce elections or any lasting national reunification. Yossi Beilin says it's hard to know at this point how much of a hard liner PM Netanyahu really is. Mahdi Abdul Hadi says Israel has retreated into a bunker mentality government. Hussein Ibish recounts his debate with Reza Aslan at UCLA and emphasizes the importance of human agency and choices in determining the path of the future.

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Hamas-Run Schools Set Out to Teach ‘the Language of the Enemy’ ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Jodi Rudoren - May 22, 2012 - 12:00am GAZA — There are few electives in the Hamas-run high schools here. Students can study health and the environment, or they can learn French. And, starting this fall at some schools, they will be able to sign up for a new course called Know Your Enemy. » Read more

Pro-Hamas students holed up on West Bank campus ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Mohammed Daraghmeh - May 23, 2012 - 12:00am BIR ZEIT, West Bank — At 26, Saed Qasrawi is among the oldest students at Bir Zeit University in the West Bank. The leading Hamas activist has been enrolled for eight years, but he has been unable to complete his undergraduate engineering program because he keeps getting detained by Palestinian security forces before final exams. » Read more

EU 'concerned' over conviction of Palestinian ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Diaa Hadid - May 23, 2012 - 12:00am JERUSALEM — The European Union says it is "concerned" over Israel's conviction of a prominent Palestinian protest leader. An Israeli military court on Sunday convicted Bassem al-Tamimi, 45, of urging youths to throw rocks at security forces and of leading illegal demonstrations, based on the testimony of a 15-year-old. Al-Tamimi led protests in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh for years against Israeli policies. The protests often turn into clashes between rock-throwing youths and Israeli forces firing tear gas. » Read more

Resuming Palestinian Airlines flights sign of future state sovereignty ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua by Emad Drimly, Osama Radi - (Analysis) May 22, 2012 - 12:00am RAMALLAH, May 22 (Xinhua) -- At his office in Ramallah, captain Zeyad al-Badda, director of the Palestinian Airlines "al- Falastinia" runs coordination of flights with officials at the airports of al-Arish in the Egyptian Peninsula of Sinai and Marka Airport in Jordan for Palestinian passengers. » Read more

Israel violates Egypt-brokered prisoner deal: PNA ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua May 22, 2012 - 12:00am RAMALLAH, May 22 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) said on Tuesday that Israel has violated an Egypt-brokered prisoner deal that demands the transfer of 18 Palestinians it jailed from solitary confinement to regular cells. Palestinian Minister of Prisoners Affairs Eissa Qaraqe' said Israel is still holding one prisoner in solitary confinement, pointing to its "intention to evade the articles of the agreement. " » Read more

Israel: South Africa's desire to label West Bank goods is 'racist' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Joshua Mitnick - May 21, 2012 - 12:00am In the 45 years since gaining control of the West Bank, Israel has refrained from formally annexing the territory claimed by the Palestinians, in part out of fear of an international uproar. In trade, however, Israel has been labeling goods from Jewish settlements there as “Made in Israel” for years. » Read more

Settlers 'attack village' near Bethlehem ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency May 23, 2012 - 12:00am BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli settlers on Tuesday attacked several homes during a march through a village near Bethlehem, witnesses said. Dozens of settlers threw rocks at homes and shops in Tuqu and shut down the main road, preventing cars from entering the village, locals told Ma'an. Israeli soldiers were stationed at the entrances to Tuqu and were protecting the settlers, witnesses added. An Israeli military spokeswoman said settlers had lined up about a dozen cars in a procession through the area. She said the army was unaware of any incident.

78 percent of Jerusalem Palestinians living in poverty ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency May 23, 2012 - 12:00am JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- A report released this week by an Israeli human rights organization reveals that 78 percent of Palestinians in Jerusalem live below the poverty line. According to the report by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, extreme poverty and high unemployment rates in East Jerusalem are a direct result of decades of Israeli policies which have stifled the economy in Palestinian areas. » Read more

Knesset to hold reading of outpost bill ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Tovah Lazaroff - May 23, 2012 - 12:00am The Knesset is poised to hold a preliminary reading of an outpost bill which would legalize many unauthorized West Bank Jewish homes in both outposts and settlements. Ahead of Wednesday’s vote, National Union Party leader Ya’acov Katz, who proposed the bill, and MK Zevulun Orlev (Habayit Hayehudi) met Tuesday with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who has opposed efforts to legislate the issue of unauthorized Jewish building in the West Bank. » Read more

Palestinian writer describes Syrian prisons as 'slaughterhouses' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press May 23, 2012 - 12:00am AMMAN // A prominent Palestinian writer who spent nearly three weeks in jail in Syria described the prisons as "human slaughterhouses", saying security agents beat detainees with batons, crammed them into stinking cells and tied them to beds at night. » Read more

Power With Purpose ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Thomas L. Friedman - (Opinion) May 22, 2012 - 12:00am Political power is always a double-edged sword. The more of it you amass, the more people expect you to use it to do big things, and, when you don’t, the more ineffectual you look. That’s the dilemma in which Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu of Israel finds himself. He avoided early elections by adding a new centrist coalition partner to his right-wing cabinet, giving him control of 96 of the 120 seats in Parliament. There are Arab dictators who didn’t have majorities that big after rigged elections. » Read more

Israel is doing everything to separate Gaza, West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amira Hass - (Opinion) May 23, 2012 - 12:00am An elephant will be sitting Wednesday in the courtroom of Supreme Court justices Asher Grunis, Salim Joubran and Noam Sohlberg. The elephant will occupy the places of the five plaintiffs, who will be absent: five women from the Gaza Strip who were accepted into Bir Zeit University in the West Bank. Four want to go on to a master's degree in gender studies. » Read more

Israel cannot be compared to apartheid South Africa ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Denis MacShane - (Opinion) May 21, 2012 - 12:00am Speaking at the Istanbul World Political Forum last week, the Israeli journalist Gideon Levy got at least one listener to his denunciation of Israel as a "tyranny" worked up. » Read more

Palestinian financial problems ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Ray Hanania - (Opinion) May 22, 2012 - 12:00am Much is made of the fact that the late president Yasser Arafat controlled billions in funds that were used to support the Palestinian struggle for statehood and freedom. And since it also involved politics, more than a few people asserted there was corruption, asking how could one man be in charge of so much money? When George Washington led the American revolution against the British in the mid-18th century, he also controlled a vast sum of money, in the tens of millions, which back then was the equivalent of hundreds of millions, maybe even billions. » Read more

Stopping Them From ‘Tuning Out Israel’ ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Leonard Fein - (Opinion) May 20, 2012 - 12:00am Just about wherever I go these days, or so it seems, I encounter 20-somethings who have tuned out of Israel. I know that there’s a difference between anecdotes and evidence, but when a series of uninvited anecdotes all point in the same direction — well, that’s a lot of smoke, and it makes sense to look for the fire. » Read more

Don't Tell Anyone But Israel and the Palestinians Have Been Negotiating ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by Peter Beinart - (Opinion) May 22, 2012 - 12:00am Last week I debated The Crisis of Zionism with my friend David Suissa at Temple Israel in Los Angeles. Whenever I suggested that Benjamin Netanyahu might be less than enthusiastic about birthing a Palestinian state near the 1967 lines, David responded that at least Netanyahu was willing to talk. » Read more

The Palestinian Disunity Government ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Council On Foreign Relations by Elliott Abrams - (Blog) May 22, 2012 - 12:00am Last Sunday in Cairo, Hamas and Fatah signed an agreement to create the national unity government to which they agreed in principle months ago in Doha. They will meet on May 27 and have given themselves ten days to negotiate a new coalition that would then carry out elections. This announcement is interesting and potentially significant, but not in obvious ways. First, it was brokered by the Egyptian General Intelligence Service. This is a significant display of the continued vigor of that organization and its influence on the Palestinian parties. » Read more

AN ISRAELI VIEW: Prisoner of the unity government ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons by Yossi Beilin - (Opinion) May 21, 2012 - 12:00am The recent expansion of the ruling coalition in Israel to 94 members of Knesset did not reflect an intention either to lead or to thwart a peace process. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu needed no reinforcements in order to maintain a policy that has succeeded very nicely thus far from his standpoint: refuse to freeze settlement construction, make frequent declarations regarding a vague readiness to contemplate "painful compromises" and a Palestinian state somewhere in the West Bank, and place the blame for the non-existence of a peace process on the Palestinian side. » Read more

A PALESTINIAN VIEW: Israel's 'bunker government' 2012 ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons by Mahdi Abdul Hadi - (Opinion) May 21, 2012 - 12:00am Most recently, we have witnessed Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in four different spheres. Simultaneously, he was architect of the coalition deal with Israeli opposition party Kadima; negotiations (with Egypt) and the subsequent compromise ending the Palestinian prisoners' hunger strike; the response of "words and not deeds" to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' letter; and the continuation of military operations against Palestinians in Gaza and settlement expansion in the West Bank, including Jerusalem. » Read more

Nothing is “inevitable” ATFP World Press Roundup Article from NOW Lebanon by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) May 22, 2012 - 12:00am One of the most important political principles is that history is not deterministic in any sense. It is, rather, a genealogy of human choices. It is shaped by agency, intentionality and decisions that are both individual and collective.  » Read more

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