Middle East News: World Press Roundup

NEWS: Israel's governing coalition breaks up over the issue of military service. FM Lieberman predicts early elections. Israel recognizes a college in a West Bank settlement as the first officially recognized Israeli “university” in the occupied Palestinian territories. Hamas takes over UN summer camps for children in Gaza after agencies run out of money. Israeli police arrest a suspect for writing threatening graffiti at the home of Peace Now's Settlement Watch Director. The Arab League says it will create a committee to investigate the death of the late Pres. Arafat. The VOA looks at the controversy about claims Arafat was poisoned. The PA expresses outrage over remarks by Israel's attorney general that the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem is integral to Israeli territory. Pres. Abbas meets Pres. Morsy. Palestinians at a refugee camp near Damascus are sheltering 2,000 displaced Syrians. Israel's high court will hear a petition regarding the death of a Palestinian woman at a West Bank protest. The Israeli government says it's not going to oppose a petition by settlers to remain in an area ordered evacuated by the Israeli High Court. An extremist Israeli MK publicly tears up a copy of the New Testament. COMMENTARY: Former Israeli ambassador to South Africa Liel supports a settlement goods boycott. Amira Hass says Israeli human rights activists face an anti-Semitism that goes unidentified and unpunished. Salman Masalha says the debate about rights and responsibilities in Israel is doing an injustice to the Druze community. Gil Hoffman says Kadima faces a tough future outside the Netanyahu coalition, but Akiva Eldar says Netanyahu also faces more difficulties. Yossi Beilin agrees that PM Netanyahu can be defeated. Ian Black says the Arab uprisings, especially in Syria, are threatening old Israeli certainties. Peter Beinart says the root cause of the widely perceived failure of the Obama administration on Middle East peace is an unwillingness to pressure Israel. Marilyn Katz says settlements threaten Middle East peace.

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Unity Government in Israel Disbanding Over Dispute on Draft ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Jodi Rudoren - July 17, 2012 - 12:00am The broadest unity coalition Israel has seen in many years broke apart Tuesday evening, rent by irreconcilable differences over how to integrate ultra-Orthodox men and Arab citizens into the military » Read more

Lieberman foresees early elections ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Moran Azulay - July 18, 2012 - 12:00am With Kadima's withdrawl from the coalition final, all eyes are on Avigdor Leiberman's Yisrael Beiteinu which is now Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's senior coalition partner again. However, Lieberman is in no hurry to threaten resignation, despite the fact that his universal draft bill is not set to pass the Knesset vote on Wednesday. "We won't give anyone that pleasure," he told Ynet and suggested there is a possibility elections will be held in early 2013. » Read more

West Bank: Israel Authorizes University in Jewish Settlement ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Isabel Kershner - July 17, 2012 - 12:00am An Israeli education committee voted Tuesday to grant full university status to an academic center in Ariel, a large Jewish settlement, making it the first Israeli university in the West Bank. Most of the world views the areas that Israal conquered from Jordan in the 1967 war, and where the Palestinians want to establish a future state, as occupied territory, and the Israeli settlements there as a violation of international law. Critics denounced the decision as a political move aimed at bolstering the settlement project. » Read more

Hamas now has monopoly on summer fun for Gaza kids ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Diaa Hadid - July 17, 2012 - 12:00am The Islamic militant Hamas has won a vital battle with the U.N. over the hearts of Gaza's children, moving unopposed into the summer camp sector this year after the world body ran out of money. That means Gaza kids who go to camp will have only the option of those that are heavy with lessons on Islam, political indoctrination and, in some cases, paramilitary training. » Read more

Israel nabs suspect in attack on activist's home ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press July 17, 2012 - 12:00am Israeli police say they have arrested a 21-year-old man for allegedly spraying hate graffiti on the home of a prominent anti-settlement activist. Activist Hagit Ofran said she found messages on the stairwell of her Jerusalem apartment building on Monday reading "Hagit — you're dead." Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld says the suspect admitted to vandalizing the home, as well as the office of Ofran's employer, the Peace Now group. » Read more

Arab League to form committee to probe Arafat's death ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua July 18, 2012 - 12:00am The Arab League (AL) decided on Tuesday to set up an independent committee to probe the death of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. The committee will work with the Palestinian side and Arab and international bodies to reveal the details behind Arafat's death, according to a statement issued after a meeting of the pan-Arab body's permanent delegates. The AL urged Palestinian investigators to provide all information available and other countries, especially France, to support the committee's work. » Read more

Was Yasser Arafat Poisoned? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Voice of America by Cecily Hilleary - July 17, 2012 - 12:00am Former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat died in 2004 of a sudden illness, which led to a fury of conspiracy theories that have never died down.  The rumors surrounding his death were revitalized recently after a the Lucerne-based Swiss Institute of Radiophysics found traces of the deadly radioactive agent polonium  on Arafat’s clothing and personal effects.  So what has prompted this investigation into Arafat’s death - and could an autopsy of his remains finally put a rest to this enduring mystery? » Read more

PNA outraged by Israel's remarks about Al-Aqsa Mosque ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua July 17, 2012 - 12:00am Palestinian National Authority ( PNA) was outraged Tuesday by Israel's attorney general's remarks that Muslim's Al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem is integral to Israeli territory and thus under Israeli Law. Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat protested the comment, saying it went against UN Security Council resolutions and the Palestinian-Israeli agreements. Erekat stressed that East Jerusalem with its holy places and archaeological sites are part of an occupied territory. "All the Israeli attempts to annex them are illegal and unrecognized." » Read more

Abbas in Egypt to meet Mursi ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency July 18, 2012 - 12:00am President Mahmoud Abbas arrived in Egypt on Tuesday evening to meet with newly elected Egyptian President Muhammad Mursi. The president will update Mursi, Egypt's first democratically elected leader and Islamist in power, on the situation of Israeli settlements, and other activities in the occupied territories, a Fatah statement said. He will tell Mursi of the pressure put on Palestinian leaders to return to negotiations without conditions. » Read more

Palestinian camp shelters 2,000 displaced Syrians ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency July 18, 2012 - 12:00am Palestinians in a refugee camp near Damascus on Wednesday welcomed more than 2,000 displaced Syrians fleeing fighting that has spread to the Syrian capital. The Syrians came to al-Yarmouk camp from neighborhoods throughout the area, but many are from Al Tadamon which locals say has been bombed heavily by the Syrian army. Sources in the camp said Palestinians have organized into civil teams to organize shelter for those displaced, housing people in family homes, mosques and schools. They also formed medical teams to treat those who are injured. » Read more

Death of Palestinian woman at Bil'in protest goes to High Court ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Gili Cohen - July 18, 2012 - 12:00am The High Court of Justice on Wednesday will hear a petition demanding an IDF criminal investigation into the January 1, 2011 death of a Palestinian woman while a demonstration was taking place in the West Bank village of Bil'in. Jawaher Abu Rahmah died after having inhaled tear gas fired the previous day to disperse a demonstration staged in Bil'in to protest the separation fence in the village area. » Read more

State will not oppose Migron petition to High Court ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Tovah Lazaroff - July 18, 2012 - 12:00am The state does not plan to oppose a High Court of Justice petition by the residents of the West Bank Migron outpost to remain in their homes. Last summer, the High Court of Justice issued a binding order mandating the state to evacuate the outpost by August 1, because it was built without proper permits on land classified by the state as belonging to private Palestinians. But early this month, outpost residents announced that they had purchased 2.5 out of 5 hectares on which the outpost is located from its Palestinian landowners. » Read more

Israeli Lawmaker Destroys New Testament ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Nathan Jeffay - July 17, 2012 - 12:00am He’s not exactly known for his sensitivity, but Israeli lawmaker Michael Ben-Ari has rarely made a statement that has the potential to offend quite so many people. » Read more

Ex-Israeli diplomat: Boycott my country ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Joshua Mitnick - (Opinion) July 17, 2012 - 12:00am Alon Liel is a former Israeli ambassador to South Africa and former director general of the Israeli foreign ministry. But when his former office harshly criticized South Africa for enabling a consumer boycott of exports from West Bank settlements in May, Mr. Liel's response sharply diverged from the party line. » Read more

The anti-Semitism that goes unreported ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amira Hass - (Opinion) July 18, 2012 - 12:00am Here's a statistic that you won't see in research on anti-Semitism, no matter how meticulous the study is. In the first six months of the year, 154 anti-Semitic assaults have been recorded, 45 of them around one village alone. Some fear that last year's record high of 411 attacks - significantly more than the 312 attacks in 2010 and 168 in 2009 - could be broken this year. » Read more

The lie about rights and duties in Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Salman Masalha - (Analysis) July 18, 2012 - 12:00am We are not going to discuss how to get the desert to bloom here but rather how the public discourse in Israel is made devoid of content. Many people with bad intentions take part in the attempt to cover our eyes and block our ears. Because after all, there is no greater lie than that sold by populist politicians, the cynical and "engaged" media, and those who tell all kinds of stories. Anyone who draws a link between granting civil rights and fulfilling duties will no doubt be surprised to read what will follow here. » Read more

Analysis: The bigger they are, the softer they fall ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Gil Hoffman - (Analysis) July 17, 2012 - 12:00am Since George Berkeley in 1710, philosophers have pondered whether a tree makes a sound when it falls in a forest in the middle of the night and no one is there to see it. And now modern day philosophers and political analysts can debate whether a sound was made when the largest Knesset faction entered the government in the middle of the night and left 71 days later. At least the tree made an imprint. Some branches inevitably fell down. It might even have injured an unperceptive animal. » Read more

Is There More Trouble Ahead for Benjamin Netanyahu? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor by Akiva Eldar - (Opinion) July 17, 2012 - 12:00am The next Israeli elections, which will take place no later than late October 2013, will determine whether the right-wing coalition led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will keep running the government with hardly any parliamentary opposition, or if his Likud party and its potential right-wing and Orthodox partners will face a center-left bloc which either eliminates or, at least, decreases Netanyahu's political power. It will determine whether the peace process will remain in a deadlock, or will get a fair, if not a last chance.  » Read more

Bibi in a Corner ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy by Yossi Beilin - (Opinion) July 17, 2012 - 12:00am The short marriage between Israel's ruling Likud Party and Kadima, the largest party in the Knesset, is ending as these lines are written. The official reason for the coalition's collapse -- a disagreement over a bill that would ensure the conscription of ultra-Orthodox youth -- is not the main reason it has come apart. The Likud-Kadima split was primarily the result of fear: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's fear of losing his original coalition partners, and Kadima chairman Shaul Mofaz's fear of a looming political disaster. » Read more

Israel's old certainties crumble in Arab spring fallout ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Ian Black - (Opinion) July 17, 2012 - 12:00am On a ridge high above the Golan plateau, the telltale antennae and golfball radomes of an Israeli surveillance station point north-east towards Damascus. In the valley below, minefields, barbed wire fences and a blue UN flag mark the frontline between the two most powerful armies in the Middle East. Behind it is a country in the throes of civil war. » Read more

No Space ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by Peter Beinart - (Opinion) July 17, 2012 - 12:00am The Washington Post just published a long story by Scott Wilson about Barack Obama’s failure to bring peace between Israel and the Palestinians. » Read more

West Bank settlements threaten peace in the Middle East ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Chicago Tribune by Marilyn Katz - (Opinion) July 18, 2012 - 12:00am For most Americans, the word "settlement" conjures up images of the Old West, of a small outpost with a post office, general store and a saloon. A dot on the map. A threat to no one. » Read more

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