Middle East News: World Press Roundup

NEWS: The potential downfall of the Syrian regime is making Israel rethink its regional strategies. The PA expresses concern about Palestinians caught up in violence in Syria. Israel is concerned about Syria's stockpile of chemical weapons. Romney's visit to Israel is overshadowed by unrest in Syria. Israel releases a senior Hamas politician. Hamas says Pres. Morsy has promised to help lift the blockade of Gaza. Fatah says reconciliation talks with Hamas are on hold until the Palestinian election commission is allowed to resume work in Gaza. Israel says it will seek retribution “near and far” for the Bulgaria terrorist attack, which it blames on Iran. Experts say this is more likely to be in the form of covert action. Thousands of Palestinians are going to Jerusalem to pray on the first day of Ramadan. The American Jewish Committee breaks with mainstream Jewish consensus by siding with some key findings of the Levy Committee Report. Israeli settlers use summer camps to teach Jewish Israeli children to become settlers. Palestinian athletes are preparing to participate in the upcoming Olympics. Palestinian officials deny that American officials threatened a broad cutoff of aid if Palestinians resume efforts for greater recognition at the UN. COMMENTARY: Adam Gonn says PM Netanyahu is unfazed by the collapse of his super-coalition. Amos Harel says Israel is sure of Iranian responsibility for the Bulgaria attack. Carlo Strenger says “Zionism 2012” no longer believes in democracy, Jewish majorities or any of the ideas of old-fashioned Zionism. Rina Bassit says Israel is increasingly concerned about terrorism emanating from Africa. Nir Baram says the Israeli left needs to be much more straightforward about what's wrong with the occupation. Hannah Weisfeld says if the Levy Committee Report's findings are accepted by the Israeli government, the settlers will be short-term winners but Israel will be a long-term loser.

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Israel Is Forced to Rethink Its Regional Strategies ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Jodi Rudoren - July 19, 2012 - 12:00am Israel’s defense minister, Ehud Barak, observed on Thursday that President Bashar al-Assad’s grip on power was slipping away. “The disintegration is not abstract; it is real,” Mr. Barak said after a tour and debriefing with the local commander. “It is getting closer.” » Read more

PA fears for Palestinians caught in Syria violence ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Khaled Abu Toameh - July 20, 2012 - 12:00am Palestinian Authority officials Thursday concern over the safety of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians living in refugee camps in Syria. They said that some 300 Palestinians have been killed since the beginning of the uprising in Syria in March 2011. More than 500,000 Palestinians are believed to be living in Syria, mostly in a number of refugee camps. The PA announced Thursday that it was in contact with the Syrian authorities and opposition to avoid involving Palestinians in the escalating violence. » Read more

Syria’s Stockpile of Chemical Weapons is Making Israel Nervous ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line by Linda Gradstein - July 19, 2012 - 12:00am During the first Gulf War in the winter of 1990, Israelis huddled in sealed rooms and donned gas masks as Iraqi President Saddam Hussein lobbed Scud missiles at the Jewish state. Israeli intelligence knew that Hussein had a stockpile of chemical weapons and was worried that he might use them. » Read more

Syria Unrest Will Shadow Romney's Israel Trip ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Buzzfeed by Zeke Miller, Ben Smith - July 19, 2012 - 12:00am The deepening unrest in Syria threatens to drive an unlikely wedge between many American conservatives and their allies in Israel on the eve of Mitt Romney’s friendly visit to the country. Even before the violence intensified and closed in on Damascus this week, Romney and his advisers were pushing for more direct American support of the Syrian rebels, while the Obama administration focused bringing international pressure to bear and working through proxies. » Read more

Hamas speaker of Palestinian parliament released ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Mohammed Daraghmeh - July 19, 2012 - 12:00am Israel on Thursday released one of the Islamic militant Hamas movement's most senior members, the speaker of the now-defunct Palestinian parliament. Abdel Aziz Dweik, 64, was freed after serving six months without charges, his aide Baha Mahmoud said. Israel confirmed the release. Hamas defeated the Fatah movement of internationally backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in 2006 parliamentary elections. After the vote, Israel began arresting Hamas legislators in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. » Read more

Egypt's president promises to help lift Gaza blockade: Hamas official ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua July 20, 2012 - 12:00am Egypt's President Mohamed Morsi promised to exert more efforts to lift a blockade on the Gaza Strip, which is ruled by Hamas, a Hamas official said Thursday. The promise was made during a meeting between Morsi and a delegation from Hamas in Cairo Thursday, according to the official, Ayman Taha. It is the first time that an Egyptian president has sat with Hamas, the Islamic movement that took over Gaza after routing forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in 2007. » Read more

Palestinian reconciliation frozen until elections commission resumes work in Gaza: Fatah official ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua July 19, 2012 - 12:00am Palestinian reconciliation is frozen until Hamas allows the elections committee to resume its work in the Gaza Strip, an official from President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party said Thursday. "We are not ready to hold any meeting with Hamas before it cancels its unjustified position," said Azzam al-Ahmad, a member of Fatah Central Committee, referring to the closure of the Central Elections Commission (CEC) office in Gaza. Hamas took over Gaza in 2007 after routing pro-Abbas forces in deadly battles. » Read more

Israeli president vows retribution "both near and far" over tourist bus blast ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua July 19, 2012 - 12:00am "Israel will locate and act against terror all over the world," Israeli President Shimon Peres said Thursday in a strong response to a suicide bombing against Israeli tourists in Bulgaria a day earlier. Five Israelis were killed, along with the Bulgarian bus driver, at the Burgas airport when an as-yet unidentified man detonated a powerful charge that ripped through a tour bus full of just- arrived Israeli tourists. » Read more

Israeli officials says Iran will face retaliation for bombing that killed 5 in Bulgaria ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Karin Brulliard - July 19, 2012 - 12:00am Israeli officials maintained Thursday that Iran was behind a suicide bombing that killed five Israeli tourists in Bulgaria and vowed to settle the score, but indicated that retaliation was unlikely to take the form of a military strike on Iran. » Read more

Thousands head to Aqsa mosque ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency July 20, 2012 - 12:00am Thousands of Palestinians traveled from inside Israel and the occupied West Bank to the Al-Aqsa Mosque to perform the first Friday prayers during the holy month of Ramadan. Crossings experienced a large volume of traffic, particularly at the Qalandiya checkpoint north of Jerusalem. Israeli forces deployed at crossings and checkpoints throughout Jerusalem and the West Bank. The Al-Aqsa Foundation for Waqf and Heritage and other groups are implementing a campaign under the Ministry of Religious Affairs to protect the mosque during the Ramadan period. » Read more

Levy Report Tests American Consensus ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Paul Berger - July 20, 2012 - 12:00am The American Jewish Committee, a centrist pillar of America’s organized Jewish community, is breaking with the long-standing establishment consensus that settlements on the Israeli-occupied West Bank pose no impediment to peace. The committee, in a press release issued on July 12, affirmed the legality of settlements throughout the West Bank and rejected the notion that the territory was under legal occupation. » Read more

Summer Camp at Israeli Outpost Trains Girls to Become Settlers ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor by Amichai Atali - July 19, 2012 - 12:00am You won’t find a shower here, and don’t even think about a mobile phone. Nor are any of these girls dreaming of amusement parks. Welcome to a summer camp for the daughters of the outposts: three days of Krav Maga (a martial art and eclectic self-defense system developed in Israel), whitewashing of unauthorized buildings and tree-planting. » Read more

Palestinian Olympic participation brings conflict to the fore ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) by Ben Sales - July 19, 2012 - 12:00am A portrait of the two most prominent Palestinian leaders -- current Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and former President Yasser Arafat, who died in 2004 -- hangs in the conference room of the Palestinian Olympic Committee headquarters. » Read more

Palestinians deny U.S. aid threat ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy by Allison Good - July 19, 2012 - 12:00am The Palestine Liberation Organization has denied recent reports that the White House issued a notice threatening to cut all aid to the Palestinian Authority if it launches a renewed drive for recognition at the United Nations. "This is absolutely not true," PLO representative to Washington Maen Rashid Areikat told The Cable this week. "We do not know what they are saying. It's unfounded." » Read more

Israeli PM unfazed by Kadima walkout of government ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua by Adam Gonn - (Analysis) July 20, 2012 - 12:00am It was labeled the "super coalition" which would give Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a solid majority in the Knesset (parliament) to deal with challenges facing the nation. However, on Tuesday, Kadima party leader Shaul Mofaz decided to leave the government he had joined only 72 days earlier, after negotiations over a new draft law fell apart. The day after Kadima joined the government in May, the Knesset was scheduled to vote on a law calling for elections in September, but after Kadima joined the law was scrapped. » Read more

Israel has no doubt about who is behind the deadly attack in Bulgaria ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amos Harel - (Opinion) July 19, 2012 - 12:00am The government didn't hesitate to point a finger on Wednesday. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, apparently supported by detailed intelligence, immediately blamed Iran for the terror attack on Israelis in Bulgaria that killed seven people. If this is so, the man behind the attack in Burgas would be Gen. Qassem Suleimani, commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force, who operates the Guards' overseas operations. Hezbollah assists Quds, but the Lebanese group has been less effective since Imad Mughniyeh's assassination in 2008. » Read more

Zionism 2012: A Guide for the Perplexed ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Carlo Strenger - (Opinion) July 18, 2012 - 12:00am Last week I opened the papers and finally had reason to sigh in relief. A panel headed by retired Supreme Court justice Edmond Levy has determined that Israel is not an occupying power. The bothersome international law that insists that Israel’s colonization of the West Bank is illegal simply doesn’t apply: All settlements are legal! » Read more

Is Mideast terrorism drifting to Africa? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Rina Bassist - (Analysis) July 20, 2012 - 12:00am Two weeks ago, Kenyan police arrested two people suspected of planning a terror attack against Israeli and American targets. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s cabinet declared immediately that the arrest proved Iran’s involvement once again in international terrorism. At the same time, Kenyan media reported that Israeli detectives had arrived in Nairobi to conduct meetings with different security bodies. Israeli officials have refused to comment so far. » Read more

The Israeli left's zombie argument ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Nir Baram - (Opinion) July 20, 2012 - 12:00am One of the primary concerns arguments of the Zionist left, from the time of Yitzhak Rabin's second government and until very recently, was, "What the world will think of us?" The argument went like this: In the absence of peace with the Palestinians, or at the very least of negotiations pretending to be serious, Israel will become a pariah state. Its economy will take a serious beating, and the aspiration of most Israelis to deny that they are part of the geographic region in which they live, and to see their country as part of the Western world, will turn out to be illusory. » Read more

The Levy Committee: Who Are the Real Winners? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Huffington Post by Hannah Weisfeld - (Blog) July 17, 2012 - 12:00am Last week the Levy Committee, set up by Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to examine the legal status of outposts in the West Bank, announced its findings. According to the committee the IV Geneva Convention does not apply to the West Bank and, therefore, Israel cannot be deemed to be occupying this piece of land. On that basis the 'illegal outposts' in the West Bank, built on what Israel recognizes as state land, should be made legal, and zoning policies should be amended to make it easier for Jews to build in this area. » Read more

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