Middle East News: World Press Roundup

NEWS: UN officials express concern about the PA financial crisis and the economy in Gaza. The World Bank says the Palestinian economy is unsustainable given Israeli restrictions and a combination of reliance on foreign aid and reduced international assistance. A PA official says the economy is unlikely to be fixed this year. Gaza Christians say they fear for the future of their small community. Israeli and foreign tourists are gathering in the occupied Golan Heights to watch fighting across the border in Syria. Iran accuses Israel itself of being behind the terrorist attack on Israeli tourists in Bulgaria. Hamas denounces PA plans for municipal elections in the West Bank. Pres. Abbas says Palestinians and the Arab League will decide on September 6 what, if anything, they will do at the UN. The PA says it has finished restoring Gaza's only power plant. Israel's Interior Ministry says there are now more than 350,000 Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, but Peace Now says the figures are inflated. PM Fayyad is reportedly suing a Fatah parliamentarian for defamation. A joint Israeli-Palestinian concert scheduled for the Mount of Olives is canceled because some Palestinians claimed it would have been an act of “normalization.” The world Jewish population is enjoying an unexpected revival, according to the Economist. Forces loyal to Syrian Pres. Assad bomb a hospital in Damascus' Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp. COMMENTARY: Donald McIntyre interviews Fayyad. Settler leader Dani Dayan says the international community should abandon the two-state solution, without clearly specifying any alternative. Aluf Benn says DM Barak is the only Israeli leader who could challenge PM Netanyahu. Douglas Bloomfield says Dennis Ross has a 12 point plan to improve conditions for peace. The Forward says it's irrelevant that Mitt Romney is visiting Israel while Pres. Obama has not done so during his term of office. Oren Kessler says Romney is trying to poach votes from Obama by going to Israel. Jonathan Schanzer says Hamas is growing in regional strength as the PA suffers under a financial crisis. Aaron David Miller says if Obama is reelected, there will be a very tense relationship with Netanyahu.

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Gaza: Fears of Economic Isolation ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Rick Gladstone - July 25, 2012 - 12:00am The United Nations' top Middle East diplomat expressed growing concern on Wednesday about the precarious finances of the Palestinian Authority and the economic isolation of Gaza. The diplomat, Robert H. » Read more

World Bank says Palestinian economy unsustainable ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press July 25, 2012 - 12:00am The Palestinian economy's recent growth is unsustainable because of its heavy reliance on foreign aid, a World Bank report said Wednesday. » Read more

PA official: Economic crisis will not be solved this year ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency July 26, 2012 - 12:00am A Palestinian Authority official said Wednesday that a World Bank report describing weaknesses in the Palestinian economy was accurate.  » Read more

Gaza Christians fear for future of tiny community ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Ibrahim Barzak - July 25, 2012 - 12:00am Christians in overwhelmingly Muslim Gaza have long fretted in private about the survival of their tiny community. » Read more

Golan Heights provides glimpse of Syria civil war ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Blake Sobczak - July 24, 2012 - 12:00am As Syrian regime forces clash with rebels close to the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, this windswept plateau has become a front-row seat to Syria's escalating civil war. » Read more

Iran accuses Israel of plotting Bulgaria bus attack ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters July 25, 2012 - 12:00am Iran's U.N. envoy accused Israel on Wednesday of plotting and carrying out a suicide bomb attack on a bus in Bulgaria a week ago in which five Israeli tourists were killed. » Read more

Hamas slams municipal elections in West Bank only ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua July 26, 2012 - 12:00am Islamic Hamas Movement on Wednesday slammed the Palestinian decision to hold the municipal elections in the West Bank only. » Read more

Abbas: Bid for UN recognition to be decided on Sept. 6 ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua July 26, 2012 - 12:00am Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday announced that the Arab League will decide on September 6, the date for applying to the United Nations to recognize a Palestinian state. » Read more

Sources: Fayyad sues lawmaker ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency July 26, 2012 - 12:00am Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad is suing a Palestinian lawmaker who claimed the premier had enlisted a British firm to provide his security, Ma'an learned Wednesday. » Read more

PNA accomplishes rehabilitation of Gaza's sole power plant ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua July 26, 2012 - 12:00am The Palestinian authorities announced Wednesday it has completed the rehabilitation of the sole power plant in the Gaza Strip. » Read more

Settlers celebrate passing 350,000 mark; Peace Now says figures are inflated ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Times of Israel by Raphael Ahren - July 26, 2012 - 12:00am Jewish settlers in the West Bank have crossed the 350,000 mark this year, according to new Interior Ministry figures. » Read more

Sources: Fayyad sues lawmaker ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency July 26, 2012 - 12:00am Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad is suing a Palestinian lawmaker who claimed the premier had enlisted a British firm to provide his security, Ma'an learned Wednesday. » Read more

East Jerusalem concert nixed after claims of "normalization" ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP) July 26, 2012 - 12:00am The UN Middle East envoy announced on Wednesday the postponement of a concert planned for East Jerusalem, after Palestinian objections to the perceived act of "normalization". » Read more

Mapping Judaism ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Economist July 25, 2012 - 12:00am Mapping the world's Jewish population and migration patterns » Read more

Syrian army 'bombs Palestine Hospital' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency July 26, 2012 - 12:00am Forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad on Thursday bombed a hospital in Damascus' Yarmouk refugee camp, Palestinian sources told Ma'an.  » Read more

Salam Fayyad: 'We have never been more marginalised' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent by Donald MacIntyre - (Opinion) July 26, 2012 - 12:00am The cause of the Palestinians has never been more "marginalised" than it is today, according to a warning by their internationally respected Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. » Read more

Israel’s Settlers Are Here to Stay ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Dani Dayan - (Opinion) July 25, 2012 - 12:00am Whatever word you use to describe Israel’s 1967 acquisition of Judea and Samaria — commonly referred to as the West Bank in these pages — will not change the historical facts. Arabs called for Israel’s annihilation in 1967, and Israel legitimately seized the disputed territories of Judea and Samaria in self-defense. Israel’s moral claim to these territories, and the right of Israelis to call them home today, is therefore unassailable. » Read more

Ehud Barak is the only leader who can take on Netanyahu ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Aluf Benn - (Opinion) July 26, 2012 - 12:00am Benjamin Netanyahu is in trouble. He missed the opportunity to push forward the election at the high point of his popularity and now his leadership is flagging. The ruse to split Kadima failed and exposed the prime minister's predicament. The Likud is returning to its extreme-right roots, as the party of the settlers and their sycophants. The recession is here and the cabinet is forced to raise taxes and cut back services. The controversy over the draft law has shown Netanyahu as a collaborator with the ultra-Orthodox draft-dodgers. » Read more

A 12-step plan to sober up for peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Douglas Bloomfield - (Opinion) July 26, 2012 - 12:00am With the Arab world in turmoil from the Maghreb to the Gulf, few are paying much attention to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict these days. Libya, Tunisia and Egypt are experimenting with democracy and have new governments just feeling their way, and no one can be sure which way they will go. Syria is exploding in civil war, and while the Assad regime appears to be steadily weakening, it still has the most guns, tanks and planes. And Russia is running interference for the Assad regime at the United Nations to block international intervention. » Read more

Mitt's Trip to Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward (Editorial) July 26, 2012 - 12:00am President Obama’s critics like to acknowledge that official visits to foreign countries are more about style than substance, but when it comes to Israel, that’s a disingenuous feint. As Mitt Romney, presidential candidate, takes his campaign to Israel, conservative pundits see an opportunity to point out that Barack Obama hasn’t been there since moving into the White House. » Read more

Mitt's Pilgrimage ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy by Oren Kessler - (Opinion) July 26, 2012 - 12:00am The U.S. presidential race might be deadlocked, but when Mitt Romney visits Israel on Sunday, July 29, the presumptive Republican nominee can reasonably expect the most heartfelt welcome he'll receive anywhere outside Utah. Israeli enthusiasm for Romney is not necessarily the result of a carefully cultivated relationship -- as a former governor and business executive he had little time for foreign policy. Instead, affection for the candidate appears to be a clear case of ABO: Anyone But Obama. » Read more

Hamas Rising ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy by Jonathan Schanzer - (Opinion) July 25, 2012 - 12:00am Countries across the Middle East are opening their coffers to support the Palestinian cause -- but the funds are increasingly being diverted in a direction that portends renewed conflict with Israel. » Read more

Warning: Turbulence Ahead ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy by Aaron David Miller - (Opinion) July 25, 2012 - 12:00am "Everybody knows that relations with Israel have never been worse." So thundered the venerable John McCain, foreign policy preacher and iconoclast par excellence, in a sermon from the mountaintop on one of last Sunday's talk shows. The Arizona senator was commenting on President Barack Obama's claim last week in Palm Beach, one he has oft repeated on the campaign trail, that U.S.-Israeli ties are stronger than ever. » Read more

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