Middle East News: World Press Roundup

NEWS: Clerics in Gaza complain that their counterparts in the West Bank did not consult them over changes, designed to protect women from violence, in the Palestinian divorce code. Hamas says three extremists in Gaza were involved in the recent attack on Egyptian forces in the Sinai Peninsula. A Palestinian man in occupied East Jerusalem says he was unjustly and repeatedly tasered by Israeli police in front of his children. Former IDF Chief of Staff Ashkenazi comes out strongly against an Israeli attack against Iran. A Swiss laboratory reportedly agrees to analyze the remains of the late Pres. Arafat. Egypt's Defense Minister reaffirms the country's commitment to its peace treaty with Israel. US Amb. Schapiro says Israel's investigation into the death of Rachel Corrie is not credible. A senior Hamas official reportedly calls for the killing of Jews and Americans. Palestinians say Egypt has destroyed about a quarter of the smuggling tunnels between Egypt and Gaza. FM Lieberman intensifies his attacks on Pres. Abbas, accusing him of “political terrorism.” COMMENTARY: The New York Times hosts a debate on whether support for Israel has hurt US credibility in the Middle East. Charles Krauthammer says Anthony Cordesman has provided the best roadmap for US policy towards Iran. Yossi Verter says PM Netanyahu can probably get a majority in the Israeli cabinet for attacking Iran if he wants one. Bradley Burston says South Africa is right to demand accurate labeling of settlement products. Yehudit Oppenheimer says the recent attempted lynching of a Palestinian by young Jewish Israelis in Jerusalem is the inevitable consequence of Israeli government policies. Hirsh Goodman says Israel should seize the opportunity to work with Pres. Morsy to secure the peace treaty with Egypt. Uri Savir says a second-term Pres. Obama may try to move forward on Palestinian statehood. Ephraim Sneh suggests ways of bridging differences between the United States and Israel over Iran. Felice Friedson denounces bullies in Jerusalem. Marwan Kabalan says the US doesn't have the stomach for world domination anymore. Roni Shaked says Israel needs to do more to combat settler terrorism. Oren Kessler says criticism is focusing on Netanyahu, but it's really DM Barak who is driving the push towards war with Iran.

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Gaza 'not consulted' over reforms to divorce law ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency August 24, 2012 - 12:00am Religious authorities in the West Bank failed to consult their counterparts in the Gaza Strip over proposed changes to divorce laws, the head of Islamic courts in Gaza said Thursday. The chief Islamic judge in the West Bank Sheikh Yusef Ideis announced Thursday that the Islamic supreme court would meet Monday to discuss a new law granting women the right to initiate divorce. The law will come into effect in September, Ideis said in a statement. » Read more

Hamas security source says three Gazans aid Sinai assailants ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua August 23, 2012 - 12:00am A Hamas security source said Thursday investigations indicated that three people from the Gaza Strip were involved in the deadly attack against Egyptian soldiers earlier this month in the Sinai Peninsula. The three Palestinians are members of extremist Salafi groups and their whereabouts are unknown, the source said. "Their involvement in the attack was marginal and it is no more than providing technical help," the sources said, adding that most of the assailants were Egyptians and other nationals. » Read more

Palestinian man repeatedly tasered by Israeli police in front of his children ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Yaniv Kubovich, Oz Rosenberg - August 24, 2012 - 12:00am A Palestinian resident of East Jerusalem complained to the Justice Ministry department that investigates police misconduct on Thursday after a police officer shocked him five times with an electric stun gun in front of his five children on Tuesday. The Palestinian, 42-year-old Talal Siad of the A-Tur neighborhood, was shot while out with his family at a Tel Aviv water park celebrating the Id al-Fitr holiday. Siad checked himself into the hospital suffering from burns and nausea. » Read more

Ashkenazi comes out against Iran strike ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Itamar Eichner - August 24, 2012 - 12:00am Former IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi voiced his firm opposition to a strike in Iran on Thursday, Yedioth Ahronoth reported. » Read more

Swiss laboratory to investigate Arafat death ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters August 24, 2012 - 12:00am A Swiss laboratory is to help investigate the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat after receiving the go-ahead from his widow, researchers from the Institute of Radiation Physics at Lausanne’s university hospital said on Friday. » Read more

'Egypt affirms commitment to Israel peace treaty' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post August 24, 2012 - 12:00am Defense Minister Ehud Barak spoke by telephone to his Egyptian counterpart Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Friday morning, according to Arabic-language news agency Al-Hayat. According to the report, al-Sisi affirmed Egypt's commitment to maintaining the 1979 Camp David peace treaty with Israel in the phone call, ahead of a meeting with Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy. » Read more

Israel's inquiry into death of activist Rachel Corrie not credible, says US ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent by Donald MacIntyre - August 24, 2012 - 12:00am Israel has failed to carry out the "thorough, credible and transparent investigation" it had promised into the death of American activist Rachel Corrie in Gaza nine years ago, the US ambassador in Tel Aviv has reiterated to her family. » Read more

Hamas top official: Kill every last Jew and American ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) August 24, 2012 - 12:00am A senior Hamas official said in a televised sermon that he wished for the annihilation of every single Jew and American. The sermon by Sheik Ahmad Bahr, deputy speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, was broadcast earlier this month on Hamas’s Al-Aqsa TV. “Oh, Allah, destroy the Jews and their supporters” and “the Americans and their supporters,” he was filmed saying. “Oh, Allah, count them one by one, and kill them all, without leaving a single one.” » Read more

Palestinians: Egypt destroyed quarter of Rafah tunnels ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Elior Levy - August 24, 2012 - 12:00am Palestinian sources have said that Egypt's attempts to cleanse Sinai of terrorists, have brought about the destruction of a quarter of the tunnels connecting the Egyptian and Palestinian Rafah. However, sources have estimated that when the operation is completed, the tunnels will be restored. According to unofficial estimates, there are over 1,000 smuggling tunnels in the area.

FM: Abbas engaging in political terrorism ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Khaled Abu Toameh, Herb Keinon - August 23, 2012 - 12:00am Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman stepped up his campaign against Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday, saying not only is Abbas engaged in “diplomatic terror” against Israel, but he is also not in a position to make commitments for the Palestinians. Liberman’s highly critical comments in an Israel Radio interview came just four days after he sent a letter to the Quartet calling for new elections in the PA and the replacement of Abbas. » Read more

Has Support for Israel Hurt U.S. Credibility? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Michele Dunne, Daniel Gordis, Rashid Khalidi, Daoud Kuttab, Richard Land, Aaron David Miller, Dylan J. Williams - (Opinion) August 23, 2012 - 12:00am he president of Israel is resisting calls for a unilateral strike against Iran, but it’s just the “unilateral” part that he finds troubling: “It is clear to us that we have to proceed together with America.” Even if this is just posturing, the statement shows one reason the U.S. struggles to make allies in the Arab world: Israelis and Arabs alike assume that the U.S. will take a side in Mideast conflicts, and that the U.S. will side with Israel. Are they right? » Read more

The Cordesman criteria ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Charles Krauthammer - (Opinion) August 23, 2012 - 12:00am Either Israel is engaged in the most elaborate ruse since the Trojan horse or it is on the cusp of a preemptive strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities. » Read more

Heading for an iceberg called Iran ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Yossi Verter - (Opinion) August 24, 2012 - 12:00am For three and a half years, Benjamin and Sara Netanyahu paid occasional visits to the second floor of the President's Residence, where they shared an intimate dinner with Israel's No. 1 citizen, who lives there alone. From time to time, he visited them for a Shabbat-eve meal. In those 41 months, Shimon Peres served the prime minister loyally in the world's capitals, defended him, did PR for him, exalted and magnified him. » Read more

South Africa is right. Labeling Israeli settler products is truth in advertising ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Bradley Burston - (Opinion) August 23, 2012 - 12:00am South Africa has taken a decision that may one day prove to have been a significant step toward peace in the Middle East. Whether this ultimately comes to pass or not, the step has already notched a kink in the juggernaut called occupation. The South African cabinet approved a proposal “requiring the labeling of goods or products emanating from Israeli occupied territories, to prevent consumers being led to believe that such goods come from Israel,” cabinet spokesperson Jimmy Manyi said on Wednesday. » Read more

Jerusalem lynch not surprising ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Yehudit Oppenheimer - (Opinion) August 24, 2012 - 12:00am The cruel attempted lynch in Jerusalem's Zion Square on the eve of Eid al-Fitr was not supposed to surprise us – the writing has been on the wall for a long time. This is why it is so hard to accept the fact that it took police a few days to admit that the attack on a Palestinian teen occurred in the heart of Jerusalem in front of a crowd – part of which egged the attackers on. » Read more

Morsy’s Egypt and us ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Hirsh Goodman - (Opinion) August 24, 2012 - 12:00am The security problems that have developed in Sinai, and the way the Egyptian government is responding to them, could be navigated toward either opportunity or a crisis. Since Mohamed Morsy took office as the country’s fifth president on June 30, relations between Israel and Egypt have been even more precarious and incendiary than ever. In tandem, the security situation in Sinai has deteriorated significantly, with jihadi attacks on Egyptian military and strategic targets there becoming bolder and more deadly than ever. » Read more

Obama’s 2nd term and the Middle East ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Uri Savir - (Opinion) August 23, 2012 - 12:00am In November, we will know if there will be four more years in the White House for the first African-American president, Barack Obama, or if the party of George Bush Sr. and Jr. will succeed in propelling Mitt Romney into the Oval Office. According to recent polls, it seems that while Americans are concerned with the economic situation, unemployment and healthcare costs, they tend to believe, by a margin of 5 percent- 10%, that Obama rescued the American economy after the historic crises of the 2008 recession. » Read more

On Iran: How to Repair the Widening American-Israeli Rift ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Israel Policy Forum by Ephraim Sneh - (Opinion) August 24, 2012 - 12:00am The Islamist takeover in the Middle East and North Africa has created perilous strategic turbulence in the region. Consequently, it is now critically important that the United States and its few allies cooperate closely. Unfortunately, this has not been the case in recent weeks for US-Israel relations regarding Iran’s nuclear program. The disagreement about attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities has turned into ugly bickering, much of it disguised. This is harmful for both Israel and the United States. » Read more

Jerusalem Bullies Need a Dose of Respect ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line by Felice Friedson - (Opinion) August 23, 2012 - 12:00am Jerusalem’s Zion Square, located in the city center, where rallies mobilize, concerts convene, street fairs assemble, and pedestrians abound, caught the attention of local media and became the topic weekend table talk when it was learned that 17-year old Jamal Julani, an Israeli Arab from east Jerusalem who went to meet a friend who was working at a local restaurant nearby, nearly died from a savage beating unleashed by a gang of Jewish “tough teens,” who were out cruising the streets, apparently looking for a victim. » Read more

US has no stomach for world dominance ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News by Marwan Kabalan - (Opinion) August 24, 2012 - 12:00am As the US prepares to mark 11 years since the 9/11 attacks, one is tempted to look again at the ensuing shift in US foreign policy and see whether it has made America a stronger world power. » Read more

Israel Needs to Step Up Fight Against Jewish 'Settler Terrorism' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Yedioth Ahronoth by Roni Shaked - (Opinion) August 22, 2012 - 12:00am Given the relative lull of Palestinian terror in Judea and Samaria and the fact that the General Security Service, better known as Shin Bet, has less on its plate, one might have expected [Shin Bet chief] Yoram Cohen’s troops to step up efforts to scuttle rampant Jewish terror that could stoke a third intifada. » Read more

The Decider ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy by Oren Kessler - (Opinion) August 23, 2012 - 12:00am Twenty years have passed since Israel first raised the alarm over Iran's nuclear program, 10 years since Iranian dissidents revealed the enrichment plant at Natanz, and roughly two since pundits started predicting an Israeli attack against the Islamic Republic. Today, never have so many Israelis from across the political spectrum agreed that a military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities could arrive within months. » Read more

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