Middle East News: World Press Roundup

NEWS: Qatar says it intends to open a diplomatic office in Gaza. Palestinians in Gaza ask the Egyptian government not to continue destroying smuggling tunnels. PLO officials say a vote on UN nonmember observer state status for Palestine will be “very soon,” and that their issue isn't going to go away even if it is being ignored by the US. Israeli authorities release two detained Hamas politicians in the occupied West Bank. American evangelical Christian TV broadcasters are programming out of Jerusalem. The Israeli-Palestinian group OneVoice is pushing for progress on peace. Electric companies claim some PA agencies haven't paid bills in over 2 years. The PA says it will cut fuel prices starting Oct. 1. The new poll finds most Palestinians enthusiastic about voting and strongly preferring Pres. Abbas over Hamas leader Hanniyeh. DM Barak strongly criticizes FM Lieberman's harsh comments about Abbas. Preparations are still underway for the potential exhumation of the body of the late Pres. Arafat. Jordan appoints a new ambassador to Israel. In its latest crackdown, Hamas is arresting Gaza teenagers wearing baggy pants and prominent underwear. The PA is trying to securitize $200 million in public debt in order to reduce borrowing from banks. COMMENTARY: GOP candidate Mitt Romney is strongly critical of Pres. Obama's Middle East policies. Aaron David Miller says Obama had good political reasons for refusing to meet with PM Netanyahu and Pres. Morsy last week. The Boston Globe says the PAs financial crisis is a problem for the US and Israel as well. Tamir Haddad says Hamas corruption is weighing heavily on Gaza's economy and society. Daniel Levy is harshly critical of Netanyahu's foreign and domestic policies. Rachel Corrie's mother describes the Israeli court verdict in their lawsuit as “deeply disturbing.” Norman Birnbaum decries what he calls “false prophecy” in the Middle East.

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Qatar opens diplomatic office in Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press October 30, 2012 - 12:00am GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — In a boost to Gaza's Hamas government, the Gulf state of Qatar said on Sunday it opened the first diplomatic office in the isolated territory since the Islamic military group took power five years ago. » Read more

Gazans call on Egypt not to destroy tunnels ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua September 30, 2012 - 12:00am GAZA, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Dozens of Palestinian notables and community leaders demonstrated on Sunday at the borderline area between southern Gaza Strip and Egypt, calling on Egypt not to destroy dozens of smuggling tunnels. » Read more

Vote on UN bid of recognizing Palestinian as non-member state to be "very soon": official ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua September 30, 2012 - 12:00am RAMALLAH, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- A senior Palestinian official on Sunday said that the vote on the bid of recognizing Palestinian as a non-member state by the United Nations will be "very soon." Chief Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat, told Xinhua that the Palestinian delegation in New York began its contacts and consultations with Arab and foreign countries. » Read more

Palestinian official criticizes U.S. position on U.N. recognition ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Los Angeles Times by Maher Abukhater - September 28, 2012 - 12:00am RAMALLAH, West Bank -- A Palestinian official Friday criticized President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for opposing Palestinians' bid for statehood recognition in the United Nations, and failing to give the issue more attention in their speeches this week before the international body. » Read more

Israel frees two Hamas lawmakers in West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua September 30, 2012 - 12:00am RAMALLAH, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Israeli authorities on Sunday released two lawmakers in the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) in the West Bank. » Read more

Daystar, TBN ready for Messiah in Jerusalem ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Los Angeles Times by Edmund Sanders - October 1, 2012 - 12:00am JERUSALEM — If the Messiah descends from the Mount of Olives as foretold in the Bible, America's two biggest Christian broadcasters are well-positioned to cover it live thanks to recent acquisitions of adjacent Jerusalem studios on a hill overlooking the Old City. » Read more

Activists: Now, yes now, is the time for US to push for MidEast peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Christian Science Monitor by Ariel Zirulnick - September 28, 2012 - 12:00am Cambridge, Mass. A major Israeli-Palestinian activist group is bucking conventional wisdom by arguing that now is the right time to engage Americans in the moribund Middle East peace process. The presidential campaign season is traditionally a terrible time to make any progress on foreign policy, especially during elections focused on pocketbook issues. » Read more

Electricity company: Govt bodies have not paid bills ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency October 1, 2012 - 12:00am BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- Some Palestinian Authority government institutions have not paid their electricity bills for more than two years, the head of the indebted Jerusalem electricity company has revealed. The company, which supplies power to Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Ramallah and Jericho, still owes its Israeli supplier around 300 million shekels ($76 million), Director-General Hisham al-Umari told Ma'an on Sunday. The Israeli company has repeatedly postponed threats to cut power supplies. » Read more

PA finance ministry to cut fuel prices from Oct. 1 ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency October 1, 2012 - 12:00am RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- The Palestinian Ministry of Finance announced Sunday that fuel prices are set to be reduced, a statement said. The price cuts, which will be implemented on Oct. 1, will see a liter of diesel reduced from 6.95 shekels ($1.77) to 6.70 ($1.70). A liter of benzene will now cost 7.60 shekels ($1.93), down from 7.98 shekels ($2), and a 12kg canister of domestic-use gas will be reduced to 64 shekels ($16), down from 65. » Read more

Poll: 72 percent plan to vote in October's local elections ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency September 29, 2012 - 12:00am BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- A new poll shows 72 percent of Palestinians plan to vote in elections taking place in three weeks, but supporters of Hamas are much less likely to participate in the vote, which is being boycotted by the party. In a poll published on Saturday by the Arab World for Research & Development, 85 percent said they support holding local elections, which will take place on Oct. 20 in the West Bank only. » Read more

Barak: Lieberman's comments on Abbas harm Israel's interests ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz September 30, 2012 - 12:00am Defense Minister Ehud Barak harshly criticized Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman over the weekend, for naming Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas as “the biggest obstacle to peace.” » Read more

Yasser Arafat's exhumation may answer questions over his death ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Harriet Sherwood - October 30, 2012 - 12:00am Within the guarded walls of the Palestinian presidential compound, known as the Muqata, the body of Yasser Arafat lies inside a gleaming limestone and glass mausoleum. It is here that political figures, dignitaries, devotees and tourists come to pay their respects to a man who was revered and reviled across the world as the face of the Palestinian struggle for decades. » Read more

Jordan appoints new ambassador to Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) September 30, 2012 - 12:00am (JTA) -- Jordan reportedly has appointed a new ambassador to Israel. The appointment late last week of career diplomat Walid Obeidat was reported by the French news service AFP and Ammon News. The position has been vacant since mid-2010, when Ali al-Ayed left to become the country's minister of media affairs. Jordan did not fill the position immediately, citing the lack of progress in peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, and Israel's treatment of the Palestinians. » Read more

Hamas cracks down on saggy pants ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Times of Israel by Ilan Ben Zion - September 30, 2012 - 12:00am Hamas is cracking down on a new threat to the well-being of the citizens of the Gaza Strip: low-riding pants. Several Gazan teenagers from Rafah were recently arrested by Hamas police because the clothes they wore were “foreign to Palestinian society, and contradicted the culture, values, and ethical code of the Strip’s residents,” the Hebrew daily Maariv reported on Sunday. The perpetrators had adopted “Western street fashion” and wore pants that rode so low as to show their underpants. » Read more

Palestinian authority aims to securitize $200 million of debt ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Martin Dokoupil, Sylvia Westall - September 30, 2012 - 12:00am KUWAIT (Reuters) - Palestinian authorities are aiming to securitize an initial $200 million of some $1.3 billion worth of government debt by the first quarter of 2013 to help reduce state borrowing from local banks, a top banker said on Sunday. » Read more

Mitt Romney: A New Course for the Middle East ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Wall Street Journal by Mitt Romney - (Opinion) September 30, 2012 - 12:00am Disturbing developments are sweeping across the greater Middle East. In Syria, tens of thousands of innocent people have been slaughtered. In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood has come to power, and the country's peace treaty with Israel hangs in the balance. In Libya, our ambassador was murdered in a terrorist attack. U.S. embassies throughout the region have been stormed in violent protests. And in Iran, the ayatollahs continue to move full tilt toward nuclear-weapons capability, all the while promising to annihilate Israel. » Read more

Snubbed by Obama? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Aaron David Miller - (Opinion) September 30, 2012 - 12:00am President Obama did not meet with Egypt's Mohamed Morsi or Israel's » Read more

Palestinian Authority’s woes are a problem for US, Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Boston Globe (Editorial) October 1, 2012 - 12:00am The Palestinian Authority is on the verge of financial collapse — and that’s not just a problem for Palestinians. It is also bad news for the United States and Israel, both of which say they support a future Palestinian state. Unrest is spreading in the West Bank over high prices and delayed salary payments by the Palestinian Authority, the area’s largest employer. Economic woes add to mounting frustration after four years of stalled peace talks. » Read more

Hamas corruption weighs heavily on Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star by Tamir Haddad - (Opinion) October 1, 2012 - 12:00am Recently, an official of the Finance Ministry in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip announced that since 2006 the office had not received a single report of corruption. Whether or not this is true, the fact is that Hamas corruption is not only pervasive in Gaza, it has also been detrimental to the greater social and economic good. » Read more

Spare a Thought for Bibi’s Medievalists ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by Daniel Levy - (Opinion) September 28, 2012 - 12:00am Let’s face it: September 27th, 2012, was not a good day for the Israeli Prime Minister’s office props and graphics department. » Read more

The deeply disturbing Israel court ruling on Rachel Corrie ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Seattle Times by Cindy Corrie - (Opinion) September 29, 2012 - 12:00am LAST month, in a deeply disturbing ruling, an Israeli court dismissed the civil lawsuit brought by my family against the state of Israel for the wrongful death of my daughter Rachel Corrie. Born and raised in Olympia, Rachel was a human-rights defender and peace activist killed in 2003 by an armored Israeli military bulldozer as she stood for hours, visibly and nonviolently protesting the Israeli government’s policy of civilian home demolitions in Rafah, Gaza. » Read more

False Prophecy and Real History in the Mideast ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Nation by Norman Birnbaum - (Opinion) September 24, 2012 - 12:00am Kabuki theater, with its extremely stylized dramaturgy, and the Yiddish stage, with its lachrymose realism, are rarely joined. The Democratic National Convention succeeded, however, in fusing the two. A platform insertion terming Jerusalem the undivided capital of Israel was gaveled through by a visibly unhappy mayor of Los Angeles, reportedly at the insistence of the White House, which sought to silence Republican charges that the administration is disloyal to our unruly client state. » Read more

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