Middle East News: World Press Roundup

NEWS: Israeli authorities in occupied East Jerusalem are creating more street names. Palestinians intensify their diplomatic campaign for greater recognition at the UN. Syrian rebels are reportedly arming anti-Assad Palestinian factions. Israeli center-left parties are reportedly discussing the possibility of a coalition to defeat PM Netanyahu. Israeli settlers scuffle with occupation forces as they demolish unauthorized settlement structures. PLO sources reportedly say PM Fayyad has proposed a new cabinet. A Palestinian columnist is being investigated by the PA for libel. UNRWA is facing resistance from its own teachers in educating Palestinian students about the Holocaust. US police chiefs are studying Israeli counterterrorism methods. Israel acknowledges the details of the assassination of PLO leader Abu Jihad. Pres. Peres says there shouldn't be any diplomatic initiatives until the next Israeli election. COMMENTARY: Hussein Ibish says whoever wins the election, the next administration will have to deal with the question of Palestine. Siraj Davis and Yasmin Omar Lulu look at the plight of refugees in Gaza. Ari Shavit calls FM Lieberman a "grotesque version" of Pres. Putin. Shaul Arieli says Israel's leaders are not adopting peaceful positions. Barak Ravid says Moshe Kahlon is very supportive of Israeli settlement efforts. Jeremy Ben-Ami says the Levy Commission Report serves bashers of Israel. Morgan McDaniel says Palestinian businesswomen are increasingly asserting themselves. Alon Pinkas says Netanyahu's move to the right opens up space for former PM Olmert in the Israeli political center. Yedidia Stern says Israeli women shouldn't be forced to choose between a religious life and a full one. Menachem Klein says the next Palestinian uprising will probably begin by targeting Palestinian leaders, not Israel.

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East Jerusalem streets get names, easing confusion ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Tia Goldenberg - November 1, 2012 - 12:00am JERUSALEM —When he drives around east Jerusalem, taxi driver Samer al-Risheq doesn't use GPS and tucks away his maps. In many parts on this side of the city, those tools are useless: The streets have no names. It's a sign of overall neglect. Now Jerusalem's municipality is trying to at least solve the part that involves signs. » Read more

Palestinians campaign for UN recognition ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Mohammed Daraghmeh - November 1, 2012 - 12:00am RAMALLAH, West Bank —Palestinians are launching a last-minute diplomatic offensive to a series of European countries to vote in favor of their partial statehood bid at the United Nations, a senior official said Wednesday. Palestinian envoys were dispatched to Germany, Austria, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Sweden and Finland this week, hoping to persuade those countries to vote in favor of giving Palestinians non-member observer status at the U.N. Some of the countries are opposed, and others are undecided. » Read more

Syrian rebels arm Palestinians against Assad ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Mariam Karouny - October 31, 2012 - 12:00am BEIRUT, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Syrian rebels said on Wednesday they had begun arming sympathetic Palestinians to fight a pro-Assad faction in a Palestinian enclave in Damascus - a move which could fuel spiralling intra-Palestinian violence. Two rebel commanders told Reuters they expected their Palestinian allies to fight the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine General Command (PFLP-GC) which dominates the Yarmouk enclave - a one-time refugee camp turned sprawl of apartment blocks which is run by the Palestinians themselves. » Read more

Israeli ex-leaders discussing campaign to defeat Netanyahu ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Allyn Fisher-Ilan - October 31, 2012 - 12:00am JERUSALEM, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Former leaders Ehud Olmert and Tzipi Livni announced on Wednesday they were discussing a partnership that could shake up Israeli politics and lead to a joint campaign to defeat Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a January election. Olmert, a centrist, was forced to quit as prime minister in 2008 over corruption charges of which he was largely acquitted. Were he to make a comeback, he is seen as possibly the most likely candidate to beat Netanyahu, the right-wing Likud party leader, who polls now predict will win re-election. » Read more

Israeli settlers, police clash amid West Bank outpost demolition ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua November 1, 2012 - 12:00am JERUSALEM, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- Several dozen Israeli settlers of a northern West Bank settlement scuffled with police and soldiers during an operation to raze several illegal structures overnight. "Security forces evacuated three illegal buildings," an army source told Xinhua Thursday, in the early morning operation in hilltop Yitzhar's "Haseruga" outpost -- built six months ago without municipal approval. » Read more

PLO sources: Fayyad proposes new government ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency October 31, 2012 - 12:00am RAMALLAH (Ma’an) -- Prime Minister Salam Fayyad has presented a plan to the PLO leadership to form a more inclusive factional government, officials in Ramallah said Wednesday. Two PLO executive committee members, denying reports that Fayyad had offered his resignation, said he presented a political vision to encourage a more inclusive government. » Read more

PA summons Palestinian columnist for interrogation ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency October 31, 2012 - 12:00am RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- The Palestinian Authority on Wednesday summoned a Palestinian columnist to answer charges of libel and slander, a media rights group reported. Jihad Harb was summoned by the public prosecutor after a complaint was filed by the president's office, said Mada, the Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms. Harb is accused of a "direct insult to the employees in the Office of the President, through an article was written about two months ago," Mada said in a statement. » Read more

UNRWA Teachers Refuse to Teach Holocaust Studies ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line by Adam Nicky - October 30, 2012 - 12:00am AMMAN - Riyadh's thunderous voice silenced some 45 noisy students inBaqaa elementary school for Palestinian refugees before starting his history class. The students listened to a lecture about the Roman Empire and conquest of North Africa.From behind his thick glasses, the long-bearded 37-year-old teacher vehemently rejects the idea of teaching the Holocaust to his class of Palestinian refugees, all hailing from towns now part of Israel after their parents or grandparents fled after the 1948 war. » Read more

U.S. police officials study counterterrorism in Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) November 1, 2012 - 12:00am WASHINGTON (JTA) – Counterterrorism officials from five U.S. cities met with their counterparts in Israel. Ten officials from five major cities -- New York; Los Angeles; Oakland, Calif.; Austin, Texas; and Houston -- met in mid-October with representatives of Israel's police, the Jerusalem Post reported. The tour focused on "technological and operational advances in counterterrorism," according to the American Jewish Committee's Project Interchange, which organized the tour. Separately, the New York Police Department now has a branch in Israel. » Read more

24 years later, Israel acknowledges top-secret operation that killed Fatah terror chief ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Times of Israel by Michal Shmulovich - November 1, 2012 - 12:00am For the first time, Israel acknowledged that it was behind the killing of Abu Jihad, the PLO’s number two and cofounder, at his home in Tunis in April 1988. » Read more

Peres: No diplomatic moves on the Palestinian track before January ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Times of Israel by Elhanan Miller - October 31, 2012 - 12:00am President Shimon Peres said Wednesday that no diplomatic moves should take place on the Israeli-Palestinian track before a new American president takes office and elections are held in Israel in late January. “Public leaders should respect calendars,” Peres told the press ahead of a meeting with Robert Serry, UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, at his Jerusalem residence. “Until the middle of January, we should not take steps that will fall into a vacuum. » Read more

The Next US Administration and Palestine ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Hayat by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) October 31, 2012 - 12:00am Whoever wins the election, President Barack Obama or his Republican challenger Mitt Romney, will face the same fundamental problem regarding Palestine. » Read more

The forgotten refugees of Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency by Siraj Davis, Yasmin Omar Lulu - (Analysis) October 30, 2012 - 12:00am The Gaza camp in Jordan, near the northwestern historical ruins of Jerrash where the Greco Roman Empire once flourished, was set up by the UN as an em » Read more

Lieberman is a grotesque version of Putin ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Ari Shavit - (Opinion) November 1, 2012 - 12:00am Meretz leader Zahava Gal-On was mistaken when she compared Russian President Vladimir Putin and Yisrael Beiteinu leader Avigdor Lieberman. » Read more

Becoming a people that shall dwell alone ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Shaul Arieli - (Opinion) November 1, 2012 - 12:00am When the election is over, the next Israeli government might have to begin talks with the Palestinians. » Read more

What the new darling of Israel's center-left really thinks about the West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Barak Ravid - (Blog) November 1, 2012 - 12:00am It's been two weeks since Moshe Kahlon announced that he was leaving politics. » Read more

Levy Report serves Israel haters ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Jeremy Ben-Ami - (Opinion) November 1, 2012 - 12:00am For a moment there is appeared as though the  » Read more

Palestinian businesswomen finding their own solutions ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star by Morgan McDaniel - (Opinion) November 1, 2012 - 12:00am Abeer Abu Ghaith, a poised young woman overflowing with optimism, works tirelessly to help Palestinian women achieve their dreams and improve their lives. » Read more

Netanyahu's Move to Right Leaves Opening for Olmert at Center ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor by Alon Pinkas - (Opinion) October 31, 2012 - 12:00am This was supposed to be a Seinfeld election in Israel: no real agenda, no real visions, no big narratives except for "Iran" and all those urgent issues that the political system conveniently defers to the next generation. But these elections are in fact historic for one reason: the first time ever not dealing with Israel's relations with the Arab world, or with the future of our cohabitation with the Palestinians. "Peace" is a T-shirt, and Palestinians exist is a parallel universe. » Read more

Is There Room for Women Among Israel's Zionists? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor by Yedidia Stern - (Opinion) November 1, 2012 - 12:00am Rabbi Shlomo  » Read more

The new Palestinians ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Menachem Klein - (Opinion) November 1, 2012 - 12:00am It’s not the economy, stupid, that’s shaking the foundations of the Palestinian Authority. » Read more

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