Middle East News: World Press Roundup

NEWS: Israel says a bomb blast in Tel Aviv yesterday was "criminally motivated," and not political. Palestinian towns and villages are being affected by extreme weather. Israeli officials are trying to expedite controversial settlement expansion plans in occupied East Jerusalem. Israel exported $7 billion in arms in 2012. Critics within the Likud party say its new, more extreme leadership is abandoning some of the values of founder Menachem Begin. Palestinians say settlers destroyed over 200 olive trees near Nablus. Masked gunmen claiming to be Fatah dissidents in Nablus say they will confront Palestinian security services if arrested. The UAE is donating $50 million to a housing project in Gaza for Palestinian former prisoners of Israel. A news photograph depicts a settler woman and child using their bodies to prevent Palestinians from plowing their own fields in the occupied West Bank. Palestinian activists have been erecting structures in the strategic E1 area slated for settlement expansion by Israel. The Obama administration confirms that the PLO's upgrade in status at the UN violated no American laws. Palestinian protesters say Israel is increasingly using "skunk liquid" against them. COMMENTARY: The New York Times says "Israel, the Palestinians, Arab states and the international community all have a stake" in making sure the PA has the requisite funding to function properly. Mahmoud AbuRahma says Europe should rethink its role regarding Gaza border crossings. Ha'aretz interviews Amos Oz, who says the Netanyahu government is the most "anti-Zionist" ever. Anshel Pfeffer says the extremist and annexationist Israeli politician Naftali Bennett is not only stealing votes from PM Netanyahu, he's also outdoing him in command of English and messaging. Eyal Megged says a recent interview with former Shin Bet Chief Yuval Diskin should have been the political end of Netanyahu, but has made barely a ripple. Randa Haider says both Israelis and Palestinians will suffer if Israel's extreme right prevails in the coming election. Uri Savir says everyone might benefit from it, but a Jordanian-Palestinian confederation is up to the two parties. Hillel Halkin says Israeli voters don't face any good options. J.J. Goldberg critiques the management styles and "failures" of Netanyahu and DM Barak. Ben Caspit says the recent spat between Israel's officials and diplomats will not end well. David Horovitz says Israel's mainstream right has shifted to the extreme right.

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Israeli police say blast criminally motivated ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press January 10, 2013 - 1:00am   » Read more

Walls and winter rains afflict Palestinian towns ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Noah Browning - January 9, 2013 - 1:00am   Heavy winter downpours have turned some Palestinian lands in the occupied West Bank into a morass of filth and flooding as an Israeli barrier blocks the waters from draining away. » Read more

Israeli officials try to expedite construction of controversial East Jerusalem neighborhood ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua January 11, 2013 - 1:00am   The Israeli government along with the Jerusalem municipality are working hard at marketing the controversial East Jerusalem construction project prior to the Jan. 22 elections, local media reported Thursday. » Read more

Israel's arms exports reached 7 bln USD in 2012 ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua January 10, 2013 - 1:00am   According to estimates published Thursday by the defense ministry, Israeli defense equipment exports reached 7 billion U.S. dollars in 2012. The figure marks a 20-percent increase from the amount of defense-related exports in 2011. Official data will be provided by the ministry in March 2013. » Read more

Critics of Likud's new vanguard say party has abandoned founder's ideals ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Ben Lynfield - January 10, 2013 - 1:00am   » Read more

Official: Settlers destroy over 200 olive trees in Nablus ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency January 11, 2013 - 1:00am Settlers destroyed over 200 olive trees in a Nablus village on Friday, an official said. » Read more

Nablus gunmen warn PA security services ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency January 10, 2013 - 1:00am A group of masked gunmen claiming affiliation to Fatah's military wing warned on Thursday that they would fight back against the imprisonment of their members by Palestinian security forces. » Read more

UAE donates $50 million to 'prisoner city' in Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency January 10, 2013 - 1:00am Gaza's housing minister said Thursday that the United Arab Emirates has donated $50 million to build a housing project for Palestinians released from Israeli jails. » Read more

Snapshot: Foul play in the West Bank fields ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Tal Niv - January 10, 2013 - 1:00am   » Read more

Palestinians erect outpost in E1 zone ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Elior Levy - January 11, 2013 - 1:00am A group of 200 Palestinians, backed by foreign activists, have been erecting an outpost in the disputed E1 zone, near Ma'aleh Adumim, since the early hours of Friday morning. » Read more

Obama administration: PLO’s U.N. elevation broke no laws ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) January 10, 2013 - 1:00am   The Obama administration said the Palestinians' ascension in U.N. membership status did not violate U.S. law. » Read more

Palestinians protest use of 'skunk' liquid ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Irish Times by Mark Weiss - January 11, 2013 - 1:00am   Palestinian activists claim the use by the Israeli security forces of a foul-smelling liquid, dubbed “the skunk”, against protesters and, in some instances, private homes, may be putting lives at risk. » Read more

Financial Crisis in the West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times (Editorial) January 10, 2013 - 1:00am   » Read more

EU should re-think its border assistance role ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency by Mahmoud Abu Rahma - (Opinion) January 9, 2013 - 1:00am The European Union must abandon the idea of redeploying its border monitoring mission on Gaza's border with Egypt, raised again by EU officials last month. » Read more

Netanyahu government is Israel's most anti-Zionist ever, says Amoz Oz ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Yossi Verter - (Opinion) January 11, 2013 - 1:00am   The writer and Israel Prize laureate Amoz Oz harshly attacked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as Labor chairwoman MK Shelly Yacimovich. » Read more

Politics and the English language: What we can learn from Naftali Bennett’s international interviews ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Anshel Pfeffer - (Opinion) January 10, 2013 - 1:00am Each of the senior politicians called up to the stage at Tuesday's foreign policy debate conducted by the Israel Project at the Hebrew University, scurried up to the podium as their name was called. Only Habayit Hayehudi leader, Naftali Bennett, paused for a moment, turned around, and waved to the audience before stepping up. "It was a short gesture, but there was something about it that distinguished him," a friend who was there told me. » Read more

Bibi, ask not what you can do for you ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz (Opinion) January 10, 2013 - 1:00am   In another country, in a place that is normal, the in-depth interview with former Shin Bet security service director Yuval Diskin, published in Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper last weekend, would have cost a sitting prime minister the election. » Read more

Israeli extremists' victory ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Randa Haidar - (Opinion) January 10, 2013 - 1:00am Winds of rightist political extremism are blowing through the election campaign in Israel these days. Some two weeks before the elections, it appears that the Israeli arena is becoming more extreme and divided. » Read more

A Palestinian-Jordanian confederation ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Uri Savir - (Opinion) January 10, 2013 - 1:00am Prominent Israeli Knesset candidates, many of them most probably part of the next coalition, are in these days of vigorous campaigning attempting to highjack us into their fata morganas (mirages) regarding the future of the West Bank; be it Naftali Bennett with his ridiculous proposal to annex 60 percent of the West Bank to Israel; or » Read more

An Israeli Ballot With No Good Options ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Hillel Halkin - (Opinion) January 10, 2013 - 1:00am   Israel doesn’t need to hold elections. It only needs to ask for whom I’d vote, because I’ve never voted for anyone but winners. I was for Golda in 1974, for Begin in 1977, for Rabin in 1992, for Netanyahu in ’96, for Barak in ’98, for the Sharon of the Likud in 2000 and the Sharon of Kadima in 2005, for Ehud Olmert in 2006, for Netanyahu again in 2009. You can’t be more infallible than that. » Read more

Enduring Failures of Israel's 'Decision Makers' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by J.J. Goldberg - (Opinion) January 10, 2013 - 1:00am   One of Israel’s worst-kept military secrets is the simmering tension between the country’s top security professionals and their civilian bosses, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak. The headlines surface regularly and tend to look the same, so it’s easy to miss the big picture. » Read more

Netanyahu and Israel's Crisis of Democracy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor by Ben Caspit - (Opinion) January 10, 2013 - 1:00am   Ron Prosor is one of the most distinguished ambassadors in the history of the Israeli Foreign Service. He was the No. 3 man at the embassy in Washington. He was director general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs under Silvan Shalom; he was a highly respected ambassador to the United Kingdom, and he is now in charge of Israel's public diplomacy efforts as Israel's permanent representative to the United Nations. » Read more

A different Israel after January 22 ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Times of Israel by David Horovitz - (Opinion) January 9, 2013 - 1:00am   You may wish to celebrate. You may be plunged into despair. But signs are the country to which you will wake up on January 23 will be a different Israel. » Read more

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