Middle East News: World Press Roundup

NEWS: A new study undermines long-standing narratives that Palestinian textbooks teach hatred, in contrast to Israeli ones. The study says both sides have textbooks that privilege their own narratives but few instances of demonization. Israelis are reportedly unhappy with the study. PM Fayyad welcomes the study and calls on Israel to stop undermining its findings. Israel arrests 20 Hamas members in the occupied West Bank. Secretary of State Kerry is expected to visit Israel early in his tenure. A senior PLO official dismisses PM Netanyahu's call for a return to negotiations without preconditions. Palestinian despair appears to be growing in the aftermath of the recent Israeli election. Two more Palestinian refugees are killed by government forces in Syria. The OIC recommends the creation of a "financial safety net" for the PA. The LA Times profiles a Palestinian farmer now nominated for an Oscar. Jerusalem police begin a crackdown on Palestinian residents. The Media Line looks at nightlife in Ramallah. East Asian leaders are meeting with Fayyad in Japan to discuss aid to the PA. Egyptian authorities accuse Israel of fomenting a campaign of sabotage by the so-called "Black Bloc." COMMENTARY: Roger Cohen says Israelis are in a state of denial, and Palestinians are becoming invisible to them. Dmitry Shumsky says that in rejecting the idea of forming partnerships with Arab MKs, Lapid is rejecting Jewish values. Dov Weisglass warns that Israel is greatly imperiled by the lack of peace with the Palestinians. Rami Khouri says Defense Secretary nominee Hagel is paying for years of bad US foreign policy. Ben Caspit says Israel "changed the rules of the game" by attacking a target in Syria. Hazem Balousha says NGOs face difficulties operating in Gaza, not least with Hamas authorities. Nachman Shai says Israel was right to reject the "grotesquely biased" UNHRC report into its settlement activities.

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Academic Study Weakens Israeli Claim That Palestinian School Texts Teach Hate ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Isabel Kershner - February 3, 2013 - 1:00am An academic study of the contents of Israeli and Palestinian Authority textbooks, to be published Monday, finds that each side generally presents the other as the enemy, but it undermines recent assertions by the Israeli government that » Read more

Textbook study faults Israelis and Palestinians ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by Diaa Hadid - February 4, 2013 - 1:00am   Both Israeli and Palestinian schoolbooks largely present one-sided narratives of the conflict between the two peoples and tend to ignore the existence of the other side, but rarely resort to demonization, a U.S. State Department-funded study released Monday said. The study by Israeli, Palestinian and American researchers, billed as setting a new scientific standard, tackled a fraught issue — Israeli claims that Palestinians teach hatred of Israel and glorify violence in schoolbooks. » Read more

Israelis unhappy with study of their textbooks and Palestinians’ ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Joel Greenberg - February 4, 2013 - 1:00am   A State Department-funded study released Monday on the contentious issue of how Israelis and Palestinians depict each other in textbooks says both are locked into narratives that portray the other side as the enemy and erase it from maps, yet do not dehumanize each other. » Read more

Fayyad Welcomes the International Report on School Books, Calls on Israel to Cease Attempts to Detract from the Report’s Professionalism ATFP World Press Roundup Article from by Salam Fayyad - (Blog) February 4, 2013 - 1:00am   Prime Minister Salam Fayyad expresses his satisfaction with a main finding of a study initiated by the Council of Religious Institutions of the Holy Land in 2009, that confirms that Palestinian textbooks do not contain any form of blatant incitement, which is based on contempt towards the ‘other’. » Read more

Israel arrests 20 Hamas members in West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by Mohammed Daraghmeh - February 4, 2013 - 1:00am   Israeli forces arrested 20 members of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, including three lawmakers, in a raid early Monday in the West Bank, Hamas officials said. The Israeli military confirmed arrests were made but would not elaborate further. » Read more

New U.S. Secretary of State to visit Israel: official ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua February 3, 2013 - 1:00am   John Kerry, the new U.S. Secretary of State, will start his tenure with a visit to Israel in two weeks, CNN news reported citing a U.S. official. Kerry, who replaced former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday, is set to visit the Middle East including a stop in Egypt in mid-February. » Read more

PLO official rejects Israeli PM's call for resuming peace talks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua February 3, 2013 - 1:00am   The Palestinian leadership on Sunday rejected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's call to resume peace talks without preconditions. "Netanyahu's call is not serious as long as it does not respect the Palestinians requirement for restarting the peace process," said Yasser Abed Rabbo, a member of the Executive Committee of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). » Read more

News Analysis: Palestinian despair grows after Israeli elections ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua by Saud Abu Ramadan - (Analysis) February 3, 2013 - 1:00am   Two weeks after the Israeli elections, the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank feel a solution to their conflict with Israel is further away with incumbent Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu likely to stay. Although his Likud party shrank from 42 to 31 seats in the parliament after the vote, Netanyahu has been charged with forming the new government after the right wing parties in total won 61 seats, two more than the seats won by the centrist and left-wing parties combined. » Read more

Activists: Regime shelling kills 2 in Damascus Palestinian camp ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency February 4, 2013 - 1:00am Two men were killed and more than 20 injured when Syrian government forces shelled a Palestinian refugee neighborhood in Damascus, activists said. A group based in the al-Yarmouk camp, the Yarmouk committees -- Syrian revolution, said regime troops fired mortars at Al-Waseem mosque, causing the casualties. The shelling took place after hundreds of people returned to the camp, having fled in late 2012 as fighting intensified in the area, the group said. » Read more

Islamic summit to recommend Palestine 'safety net' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency February 4, 2013 - 1:00am The Organization of Islamic Cooperation summit in Cairo this week will recommend its members donate to a financial "safety net" for Palestine, according to a draft statement ahead of the conference. At a preparatory meeting of senior officials on Sunday, a statement was prepared calling on Islamic nations to donate to Palestine under the OIC banner. The funds will go towards Palestine's strategic plan to develop the city of Jerusalem, which was approved by the group in August 2012, according to the statement published on PA news site Wafa. » Read more

Palestinian farmer, activist, filmmaker — and Oscar nominee ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Edmund Sanders - February 2, 2013 - 1:00am   Like many Palestinians, West Bank farmer Emad Burnat punctuates his life story with events from the Israeli occupation of his village. His first son was born amid the optimism that followed the 1993 Oslo peace accords, and another came just as the 2000 Palestinian uprising erupted. » Read more

Changes in Jerusalem police brass bring crackdown on Arab residents ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Nir Hasson - February 4, 2013 - 1:00am    Changes at the top of the Jerusalem District police are being felt in the eastern part of the capital. Palestinian residents in East Jerusalem have complained that the police, under New district commander Maj. Gen. Yossi Prienti, have been implementing an almost declared policy of collective punishment against neighborhoods considered too disruptive. » Read more

Dancing in Ramallah ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line by Diana Atallah - February 3, 2013 - 1:00am   They're dancing the night away, here of all places. While it might be normal to see men offering to buy women at the bar a drink, that hasn't always been the case in this city, where such establishments were once shut down during the second intifada and remain controversial among Palestinians. » Read more

East Asian nations to meet Fayyad in Japan on Palestinian aid ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP) February 4, 2013 - 1:00am Japan is to host a meeting of Asian countries next week to discuss financial assistance for the Palestinian Authority. Ministers from Japan, South Korea and several member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, such as Thailand and Indonesia, will get together on February 13 and 14, Kyodo News agency reported today. The Palestinian prime minister, Salam Fayyad, is expected to attend the meeting aimed at helping pave the way for resuming direct talks between the Palestinian Authority and Israel, the agency quoted government officials as saying. » Read more

Egypt holds Black Bloc member over 'Israeli sabotage plan' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP) February 1, 2013 - 1:00am Egyptian authorities on Thursday detained a member of the Black Bloc group suspected of planning to carry out an Israeli-directed sabotage plan, the official MENA news agency said. One person "belonging to the Black Bloc organisation was arrested inside a building overlooking Tahrir Square carrying Israeli plans to target petrol companies and vital installations, maps of these places and instructions on setting fire to some places," MENA reported. Israel firmly rejected the notion of its involvement in any such plot. » Read more

THE INVISIBILITY OF PALESTINIANS ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Roger Cohen - (Opinion) February 4, 2013 - 1:00am I was sitting the other day at a cafe called English Cake in a shopping center at the heart of this cluster of settlements near Jerusalem. Israeli settlers — many would not like the term — were sipping Turkish coffee, flirting over pastries and enjoying the afternoon sun. The scene was relaxed, as life generally is these days. The conflict, at least in the West Bank, is present but not pressing. » Read more

In rejecting Arab MK, Yair Lapid also rejects Jewish values ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Dmitry Shumsky - (Opinion) February 3, 2013 - 1:00am It is probably a coincidence that last Friday, two articles about Yair Lapid, the big winner in Israel's last elections, ran on the same page of Haaretz. One article reported that Lapid had distanced himself publicly from the possibility of creating a bloc including representatives of the Arab-Palestinian minority in the Knesset – whom he referred to as “Zuabis” – in an effort to replace the prime minister. » Read more

Window is closing ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Dov Weissglas - (Opinion) February 2, 2013 - 1:00am As soon as the election results were announced, Prime Minister Netanyahu said he hoped the next government would be as broad as possible and deal mainly with the issues of equal share of the burden, the economic prosperity of the middle class and housing prices. He did not mention the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or the escalating crisis between Israel and the international community, which is a direct result of the conflict. As far as he is concerned, there is no problem at all. » Read more

Why Hagel must pay for bad U.S. Policy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star by Rami Khouri - (Opinion) February 2, 2013 - 1:00am For anyone who wonders why so many people around the world criticize American and Israeli foreign policy and militarism, this has been a valuable learning week. I refer to the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearings on Chuck Hagel’s nomination to be the next U.S. » Read more

Israel Rewrites Rules of Game To Deal With Syria ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor by Ben Caspit - (Opinion) February 3, 2013 - 1:00am When big, historic structures disintegrate, laws are written anew. When familiar frameworks break up, rules change. This, more or less, is what’s happening now in the Middle East. » Read more

NGOs Face Challenges in Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor by Hazem Balousha - (Opinion) February 3, 2013 - 1:00am For decades, Palestinian society has suffered from instability in the provision of basic needs, volatile political conditions and constantly changing authorities, while its civil institutions remain relatively stable. But the relationship between Palestine’s vast non-governmental network and authorities has often been fraught with tension. » Read more

Israel right to say 'Enough!' to grotesquely biased UNHRC inquiry ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Nachman Shai - (Opinion) February 1, 2013 - 1:00am As a re-elected Member of Knesset for the Labor Party, I was disturbed by two developments in the past couple of days: the UN Human Rights Council’s (UNHRC) call for sanctions against the State of Israel, and the decision of the New York Times to lambast  » Read more

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