Middle East News: World Press Roundup

NEWS: Palestinian factions are due to meet again in Cairo in April for more unity negotiations. (Ma'an) The Palestinian election commission says it will publish the final voter registry on April 10. (Ma'an) Israeli occupation forces seriously injure two Palestinians in Gaza and Hebron. (Xinhua) The PA estimates there are 50,000 drug addicts in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. (Ma'an) Israel finances its military justice system in the occupied territories in large part through fines against Palestinians. (Ha'aretz) Palestinians protest Israel's blocking of Palestinian family reunification. (Xinhua) PM Netanyahu holds the last meeting of his current cabinet, but without ultra-Orthodox parties present, as a new government begins to take shape. (Bloomberg/Xinhua) Egypt arrests an Israeli citizen in Sinai. (Xinhua) The PA is preparing more applications for UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the occupied territories. (Ma'an) The International Federation of Journalists accuses Hamas of preventing it from providing safety training to women journalists. (PNN) A new poll shows Israel's Palestinian citizens are more afraid of attacks by Jewish Israelis than outside forces. (Ha'aretz) A new Senate bill would allow Israel to join the US Visa Waiver Program. (JTA) Palestinians are increasingly upset with Egypt's pumping of raw sewage into smuggling tunnels in order to close them. (Al Jazeera)

COMMENTARY: Joseph Levine points out it's not anti-Semitic to examine the tension between Israel aspiring to be both a "Jewish" and a "democratic" state simultaneously. (New York Times) Peter Beinart says the pro-Palestinian left has a terrible blind spot regarding Hamas' oppression and misogyny. (Daily Beast/Open Zion) Aluf Benn says Israel is hoping to establish at least 1 million Jewish settlers in the occupied territories in the foreseeable future. (Ha'aretz) Gideon Levy says no one can respond to UNICEF's report on Israel's abuse of Palestinian children detainees by calling the organization "anti-Semitic." (Ha'aretz) Yonah Jeremy Bob says the UNICEF report ignores Israel's efforts to reform its treatment of Palestinian children detainees. (Jerusalem Post) Smadar Shir says anti-Arab racism is becoming widespread in Israel. (YNet) Bambi Sheleg says the wave of attacks against Arabs in Israel shows the basic values of the society are collapsing. (YNet) AP says Pres. Obama has three main goals for his trip to Israel and Palestine: Iran, relations with Israel and reviving negotiations. (AP) Barak Ravid says the United States now expects the parties themselves to take the lead on peace. (Ha'aretz) Adel Safty says Obama and Sec. Kerry must remember the international legal foundations for ending the conflict. (Gulf News) Chemi Shalev says it's crazy for many Israelis to be relieved that Obama doesn't appear to have a peace plan. (Ha'aretz) Emanuel Rosen says if Obama really doesn't have a peace plan, he might as well postpone his visit to the region. (YNet) Omar Baddar says Obama's visit has to be a "game changer" or the region faces decades of unending conflict. (Daily Beast/Open Zion) Alan Elsner says Obama's trip should be seen as a step in the right direction, not an end in itself. (The Hill) Barry Rubin says it doesn't matter what Israelis really think of Obama, they need to applaud him because they require American support. (Jerusalem Post) Hassan Barari says Netanyahu's new coalition won't last long. (Arab News) Nathan Guttman says AIPAC is trying to tack to the left and make the pro-Israel cause more liberal in line with Obama's America. (The Forward) Nathan Jeffay looks at the role of Sara Netanyahu. (The Forward) The Independent profiles the novelist and hit TV scriptwriter Sayed Kashua, a Palestinian citizen of Israel. (The Independent)<

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CEC: Final electoral register to be published April 10 ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency March 11, 2013 - 12:00am The Central Elections Commission on Sunday completed the transfer of voter registry forms from Gaza to Ramallah and will publish the final registry on April 10, the CEC said. In February, Palestinian officials told Ma'an that Israel was impeding the delivery of the electoral registers. Head of the Central Elections Committee Hanna Nasser said the CEC used scanners to digitally transfer the data as Israeli prevented the transfer of the registration applications to a West Bank processing center. » Read more

Israeli soldiers seriously wound 2 Palestinians in Gaza, Hebron: medics ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua March 8, 2013 - 1:00am Two Palestinians were seriously injured Friday evening in clashes with Israeli soldiers in Gaza City and the southern West Bank town of Hebron, medics said. Ashraf al-Qedra, a spokesman of Gaza health ministry, told reporters that a 20-year-old Palestinian was seriously injured by an Israeli army gunshot in the chest in northern Gaza Strip. The young man is in serious conditions, al-Qedra said. » Read more

PA: 50,000 drug addicts in East Jerusalem, West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency March 11, 2013 - 12:00am The Palestinian Authority minister of health said Sunday that there are an estimated 50,000 drug addicts in East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank. Hani Abdin told Ma'an that the figures have encouraged the ministry to exert efforts to raise awareness about drug addiction and work with partner organizations to fight drug use. » Read more

Judge, jury and creditor: How Palestinians finance the Israeli military court system ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amira Hass - March 10, 2013 - 1:00am In 2011, Palestinians paid NIS 13 million in fines to military courts in the West Bank. Unlike in the civilian criminal court system, in the Israeli military court system where Palestinians are put on trial, fines are an integral part of the penalty. » Read more

Palestinians protest against Israel's block over Palestinian family reunion ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua March 10, 2013 - 1:00am The Israeli army prevented Saturday a symbolic wedding party which aimed at protesting against the Israel's block over family reunion of the Palestinians living in West bank and Israel. The pride is a Palestinian woman from the Israeli city of Nazareth and the groom is a Palestinian young man from Ramallah. Witnesses said that the Israeli army erected blocks on the road linking Ramallah and Jerusalem to prevent the wedding convoy reaching the town of Hezma where the wedding is due to be held. » Read more

Netanyahu’s Coalition Takes Shape With Lapid, Bennett Deals ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bloomberg by Calev Ben-David - March 11, 2013 - 12:00am Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened the current Cabinet for what he called its final meeting in Jerusalem today as talks to form a new ruling coalition advanced to their final stage. A major stumbling block to forming a ruling coalition was overcome when Yair Lapid, leader of the second-biggest party, Yesh Atid, agreed to become the next finance minister. » Read more

Israeli ultra-Orthodox party's ministers boycott final cabinet meeting ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua March 10, 2013 - 1:00am The outgoing Israeli government held its final cabinet meeting on Sunday without the presence of four Haredi lawmakers. The four, members of the ultra-Orthodox Shas Party, did not show up at the meeting apparently in protest of their being excluded from incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's upcoming coalition. Netanyahu is about to reach a deadline of forming a new government following the results of the Jan. 22 elections. » Read more

Egypt arrests Israeli citizen in Sinai ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua March 11, 2013 - 12:00am The Egyptian authorities on Sunday arrested an Israeli citizen due to sneaking into South Sinai governorate, local security sources told Xinhua. "The Israeli man, identified as Gabriel Abu Shlomo, 29, did not have any identification papers or a passport," the security sources said. According to the sources, Abu Shlomo traveled from Israel's Eilat to the Egyptian city of Taba and crossed the boarder on Saturday evening. » Read more

PA approves plan to register UNESCO sites ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency March 6, 2013 - 1:00am The Palestinian Authority cabinet on Tuesday decided to form a committee to prepare applications to register sites on UNESCO's world heritage list. Omar Awadallah, the head of UN file in the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that the committee's mission was to prepare heritage sites for the list to protect them from harm. Each ministry has been asked to cooperate with the UNESCO committee, and will prepare the files. » Read more

IFJ Slams Hamas Travel Ban on Safety Trainer in Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency March 8, 2013 - 1:00am in a strongly worded letter, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) accused the Hamas administration in Gaza of sabotaging the Federations safety training for Palestinian women journalists. The letter to Prime Minister Ismael Haneya followed the decision of Hamas to ban the IFJ safety trainer in Gaza, Sami Abu Salem, from travelling to Cairo to deliver a training marking the International Day of Women. » Read more

Israeli Arabs more afraid than Jews of enemy attack, poll finds ATFP World Press Roundup Article from March 11, 2013 - 12:00am Israeli Arabs are more afraid than the Jewish public of being attacked by an enemy state, according to the annual "National Resilience" survey. Israel's Jewish population, meanwhile, is more calm than ever about the possibility of an attack by an enemy country, the survey revealed, reporting an all-time low on its so-called "fear index." This is a continuation of a previous trend that began in 2006. The Jewish population's fear of terror is also reportedly at an all-time low. » Read more

Senate bill would exempt Israel from visa waiver requirements ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) March 10, 2013 - 1:00am  The Senate version of a bill that would enhance the U.S.-Israel relationship exempts Israel from some requirements in order to allow it to join a visa waiver program.   The bill, introduced in time for last week's American Israel Public Affairs Committee annual policy conference, mandates the inclusion of Israel in a program that allows citizens of designated countries to enter the United States without a prearranged visa. » Read more

Foul sewage flooding raises Palestinian ire ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Jazeera English by Mohammed Omer - March 9, 2013 - 1:00am Gazans are crying foul after Egypt stepped up its campaign to wipe out an underground network of transportation tunnels by blasting raw sewage down them, sometimes with deadly results for Palestinian workers. » Read more

On Questioning the Jewish State ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Joseph Levine - (Opinion) March 9, 2013 - 1:00am I was raised in a religious Jewish environment, and though we were not strongly Zionist, I always took it to be self-evident that “Israel has a right to exist.” Now anyone who has debated the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will have encountered this phrase often. Defenders of Israeli policies routinely accuse Israel’s critics of denying her right to exist, while the critics (outside of a small group on the left, where I now find myself) bend over backward to insist that, despite their criticisms, of course they affirm it. » Read more

The Pro-Palestinian Left's Hamas Blindspot ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by Peter Beinart - (Analysis) March 8, 2013 - 1:00am Earlier this week, news that Hamas had barred women from participating in a marathon in the Gaza Strip scrolled across my twitter feed. Instantly, I knew two things. First, that “Pro-Israel” hawks would lambast the Islamist group without ever considering the way in which Israel and America’s policy of isolating Gaza makes it easier for Hamas to practice the very misogyny the hawks rightly condemn. Second, that the anti-Zionist left would say nothing at all. » Read more

Israel going for one million Jews in the West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Aluf Benn - (Editorial) March 11, 2013 - 12:00am The election campaign season comes to its real conclusion this week with the formation of the government and an unadulterated victory for the right. » Read more

UNICEF isn’t anti-Semitic ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Gideon Levy - (Editorial) March 10, 2013 - 1:00am It has already been met here with a typical shrug of the shoulders, the report by the United Nations Children Fund declaring that Palestinian children detained by the Israel Defense Forces are subject to widespread, systematic ill-treatment that violates international law. Now it’s no longer “the automatic majority” at the UN’s General Assembly, nor is it “Israel-haters” on the UN Human Rights Council. Now it’s UNICEF − and UNICEF is really another story entirely. » Read more

Analysis: UNICEF report, gray areas and int'l law ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Yonah Jeremy Bob - (Analysis) March 10, 2013 - 1:00am Overall, UNICEF’s report on Israel’s treatment of Palestinian children in the West Bank Military Courts, despite some more positive treatment than UN reports often give, did not give Israel high marks. The 38 recommendations and the tone of the document mostly spoke of Israeli violations of international law. But reading such a report is tricky. » Read more

Racism widespread in Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Smadar Shir - (Opinion) March 10, 2013 - 1:00am The racism disease has been living within us from time immemorial. Its roots may be found as early as the days of Torah, when the Creator of the universe defined us as the "chosen people," and we were foolish enough not to interpret the definition as a mission but rather as a fact. Already then we saw ourselves as superior and put on airs, and therefore the Torah preached that we should love those who are foreigners. » Read more

Their blood has been let ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Bambi Sheleg - (Opinion) March 9, 2013 - 1:00am In March of last year a group of Beitar Jerusalem fans attacked Arab janitors in the Malcha Mall. It happened after a soccer game in the nearby Teddy Stadium. Last summer a group of teenagers nearly lynched an Arab youngster in Jerusalem's Zion Square. Since then we have witnessed a series of incidents in which young Jews brutally assaulted Arabs in a manner that is characteristic of societies in the process of dissolution. » Read more

Analysis: Iran, Palestinian talks, Netanyahu ties to dominate Obama trip to Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press (Analysis) March 11, 2013 - 12:00am Three goals will dominate President Barack Obama’s coming visit to Israel, his first as president: Convincing Israel and its leadership he means what he says about stopping Iran from building a nuclear weapon, mending a deeply troubled relationship with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and, in return, enticing Israel back to negotiations with the Palestinians. » Read more

Obama's new approach to Mideast peace: Israel and Palestinians must lead, not the U.S. ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Barak Ravid - (Opinion) March 10, 2013 - 1:00am For the past month the White House has been lowering expectations regarding U.S. President Barack Obama’s upcoming visit to Jerusalem and Ramallah. » Read more

Palestinians deserve justice, not apathy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News by Adel Safty - (Opinion) March 10, 2013 - 1:00am John Kerry, the former presidential candidate and the veteran chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, has just returned from his first trip to Europe and the Middle East as secretary of state. At the press conference with British Foreign Secretary William Hague, Kerry gave the impression that the Middle East did not figure prominently in his discussion with Hague. In his opening statement Hague said: “Top of our agenda was the Middle East, including the importance we both attach to ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict…” » Read more

An Ode to Joy: President Obama has no peace plan! ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Chemi Shalev - (Opinion) March 10, 2013 - 1:00am The news that President Obama has no intention of presenting a new peace plan on his upcoming visit to Israel was greeted by a collective sigh of relief that was so pronounced that it sounded like a giant roar of approval. Hallelujah, Israel is saved. Just in time for Passover, as usual. » Read more

Progress or explosion ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Emanuel Rosen - (Opinion) March 10, 2013 - 1:00am The International Monetary Fund published a report last week in praise of the Steinitz-Fayyad agreement, which, according to the IMF's experts, is the most efficient way to reinforce the economic relations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, for the benefit of both sides. » Read more

What It Will Take To Break The Stalemate ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by Omar Baddar - (Opinion) March 8, 2013 - 1:00am After two decades of a U.S.-led “peace process,” we are no closer to achieving an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement today than we were in the early 1990s. Indeed, we’re probably much farther away now, as Israel took advantage of the so-called “peace process” to drastically expand its colonization of the occupied Palestinian territories (in direct violation of the spirit of Oslo), growing the settler population to more than 600,000 and making a viable two-state solution almost implausible. » Read more

Israeli-Palestinian peace - the hidden agenda item ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Hill by Alan Elsner - (Opinion) March 8, 2013 - 1:00am This week, some 13,000 pro-Israel advocates in town to attend the annual AIPAC policy conference fanned out across Capitol Hill to lobby their congressional representatives to tighten sanctions against Iran and designate Israel as a “major strategic partner” of the United States. Curiously missing from the list was any mention of Israeli-Palestinian peace, which is a vital interest for the United States, but more importantly the single most important guarantor of Israel’s future as a democratic Jewish state. » Read more

The Region: Obama: Bad president, good for Israel? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Barry Rubin - (Opinion) March 10, 2013 - 1:00am I have just returned from briefing a high-ranking official of country X on the Middle East. We kept coming back to a vital theme: the incredibly shrinking power of the United States. Try to explain American behavior to neutral, open-minded third parties for whom US policy activities have become just plain bizarre! I have just published an article about how terrorists, including the murderers of four American officials in Benghazi, are literally laughing at the United States and its inability (or unwillingness) to do anything effective to defend its interests. » Read more

Challenges lie ahead for Netanyahu govt ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News by Hassan Barari - (Opinion) March 11, 2013 - 12:00am Barring a last minute surprise, Benjamin Netanyahu is poised to form a working governmental coalition this week. His ability to form his third government is a slam-dunk after Yair Lapid, the head of Yesh Atid Party, relinquished his demand to assume the portfolio of foreign affairs. Lapid’s desire to be a foreign minister was the stumbling block in the path of forming a government with Bennett. » Read more

AIPAC Tries to Brand Israel as Liberal Cause ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Nathan Guttman - (Opinion) March 10, 2013 - 1:00am After many years of outreach to conservative evangelicals, the pro-Israel lobby in Washington, facing a liberal ascendance, is now striving to make the case for Israel as a cause for progressives. At the recent annual conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, advocates of the organization explored strategies for capturing this constituency, largely by looking for ways, as Israeli diplomats put it, of presenting “Israel beyond the conflict” with the Palestinians. » Read more

Is Sara Netanyahu the Erratic Power Behind Bibi's Throne? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Nathan Jeffay - (Opinion) March 11, 2013 - 12:00am Of the many explanations for the long, drawn-out and chaotic coalition negotiations that have followed Israel’s recent election, the most intriguing is that they have more to do with Benjamin Netanyahu’s home life than with his political aspirations. According to one of Israel’s top journalists, it is his wife’s publicly known antipathy toward one of his main potential coalition partners that pitched Netanyahu into the mire of complications in which his negotiations remained stuck as of the Forward’s print deadline. » Read more

Parallel lives in a tragicomic mirror: Novelist Sayed Kashua is trampling every barrier ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent by Boyd Tonkin - March 8, 2013 - 1:00am In January, one TV show swept the boards at the awards ceremony of the Israeli Film and Television Academy. It won five gongs. Small-screen buffs might assume that the recipient of all these accolades was Hatufim, the Israeli drama which – in its American remake – became Homeland. Not at all. Instead, honours rained on the bitingly funny and fearless sitcom Arab Labour (avoda aravit, a Hebrew idiom for a botched job). » Read more

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