Middle East News: World Press Roundup

NEWS: Israeli occupation forces shoot and kill a Palestinian protester in the West Bank. (AP) New PA taxes on foreign imports are controversial. (Ma'an) Palestinians appeal to Israel's High Court that a new settlement expansion will cut Bethlehem off from areas to its south. (Ha'aretz) Hamas threatens to begin issuing its own passports to Gaza residents. (Xinhua) Hamas says it has a list of suspected "collaborators" who must turn themselves in or be detained. (Ma'an) Seven Palestinians are arrested at Cairo airport after being found in possession of maps of Egyptian military buildings. (Ma'an) UNHCR has joined a petition to the High Court opposing Israel's "infiltration law." (Xinhua) Film producers say Egyptian authorities have moved to prevent the screening of a film about the Jews of Egypt. (AP) Pres. Peres calls on the international community to do more to pressure Iran. (Reuters) Pres. Obama plans to give only one TV interview while he is in Israel. (Ha'aretz) The consensus is the Obama trip will involve lots of listening but few concrete proposals. (JTA) The UN calls on Jordan to admit Palestinian refugees fleeing Syria and estimates 85% of its residents have fled the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus. (AP/Al Arabiya) A Palestinian father rejects a UN report suggesting his son may have been killed by a stray Palestinian rocket rather than in Israeli attack last November. (The National)

COMMENTARY: Rashid Khalidi says in order to achieve peace the US must unequivocally oppose settlements and occupation and support Palestinian statehood. (New York Times) Ari Shavit says, on the contrary, a new approach to peace should be based on incremental steps that calm the immediate situation. (New York Times) Thomas Friedman says Obama needs to ask the Israelis bluntly what their vision for the future really is, and if they even have one. (New York Times) Eric Yoffie says three issues -- Iran, settlements and Jonathan Pollard -- could all pose problems during Obama's visit to Israel. (Ha'aretz) Robert Lifton says, in spite of undoubtedly heavy opposition, Obama should launch an ambitious and decisive new peace initiative. (Huffington Post) Martin Raffel says it would be better for the US to focus on incremental steps in the immediate term rather than ambitious peace proposals. (The Jewish Week) Ben Birnbaum provides an overview of the bleak prospects for achieving a two-state agreement. (The New Republic) Mortimer Zuckerman says a two-state solution is essential, but gives his opinion about why it has been so elusive. (U.S. News & World Report) Uri Misgav says Jewish Israeli social and political leaders are being shamefully silent about violent attacks against Arabs. (Ha'aretz) Ilene Prusher says Israel has to face the fact that it has a growing problem with racism. (Ha'aretz) Aviad Kleinberg says Israeli society needs to not only reject racist attacks but identify with the victims. (YNet) The Jerusalem Post says Israel cannot be accused of "apartheid" in the occupied Palestinian territories because it does not intend to keep them. (Jerusalem Post) Omar Shaban says there are few real prospects for reestablishing the Palestinian Pound. (Al Monitor) J. J. Goldberg looks at why Israel is calling for Pollard's release now. (Daily Beast/Open Zion) Mira Sucharov critiques Joseph Levine's recent commentary on Israel's "right to exist." (Daily Beast/Open Zion) Hani Almadhoun says increasing numbers of married Palestinian women are enrolling in universities. (Huffington Post)

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Israel troops shoot to death Palestinian protester ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press March 12, 2013 - 12:00am Israeli troops shot to death a Palestinian man on Tuesday after he and others hurled rocks and firebombs at them in the West Bank, the military said. The death was the latest in a new uptick in Palestinian casualties in the area, where protests in support of prisoners held in Israeli jails have led to violent clashes between the protesters and Israeli forces. The protests have largely subsided. » Read more

Economists: Extra taxes on foreign imports hasty decision ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency March 13, 2013 - 12:00am But economic experts believe the decision is likely to increase indirect imports through Israeli middlemen, and that will eventually support the Israeli economy and maintain stagnation in Palestine's economy. West Bank economist Mahmoud al-Jaafari highlighted that poor Palestinian families depended on goods imported from China, because they were relatively cheaper, especially goods which are not produced in Palestine. After extra taxes, he added, these products will become more expensive and poor families will be unable to find something cheap to cover their needs. » Read more

Palestinians to High Court: Israel's West Bank land claim will cut Bethlehem off from south ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amira Hass - March 12, 2013 - 12:00am The Israeli government is seeking a ruling from the High Court of Justice on Wednesday that would permit it to declare ownership of a large swath of land in the West Bank settlement of Efrat. » Read more

Hamas threatens to issue own passports for Gaza people ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua March 12, 2013 - 12:00am Hamas accused Tuesday the rival Fatah movement of "depriving thousands of Gaza people of passports, " threatening to issue its own version of Palestinian travel documents. Ibrahim Salah, spokesperson of the Hamas interior ministry, accused the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) in the West Bank, where President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party holds sway, of " depriving thousands of Gaza people of passports." » Read more

Hamas urges collaborators to hand themselves in ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency March 12, 2013 - 12:00am The Hamas-run Interior Ministry in Gaza has a list of collaborators who will be detained if they do not turn themselves in, a security official said Tuesday. "Collaborators must contact dignitaries to help them turn themselves over to security services," said Muhammad Lafi, of the Internal Security Service. Informers who give themselves up by April 11 will not be detained or sent to interrogation centers, Lafi told reporters in Gaza City. » Read more

Palestinians seized at Cairo airport 'in possession of military maps' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency March 13, 2013 - 12:00am Sources at Cairo International Airport said Wednesday that seven Palestinians were in custody after being found with maps of military buildings in Cairo. An Egyptian investigative source told Ma’an that the men were on their way back home after visiting Syria and Iran. The suspects have not been identified. The Egyptian source, speaking on the condition of anonymity, added that after investigations it was determined that the men had entered Egypt via tunnels and the stamps in their passports were fake. » Read more

UN agency joins petition against Israeli infiltration law ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua March 12, 2013 - 12:00am The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) joined a petition filed by human rights organizations to the Supreme Court against the Israeli law of infiltration and asked to revoke it, local media reported Tuesday. The UNHCR's unprecedented move is an attempt to overturn a law which it claims "wrongly stigmatizes and penalizes those seeking refuge." » Read more

Egypt stops screening of film on Jewish community ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by Sarah El Deeb - March 12, 2013 - 12:00am Egyptian security agencies have stopped the screening of a documentary on the Egyptian Jewish community a day before it was due to debut in local cinemas, the film producer said in a statement Tuesday. He said no reasons were given. The "Jews of Egypt", a documentary that follows the lives of the Egyptian Jewish community in the first half of the 20th century until they left under duress in large numbers in the late 1950s, was screened in Egypt last year in a private film festival and had been approved by censorship, a regular procedure in Egypt. » Read more

Israel's Peres tells Europe to do more to pressure Iran ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters March 12, 2013 - 12:00am Israeli President Shimon Peres urged the European Union on Tuesday to step up pressure on Iran over its ballistic missile programme, as well as trying to curb its nuclear ambitions. In a speech to the European Parliament that touched on the Jewish state's foreign policy goals, the Nobel peace laureate sought to persuade European lawmakers to act quickly on Iran, which Israel regards as an existential threat. » Read more

Obama hoping to reach out to Israelis, but only one lucky TV station will get an interview ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Barak Ravid - March 13, 2013 - 12:00am U.S. President Barak Obama's main goal during his visit to Israel next week will be to speak directly to the Israeli people and public opinion, over the heads of Israel's politicians. To kick-start that goal, Obama will give an interview to Israel's Channel 2 chief news anchor, Yonit Levy, who is currently in Washington. The interview will be filmed Wednesday morning, D.C. time, and will be aired in Israel Thurday nigth at 8.P.M. » Read more

Lots of listening, no grand initiatives expected on Obama’s Mideast trip ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) by Ron Kampeas, Ben Sales - March 12, 2013 - 12:00am When President Obama visits Israel next week, Gavriel Yaakov wants him to jump-start the peace process. “I’m excited,” said Yaakov, 67, sitting in a Tel Aviv mall. “I want negotiations to get to an agreement on a long-term peace with the Palestinians.” Yaakov said he trusts Obama, but his friend, Yossi Cohen, is more skeptical. “I’m not excited,” said Cohen, 64, who charged that the president supports Islamists and “hasn't done anything” to prevent an Iranian nuclear weapon. » Read more

UN: Jordan Should Allow in Palestinians From Syria ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by Peter James Spielmann - March 11, 2013 - 12:00am The U.N.'s chief relief official for Palestinians is urging Jordan to stop discriminating against Palestinian refugees fleeing the Syrian war and open its borders to them. The commissioner general of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees says "all refugees should be treated equally." » Read more

Over 85 percent Palestinians fled Syria’s Yarmouk camp: UNRWA ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Arabiya March 12, 2013 - 12:00am More than 85 percent of Palestinians living in Syria’s Yarmouk refugee camp have been displaced due to the violence that has gripped the country for the past two years, said the commissioner general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). » Read more

Father rejects UN report suggesting errant Palestinian rocket killed baby ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Hugh Naylor - March 13, 2013 - 12:00am A British Broadcasting Corporation employee whose infant son was killed during Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip in November has criticised a United Nations report that suggested the cause of the child's death may have been an errant Palestinian rocket » Read more

Is Any Hope Left for Mideast Peace? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Rashid Khalidi - March 12, 2013 - 12:00am WHAT should Barack Obama, who is to visit Israel next Wednesday for the first time in his presidency, do about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? » Read more

The Old Peace Is Dead, but a New Peace Is Possible ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Ari Shavit - March 12, 2013 - 12:00am HERE is the bad news: the Old Peace is dead. It was first wounded in 1994 when, a year after the Oslo accords, Israel let Yasir Arafat, the leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization, return to the West Bank, and a result was a deadly bus bombing in central Tel Aviv. » Read more

Mr. Obama Goes to Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Thomas L. Friedman - (Opinion) March 12, 2013 - 12:00am In case you haven’t heard, President Obama leaves for Israel next week. It is possible, though, that you haven’t heard because it is hard for me to recall a less-anticipated trip to Israel by an American president. But there is a message in that empty bottle: Little is expected from this trip — not only because little is possible, but because, from a narrow U.S. point of view, little is necessary. Quietly, with nobody announcing it, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has shifted from a necessity to a hobby for American diplomats. » Read more

The three issues that could torpedo Obama's visit to Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Eric H. Yoffie - March 12, 2013 - 12:00am During President Obama’s upcoming visit to Israel, the reactions of the average American will range from mild interest to indifference.  Most Americans are not very concerned about foreign policy.  Still, they have good feelings about Israel and will likely see the trip positively. » Read more

Needed: A New Approach to Resolve the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Huffington Post by Robert K Lifton - (Opinion) March 12, 2013 - 12:00am The expectation that President Obama will visit Israel and the West Bank around March 20th has generated renewed focus on how he should approach the Israel-Palestinian issues. Israel's President Shimon Peres has said that the President's visit is a "good occasion" to restart the stalled peace process. At the same time, Obama's press spokesman has said, "while the President is not going with any specific peace plan in hand, the president thinks...it's in the interests of both parties, Palestinians and Israelis to pursue a peace agreement." » Read more

The Case For Incrementalism ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Week by Martin Raffel - (Opinion) March 12, 2013 - 12:00am Secretary of State Kerry and President Obama are hitting the road to the Middle East this month, and, among other important strategic objectives, they will try to revive Israeli-Palestinian negotiations that can lead expeditiously to a permanent peace agreement. » Read more

The End of the Two-State Solution: Why the window is closing on Middle-East peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New Republic by Ben Birnbaum - (Opinion) March 11, 2013 - 12:00am One Friday evening last November, Mahmoud Abbas made a rare appearance on the popular Israeli TV station, Channel 2. In his boxy suit and tie, the Palestinian president looked every bit his 77 years, his olive skin tinged with gray, his voice soft and whispery. He shifted in his seat with every answer. » Read more

Why Middle East Peace Is So Elusive ATFP World Press Roundup Article from by Mortimer B. Zuckerman - (Opinion) March 12, 2013 - 12:00am This month President Obama makes his first visit to Israel since he became president. His first term did not begin auspiciously in this regard, with critical remarks on settlements that pre-empted negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. Indeed, in the following four years, the prospects of peace have seen only a savage deterioration. In Israel, Obama has been regarded as the least friendly U.S. president ever, and in the region the United States is perceived as having lost both interest and clout. » Read more

The silence after the lynch of Israel's Arabs ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Uri Misgav - (Opinion) March 12, 2013 - 12:00am A young man from Tel Aviv who was injured in a road accident last week wrote on Facebook: “In the emergency room at Ichilov, on the bed next to mine, lay the waiter who was beaten by a mob because he is an Arab. He didn’t stop crying, and I wanted them to run me over again.” » Read more

Let's face it: Israel has a racism problem ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Ilene Prusher - March 12, 2013 - 12:00am A schoolteacher was attacked on a Jerusalem street last week for no other reason than that she was wearing the headscarf of a religious Muslim woman. The pack of religious teenagers who accosted Wahad Abu-Zamira and her colleague Revital Valkov called the latter “a Jewish bitch who has Arab friends.” » Read more

I'm an Arab too ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Aviad Kleinberg - March 13, 2013 - 12:00am A racism allegation evokes a conditioned reflex among Israelis. We automatically reject it. We have been accused of politically-motivated racism so many times; we have been compared – foolishly or maliciously – to Nazi Germany so many times, that our natural inclination is to ignore not only the diagnosis but also the symptoms. » Read more

I'm an Arab too ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Aviad Kleinberg - March 13, 2013 - 12:00am A racism allegation evokes a conditioned reflex among Israelis. We automatically reject it. We have been accused of politically-motivated racism so many times; we have been compared – foolishly or maliciously – to Nazi Germany so many times, that our natural inclination is to ignore not only the diagnosis but also the symptoms. » Read more

No Prospects for Palestinian Currency ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor by Omar Shaban - (Opinion) March 12, 2013 - 12:00am Reinstating the Palestine pound has long been a dream for Palestinians. Nevertheless, amid the Palestinians’ eagerness to consolidate their sovereignty and in view of the reality of the Palestinian economy that is controlled by Israel, not to mention the losses and challenges that could result from such a step, it seems that this Palestinian dream still has a long way to go before becoming a reality. » Read more

Why Israel Is Calling For Jonathan Pollard's Release Now ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by J.J. Goldberg - March 12, 2013 - 12:00am In advance of President Obama’s scheduled March 20 visit, Israeli society at every level is waging an unprecedented, all-out public effort to press for the release of Jonathan Pollard, the American Jew serving a life sentence for spying for Israel. The past month has seen figures as diverse as President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, far-right Likud lawmaker Moshe Feiglin and former Hamas hostage Gilad Shalit calling on Obama to commute Pollard’s sentence to time served and set him free. » Read more

Flawed Questions About Israel's Right To Exist ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by Mira Sucharov - March 12, 2013 - 12:00am In the New York Times, Joseph Levine has set out to answer a question that is widely considered taboo within the mainstream, but which is increasingly heard as a mantra within anti-Zionist circles: does Israel have a right to exist? » Read more

More and More Married Palestinians Women Enrolling in Universities ATFP World Press Roundup Article from ABC News by Hani al-Madhoun - March 12, 2013 - 12:00am On Facebook, I spotted pictures of my older sister Hannah in the forefront of a peaceful protest to promote national unity and offer political prisoners some support and encouragement, as a large number of them are on a hunger strike. It was a surprise to me, because when I left Gaza years ago she was just a mother with a high school degree. She was caring for three kids and to my knowledge she showed no interest in going back to school or getting involved in political issues. » Read more

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