Hot off the Arab press

What citizens of other countries are reading about the Middle East

By THE MEDIA LINE
Peres Abbas and Kerry at WEC 521 (photo credit: World Economic Forum / Benedikt von Loebell)
Peres Abbas and Kerry at WEC 521
(photo credit: World Economic Forum / Benedikt von Loebell)
ISRAEL PREPARES FOR FAILURE IN AMERICAN PEACE EFFORTS Raya FM, Ramallah June 28 Israeli leaders are constantly working to come up with excuses in case the US initiative fails to revive peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.
The Israeli media publishes news reports that make readers believe that Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is eager to sign a peace deal with the Palestinians, although his government’s actions on the ground prove just the opposite.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz, considered credible among Israelis, published a quote from an Israeli minister saying that Netanyahu’s government is ready to give up 90% of the West Bank and is prepared to evacuate settlements in exchange for security.
However, this anonymous minister said that Netanyahu will be forced to discuss the borders of the Palestinian state. The battle now is for American public opinion, especially since Washington is leading the current efforts to revive peace talks.
Netanyahu’s government is confident that US Secretary of State John Kerry will fail, but the Israelis want to blame the Palestinian leadership for that failure.
PALESTINIAN LEADERS HAPPY WITH REJECTION OF US PRESSURE
Al Quds Al Arabi, London, July 3 The Palestinian leadership showed its satisfaction after President Mahmoud Abbas did not succumb to US pressure to resume peace talks.
US Secretary of State John Kerry tried to convince Palestinians to resume negotiations without an Israeli commitment to freeze settlement building and acceptance that the two-state solution will be based on the territories that Israel occupied in 1967. Many Palestinian leaders feared that Kerry would succeed in organizing a four-way summit without Israel’s commitment to meet its obligations, which also include the release of more than 120 Palestinian prisoners who were detained prior to the Oslo Agreement.
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat denied that Kerry had any initiatives or new ideas for the resumption of negotiations in his recent visit to the region. Erekat told official Palestinian radio that Kerry would return to the area in 10 days to two weeks, as part of his efforts to revive the peace process.
Erekat stressed that the Palestinian side is doing everything to ensure the success of Kerry’s mission and that Israel continues to block these efforts through the continuation of settlement and approval of new housing plans.
ISRAELI TV ATTACKS TAMAROD , DEFENDS PRESIDENT MORSI Al Masri Al Youm, Cairo, June 29 The Israeli media got into the Egyptian crisis between supporters and opponents of President Mohamed Morsi after Zvi Yehezkeli, head of the Arab news section on Channel 10, attacked the Tamarod (Rebel) movement.
He questioned how Egyptians can demand democracy when they don’t respect the democracy and legitimacy of President Morsi, who won the elections.
In his analysis of Egyptian events, he said that Morsi won the elections democratically while the Tamarod movement rejects the fact that only one year has passed since his election, and calls for his resignation.
Yehezkeli told his audience that collecting signatures and seeking to topple the government before the end of its term is not fair, stressing that Tahrir Square doesn’t run Egypt.
He claimed that democracy is not an understood term in the Arab world, leading the opposition to topple their rulers before the end of their term whenever it is disappointed with them.
CAUGHT BET WEEN ISRAELI AND PALESTINIAN INTELLIGENCE Al Quds Al Arabi, London, June 30 “The Trap” is a novel written by Abdullah Issa about PLO intelligence and the Mossad. The novel was inspired by real intelligence files.
The story is about a young Palestinian man who falls into a Mossad trap. He is recruited to organize spy cells, with the author highlighting Israeli intelligence methods still used today.
In one chapter the author writes that Israeli intelligence, fearful of what they call the Arab demographic threat, gives the spy a toxic substance which causes infertility to put into water fountains in Arab schools.
Another example of Israeli “racism” is a proposal by the current head of the Department for Policy Planning in the Prime Minister’s Office, Ehud Prawer, to displace approximately 70,000 Beduin from their lands and move them to cities.
This analysis may be closer to a conspiracy theory, but it is still a theory to consider.
MAJORITY OF ISRAELIS SUPPORT RENEWING TALKS, BUT DON’T EXPECT ANY SUCCESS Al-Riyadh, Riyadh, June 28 A recently published poll revealed that a large majority of Israelis support the resumption of peace negotiations with the Palestinians but are pessimistic about them leading to an agreement.
The poll, published by the pro-government newspaper Israel Hayom, revealed that 56.9% of Israelis support the resumption of the talks. About a third of those polled (30.9%) said that the return to the negotiating table would lead to an agreement with the Palestinians, while 55.4% said it would not. A total of 35.5% of Israelis polled expressed their opposition to dividing Jerusalem.
The margin of error in the poll was 4.4% and was conducted on a sample of 500 Israeli Jews. The Israeli press also reflected the pessimistic atmosphere about the chances of resuming the peace process under American supervision.