What citizens of other countries are reading about the Middle East
By THE MEDIA LINESyrian refugees put their luggage into a bus before boarding it to be transported to Beirut international airport for resettlement in Germany, joining about 300 Syrian refugees that departed early Tuesday morning.(photo credit: REUTERS)Israel’s political terrorism Donia Al Watan, Gaza, April 13 Writer Hani Al-Aggad says Israel might have carefully planned to let the Palestinians reach a state of despair in the peace process with these futile negotiations.Israel intends to keep the two parties in this conflict forever and give away some economic or security facilitations from time to time. Israel didn’t breach the agreement with the Palestinians, but rather with the Americans, when it canceled the release of the fourth batch of Palestinian detainees and tried to blackmail the Palestinians so they would not join any UN organizations in exchange for releasing prisoners. The government’s ministers threatened the Palestinian president to stop his UN quest. This political terrorism Israel is exercising against Abbas reached the limit when ministers threatened to find a replacement for him. Calling Abbas an “obstacle to peace” is a claim we heard before from Israeli leaders and implies that Abbas might face the same ending as his predecessor Yassir Arafat. Not paying the tax money Israel owes the Palestinians or other “punishment” measures Israel takes is nothing but political terrorism to make Palestinians agree to a concession deal that is in Israel’s favor.Civil Service rejected in Nazareth schools Arab 48, Nazareth, April 9Students in a private school in Nazareth protested their school’s reception of an Israeli organization that encourages Arabs to perform national civil service.Students believe initiating civil service is the first step toward having Arabs serve in the Israeli army – a quest Arab Israelis deem to be impossible. Student Wala’ Khalidi said that school is the most important organization in the lives of the Palestinians living in Israel, “as we are fighting for our Palestinian identity and against racism, we can’t allow schools to be a center for enlistment for civil service and in a way, for enlistment in the army.” Other students explained that they encourage volunteering in community activities programs that “strengthen the Arab and Palestinian identity.”They view this program as an attempt to strip away their original identity. “We need more awareness campaigns as to the dangers of these programs on our communities,” one student said.Does al-Qaida threaten Israel? Filisten Online, Gaza, April 13In the past few months, more security readings in Israel have been addressing the Salafi Jihadi phenomena in the West Bank, according to Adnan Abu Amer.He suggests that this might become an Israeli concern amid the bad political and economic situation in the West Bank. Amidst the arising importance of the Global Jihadism, this issue might become the first security threat [to Israel] surpassing the Iranian nuclear issue. Parties organizationally close to the mother-party of al-Qaida are the issues of greatest concern for Israel as the Palestinians suffer from a bad political peace process and a Palestinian division between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Some might use this anger and divert it to organizing local fighter groups adopting al-Qaida thought by building relations with Jihadi groups in Jordan, Egypt, Syria and Lebanon. The absence of Hamas as a structural party in the West Bank might lead people to try to recruit similar-minded individuals to form militias. Al-Qaida-enthused people is a natural phenomenon in Palestine just like any other area in the Islamic world but there is no structural body of al-Qaida in the West Bank where it can’t compete with the Palestinian parties that fulfill Palestinians intellectually and organizationally.Who delays the peace agreement? Al Etihad, Abu Dhabi, April 14It is hard to ignore that the peace process is often held hostage to internal Israeli politics. Writer Hassan Barari says that even an Israeli prime minister can’t push for peace and survive politically at the same time. The price can be more than that: as we all know, prime minister Yitzhak Rabin lost his life because he pushed towards peace with the Palestinians. When Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu signed the Wye River agreement with Yasser Arafat in November of 1998, his ruling coalition collapsed. Back then, the regional environment was conducive for peacemaking, and yet differences and rivalries were bigger. Today, we may reach a conclusion that there is no peace coalition in the first place. The Israeli government doesn’t only have disagreements with its Palestinian counterpart over a possible deal on the release of prisoners, but among themselves as well. However, a deal is not unlikely. The release of prisoners will enable the United States to exert more effort in the stalled process.Briefly, the future of the peace negotiations relies on Netanyahu’s ability to deliver on his promise of releasing the prisoners. Other sides to the conflict will then realize that regardless of who is in the premier’s seat, Israel can no longer produce a peace coalition.Ain Al-Hilweh refugees want to emigrate Al Safeer, Beirut, April 12Palestinian refugees living in the Ain Al-Hilweh camp want to emigrate to any country, seeking “dignity.” They want to work and raise children and put them through schools. A number of young people are protesting to be allowed to emigrate. One person erected a tent on the street after he came out of prison. “I was unjustly detained for five years,” Youssef Ghuzai said. “Either we live with dignity and they leave us alone or we leave. We do not have the right to travel to any Arab country, and we do not hold any passport.” Palestinians in refugee camps have travel documents unrecognized by the majority of states. They still hold on to the right of return to the Palestinian lands they were kicked out from in 1948. “We’re human beings and we want to live a decent life and staking a future for the Palestinian people,” Ghuzai added. One of the most important problems is that educated people can’t work in any specialization in these hosting countries.
