The Mideast Media Sampler 3/18/2013: New York Times Cheers On Palestinian Intifada Against Israel

by David Gerstman

Cheerleading the Intifada

The New York Times has done it again. Less then two weeks after publishing an intellectual attack against Israel, it publishes an article glorifying physical attacks on Israel. The front page story of yesterday's New York Times Magazine, Is This Where the Third Intifada Will Start? by Ben Ehrenreich. (The cover has the  more provocative phrase, "If there is a third intifada, we want to be the ones who started it."

Chemi Shalev of the left wing paper Ha'aretz lets us in on a little secret about Ehrenreich:

Video: Latma on Today's Academic Courage

This week's edition of Latma covers today's academic courage.
And more.

Here is the video:

Arlene Kushner on Netanyahu's Coalition Troubles and Other Recent Problems Facing Israel

From Arlene Kushner

February 26, 2013

Decidedly Negative

What's negative?  Oh, I won't say everything. Should never say that.  But there's a great deal that is, and the sense one gets when surveying the situation is an enormous weariness.

Let's begin with coalition formation here in Israel.  PM Netanyahu was given 28 days to form that new coalition.  By my calculation, his mandate from President Peres began on February 3, which brings us to this Sunday, March 3.  He can then request an extension of 14 additional days. After that, if he has no government, he will have struck out.

The Middle East Media Sampler 2/25/13: Media Covers For Palestinian Intifada Violence

From +David Gerstman:

Intifada: then and now

In response to a recent news program in Israel, Col. Jonathan D. Halevi wrote The Palestinian Authority’s Responsibility for the Outbreak of the Second Intifada: Its Own Damning Testimony for the Jerusalem Center of Public Affairs. Even now, as Halevi writes:

More than ten years after the outbreak of the Second Intifada, there are still journalists, former security officials, and pundits who raise questions about the role of the Palestinian Authority in the devastating violence during which suicide bombing attacks struck Israel’s major cities, leaving more than a thousand dead and many more permanently maimed.

What he has compiled shows:

This body of material, presented here in an unvarnished way, reveals that Yasser Arafat and important segments of the Palestinian leadership at that time were directly responsible for what happened and no amount of revisionist history can exonerate Arafat for standing behind one of the bloodiest periods in Israel’s modern history.

The Middle East Media Sampler 1/29/13: Is A Third Intifada Coming?

From +David Gerstman:

1) Third Intifada?

In Israel and Palestine prepare for a third intifada, Jonathan Schanzer wrote earlier this month:

There has been a steady drumbeat of bad news coming out of the Palestinian West Bank in recent weeks. Attacks against Israelis from the West Bank are undeniably on the rise. The spike came in November, around the same time Palestine Liberation Organization chairman Mahmoud Abbas went to the United Nations seeking an upgrade in the status of his mission, despite objections by Israel and the United States. His message was simple: The Palestinians will not cooperate with Israel while it controls territory that Palestinians claim as their own. 

Coincidence or not, there were 70 recorded attacks in October, according to Israeli security services, followed by a spike to 171 in November. In December, a Palestinian motorist rammed an Israeli army jeep carrying officers and then attacked them with an axe. In another incident, two Palestinians breached an Israeli military base, assaulted a soldier, and absconded with his weapon. Earlier this month, after residents discovered undercover Israeli agents in Jenin, at least thirty people were injured in a clash. There have been other cases, reminiscent of the 1987 intifada, where Israeli personnel have been pummeled with a hail of stones.

Despite the increase in attacks, Schanzer writes that it isn't entirely clear that another intifada is going on or imminent:

The Middle East Media Sampler 12/20/2012 Why A Third Intifadah?

From DG:

1987 ... 2000 ... 2013? 

In March, Barry Rubin asked Will the Palestinians Launch a Third "Intifadah" War on Israel? Professor Rubin surveyed the conditions under which a third intifada might occur.

The fact is that Mahmoud Abbas is in the closing phase of his leadership and there is no clear successor. Complicating the situation is the specter of a generational transition. People can put forward in conversation their preferred person to lead the PA, PLO, and Fatah or speculate as to who it might be. But the truth is that nobody has the least idea who will be the new leader or even who are the most likely candidates. 

A leader or faction or elements of the “young guard” might well decide that an intifadah would suit their purposes.

Arlene Kushner on Latest Threats Against Israel From Syria, Jordan and "Palestinians"

From Arlene Kushner:
December 17, 2012

More Harsh Realities

Can't cover it all; that would be an impossibility. But it's essential to report sufficiently so that my readers understand what's going on here, and have the facts to speak on Israel's behalf.

The Shin Bet, working with the police, have uncovered a Hamas cell in northern Jerusalem -- in the Arab neighborhoods of Shuafat and Ras Hamis.  They have been indicted in a Jerusalem court, charged with arson and aggravated assault that includes attacks with firebombs.

~~~~~~~~~~

A different (and perhaps realistic) take on the situation in Syria:

Syrian Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa has given an interview to the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar, in which he says that:

“...with every passing day, the military and political solutions get further away.

The following by Alexander Joffe and Asaf Romirowsky is reposted here with permission.

Why Hasn't There Been Another Palestinian Intifada?

by Alexander H. Joffe and Asaf Romirowsky
Forbes
September 9, 2012

http://www.meforum.org/3336/arab-spring-palestinian-intifada

Is the Arab Spring an 'intifada'? And why haven't the Palestinians joined in?

The intifada or 'throwing off' was the spontaneous Palestinians grassroots rebellion against Israel that began in the fall of 1987. Much like the beginnings of the Arab Spring in Tunisia, the rebellion spread quickly in the pre-internet days across the Palestinian territories and Gaza and captured the world's attention. Within a few short years, however, it was usurped by the PLO and Yasir Arafat. As befitting the Internet age, the Arab Spring has now largely been usurped more quickly by Islamists around the Arab world.

Could The West Bank Be Ripe For A Third Intifada -- Against The Abbas Regime?

The following by  Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi is reposted here with permission:

An Intifada in Fatah's Future

by Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi
The American Spectator
August 2, 2012

http://www.meforum.org/3296/fatah-intifada

Could we soon begin to see the end of Fatah and the Palestinian Authority (PA) as a coherent Palestinian national movement? There is much evidence that appears to point in that direction.

To begin with, it is apparent that there is a deep contradiction in the stance of Fatah and the PA. As Avi Issacharoff notes, they feel a need to glorify terrorists such as Dalal Mughrabi, who was one of the perpetrators of a massacre in 1978 that killed 37 Israelis.

Barry Rubin: Will the Palestinians Launch a Third "Intifada" War on Israel?

The following by Barry Rubin is reposted here with permission

Will the Palestinians Launch
a Third "Intifadah" War on Israel?

By Barry Rubin

Is there going to be a “third intifada?” I have no idea. That is a question most likely to be determined by those who set Palestinian strategy and they will surely differ among themselves. What interests me is the question of on what basis would such a choice be made.

When this issue is discussed publicly it is attributed almost entirely to the idea that frustration will motivate revolt. This is certainly the point made by Palestinian Authority (PA) leaders. The argument is that unless they get their way diplomatically violence will be the logical outcome.

But that’s just a tactic to use violence as leverage, scaring Western countries—because such threats won’t scare Israel—into concessions. Moreover, since Western countries will not hand the PA unilateral independence on its own terms, without any deal with Israel or concessions, violence would ultimately either be useless or talk of violence would turn out to be a bluff.

There are other considerations that will determine Palestinian policy.