Cablegate: Jerusalem Media Reaction (10/30): Secretary Clinton in The
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SUBJECT: JERUSALEM MEDIA REACTION (10/30): Secretary Clinton in the
region to advance the peace process
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Main Stories:
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The three dailies lead with stories on Secretary Hillary Clinton and
Special Envoy George Mitchell's meeting with Palestinian Authority
(PA) President Mahmoud Abbas in Abu Dhabi on Saturday. Al-Quds
quotes Palestinian Liberation Organization Chief Negotiator Saeb
Erekat saying that cessation of settlement activities, particularly
in Jerusalem, will be the main topic for discussion.
Al-Quds runs separate front page coverage of NEA Assistant Secretary
Jeff Feltman's statement earlier this week to the House Foreign
Affairs sub-committee on Middle East and South Asia. The story notes
that Feltman's statement demonstrated Washington's eagerness to push
Israeli-Palestinian negotiations forward, but that the US is
retreating from their original demand that Israel must freeze all
settlement activities as a condition to resume negotiations.
News on Israeli soldiers and settlers confiscating several dunums of
farmland belonging to Palestinian families near the Kiryat Arba
settlement in Hebron yesterday receives prominent coverage in the
local press. According to the coverage, Israeli soldiers brought
bulldozers to level the land and destroy the irrigation systems.
Photos show a Palestinian woman on the ground after being beaten by
Israeli soldiers. Six individuals were injured, including one
photographer for the European News Agency.
The local press report on the UN General Assembly spokesperson's
announcement that the UNGA will convene on Wednesday, November 4 to
discuss the Goldstone report.
Hamas newspaper Al-Resalah runs a report accusing the PA of not
allowing any demonstrations in West Bank cities to condemn recent
Israeli attacks against Al-Aqsa mosque. The report accuses the PA of
becoming an arm to the Israeli security forces to oppress
Palestinian resistance to the occupation.
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BLOCK QUOTES:
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Al-Quds independent daily runs an editorial under the title "The
Israeli Hard Line Will Make the Whole Region Explode" (10/30): "The
election of Benjamin Netanyahu as the Israeli Prime Minister
reflects the power of the right wing in Israeli society at this
time. The right wing doesn't believe in peace and exerts every
effort possible to ensure that peace is never achieved. These
extremist approaches will definitely make the whole region explode.
The question remains, who benefits from ruining every chance for
peace in the region and keeping the region in continuous tension?"
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Cartoons of the week:
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This cartoon appeared in Al-Quds independent daily on October 24,
one day after President Abbas issued a presidential decree to hold
the presidential and legislative elections in January 2010. The
cartoon shows a Palestinian woman holding an election box. On the
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side, a ghost in black that represents the "state of division"
watches the woman and ironically whispers "not during my era!"
This cartoon appeared in Al-Quds on October 30. It shows a tuna box
with a few houses and a Palestinian flag to represent the kind of
Palestinian state the Israelis want: limited and controlled.
RUBINSTEIN