GAZA: Short film takes on rape, a taboo subject in Palestinian enclave

Basma Abualila, a journalist and filmmaker living in Gaza, recently caused a stir in the strip with her short film on rape in Gaza. In her 10-minute film, “ A Call at Night," based on a real-life incident, a young woman shares her story of how she was raped by her boyfriend and then forced to marry her rapist out of fear when she got pregnant. 

 
 

 

“He said he needed to talk to me but said we couldn’t talk while standing in the street because everyone was watching us. So he asked me to get into his car to talk. I get into the car and he puts something over my face,” the woman tells Abualila in a telephone conversation in the film. 

What then happens is unclear. The woman remembers nothing after getting into the car with the man. She wakes up hours later in an apartment with her clothes torn off and a terrible headache. Her boyfriend is in the room, looking at her from a distance. She believes she has been drugged. 

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IRAN: For Obama, the road to Tehran leads through Jerusalem

Barely noted in the reports about Monday's meeting between President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was a revealing exchange toward the end of the question-and-answer session with a small group of reporters.

The president was asked whether he agreed with Netanyahu's view that dismantling Iran's nuclear program and getting it stop supporting militant groups in the Levant was the first step toward a resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict. 

Obama said while the charged atmosphere in the Middle East makes it tough for Israel to negotiate with its rivals, he viewed the situation the other way around. 

Read the little-cited quotes below:

IRAN: Watching carefully as Israel's Netanyahu meets Obama

Although Iran wouldn't admit to being too concerned, it is carefully watching today's developments in Washington, where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is meeting with President Obama in an effort to persuade him that confronting Iran, not resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, should be the first item on his Middle East agenda.

Netanyahu's visit has been noted on television news broadcasts. The conservative daily newspaper Javan alleged Sunday that Netanyahu had traveled to Washington to report on "the cooperation of some moderate Arab leaders with Israel to confront Iran."

The conservatives who dominate Iran's political establishment abhor Israel's attempts to reach out to Arab leaders. 

The sentiment is the result of a complicated, decades-long game of power politics among the Middle East's major players. 

ISRAEL: 1,000 days of captivity for Shalit

Hundreds of people came to Jerusalem on Saturday evening to mark the 1,000th day since Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was kidnapped. In recent weeks, his family had joined the protest tent already manned for months by volunteers and sat up the block from the residence of the prime minister, a constant reminder to Ehud Olmert of his unfinished business as he finishes his term.

Olmert's final push to secure a deal with Hamas for Shalit's freedom in return for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners fell through, amid a bitter public debate in Israel over the price of such an exchange. As mediators and negotiators shuttled back and forth between Cairo, Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in an attempt to reach agreement in the last few days of the incumbent government, time -- often a liquid concept in the region -- was pressing.

LEBANON: Mughniyah's shadow over Israel

Hours after the shooting of two Israeli policemen on Sunday near a Jewish settlement in the West Bank, an obscure militant organization called Martyr Imad Mugniyah’s Group claimed responsibility for the attack.

Speculation runs high about this group. Is this just a small group of zealous Palestinians trying to win prestige by associating itself with the enigmatic military commander of Hezbollah killed in a bomb attack in Damascus last February? Is Hezbollah seeking revenge for his killing?

The Lebanese Shiite militant group has accused Israel of assassinating Mughniyah, who was sought by several secret service agencies for his alleged involvement in infamous attacks in various parts of the globe in the 1980s and 1990s.

Hezbollah repeatedly vowed to avenge the killing of Mughniyah.

ISRAEL: Gaza closure -- an animated discussion

A new campaign drawing attention to the closure of the crowded Gaza Strip starts today, with a short animated film. The 90-second "Closed Zone" was created by Yoni Goodman, animation director for "Waltz with Bashir," Ari Folman's Golden Globe winning film.

Goodman started working on the short before the military operation in Gaza that continued during the project, further stressing the impact of closure on a population under fire. He hopes that viewers are able to "detach themselves from their automatic associations of good and evil" and relate to the human character and situation.

EGYPT: Donors promise almost $5 billion for Palestinians

In a new attempt to strengthen its position as a key player in the region, Egypt today hosted an international donors conference for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip in the aftermath of the 22-day Israeli incursion that battered the seaside Palestinian enclave.

More than 70 countries and international organizations convened in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh and pledged $4.48 billion to rebuild Gaza. The Palestinian Authority had only requested about $3 billion. Money, however, is not the problem. Instead, the volatility of the situation in Hamas-controlled Gaza, internal divisions among Palestinians and the ascendancy of a right-wing government in Israel may jeopardize reconstruction efforts.

In their final statement, participants called for a permanent ceasefire between Hamas and Israel and reconciliation among rival Palestinians factions as "requisites for any successful reconstruction effort." Participants also stressed the need for Israel to lift its blockade for an "immediate, unconditional and sustained reopening" of Israel’s crossings with Gaza.

EGYPT: Palestinian reconciliation talks kick off in Cairo

Reconciliation talks between Hamas, Fatah and smaller Palestinian factions began Thursday in Cairo amid hopes for an agreement on a national unity government after nearly two years of bloodshed and political impasse that have slowed progress in the wider Arab-Israeli conflict.

In negotiations leading to the talks, Fatah and Hamas agreed to stop media smear campaigns against each other and to release prisoners held by both sides. "A certain number of detainees will be freed right at the beginning of the dialogue," according to a joint statement by Azzam Ahmed, leader of the Fatah bloc in the Palestinian parliament, and Mahmoud Zahar, a senior Hamas official.

DUBAI: Israeli tennis players unwittingly court controversy

Politics and sports make a volatile mix when a game involves Israeli athletes competing in the Middle East in an environment of hostility toward the Jewish state.

Authorities in the United Arab Emirates recently denied a star Israeli female tennis player entry to the city-state of Dubai to participate in an international tournament.

The incident was met with a wave of condemnations by journalists, sports associations and politicians in the U.S.

For now, it looks like the oil-rich Arab country might backtrack on its earlier decision to bar Israeli players.

U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) told a news conference in New York that the UAE would grant male doubles player Andy Ram a visa to take part in the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships next week.

Organizers of the tournament argued that the presence of an Israeli player would anger local crowds and create an unacceptable security situation.

Anti-Israeli sentiment has been exacerbated throughout the Arab world after the Israeli offensive in Gaza, which ended last month.

For weeks, Arab TV viewers were exposed to daily footage of Israeli jets causing havoc in Palestinian towns and of children agonizing in hospital beds.