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Daybreak: Polarizing Palestinian Convicted

Plus Egypt’s presidential flavor of the week, and more in the news

by
Marc Tracy
May 21, 2012
Bassem al-Tamimi yesterday.(Ahmad Gharabli/AFP/GettyImages)
Bassem al-Tamimi yesterday.(Ahmad Gharabli/AFP/GettyImages)

• Bassem al-Tamimi—seen by many supporters of the Palestnian cause as a crucial protest leader—was convicted by an Israeli military court, on comparatively flimsy evidence, of inciting rock-throwing at IDF troops. This has international issue potential. [AP/WP]

• IAEA officials meet today with Iranians in Tehran over access to the Parchin facility, which is suspected of containing military testing components [NYT]

• All of a sudden Ahmed Shafik, President Mubarak’s final prime minister, emerged as a viable presidential candidate. He is seen as standing for the ancien régime
. [LAT]

• Prime Minister Netanyahu had strong words for the threat African infiltrators pose to Israel’s Jewish and democratic status, saying that the new fence in the south is important but that many current illegal residents need to be deported. [Haaretz]

• Hamas and Fatah signed an agreement solidifying their unity deal and establishing terms for joint elections. This is approximately the 267th time they’ve done this in the past year. [NYT]

• Y-Love, the black and Jewish hip-hop star, talks about recently coming out of the closet. [Jewcy]

Marc Tracy is a staff writer at The New Republic, and was previously a staff writer at Tablet. He tweets @marcatracy.