October 3rd

Analysis: Syria-israel Tensions
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bbc News
by Lyse Doucet - October 3, 2007 - 6:14pm

The secret is out. But the speculation has not ended. And the tension lingers dangerously. Israel has suddenly broken its exceptional news blackout on a covert air raid against Syria, admitting officially its warplanes hit a "military installation" on 6 September. This unexpected disclosure, after weeks of mysterious silence, came hours after the first public comments from Syria's President Bashar al-Assad.

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Shooting The Messengers
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Le Monde Diplomatique
by Mariano Aguirre - October 3, 2007 - 6:12pm

The New York Post editorial on 5 January 2007 read: “How did this man ever become president of the United States?” Readers might have thought this was a crack about President George Bush in a paper owned by Rupert Murdoch. But the editorial went on: “He’s gone from failed president to friend of leftwing tyrants and global scold of anything that represents America’s legitimate interests”; he wanted to “demonise Israel” and had secretly given “PR and political advice to Yasser Arafat”.

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The Teflon Alliance With Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Counterpunch
by Katleen And Bill Christison - October 3, 2007 - 6:10pm

Two recent offhand comments, both widely publicized, have seriously undermined whatever progress might have been made in exposing the fact that the Iraq war was initiated at least in large part to guarantee Israel's safety and regional dominance in the Middle East.

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Dropping "muqawama"
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Terrorism.opendemocracy.net
by Maria Stephan - (Blog) October 3, 2007 - 6:07pm

With another international conference focused on resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict just around the corner - likely to take place in Washington in November - hopes rise for a negotiated breakthrough in this decades-long conflict. However, without a Palestinian strategy to apply steady pressure on Israel, the November talks are likely to produce a new "road map" to nowhere. The Palestinian Authority may be aware of this, as its recent call for a new form of struggle against the Israeli occupation suggests.

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Olmert, Abbas To Talk Of Final Deal After Conference
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Adam Entous - October 3, 2007 - 6:04pm

Israeli and Palestinian leaders agreed on Wednesday that formal negotiations on Palestinian statehood would begin after a U.S.-sponsored conference expected next month, officials from both sides said. But Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert balked at Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's call for setting a specific timeframe for resolving final-status issues, including borders and the fate of Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees.

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Israel’s Chief Diplomat Meets Arab Counterparts In Backroom Talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Nathan Guttman - October 3, 2007 - 6:02pm

While the Iranian president was busy stealing the limelight at this year’s United Nations General Assembly, Israel’s foreign minister was quietly carrying out a new strategy of normalizing relations with Muslim countries in a series of backroom meetings. During her weeklong stay in the United States, Tzipi Livni made her case at the U.N. as well as in a series of meetings with representatives from a host of Middle Eastern and North African countries that currently do not maintain formal ties with Israel.

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New Revelations In Attack On American Spy Ship
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Chicago Tribune
by John Crewdson - (Special Report) October 3, 2007 - 6:01pm

Bryce Lockwood, Marine staff sergeant, Russian-language expert, recipient of the Silver Star for heroism, ordained Baptist minister, is shouting into the phone. "I'm angry! I'm seething with anger! Forty years, and I'm seething with anger!"

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October 2nd

A detailed special report in the Chicago Tribune examines how new revelations by U.S. Navy veterans and documents suggest that Israel and the U.S. did not tell the full story about the attack on the USS Liberty by Israeli air force and naval forces in 1967 (1.) In the Terrorism.OpenDemocracy blog, Maria Stephan analyzes the significance of the replacement of 'armed resistance' by 'popular struggle' in the Abbas-Fayyad government platform and how such a non-violent struggle might shape up (4.) In Le Monde Diplomatique (France) Mariano Aguirre weighs in on the issue of whether criticism of Israel is anti-Semitic (6.) Miftah (Palestine) editorial addresses the issue of Palestinian prisoner by Israel (9.) A Haaretz (Israel) editorial labels the de facto separation between Israelis and Palestinians more akin to 'political apartheid' than to occupation, allowing Israelis to ignore the situation and its indefinite continuation (10.) Also in Haaretz, Shmuel Rosner identifies the real issue of the fall meeting as being that of a timetable for agreement on final status issues and their implementation (12.)

Realistically Speaking
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
(Editorial) October 2, 2007 - 7:33pm

It is not too hard to figure out what Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni must have meant when she asked Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, during their encounter in New York last Friday, to be realistic in his quest for peace with Israel. For Livni and the rest of the Israeli government, realism in the search for a peaceful settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict means one thing only: the status quo. That means that few cosmetic changes might be made to peripheral issues only.

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Getting Over The Fear Of Arab Elections
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Michele Dunne - (Opinion) October 2, 2007 - 7:32pm

Concern about chaos in Iraq, Palestine, and Lebanon and fear of Islamist political victories have led many American commentators to identify Middle East democracy promotion as unwise. The Bush administration should not have insisted on elections in Arab countries, according to the new conventional wisdom, but instead should have patiently promoted the growth of institutions, civil society, and the rule of law.

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