B?Tselem: Israel cutting Gaza from West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
September 9, 2008 - 8:00pm

Israel is taking unilateral steps in order to institutionalize a new reality of separation between the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip and the one living in the West Bank, human rights group B'Tselem stated in a new report released Wednesday. The report warns against harming Palestinians' human rights and their possibility to realize their right for self-definition.

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Palestinians: Delay in IDF checkpoint led to son?s death
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Ali Waked - September 9, 2008 - 8:00pm

A Palestinian couple from the West Bank city of Nablus claimed Wednesday that an IDF soldier delayed them in a checkpoint when they were on their way to a local hospital, causing the woman ? who was pregnant ? to give birth to a stillborn baby. Muayed Abu Raja and his wife Nahil, of the Palestinian village of Kafr Kusra, south of Nablus, were expecting their second child, when Nahil began experiencing severe abdominal pain last Thursday.

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Darwish to Peres: PA has ?no more to give?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Greer Fay Cashman - September 8, 2008 - 8:00pm

Israelis and Palestinians have never been closer to making strategic decisions than they are today, and at the end of the day, each side wants to win a little more than the other, Sheikh Abdallah Nimr Darwish, founder of the Islamic Movement, told President Shimon Peres on Tuesday. "But the Palestinians have nothing left to offer Israel," he added. Darwish spoke at the traditional Iftar meal for leaders of Israel's Arab communities hosted by President Shimon Peres during Ramadan.

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Arabs, Muslims and Palestinians have the same position
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Ghassan Khatib - (Opinion) September 8, 2008 - 8:00pm

The future of Jerusalem has yet again presented itself as one of the most difficult issues in final status negotiations. This is not to say that other issues are either easy or have already been resolved, but the issues of Jerusalem and refugees appear the hardest to crack.

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Hamas begins stepping out from Jordan?s crosshairs
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Yossi Alpher - (Opinion) September 9, 2008 - 8:00pm

A brief perusal of headlines in the regional media would appear to confirm that, of the two main Palestinian movements, Fateh and Hamas, the latter has recently been the object of the most attention from Israel's neighbors, particularly Egypt and Jordan.

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Musa angry with Palestinian Groups
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
September 9, 2008 - 8:00pm

The chief of the Arab League said on Tuesday that he was angry with fractious Palestinian political groups and that sanctions against them were being discussed by Arab governments. Egypt, the main mediator between often rival Palestinian groups, has been holding bilateral talks with minor groups in preparation for similar talks with the two main groups-Fateh and Hamas. "I am extremely angry with the Palestinian organisations," Amr Musa, secretary general of the league, told a news conference in an unusually harsh criticism of the Palestinians.

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Israeli official: Militant Hamas ?like cancer?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Steven Gutkin - September 9, 2008 - 8:00pm

Israel's point man in indirect, Egyptian-mediated talks with Hamas said Wednesday the Islamic militant group is more powerful than the Western-backed Palestinian government and is "like cancer." Senior Defense Ministry official Amos Gilad said talks with Hamas designed to secure the release of a captured Israeli soldier have gone better since a truce went into effect in June, but he added that a deal is "not close." "Since the truce we are discussing more seriously, but I am impressed only by results," he said.

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Middle East Hamas and Islamic Jihad meet for Damascus talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
September 9, 2008 - 8:00pm

Officials from Palestinian groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad have met in Syria to resolve a Gaza flare-up between the two, the groups announced on Tuesday, just days after Hamas-led police forcefully dispersed a gathering by the other group. The two groups issued a joint statement saying they held a "long meeting" on Monday in Damascus, discussed their relations and the situation in the Palestinian territories.

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Every picture tells a story
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Seth Freedman - (Opinion) September 9, 2008 - 8:00pm

"It's very easy for the Israeli public to believe that Palestinians are lying when it's just their word against the word of a soldier or settler", explained B'Tselem's spokesperson, Sarit Michaeli. The Israeli human rights group has brought several high-profile cases to the public's attention this summer, providing vital video evidence of the scale of the violence meted out by settlers and soldiers alike. In the process the footage has seriously dented efforts to smear Palestinians complaining of assault.

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The Guardian examines the recently prominent role of video footage in telling the story of occupation (1). Officials from Hamas and Islamic Jihad meet in Syria to discuss tension between the two groups within Gaza (2). Amr Musa, the Secretary General of the Arab League warns about possible sanctions against the fractured Palestinian groups (4). Yossi Alpher comments on the reestablishment of relations between Hamas and Jordan (5). Extensive delay at an IDF checkpoint causes the stillborn birth of a Palestinian child (8).


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