May 28th

Abbas to present peace plan to Obama
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
May 28, 2009 - 12:00am


In his meeting with US President Barack Obama on Thursday, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to propose the establishment of a supervisory committee, which would work under the Middle East Quartet in order to ensure that both Israel and the Palestinians are complying with their commitments. According to Israel Radio, in a meeting in Washington on Wednesday night, Abbas said that he will present Obama with new ideas connecting the Road Map plan and the Arab League peace initiative.


Key Lawmakers Are Opposing Israeli Policy On Settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Nathan Guttman - May 27, 2009 - 12:00am


For the first time in America’s decades of jousting with Israel over West Bank settlements, an American president seems to have succeeded in isolating the settlements issue and disconnecting it from other elements of support for Israel.


Hamas vows revenge after leader killed
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Erfat Weiss - May 28, 2009 - 12:00am


Senior Hamas commander Abdel Majid Dudin, responsible for series of deadly terror attacks in Israel, killed in West Bank gunfight with police force attempting to arrest him; organization blames PA cooperation with 'Zionist enemy'


Abbas pushing pan-Arab peace with Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
May 28, 2009 - 12:00am


The Palestinian president will be pushing President Barack Obama on Thursday to facilitate peace with Israel through a larger solution to the Middle East conflict. Top Palestinian officials traveling with President Mahmoud Abbas said he was working to repackage a 2002 Saudi Arabian plan that called for exchange of Arab land occupied by Israel in the 1967 war for normalized relations with Arab countries.


Amnesty: Israel repeatedly breached rules of war in Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
May 28, 2009 - 12:00am


Amnesty International has accused Israel of repeatedly violating the rules of armed conflict during its recent offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. "Israeli forces repeatedly breached the laws of war, including by carrying out direct attacks on civilians and civilian buildings and attacks targeting Palestinian militants that caused a disproportionate toll among civilians," the human rights watchdog said in its annual report.


Netanyahu letting settlers keep the upper hand
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amos Harel - (Analysis) May 28, 2009 - 12:00am


The trend is clear. In a few weeks Israel will be asked to take the first steps in removing the outposts in the West Bank. The settlements are not necessarily topping the Obama administration's agenda, but the Americans have been insistent enough that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will have to show a willingness to act on the ground. Netanyahu's stance before his party colleagues in the Knesset on Tuesday, where he suggested that the Iranian nuclear program is more important than the future of the outposts, marked the start of an effort to prepare the ground for a move.


Israel rejects US call over settlement work
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
May 28, 2009 - 12:00am


Israel will continue to allow some construction in West Bank settlements despite US calls for a freeze on its work, a government spokesman says. Mark Regev said the fate of the settlements should be decided in peace negotiations with the Palestinians. His remarks appear to be a rebuff to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who said all such activity should cease. Her comments came hours before Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was due to meet US President Barack Obama.


Disturbing figures that undermine peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Michael Jansen - May 28, 2009 - 12:00am


When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that Israel would not halt settlement construction in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan, he was, in effect, proclaiming his flagrant defiance of the will of the international community. And, for the first time in years, the US is at one with the majority of the world’s governments which see Israeli colonies in occupied Palestinian and Syrian land as the main obstacle to regional peace.


Pressure on Abbas rises before visit to US
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Omar Karmi - May 27, 2009 - 12:00am


Mahmoud Abbas, the head of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, might be forgiven for thinking he is in a rare position of strength as he prepares for his first visit with Barack Obama, the US president, today in Washington. There is certainly unusual agreement between Mr Abbas, who is also president of the Palestinian Authority, and Mr Obama on what, at least in the short term, is required to relaunch a serious peace process.


Obama should lay the parameters down
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by George S. Hishmeh - May 27, 2009 - 12:00am


The inconclusive meeting between US President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this month, has confused rather than assuaged their audiences in the US and overseas. The interpretations have been varied, ranging from one end of the political spectrum to the other. It was surprising, but probably intentional, that the meeting which lasted two-and-a-half hours, more than double the originally allotted time and a good part of it limited to the two leaders, had no joint statement.



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