UN must act on Goldstone's report ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News by Linda S. Heard - (Opinion) September 21, 2009 - 12:00am The recently released Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict is unequivocal in its condemnation of Israel. Led by Justice Richard J. Goldstone - a South African judge who served as Chief Prosecutor for the UN's Rwanda and former Yugoslavia international criminal tribunals - the report pulls no punches. » Read more

Trilateral talks head on path to nowhere ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Politico by Aaron David Miller - (Opinion) September 22, 2009 - 12:00am In fall 2001, assigned as a State Department adviser to Middle East envoy Tony Zinni, I asked the general why he wanted to ruin a brilliant career by taking on the Israeli-Palestinian issue. Smiling, he replied that he liked hopeless causes. In that case, I said, he’d come to the right place. Tuesday’s three-way meeting in New York among President Barack Obama, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Mahmoud Abbas strongly suggests that after six months of hard labor, another great American — George Mitchell — is being ground up in the maw of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. » Read more

This judge may have little sway over Israel’s sentence ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by James Reinl - (Opinion) September 22, 2009 - 12:00am Last week’s UN report on war crimes committed during the Israeli invasion of Gaza leads to an inescapable conclusion: those behind the atrocities must be brought to justice. Yet despite lofty talk of global legal frameworks, the world is still a long way from realising the dream of an impartial legal system that can spring into action when evidence is presented that atrocities have been committed. » Read more

Obama to host Middle East summit ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News September 22, 2009 - 12:00am In New York, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas will be discussing the possibility of re-starting peace talks. But they have been blaming each other for blocking a US initiative. Israel has rejected US and Palestinian demands for a total freeze before a new round of talks can take place. 'Photo opportunity' President Obama is bringing Mr Netanyahu and Mr Abbas together for the first time since Mr Netanyahu came to office in March. » Read more

Israeli, Palestinian leaders anxious ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Politico by Laura Rozen - September 22, 2009 - 12:00am A private session with President Barack Obama is a big diplomatic get — all the more so when it comes as world leaders are descending en masse on New York for the opening week of the United Nations General Assembly. But two foreign leaders seem apprehensive, to say the least, about their meeting with Obama on Tuesday: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. » Read more

Who's being unfair? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Richard Goldstone - (Opinion) September 21, 2009 - 12:00am The responses from the government of Israel to the UN Fact-Finding Mission on Gaza have been deeply disappointing. The mission's mandate enabled Israel to bring its concerns and facts relating to Operation Cast Lead publicly before a UN inquiry. It could have been used by Israel to encourage the UN and especially the Human Rights Council to move in a new direction beneficial to the interests of Israel. I repeatedly requested the government of Israel to do that, and to meet with me in Jerusalem to discuss how the Fact-Finding Mission should approach its mandate. » Read more

West Bank settlements become havens of Israeli surburbanites ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Ilene Prusher - September 20, 2009 - 12:00am Meet the Ovadiahs, the Allons, and the Cohens. They're new arrivals in Israeli neighborhoods where freshly laid red-tile roofs and toddler toys dotting green lawns are a picture of the Israeli equivalent of the American dream, minus the white picket fence. » Read more

Israel makes secret offer on settlements ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Times by Eli Lake - September 22, 2009 - 12:00am Ahead of the Obama administration's first U.S.-Palestinian-Israeli summit, Israel has agreed to a partial freeze of settlement construction for six to nine months but still wants to build more than 2,500 new housing units, said Israeli officials and an Israeli specialist familiar with the country's evolving policy. » Read more

A false equivalency of false equivalencies? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ibishblog by Hussein Ibish - (Blog) September 17, 2009 - 12:00am I get a lot of interesting responses to the postings on the Ibishblog, but those regarding my last posting on the UN Goldstone commission of inquiry into the Gaza war were particularly revealing. Both Arab and Jewish partisans tend to become enraged by any suggestion of equivalency between Israel and any group of Palestinians, particularly when it comes to conflict, warfare and armed struggle. Indeed, both the Israeli government and Hamas condemned the Goldstone report for the sin of "false equivalency," among other things. » Read more

A false equivalency of false equivalencies? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ibishblog by Hussein Ibish - (Blog) September 22, 2009 - 12:00am I get a lot of interesting responses to the postings on the Ibishblog, but those regarding my last posting on the UN Goldstone commission of inquiry into the Gaza war were particularly revealing. Both Arab and Jewish partisans tend to become enraged by any suggestion of equivalency between Israel and any group of Palestinians, particularly when it comes to conflict, warfare and armed struggle. Indeed, both the Israeli government and Hamas condemned the Goldstone report for the sin of "false equivalency," among other things. » Read more