Q+A--Is al Qaeda opening a Gaza front?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Nidal Al-Mughrabi - August 30, 2009 - 12:00am

Explosions at two sensitive sites in the Gaza Strip [ID:nLU529969] have prompted speculation on Sunday that they were the work of al Qaeda-aligned radicals opposed to the Palestinian enclave's Islamist rulers Hamas. Here are comments on key questions about the incidents: WHO WAS BEHIND THE BOMBINGS? No credible claim of responsibility has been made.

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Israel Launches Air Strike in Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Voice of America
by Robert Berger - August 30, 2009 - 12:00am

Israel has launched an air strike in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. There was damage, but no reports of injuries. The Israeli air force bombed a tunnel the army said was meant to smuggle Palestinian terrorists from Gaza into Israel. A building over the entrance to the tunnel was destroyed about a kilometer and a-half from the Israeli border fence. The military said the air raid was in response to Palestinians firing a rocket into Israel on Saturday. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel has adopted a new policy of deterrence since he took office five months ago.

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Former Israeli Prime Minister Is Indicted
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - August 30, 2009 - 12:00am

Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel was formally indicted on three counts of corruption on Sunday, concluding a lengthy criminal investigation that had forced him to resign. According to the 61-page indictment, which the attorney general, Menachem Mazuz, and the state prosecution presented to the Jerusalem District Court, Mr. Olmert is accused of crimes including fraud, breach of trust, falsifying corporate records and failing to report income. If convicted, he could face years in prison.

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August 28th

"What’s Wrong with the One-State Agenda?"
Press Release - Contact Information: Hussein Ibish - August 28, 2009 - 12:00am

ATFP presents a new Task Force book publication: What’s Wrong with the One-State Agenda? Why Ending the Occupation and Peace with Israel is Still the Palestinian National Goal by ATFP Senior Fellow Hussein Ibish


The State Department confirms that it is holding firm on the policy of no new Israeli settlements, while Palestinian leadership insists that a full settlement freeze is a preconditions for new peace talks and the Israeli government confirms there has been no agreement on settlements with the US. The New York Times looks at the long history of non-violent civil disobedience in the West Bank village of Bilin. The Toronto Star examines how new construction of Jewish homes in Arab East Jerusalem is harming urban relations. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas plans to tour a number of Arab and European countries before the end of the year. Hamas chief Khaled Meshal is reportedly planning to fly to Cairo next week to approve a possible deal that includes the release of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

Obama steers the peace train
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS)
by Jerrold Kessel, Pierre Klochendler - August 28, 2009 - 12:00am

It isn't formal yet, but it's bound to be soon - within the coming six weeks, Palestinians and Israelis will again sit down around the peace table. That's the upshot of Wednesday's London meeting between United States President Barack Obama's special Middle East envoy, Senator George Mitchell, and Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu. Mitchell is set to come to Jerusalem in a fortnight's time with the goal of finalizing an agreement on both an Israeli settlement freeze and the consequent re-igniting of direct peace talks.

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Hamas fights the Salafists to gain more legitimacy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Mkhaimar Abusada - August 28, 2009 - 12:00am

The recent shoot-out in a Gaza mosque between Hamas security officers and militants from the radical jihadist group the Warriors of God brought to the surface the deep tensions that divide Palestinian Islamists. Twenty-two people died, including the Warriors of God’s leader, Abdel-Latif Moussa. But Palestinian security officials doubt that these will be the last casualties.

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Bibi in control until Obama calls settlements illegal
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Alan Philps - (Opinion) August 27, 2009 - 12:00am

In June, Barack Obama declared to the consternation of Israel that “the United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements”. Since then the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has chipped away at the principle of a total freeze on settlement building with what looks like increasing success.

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Netanyahu: We haven’t agreed to a settlement freeze
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
August 27, 2009 - 12:00am

Israel’s prime minister denied reports that Israel has agreed to halt construction in West Bank settlements. At a news conference in Berlin on Thursday following his meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Benjamin Netanyahu also said the Palestinians first must recognize Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state before negotiations could be held.

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Israel hobbling West Bank economy, says Tony Blair
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Ben Lynfield - August 28, 2009 - 12:00am

Israel's delaying tactics over the launch of a new Palestinian mobile phone network could deal a substantial blow to the West Bank's economy, Tony Blair warned yesterday in his capacity as the international community's Middle East envoy. Wataniya Mobile, based in Qatar, has been preparing for the launch of Palestine's second mobile telecoms company since 2007, with the second largest private investment in West Bank history, amounting to $700m.

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