August 12th

Fatah Party Election Brings in a New Generation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - August 12, 2009 - 12:00am

Fatah, the mainstream Palestinian nationalist party, elected a mostly new leadership committee, ushering in a younger generation and ousting some prominent veterans, according to preliminary results released here on Tuesday.

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Israel Is Wary of Calm Days That May End in Turmoil
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - August 11, 2009 - 12:00am

Rocket fire from Gaza has markedly declined. The Lebanese border is quiet. Terrorist attacks from the West Bank are rare. The national airport processed a record number of travelers in the first week of August. The currency is so strong that the central bank has bought billions of dollars to keep the exchange rate down.

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August 11th

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad announces that Saudi Arabia will deliver $200 million to the Palestinian Authority. Fatah prepares for what is scheduled to be the final day of their party congress, after electing jailed leader Marwan Barghouti to a top post among the new generation of leadership. A letter to President Obama from 71 US Senators urges him to pressure Arab states to normalize relations with Israel. US Jewish leaders express their support for Boston-based Israeli consul general Nadav Tamir, who has been summoned to Israel following his leaked warnings about deteriorating US-Israel relations.Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak express his optimism regarding peace negotiations, while Mohammed Dahlan reportedly says no negations will take place unless a deadline for peace is announced in advance.

Fear breeds distrust, but it is also the underrated enabler
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Paul Scham - (Opinion) August 11, 2009 - 12:00am

In 1997, at a time when I travelled frequently from Israel, where I was living, to Jordan, I was invited to give a talk to the Amman World Affairs Council, composed of distinguished, educated and cosmopolitan retired judges, ambassadors and other prominent Jordanians. I chose as my topic “Israeli fears,” because then, as now, I was convinced that fear is the most important underlying – and underrated – reason for the intractability of the Middle Eastern conflict. The audience was not pleased. One member told me angrily, “You’re equating the oppressors with the oppressed!”

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Concept of ‘partner’ revisited
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Hassan Barari - August 11, 2009 - 12:00am

It is clear that Israel has succeeded casting doubt on the existence of a Palestinian partner with whom it can make peace. Implicit in Israel’s argument is the fact that it has been anxiously awaiting for a Palestinian leader who would lead the people on the road to peace. Yet the irony is that Israel has failed miserably to elect leaders who can effectively lead Israel down the road of historical reconciliation with the Palestinians and with the Arab world, even while genuine peace initiatives have been presented - to which Israel failed to respond.

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Fatah between its Past and its Present
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat
by Abdullah Iskandar - (Opinion) August 11, 2009 - 12:00am

The “National Palestinian Liberation Movement” (Fatah) has since its establishment distinguished itself from the remaining organizations and factions due to two essential and interrelated characteristics: the first is that it has represented and reflected the aspirations of the Palestinian people as a whole, with its diverse social groups and political tendencies, thus reflecting the image of this people, equally in the occupied interior and in lands of exile.

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Israeli human rights groups back Robinson pick
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
August 10, 2009 - 12:00am

Seven Israeli human rights groups wrote to President Obama supporting the choice of Mary Robinson as a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. "Mrs. Robinson deserves this honor for a lifetime of unflagging support to the cause of human rights in its many dimensions," the leaders of B'Tselem, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, Association for Civil Rights in Israel, Binkom-Planners for Planners Rights, Gisha-Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, Hamoked-Center for the Defense of the Individual and Yesh Din-Volunteers for Human Rights said in their letter to the president.

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Hamas turns its attention to 'virtue'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Ben White - (Opinion) August 11, 2009 - 12:00am

A number of recent reports from Gaza have given cause for concern about the direction the Hamas government is taking with regard to social freedoms and a religiously driven "virtue" promotion campaign. Specific incidents, coupled with public declarations by high-ranking officials, suggest a trend of increasing, forced "Islamisation".

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Israel's anti-immigration immigrants
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Seth Freedman - August 11, 2009 - 12:00am

Well over a million of Israel's population come from the former Soviet Union (FSU), representing more than 15% of the total population – hence the political views of the Russian immigrant community are not easily brushed under the carpet. Their collective stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is credited with sweeping Avigdor Lieberman and his Yisrael Beiteinu party into the upper echelons of power at the last election, and on the strength of the latest poll from the Israel Democracy Institute, it's not hard to see why Lieberman has become the poster boy of the Russian right.

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Young leaders dominate Fatah vote
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
August 11, 2009 - 12:00am

Younger leaders have gained powerful posts in Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction, early results from its first poll in 20 years show. Mr Abbas remains the head, but several veterans apparently lost seats on the powerful central committee. Popular jailed leader Marwan Barghouti, and influential Mohammad Dahlan, who is disliked by supporters of rival faction Hamas, were both set to gain seats. Young members wanted to depose an "old guard" seen as divided and corrupt.

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