February 11th

Roger Cohen says urgent action is needed to salvage the two-state solution. Palestinians petition the UN over the construction of a museum being built on top of a Muslim cemetery in Jerusalem. Israeli military actions in Gaza kill one, wound four. Israel says a Palestinian who stabbed an Israeli had "personal problems," and the PA condemns the attack. Israel is rerouting the separation barrier around a village that has been the site of nonviolent protests. Christian priests and a Jordan Times commentary call for more nonviolent protests. Palestinians accuse Israel of driving them out of Jerusalem. A Ha'aretz commentary says Israel needs the Goldstone report. Israel says the Karni Crossing will remain shut as long as Hamas remains in power and the Jordan Times condemns the statement. The PA says it has detained six Al Qaeda operatives. Israel's consul general in Boston attends a J Street event. A Jerusalem Post commentary says proximity talks may help peace. The National says a new poll shows Arabs favor moderation. Osman Mirghani examines conflicting statements about Hamas apologizing for civilian deaths and Tariq Alhomayed says the flap over the Saudi-Israeli handshake is a symptom of chronic Arab political out-bidding.

Hard Mideast Truths
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Roger Cohen - (Opinion) February 11, 2010 - 1:00am


For over a century now, Zionism and Arab nationalism have failed to find an accommodation in the Holy Land. Both movements attempted to fill the space left by collapsed empire, and it has been left to the quasi-empire, the United States, to try to coax them to peaceful coexistence. The attempt has failed.


Between the Prince and Mashaei
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Tariq Alhomayed - (Opinion) February 10, 2010 - 1:00am


The news of the handshake between Prince Turki al-Faisal and Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon at the Munich Conference continues to dominate the Arab media and as a result has become a game of political football on the field of opportunism. This news has also given impetus to the process of "news laundering" which is an issue that I previously devoted an article to (28/1/2009).


Hamas's Apology
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Osman Mirghani - (Opinion) February 11, 2010 - 1:00am


Hardly a day goes by without us being disturbed by the exchange of [verbal] heavy artillery in the war of words that is taking place between the Palestinian Authority and the Hamas movement. This is a war that is overshadowing all other issues on the Palestinian scene, to the extent that it eclipses the concern towards the suffering of the helpless Palestinian citizens who are under oppressive occupation and facing harsh internal division and escalating suffering, particularly in the Gaza Strip.


ATFP Senior Fellow gives MIT seminar
Press Release - Contact Information: Hussein Ibish - February 12, 2010 - 1:00am

ATFP Senior Fellow Hussein Ibish addressed the Wednesday seminar series held by MIT's Security Studies Program on February 10, 2010. His talk focused on evaluating different scenarios for ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the occupation that began in 1967.


Palestinian Christian priests call for non-violent resistance
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Daoud Kuttab - February 11, 2010 - 1:00am


The voice of Father Jamal Khader coming over the waves of Radio Mawwal in Bethlehem was soothing and confident. A caller asked him to explain the words of Jesus, “to love your enemy”, in light of the occupation and walls built by Israel and the injustice against Palestinians. Father Khader, who was being interviewed along with Rifaat Kassis, the coordinator of a new initiative by 16 Jerusalem-based Christian leaders, said that Christians are committed to these words without reservation.


Peaceful resistance - serious threat to Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Michael Jansen - (Opinion) February 11, 2010 - 1:00am


Israel's recent raids into Ramallah to arrest and deport foreign activists working with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) is part and parcel of a strategy to end peaceful Palestinian resistance against the occupation. Having brutally crushed armed resistance and coopted the Palestinian Authority's police forces to provide "security" for Israel and its illegal West Bank colonies, Israel is determined to deny Palestinians all means of expression against the occupation and expropriation of their country.


Gaza the world is creating
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
(Editorial) February 11, 2010 - 1:00am


Israeli officials say crossings into Gaza for goods and trade will remain closed for as long as Hamas remains in power in the Strip. Such words clearly constitute blackmail of the worst kind, but are not in essence that different from the position of the international community, which has acquiesced in Israel’s siege of the Gaza Strip even though Hamas has demonstrably ended its rocket fire. Israel’s unashamed admission that it is willfully and deliberately starving 1.5 million people for political ends shows two things.


Palestinians accuse Israel of driving them out of Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
February 10, 2010 - 1:00am


A Palestinian official on Wednesday accused Israel of working to drive Palestinians out of East Jerusalem. "What happened in (East) Jerusalem, mainly in Shu'fat refugee camp, was an Israeli attempt to push the city's population to leave it," said Adnan al-Hussini, Palestinian National Authority ( PNA)'s Jerusalem governor. The eastern part of the holy city has seen tension for three days since Israeli military forces raided a refugee camp there and arrested dozens of Palestinian residents on Monday.


PNA condemns killing an Israeli in West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
February 10, 2010 - 1:00am


The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) condemned on Wednesday the killing of an Israeli soldier at an Israeli army roadblock south of northern West Bank city of Nablus. PNA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said in a press statement sent to reporters that PNA condemns the attack, stressing that PNA would keep carrying out its firm security measures in order not to repeat such incidents.



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