February 24th

With talks stalled, Mideast "alternatives" aired
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Alastair MacDonald - (Analysis) February 24, 2010 - 1:00am

The Israeli-Palestinian peace process has lost its global audience as both sides haggle over talks about talks on issues the world thought were long settled. Don't let it fool you. Here on the ground in this Belgium-size bit of Mediterranean coast a new war is raging, so far of words, over the "two-state solution" so consensually accepted in the West since the 1990s.

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In seaside Gaza, fish in short supply
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Nidal Al-Mughrabi - February 24, 2010 - 1:00am

With their fishermen at risk of being shot at by the Israeli navy, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are finding new ways to supply the blockaded territory with a staple that is in short supply. Seafood is coming into the Mediterranean enclave through tunnels from Egypt and fish farms are starting to fill a supply gap resulting from restrictions that stop fishermen from venturing more than 3.4 miles (5.5 km) from the coast.

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Abbas: Heritage row could spark war
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
February 24, 2010 - 1:00am

President Mahmoud Abbas warned Tuesday that Israel's plan to nationalize religious landmarks in the occupied West Bank could lead to war. Speaking in Brussels, Abbas slammed an announcement by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declaring Hebron's Ibrahimi Mosque and Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem Israeli "national heritage sites." Netanyahu hit back shortly after the remarks, which his office described as a "campaign of lies and hypocrisy," the Israeli daily Haaretz reported.

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Unfairly throwing the book at the 'Irvine 11'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Mark Levine - (Opinion) February 22, 2010 - 1:00am

The 11 students who each briefly disrupted Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren's speech last week at UC Irvine have no 1st Amendment protection for their actions and deserve to be punished, writes my colleague, law school Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, in his Feb. 17 Times Op-Ed article. Reading Chemerinsky's piece, you'd think a group of hysterically angry Muslim men prevented Oren from speaking at all. But the situation, as a look at a video recording of the event makes clear, was much more complicated.

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Israel's 'miracle' anti-rocket defense plan raises anxieties
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Edmund Sanders - February 23, 2010 - 1:00am

The rockets may not strike as often these days, but residents of this working-class town say they can't shake the anxiety that comes with living in Israel's most frequently bombed city. Pedestrians strolling downtown keep an eye out for the nearest concrete-reinforced bus-stop shelter in case public loudspeakers crackle with a 15-second warning to dive for cover. Many motorists forgo seat belts so they can ditch vehicles quickly. A playground is equipped with 5-foot-wide concrete pipes that are brightly painted to look like giant caterpillars but double as children's bomb shelters.

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Declare a Palestinian State
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from International Herald Tribune
by Jerome M. Segal - (Opinion) February 23, 2010 - 1:00am

France’s foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, has alarmed the Israeli government with his recent statement that “one can envision the proclamation soon of a Palestinian state, and its immediate recognition by the international community, even before negotiating its borders.”

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February 23rd

Palestinian Prime Minister to Israeli Leaders: We are Building a State While Under Occupation to End the Occupation
In Print by Ziad Asali - The Huffington Post (Opinion) - February 23, 2010 - 1:00am

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad forthrightly brought his case for building a Palestinian state to Israeli political and military leaders, and they applauded. The new Palestinian attitude towards how to end the occupation that began in 1967 was on full display during Fayyad's speech at the Herzliya conference in Israel earlier this month, and it has had a considerable impact on its Israeli audience. With reports that "proximity talks" between Israelis and Palestinians will begin soon, attention must be paid to Fayyad's remarks and their reception.

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The LA Times outlines the history of Israeli assassinations, and its use of identity theft in Dubai. Israel seeks to use ordinary citizens to improve its image. Israel reimposes a ban on foreign nationals using a Bethlehem bus line. A report says Israel is planning another settlement in occupied East Jerusalem. Jordan adds it's condemnation of Israel's claim over two sites in Hebron, and the UN reiterates its concern. Accidents claim the lives of four Palestinians in Gaza. Akiva Eldar says PM Netanyahu's approach to Jewish heritage sites is dangerous. Yoel Marcus says the Dubai assassination doesn't mitigate the urgent need for progress with the Palestinians. The PA says it thwarted a suicide attack aimed at Israel. The UN General Assembly takes up the Goldstone report. President Sarkozy backs the goal of Palestinian statehood. Palestinians are accused of selling land to Israel. Tariq Alhomayed looks at the possibility that Hamas officials were involved in the Mabhouh assassination, and Linda Heard and Michael Glackin both say Israel miscalculated in the killing.

The Dubai killing and European tolerance
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Michael Glackin - (Opinion) February 23, 2010 - 1:00am

In diplomatic circles, Israel increasingly resembles a distant relative who drunkenly turns up at family functions, does something embarrassing, and leaves the rest of the family wringing its hands in bewilderment. Whether or not firm evidence emerges linking Mossad to the murder of Hamas official Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai on January 19 (and as British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was at pains to point out last week, there is currently no proof of Israeli involvement), it is clear there are few better suspects if you follow the old adage of “Who benefits?”

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Israel's arrogance has boomeranged
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Linda Heard - (Opinion) February 22, 2010 - 1:00am

A British columnist writing in The Telegraph referred to it as “the Keystone Spooks”, while ordinary Israelis who, initially, were gleefully patting one another on the back aren’t grinning any longer.

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