May 18th

Israelis debate, PM Fayyad condemns, Israel's barring of Noam Chomsky and other Jewish critics from the occupied territories. Roger Cohen says the rising fortunes of a West Bank brewery are a barometer of the success of the PA's policies. The PA launches a door-to-door settlement goods boycott effort, introduces penalties for merchants. Settlers call the policy "economic terror." Palestinian girls win an award at the Intel Fair. Hamas executes three men. Xinhua asks how to tell if there is progress in talks. Israel rejects Qatari diplomatic offers. The Israeli military is concerned settler violence could spark another Palestinian uprising. Haaretz begins a series on the controversial new "Museum of Tolerance" in Jerusalem. Israel agrees to a French request to allow building materials into Gaza to rebuild a hospital. The JTA asks if PM Netanyahu's policies are alienating Israel's European allies, and interviews Aaron David Miller. Ali Sawafta and Tom Perry analyze PM Fayyad's popularity.

Fayyad’s popularity on rise in West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Ali Sawafta - May 17, 2010 - 12:00am

His efforts are bearing fruit. Even some of Fayyad’s rivals admit that his stock is on the rise among Palestinians tired of leaders who have failed to deliver them statehood or prosperity. Fayyad could even be in line for higher office, they say, although the premier routinely denies such personal ambition. They acknowledge that the former World Bank economist, a political independent who is not a member of the long dominant Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), is making an impact.

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Perfidious son: Aaron David Miller rejects the peace process
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Ron Kampeas - May 17, 2010 - 12:00am

Depending on your view of the Middle East and the Obama administration, Aaron David Miller is either a hero or a turncoat. Miller, a peace process functionary under both Bush administrations and the Clinton administration, published a declaration of independence last month from what he called the "religion" of the peace process. Critics of the Obama administration's emphasis on peacemaking -- among them neoconservatives who once reviled Miller as an apostle of the process -- embraced his article, published in Foreign Policy, as the repudiation of the process.

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Is Netanyahu alienating Israel’s friends in Europe?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Leslie Susser - May 17, 2010 - 12:00am

On the day last week that Israel gained admission to the prestigious Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that Israel's continued control over the Palestinians was eroding its global standing. Whereas Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed Israel’s joining of the OECD as an economic and diplomatic coup, Barak warned of a growing tide of international isolation unless Israel comes out with a major peace initiative of its own, irrespective of the OECD membership.

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30 tons of building material to enter Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Herb Keinon - May 17, 2010 - 12:00am

In response to a special request by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Israel allowed some 30 tons of building material into the Gaza Strip last Thursday to help rebuild a hospital damaged in the fighting there in 2009. Israel has been extremely reluctant to let concrete and building materials into the region since the end of Operation Cast Lead in January 2009 because of the concern it would be diverted by Hamas to rebuild factories manufacturing Kassam rockets.

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PA boycott threatens tradesmen with jail time
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Ali Waked - May 18, 2010 - 12:00am

In the coming days every Palestinian home in the West Bank will receive a detailed list of 500 products the Palestinian Authority has decided to boycott. The campaign against Israeli products, set to be launched Tuesday, is backed by a recently passed law entailing prison sentences and fines.

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Settlers: PA boycott – economic terror
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Shmulik Grossman - May 18, 2010 - 12:00am

The Yesha Council on Tuesday morning responded harshly to a new Palestinian Authority campaign distributing a list of banned Israeli companies. "This is an act of hostility with all intents and purposes on the part of the Palestinian Authority and its leaders, and it must be answered immediately and decisively just like any other act of hospitality," the settlers' body said in a statement.

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Museum of Tolerance Special Report / Part II: Secrets from the grave
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Nir Hasson - May 18, 2010 - 12:00am

The first one to excavate the site and come upon human remains was archaeologist Gideon Sulimani. Sulimani, a senior archaeologist with the Antiquities Authority, would come to play a key role in the affair. In December 2005 he began a “rescue excavation” financed, as mandated by Israeli law, by the Simon Wiesenthal Center, intended to remove antiquities, or in this case, human bones, before the area was cleared for construction.

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Museum of Tolerance Special Report / Part I: Holes, Holiness and Hollywood
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Nir Hasson - May 18, 2010 - 12:00am

Sometimes a lack of sensitivity or even an innocent mistake exposes a major truth. On the Web site of Moriah, a public company for infrastructure work that belongs to the Jerusalem municipality, one can find descriptions of various projects in which the company is involved. Among them is the Museum of Tolerance: “The Simon Wiesenthal Center, the entrepreneur for the construction of the Museum of Tolerance in central Jerusalem, asked Moriah to carry out preparatory and infrastructure work for the project,” says the site.

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IDF concerned settler violence could spark Palestinian uprising
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
May 17, 2010 - 12:00am

Extremist settler activity could set the West Bank ablaze, GOC Central Command Maj. Gen. Avi Mizrahi warned on Monday at a brigade-wide training exercise at the Tze'elim military base in the Negev. The Kfir Brigade exercise focused on urban warfare - including the capture of a simulated Arab city - and pitted Israeli troops against Palestinian security forces.

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