August 12th

US to consult with Quartet over Abbas request ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency August 12, 2010 - 12:00am US State Department officials said Wednesday, peace efforts would "press forward in the coming days" despite the latest visit by Middle East envoy George Mitchell characterized as a failure by many media outlets. Mitchell, who left the region on Wednesday evening, met with Israeli and Palestinian leaders during his latest tour, and presented a formula for talks laid out by President Mahmoud Abbas to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which the latter rejected. » Read more

Goliath and his paintball gun ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Larry Derfner - August 12, 2010 - 12:00am How could we have screwed up so badly? This is what no one understands about the navy commandos’ May 31 raid on the Mavi Marmara, and this is what our leaders are twisting themselves into knots this week trying to explain to the Turkel Commission. » Read more

Pursuit of the holy land ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Boston Globe by James Carroll - July 26, 2010 - 12:00am ‘LAND For peace’’ was the early mantra of the Mideast peace process, and it was realized in Israel’s treaties with Egypt and Jordan. The formula has proven to be more problematic between Israel and Palestine because the disputed territory defines core identities of both peoples. Having accepted the principle, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated in 1995 by a fellow Jew for whom any surrender of Eretz Israel (the Land of Israel) violated the sacred trust given by God. » Read more

Palestinians await Israeli response on involving Quartet in peace discussions: official ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua August 12, 2010 - 12:00am The Palestinian leadership is waiting for Israel's response on the proposal that the international Quartet issues a statement to define the references for direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, a senior Palestinian official said on Thursday. "We are waiting for the Americans to tell us the Israeli response on our proposal," Saleh Ra'fat, a member of the Executive Committee of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) told Radio of Palestine. » Read more

Why Israeli-Palestinian conflicts over land turn epic ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Omar Kasrawi - August 11, 2010 - 12:00am Standing outside a mausoleum in Jerusalem's Mamilla cemetery, Rawan Dajani bows her head and cups her hands upward in prayer for her ancestor Sheikh Ahmed Dajani. He was buried in Mamilla, the oldest Muslim burial ground in Jerusalem, nearly half a millennium ago. About 200 meters away, a fenced-off construction zone marks the future site of the Center for Human Dignity – Museum of Tolerance, a project overseen by the California-based Simon Wiesenthal Center. » Read more

Proposed binational state is a symptom of desperation ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Michael Young - (Opinion) August 12, 2010 - 12:00am The transformation of historian Tony Judt from being an advocate of Israel as a young man into one of the most distinctive intellectual critics of the country was an interesting interlude in the otherwise dreary disputation surrounding the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. » Read more

Palestinians receive U.S. approval of proposal of reference for direct talks with Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua by Osama Radi - August 12, 2010 - 12:00am A senior official revealed on Wednesday that the Palestinian leadership received a preliminary approval from the United States over a proposal that the Quartet committee for peace in the Middle East issue a statement defining a reference for direct peace talks with Israel. Hana Amira, member of Palestine Liberation Organization's (PLO) executive committee, told Xinhua that U.S. peace envoy George Mitchell informed President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday that the U.S. has accepted in principle the proposal that the Quartet Committee issues the statement. » Read more

Netanyahu, the anti-Obama ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by George F. Will - August 12, 2010 - 12:00am Two photographs adorn the office of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. Together they illuminate a portentous fact: No two leaders of democracies are less alike -- in life experiences, temperaments and political philosophies -- than Netanyahu, the former commando and fierce nationalist, and Barack Obama, the former professor and post-nationalist. » Read more

What If the Palestine Issue was Resolved? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat by Mshari Al-Zaydi - (Opinion) August 12, 2010 - 12:00am Away from the channels of indirect and direct negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis, whether this is above or below the table; the "eternal" Palestinian Cause has remained central to Arab politics since 1948, the year of the Israeli declaration of independence – or perhaps a little before this [date] – until today. » Read more

Lebanon debates giving Palestinians rights ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Zeina Karam - August 12, 2010 - 12:00am Mohammed al-Amin spends his days doing little more than playing billiards and smoking cigarettes in this sprawling Palestinian refugee camp, where gunmen roam narrow alleyways dotted with tin-roofed, cement-block homes. The 25-year-old studied dental lab technology but works at a small, grubby coffee shop in the camp, making $100 a month. He dreams of working with a respected doctor in Lebanese society and being welcomed like any other foreigner, without being looked down on. » Read more