August 30th

Obama goes out on a limb for Middle East peace talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Christi Parsons, Paul Richter - August 30, 2010 - 12:00am

After 18 months of faltering efforts to launch Middle East peace negotiations, President Obama is dramatically increasing his personal stake and his own political risk by hosting direct talks this week. Obama personally helped coax Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to come to Washington to meet with him Wednesday and resume talks the next day.

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In Israel, Settling for Less
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Gadi Taub - (Opinion) August 29, 2010 - 12:00am

WILL Israel remain a Zionist state? If so, what kind? These are the important questions in Israeli politics today, and will be looming over the direct talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority scheduled to begin Thursday in Washington.

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In Israel, Settling for Less
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Gadi Taub - (Opinion) August 29, 2010 - 12:00am

WILL Israel remain a Zionist state? If so, what kind? These are the important questions in Israeli politics today, and will be looming over the direct talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority scheduled to begin Thursday in Washington.

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Actors’ Protest and Rabbi’s Sermon Stoke Tensions in Israel Ahead of Peace Talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - August 29, 2010 - 12:00am

Israel was in an uproar on Sunday over a refusal by Israeli theater artists to perform in West Bank Jewish settlements, and Palestinians were outraged by a virulently anti-Palestinian sermon by a Jerusalem rabbi, further fueling the atmosphere days before the expected resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in Washington.

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Early Obstacle, and Test, at Start of Mideast Talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Helene Cooper - August 29, 2010 - 12:00am

President Obama will begin his one-year effort to achieve Middle East peace on Wednesday, joining a long list of his predecessors who have tried to achieve a comprehensive peace between Israelis and Palestinians. But unlike the presidents before him, Mr. Obama will know within three weeks whether the two sides are serious this time about reaching a deal.

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Early Obstacle, and Test, at Start of Mideast Talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Helene Cooper - August 29, 2010 - 12:00am

President Obama will begin his one-year effort to achieve Middle East peace on Wednesday, joining a long list of his predecessors who have tried to achieve a comprehensive peace between Israelis and Palestinians. But unlike the presidents before him, Mr. Obama will know within three weeks whether the two sides are serious this time about reaching a deal.

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August 27th

Martin Indyk says there are four reasons for optimism on negotiations. Ben Smith decodes peace process rhetoric. Palestinians say settlers assault a nine-year-old child. Pres. Abbas says the PLO will negotiate in spite of Palestinian opposition. The Israeli military continues a crackdown on soldiers posing with Palestinian prisoners. A Palestinian human rights group says Hamas is preparing to close its operations in Gaza. PM Netanyahu proposes biweekly meetings with Abbas during negotiations, and is maintaining a careful ambiguity on settlements. Israel's negotiating team will be led by Yitzak Molcho and include only four people. Aluf Benn says Netanyahu may prove to be Israel's Gorbachev. The US is reportedly proposing signing an agreement within one year to be implemented over 10. An Israeli Cabinet minister says any settlement freeze should also apply to Palestinian construction. Ahmed Moor says Lebanon's new rules for Palestinian refugees don't go far enough. A book advocating the killing of non-Jews test the limits of free speech in Israel. Palestinian artists and advertisers use the separation barrier as a blank canvas. Ahmad Majdoubeh says Abbas needs more Arab backing.

Abbas needs to be backed
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Ahmad Majdoubeh - (Opinion) August 27, 2010 - 12:00am

In the Arab world, most people who talk or write about the envisaged involvement of Palestinians in direct negotiations with Israel without preconditions or a clear roadmap express either much fear or much scepticism. While these are justified to a degree, they should not prevent the Arabs from backing Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas fully, since go he will.

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West Bank Security Barrier Draws Artists and Advertisers
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Daniel Estrin - August 25, 2010 - 12:00am

What many Israelis see as a security barrier, and many Palestinians see as a prison wall, Majd Abdel Hamid sees as a blank canvas. “It’s really tempting as an artist,” said Abdel Hamid, a 22-year-old Ramallah-based painter. Back in 2007, Abdel Hamid and two assistants spent two 10-hour days painting a 130-foot-long portion of the barrier that separates Israel from the West Bank. On the concrete slabs, they stenciled a jumble of Arabic letters. Unscrambled, the letters spell out the Palestinian Declaration of Independence, written in 1988 by Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish.

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A Grim Teaching
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Ideas Daily
by Yehudah Mirsky - August 27, 2010 - 12:00am

Every first-year law student knows that hard cases make bad law. In Israel, a particularly hard case lies in the ongoing controversy around an inflammatory Hebrew-language volume of Jewish religious law (halakhah) that offers justifications for violent treatment of non-Jews in general and of Israel's foes in particular. The debate has highlighted longstanding divisions within Israeli society; now that the courts and the police have gotten into the act, it has also highlighted the difficulties of drawing meaningful lines between free speech and incitement.

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