August 10th

Israel weighed all options in Gaza boat raid
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
August 10, 2010 - 12:00am

Israel exhausted all other options before carrying out its deadly raid on a Turkish aid flotilla enroute to the blockaded Gaza Strip, Defence Minister Ehud Barak told a government-appointed inquiry on Tuesday. Barak also said he was told by Israel's military chief that the operation "won't be simple, but we can get it done". Nine Turks were shot dead when Israeli commandos stormed the lead ship on May 31. Israel says its commandos used live fire only after being attacked with clubs, knives and gunfire by activists who it says were clearly prepared for violence.

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Israel to transfer extra water to Bethlehem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
August 10, 2010 - 12:00am

Israeli authorities have approved an increase in water supplies to the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Palestinian officials said Monday. Dr Shaddad Al-Attili, head of the Palestinian Water Authority, said that following negotiations with the Israeli water company Mekerot, an extra 2,000 cubic meters of water would be delivered daily for a limited period beginning this week. Al-Attili said the Water Authority would launch a campaign with police to punish anyone caught stealing water or using others’ water illegally.


PA official denies reports of Cabinet reshuffle
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
August 10, 2010 - 12:00am

The Palestinian Authority Cabinet’s secretary-general denied on Monday that a government reshuffle was imminent. Speaking to Ma’an radio, Na’im Abu Al-Hummus said Prime Minister Salam Fayyad informed the Cabinet that it was not the right time to form a new government Monday’s weekly meeting in Ramallah. The remarks followed Fatah's parliament speaker Azzam Al-Ahmad’s announcement Sunday that a new Cabinet would be formed within two weeks. Reports of a reshuffle first surfaced in February, and were confirmed by President Mahmoud Abbas until May.


Israel, the bomb, and openness
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Micah Zenko - (Opinion) August 10, 2010 - 12:00am

It's time for Israel to come out of the closet. After five decades of maintaining a nuclear weapons program without acknowledging its existence, Israel should proactively announce and provide information about its nuclear weapons status. Though Israel's bombs have long been an open secret, unprecedented international scrutiny in coming years will make this "nuclear opacity" increasingly untenable.

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Three times no
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - August 10, 2010 - 12:00am

At the start of his last meeting with George Mitchell at the Muqata'a in Ramallah about three weeks ago, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen ) introduced the American envoy to an unfamiliar person: "I'd like you to meet Yasser al-Masri, a head of the Takamul (Wholeness ) group, which is calling for the establishment of a single state on the land of historical Palestine."

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Hezbollah Leader Says Israel Was Involved in Lebanese Assassination
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Nada Bakri - August 10, 2010 - 12:00am

In a two-hour long television appearance, Hezbollah’s leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, offered Monday what he contended was evidence proving Israel’s involvement in the assassination of the former Lebanese prime minister, Rafik Hariri, in a 2005 bombing.

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Hamas’ many-splendored contradictions
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from NOW Lebanon
by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) August 10, 2010 - 12:00am

Hamas was in the news last week, accused by Egypt of having been behind the rocket attacks from the Sinai against the Israeli town of Eilat and the Jordanian town of Aqaba. This, once again, told us something about the paradoxes of the Islamist group.

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August 9th

Tom Friedman finds wisdom in a new movie about Israelis and Palestinians. Israeli officials are due to testify before the flotilla inquiry. Israelis and Palestinians in Jerusalem use wire to divide themselves. The LA Times looks at lessons and legacies of Israel's unilateral redeployment from Gaza. Israel destroys more Palestinian homes in the Jordan Valley. A Fatah official says there will be a cabinet reshuffle within two weeks. Libya frees an Israeli photographer as part of an aid deal on Gaza. A Palestinian human rights group says Israel plans to deport 20,000 Palestinians from Jerusalem. Pres. Abbas' office again clarifies that he has no objection to Jews serving in any international force deployed in Palestine. A lack of translators is hindering Israeli military police investigations into abuses. A young Palestinian files court charges that Israeli authorities tortured him. Yossi Beilin says until Israel changes its attitude towards peace, it will be isolated. An Israeli court confirms orders to seal a synagogue in an unauthorized settler outpost. The National says Israel should be held accountable for the flotilla attack. Adel Safty says strategic considerations dictate Abbas' return to directing initiations.

Israeli PM says Turkey ignored flotilla warnings
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Ari Rabinovitch - August 9, 2010 - 12:00am

Turkey ignored repeated warnings and appeals "at the highest level" to halt a Gaza aid flotilla, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told an Israeli inquiry on Monday into the fatal raid by his troops. Netanyahu was the first witness to testify to the state-appointed inquiry into the lethal raid at sea on May 31, in which Israeli commandos killed nine Turkish pro-Palestinian activists after boarding their vessel from a helicopter.

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Libya frees Israeli photographer in Gaza aid deal
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Dan Williams - August 9, 2010 - 12:00am

Libya has freed an Israeli photographer held by its security services for five months, as part of a secret Austrian-mediated deal involving aid for the blockaded Gaza Strip, an Israeli official said on Monday. Israel Radio said Rafael Hadad was detained as a suspected spy in March after travelling to Libya, which is technically at war with Israel, on a Tunisian passport -- his second travel document. But the Israeli official denied any espionage link.

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