August 5th

Violence as Hebron outpost evacuated
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
August 5, 2010 - 12:00am

An illegal Israeli settlement outpost erected near the larger Kiyrat Arba settlement in Hebron was evacuated by Israeli forces on Thursday morning, sparking violence from squatters. The outpost, a collection of wood buildings and tents in Hebron's Al-Buwayra area, was taken down and more than a dozen settlers removed from the area, who proceeded to torch Palestinian lands, witnesses said.

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Israel’s insistence on direct talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Michael Jansen - August 5, 2010 - 12:00am

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu insists on holding direct talks with the Palestinian Authority (PA) for four important reasons. First, he seeks to end Israel's isolation on the international scene. Second, he wants to project the impression that his right-wing government is prepared to negotiate with the Palestinians. Third, he is determined to begin anew, to erase 19 years of negotiations and arrangements agreed by previous Israeli premiers. His intention is to impose and formalise new "red lines? across which Israel will not budge.

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Turkey and Israel Do a Brisk Business
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Dan Bilefsky - August 5, 2010 - 12:00am

Israeli business executives here like to point out that most of the angry Turks who protested Israel’s deadly raid on a Turkish-led flotilla to Gaza this past spring do not know that their cellphones, personal computers and plasma televisions were made using parts and technology from Tel Aviv. For Manashe Carmon, chairman of the Israel Turkish Business Council, such ignorance is a blessing for Israelis and Turks.

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Hamas Blamed for Contested Gaza Explosion
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line
August 5, 2010 - 12:00am

A mysterious explosion which obliterated eight Gazan homes, damaged another 30 and injured over 50 people on Monday originated in a house used by Hamas to store weapons, The Media Line has learned. The Deir Al-Balah refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip was rocked Monday by an explosion centered in an uninhabited house belonging to 'Alaa Al-Danaf, a field commander of the 'Izz A-din Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas The 'Iz A-Din Al-Qassam Brigades blamed the explosion on Israel, claiming it was an assassination attempt on their field commanders.

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PA minister apologizes for closing TV stations
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
August 5, 2010 - 12:00am

The Palestinian Authority Minister of Telecommunications apologized Wednesday for a series of raids and closures of several TV and radio stations in the northern West Bank city of Nablus. Mashhur Abu Daqqa told Ma'an radio that an investigation committee would be formed to follow up on the raids, which were undertaken by PA ministry employees and customs officers, vowing to "bring to account those who violated the law."

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ATFP President Joins Al-Hura Panel on Recent Middle East Developments
Press Release - Contact Information: Ziad Asali - August 5, 2010 - 12:00am

ATFP President Dr. Ziad Asali discusses the recent Arab League decision to approve direct negotiations and other recent Middle East-related developments on Al-Hura's program All Directions with fellow panelists Amb. Ted Kattouf, Washington Times journalist Eli Lake and journalist Muhammad Abdel Aziz. The program was recorded and aired originally on July 30, 2010.


August 4th

Speculation about a wider conflict grows in the aftermath of the clash at the Israel-Lebanon border. Andrin Hauri says the international community must do more to support Palestinian state and institution building. An Israeli airstrike kills a Palestinian in Gaza. Israeli police again raze a rebuilt Bedouin village that was recently destroyed. Egypt says Palestinian factions in Gaza were responsible for recent rocket attacks. Palestinians say there are now more than half a million Israeli settlers in the occupied Palestinian territories. Gaza girls take up fishing to feed their families. Shlomo Avineri says support for a “one-state” arrangement from the Israeli right is rooted in opposition to ending the occupation. Menachem Klein questions the effectiveness of Palestinian state building but concludes Israel's system of control in the West Bank is nonetheless doomed. Eytan Gilboa warns Israelis not to conclude that Pres. Obama will not again pressure them on peace. Hezbollah leader Nasrallah accuses Israel of being responsible for the assassination of former Lebanese PM Hariri and vows to produce evidence. IT technology allows Israeli and Palestinian teenagers to build friendships.

The West Bank illusion
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Menachem Klein - August 4, 2010 - 12:00am

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad are darlings of Israel and the international community. For a long time now, they have been seen as brand names, not as officeholders dependent on circumstances of time and place. Abbas represents building the state in stages from the top down by negotiations. Fayyad represents building the state in stages from the bottom up. To Israel and the international community, they seem eternal.

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Obama’s carrots and sticks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Eytan Gilboa - August 4, 2010 - 12:00am

With his policy on the Israeli-Palestinian diplomatic process currently focusing on exerting massive pressure in a bid to launch direct talks, US President Barack Obama aims to rectify the grave mistakes he made thus far. However, there is no certainty that he drew all the lessons from his failures and from the experience of his predecessors. Obama is determined to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and through this secure a comprehensive solution for the Arab-Israeli conflict. He earmarked this objective as one of the most important ones among his foreign policy’s priorities.

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Nasrallah accuses Israel over Hariri murder
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
August 4, 2010 - 12:00am

In a fiery speech, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said he would prove the claim at a press conference next week. The BBC's Jon Leyne says Mr Nasrallah is trying to pre-empt a UN report due to implicate Hezbollah in the killing. Mr Nasrallah was speaking hours after a firefight on the Lebanon-Israeli border left five people dead. Referring to the rare exchange of fire, he said his forces were ready to join the fighting. Mr Hariri and 22 other people were killed in Beirut in a car bomb in 2005.

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