July 30th

We shall be as dreamers ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Yossi Sarid - (Opinion) July 30, 2010 - 12:00am This column joins in the call: Let's have proximity talks. For the talks are close, but the proximity is far off. It is not by chance that Benjamin Netanyahu has so far refrained from responding to the questions of the mediator who, had he not identified himself as the representative of a great power, would be suspected of loitering. Why reply, as long as it is possible to put him off with empty verbiage, and every delay is for the best? » Read more

Israel believes Abbas will bide time on direct talks until settlement freeze nears end ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Avi Issacharoff, Natasha Mozgovaya, Barak Ravid - July 30, 2010 - 12:00am Officials in Jerusalem believe that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will attempt to delay at all cost the beginning of direct peace negotiations with Israel, even after the Arab League gave the green light for the process at a special session on Thursday. A senior source in Jerusalem said that Abbas will likely wait until September, when Israel's temporary settlement freeze expires, before declaring his own decision on the matter. » Read more

Gaza rocket ends quiet year for Ashkelon ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Douglas Hamilton - July 30, 2010 - 12:00am Palestinian militants in Gaza fired a rocket into Ashkelon on Israel's Mediterranean coast on Friday, blowing out the windows of an apartment block and damaging parked cars in a residential area of the city. No one was injured in the blast. But the attack ended over a year of calm for the city closest to the enclave ruled by the Islamist Hamas movement and it was likely to trigger a military response by Israel. » Read more

UN rights body tells Israel to end Gaza blockade ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Jonathan Lynn - July 30, 2010 - 12:00am Israel must lift its military blockade of the Gaza Strip and invite an independent, fact-finding mission to investigate its raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, a United Nations rights body said on Friday. The U.N. Human Rights Committee also told Israel to ensure that Palestinians in the occupied territories can enjoy the human rights that Israel had pledged to uphold in the main international human rights treaty. » Read more

UN envoy says acts in Jerusalem 'provocative' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency July 30, 2010 - 12:00am Robert Serry, the UN special envoy to the Middle East peace process, condemned the takeover by armed settlers of a building in occupied East Jerusalem on Thursday. Two Jewish families, protected by Israeli police, entered the building, home to nine Palestinian families, with documents claiming that they owned the property. Israeli National Police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said police were examining the documents “to determine whether they are accurate or not." » Read more

For biased critics of Israel, even its defensive actions violate human rights ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Jeffrey Robbins - (Opinion) July 30, 2010 - 12:00am In 1947, when excusing Soviet totalitarianism had become quite the rage in fashionable progressive circles, George Orwell eviscerated a British politician who consistently defended totalitarians but nevertheless denied that he was a defender of totalitarianism. “But of course he does,” Orwell wrote. “What else could he say? A pickpocket does not go to the races with a label ‘pickpocket’ on his coat lapel, and a propagandist does not describe himself as a propagandist.” » Read more

Breakthrough? Abbas gets Arab backing to enter Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Joshua Mitnick - July 30, 2010 - 12:00am Setting the stage for the Palestinians to negotiate directly with Israel, the Arab League agreed in principle today to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas holding face-to-face peace talks with the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The decision of the Arab League's forum on Israeli-Palestinian talks is significant because it provides political cover for Mr. Abbas, who has been locked in a battle for legitimacy with Islamists from Hamas who oppose negotiations with Israel. » Read more

From lynch to escort - cooperating with the PA is bearing fruit ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amos Harel, Avi Issacharoff - (Blog) July 30, 2010 - 12:00am Two reservists en route to their Israel Defense Forces base in the West Bank make a wrong turn and find themselves in the heart of a Palestinian city. They run into Palestinian policemen, who demand that they turn themselves in. » Read more

West Bank leader eyes ‘home stretch to freedom’ ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Financial Times by Tobias Buck - July 30, 2010 - 12:00am Over the road from the offices of the Palestinian prime minister, a new commercial tower is taking shape – one of countless projects that have sprung up across Ramallah. The building site provides a noisy reminder of the economic boom under way in parts of the occupied West Bank, which registered growth of 8.5 per cent last year. Moreover, the upswing is taking place against a backdrop of relative stability and security. Yet the man most commonly associated with the West Bank’s transformation is far from content. » Read more

ATFP President, Senior Fellow Participate in Dominican Republic Peace Conference Press Release - Contact Information: Hussein Ibish - July 30, 2010 - 12:00am ATFP President Ziad Asali and Senior Fellow Hussein Ibish participated in a major conference on Middle East peace, the “FUNGLODE Forum for Peace at Cap Cana,” in the Dominican Republic from July 23-25. FUNGLODE is the acronym for the Dominican Global Foundation for Democracy and Development. The conference was presided over by the President of the Dominican Republic, Dr. Leonel Fernandez, who attended and participated in all the sessions, provided a welcoming address and several other interventions, and took notes throughout. Read more