April 27th

Abbas signs anti-settlement legislation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
April 27, 2010 - 12:00am

President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday signed into law a ban on Israeli settlement goods in Palestinian markets. The move officially makes trade in settlement goods a criminal offense, and follows weeks of deliberations and declarations. Abbas legal advisor Hasan Al-Ouri was quoted by the official Palestinian news agency WAFA as saying the regulations would target "the cancers found in the Palestinian body, which target the Palestinian people's humanity, soil, and fate."

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Children stand trial for stone throwing
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
April 27, 2010 - 12:00am

Fourteen and 15-year-old brothers stood trial at Ofer's military court on Monday, facing charges of throwing stones at Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank. The boys, Nadim and Jihad Basim Kawazba from Bethlehem's Al-Minya neighborhood, were recommended for sentences of three and four months detention but the judge's decision was delayed when lawyers Eyhab Al-Ghaleith and Iyad Misk requested that the hearing be postponed until Thursday.

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Beating the Mideast’s Black Hole
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Roger Cohen - (Opinion) April 26, 2010 - 12:00am

The U.S. Middle East envoy, George Mitchell, has come and gone, again, with peace talks still on hold and one Israeli commentator, Yossi Sarid, musing that “the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a black hole that swallows up goodwill ambassadors through the ages.” I can’t argue with that. Cold wars come and go, new technologies transform the world, but the clash of Zionism and Palestinian nationalism in the Holy Land defeats resolution.

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Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat on Jewish housing
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Edmund Sanders - (Interview) April 26, 2010 - 12:00am

When Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat took office 18 months ago, he was heralded as a secular, progressive high-tech entrepreneur who would apply his business savvy to modernizing the ancient city, particularly after five years under an ultra-Orthodox leader. Barkat hired the same consultants as Disney for advice about crowd management and stood up to ultra-Orthodox demonstrators who demanded that he close city parking lots on the Sabbath.

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Israel: Abbas Signals Readiness for Indirect Peace Talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
April 26, 2010 - 12:00am

Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, signaled Monday that he was ready to start indirect peace talks with Israel. Mr. Abbas, left, told Israeli television that he would present the American proposal for talks to the Arab League this week, and “we hope that the reply will be positive.” The talks were derailed last month after Israel announced a new housing development in East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want as their capital. Jerusalem officials have said the government has effectively frozen new Jewish construction in East Jerusalem.


April 26th

Israeli extremists stage a provocative rally in occupied East Jerusalem. Indirect negotiations may begin soon. Israel is continuing to impede Palestinian access to a West Bank highway. Efforts are underway to preserve Gaza's antiquities. A Hamas fighter is killed by Israeli forces. Hamas issues an animated video of a captured Israeli soldier. Israeli officials say that despite claims to the contrary PM Netanyahu has ordered a settlement freeze in Jerusalem. Pres. Abbas will meet Pres. Obama soon. Sen. Schumer and ADL leader Foxman join the chorus of condemnation against the administration's Israel policies. The Guardian says Netanyahu may be counting on a Republican victory in November. The US military is united in its conviction that lack of peace is major strategic problem. The National is skeptical about proximity talks. The Arab News and Abdullah Al Shayji call for major changes in US policy. Ghassan Khatib Says the occupation is the ultimate incitement.

Desperate plea
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
(Editorial) April 26, 2010 - 12:00am

Since Obama has declared that Middle East peace is a strategic priority for the United States, Abbas now wants Obama to put his money where his mouth is and do something about his priorities.

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US is shooting itself in the foot
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by Abdullah Al Shayji - (Opinion) April 26, 2010 - 12:00am

When Barack Obama came to power there was optimism that there could be a breakthrough in the stagnant Middle East peace process, especially after his appointment of George Mitchell as his special envoy, his support for a two-state solution and his Cairo speech.

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Will proximity talks bring us closer to peace?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
(Editorial) April 25, 2010 - 12:00am

The news that the Obama administration is calling for US-mediated proximity talks between the Palestinian Authority and Israel next month is reason for more of a groan than a cheer. Under current conditions, we fail to see how the much discredited and maligned “peace process” is served by such talks; it seems that they give us more of a process without putting us any closer to peace.

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Top Military Brass Concur: Mideast Conflict Affects All
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Nathan Guttman - April 21, 2010 - 12:00am

U.S. Army general David Petraeus might have shocked some pro-Israel activists when he openly spelled out the difficulties caused to American military efforts by the lack of progress in the Middle East, but fellow generals were not taken by surprise. “CENTCOM commanders had always said this was the No. 1 issue that affects everything that goes on in the region,” said Anthony Zinni, who headed the U.S. Central Command, known as CENTCOM, a decade before Petraeus.

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