April 9th

Amid jail strike, Hamas urges more soldier abductions
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
April 9, 2010 - 12:00am


The solution to the prisoner-swap stalemate is to capture more Israeli soldiers and force the hand of the Israeli government, Hamas leaders said Thursday. Sparked by the start of the second week of a prisoner strike, officials in Gaza are seeking to support Palestinians in Israeli custody as they demand equal treatment by prison officials.


The solution for Israelis and Palestinians: a parallel state structure
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Mark Levine, Mathias Mossberg - (Opinion) April 8, 2010 - 12:00am


Growing US-Israeli tension over continued East Jerusalem settlement construction – which the White House appears unable to stop – underscores a deeper reality: The two-state solution is no longer possible. The occupied territories are politically, economically, and geographically so deeply integrated into Israel that there is no practical way to transfer them to Palestinian sovereignty within the framework of a two-state solution. Israeli scholars have been warning of this to anyone who would listen for over two decades.


NSA Jones: "No decision" on U.S. peace plan
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Politico
by Laura Rozen - (Blog) April 9, 2010 - 12:00am


Obama's National Security Advisor Jim Jones says there's been no decision yet on the U.S. proposing its own Middle East peace plan. "There’s been no decision on that," Jones told reporters aboard Air Force One, regarding recent reports that the Obama administration is being urged to propose its own detailed Middle East peace plan if there is no progress on Israeli-Palestinian negotiations by the fall.


US Treasury: 'PA making bold bid to curb Hamas funds'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Hilary Leila Krieger - April 9, 2010 - 12:00am


WASHINGTON – The Palestinian Authority has made significant moves to cut off the flow of funding to Hamas, according to a top US Treasury official. David Cohen, assistant treasury secretary for terrorist financing, praised the PA for taking “important steps to limit Hamas’s influence” by supervising the Palestinian banking system and charitable contributions in the West Bank and Gaza. “The Palestinian Authority has been quite courageous in its efforts to regulate the financial system,” Cohen told the Washington Institute for Near East Policy on Wednesday afternoon.


Netanyahu to skip Obama summit
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Politico
by Josh Gerstein, Laura Rozen - April 9, 2010 - 12:00am


Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has abruptly canceled his plans to attend President Barack Obama’s nuclear security summit next week, creating an embarrassing distraction on the eve of a high-profile meeting the White House has sought to carefully choreograph. An Israeli official confirmed Netanyahu’s decision not to attend, which was revealed by Israeli media outlets Thursday afternoon Washington time.


Asharq Al-Awsat Talks to Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Ali El-saleh - April 9, 2010 - 12:00am


Fayyad stressed in an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat that the Palestinian State exists and that the Israeli occupation is bound to end. Fayyad still believed that the establishment of a State is possible within two years, in the second half of 2011 to be specific, as stated in the State blueprint he announced last August.


April 8th

IMF says Israeli restrictions, lack of donations imperil West Bank economic growth. Administration officials say there is no US peace proposal and no plan to draft one. USA Today says Israeli policies are making it difficult to be its friend. Israeli soldiers reportedly watch as settlers beat Palestinians. Israel lifts a gag order on a journalist charged with espionage. Turkish PM Erdogan says Israel is "the main threat" to Mideast peace. Bradley Burston says a proposed UC Berkeley divestment from Israel plays right into the hands of the occupation. Gideon Levy says Israel should stop fighting the world. Ari Shavit says a deal with Syria is achievable, but not the Palestinians. Larry Derfner says PM Netanyahu is not capable of making peace with Palestinians. The National says Palestinian talk of unilateral declarations of statehood gets Israel's attention. Tariq Alhomayed says a Saudi TV cleric's plan to visit Jerusalem was a media stunt. Daoud Kuttab looks at changes in US military attitudes towards Israel. Shlomo Ben-Ami says Netanyahu's policy on Jerusalem is unworkable. Elliott Abrams says the Obama administration, especially James Jones, is threatening Israel. Ghassan Khatib says that the moment is ripe for a peace agreement. The Nation profiles PM Fayyad.

Textbooks, Grasshoppers, and the Question of Incitement
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Huffington Post
by Ghassan Khatib - (Opinion) April 5, 2010 - 12:00am


There is a great opportunity in the next few months to reach a just peace between Israelis and Palestinians. This may seem a surprising view just now, but there is a competent and responsible Palestinian government in place which is serious about establishing a sovereign Palestinian state alongside Israel. And there is strong public support for this objective. The evidence is all around you if you come to see the reality.


Terms of Endearment
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Weekly Standard
by Elliott Abrams - (Blog) April 8, 2010 - 12:00am


“Obama to Impose Terms on Israel” is the headline you didn’t read on David Ignatius’s column in the Washington Post today. The story ran under the title “Obama’s Mideast Plan,” which Ignatius describes as “proposing an American peace plan to resolve the Palestinian conflict.”


Benjamin Netanyahu's plan for Jerusalem is ill conceived
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Shlomo Ben-Ami - (Opinion) April 8, 2010 - 12:00am


Benjamin Netanyahu’s government on Jerusalem is ill conceived. This was amply demonstrated by the announcement of the construction of 1,600 new apartments in the occupied eastern segment of the city during what was supposed to be a charm visit by US Vice President Joe Biden, Israel’s best friend in President Barack Obama’s administration. And yet, while Netanyahu might not be a great peacemaker, the Obama administration, by portraying the announcement as a deliberate attempt to frustrate the upcoming indirect talks with the Palestinians, exaggerated the incident for its own purposes.



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