January 28th

Warily Eyeing Egypt, Israelis Feel Like Spectators
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - January 26, 2011 - 1:00am

After the Tunisian revolution and the emergence of a Hezbollah-backed government in Lebanon, Israelis are confronting another jolt to the system as mass protests rock Egypt, the partner in Israel’s oldest and most important Middle East relationship. While the recent upheavals have not been about Israel, they could have a potentially momentous impact on its future. Yet Israel, often a major player, now finds itself in the less familiar, and somewhat unnerving, role of spectator.

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Olmert Memoir Cites Near Deal for Mideast Peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - January 27, 2011 - 1:00am

Ehud Olmert, the former prime minister of Israel, says in new memoirs that he and Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, were very close to a peace deal two years ago, but Mr. Abbas’s hesitation, Mr. Olmert’s own legal troubles and the Israeli war in Gaza caused their talks to end. Shortly afterward, a right-wing Israeli government came to power.

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Olmert Memoir Cites Near Deal for Mideast Peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - January 27, 2011 - 1:00am

Ehud Olmert, the former prime minister of Israel, says in new memoirs that he and Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, were very close to a peace deal two years ago, but Mr. Abbas’s hesitation, Mr. Olmert’s own legal troubles and the Israeli war in Gaza caused their talks to end. Shortly afterward, a right-wing Israeli government came to power.

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January 27th

Palestinian damage control over alleged leaked documents seems to be working. Turkey releases its own Gaza flotilla report. The PA says it's going to sue Al Jazeera. Palestinians say a settler killed a Palestinian protester. A PA office in Gaza and an Al Jazeera studio in the West Bank are ransacked. Israeli soldiers are convicted, but will not be jailed, for shooting a bound Palestinian prisoner. Palestinians call for UN investigations into Israeli excavations in Jerusalem. Ari Shavit says at least a de facto two-state solution is necessary. Gideon Levy says Israel will never get a better deal than it seems to have been offered in 2008. Both Jews and Arabs have historically hidden weapons in inappropriate places during conflict. Palestinians accuse settlers of torching a vehicle. Larry Derfner calls the present Israeli leadership intransigent. British author Ian McEwan explains why he will not boycott Israel. Jewish American lobbyists are skeptical about reported Palestinian offers, but JJ Goldberg says leaks show Israel has a partner if it wants it. Daoud Kuttab says leaks ultimately strengthen the Palestinian, not the Israeli, position. Philip Wilcox says real Palestinian sovereignty requires the removal of the many settlements.

A Palestinian state within the 1967 borders: settlements vs. sovereignty
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Philip C. Wilcox - (Opinion) January 26, 2011 - 1:00am

Today, few disagree that without massive withdrawals from Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, where over 500,000 settlers now live, there is no hope for a two-state peace. A majority of Israelis also agree that an end to the conflict, preservation of a democratic, Jewish Israel, and freedom and statehood for Palestinians, are impossible without a radical reversal of Israel's misbegotten settlement adventure.

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Reality check shocks Arabs
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Daoud Kuttab - (Opinion) January 27, 2011 - 1:00am

Palestinian cartoonist Khalil Abu Arafeh is no Fateh loyalist. In his early years, he supported the left-wing Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. His brother Khaled was elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council on the pro-Hamas Reform and Change List. Abu Arafeh’s political cartoons in the largest daily Al Quds are often seen as a reflection of the general mood of Palestinians in the occupied territories.

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There Is a Partner, Just Read the Papers
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Forward
by J.J. Goldberg - (Opinion) January 26, 2011 - 1:00am

Well, well, well, isn’t this awkward? After all that talk about Israel having “no partner” for peace, it turns out the Palestinians were ready to make a deal after all, on terms that weren’t far from Israel’s bottom line.

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Jewish Lobbyists Still Skeptical of Palestinian Offers Of Concessions
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Forward
by Nathan Guttman - January 26, 2011 - 1:00am

A video clip produced last October by the American Jewish Committee aimed to explain the reason for the repeated failures of the Middle East peace process. “The one word that frustrated over 60 years of hope for peace: no,” the clip stated, going on to detail Israeli peace efforts in the past two decades while stressing that the Palestinian response has always been negative. But do the recent revelations in the huge leak of peace process documents known as “the Palestine papers” put this worldview into question?

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British author Ian McEwan says no to boycott call
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Jonny Paul - January 27, 2011 - 1:00am

The English novelist and screenwriter Ian McEwan has refused to heed a call from a pro-Palestinian group that has questioned his decision to accept this year’s Jerusalem Prize, which they call “a cruel joke and a propaganda tool for the Israeli state.” A group of writers and academics – members of British Writers in Support of Palestine – many of whom are active in the delegitimization campaign against Israel, signed a letter in Monday’s Guardian calling on the acclaimed writer to boycott the prize and join the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign against Israel.

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Rattling the Cage: The brave, visionary leader - and Bibi
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Larry Derfner - (Opinion) January 26, 2011 - 1:00am

With all the different takes on Al- Jazeera’s “PaliLeaks” documents, one thing I think is beyond debate: Never in history have Palestinian leaders seemed so moderate, so flexible, so accommodating to Israel. All the issues the Palestinian Authority negotiators supposedly would not budge on, they more than budged on – they took very long steps toward meeting the Olmert government’s positions on Palestinian refugees, the Temple Mount, the Jewish neighborhoods of east Jerusalem, settlements and borders.

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