January 6th

Violence on Gaza border continues
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
January 6, 2011 - 1:00am


Three mortar shells were said to have been fired toward an Israeli military base along the Gaza border on Thursday morning, an armed group affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine said. The Jihad Jibril Brigades said the mortars targeted the Kissufim military zone northeast Al-Qararra near Khan Younis. An Israeli military spokeswoman said she had reports of a projectile landing at approximately 7:30 a.m. in the Negev regional council area, north of the Gaza Strip, but said she was not aware of any attacks in the area of Kissufim.


Report: Netanyahu ordered Shin Bet to investigate senior aides
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
January 6, 2011 - 1:00am


Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the Shin Bet security service a few months ago to investigate senior members of his bureau suspected of passing sensitive information to the media, Army Radio reported on Thursday. Netanyahu's suspicions were aimed at some of his closest aides and he thus made a personal request to the Shin Bet and to Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein to look into the matter, according to the report.


Jordan: Swift action needed for peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
January 5, 2011 - 1:00am


Jordan's King Abdullah II on Wednesday urged "swift action" to help push forward the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, warning against wasting more time, a palace statement said. "Efforts for having serious and effective peace talks should continue, based on a two-state solution, which is the only way to achieve regional stability and security," the statement quoted the king as telling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the telephone. "The deadlocked peace process threatens the entire region."


A Third Way to Palestine
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Affairs
by Robert Danin - (Opinion) January 1, 2011 - 1:00am


This past September, as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sat down in Washington to dine with U.S. President Barack Obama, a barely noticed event took place in Ramallah. With little fanfare, the 13th Palestinian Authority (PA) government, headed by Salam Fayyad, issued its one-year countdown to independence. This brief and understated document is likely to prove far more significant for the future of Palestine than the White House dinner and reflects nothing short of a revolutionary new approach to Palestinian statehood.


Arab states work to finalize anti-settlement draft
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
January 6, 2011 - 1:00am


A group of Arab states launched negotiations on a resolution against Israeli building in West Bank settlements and aimed to finish a final draft in the near future, chief Palestinian UN delegate, Riyad Mansour was quoted as saying by Reuters on Wednesday. "We are beginning the process of text negotiations, and we hope that we can finish this exercise as soon as possible ... to pave the way for action by the Security Council," Mansour said.


Knesset approves investigation of Israeli human rights groups
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Harriet Sherwood - January 5, 2011 - 1:00am


The funding of Israeli human and civil rights groups is to be investigated amid claims they are acting against the country's interests, members of the Israeli parliament decided today – a move described by opponents as "McCarthyite". A bill brought by members of the rightwing Yisrael Beiteinu party, whose leader is the controversial foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, proposed a parliamentary commission of inquiry into groups monitoring the activities of the Israeli military in the occupied West Bank.


Protest Death Spurs Scrutiny of Israeli Tactics
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Danielle Cheslow - January 5, 2011 - 1:00am


The Israeli army’s alleged killing of Jawaher Abu Rahmah, the unarmed woman who reportedly died from tear gas inhalation during a protest of Israel’s West Bank separation barrier, is putting the army’s tactics at such demonstrations under greater scrutiny, along with its moral credibility. At the same time, the army is attacking the protesters’ credibility. It is challenging accounts from Abu Rahmah’s family members and other protesters, from medical personnel at the scene and from contemporaneous press and Twitter accounts all reporting on Abu Rahmah’s fatal encounter.


Wanted: Adult Supervision
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy
by Aaron David Miller - (Opinion) January 5, 2011 - 1:00am


Call me a foreign-policy geezer, a traditionalist from back in the day. But when it comes to conducting the affairs of the country abroad, particularly toward the seemingly endless, seemingly intractable Arab-Israeli peace process, one historically proven bureaucratic model trumps all others: the willful president empowering the strong secretary of state who, in turn, runs everything.


Israel’s Top Military Brass Is Marching Away From the Prime Minister
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by J.J. Goldberg - January 5, 2011 - 1:00am


A year after Israel’s military brass was briefly jolted by scenes of banner-waving recruits protesting against settlement evacuation, there’s another round of political murmuring emerging from the ranks. This rebellion couldn’t be more different from the last one, though. These soldiers aren’t speaking out against compromise with Israel’s Arab neighbors — they’re endorsing it. And they aren’t new recruits, but some of Israel’s most renowned military leaders.


Only a canny America can force a Middle East peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Michael Young - (Opinion) January 6, 2011 - 1:00am


The Obama administration's inability to bring about a settlement between Israelis and Palestinians has prompted a search for new ideas. The latest was voiced most confidently this week by The Economist, the British news magazine.



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