Encountering Peace: September mania
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Gershon Baskin - (Opinion) June 6, 2011 - 12:00am


Many people, including Israelis and Palestinians, are asking me what will happen after September. The most accurate answer I can think of is “October.” The idea that whatever happens in September will produce immediate changes on the ground is irresponsible because it raises expectations to dangerous levels. The most important thing that should not happen after September is a new round of violence. That should be avoided at all costs, and both sides must take responsibility so that it does not occur.


Revealed: the untold story of the deal that shocked the Middle East
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Robert Fisk - June 7, 2011 - 12:00am


Secret meetings between Palestinian intermediaries, Egyptian intelligence officials, the Turkish foreign minister, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal – the latter requiring a covert journey to Damascus with a detour round the rebellious city of Deraa – brought about the Palestinian unity which has so disturbed both Israelis and the American government. Fatah and Hamas ended four years of conflict in May with an agreement that is crucial to the Paslestinian demand for a state.


Netanyahu condemns West Bank mosque attack as 'criminal act'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Chaim Levinson, Barak Ravid - June 7, 2011 - 12:00am


Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday condemned the suspected 'price tag' attack by settlers of a mosque in Maghayer village near Ramallah, calling it a "criminal act". An initial investigation has shown that in the early morning hours of Tuesday the settlers rolled burning tires into the mosque, which caused some rugs to catch fire. The mosque was also sprayed with graffiti. "I hope the arsonists will be located as soon as possible and will be punished accordingly," Netanyahu said, adding "this is a criminal act that is meant to provoke."


Readiness and blindness in the Golan Heights
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
(Editorial) June 7, 2011 - 12:00am


The IDF proved this week that it does a good job preparing for the previous war. It may only be an isolated incident, whose character was more civilian police-oriented than military, but anyone who found flaws in the intelligence and military systems on Nakba Day (May 15 ) must admit the lessons were learned, the forces were deployed and the mission was accomplished. On Sunday, Naksa Day, the Israel Defense Forces succeeded in blocking hundreds of demonstrators who, surrounded by cameras, stormed the border fences in the Golan Heights, carrying flags, posters and loudspeakers.


False messiahs in Israel's capital
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Sefi Rachlevsky - (Opinion) June 7, 2011 - 12:00am


This summer, 1,000 rockets a day are expected to land on the inhabitants of central Israel for an undetermined period of time, with thousands of casualties on the cards. This is the reality that emerges from the assessments of the minister for the homefront, the real front, Matan Vilnai and from the recent warnings voiced by newly retired Mossad chief Meir Dagan.


Israel's plan to forcibly remove 30,000 Bedouin slammed as cruel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Vita Bekker - June 7, 2011 - 12:00am


Human rights groups have condemned an Israeli government plan to forcibly remove 30,000 Bedouin Arabs from their homes in southern Israel, calling it "cruel and discriminatory". Government ministers are expected to approve a programme that will cost at least six billion shekels (Dh6.5bn) and calls for the relocation of the members of the Arab minority to larger Bedouin communities in the Negev desert, according to reports released at the weekend.


Report: 14 Palestinians killed in Syria camp
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
June 7, 2011 - 12:00am


Fourteen Palestinian refugees were reported killed and another 43 injured on Monday, a report from the Palestinian government's WAFA news said. The victims were part of a massive group in Al-Yarmok, an unofficial Palestinian refugee camp in the Syrian capital of Damascus, mourning the death of between 10-23 Palestinians by Israeli fire on the Golan Heights ceasefire line the day before.


Settlers set fire to mosque near Ramallah
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
June 7, 2011 - 12:00am


A Ramallah-area mosque was torched overnight and its remains graffitied with racist anti-Arab slogans; witnesses said Israeli settlers were seen setting the fire at 3 a.m. on Tuesday morning. Al-Mughayyir's village council said the building was badly damaged, and its contents incinerated, drawing condemnation of the third mosque torching in three years. Eyewitnesses told Ma’an that a group of Israeli settlers arrived in the village before dawn, and shortly after they saw flames rising into the sky.


Israel Disputes Toll of Border Clashes, Saying Syria Has an Ulterior Motive
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - June 6, 2011 - 12:00am


Israeli military officials on Monday disputed the casualty figures announced by Syria a day earlier, after Israeli forces fired on protesters who had tried to breach the Syrian frontier border with the Israeli-held Golan Heights. The discrepancy in numbers underlined the messages being conveyed by each side. According to the Syrian version of events, Israel shot to kill unarmed demonstrators who were trying to reclaim their lost lands — whether in the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war, or in areas that are now part of Israel.



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