Palestinians believe Fayyad is the man for the job
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Khaled Abu Toameh - June 9, 2011 - 12:00am


A majority of Palestinians wants a government of independent figures and believes that Salam Fayyad is the most appropriate figure to head the government, according to a public opinion poll published on Wednesday. Two-thirds of the respondents are optimistic regarding the support from world countries to the Palestinians in September, when the Palestinian Authority plans to ask for recognition of a state along the pre-1967 lines, the poll by the Jerusalem Media & Communications Center showed.


IDF must not shoot unarmed people
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Larry Derfner - (Opinion) June 8, 2011 - 12:00am


Here’s a tip on how to deal with these unarmed Palestinians in Syria (or elsewhere) racing fearlessly in broad daylight at our well-defended borders: We should stop killing them. We should stop shooting them, even in the legs, because people can and do die from such wounds, and some almost certainly did near the Syrian border on “Naksa Day” at the start of the week.


Palestinian youth long for freedom and unity in Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
by Tim Whewell - June 9, 2011 - 12:00am


In the front room of a house in the tightly-packed concrete slum that is Gaza's Jabaliya refugee camp, they are learning to dance. A group of young teenage girls are stepping high in the air, hands on hips, as they practice the debka. Traditionally, it was performed by boys and girls together. But since the Islamist movement Hamas took over Gaza in 2007, mixed dancing has been stopped.


The French connection
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Douglas Bloomfield - (Opinion) June 8, 2011 - 12:00am


Mahmoud Abbas has a penchant for climbing out on limbs and expecting others to get him down. The first time wasn’t all his fault. When newly minted President Barack Obama demanded Israel freeze settlements as a path to the peace table, Abbas, who had never set such conditions previously, could not agree to less. Trouble is, Israel rejected it and Obama soon walked away, leaving Abbas hanging.


Hamas, Fatah to meet next week in Cairo
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
June 8, 2011 - 12:00am


Delegates from rival Palestinian factions will meet in Cairo next week for more talks after they have agreed to reconcile, an official said Wednesday. The representatives of Hamas and Fatah will talk next Tuesday about the formation of a technocratic government in accordance with the Egypt-brokered agreement that was signed early last month, said Azzam Al-Ahmad, an official from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party. "The meeting will look into starting steps to implement the agreement," Al-Ahmad told Xinhua.


AP Exclusive: Hamas considers hands-off approach
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Mohammed Daraghmeh - June 9, 2011 - 12:00am


After four years of turbulent rule in the Gaza Strip, the Islamic militant group Hamas is weighing a new strategy of not directly participating in future governments even if it wins elections — an approach aimed at avoiding isolation by the world community and allowing for continued economic aid.


Dagan was right about the Palestinians but wrong about Iran
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Ari Shavit - (Opinion) June 9, 2011 - 12:00am


My gut feeling is that Meir Dagan is mistaken about Iran. The former Mossad chief recently said it would be stupid for Israel to attack Iran. For three years there was great tension in the international community over the possibility that Israel would launch a surprise attack. But then just last year, the tension subsided. The success of the clandestine struggle against Iran and of economic sanctions against the regime have put off the moment of truth. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak are not as crazy as some tend to present them.


Between warm and fuzzy, and dangerous in the West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Olivia Snaije - (Analysis) June 7, 2011 - 12:00am


We left Jenin early on our first day of cycling through Palestine. After an inaugural hill, we crossed a main thoroughfare where the terrain flattened, and whizzed along under a brilliant sun, the road lined with olive trees as well as multicolored fields of thistles, poppies, marigolds and daisies. Our guide, Nidal, drove ahead slowly, as if he were a Tour de France team car. At one point he stopped as a tortoise ambled across the road. Several other times during the week he would stop to pick some of us up when the rolling hills started to seem like mountains.


Syrian slaughter and Israeli restraint
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Gideon Levy - (Opinion) June 9, 2011 - 12:00am


Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime is slaughtering dozens of unarmed Syrian demonstrators every day. In Israel we cluck our tongues in shock and say he is "slaughtering his own people," but when the Israel Defense Forces killed 23 unarmed Syrian demonstrators in one day, we boasted that the IDF "acted with restraint."


Hamas: Netanyahu responsible for swap deal delay
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
June 9, 2011 - 12:00am


Hamas leader Moussa Abu Marzouq blamed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, for what he said was a delay in the release of Israeli and Palestinian prisoners in a swap deal. Citing Netanyahu's "intransigence," the official said the leader bore "full responsibility" for the continued confinement of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit as well as thousands of Palestinians considered prisoners of war.



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