June 10th

Don't think about September ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Economist (Editorial) June 8, 2011 - 12:00am UNARMED Palestinian refugees clambering across the Syria-Israel border and getting shot by Israeli troops may provide a useful diversion both for Syria’s beleaguered president, Bashar Assad, and for Israel’s prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu. The Palestinians, all of them apparently from camps in Syria, made their first attempt at breaching the fence on May 15th, the anniversary of Israel’s founding, known to Palestinians as the naqba, or catastrophe. Hundreds crossed the line near the Druze village of Majdal Shams, on the Golan Heights, which were annexed by Israel after the war of 1967. » Read more

September is here ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amos Harel, Avi Issacharoff - (Analysis) June 10, 2011 - 12:00am On Sunday morning, soldiers manning an Israeli army lookout positioned south of the "Shouting Hill," in the Golan Heights, reported sighting an unfamiliar flag. The protesters across the Syrian border had raised something resembling the flag of Switzerland - red with a white shape in the middle. The deputy-commander of the 36th Division, Col. Nadav Padan, raised his binoculars and surveyed the protesters, who were trying to cross the anti-tank ditch the Israel Defense Forces had dug between the fence and Majdal Shams. » Read more

Abbas and Fayyad disagree on unilateral declaration of Palestinian state at UN ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ahram Online by Saleh Al-Naami - June 9, 2011 - 12:00am The Hebrew website of the Israeli daily Haartez revealed Thursday a disagreement between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad regarding seeking state recognition from the United Nations in September. » Read more

Abbas and Fayyad disagree on unilateral declaration of Palestinian state at UN ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ahram Online by Saleh Al-Naami - June 9, 2011 - 12:00am The Hebrew website of the Israeli daily Haartez revealed Thursday a disagreement between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad regarding seeking state recognition from the United Nations in September. » Read more

What have Obama and Netanyahu wrought? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy by Henry Siegman - (Opinion) June 8, 2011 - 12:00am What conclusions are to be drawn about the state of Middle East peacemaking from the extraordinary spectacle of the adversarial encounter between President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and their several major adversarial addresses in the second half of May? » Read more

Memories of Six Day War see violence return to Golan Heights ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News by Kevin Connolly - (Analysis) June 9, 2011 - 12:00am When the early sun burns away the last of the misty night in Majdal Shams it leaves a landscape that looks a little like model railway scenery - all evenly-shaped pale hillsides and symmetrical thickets of darker green trees and patches of grey rock. When the noise of gunfire dies away in such a place, the silence that follows has an air of unreality. It feels too still and too deep. It must have felt this way in 1967 when the guns fell silent at the end of the Six Day War leaving Israel in possession of the rich farmland and spectacular mountains of the Golan Heights. » Read more

How about an Arab lobby? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News by Aijaz Zaka Syed - (Opinion) June 10, 2011 - 12:00am Pundits are still debating Benjamin Netanyahu's little circus in US Congress. And it seems it's not just us, distant observers and sympathisers of the Palestinians who were appalled by the US lawmakers repeatedly throwing themselves at the Israeli premier's feet. Many a US commentator has been troubled by the craven subservience and sycophancy of their politicians. The lawmakers cheered even when the ‘guest' standing in the highest body in the land continually derided their president and rubbed his nose in. » Read more

Haaretz exclusive: Secret cables show Israel's battle plan over Palestinian UN bid ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Barak Ravid - June 10, 2011 - 12:00am Israel has started mobilizing its embassies for the battle against UN recognition of a Palestinian state in September, ordering its diplomats to convey that this would delegitimize Israel and foil any chance for future peace talks. Envoys are being asked to lobby the highest possible officials in their countries of service, muster support from local Jewish communities, ply the media with articles arguing against recognition and even ask for a call or quick visit from a top Israeli official if they think it would help. » Read more

Hamas says not to accept Fayyad as PM ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua June 9, 2011 - 12:00am The Islamic Hamas movement, which controls Gaza, said on Thursday that it cannot accept Salam Fayyad, the West Bank-based prime minister, to lead the upcoming Palestinian unity government. Appointing Fayyad for the new government "is unacceptable and it cannot theoretically or practically lead to achieving reconciliation," said Mousa Abu Marzouk, the deputy chief of Hamas ' politburo. » Read more

1967 borders are key to peace in Middle East ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News (Editorial) June 10, 2011 - 12:00am There is no way of bringing an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict except through a peace agreement that is just and equal, and gives Palestinians their rights. Hence, the 1967 borders are central to any peace talks for the establishment of a Palestinian state. Israel has repeatedly stated that it would not accept the 1967 borders as the basis of negotiations for a Palestinian state, and this was made very clear by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. » Read more