October 3rd

Where Is The Occupation? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz (Editorial) October 3, 2007 - 6:30pm The occupied territories and the Palestinians living there are slowly becoming virtual realities, distant from the eye and the heart. Palestinian workers have disappeared from our streets. Israelis no longer enter Palestinian towns for shopping. There is a new generation on each side that does not know the other. Even the settlers no longer meet Palestinians because of the different road systems that distinguish between the two populations; one is free and mobile, the other stuck at the roadblocks. » Read more

A Bittersweet Homecoming ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Miftah by Joharah Baker - (Editorial) October 3, 2007 - 6:30pm In a perfect world, little could be comparable to the joy of receiving a son, daughter, father or husband from the clutches of Israeli incarceration. Even in the terribly distorted world of Palestine where absolutes do not exist and every political move is dissected, analyzed and reanalyzed, the release of a handful of Palestinian political prisoners from Israeli prisons is still a joyous event. » Read more

Is Israel Planning To Release Barghouti? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News by Sami Moubayed - October 3, 2007 - 6:29pm The man who arrested Marwan Barghouti in 2002 is now lobbying for his release. Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, the Minister of National Infrastructure in the Kadima-led government, has made the following offer: Marwan Barghouti in exchange for Gilad Shalit. » Read more

Analysis: Syria-israel Tensions ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bbc News by Lyse Doucet - October 3, 2007 - 6:14pm The secret is out. But the speculation has not ended. And the tension lingers dangerously. Israel has suddenly broken its exceptional news blackout on a covert air raid against Syria, admitting officially its warplanes hit a "military installation" on 6 September. This unexpected disclosure, after weeks of mysterious silence, came hours after the first public comments from Syria's President Bashar al-Assad. » Read more

Shooting The Messengers ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Le Monde Diplomatique by Mariano Aguirre - October 3, 2007 - 6:12pm The New York Post editorial on 5 January 2007 read: “How did this man ever become president of the United States?” Readers might have thought this was a crack about President George Bush in a paper owned by Rupert Murdoch. But the editorial went on: “He’s gone from failed president to friend of leftwing tyrants and global scold of anything that represents America’s legitimate interests”; he wanted to “demonise Israel” and had secretly given “PR and political advice to Yasser Arafat”. » Read more

The Teflon Alliance With Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Counterpunch by Katleen And Bill Christison - October 3, 2007 - 6:10pm Two recent offhand comments, both widely publicized, have seriously undermined whatever progress might have been made in exposing the fact that the Iraq war was initiated at least in large part to guarantee Israel's safety and regional dominance in the Middle East. » Read more

Dropping "muqawama" ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Terrorism.opendemocracy.net by Maria Stephan - (Blog) October 3, 2007 - 6:07pm With another international conference focused on resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict just around the corner - likely to take place in Washington in November - hopes rise for a negotiated breakthrough in this decades-long conflict. However, without a Palestinian strategy to apply steady pressure on Israel, the November talks are likely to produce a new "road map" to nowhere. The Palestinian Authority may be aware of this, as its recent call for a new form of struggle against the Israeli occupation suggests. » Read more

Olmert, Abbas To Talk Of Final Deal After Conference ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Adam Entous - October 3, 2007 - 6:04pm Israeli and Palestinian leaders agreed on Wednesday that formal negotiations on Palestinian statehood would begin after a U.S.-sponsored conference expected next month, officials from both sides said. But Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert balked at Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's call for setting a specific timeframe for resolving final-status issues, including borders and the fate of Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees. » Read more

Israel’s Chief Diplomat Meets Arab Counterparts In Backroom Talks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Nathan Guttman - October 3, 2007 - 6:02pm While the Iranian president was busy stealing the limelight at this year’s United Nations General Assembly, Israel’s foreign minister was quietly carrying out a new strategy of normalizing relations with Muslim countries in a series of backroom meetings. During her weeklong stay in the United States, Tzipi Livni made her case at the U.N. as well as in a series of meetings with representatives from a host of Middle Eastern and North African countries that currently do not maintain formal ties with Israel. » Read more

New Revelations In Attack On American Spy Ship ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Chicago Tribune by John Crewdson - (Special Report) October 3, 2007 - 6:01pm Bryce Lockwood, Marine staff sergeant, Russian-language expert, recipient of the Silver Star for heroism, ordained Baptist minister, is shouting into the phone. "I'm angry! I'm seething with anger! Forty years, and I'm seething with anger!" » Read more