October 23rd

Hamas: Jerusalem stabbing is natural response to Israeli aggression ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Jonathan Lis - October 22, 2008 - 12:00am A Palestinian attacker killed a 86-year-old Israeli and wounded a policemand in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo. The policeman was classified as serious. The attacker, 20-year-old Mohammed al-Badan, was shot and disarmed during the attack. The Palestinian militant group Hamas added that the terror attack came as a direct response to Israeli moves to make Jerusalem more Jewish. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said two police officers on patrol in Gilo had stopped an Arab for questioning on the street when he pulled out a knife and stabbed one of them. » Read more

Abbas 'Changing Old Guard' With Removal of Intel Chief ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Middle East Times by Sana Abdallah - October 22, 2008 - 8:00pm Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has sacked his intelligence chief in the West Bank, Brig-Gen. Tawfiq al-Tirawi, in a move widely believed to be part of security reforms linked to ensuring the success of upcoming reconciliation talks between rival Fatah and Hamas in Cairo next month. » Read more

Israel approves more Palestinian police in Hebron -- radio ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) October 22, 2008 - 8:00pm Israel has approved deploying several hundred additional Palestinian policemen in the West Bank town of Hebron as part of an operation to restore order, Israeli public radio reported Thursday. The deployment, the date for which has yet to be set, was agreed at a meeting Wednesday between officials of the Israeli military and the Palestinian Authority's security service. » Read more

Palestinians won't be driven off, says Fayyad ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Wafa Amr - October 21, 2008 - 8:00pm Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad joined West Bank farmers to pick olives Wednesday and slammed assaults by Jewish settlers on the harvesters as "terrorism." Fayyad rolled up his shirt sleeves and climbed up a ladder to help an old woman pluck olives from her tree in Mazra al-Gharbiyeh, a village north of the West Bank city of Ramallah which is surrounded by Jewish settlements. His visit was "a clear message that we are here to stay," the Palestinian premier said. » Read more

Peres: Arab peace initiative is an opportunity ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press October 22, 2008 - 8:00pm A long-stalled Arab peace initiative could bring peace to the Middle East _ still riven by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict _ the Israeli President Shimon Peres said Thursday, making his first endorsement of the proposal in an Arab country. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, however, openly disagreed with Peres during a joint press conference, saying Palestinians and Israelis must reach a bilateral agreement before Arab states could consider normalizing relations with the Jewish state. » Read more

West Bank hit hard by Israeli restrictions: World Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP) October 22, 2008 - 8:00pm The West Bank's economy is suffering from precarious lack of investment, largely because of Israeli restrictions on movement and despite increased international aid, the World Bank said on Thurday. The 48-page report comes nearly a year after Israel and the Palestinians formally relaunched peace talks at a conference in the United States with the goal of resolving their decades-old conflict by the end of 2008. It also comes less than a year after international donors pledged more than seven billion dollars over three years to aid the creation of a Palestinian state. » Read more

Examining Israel's efforts toward building a new government ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Ashraf Khalil - October 22, 2008 - 8:00pm Reporting from Jerusalem -- Israeli Prime Minister-designate Tzipi Livni has asked for and received a two-week extension on her original four-week deadline to form a new governing coalition. With nearly a month of Jewish holidays ending Wednesday, the negotiations to bring other political parties on board should heat up fast. Here's a primer on the proceedings. So what's the real deadline? » Read more

October 22nd

Israeli rightist wounds soldier guarding Palestinian farmers ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Yuval Azoulay - October 21, 2008 - 8:00pm A right-wing activist on Wednesday lightly wounded an Israel Defense Forces soldier protecting Palestinian olive harvesters near the West Bank settlement of Otniel. The incident occurred as twelve masked rightists, armed with clubs, scuffled with IDF soldiers deployed to guard the Palestinians. The rightists subsequently fled the scene, after which police embarked on a search for them. » Read more

Abbas relents, appoints Tirawi as senior advisor ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Ali Waked - October 20, 2008 - 8:00pm Tensions are mounting in the Palestinian Authority ahead of a reshuffling of its security brass as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is adamant to replace Tawfik Tirawi, head of the PA General Intelligence Service in the West Bank, and Diab al-Ali, commander of the Palestinian security forces in the West Bank. A senior Palestinian security official told Ynet on Tuesday that in one month's time Tirawi will step aside for his deputy. » Read more

Israeli hardliner group "sabotages" Jerusalem ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) October 21, 2008 - 8:00pm Israeli extremists executed violent action early Wednesday in the city of Jerusalem, the Israeli radio reported."Tens of Israeli hardliners took part in aggression that concentrated in western Jerusalem," the radio added. Those saboteurs heavily stoned a passing car and tried to put afire another vehicle in the neighborhood, where they also set several dumpsters alight. Two Palestinians citizens sustained serious injures as a result of attacks by the extremists who stopped their cars and asked for their identification. » Read more