February 13th

Hamas said ready to sign deal on Shalit release ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz February 13, 2009 - 1:00am Hamas is prepared to sign a deal next week for the release of abducted Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit as part of a long-term truce agreement between Israel and the Gaza Strip, the Arabic daily Al-Hayat reported on Friday. According to the report, Hamas will cement the truce within the next few days and finalize the deal to free Shalit by Wednesday. Palestinian sources told Al-Hayat that Shalit, who was captured by Hamas-allied militants in a 2006 cross-border raid from Gaza into southern Israel, would be freed in exchange for 1,000 Palestinians jailed in Israel. » Read more

Hamas 'set for truce with Israel' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News February 13, 2009 - 1:00am A long-term truce between the Palestinian militant group Hamas and Israel may be announced within days, Hamas officials said in Cairo. Border crossings would reportedly be re-opened and a ceasefire would be called for 18 months under the Egyptian-brokered deal. Israel and Hamas called unilateral truces at the end of Israel's offensive against Gaza last month. US envoy George Mitchell recently urged the sides to extend their ceasefire. There was no immediate Israeli reaction to Thursday's announcement by Hamas officials. » Read more

All the more reason for Barack Obama to march towards the sound of gunfire ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Economist February 12, 2009 - 1:00am FOR reasons of his own, Barack Obama chose to disregard the advice he got from many quarters that he should spell out his views on Palestinian statehood before Israel’s voters went to the polls on February 10th. That is a pity. Israelis disagree about many things, but most understand the value of having a prime minister who is liked and welcomed in the White House. » Read more

Kadima official says party may join coalition led by Likud ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Yossi Verter - February 13, 2009 - 1:00am Kadima will head for the opposition benches if Benjamin Netanyahu forms the government, Tzipi Livni said Thursday, adding that her party has no intention of accepting a right-wing, ultra-Orthodox government. However, a senior Kadima official said the party probably would join Netanyahu's government eventually, and would demand the foreign and defense portfolios for Livni and Shaul Mofaz, or the foreign and education portfolios for Livni and Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik. » Read more

With Israeli vote count final, party negotiations intensify ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Ilene Prusher - February 13, 2009 - 1:00am JERUSALEM - After counting all of the outstanding votes cast by soldiers and diplomats, Israel's election commission announced Thursday that the distribution of parliamentary seats remained exactly as initial exit polls had predicted, following a national ballot earlier this week that plunged the country's political system into deepening uncertainty. » Read more

Israel's broken politics ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Boston Globe February 13, 2009 - 1:00am ISRAEL has enough troubles without having to cope with a dysfunctional political system. Yet that is exactly what Israelis are now struggling to do in the aftermath of Tuesday's general election. This was a democratic exercise in which the winner, Kadima Party leader Tzipi Livni, is almost certain to end up the loser, while the loser, Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu, will likely form the next government with a melange of partners he would rather not have. » Read more

Congressman Ackerman Speaks Middle East Truth ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Huffington Post by M.J. Rosenberg - (Blog) February 13, 2009 - 1:00am Anyone who believes that anti-Semitism is a thing of the past needs to consider the case of Bishop Richard Williamson, the cleric who denies that the Holocaust occurred and insists that the murder of six million Jews is "lies, lies, lies." Williamson is a Jew-hater, pure and simple. Pope Benedict's support for him demonstrates that the current pontiff, who started out as a Hitler Youth, has a rather different attitude toward Jews than his revered predecessor, John Paul II, who started out in the Polish Resistance. » Read more

February 12th

Thinking Right About Peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Israel Policy Forum by Aaron David Miller - (Blog) February 12, 2009 - 1:00am The results of this week's elections in Israel validate a reality that has been stunningly obvious for some time now: the future of peace and war making in Israel is now firmly in the hands of the Israeli right and center right. You don't need a genius to conclude that the story line on peacemaking has been there for a long while. From Begin to Shamir, to Rabin to Sharon to Olmert and now to Netanyahu and Livni, the saga of Israel's quest for peace and/or peaceable arrangements with its neighbors has been a story of doves talking the talk and hawks - pure or transformed - walking the walk. » Read more

Oral Testimony of ATFP President Ziad J. Asali: House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on Middle East and South Asia Hearing on aftermath of Gaza war ATFP World Press Roundup Article from February 12, 2009 - 1:00am House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on Middle East and South Asia Chairman Gary L. Ackerman (D-NY) February 12, 2009 Mr. Chairman, I wish to thank you and the Sub-Committee's esteemed members for the privilege to testify before you, and summarize my written testimony. Although Hamas launched reckless and provocative rocket attacks against Israel, Gazans are not Hamas, they are not combatants, and should not be punished. As a human being, and as a physician, I was horrified by the tragedy that has befallen the people of Gaza by Israel’s disproportionate use of force. » Read more

Egyptian police arrest 40 smugglers near Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News February 12, 2009 - 1:00am Egyptian police have arrested 40 suspected smugglers and seized contraband goods in a new crackdown on smuggling along the country's border with the Gaza Strip, an Egyptian security official said on Thursday. The official said hundreds of security forces have been deployed in and around the town of Rafah, located along the sensitive border with the Palestinian Hamas-run coastal area. The goods seized in the latest raids are worth about $1 million, he said but did not elaborate. » Read more