June 30th

Report Criticizes Israeli Drone Strike ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Christopher Drew - June 30, 2009 - 12:00am Twenty-nine civilians, including eight children, were killed in several missile strikes by Israeli drones in Gaza in December and January, according to a report released on Tuesday by Human Rights Watch. The group questioned whether Israeli forces had taken “all feasible precautions” to avoid civilian casualties. Lt. Col. Avital Leibovich, a spokeswoman for the Israeli military, said Israeli forces had gone to extraordinary lengths to warn civilians during the Gaza offensive, and she questioned the credibility of some of the Palestinian witnesses cited by the advocacy group. » Read more

The PA Financial Crisis: Causes and Implications ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Institute for Near East Policy by Mohammed Yaghi - June 29, 2009 - 12:00am Eighteen months have passed since the Paris donor conference, where members of the international community promised the Palestinian government $1.45 billion in assistance for its 2009 budget. The Palestinian Authority (PA), however, has received less than a quarter of this amount, and Arab governments in particular have fallen short, contributing only $78 million of the $600 million pledged. » Read more

Lieberman ally slams Netanyahu over Sarkozy remarks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz June 30, 2009 - 12:00am French President Nicolas Sarkozy's unusually blunt call on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to remove Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman from his post has sparked a political backlash among Lieberman's allies in Jerusalem. During the premier's visit to Paris last week, Sarkozy urged Netanyahu to "get rid" of hard-line Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, Channel Two reported on Monday. The second-in-command of Lieberman's Yisrael Beteinu party said Netanyahu should have "banged on the table" in response to Sarkozy's attack on Lieberman. » Read more

Experts Voice New Hope for Solution to Israeli-Palestinian Conflict ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Voice of America by Mohamed Elshinnawi - June 29, 2009 - 12:00am In the wake of U.S. President Barack Obama's June 4th speech to the Muslim world and the Israeli prime minister's recent acceptance of a conditional Palestinian state, hopes have risen for a resumption of talks aimed at resolving the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict. » Read more

Fatah deputy reports progress in unity talks with Hamas ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Avi Issacharoff - June 30, 2009 - 12:00am The head of the Fatah faction in the Palestinian parliament, Azzam al-Ahmed, said on Tuesday that significant progress has been made in Egyptian-mediated reconciliation talks with Hamas. The Fatah deputy said that both sides have found common ground on key issues, including Hamas prisoners being held in Palestinian Authority prisons, Palestinian elections, as well as the make-up of the armed force that is likely to be deployed in the Gaza Strip. » Read more

Israel ministers divided on settlement halt ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Barak Ravid - June 30, 2009 - 12:00am Defense Minister Ehud Barak will meet in New York today with U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell in an effort to agree on a compromise formula on settlement construction. The meeting takes place in light of a recent disagreement among the "forum of six" ministers over this issue. A political source in Jerusalem said Monday that a "temporary freeze" of construction in the settlements was met with objections by three of the six senior ministers in the forum. » Read more

PA: Hamas plotted attacks on West Bank officials ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency June 29, 2009 - 12:00am Hamas members planned attacks on Palestinian Authority (PA) officials in the West Bank on orders from Hamas leaders abroad and the group’s armed wing in Gaza, a senior official said on Monday. At-Tayib Abdul Rahim, secretary-general of the Palestinian Presidency reveled the alleged plot at a news conference in Ramallah. He said the PA learned of the plans from interrogations of Hamas prisoners. He said that a Hamas cell had planned the attack ahead of the 7 June deadline set by Egypt for an agreement between Hamas and Fatah. Hamas has not yet responded to these charges. » Read more

Editorial: The Gaza ghetto ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News (Editorial) June 30, 2009 - 12:00am THE report on life in Gaza just issued by the International Committee of the Red Cross six months after the brutal Israeli attacks which killed between 1,100 and 1,400 people makes bitter reading. » Read more

Israel and US hold settlement discussions ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Vita Bekker - June 30, 2009 - 12:00am Ehud Barak, Israel’s defence minister, will meet with George Mitchell, the top US Middle East envoy, in New York today for talks aimed at bridging a growing rift between the two countries on the expansion of Jewish settlements in occupied territory that Palestinians want as part of their future state. » Read more

June 29th

US-trained Palestinian force is keen for action ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by Karin Laub - June 28, 2009 - 12:00am In the live-fire exercise, everything was carefully choreographed — Palestinian commandos, faces blackened, stormed a hide-out in an abandoned building, "wounded" one gunman and "arrested" a second. But is this corps, American-trained and steadily growing, ready for the real thing? President Barack Obama's hopes for a Middle East peace breakthrough may rest heavily on that question. » Read more