June 22nd

Luxury Palestinian mall signals transformation of 'terror capital' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Avi Issacharoff - June 22, 2009 - 12:00am The skies lit up over Jenin last month, and it wasn't tracer bullets or flash bombs but celebratory fireworks, set off to mark the occasion of the opening of Hirbawi Home Center, a new luxury establishment on the city's outskirts. The five-story building near the Jalame checkpoint cost $5 million to build, says its owner, and it is filled with deluxe, foreign-made products seen mostly in the pages of newspaper supplements. » Read more

Abbas to free all Hamas prisoners ahead of unity talks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amos Harel, Jack Khoury - June 22, 2009 - 12:00am In a goodwill gesture to his political rivals Hamas, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has ordered his security forces to release all prisoners belonging to the Islamist organization before the renewal of inter-factional talks. Representatives of Abbas' Fatah faction, which has been the dominant player in Palestinian politics since the inception of the Palestine Liberation Organization, will meet with Hamas officials later this week in an attempt to hammer out an agreement on national unity. » Read more

Outrage is not a Strategy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ibishblog by Hussein Ibish - (Blog) June 21, 2009 - 12:00am A recent exchange with several people for whom I have respect and affection regarding the question of the right of return for Palestinian refugees and the Palestinian national strategy and interest raises a crucial point that needs much more serious examination in the conversation among Arab-Americans and their supporters regarding the role of outrage in political life. It boils down to this: being upset is not a strategy, and outrage, however moral, is not a political program. » Read more

Abbas, get off your high horse ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Akiva Eldar - (Opinion) June 22, 2009 - 12:00am The "anger" of Mahmoud Abbas directed at Benjamin Netanyahu is tantamount to a child who threatens his parents that unless they buy him an ice cream, he won't go with them to the circus. » Read more

Opinion: Fictions on the Ground ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Tony Judt - (Opinion) June 22, 2009 - 12:00am I am old enough to remember when Israeli kibbutzim looked like settlements (“a small village or collection of houses” or “the act of peopling or colonizing a new country,” Oxford English Dictionary). I am old enough to remember when Israeli kibbutzim looked like settlements (“a small village or collection of houses” or “the act of peopling or colonizing a new country,” Oxford English Dictionary). » Read more

Top 5 Bogus Excuses for Opposing a Settlement Freeze ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Americans For Peace Now June 19, 2009 - 12:00am A settlement freeze is good for Israel and good for peace. Settlements are bad for Israel. They constitute a burden to Israel's security services. They create points of friction between Israelis and Palestinians. They drain Israel's financial resources. They create a false impression that Israelis are not interested in a two-state solution. » Read more

The Obama World Order ATFP World Press Roundup Article from New York Magazine by Michael Tomasky - (Editorial) June 19, 2009 - 12:00am It’s a long-held piece of Washington conventional wisdom—and, unlike most long-held pieces of Washington conventional wisdom, this one actually happens to be true!—that Democratic presidents tend to be more interested in domestic policy, while Republicans like making foreign policy. » Read more

Tussle with Israel puts Obama credibility on the line, observers say ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Richard Boudreaux, Paul Richter - June 20, 2009 - 12:00am President Obama's public quarrel with Israel over the growth of Jewish settlements in the West Bank is developing into a test of the U.S. leader's international credibility, say foreign diplomats and other observers. Obama and his senior aides have insisted for weeks that the Jewish state completely halt the expansion of its settlements. But now, with U.S. and Israeli officials apparently close to an agreement on the issue, it is widely expected in Israel and the Arab world that the administration will give ground and support at least some growth in the 120 communities. » Read more

June 19th

The language that absolves Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Saree Makdisi - June 19, 2009 - 12:00am On Sunday night, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a speech that -- by categorically ruling out the creation of a sovereign Palestinian state -- ought to have been seen as a mortal blow to the quest for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. On Monday morning, however, newspaper headlines across the United States announced that Netanyahu had endorsed the creation of a Palestinian state, and the White House welcomed the speech as "an important step forward." » Read more

Recognizing Israel as a Jewish State ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Israel Policy Forum by M.J. Rosenberg - June 19, 2009 - 12:00am Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's insistence that Palestinians recognize Israel as a "Jewish state" seems to rely on the certain knowledge that the Palestinians will never agree. This demand is of recent vintage. How recent? In 2006, after Hamas won the Palestinian elections, Israel demanded that the West insist on three conditions before dealing with it. Now known as the Quartet Conditions, they are still in effect today: "Hamas must recognize Israel, forswear terrorism and accept previous Palestinian commitments." » Read more