September 1st

Fayyad defends plan: Establishing state our responsibility ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency September 1, 2009 - 12:00am Palestinian caretaker Prime Minister Salam Fayyad defended his plan for a de facto independent Palestinian state against Israeli criticism on Sunday night. "Establishing the state and its institutions is a Palestinian responsibility," Fayyad said in a joint press conference with European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana. "We are interested in this project and we are working towards implementing it," he added. Earlier Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman criticized the Fayyad plan. » Read more

Haniyeh: Hamas will not recognize Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency September 1, 2009 - 12:00am De facto Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh on Monday evening reiterated Hamas’ refusal to recognize Israel repeating his famous line, “Castles will not fall, neither will they determine our attitudes by force, and we will not recognize Israel.” Haniyeh’s comments came during an iftar, the sundown meal breaking the Ramadan fast along with dignitaries from the eastern Gaza Strip. “The pledge between us and the Palestinian people is that we do not remiss martyrs’ blood, nor Jerusalem, nor our holy land. Our prisoners will be freed for sure.”

Once-legendary Fatah figure makes a comeback ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Richard Boudreaux - September 1, 2009 - 12:00am He ran the Gaza Strip like the Godfather, dispensing brutal punishment and benevolent largess. But that was before his summer of disgrace, two years ago, when Hamas militants drove out his armed followers and allowed looters to pick apart his seaside villa. Mohammed Dahlan, the once-legendary chief of Fatah's forces in the enclave, watched his own defeat helplessly from exile. Then he felt the sting of blame for "losing Gaza," a debacle that split the Palestinians into hostile camps and crippled their drive for statehood. » Read more

President Obama hopes to be Mideast peacemaker at UN session ATFP World Press Roundup Article from New York Daily News by Kenneth R. Bazinet - September 1, 2009 - 12:00am President Obama hopes to bring the leaders of Israel and the Palestinian Authority back to the negotiating table at this month's opening session of the UN, a top Israeli official said Monday. "I think they will meet by the end of September," said Israeli President Shimon Peres. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Obama are all scheduled to be in New York for the start of the UN General Assembly during the week of Sept. 20. » Read more

Hamas leader denies Nazi genocide of Jews ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Diaa Hadid - September 1, 2009 - 12:00am A Hamas spiritual leader on Monday called teaching Palestinian children about the Nazi murder of 6 million Jews a "war crime," rejecting a suggestion that the U.N. might include the Holocaust in Gaza's school curriculum. A senior Israeli official said such statements should make the West think twice about ending its boycott of Hamas, in place since the group seized Gaza by force in 2007. Israeli officials called the comments as "obscene" and said they place Hamas in a pariah club of Holocaust deniers that includes Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. » Read more

Israeli soldiers kill Palestinian in West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters September 1, 2009 - 12:00am A Palestinian died overnight in an Israeli hospital after being shot by Israeli soldiers, Palestinian medical workers said on Tuesday. An Israeli military spokeswoman said soldiers shot the 17-year-old late on Monday after he threw a firebomb at a guard post at the Jewish settlement Beit El, near the West Bank city of Ramallah. He was taken to a hospital in Jerusalem, she said. Palestinian residents of the nearby Jalazone refugee camp said they heard the shooting and saw soldiers surrounding the youth some 400 metres (yards) from the settlement's perimeter. » Read more

A phone call from Prime Minister Fayyad ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Daoud Kuttab by Daoud Kuttab - (Blog) September 1, 2009 - 12:00am Except for a short encounter on a plane years ago, I had never met in person Salam Fayyad. I certainly didn’t have any communications with him before I wrote the piece praising his two year planhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/daoud-kuttab/fayyads-brilliant-two-yea_b_270253.html for Palestinian statehood. No one from his office had sent me a copy of the plan or suggested that I write about it. » Read more

August 31st

Israel may soon agree on settlement freeze: Solana ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP) August 31, 2009 - 12:00am Israel may agree to a West Bank settlement freeze by mid-September and is discussing the technical aspects of a deal with the United States, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said on Monday. Solana also said after meeting the Israeli premier that a summit between the US, Israeli and Palestinian leaders to relaunch the dormant peace process could take place on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly at the end of September. » Read more

Israeli-Arab indicted for Ashkenazi plot ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Yaakov Katz - August 31, 2009 - 12:00am Hizbullah recruited an Israeli-Arab and ordered him to collect intelligence on IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi ahead of plans to assassinate him to avenge the death of the guerrilla group's military leader Imad Mughniyeh. On Monday, an indictment was filed at the Petah Tikva District Court against Rawi Sultani, a 23-year-old Israeli-Arab from the town of Tira, alleging that he was recruited by Hizbullah in the summer of 2008 when he traveled to Morocco to attend a Balad Party summer camp. » Read more

The case against boycott ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News by Uri Avnery - (Opinion) August 31, 2009 - 12:00am How much did the boycott of South Africa actually contribute to the fall of the racist regime? This week I talked with Desmond Tutu about this question, which has been on my mind for a long time. » Read more