August 19th

The Holocaust's shadow over Israel's choices ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Bill Glucroft - (Opinion) August 17, 2009 - 12:00am No people mourn better than the Jewish people. For seven days after death, the family sits shiva, a vigil at home for loved ones to comfort one another and reflect on the life lost. During the following year and then beyond, the stages of mourning develop to allow next of kin to continue their lives while still remembering who is gone from them. » Read more

Despite rhetoric, Netanyahu has suspended Jewish settlement building ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Richard Boudreaux - August 19, 2009 - 12:00am Cameras were rolling, capturing the defiant Israeli mood over President Obama's stand on Jewish settlements. With three other Cabinet officials at his side, Interior Minister Eli Yishai toured a Jewish outpost in the West Bank on Monday and declared: "Israel must do what it believes is right, and the Americans will understand that there was no choice but to continue building" on Palestinian-claimed land. » Read more

Obama says Mideast peace process is in a 'rut' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Greg Miller - August 19, 2009 - 12:00am President Obama said Tuesday that the Middle East peace process was in a "rut," and prodded Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to help break an Arab-Israeli standoff that has frustrated the administration's effort to restart talks. "If all sides are willing to move off of the rut that we're in currently, then I think there is an extraordinary opportunity to make real progress," Obama said in an appearance with Mubarak at the White House. "But we're not there yet." » Read more

Obama Optimistic About Mideast Peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Anne E. Kornblut, Mary Beth Sheridan - August 19, 2009 - 12:00am Acknowledging that the Middle East peace process is in a "rut," President Obama nonetheless voiced confidence Tuesday that a breakthrough can be achieved -- and he thanked Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, whom he hosted for meetings at the White House, for playing a constructive role. "There has been movement in the right direction," Obama said. "If all sides are willing to move off of the rut that we're in currently, then I think there is an extraordinary opportunity to make real progress. But we're not there yet." » Read more

Netanyahu's Defiance of U.S. Resonates at Home ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Howard Schneider - August 19, 2009 - 12:00am For five months, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has been fending off U.S. pressure to halt the expansion of West Bank settlements. Now he is reaping dividends for his defiance. Although Israeli leaders have historically been reluctant to publicly break with the United States for fear of paying a price in domestic support, polls show that Netanyahu's strategy is working. And that means that after months of diplomacy, the quick breakthrough that President Obama had hoped would restart peace talks has instead turned into a familiar stalemate. » Read more

Obama Sees ‘Positive Steps’ in Mideast ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Isabel Kershner, David Stout - August 18, 2009 - 12:00am President Obama said Tuesday that he saw “movement in the right direction” on the thorny issue of Israeli settlement construction in Palestinian areas, and President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, a visitor to the White House, said prospects for restarting Middle East peace talks were good. » Read more

August 18th

Drawing borders is the first step ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Gershon Baskin - (Opinion) August 17, 2009 - 12:00am We still have no real idea of when or what President Obama will present as an Israeli-Palestinian peace plan. In the meantime, the Prime Minister's special emissary, Yitzhak Molcho, is off to Washington to try and reach some understandings with the US administration prior to the next meeting between Senator Mitchell and Netanyahu. The rumors floating around suggest that Obama's plan will aim to focus first on setting borders between the State of Israel and the future State of Palestine, now that Netanyahu has accepted the two-state solution. » Read more

Fatah, reunited and reinvigorated ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star by Daoud Kuttab - (Opinion) August 18, 2009 - 12:00am Fatah, the leading movement within the Palestine Liberation Organization, has moved one step closer to becoming a normal political party. It has just concluded its sixth congress, held for the first time in the Occupied Territories, which meant that former guerrillas from Lebanon and Jordan were allowed entry by Israel. The conference, it appears, succeeded in reuniting and reinvigorating the movement, which has suffered since the death of its founder and long-time leader, Yasser Arafat. » Read more

Hamas, the Emirate and the Waiting ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat by Ghassan Charbel - (Opinion) August 17, 2009 - 12:00am Hamas has eliminated the Islamic emirate announced by Abdel Latif Moussa (Abou Nour Makdessi) in Rafah. It has eliminated the emirate and its prince. Hamas cannot stand Moussa’s accusations. He said that if the Hamas government maintained its status, it would be like a secular party “fraudulently associating itself with Islam like (Turkish Prime Minister) Recep Tayyip Erdogan”. It is not easy for Hamas to see the “Prince of the Jihadi Salafists” stand in a mosque and challenge its image and approach then call his armed men to the street, challenging its authority and status. » Read more

Israel wrecked Arafat, crowned Hamas, and gave birth to Al-Qaida in Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Nehemia Shtrasler - (Analysis) August 18, 2009 - 12:00am This week marked four years since the Gaza disengagement, and it seems that the Strip is becoming increasingly radical - that peace is more distant and the settlers who were removed from the enclave are more embittered. Did Ariel Sharon and the majority of the Israeli public that supported the move make a bad deal? » Read more