August 9th

Officials to testify on flotilla events Monday amid intrigue and police investigation ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Batsheva Sobelman - (Blog) August 9, 2010 - 12:00am Somehow, summertime in the Middle East is accident-prone. From military misadventures to political predicaments and diplomatic disasters, the heat just seems to fry judgment. » Read more

Translator shortage hinders probes into IDF abuses in West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Liel Kyzer - August 9, 2010 - 12:00am A shortage of translators is seriously damaging Military Police investigations into complaints by Palestinians against Israeli soldiers, human rights organization Yesh Din said yesterday. In a letter to the officer monitoring such investigations, Yesh Din said complainants often travel far for prearranged meetings with investigators, only to find that the meetings have been canceled because no interpreter could be found. » Read more

Palestinian urges probe into alleged Shin Bet abuse ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Israel News by Aviad Glickman - August 8, 2010 - 12:00am A Palestinian man claiming he was tortured by the Shin Bet filed a petition with the High Court of Justice on Sunday demanding an inquiry be launched into what he described as cruel and inhumane treatment by his interrogators. Allah Nasser Salem, 22, from Ramllah, and the Public Committee Against Torture claimed that they have yet to receive an answer to a complaint filed six months after the alleged abuse in October-November 2008 in which they demanded a criminal investigation against the interrogators. » Read more

High Court: Seal illegal West Bank synagogue ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Tovah Lazaroff - August 9, 2010 - 12:00am The High Court of Justice on Sunday upheld a June ruling and ordered the state to seal and fence off a synagogue that it said was illegally constructed in the El Matan outpost in Samaria. El Matan is located just south of the Ma’aleh Shomron settlement, but within its official boundaries. “There is no place for delaying the execution of this order,” the court said. But it added that there was no way to intervene in the authorities’ priorities for the area. The court asked the state for an update on the matter within 60 days. » Read more

Inquiry shouldn’t let Israel off the hook ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National August 9, 2010 - 12:00am What are the chances that Israel will be held accountable for the fatal raid on the Gaza aid flotilla in May? If history is any precedent, it is difficult to be optimistic. Last week, the United Nations announced that a panel would investigate the attack, an investigation in which Israel has since agreed to participate. » Read more

Strategic acumen dictates Abbas' return to direct talks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News by Adel Safty - August 9, 2010 - 12:00am There is something preposterous in the question that seems to characterise the current stage of the peace process in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: To talk or not to talk directly. The final settlement of conflicts necessarily requires intense and sustained negotiations between the parties to the conflict. And this intensity and sustainability are evidently lacking in the so-called proximity talks in which the parties relay messages to each other through a third party. » Read more

Steal This Movie ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Thomas L. Friedman - August 9, 2010 - 12:00am I just saw a remarkable new documentary directed by Shlomi Eldar, the Gaza reporter for Israel’s Channel 10 news. Titled “Precious Life,” the film tracks the story of Mohammed Abu Mustafa, a 4-month-old Palestinian baby suffering from a rare immune deficiency. Moved by the baby’s plight, Eldar helps the infant and mother go from Gaza to Israel’s Tel Hashomer hospital for lifesaving bone-marrow treatment. The operation costs $55,000. Eldar puts out an appeal on Israel TV and within hours an Israeli Jew whose own son was killed during military service donates all the money. » Read more

Abbas agrees on peacekeeping forces in future Palestinian state regardless of religion: aide ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua August 9, 2010 - 12:00am Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas agrees on deploying international peacekeeping forces in a future Palestinian state regardless of their religion, an aide to Abbas said on Saturday. Abbas' advisor Nemer Hammad denied U.S. media reports that the Palestinian leader would not agree to have any Jews among the peacekeeping forces that would be present alongside the Israeli- Palestinian borders after reaching a two-state solution. "These reports are totally baseless and untrue," Hammad was quoted by the official Palestinian Wafa news agency as saying. » Read more

The new ghetto ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Yossi Beilin - (Opinion) August 9, 2010 - 12:00am Political Zionism led by Theodor Herzl would not have come into existence were it not for anti-Semitism in Europe, pogroms in Russia and a fear lest the emergence of the Jews from the ghetto and their integration into the economic, political, media and academic systems of the day provoke a sharp and violent reaction. There were alternative Jewish movements aimed at reaching the Land of Israel on the basis of religious motives or in order to build a new society founded on agricultural settlement and social justice. But that was not the Zionist movement as established in 1897. » Read more

August 6th

Middle East leaders' undignified behavior ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ibishblog by Hussein Ibish - August 6, 2010 - 12:00am In the context of the Obama administration's strong push for direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, the frankly undignified and needlessly complicating behavior of almost all the national leaderships in the Middle East has never been more apparent. » Read more