An opportunity for Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Yossi Alpher - January 10, 2011 - 1:00am


As more and more South American countries--Chile is the latest--proclaim their recognition of a Palestinian state, the clamor grows in Jerusalem to declare a major failure of Israeli diplomacy. Didn't Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman travel to Latin America some months ago to stem the tide of recognition? Didn't Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu telephone the president of Chile just last week to persuade him not to join the Palestine bandwagon? And if Latin America goes, won't Europe be next and then, god forbid, the United States?


Pressuring Israel, an interview with Riad Malki
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
(Interview) January 10, 2011 - 1:00am


bitterlemons: What is the importance of the string of Latin American countries that have recognized the state of Palestine within the 1967 borders?


Difficult position for the PA
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Daoud Kuttab - January 13, 2011 - 1:00am


The choices facing Palestinian leaders as they try to navigate their responsibilities while the 44-year-long Israeli occupation continues are difficult.


Hamas: What is Allowed in the Bank is Prohibited in the Strip
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat
by Abdullah Iskandar - January 12, 2011 - 1:00am


So it is thus that the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) is busy “forcing” the other Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip to commit to the settlement with Israel, based on the “assessment of general interest and the protection of the Palestinian people and their capabilities” according to the movement’s spokesman. This came in response to the launching of rockets on Israel and the eruption of clashes with its army, after which the Hebrew state threatened to wage a wide-scale operation in the Strip if this situation were to continue.


'Invigorated' Abbas has regained his authority
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Hugh Naylor - January 13, 2011 - 1:00am


Aides describe his mood as "invigorated". Rights activists say his security forces are fighting dissent more effectively. And while staking his credibility on negotiating with Israel, analysts say the recent failure of direct Israel-Palestinian peace talks has yet to damage his popularity. For a leader who is rumoured regularly to be on the brink of quitting, the political fortunes of Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, no longer seem so gloomy.


Pregnant TV reporter objects to 'humiliating' Israeli security checks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Catrina Stewart - January 13, 2011 - 1:00am


A pregnant newswoman from the Arab Al Jazeera television network walked out of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's annual foreign press conference after security officials asked her to remove her bra.


Jerusalem’s Christian Get Help From Church in Buying a Home
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line
by David Miller - January 12, 2011 - 1:00am


Attempting to curb the flight of Palestinian Christians from Jerusalem, the city’s Latin Patriarchate is taking an unusual role in developing real estate projects that will provide affordable housing to its flock and others.


Social Affairs Minister: Israel today feels like Alabama in the 1940s
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
January 13, 2011 - 1:00am


Social Affairs Minister Isaac Herzog [Labor] on Thursday compared the recent outbreak of racial tensions across Israel to Alabama in the 1940s and urged President Shimon Peres to intervene and prevent the deterioration of Israeli democracy. "Shimon Peres must use his public consensus to be a leader in this struggle," Herzog told an annual conference for the Conservative Movement, citing the rise in anti-Arab and migrant demonstrations and oppression of human rights organizations.


Abbas: U.S. not working hard enough for Palestinian state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
January 13, 2011 - 1:00am


Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday accused the United States of lagging in its commitment to seeing the establishment of a Palestinian state. Abbas told Al-Jazeera that the Palestinians would agree to return to peace talks with Israel only if the United States agreed to recognize a state within 1967 borders and adhere to security accords reached during the Bush administration. Fielding criticism to the same regard in Doha, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told reporters that the U.S. was determined to work toward achieving a separate state for the Palestinians.


Hamas wants to replace PLO: strongman
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by Fares Akram - January 12, 2011 - 1:00am


The Gaza-ruling Palestinian Islamic Hamas movement wanted to replace the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), a Gaza-based leader said Wednesday. Secularism has been associated with the PLO's program, while Hamas' agenda "is based on Islamic ideology in the means and performance," said Mahmoud Zahar, a Hamas strongman, in an interview with Xinhua.



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