May 6th

Hamas chief criticizes way bin Laden killed, buried ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP) May 5, 2011 - 12:00am Khalid Mash'al, head of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, on Thursday criticized the method used by US special forces to kill Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden and his "burial at sea." Mash'al called on the West to "recognize the atrocity of the American raid and the burial of (bin Laden's body) at sea," in remarks to AFP in the Egyptian capital. "Arabs and Muslims are human beings and the West should treat them as such, regardless of whether they are partisans or opponents of Osama bin Laden." » Read more

Hamas chief criticizes way bin Laden killed, buried ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP) May 5, 2011 - 12:00am Khalid Mash'al, head of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, on Thursday criticized the method used by US special forces to kill Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden and his "burial at sea." Mash'al called on the West to "recognize the atrocity of the American raid and the burial of (bin Laden's body) at sea," in remarks to AFP in the Egyptian capital. "Arabs and Muslims are human beings and the West should treat them as such, regardless of whether they are partisans or opponents of Osama bin Laden." » Read more

5 Palestinians arrested in Jenin operation ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency May 5, 2011 - 12:00am Israel's army arrested five Palestinians from the northern West Bank early Friday, residents said. An undercover unit raided Jenin refugee camp and seized Islamic Jihad leader Bassam As-Saadi, who had recently been released from Israeli prison after completing an eight-year jail term. Soldiers forced family members into one room while they searched the house and eventually departed with As-Saadi, who was bound before being taken to an unknown location, his wife told Ma'an. » Read more

Netanyahu: France says PA must OK Jewish state ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP) May 6, 2011 - 12:00am Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday after talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy that France wants the new Palestinian government to recognize Israel as a Jewish state. "What I heard from President Sarkozy is that they must recognize Israel as the state of the Jewish people," Netanyahu said outside the Elysee Palace in Paris, after a meeting he described as "good, far-ranging and friendly". » Read more

Netanyahu: France says PA must OK Jewish state ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP) May 6, 2011 - 12:00am Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday after talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy that France wants the new Palestinian government to recognize Israel as a Jewish state. "What I heard from President Sarkozy is that they must recognize Israel as the state of the Jewish people," Netanyahu said outside the Elysee Palace in Paris, after a meeting he described as "good, far-ranging and friendly". » Read more

Netanyahu: France says PA must OK Jewish state ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP) May 6, 2011 - 12:00am Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday after talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy that France wants the new Palestinian government to recognize Israel as a Jewish state. "What I heard from President Sarkozy is that they must recognize Israel as the state of the Jewish people," Netanyahu said outside the Elysee Palace in Paris, after a meeting he described as "good, far-ranging and friendly". » Read more

Netanyahu: France says PA must OK Jewish state ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP) May 6, 2011 - 12:00am Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday after talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy that France wants the new Palestinian government to recognize Israel as a Jewish state. "What I heard from President Sarkozy is that they must recognize Israel as the state of the Jewish people," Netanyahu said outside the Elysee Palace in Paris, after a meeting he described as "good, far-ranging and friendly". » Read more

A University Trustee Expands on His View of What Is Offensive ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Jim Dwyer - May 5, 2011 - 12:00am “I want to say something,” Jeffrey S. Wiesenfeld said. “The question is offensive. Before you even finish.” Mr. Wiesenfeld is the City University of New York trustee who rose this week at a board meeting to block an honorary degree to the playwright Tony Kushner, declaring him an “extremist” opponent and critic of Israel. It was a startling development for a board that appeared to be on the verge of rubber-stamping a bundle of honorary degrees proposed by the colleges within the university, including one for Mr. Kushner from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. » Read more

Accord Brings New Sense of Urgency to Israeli-Palestinian Conflict ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Ethan Bronner, Steven Lee Myers - May 5, 2011 - 12:00am A day after Palestinian leaders signed what many called a landmark reconciliation accord, the antagonists in the protracted Israeli-Palestinian conflict and their international mediators in Europe staked out positions in a rapidly shifting political and diplomatic landscape on Thursday. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, travelling to Rome for a meeting focused on Libya, refused to slam the door on negotiations that could include Hamas as part of a larger Palestinian authority, even as Hamas’s leader, Khaled Meshal, said he was fully committed to working for a two-state solution. » Read more

May 5th

UK, France may back PA's bid for state ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews May 5, 2011 - 12:00am In a sign of Britain's impatience with Israel British Premier David Cameron told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Wednesday that Britain may endorse a unilateral declaration of state by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas if Israel declines to take part in substantive peace negotiations with the Palestinians to create a two state solution. "Britain's clear and absolute preference is for a negotiation to take place between Israel and the Palestinians which leads to a two state solution which everyone endorses," a senior diplomatic source was quoted by the Guardian as saying. » Read more