April 20th

GAZA STRIP: Suspect in killing of Italian activist dies in standoff ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Ahmed al-Dabba - April 19, 2011 - 12:00am Hamas rulers in the Gaza Strip said Tuesday that a man suspected of killing an Italian pro-Palestinian activist in the territory committed suicide during a tense police standoff. The suspect, a Jordanian citizen, shot himself after he hurled a grenade at two of his partners, critically injuring one of them, the Hamas-run Interior Ministry said in a statement published on its website. Three policemen were injured during an exchange of fire, the statement added. » Read more

Hamas Captures Suspect in Italian’s Killing; 2 Others Dead ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Fares Akram - April 19, 2011 - 12:00am Two of the extremists suspected of killing an Italian activist died and a third was captured on Tuesday when Hamas security troops stormed a building in central Gaza where the men were hiding, according to the Gazan Interior Ministry. A ministry statement said that one of the hunted men, who had Jordanian citizenship, threw a grenade at the other two — both Palestinians — to prevent them from surrendering. One was fatally injured. The Jordanian then killed himself with a gunshot to the head, the statement said. The third man, who was injured, was taken into custody. » Read more

Past Holds Clue to Goldstone’s Shift on the Gaza War ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Ethan Bronner, Jennifer Medina - April 19, 2011 - 12:00am Two decades ago, Richard Goldstone, a Jewish South African judge, played a vital role in reconciling his country’s white minority government and rising black majority movement by leading a fact-finding mission into black violence that offered a Solomonic conclusion. The violence, he found, was endemic, but a covert government campaign was sponsoring black killings to undermine the opposition. Heads rolled, hands were shaken and Mr. Goldstone was hailed as the most trusted man in the country, going on to a distinguished international career. » Read more

Israel and Palestine don't need more friends – but the peace process does ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Jonathan Freedland - (Opinion) April 20, 2011 - 12:00am I spent much of last week being a Palestinian. And not just any Palestinian. I was the man charged with negotiating their future. Over the course of two full days I was Saeb Erekat, longtime (and now caretaker) negotiations chief of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, facing off against an Israeli team led by one of Binyamin Netanyahu's closest confidants. » Read more

Palestinian refugees get new homes ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Zoi Constantine - April 20, 2011 - 12:00am Muneeb al Sayed perched his young grandson on the table and accepted a manila envelope, as the crowd around him broke into applause. Inside the envelope yesterday were the keys to an apartment for Mr al Sayed, 54, and his family, in the Nahr el Bared Palestinian refugee camp in the north of Lebanon. "I'm very, very happy," he said, holding the hand of his four-year-old grandson, also called Muneeb, who was dressed up for the occasion in a suit and tie. "We have families and children and we need a place to live." » Read more

Israeli Luminaries Press for a Palestinian State ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Ethan Bronner - April 19, 2011 - 12:00am Dozens of Israel’s most honored intellectuals and artists have signed a declaration endorsing a Palestinian state on the basis of the 1967 borders and asserting that an end to Israel’s occupation “will liberate the two peoples and open the way to a lasting peace.” » Read more

April 19th

'PA will get majority UN-recognition for Palestinian state' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post April 19, 2011 - 12:00am Senior Fatah Central Committee member Nabil Shaath on Tuesday estimated that the Palestinian Authority will be able to gain recognition for a Palestinian state from two-thirds of United Nations member states before September 2011. PA President Mahmoud Abbas was expected to travel to France on Wednesday to meet with French President Nicolas Sarkozy to discuss recognition of an independent Palestinian state. According to the A-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper, Abbas will attempt to convince France to endorse a Palestinian state before the PA approaches the UN in September. » Read more

The voice of Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Herb Keinon - April 18, 2011 - 12:00am On January 11, at Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s annual new year press conference with the foreign media in Jerusalem, Oren Helman was introduced to the foreign press corps as the Government Press Office’s new head, taking over from Danny Seaman, who had a rather torrid 10-year relationship with the foreign press. In what seemed an effort to turn over a whole new leaf with the reporters, Helman told the journalists gathered that the GPO was there to serve them. The journalists, he said, were the GPO’s clients. » Read more

Israeli politicians should think before they speak ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz (Editorial) April 18, 2011 - 12:00am Isaac Herzog has rich intelligence experience. He was an officer in the intelligence-gathering department of Military Intelligence, and his father, Chaim Herzog, was in British intelligence and twice headed the Intelligence Corps in the Israel Defense Forces. Who more than Isaac Herzog could be expected to have internalized the hoary axiom of field security that once a word has been allowed to escape, it cannot be called back? » Read more

Thoughts on academic freedom at Pessah ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by David Newman - (Opinion) April 17, 2011 - 12:00am Our festivals can be treated in many ways. Some ignore them altogether. Others are content with the rituals, the food and the family gatherings. And for others, it is a time for contemplation, trying to insert contemporary significance into events that happened thousands of years ago. Pessah is when we contemplate the meaning of freedom. All too often it is physical freedom we think about. We read the story of the Jewish people’s liberation from Egyptian slavery and the transformation into an independent and free nation. » Read more