May 1st, 2008

British Government Urges Israel To Lift Gaza Blockade ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Kuwait News Agency (kuna) May 1, 2008 - 5:24pm The British Government Thursday urged Israel to lift its blockade of Gaza and abide by international humanitarian law. Opening a House of Commons debate on the Middle East ahead of tomorrow's major international meeting on the peace process in London, Britains Foreign Office Minister Kim Howells warned that Israeli action was having a "grave impact" on life in the territory. » Read more

Abdallah Meets Olmert, Urges Peace Pact In 2008 ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News by Abdul Jalil Mustafa - May 1, 2008 - 5:24pm Jordan’s King Abdallah conferred yesterday in Amman with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and urged the Israelis and the Palestinians to reach a peace treaty before the end of the year, an official statement said. Olmert paid a whirlwind visit to Jordan as part of Abdallah’s endeavors aimed at pushing Israel and the Palestinians to speed up their stalled negotiations on core issues, Jerusalem, the settlements, the frontiers and refugees, according to the statement from the royal court. » Read more

Journalists In The Line Of Fire ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Middle East Times by Mel Frykberg - May 1, 2008 - 5:23pm While Palestinian journalists staged a sit-in in Gaza city to protest the killing of 23-year-old Reuters cameraman Fadel Shana and Lebanese journalists protested the killing in Beirut, Reuters Editor-in-Chief David Schlesinger called for an investigation. Shana was the latest victim of nine journalists killed by the Israelis in the West Bank and Gaza in the last decade. The cameraman was killed several weeks ago in central Gaza as he filmed Israeli forces exchanging fire with Palestinian gunmen. » Read more

To Trust The Us Is To Take A Big Risk ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News by George S. Hishmeh - (Opinion) May 1, 2008 - 5:22pm Frankly, so far nothing has been achieved." This was the startling yet straightforward statement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas after his failure in Washington last week to have the US President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice exercise some arms-twisting in the stalled Palestinian-Israeli negotiations. » Read more

Condoleezza Rice Returns To The Mideast On Saturday ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters May 1, 2008 - 5:21pm U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice this weekend makes her fourth visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories since the November Annapolis peace conference with little to show for the U.S. effort. Traveling ahead of President George W. Bush's May 13-18 trip to Israel, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, Rice left Washington on Thursday and will see officials on both sides - including in three-way sessions - to assess a peace negotiation with no visible sign of progress. » Read more

Egypt Brings Gaza-truce Offer To Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line by Media Line Staff - May 1, 2008 - 5:20pm Egyptian Intelligence Chief ‘Umar Suleiman is arriving in Israel soon to hear Israel’s official response to Egypt’s cease-fire proposal for Gaza.   Cairo wants Israel to accept a deal that was agreed upon by 12 Palestinian factions, including Hamas.   Israel is being cautious about its response to the truce idea. » Read more

The Mideast Editing Wars ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The American Prospect by Gershom Gorenberg - (Opinion) May 1, 2008 - 5:19pm "We will go to war," reads the ungrammatical email, "after we have build our army, equipped it, trained… so if you want to win this war help us build our army." » Read more

April 30th

Moving On To 'stage-two Zionism' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Sarah Kreimer - (Opinion) April 30, 2008 - 6:34pm 'Make a decision - are you citizens of Israel, or of the Palestinian Authority?" Yisrael Beitenu MK David Rotem challenged the Arab citizens of Israel in a recent Israeli news interview. Sadly, on the eve of Israel's 60th celebration of independence, ongoing Israeli policy is pushing almost one-fifth of our citizenry - the Arab Israelis, or Palestinian citizens of Israel - into the corner of choosing between being Israelis or being Palestinians; when, in fact, they are both. » Read more

Spare Your Explanations ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews (Opinion) April 30, 2008 - 6:33pm   Let’s assume, for a moment, that the Israeli version of Monday’s incident in Gaza is accurate, real, and honest. Let’s assume, just for a moment, that a gunship hit a group of terrorists, and they happened to be right next to a Gaza mother and her four children, and the gunship hit the terrorists’ explosives, which ended up killing the mother and children. So what? » Read more

Things Are Moving, But The Us Is Absent ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star by Rami Khouri - (Opinion) April 30, 2008 - 6:31pm One of the important developments in Middle Eastern diplomacy that becomes more obvious with every passing month is the continued marginalization of the United States. As the Bush administration and the American presidential candidates find themselves focusing most of their Middle East-related attention on the complex challenges the US invasion of Iraq has created, other important regional issues seem to be moving into the hands of local players and mediators. » Read more