October 10th, 2007

Mid-east Diary: Summit Prospects ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bbc News by Jeremy Bowen - October 10, 2007 - 1:53pm Another Middle East peace summit is coming up in the United States, but there are risks in holding summits on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and one of the main parties to the conflict, Hamas, is being excluded.  At the moment, the summit looks likely to start in Annapolis, Maryland, on 15 November. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas are having regular meetings about it. They are trying to produce an agreed document about the future. Mr Abbas wants more detail. Mr Olmert wants something pretty vague. » Read more

Palestinian Goes To Court To Challenge Arms Sales To Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Times October 10, 2007 - 1:52pm A Palestinian man today launched a High Court challenge to the legality of the Government’s grant of export licences for arms sales to Israel. Saleh Hasan, who claims Israel uses military equipment bought in Britain to repress Palestinians in violation of their human rights, has travelled to London for the case before Mr Justice Collins, expected to last two days. His counsel, Michael Fordham, QC, told the judge that the issue raised was one of significant and “wide public interest”. » Read more

Israeli Army Orders Confiscation Of Palestinian Land In West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Conal Urquhart - October 10, 2007 - 1:49pm The Israeli army has ordered the seizure of Palestinian land surrounding four West Bank villages apparently in order to hugely expand settlements around Jerusalem, it emerged yesterday. The confiscation happened as Israeli and Palestinian negotiators met to prepare the ground for a meeting hosted by President George Bush in the United States aimed at reviving a diplomatic solution to the conflict. » Read more

Pressure In Israel For Missile Defense ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Ilene Prusher - October 10, 2007 - 1:44pm The firing of a long-range Katyusha rocket into Israel from Gaza on Sunday has ratcheted up concerns here for the increased threat of missiles against the Jewish state. The weapon of choice of Palestinian militants in Gaza has been the Kassam rocket, which has relatively poor aim and short range, but has nonetheless caused damage and killed 14 Israelis and injured hundreds more, according to an Israeli government tally. » Read more

Abbas Wants Return To Pre-1967 Borders ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by Mohammed Daraghmeh - October 10, 2007 - 1:42pm Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday laid out his most specific demands for the borders of a future independent state, calling for a full Israeli withdrawal from all territories captured in the 1967 Mideast war. Abbas' claim comes as Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams are trying to hammer out a joint vision for a future peace deal in time for a U.S.-hosted conference next month. » Read more

An Israeli Strike On Syria Kindles Debate In The U.s. ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Mark Mazzetti And Helene Cooper - October 10, 2007 - 1:37pm A sharp debate is under way in the Bush administration about the significance of the Israeli intelligence that led to last month’s Israeli strike inside Syria, according to current and former American government officials. At issue is whether intelligence that Israel presented months ago to the White House — to support claims that Syria had begun early work on what could become a nuclear weapons program with help from North Korea — was conclusive enough to justify military action by Israel and a possible rethinking of American policy toward the two nations. » Read more

Israel's Rising Right Wing ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Salon.com by Gregory Levey - October 10, 2007 - 1:33pm One of this year's nominees for Israeli TV's "Man of the Year in Politics" award doesn't speak Hebrew. He has vast wealth and a shady past. He was once a circus worker. He isn't even a politician, at least not yet. » Read more

Twin Mideast Peace Concerts Rouse Skepticism, Rancor ATFP World Press Roundup Article from McClatchy News by Dion Nissenbaum - October 10, 2007 - 1:28pm It might sound like an inspirational convergence along the lines of John Lennon's antiwar ballad "Give Peace a Chance": twin concerts in which thousands of Israelis join thousands of Palestinians to call for an end to a demoralizing conflict that often looks as if it will go on forever. Except that this is the Middle East, where even a peace concert can become a raucous political battleground. » Read more

October 9th

Hamas Stamps Its Authority On Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al Jazeera English by Nour Odeh - October 9, 2007 - 2:46pm Gaza's paralysed legal system has left the territory in chaos, but recent steps taken by Hamas to resolve the issue have been criticised both by Hamas's rival Fatah faction and by human rights groups. Attempting to consolidate its control of the territory, Hamas's 8,000-strong Executive Force, accused by Fatah of torture and mistreatment, has been designated Gaza's new police force. Now, alongside that move, the de facto government in Gaza is working on the judiciary. » Read more

Sharing Jerusalem Makes Sense, But Who Will Make It Work? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star (Editorial) October 9, 2007 - 2:42pm Israel's deputy prime minister, Haim Ramon, has stirred up a hornets' nest in the Jewish state by proposing that Occupied Jerusalem be shared with the Palestinians as part of any comprehensive peace agreement. His boss, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, has studiously avoided public comment on the matter - which indicates very strongly that Ramon's statements have been trial balloons aimed at gauging the reactions of the Israeli public and the international community. It remains to be seen, therefore, whether or not the plan has a chance in the near future. » Read more