June 21st, 2011

Salam Fayyad 'will refuse PM post' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency June 21, 2011 - 12:00am Salam Fayyad will announce his intention to refuse to head the new unity government if he is offered the post, sources close to the appointed West Bank Prime Minister told Ma'an. Fayyad has publicly said he would accept whatever parties decide in Cairo. Fatah's central committee nominated Fayyad as the party's choice for the position, a party official said following a meeting of the Fatah leadership in Ramallah on June 11. Hamas swiftly rejected the proposal. » Read more

Remembering the ‘Altalena’ ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Jerold S. Auerbach - (Opinion) June 20, 2011 - 12:00am Israel is confronting increasingly virulent worldwide challenges to its legitimacy. An expanding chorus of politicians, journalists and academics relentlessly denounces the Jewish state as a racist, apartheid abomination. The resemblance between their shrill diatribes and the rhetoric of anti-Semitism during the past 2,000 years is not coincidental. » Read more

Abbas: UN in place of no other options ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency June 21, 2011 - 12:00am The Palestinian leadership will continue its pursuit of support for an appeal to the UN for membership and the recognition of statehood, and Salam Fayyad will head the new unity government, President Mahmoud Abbas told the Lebanese satellite channel LBC on Monday night. In the absence of negotiations with Israel, Abbas said, a move at the UN would be the chosen course of action. If the United States, Israel and Europe have objections to a UN appeal, he continued "they must come up with an alternative." » Read more

The morning after the UN vote ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Daoud Kuttab - (Opinion) June 21, 2011 - 12:00am The Palestinian strategy to attain statehood is making significant progress in certain international political circles, but still lacks the necessary coordination and cohesion to bear the desired results. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad have succeeded in unleashing the usual anti-Palestinian arsenal that Israeli hasbara has been using on Palestinian aspirations. » Read more

Obama warns of new US tactical spats with Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency June 21, 2011 - 12:00am US President Barack Obama warned that new "tactical" disagreements loomed between Israel and Washington, but vowed to leverage his administration's "creative powers" in the cause of peace. Obama, who has had a difficult relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, spoke at length on the stalled peace process at a fundraiser for his 2012 re-election campaign with the Democratic friends of Israel group. » Read more

The IDF is leading Israel to destruction ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Sefi Rachlevsky - (Opinion) June 21, 2011 - 12:00am Imagine if hundreds of 18-year-olds were to inform the government and the chief of staff this summer that they will not enlist in the Israel Defense Forces. » Read more

June 20th

The PA's historic mistake, and opportunity ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency by Jeff Halper - (Opinion) June 20, 2011 - 12:00am No one knows the precise plans of the Palestinian Authority vis-a-vis September: Will Mahmoud Abbas declare a Palestinian state within recognized borders and ask that it be admitted as a full member of the UN – or not? Perhaps Abbas himself does not know. » Read more

Palestinian economic boom unsustainable without overseas donations ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amira Hass - June 20, 2011 - 12:00am How nice it would be if statistics and events on the ground would line up in a logical, orderly manner, without any inconsistencies. How easy it would be to report then. » Read more

For Gaza, but not against Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Chicago Sun-Times by Esther Cepeda - (Opinion) June 20, 2011 - 12:00am In a few days, slightly more than a year since a flotilla of ships attempted to breech Israel’s naval blockade to call attention to the plight of the 1.5 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, 50 passengers, including three from the Chicago area, will sail to the Gaza Strip on a boat named “The Audacity of Hope.” As part of the second international “freedom flotilla,” they’ll attempt the same feat to deliver humanitarian aid in the form of letters of support and friendship. » Read more

Peres: Need to strike peace with PA 'urgent' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews June 19, 2011 - 12:00am President Shimon Peres said Sunday that there was an "urgent" need to reignite the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and an even more urgent need to finalize a peace deal – as both sides were "running out of time." "It is very urgent," Peres said in an interview with CNN. "I think neither side has much time. We have to act dynamically." » Read more