Netanyahu: Our leaders won't be prosecuted in Hague
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Amnon Meranda - October 12, 2009 - 12:00am

The Knesset opened its winter session Monday, amid its members' promise for a stormy winter. The Knesset's factions are set to spend the next several months debating settlement freeze, the forming of a biometric database, a reform in the Israel Land Administration, a controversial budget cut and a referendum bill, to name a few. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dedicated most of his speech to a harsh attack on a United Nations report on the Israeli operation in Gaza, which accused Israel and Hamas of committing war crimes in Gaza.

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Turkey: Israel excluded from NATO drill over Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
October 12, 2009 - 12:00am

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told CNN on Sunday that his country excluded Israel from a planned NATO military exercise partly due to its criticism of the IDF's winter offensive in Gaza. Asked by CNN why Turkey excluded Israel from the exercise, Davutoglu said, "We hope that the situation in Gaza will be improved, that the situation will be back to the diplomatic track. And that will create a new atmosphere in Turkish-Israeli relations as well. But in the existing situation, of course, we are criticizing this approach, (the) Israeli approach."

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Hopes fade over Palestinian unity
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Jazeera English
October 12, 2009 - 12:00am

A reconciliation agreement between Fatah and Hamas, the rival Palestinian parties, has been delayed, following a bitter dispute over the Palestinian decision not to back a UN report on alleged Israeli war crimes. The deal was to be signed on October 25, clearing the way for Hamas and Fatah to co-operate in rebuilding war-damaged Gaza by preparing for Palestinian elections in the first half of 2010.

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Abbas seeks vote on Gaza report
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
October 12, 2009 - 12:00am

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has called for a session of the UN Human Rights Council to vote on a report accusing Israel of war crimes in Gaza. Mr Abbas has faced a week of angry criticism after the Palestinian Authority backed deferring the vote until March. On Sunday he said there had not been enough support for the vote. Hamas's leader in Damascus called the issue a "scandal" that would harm Palestinian unity efforts.

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Defiant Abbas Reiterates Conditions Before Talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Times
by Howard Schneider - October 11, 2009 - 12:00am

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday seemed to distance himself from U.S. efforts to restart peace talks and defended his recent handling of a report on war crimes in the Gaza Strip in a defiant televised address meant to boost his political standing amid growing criticism.

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Abbas reverses course on Goldstone report
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
October 11, 2009 - 12:00am

President Mahmoud Abbas said on Sunday evening that he has instructed his envoy to the United Nations in Geneva to seek a new debate in the Human Rights Council on the Goldstone report on alleged war crimes in Gaza. During a televised speech, Abbas confirmed reports from Friday that his government had completely reversed course on the 575-page report. “I instructed the ambassador to call for another exceptional meeting of the Human Rights Council to vote on the report, seeking to punish all who committed the most grotesque crimes against women and children in Gaza,” Abbas said.

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Israeli officials warn against support for UN report
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Ben Lynfield - October 11, 2009 - 12:00am

A jittery Israeli government reacted furiously yesterday after a top British diplomat voiced support for aspects of a UN report that could lead to prosecution of Israeli army officers for alleged war crimes. The UK ambassador to the UN, John Sawers, told Israel Army radio that the report on last winter’s Gaza war contains “some very serious details which need to be investigated by both the Palestinian authorities and the Israeli authorities.” He added that “serious information” in the document gives rise to the suspicion that violations of the laws of war were committed.

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Hundreds of war crimes lawsuits filed against Israelis
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by David Sapsted - October 11, 2009 - 12:00am

Almost 1,000 lawsuits alleging war crimes by Israeli ministers and military personnel have now been filed around the world, Israel has admitted. And the situation could become immeasurably worse for Israel’s politicians and soldiers as efforts continue to have the Goldstone report, which accuses Israel and Hamas of crimes against humanity during last winter’s Gaza Strip invasion, raised at the United Nations.

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Hamas…Procrastination is Not Reconciliation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Tariq Alhomayed - October 11, 2009 - 12:00am

The Palestinian Authority made the mistake of participating in the postponement of the Goldstone report which deals with Israeli war crimes committed in Gaza without revealing and clarifying the reasons for this. However does this mistake necessitate the hard-line positions taken by the Hamas movement which is now calling for the Egyptians to postpone inter-Palestinian reconciliation? The answer is most certainly no.

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Hamas's PR Campaign Against the Authority
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed - October 11, 2009 - 12:00am

Everyone knows that Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas differs much from his predecessor, the late Yasser Arafat, in his method of managing crises. This prompted President Abbas many times to go into isolation and sometimes threaten to resign because he could bear internal and external pressures.

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