Postponing Discussion on the Goldstone Report: Many Attackers and Even More Beneficiaries!
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat
by Raghida Dergham - October 9, 2009 - 12:00am

A useful comparison can be made between, on the one had, internal US discourse as well as US-international discourse over the issue of the problem of Afghanistan and the extent to which Islamic extremism affects the interests of nations, and, on the other, the way the international community as well as the Arabs – amongst themselves – is addressing the report of the head of the UN Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza War, Judge Richard Goldstone. This report condemned both Israel and Hamas for committing “war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity”.

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UN body to debate Gaza 'crimes'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
October 8, 2009 - 12:00am

Arab states say the 14 October debate must tackle a report which criticised Israel, after the US argued against a emergency session dedicated to it. The UN Human Rights Council delayed its debate on the findings of the Goldstone report following a Palestinian request. Libya's envoy to the Security Council said its aim was to "keep momentum". Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has come under sharp criticism at home for requesting the UNHRC delay, which followed intense pressure from the US.

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Lessons from the Goldstone issue
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Daoud Kuttab - (Opinion) October 8, 2009 - 12:00am

The angry political and public reaction to the decision by the Palestinian leadership to postpone discussions of the Goldstone war crimes report requires a sober look at the reasons and lessons that need to be learned to avoid repetition.

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Along Gaza, a Quiet (but Still Tense) Life
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - October 8, 2009 - 12:00am

At the last stop of the artists’ tour through this hazardous semi-desert, Yaron Bob fashions roses out of pieces of Qassam rockets fired out of Gaza at residents in the area. Mr. Bob repeatedly heats a metal band sawed from a rocket until it glows orange and pounds it with a hammer, working it into a slim stem and petals. He chose to make roses, he said, because he was “looking for a new symbol of peace, and an answer to death.”

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What to Do With Hamas? Question Snarls Peace Bid
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Howard Schneider - October 7, 2009 - 12:00am

In the two years since it seized power here, the militant Hamas movement has undercut the influence of the Gaza Strip's major clans, brought competing paramilitary groups under its control, put down an uprising by a rival Islamist group, weathered a three-week war with Israel, worked around a strict economic embargo -- and through it all refused a set of international demands that could begin Gaza's rehabilitation.

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What was Abbas promised in return for burying Goldstone?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
October 7, 2009 - 12:00am

The public is both bewildered and outraged about President Mahmoud Abbas’ reported capitulation to US pressure in delaying action on Richard Goldstone’s report on war crimes in Gaza. One of many unanswered questions about the Geneva affair is: What was he promised? What did the US offer Abbas that convinced him to burry Goldstone’s meticulously-researched indictment of Israel? An Israeli journalist attempts to answer this question in an article that appeared on Tuesday.

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PLO official admits "mistake" in delaying Goldstone report
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
October 7, 2009 - 12:00am

A senior Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) official admitted for the first time on Wednesday that the Palestinian leadership made a mistake by delaying action on a United Nations report on war crimes in Gaza. "We have the courage to admit there was a mistake," said Yasser Abed Rabbo, a member of the PLO executive committee and an advisor to President Mahmoud Abbas, according to AP. Abbas’ government buckled to US pressure last week and withdrew a motion from the UN Human Rights Council to take action on a report by South African Judge Richard Goldstone.

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Libya asks for UN council meeting over Gaza report
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
October 7, 2009 - 12:00am

Libya on Tuesday requested a meeting of the Security Council to discuss a UN report that accused Israel and Palestinian militants of war crimes during Israel's offensive in Gaza, diplomats said. Dang Hoang Giang, a spokesman for the mission of Vietnam, which currently holds the council's rotating presidency, said the Libyan request was being considered. A Libyan spokesman, however, said he understood a meeting would be held on Wednesday.

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Furor Sends Palestinians Into Shift on U.N. Report
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - October 7, 2009 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM — Faced with a torrent of criticism at home and abroad, the Palestinian leadership abruptly reversed course on Wednesday by endorsing a Security Council debate on a United Nations report accusing Israel of possible war crimes in Gaza. The report, produced by a panel of investigators led by an internationally respected jurist, Richard Goldstone, found extensive evidence that both Israel and Palestinian militant groups took actions amounting to war crimes during last winter’s Gaza war.

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Palestinian U-turn on Gaza report
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
October 7, 2009 - 12:00am

The UN Security Council is set to discuss whether to hold an emergency session on the Goldstone report, which accuses Israel and Hamas of war crimes. A senior PA politician has said last week's request to defer discussion of the report was a "mistake". The PA decision sparked an outcry among Palestinians. Libya, the only Arab state on the 15-member body, will request the UN session in a closed-door meeting.

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