Blair: Gaza's great betrayer
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Avi Shlaim - (Opinion) February 3, 2010 - 1:00am

The savage attack Israel ­unleashed against Gaza on 27 December 2008 was both immoral and unjustified. Immoral in the use of force against civilians for political purposes. Unjustified because Israel had a political alternative to the use of force. The home-made Qassam rockets fired by Hamas militants from Gaza on Israeli towns were only the ­excuse, not the reason for Operation Cast Lead. In June 2008, Egypt had ­brokered a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, the Islamic resistance movement.

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Helping Abbas climb down the high tree
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Khaled Abu Toameh - (Analysis) February 2, 2010 - 1:00am

If anyone sought proof that President Mahmoud Abbas was planning to return to the negotiating table with Israel in the near future, it was provided by the results of “public opinion” polls published in the past few days by a number of Fatah-controlled media outlets and an interview he gave to Britain’s Guardian newspaper. The polls are seen by many Palestinians as an attempt to prepare local public opinion for the possibility that the Palestinian Authority will soon resume the stalled peace talks with Israel.

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A real plan to build Palestine
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) February 2, 2010 - 1:00am

Two weeks ago the Palestinian Authority issued a detailed budget for the state and institution-building programme it adopted last August. The programme calls for Palestinians to unilaterally build the administrative, economic and institutional framework of an independent state in spite of the Israeli occupation and as a peaceful, constructive means of countering it.

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Paving the Way for Palestinian Statehood
Interview with Ziad Asali - Middle East Progress - February 2, 2010 - 1:00am

Ziad Asali, president & founder, American Task Force on Palestine. Interview with Middle East Bulletin. http://middleeastprogress.org/2010/02/paving-the-way-for-palestinian-sta... Can you tell us a little bit about the newly released report, “Palestine: Moving Forward, Priority Interventions for 2010”? What are the core principles behind it? How to does it relate to the original August cabinet document?

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Paving the Way for Palestinian Statehood
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Middle East Progress
(Interview) February 2, 2010 - 1:00am

Ziad Asali, president & founder, American Task Force on Palestine. Interview with Middle East Bulletin. Can you tell us a little bit about the newly released report, “Palestine: Moving Forward, Priority Interventions for 2010”? What are the core principles behind it? How to does it relate to the original August cabinet document?

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Israel must "roll back" and end occupation: Fayyad
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Tom Perry - February 2, 2010 - 1:00am

Addressing an audience alongside Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak, Salam Fayyad said rolling back should start by ending army incursions in the West Bank, where the Palestinians aim to establish their state, along with Gaza. "Unfortunately those incursions continue," Fayyad told the Herzliya Conference, which annually attracts prominent figures in the Israeli political and diplomatic establishment.

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Finally, some Palestinian responsibility
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Einat Wilf - (Opinion) February 2, 2010 - 1:00am

The Israeli leadership has recently turned its attention – even if contemptuously – to the possible threat of a unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state. Regardless of whether such a move will take place or not, the real issue is not in the declaration itself but in the possibility that it points to a deeper cultural change among the Palestinians – a change which was also noted with the participation of Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad Tuesday night in the 2010 Herzliya Conference and his subsequent speech.

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In Herzliya, I Founded Palestine
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'ariv
by Ben Caspit - (Opinion) February 2, 2010 - 1:00am

[The title refers to a journal entry by Theodor Herzl in 1897, "In Basel I founded the Jewish state"] Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad came to Herzliya on Tuesday. Thinking that he would be participating in a panel discussion, he did not prepare a speech. Suddenly he found himself making the Palestinian "Herzliya speech." Fayyad did not become confused. He is no sucker. In fluent if nearly unintelligible English (Fayyad has a heavy accent), he laid out his doctrine: a Palestinian state within two years. On all the territory. Including East Jerusalem. That is all.

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Jordan king urges more peace efforts from Obama
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
February 2, 2010 - 1:00am

US President Barack Obama telephoned Jordan's King Abdullah II to discuss efforts to "overcome obstacles" facing the launch of Palestinian-Israeli peace talks, the palace said. "The two leaders discussed Middle East developments, mainly efforts aimed at overcoming obstacles facing the launch of serious and effective Palestinian-Israeli negotiations in line with a two-state solution," a palace statement said.

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A dismal and serious view from Mr Abbas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
(Editorial) February 1, 2010 - 1:00am

It would be easy to dismiss the recent warning by the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, that the peace agenda he advocates risks irrelevance if the relentless Israeli colonisation of Palestinian land does not cease. After all, Mr Abbas has repeatedly raised alarm bells and threatened to leave his position over the stalemated peace process with Israel, only to stay in place. But as the beleaguered leader of an occupied people and a man who has rejected armed struggle in favour of negotiation, Mr Abbas deserves a hearing.

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