Middle East News: World Press Roundup

The PLO says Israeli extremists and settlement construction should not be allowed to derail talks. The next round of negotiations will be split between Jerusalem and Egypt. Chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat denies apologizing to Israelis. Celebrating the new year, Israelis are pessimistic about peace. A new report says Palestinian security reform is threatened by the occupation and internal divisions. PLO officials say they won't recognize Israel as a “Jewish state.” Sec. Clinton says momentum is building in the Arab world in support of a two state agreement, and that there may never be another chance for peace. Ha'aretz interviews David Makovsky. Hamas accuses the PA of “protecting the enemy” and “treason” for arresting suspects in recent shooting attacks. The Jerusalem Post says PM Netanyahu is embracing new language to facilitate negotiations. The BBC looks at Hamas' presence in the West Bank. Sanctions against the UC Irvine MSU, for disrupting a talk by Israeli Amb. Michael Oren, are shortened. Randa Takieddine considers Europe's absence from the peace process. Social media are becoming a Middle East battlefield. The CSM reviews a new humor book about Middle East peace.

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PLO: Don't let Israeli extremists derail peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency (Analysis) September 9, 2010 - 12:00am RAMALLAH (Ma’an) -- "The USA, the Quartet and the Arab world must exert their utmost efforts to ensure a complete cessation of settlement construction," a statement from the PLO's Executive Committee said Thursday night. The statement asked that parties invested in the talks work to "forbid extremist forces in Israel from derailing peace talks," and reiterated the support of the body for the negotiations. » Read more

Next round of talks to be split in Egypt, Jerusalem ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency (Analysis) September 9, 2010 - 12:00am WASHINGTON (Ma'an) -- US Mediators will meet in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm Ash-Sheikh on Tuesday, and then move Wednesday to Jerusalem where talks will continue. "The Egyptians have volunteered to host a round of direct negotiations," State Department spokesman Phillip Crowley told reporters Wednesday, and confirmed that a move to Jerusalem for a second day of talks had been agreed to during discussions the week before. Crowley gave no explanation for the change in location, which was expected to be Egypt for both days of talks. » Read more

Erekat did not intend to 'apologize to Israel' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency (Analysis) September 9, 2010 - 12:00am JERICHO (Ma'an) -- Chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat issued a statement on Wednesday alleging his televised address to Israelis asking that they be his "peace partner" was altered. » Read more

Pessimistic about peace, Israelis greet new year ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Diaa Hadid - (Analysis) September 8, 2010 - 12:00am JERUSALEM — Israelis usher in the Jewish new year, or Rosh Hashana, at sundown Wednesday with a widespread sense of pessimism that a new round of U.S.-sponsored Mideast talks can achieve peace. President Barack Obama wants a deal within a year, but Israelis are deeply skeptical after decades of failed efforts. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged the widespread doubts. » Read more

Occupation, split complicate Palestinian forces' reform: report ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua September 8, 2010 - 12:00am Reforming Palestinian security forces in the West Bank would remain difficult as long as Israel occupies large parts of the area and internal Palestinian political split persists, a new report said. "Security reform is one of the Palestinian National Authority's (PNA) most notable successes," says the report named "Squaring the Circle: Palestinian Security Reform under Occupation," released this week by the Brussels-based International Crisis Group. » Read more

Clinton: Arab momentum building for two-state solution ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Natasha Mozgovaya - (Analysis) September 8, 2010 - 12:00am U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday dismissed doubts over the success of Middle East peace talks, saying skeptics were "wrong" and that negotiations had gained momentum with backing from Arab states willing to accept a two-state solution. "There's a certain momentum," she said. "You know, we have some challenges in the early going that we have to get over, but I think that we have a real shot here." » Read more

'Neither Israel nor the Palestinians can afford to walk out on the U.S.' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Natasha Mozgovaya - (Interview) September 7, 2010 - 12:00am As peace talks cranked into a higher gear, with Palestinian and Israeli leaders finally meeting face-to-face in Washington and limbering up for the next round in Cairo, Haaretz caught up with David Makovsky, one of America's leading Mideast analysts, to ask if there is really enough meat to the new negotiations to appease the cynics. Amr Moussa, the Secretay General, of the Arab League, predicted on Friday that the new round of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians will be the last. Do you agree? » Read more

PA official: We won't recognize Israel as a Jewish state ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz September 8, 2010 - 12:00am The Palestinian Authority will not recognize Israel as a Jewish state, even though the PA acknowledges there is a Jewish majority in Israel, senior Palestinian negotiator Nabil Shaath said at a press conference in Ramallah on Wednesday. According to Shaath, the Palestinian negotiating team turned down Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's request to discuss the recognition of Israel as a Jewish state during the upcoming round of peace talks in Sharm el-Sheikh next week. » Read more

Hamas: Fatah protecting enemy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews September 9, 2010 - 12:00am Hamas threatened the Palestinian Authority Thursday after members of the organization were arrested in relation to terror attacks that killed four and injured two in the West Bank. "This criminal campaign has crossed all red lines and constitutes direct cooperation with the enemy, in the clear light of day," said Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum. On Tuesday the Palestinian Authority announced it had arrested the six terrorists who carried out the attacks one week earlier – four shooters and two accomplices. » Read more

Clinton: There may never be another chance for peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Yitzhak Benhorin - September 8, 2010 - 12:00am US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reiterated the American administration's optimism as to Israeli-Palestinian peace process' chances of success Wednesday. Speaking before the Council on Foreign Relations, Clinton said that she believed the "pessimists" were wrong to think the talks were doomed to fail. Peace can be achieved, she said, if the parties will overcome "initial obstacles" – a clear hint the settlement freeze set to end on September 26. The Palestinians have already threatened to walk away from the negotiating table should Israel resume its settlement activity. » Read more

PA committed 'treason' in W.Bank terror suspects' arrests ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post September 9, 2010 - 12:00am Hamas accused the Palestinian Authority of "direct cooperation with the enemy" after it arrested Hamas members in conjunction with recent West Bank terrorist attacks that left four Israelis dead and two others injured last week, Army Radio reported Thursday. Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum likened the arrests to "treason" and warned the Fatah run authority not to hand the men over to Israel. "The continuation of this criminal campaign crosses all red lines and is direct cooperation with the enemy in the clear light of day," Barhum continued. » Read more

Diplomacy: Talking the talk ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Herb Keinon - (Analysis) September 8, 2010 - 12:00am Politicians and pundits both here and abroad were left scratching their heads following last week’s talks in Washington. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, in two tightly and carefully written statements, did not come across in a way in which he could be easily pigeonholed. The pundits could not cast him, as they generally love to, as that “hard-line,” right-wing leader who misses no opportunity to torpedo any chance for peace, because his rhetoric did not fit that characterization. » Read more

Hamas militia's secret West Bank stronghold ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News by Jon Donnison - September 8, 2010 - 12:00am Amid the dust at the side of the road at the Bani Nayim junction in the southern West Bank there is a small makeshift shrine - a pile of rocks covered with Israeli flags. It was here, just over a week ago, that four Israeli settlers were shot dead - their car riddled with bullets - in a drive-by attack by Hamas militants. That attack and another the following day at Ramallah, in which two Israeli settlers were injured, were together a message from Hamas: "You can't ignore us." Secret army Both attacks were carried out by the al-Qassam Brigades, the Hamas military wing. » Read more

Sanctions shortened for Muslim student group ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) September 8, 2010 - 12:00am A Muslim student group at the University of California, Irvine, had a yearlong suspension shortened to four months. The Muslim Student Union (MSU) on the Irvine campus will be barred from operating this fall semester, the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles reported. The university had recommended a yearlong suspension in May in response to the group’s orchestrated heckling of Israeli U.S. Ambassador Michael Oren during his address to the university last February. Oren walked off the stage twice, unable to continue because of the disruption. » Read more

Europe’s Absence from the Palestinian-Israeli Negotiations ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat by Randa Takieddine - September 8, 2010 - 12:00am French President Nicolas Sarkozy expressed a high degree of resentment of the fact that the European Union was not invited to the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations, during his meeting with President Hosni Mubarak at the Elysee Palace on his way to Washington. Meanwhile, the French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner was the only European minister who sent a letter to Catherine Ashton, the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of the European Union, to say that the absence of the European Union (EU) from the these talks is unacceptable. » Read more

Another War Zone: Social Media in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Middle East Report by Adi Kuntsman, Rebecca L. Stein - September 9, 2010 - 12:00am In late May 2010, the convoy known as the Freedom Flotilla met off of Cyprus and headed south, carrying humanitarian aid and hundreds of international activists who aimed to break Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip. The organizers used social media extensively: tweeting updates from the boats; webcasting live with cameras uplinked to the Internet and a satellite, enabling simultaneous rebroadcasting; employing Facebook, Flickr, YouTube and other social networking websites to allow interested parties to see and hear them in real time; and using Google Maps to chart their location at sea. » Read more

How to Make Peace in the Middle East in Six Months or Less Without Leaving Your Apartment ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Jessica Allen - (Book Review) September 8, 2010 - 12:00am Peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians, brokered by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, are set to resume in two weeks’ time. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says reconciliation is “difficult but possible.” That was last month. » Read more

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