Date
Type

October 30th

Gaza Sanctions: The Legal Argument
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bbc News
by Paul Reynolds - October 30, 2007 - 1:10pm

The intervention by Israeli Attorney General Menachem Mazuz to suspend a plan to restrict electricity supplies to Gaza raises the issue of Israel's rights and responsibilities under international humanitarian law. Earlier, there were protests from human rights groups, the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon - who called the measure "unacceptable" - and the European Union External Affairs Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner, who said: "There should not be collective punishment".

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Politics: Desmond Tutu Likens Israeli Actions To Apartheid
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS)
by Adrianne Appel - (Interview) October 30, 2007 - 1:09pm

South African Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu compared conditions in Palestine to those of South Africa under apartheid, and called on Israelis to try and change them, while speaking in Boston Saturday at historic Old South Church. "We hope the occupation of the Palestinian territory by Israel will end," Tutu said. "There is a cry of anguish from the depth of my heart, to my spiritual relatives. Please, please hear the call, the noble call of our scripture," Tutu said of Israelis.

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Palestinian Census Carries Sobering Subtext For Israelis
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Joshua Mitnick - October 30, 2007 - 1:07pm

The field worker matches the villa at 5 El Balu'a Street with a building survey map, scribbles a number in blue crayon, and then offers a brief introduction to the homeowner on what the counting means. "I'm a representative of the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, and we're doing preliminary work for the census," says Raniah Haseebah, a youthful, bright-eyed statistician. "I'm giving you this questionnaire."

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Palestinians Demand Timeline For Peace Accord
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Mohammed Assadi - October 30, 2007 - 1:05pm

Palestinians will not pursue peace talks with Israel without an agreed timeline for reaching a deal on statehood, chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qurie said on Tuesday. "The Israeli prime minister had announced that he will not accept a timeline, and we say we won't accept negotiations without a timeline. We do not want to go to open negotiations," Qurie told reporters.

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October 29th

The Christian Science Monitor examines the implications of the new Palestinian census on peace negotiations with Israel (2.) Inter Press Service reports on comments by South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu likening conditions in the occupied Palestinian territories to apartheid (3.) BBC (UK) looks at how the intervention of the Israeli Attorney General to suspend Israel's plan to restrict power to Gaza raises the issue of Israel's obligations to the Strip under international humanitarian law (4.) The Independent reports on the UN's position that Israel's cuts in Palestinian power and fuel are illegal under international law (5.) A Daily Star (Lebanon) opinion by former Palestinian minister Ziyad Abu Zayyad, published in collaboration with Common Ground News Service, analyzes how the principle of public opinion impacting the political system does not apply to the Israel-Palestine case (7.) In BitterLemons (Israel/Palestine), Israeli lawyer and Jerusalem expert Danny Seidemann explains how Jerusalem's time to be resolved has arrived politically (8.) A Haaretz (Israel) editorial is critical of the punishment of the Palestinian civilian population of Gaza, concluding that it does not further Israeli security (10.)

The Importance Of A Failed Summit
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Gideon Levy - October 29, 2007 - 7:13pm

Do not belittle the Annapolis summit. Despite all the prophecies of failure, justified as they are, this summit could still make an important contribution to the history of Israeli-Arab negotiations: For the first time, it will become crystal-clear who aspires toward peace and, more important, who flees from it as if from fire.

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The Right Of Return (to Britain)
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Tamara Traubmann - October 29, 2007 - 7:12pm

Thousands of people and one very active Internet site have been busy these days with Khaled Al-Mudallal's right to return - that is, his right to return to the University of Bradford in England. Mudallal, 22, was supposed to be devoting his entire attention right now to his last year of studies for a bachelor's degree in business administration. But instead, he is stuck in Rafah and cannot see how he will be able to leave the Gaza Strip and finish his studies.

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An Interview With Adnan Husseini
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
(Interview) October 29, 2007 - 7:10pm

bitterlemons: We've heard recently Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert talk about the outlying neighborhoods of Jerusalem and that Israel might be willing to "divide" Jerusalem. What do you make of this? Husseini: First of all, we've been hearing such ideas for a while, but we also see the objections from many others in Israel, so we can't really trust these statements.

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Something To Consider Before Attacking
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Rami Khouri - (Opinion) October 29, 2007 - 7:09pm

The main Middle Eastern issue being discussed in the US these days is not Iraq, Arab-Israeli peacemaking, or Turkish-Kurdish-Iraqi tensions, but rather what to do about Iran and its perceived threat to the region, the US and the world. The Bush administration sets a shrill and aggressive tone on this and is taking action, including this week's new sanctions against the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, its Quds Force, and several banks.

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Survivors Protest At Israel's Stance On Armenian Genocide
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Donald Macintyre - October 29, 2007 - 7:07pm

She has no memory of her father or mother. She was abandoned as an infant –it almost certainly saved her life because she was found on the side of the road by an American missionary – on one of the death marches in 1915 from Gurun, in central Anatolia. Even her name was given to her by the Near East Relief orphanage in Lebanon where she grew up. Sadly, she says, most of her fellow survivors in Jerusalem of the Armenian genocide have died.

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