October 22nd

Disagreements In Hamas Camps Laid Bare ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by Karin Laub - October 22, 2007 - 1:09pm Four months after the Hamas takeover of Gaza, the usually hidden arguments between the group's rival camps were unexpectedly laid bare, when a well-known pragmatist said seizing control by force was a mistake and had caused great hardship. Hamas hard-liners, however, still appear to have the upper hand. In a five-page letter posted Sunday on a Web site affiliated with Hamas' rival, Fatah, former Hamas government spokesman Ghazi Hamad wrote that the takeover was a "serious strategic mistake that burdened the movement more than it can bear." » Read more

The Deal On The Table ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Jackson Diehl - (Opinion) October 22, 2007 - 1:08pm An enduring paradox of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is that the outline of a two-state peace settlement -- that is, the points Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is pressing the two sides to write down in time for a November conference -- is readily apparent to anyone with a commitment to pragmatism and a good map. In fact, various groups of Israelis and Palestinians have already spelled them out and agreed to them on multiple occasions in the past 15 years. An Israeli cabinet voted to endorse the basic deal nearly seven years ago. » Read more

On The Road To Nowhere, Merchants Pay The Toll ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Scott Wilson - October 22, 2007 - 1:06pm From the Zeituna Restaurant to the Basel Furniture store, business once thrived along the road that runs through this Palestinian village, conducted in a language no longer spoken here. » Read more

Against All Odds ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons by Amotz Asa-el - (Opinion) October 22, 2007 - 11:50am Kissinger, said author Joseph Heller, brought peace to Vietnam the way Napoleon brought it to Europe: by losing. Now a variation on this theme may slowly be emerging in the Middle East. » Read more

Keeping Israel Safe From... Qatar? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Ray Hanania - October 22, 2007 - 11:47am Just four years ago, Democratic members of the US House of Representatives were worried they would appear unpatriotic if they challenged President George W. Bush when he announced plans to invade Iraq. At the time, Bush argued that Iraq was harnessing weapons of mass destruction and perhaps planning a nuclear strike against the United States. » Read more

Olmert And Peres: Palestinian State On 100% Of West Bank Area, With Swaps ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Akiva Eldar, Avi Issacharoff, Barak Ravid - October 22, 2007 - 11:45am Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is examining a new framework for peace in which Israel will propose transferring to the Palestinian state areas equivalent to 100 percent of the territories conquered in 1967. Israel will suggest to the Palestinians to conduct negotiations for adequate territorial compensation from Israel's sovereign territory, in exchange for settlement blocs amounting to about 5 percent of the West Bank's area. » Read more

A Borderless State Is No Solution ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian (Special Report) October 22, 2007 - 11:41am For weeks now, America and Israel have talked up the idea that, contrary to all appearances, a peace initiative may be afoot in the Middle East. Last week Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, announced a $63bn package in military aid to the Middle East, aiming to counter Iran's growing influence in the region, but also shoring up Arab support for a peace initiative. Yesterday the Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert met the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank town of Jericho. » Read more

Amnesty Brings Hope To West Bank Fighters ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Times by James Hider - October 22, 2007 - 11:40am When Ala Sanaqra heard that he was on a list of wanted Palestinian fighters being offered an amnesty by Israel, he was surprised. As a commander of 42 other Fatah fighters, he was not expecting to be pardoned. Cautiously he accepted, hoping to resume a normal life after five tough years as a fugitive. » Read more

Nakba Debate Shows Israel's Divisions ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) by Matthew Wagner - October 22, 2007 - 11:38am The Israeli Education Ministry's decision last week to approve a textbook for state-run Arab schools that uses the Arabic word for "catastrophe" to describe Israel's victory in its 1948 War of Independence has sparked intense debate. » Read more

Gaza Jobs Meltdown: An Ice-cream Firm's Tale ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Dan Murphy - October 22, 2007 - 11:34am When the mercury soars and the cloying humidity of the Mediterranean coast makes heading outside a shirt-drenching ordeal, Mazen Masri is usually one of the few Gazans wearing a smile. But today, Mr. Masri casts a dejected look around his mostly idle ice-cream factory. "This should be the best time of our year," he says. "But I go into the factory and my heart almost breaks." » Read more