November 4th

Israel declares navy drills to deny activists passage to Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times by Michael Jansen - August 21, 2008 - 8:00pm The Free Gaza movement announced yesterday that the admiral of the Israeli navy has warned the 47 passengers and crew aboard the SS Free Gaza and Liberty that they should not sail to the Gaza Strip because Israel is conducting naval exercises off Gaza and in nearby international waters. Speaking to the media at quayside on behalf of the campaign, Paul Larudee, said that the boat people had been told that "all traffic has to stop" in the sea. But Larudee declared that this would not deter the activists' mission of breaking the siege and blockade of Gaza and its 1.5 million citizens. » Read more

Palestinians relaunch soccer league in West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Mohammed Assadi, Ori Lewis - August 20, 2008 - 8:00pm Palestinian soccer saw the start of a revival in the West Bank on Thursday with the relaunch of a league suspended after an uprising against Israeli occupation erupted in 2000. Twenty-two teams across the territory will compete in a seven-month-long tournament, but teams from the Hamas-run Gaza Strip will not take part. Israel sharply restricts travel and trade to and from the coastal enclave. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's authority has been restricted to the Israeli-occupied West Bank since Hamas Islamists took over the Gaza Strip by force a year ago. » Read more

Jordan protests against Israel's Jerusalem dig plans ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP) August 21, 2008 - 8:00pm Jordan said on Thursday it summoned the Israeli ambassador to protest against plans for excavation and construction work near the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, Jerusalem's most volatile holy site. "Foreign Minister Salah Bashir summoned the Israeli ambassador this week to officially inform him that Jordan rejects such illegal measures," said MP Mohammed Abu Hdeib, head of the lower house of parliament's committee on international affairs, after meeting Bashir on Thursday. » Read more

There Are Better Options ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Prospectsforpeace.com by Daniel Levy - (Opinion) August 20, 2008 - 8:00pm Israel's response to the Iranian challenge has been out of synch with developing realities for some time. Recently though, it has become dangerously counter-productive, anchored as it is in denial. As Israel intensifies its role as threatener-in-chief, and clings to a "more sticks, bigger sticks" line, events all around are moving on. » Read more

From Israel, a Call for Patience Rushing Peace Process Invites Violence, Foreign Minister Says ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Linda Gradstein - August 21, 2008 - 8:00pm Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni warned Thursday against outside efforts to pressure Israel and the Palestinians to come up with a peace agreement this year, saying violence could erupt if they fail to meet international expectations. The statement, coming on the eve of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's visit to Israel, effectively dooms the already slim chances that an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement will be reached before President Bush leaves office in January. » Read more

Palestine Central Bank's Tricky Path ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Wall Street Journal by Bob Davis - August 20, 2008 - 8:00pm Ben Bernanke worries about being held hostage to the global economy. The central banker for the Palestinian territories frets about hostage-taking of a different kind. "Sometimes people take a gun to the head of a branch manager," says Jihad al-Wazir, governor of the Palestine Monetary Authority. "Then I get a phone call." The PMA is a most unusual central bank. It lacks a currency and a country. It can't control interest rates or fight inflation, like other central banks.

Let them stay in Palestine ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Akiva Eldar - August 24, 2008 - 8:00pm The question Kadima voters must ask themselves on the way to the polls is not which candidate is most qualified to order the army chief of staff, at 3 A.M., to launch strikes against Iran. That decision will in any event be made at the White House. The question they face is tenfold more difficult and no less fateful: Which candidate is capable of instructing the chief of staff, at 3 P.M., to evacuate 110 settlements in the West Bank. After all, this was Kadima's major promise to its voters. » Read more

ANALYSIS / On verge of Rice visit, Israel and PA far from peace accord ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Aluf Benn - August 24, 2008 - 8:00pm The visit of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will seek to determine whether it will be possible to present an Israeli-Palestinian accord to the world, or even a partial document of agreement, before the end of the current year. Nine months have passed since the Annapolis conference, which was held at the behest of Rice and where the participants promised to "make every effort" to reach a settlement by the end of 2008. Any attempt to redeem that promise will take place in the shadow of a political crisis in Israel. » Read more

Partial process of prisoner releases is devoid of context ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons by Walid Salem - August 24, 2008 - 8:00pm In the fifteen years that have passed since the Oslo process began, several partial releases of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons have occurred even while the number of Palestinian prisoners continued to increase. How can one understand the seeming paradox that partial releases take place, but the number of prisoners increases because of new Israeli arrests? » Read more

The right move ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons by Yossi Alpher - August 25, 2008 - 8:00pm The release scheduled for today of 198 Palestinian prisoners, many of them convicted of serious terrorist offenses--including two who were directly involved in the murder of Israelis prior to the Oslo accord of 1993--is a smart and courageous move by the otherwise highly problematic Olmert government. If it introduces some logic into criteria for future prisoner release by Israel it could have a positive strategic effect beyond its immediate confidence-building impact on Israeli-Palestinian relations. » Read more