November 3rd

Abbas rejects permanent Palestinian resettlement in Lebanon
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
August 27, 2008 - 8:00pm

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he rejects the idea that Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon might be forced to stay there permanently. He emphasized that all Palestinians should have the right to return home. When it comes to armed Palestinian factions, however, Abbas says he supports any decisions the Lebanese government makes on how to deal with militants outside refugee camps. Abbas spoke to reporters Thursday in Lebanon's capital, Beirut.

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13 years after Rabin killing, Israeli spy chief warns of political murder by Jewish extremists
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Matti Friedman - November 1, 2008 - 8:00pm

The head of Israel's internal security service said Sunday he is "very concerned" that Jewish extremists could assassinate an Israeli leader in an attempt to foil peace moves with the Palestinians. There has been a recent increase in violence by hardline Jewish settlers in the West Bank, and this week, Israel marks the 13th anniversary of the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin by an Israeli opponent of his negotiations.

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Tzipi or Bibi?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Economist
October 29, 2008 - 8:00pm

IT SEEMS to happen every time. The moment Israel comes close to getting a prime minister serious about making peace with the Palestinians, fate steps in to block the way. Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated; Shimon Peres was rejected by the voters; no sooner had Ariel Sharon come round to ceding (far too little) land for peace than he was felled by a stroke.

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Israeli Activist Abie Nathan Dies
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
August 27, 2008 - 8:00pm

Abie Nathan, the maverick Israeli peace activist, has died aged 81. Israeli President Shimon Peres paid his tributes saying Nathan was "a great fighter against war, poverty and discrimination". Abie Nathan was born in Iran 1927, educated in India and served in the Royal Air Force during World War II. He volunteered as a pilot in Israel's war of independence in 1948; but he became disillusioned with the Israeli government. In 1966 he flew his private plane to Egypt, in a push for peace.

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An Israeli dove's descent from politics
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from International Herald Tribune
by Ethan Bronner - November 1, 2008 - 8:00pm

For the last two decades, the easiest way to invoke dovishness in Israel has been to utter the words "Yossi Beilin." The politician who navigated mutual recognition between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization in the early 1990s and has never stopped believing, Beilin has a unique place in the Israeli political galaxy, both admired and reviled for his relentlessness.

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Israel Acts to Cut Off Funds to Illegal Settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - November 2, 2008 - 8:00pm

Ehud Olmert, the departing prime minister of Israel, announced a series of measures on Sunday in response to a rise in violence by extremist Jewish settlers in the West Bank, including a halt to all direct or indirect government financing of illegal outposts. The announcement amounted to an acknowledgment that public funds were still being spent on the outposts, contrary to government policy and despite a longstanding pledge to the United States to remove at least two dozen settlements immediately.

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Israeli Settlers Look for Compensation to Leave
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Der Spiegel
by Christoph Schult - August 24, 2008 - 8:00pm

When Benny Raz comes home in the evening and gets out of his car, his neighbors turn their backs on him and disappear into their houses. Ras is wearing a short black jacket and jeans. His head looks like a coarsely modeled sculpture, with his protruding cheekbones and eyes set deeply in their sockets. He is 55, and he says: "I have lost all of my friends here."

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Departing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announces that Israel will cut off all direct or indirect government financing of illegal settlement outposts in response to rising violence by settler extremists (1). The International Herald Tribune profiles Israeli politician Yossi Beilin, who is set to retire from politics after February’s elections (2). An op-ed in the Economist surveys the prospects for peace talks under a new Israeli prime minister (3). The United Nations’ Middle East envoy condemns Israeli demolitions of Palestinian homes in the West Bank (5). On the eve of United States elections, an op-ed by Ben Fishman in Al-Hayat assesses the future of U.S.-Middle East relations (8).

To carry a camera in Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Diana Mukkaled - August 22, 2008 - 8:00pm

Anybody carrying a camera in the Gaza Strip is a potential target. This is the simple conclusion that can be reached following the Israeli military prosecutor’s report that was issued a few days ago. The report cleared Israeli soldiers who shot dead Palestinian cameraman Fadel Shana who died on April 16, 2008 along with eight unarmed youths under 16 years of age. Why did Israeli soldiers venture upon launching two missiles towards a group of unarmed youths and the Reuters cameraman who was holding his camera and whose clothes and equipment were clearly marked ‘press’?

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Hamas Seeking to Come In From Cold
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Middle East Times
by Sana Abdallah - August 27, 2008 - 8:00pm

Chances of coming in from the cold are looking better for Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement ruling the Gaza Strip, as the world braces itself for crucial changes in political leaderships and power shifts that might also bring strategic policy turns in the Middle East.

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