April 3rd

Labor, Lost
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Israel Harel - (Opinion) April 3, 2008 - 5:36pm

Labor is disappointed with Ehud Barak. He is a master wheeler-dealer, Amir Peretz claims. He is disconnected, laments Benjamin Ben-Eliezer. He has learned nothing, he hasn't changed, yells Yoram Marciano. His main goal, Peretz charges, is to become prime minister. His main flaw, everyone agrees, is that he has no agenda.

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Mubarak, Abdullah, Abbas Discuss Peace Process
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Roee Nahmias - April 3, 2008 - 5:33pm

  Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak held a meeting on Wednesday in Cairo, in which Jordan's King Abdullah II, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas took part. The three discussed a number of issues, including the progress of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and the outcomes of the recent Arab summit, which was concluded in Damascus on Sunday. 

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Enlightenment Through The Enemy's Eyes
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Middle East Times
by Mel Frykberg - April 3, 2008 - 5:31pm

As the barrage of rockets fired from the northern Gaza Strip began to rain down on the Israeli border town of Sderot the warning sirens were already wailing, sending thousands of Israelis scurrying for their lives in the city's ubiquitous underground bomb shelters. A few kilometers north at the Barzilai medical center in the town of Ashkelon, staff were on high alert as they scrambled to evacuate patients to safety. One of the Grad rockets fired from Gaza landed a mere 50 meters from the hospital entrance.

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Israeli Rights Group Questions Military's West Bank Arrests
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
April 3, 2008 - 5:30pm

The killing of four armed Palestinian fugitives in a hail of Israeli gunfire is raising new questions about the military's practices during arrest operations in the West Bank. The Israeli human rights group B'Tselem is calling for a criminal inquiry into the shooting, citing witness accounts claiming the men were summarily executed. B'Tselem says that would violate a ruling by Israel's supreme court that troops must try to take wanted men alive.

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Palestinian Pm Threatens Striking Civil Servants With Pay Cuts
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
April 3, 2008 - 5:28pm

Taking on the Palestinian civil servants' union, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad warned Thursday that he will dock the pay of striking union members. The union has held repeated warning strikes in recent months, calling for wage increases. Fayyad said that every strike day would be deducted from the employees' salaries. According to Fayyad, Palestinian Authority civil servants have received a 27 percent salary increases over the past three years, and the Palestinian Authority cannot afford to pay them more.

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Slow Progress For Palestinians In Lebanon
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Time
by Andrew Lee Butters - (Blog) April 3, 2008 - 5:24pm

In the past few weeks of writing about Palestinian refugees, I've painted a grim picture of their treatment by Lebanese society: how after nearly sixty years and four generations in exile here they still don't have citizenship, how they are barred from some seventy professions and face all sorts of other legal discrimination, and how during last summer's battle with foreign jihadis based in Nahr al Bared camp, the Lebanese army appears to have taken out its frustrations on Palestinian civilians.

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Israel Slow To Admit Gaza Patients, U.n. Says
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - April 3, 2008 - 5:22pm

A new report by the World Health Organization says that 32 Palestinians from Gaza have died in recent months largely because of Israeli restrictions that delayed their access to urgent medical treatment in Israel.

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Adrift In The Middle East
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
(Editorial) April 3, 2008 - 5:17pm

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s latest trip to Israel and Jordan came at a time when anger and frustration among ordinary Israelis and Palestinians are building to dangerous levels. This was a moment for American leadership and direction. Unfortunately, the moment was once again allowed to slip away. Surely, Ms. Rice understands that Woody Allen’s “80 percent of success is showing up” does not apply to the deadly serious business of Middle East peacemaking.

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April 2nd

An editorial in the New York Times discusses US engagement in the Middle East (1). In Time Magazine, Andrew Lee Butters blogs about slow progress for Palestinians in Lebanon (3). YNetnews reports on a recent meeting between the President of Egypt, the King of Jordan and the President of the Palestinian National Authority in which they discussed the peace process (7). In Haaretz, Israel Harel presents a criticism of Ehud Barak (8). Also in Haaretz, Shmuel Rosner examines a statement by Rabbi Yoffie concerning ‘allying with Christian Zionists’ (9).

Settlements Are Their Religion
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Uzi Benziman - (Opinion) April 2, 2008 - 6:47pm

Three weeks ago, a smug real estate agent appeared on TV and announced with certainty that all the apartments to be built in Givat Ze'ev's Agan Ayalot neighborhood would be populated immediately. He added that he was convinced of his ability to sell every apartment built in this settlement because there is tremendous demand from ultra-Orthodox families for housing in this area. As if to make his words more concrete, little boys with long peyot and little girls in long dresses were shown playing in the background.

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