May 19th

Barak To Mubarak: Gaza Terror Leading To Military Face-off
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Roni Sofer - May 19, 2008 - 5:51pm

During his meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in a Sharm el-Sheikh hotel on Monday, Defense Minister Ehud Barak reiterated Israel's commitment to the peace process, stressing that the continued terror emanating from Gaza can only lead to a full-blown escalation and even a military confrontation.

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Unknown Assailants Detonate Bomb Outside Gaza Cafe
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
May 19, 2008 - 5:50pm

Assailants detonated a bomb outside a popular cafe in Gaza City early Sunday morning, apparently part of a campaign by shadowy extremists to eliminate perceived symbols of Western influence. The pre-dawn blast smashed the cafe's windows and damaged its door. No one was hurt. Cafe owner Khalid Harbid said another bomb went off outside his cafe last month. He charged that Gaza's Islamic Hamas rulers are not protecting his business.

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The Road Map Revisited
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Middle East Times
by Naomi Chazan - (Opinion) May 19, 2008 - 5:50pm

The "Performance-Based Road Map to a Permanent Two-State Solution to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict" highlights both the good intentions and the misplaced conceptions of its promulgators. Five years after its adoption, it lingers not as a tool for the achievement of a sustainable agreement but as a burdensome impediment to its realization.

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Obama And Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from International Herald Tribune
by Thomas L. Friedman - (Opinion) May 19, 2008 - 5:49pm

Pssst. Have you heard? I have. I heard that Barack Obama once said there has to be "an end" to the Israeli "occupation" of the West Bank "that began in 1967." Yikes! Pssst. Have you heard? I have. I heard that Barack Obama said that not only must Israel be secure, but that any peace agreement "must establish Palestine as a homeland for the Palestinian people." Yikes!

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Israel's 'american Problem'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from International Herald Tribune
by Jeffrey Goldberg - (Opinion) May 19, 2008 - 5:48pm

When the prime minister of Israel, Ehud Olmert, arrived at a Jerusalem ballroom in February to address the grandees of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, he was pugnacious, as is customary, but he was also surprisingly defensive, and not because of his relentlessly compounding legal worries.

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Bush Wraps Up Mideast Trip With A Thud, Analysts Say
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Usa Today
by Charles Levinson - May 19, 2008 - 5:47pm

President Bush wrapped up his five-day Mideast tour Sunday with little visible progress on either of the main issues he highlighted: rising oil prices and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Instead, Bush was subjected to a wave of criticism as he delivered a lecture to the Arab world on the benefits of democracy. "This trip was an exclamation point on the fact that the mystique about American power is no longer there," said Steve Clemons, an analyst at the New America Foundation, a think tank in Washington.

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Bin Laden: Arab Leaders Sacrificing Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
May 19, 2008 - 5:46pm

Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden lashed out at Arab leaders for "sacrificing" the Palestinians in a new message released Sunday and he called on Muslim terrorists in Egypt to help break the blockade of Gaza. Bin Laden called Arab leaders "agents of the crusaders" and "wolves" in the audio message posted on an Islamic militant Web site where al-Qaida leaders issue their statements. He portrayed the citizens of Arab nations as herds of sheep who have been handed over to the wolves to look after them.

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Palestinians Hope To Draw Investment At Conference
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Karin Laub - May 19, 2008 - 5:45pm

The West Bank is open for business after years of bloody turmoil. At least that's the intended message of this week's international investors conference, where the Palestinians are seeking backing for nearly $2 billion in development projects, from fish farms to a new city of 25,000.

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The Limits Of War In Lebanon
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Boston Globe
(Editorial) May 19, 2008 - 5:45pm

THE ARMED confrontation in Lebanon between the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and the Shi'ite movement Hezbollah is ending. Hezbollah fighters are withdrawing from the Sunni neighborhood of West Beirut, opening roads once again, and allowing the airport to function.

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May 18th

Karin Laub reports for the Associated Press on efforts to encourage investment in Palestine at the upcoming Bethlehem Conference (2). US President George W. Bush faces criticism for his latest trip to the Middle East (5). Thomas Friedman examines the question of Obama’s attitude toward Israel (6). As violence continues in Gaza (8) and Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak warns of escalation (9). In Y-Net News, Yehuda Litani argues for freeing Marwan Barghouti(10).

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