May 6th

ATFP President Dr. Ziad Asali argues for empowering moderates over extremists in the Arab News (1). Israel¹s 60th anniversary is marked with reflection (2, 4, 6, 10). Israelis and Palestinians mull the effect of corruption allegations against Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (7,9). In the New York Times, Ethan Bronner examines the Palestinian citizens of Israel. (2).

May 5th

It's Time For Livni
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - (Opinion) May 5, 2008 - 5:34pm

As expected, Ehud Olmert stated yesterday at the start of the cabinet meeting that, "I have an agenda as prime minister of Israel, I intend to carry out this agenda, and continue conducting the meetings and performing the tasks I have to do." In other words, he intends to continue the agenda according to which part of his time is spent with investigators and lawyers, and the rest with Mahmoud Abbas and Condoleezza Rice.

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Don't Brand J-street As Anti-zionist
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by David Kimche - (Opinion) May 5, 2008 - 5:33pm

We tend to make our political calculations based on situations we know, based on the past, and not on changes that are happening before our eyes. Don Rumsfeld once wrote the following delightful truism: There are known knowns. There are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns. That is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns, the ones we don't know we don't know.

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Time For National Turning Point
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Alon Ben-meir - (Opinion) May 5, 2008 - 5:30pm

As Israelis finalize preparations for their momentous 60th anniversary - a date marking 10 years of consistent economic growth and industrious expansion - there remains the underlying question that will go unanswered yet another decade: What will be done with the West Bank and Golan Heights? Despite all of its considerable achievements, cross-border violence persists and Israel's existence remains fundamentally insecure.

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Roadmap Needs Serious Us Monitoring
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Ghassan Khatib - (Opinion) May 5, 2008 - 5:27pm

The fifth anniversary of the internationally sponsored roadmap to Palestinian-Israeli peace coincided with an unusual period of intense references to it by politicians and leaders. During both the visit to Washington of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas last week and the current visit to the region of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice attention was focused on the details of the roadmap, which, when it was drafted, enjoyed the support of almost every single country in the world. And yet there is no sign of it being implemented.

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Is The Middle East State System About To Disintegrate?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Joschka Fischer - (Opinion) May 5, 2008 - 5:27pm

  President George W. Bush's Middle East policy undeniably managed to achieve one thing: It has thoroughly destabilized the region. Otherwise, the results are not at all what the United States had hoped to accomplish. A democratic, pro-Western Middle East is not in the cards.

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Olmert Probe Clouds Abbas Talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al Jazeera English
May 5, 2008 - 5:24pm

A corruption investigation by Israeli police is overshadowing a planned meeting between Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, and Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister. The pair are set to meet on Monday amid fears the inquiry into Olmert's conduct while he was finance minister could end hopes of a peace deal by the end of the year. 

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Denying Palestinians Free Movement
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Palestine Chronicle
by Stephen Lendman - (Opinion) May 5, 2008 - 5:20pm

This article summarizes an August 2007 B'Tselem report now available in print. It's one of a series of studies it conducts on life in Occupied Palestine to reveal what major media accounts suppress. This one is titled: "Ground to a Halt - Denial of Palestinians' Freedom of Movement in the West Bank."

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A Strangled People
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Sami Abdel-shafi - (Opinion) May 5, 2008 - 5:17pm

It is a strange feeling: after working as a productive professional in Gaza for five years, I have become a black market junkie. I make several phone calls a day hunting for fuel for my car, diesel for the electricity generator waiting on standby to power the house, even cigarettes and vitamins. The only way to get hold of these things, to buy life-saving medicines, to purchase the essentials for a life of basic dignity, is through the black market, if at all.

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U.s. Monitors To Study West Bank Roadblocks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Arshad Mohammed - May 5, 2008 - 5:16pm

The United States said on Monday it would send monitors to study whether the removal of Israeli roadblocks was making life easier for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. Flying home from a two-day trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she was confident the two sides were trying hard to resolve their six-decade conflict.

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