April 29th

Islamic Jihad Sets Conditions For Truce With Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Alaa Shahine - April 29, 2008 - 5:15pm

The Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad said on Tuesday any possible truce with Israel would not restrict its right to respond to strikes by the Jewish state in the West Bank. Abu Emad al-Rifaie, a senior member of Islamic Jihad, said the group told Egyptian mediators that it approved -- with qualifications -- a Hamas proposal for a truce with Israel that starts in the Gaza Strip.

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Israel: Amnesty Program For Palestinian Gunmen A Success
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
April 29, 2008 - 5:14pm

Israeli defense officials say an amnesty program meant to get Palestinian militants to surrender their weapons has been a success. Under last year's program, Israel offered to stop hunting down dozens of West Bank militants if they agreed to halt violent activities. The men are required to surrender their weapons, serve a brief sentence in a Palestinian jail and pass a probationary term. A senior Israeli security official says 281 gunmen accepted the offer. He says just six have returned to violence.

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Bush To Visit Israel, Saudi Arabia, Egypt In May
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
April 29, 2008 - 5:13pm

US President George W. Bush will visit Israel, Saudi Arabia and Egypt in May, a trip intended to hail Israel's 60th anniversary but also shove along Mideast peace talks that have stalled as Bush's term winds down. The White House on Monday released details of Bush's trip, the broad outline of which had been expected for weeks. Bush, who was in the Middle East in January to try to advance peace talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders, had indicated at that time he would return in May to honor Israel's founding.

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Palestinian Negotiators Go Home Frustrated
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS)
by Khody Akhavi - April 29, 2008 - 5:12pm

As President George W. Bush races to ink a deal before his term expires in January of next year, disagreements remain over the final-status issues and the territorial integrity of a future Palestinian state. Following the latest round of talks last week in the U.S. capital between President Mahmoud Abbas and Bush, the Palestinian negotiating team appeared pessimistic about any durable prospect for peace, despite assurances from Bush himself to the contrary.

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Unforgiven
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Atlantic
by Jeffrey Goldberg - April 29, 2008 - 5:10pm

n early August of 2006, four weeks after the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah, which has as its goal the physical elimination of Israel (and the ancillary ambition of murdering, whenever practicable, Jews elsewhere in the world), killed three Israeli soldiers and kidnapped two more in a cross-border raid, Israel found itself in an exceedingly disagreeable position. The Hezbollah attack had prompted an immediate, and intermittently unrestrained, Israeli military response, which included thousands of bombing runs over Lebanon.

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April 28th

In Haaretz Shmuel Rosner asks ATFP President Ziad Asali about bolstering Palestinian Moderates (1). Jeffrey Goldberg discusses the relationship between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Dan Grossman in The Atlantic (2). The Associated Press details US President George W. Bush’s upcoming May trip to the Middle East (4). An editorial in the Daily Star implicates ‘those who look the other way’ as accomplices to ‘Israel’s crimes in Gaza’ (9). The King of Jordan and President of Egypt warn against ‘lack of enthusiasm’ for peace, reports the Jordan Times (11). YNET News covers a joint statement released by Israeli and Palestinian organization claiming Israel is violating international law (12).

Above All, Olmert Must Want Peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Uzi Benziman - (Opinion) April 28, 2008 - 6:16pm

It's not clear whether Ehud Olmert's situation regarding the possibility of initiating peace moves with Syria resembles that of the man who wants to but can't, the one who can but doesn't want to, or the one who can't and convinces himself that he doesn't want to anyway.

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Mk Ariel: Arabs Should Be Urged To Willingly Emigrate From Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
April 28, 2008 - 6:15pm

MK Uri Ariel on Sunday called on the government to encourage Israeli Arabs to "willingly emigrate" from Israel and from large cities within it, so as to solve the problematic situation of the country's minorities. The National Union MK made a speech during a first-of-its-kind conference dealing with the issue of Israel's minorities as well as with "the creeping Arab occupation", and said "the issue of Arabs living within the State of Israel should be addressed."

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Settlers To Move Into E. J'lem Police Hq
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - April 28, 2008 - 6:14pm

Based on an agreement signed with former police commissioner Moshe Karadi, right-wing settlers will take up residence in a group of buildings in Jerusalem's predominantly Arab neighborhood Ras al-Amud in the next few days. The building had hitherto served as the Samaria and Judea District Police headquarters. The buildings are slated to become the nucleus of a new Jewish neighborhood in the so-called Holy Basin area, the fate of which is supposed to be decided in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

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Eu Faults Hamas For Gaza Fuel Crisis
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Herb Keinon - April 28, 2008 - 6:13pm

Jerusalem expressed mild satisfaction Sunday night that a statement issued by the EU on the fuel shortage in Gaza placed at least part of the blame on Hamas's shoulders. After expressing "grave concern" at reports that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) had suspended its humanitarian work in the Gaza Strip because of a fuel shortage, and after calling for "regular and unrestricted delivery of fuel supplies" through the "controlled reopening of the crossings" into the area, the EU then singled out Hamas.

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