April 22nd

Rice: Officials Advised Carter Not To Meet With Hamas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Karen Deyoung - April 22, 2008 - 5:37pm

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Tuesday refuted a statement by former president Jimmy Carter that no one in the U.S. government told him not to go on a trip to the Middle East, where he met with the leadership of the militant group Hamas. "I just don't want there to be any confusion," Rice told reporters outside an international meeting on Iraq she is attending here. "The United States is not going to deal with Hamas, and we certainly told President Carter that meeting with Hamas was not going to help" the situation in the Middle East.

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April 21st

Rami Khoury reports on Arab perceptions of the United States’ policies for the International Herald Tribune (2). The Middle East Times’ Claude Salhani discusses potential consequences of Jimmy Carter’s visit(4). Al-Ahram probes the divide between HAMAS and Egypt (5). The Daily Star examines Israel’s economic consequences from continued fighting (6). Haaretz examines how regional politics are affecting the U.S. Presidential race (9).

Egypt: The Red Line
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Tariq Alhomayed - (Opinion) April 21, 2008 - 6:10pm

It is important that the Egyptians themselves, before anybody else, realize that Egypt is a red line and that endangering its security and borders, which are exposed to the regional game currently taking place, should not be tolerated. Egypt is an influential country, both in times of peace and war. Moreover, its cultural influence on the Arab world cannot be ignored. Egypt is a red line of which the Hamas leadership should be aware and should understand both in words and in practice.

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More Palestinian Patients Being Denied Entry To Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Meital Yasur-beit Or - April 21, 2008 - 6:09pm

  The Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) organization asserted on Monday that there has been a significant rise in the number of rejections issued to Palestinian applicants seeking entry into Israel on medical grounds. The group said that since early April Shin Bet authorities have been rejecting a significantly larger number

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Editorial: Continuing Land Grab
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
(Editorial) April 21, 2008 - 6:07pm

In case a comprehensive Palestinian-Israeli accord is reached by the end of this year, as espoused by US President George Bush, Israel is taking no chances. It is seeking whatever it can get its hands on should a peace deal that includes a Palestinian state be reached. Hence, the announcement that 100 new houses will be built in a West Bank settlement.

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Israel Mulls Gaza Crossing Curbs
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al Jazeera English
April 21, 2008 - 6:07pm

Israel is planning to tighten controls even further over goods allowed into the Gaza Strip, Haaretz, a leading Israeli newspaper, reports.   After a series of Hamas attacks on border crossings, some of the crossings will remain shut on Monday, and may remain so for several days, the paper reported. 

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Carter: U.s. Would Not Stand In Way Of Israel-syria Peace Deal
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - April 21, 2008 - 6:06pm

Former U.S. president Carter clarified in a meeting last week with Syrian president Bashar Assad that the U.S. would not stand in the way of serious peace negotiations between Syria and Israel. Carter also said the U.S. would even support any agreement that is reached. He told Meretz chairman Yossi Beilin at a meeting in Jerusalem on Monday that he had made these statements to Assad.

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Obama Faults Presidents Bush, Clinton On Mideast
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
April 21, 2008 - 6:02pm

White House hopeful Barack Obama on Sunday criticized both President George W. Bush and former President Bill Clinton for waiting too long to make a big push to achieve Middle East peace. Obama, a Democratic senator from Illinois, said he would pursue an active diplomacy from the beginning to try to reach a peace accord between Israel and the Palestinians. Campaigning in Reading, Pennsylvania, Obama was asked his view on former President Jimmy Carter's meetings with leaders of the Islamist Palestinian group Hamas during a trip to the Middle East that began a week ago.

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We Can Accept Israel As Neighbour, Says Hamas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Rory Mccarthy - April 21, 2008 - 6:01pm

Hamas said today it would accept a Palestinian state on land occupied in the 1967 war, but it would not explicitly recognise Israel. Khaled Meshaal, the leader of Hamas, said the group would "respect Palestinian national will even if it was against our convictions", an apparent reference to a referendum on a peace deal. His comments came at a news conference in Damascus, Syria, after a rare series of meetings between the former US president Jimmy Carter and Hamas Islamists in the West Bank, Cairo and Damascus.

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Our Reign Of Terror, By The Israeli Army
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Donald Macintyre - (Opinion) April 21, 2008 - 6:00pm

The dark-haired 22-year-old in black T-shirt, blue jeans and red Crocs is understandably hesitant as he sits at a picnic table in the incongruous setting of a beauty spot somewhere in Israel. We know his name and if we used it he would face a criminal investigation and a probable prison sentence.

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