April 17th

Brothers At Bay
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Economist
(Analysis) April 17, 2008 - 6:05pm

Egypt's government battles with the Muslim Brotherhood

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The Gulf Is Not Persian
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
(Editorial) April 17, 2008 - 6:04pm

The foreign minister of the Sultanate of Oman, Yusef Bin Alawai Bin Abdulla, agreed to hold a short photo-op at the beginning of his meeting with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on Monday at the Sheraton Doha hotel. In the last eight years, since the Al-Aqsa intifada led to severing of relations between the two countries, Israeli and Omani foreign ministers have met mostly in secret, in European capitals or on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.

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Gaza Op Possible After Bush Visit
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Herb Keinon - April 17, 2008 - 5:59pm

There is a heightened sense in the security establishment that a broad-scale ground incursion inside the Gaza Strip is necessary this summer to deal a severe blow to Hamas's infrastructure, sources in Jerusalem said Wednesday, following the death of three soldiers in a Gaza ambush.

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Heavy Fighting In Gaza Casts Doubt On Egyptian-led Talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
April 17, 2008 - 5:56pm

Gaza's worst day of violence in a month, in which at least 20 Palestinians and three Israeli soldiers died, appeared to jeopardize Egypt's efforts to mediate a Middle East cease-fire. Wednesday's death toll was the highest since a broad Israeli military offensive in early March that killed more than 120 Gazans, including dozens of civilians. Since then, Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers appeared to be honoring an informal truce, though punctuated with Palestinian rocket attacks, some Israeli airstrikes and minor border skirmishes.

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Abbas Says No Peace With Israel Unless All Prisoners Released
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
April 17, 2008 - 5:46pm

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said in televised speech Thursday that a release of all Palestinian prisoners must be part of any peace deal with Israel. Abbas delivered the televised address Thursday to mark Palestinian Prisoners' Day. About 8,500 Palestinian prisoners are held in Israeli jails and detention centers. Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are trying to reach a peace deal by the end of the year.

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Palestinian Toll Rises After Day Of Violence
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Financial Times
by Tobias Buck - (Opinion) April 17, 2008 - 5:43pm

Israeli troops killed a Palestinian militant and a teenager on Thursday during a raid into the occupied West Bank, a day after 17 Palestinians, most of them civilians, and three Israeli soldiers, were killed in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. Palestinian medical and security officials said the militant, a member of Islamic Jihad, and the 16-year-old youth were shot by soldiers who surrounded a house where gunmen were believed to have been hiding in Qabatiya refugee camp near the city of Jenin.

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April 16th

In the Christian Science Monitor, Joshua Mitnick discusses the removal of barriers in the West Bank (1). An opinion by Matthew Levitt in the Weekly Standard examines the message that former US President Jimmy Carter sent by meeting with Hamas (2). The relationship between the Israel-Palestine conflict and other regional conflicts is the subject of analysis in an opinion by Ghassan Khatib in BitterLemons(5). In the Daily Star, Rami Khouri argues that there are growing disparities in the Arab world (8). Shmuel Rosner looks at a new Jewish American alternative to AIPAC in Haaretz (11).

New Jewish-american Lobby Wants To Be Alternative To Aipac
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Shmuel Rosner - (Opinion) April 16, 2008 - 6:07pm

On Monday night, Samuel Lewis spoke from a small stage in one of the banquet halls of Washington's Mayflower Hotel to an audience of Anti-Defamation League activists seated around the dinner tables at their annual conference. Lewis, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel, was sharing fond memories from the days of the peace treaty with Egypt. Thirty years have passed, but Lewis still gets emotional when recalling that period, and so do his listeners.

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Blair Urges Investment In Palestinian Territories
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
April 16, 2008 - 6:06pm

Middle East peace envoy Tony Blair has urged investors to donate money to the Palestinian economy and said that the West Bank is ready for business. The former British prime minister made the plea during a visit to Abu Dhabi on Tuesday to discuss the latest developments of the Middle East peace process. Blair said he was working to remove restrictions on movement that have squeezed the Palestinian economy.

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The Controversy Surrounding Carter And Meshaal's Meeting
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Tariq Alhomayed - (Opinion) April 16, 2008 - 6:05pm

Huge controversy surrounds former US president Jimmy Carter's meeting with Hamas supremo Khaled Meshaal. Carter has stated that during his meeting with Hamas's leader in Damascus; he will strive to convince him to accept a peaceful solution with Israel and Fatah.

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