September 15th

Israeli Police Probing "Pogrom"
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
September 14, 2008 - 8:00pm

Israeli police are investigating a rampage by settlers in a Palestinian village in the West Bank on Saturday which PM Ehud Olmert called a "pogrom". Mr Olmert, who is about to step down, called the attack by about 100 settlers on Asira al-Qabaliya "intolerable". It was filmed by human rights groups and came after an intruder stabbed and wounded a child at Yitzhar settlement. But police have not arrested any of the settlers who were filmed. Four people suffered gunshot wounds in the attack.

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Israeli soldier gets 14 days for role in stillborn at checkpoint
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
September 14, 2008 - 8:00pm

An Israeli soldier was sentenced to 14 days in prison for his role in an incident in which a Palestinian delivered a stillborn baby after being forced to wait at a checkpoint inside the Occupied West Bank, the Israeli Army said Friday. "The incident is one that could have been prevented," the Israeli military said, adding that the squad commander who was in charge of the checkpoint at the time was removed from his position and sentenced to 14 days in jail.

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Israeli, Palestinian leaders to hold talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
September 14, 2008 - 8:00pm

The Israeli and Palestinian leaders have agreed to hold what could be their last meeting before Prime Minister Ehud Olmert leaves office. Officials from both sides say Olmert and Abbas plan to hold their talks in Jerusalem on Tuesday night. The summit comes on the eve of elections for Olmert's Kadima party. Olmert is expected to resign soon after the vote. Although he will remain in office for a brief caretaker period, it is unclear whether he will continue with peace talks during that time.

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Olmert voices sorrow for plight of Palestinian, Jewish refugees
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Shahar Ilan - September 14, 2008 - 8:00pm

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Monday said he was sorry for the plight of Palestinians and Jews who became refugees as a result of Israel's establishment. "I join in expressing sorrow for what happened to the Palestinians and also for what happened to the Jews who were expelled from Arab states," the prime minister said. Olmert made the comments before a meeting of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, apparently in his last such session as prime minister. He was speaking in reference to the key Palestinian demand for a "right of return" in peace negotiations with Israel.

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September 12th

The New York Times reports on positive signs coming out of the West Bank city of Jenin (1). Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas comments on the status of talks with Israel (3, 5). Improved security conditions are taking hold in Hebron (6). ATFP Board Member Saliba Sarsar writes about the life of Dan Bar-On (7).

PM Fayyad: Int'l community must press Israel to halt settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - September 11, 2008 - 8:00pm

The international community's support for the peace process is meaningless so long as there is no real pressure on Israel to halt settlement expansion in the West Bank, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad told visiting European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana on Friday. During his meeting with Solana in Ramallah, Fayyad said Israel's continued building in the settlements is a blatant violation of international law, according to Israel Radio.

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Ahmadinejad: Iran will support Hamas until collapse of Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Deutsche Presse Agentur (DPA)
September 11, 2008 - 8:00pm

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vowed Friday to keep supporting the Palestinian militant group Hamas until the "collapse of Israel." The Iranian news agency Khabar quoted Ahmadinejad as telling Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh that Iran views the support of the Palestinian people as part of its religious and national duty and that Iran will stand behind the Palestinian nation "until the big victory feast which is the collapse of the Zionist regime."

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Overcoming our whirlwinds
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Saliba Sarsar - (Opinion) September 11, 2008 - 8:00pm

Dan Bar-On had a story about how he learned to see things through Palestinian eyes. An Israeli Jew, born in Haifa to refugees who had left Nazi Germany in 1933, Dan was a psychology professor at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, and he had long been interested in seeing his nation live in peace with its Palestinian neighbors. At a certain point back in the mid-1990s, however, he realized, as he told me in a formal interview I conducted with him last year, that "I could not live my life in this region without seeing Palestinians, without feeling their pain."

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Palestinian police make a difference in Hebron
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Wafa Amr - September 11, 2008 - 8:00pm

A new chapter in the history of Hebron is being inscribed in a Palestinian police blotter. The record shows that in August Palestinian police arrested 139 people on suspicion of crimes ranging from murder, drug dealing and illegal arms trading. Nearly 700 traffic tickets were handed out. After years of rule by gunmen in the Palestinian side of the divided city in the occupied West Bank, some 400 pistol-toting Palestinian policemen in blue uniforms are beginning to make a difference, residents said.

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Abbas vows to pursue talks after Olmert: report
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
September 11, 2008 - 8:00pm

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has vowed to pursue peace talks with Ehud Olmert until the scandal-hit Israeli prime minister's last day in office, and with whoever succeeds him, an Israeli newspaper said on Friday. But Abbas told the Haaretz daily he doubted the sides could meet Washington's expectations of reaching even a limited peace accord before U.S. President George W. Bush leaves office in January. Olmert, whom police have recommended indicting for corruption, has said he will resign after his Kadima party chooses a successor in a leadership contest next week.

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