A new poll of Palestinian public opinion finds strong support for Fatah, Pres. Abbas, Prime Minister Fayyad, new elections and the West Bank police. Israel launches another attack on Gaza smuggling tunnels, but the border area has become a shopping hub. US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice says that Israel must do more than pay "lip service" to the peace process. Egypt continues to press Hamas to sign a national reconciliation agreement, with the PA vowing to call new elections. The Independent profiles the plight of Palestinian refugees in Arab states. The Forward examines Robert Wexler's surprise move from Congress to the think-tank world. In the Daily Star, Ghassan Rubeiz highlights innovations in Arab and Jewish American activism being pioneered by J Street and ATFP.

Gaza students stuck in Strip
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Israel News
by Yaheli Moran Zelikovich - October 21, 2009 - 12:00am

With the 2009-2010 academic year under way, 838 Palestinian university students are still waiting for the authorization that will enable them to leave the Gaza Strip in favor of overseas universities. According to Gisha the Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, the students cannot leave the Strip due to the Israeli blockade on Gaza.

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J Street and the ATFP are norm breakers
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Ghassan Rubeiz - (Opinion) October 22, 2009 - 12:00am

In “Transforming America’s Israeli Lobby,” Dan Fleshler argues that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is not helping Israel’s long-term interests and it is not properly reflecting the progressive sentiments of the American Jewish community. Fleshler explains the complexity of the Jewish lobby in America and urges congress to listen to all shades of Jewish opinion, not only to AIPAC.

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Goldstone doubts Security Council to debate war report
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Israel News
by Ali Waked - October 22, 2009 - 12:00am

Richard Goldstone said he believes Russia, France and China will oppose having the report on Operation Cast Lead in Gaza debated in the UN Security Council. In an interview to Aljazeera television, he said that while he is not an expert on the political power ties in the UN, he believes these three nations will refuse to move forward with the report. He said the report could still be brought before the UN General Assembly, and added that if the UN refuses to discuss this report, it would be the end of UN involvement in international crises.

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Netanyahu needs to explain his intentions
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by George S. Hishmeh - (Opinion) October 22, 2009 - 12:00am

Slowly but surely, Israel, especially under its extremist leaders, as is the case nowadays, is driving itself into a defenceless corner even if it still hopes its sometimes fickle allies in the West may come to its defence.

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Egypt pushing Hamas to sign truce deal
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Israel News
by Ali Waked - October 22, 2009 - 12:00am

Egypt continues to push forward with last ditch efforts to convince Hamas to sign the reconciliation agreement with rival Palestinian faction Fatah. Hamas Deputy Politburo chief Moussa Abu Marzouk said Wednesday that the Egyptians stressed to Hamas that the document that has been presented and signed by Fatah is not negotiable and all that is left is for Hamas to sign. Nonetheless, Abu Marzouk said that no date has been set for a Hamas delegation to travel to Cairo to discuss or sign the agreement.

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Kouchner and his Postponed Visit to Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat
by Randa Takieddine - (Opinion) October 22, 2009 - 12:00am

The French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, deserves to be congratulated, because he canceled his visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories. He did not submit to the will of Israel, which wants to prevent him from heading to Gaza. This minister, who enjoys great popularity in France and the world for his humanity and sympathy for tragedies, was in fact late in visiting Gaza, which witnessed a humanitarian catastrophe and Israeli war that were unprecedented in their destructiveness.

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Hamas and Reconciliation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat
by Abdullah Iskandar - October 22, 2009 - 12:00am

The Egyptian efforts to achieve reconciliation between the Palestinian National Authority (along with the Fatah movement) and Hamas have reached their natural conclusion. This is because the reconciliation [efforts] had assumed that there are disagreements related to the sharing of political representation in the Palestinian institutions, and that coexistence can be indeed achieved within an environment of balance between two main forces that are active today on the Palestinian scene.

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The fifth and last decade
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Ari Shavit - (Opinion) October 22, 2009 - 12:00am

The chronicles of stupidity are as follows: In the first decade after the Six-Day War, Israel decided not to decide. It did not heed the warnings of the likes of Yeshayahu Leibowitz, Amos Oz, Uri Avnery and former Labor Party leaders Aryeh Eliav and Yitzhak Ben-Aharon, all of whom immediately understood that the occupation was a trap. Israel believed that the territories were bargaining chips, and that it would be best to hold on to those chips so they could be exchanged for peace.

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Israel’s failure to investigate war only hurts itself
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
(Editorial) October 22, 2009 - 12:00am

The first Israeli inquiry into Gaza war crimes was concluded after just a few days and completely exonerated the military of wrongdoing. It was a whitewash so glaring, conducted so quickly and with such an obvious and predetermined agenda, that it cast an even more negative light on the country. It also squandered an opportunity to deal with these serious allegations before they got out of control.

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