November 13th

The Palestinian election commission recommends postponing scheduled January voting. Pres. Abbas must approve the proposal, which has already led to squabbling between Hamas and Fatah. Israel's expulsion of a Palestinian student from the West Bank to Gaza continues to draw criticism, including from the US government. AP says radicals will fill the void if peace talks collapse. UPI outlines the benefits and risks of the PA state building plan. In a new poll, more than half of Israelis back talks with Hamas. At least one Palestinian is killed in the central Gaza Strip as Israeli leaders say they are prepared to attack the area again if necessary. Ha'aretz reports FM Lieberman has dropped peace initiatives from Foreign Ministry priorities. Palestinians warns Israeli diplomacy may now focus on Syria. The Gulf News profiles Palestinian construction magnate Hassib Sabagh. In the New Yorker, Lawrence Wright investigates the Gaza war.

Captives
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New Yorker
by Lawrence Wright - (Opinion) November 9, 2009 - 1:00am

In southwest Israel, at the border of Egypt and the Gaza Strip, there is a small crossing station not far from a kibbutz named Kerem Shalom. A guard tower looms over the flat, scrubby buffer zone. Gaza never extends more than seven miles wide, and the guards in the tower can see the Mediterranean Sea, to the north.

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From Palestinian refugee to citizen of the world
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by Joseph A. Kechichian - November 13, 2009 - 1:00am

At 90 years of age and in frail health after suffering a stroke in 2002, Hasib J. Sabbagh is that rare billionaire who not only made his fortune in the construction business but also defined Arab work ethics and quiet-behind-the-scene efficiency. Sabbagh's contribution to peace efforts in the Middle East are well-known, although his attempts to find "a solution to the dilemma of the Palestinian people" through the establishment of an independent state have not borne fruit.

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US relations with Israel unchanged
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by Marwan Al Kabalan - (Opinion) November 13, 2009 - 1:00am

The fact that US President Barack Obama sent White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel to meet with the leaders of the pro-Israel lobbies in the US this week did nothing but feed speculation about how much power and influence these groups wield on US Middle East policy. The purpose of the meeting was to ask these groups to help convince Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to freeze colony expansion in the Occupied Territories and facilitate the resumption of Middle East peace talks.

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The US and peace: more than a dance
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
(Editorial) November 13, 2009 - 1:00am

There’s an increasing sentiment in the US, particularly among the liberal Left, that America has done all it can in the Middle East. If the Israelis and Palestinians don’t want peace, then why should America make them? Even more pernicious is the notion that withdrawing from the debate will allow the two sides to grow up and solve problems like adults. This is false. If the US had entered the process by choice, then it had no business being involved in the first place; but that is not the case.

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US ‘very concerned’ about Palestinian student deportation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Vita Bekker - November 13, 2009 - 1:00am

Two weeks ago, Berlanty Azzam was blindfolded, handcuffed and driven from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip by Israeli soldiers who claimed the Palestinian university student was illegally residing in the occupied territory. Ms Azzam’s expulsion and rough treatment by the Israeli military have drawn wide international media attention and have threatened to deepen a rift between the country and its US ally, the Jersusalem consul general for which was quoted in Israeli newspapers as saying he was “very concerned” by the incident.

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Israel's dark view of the world
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Charles Grant - (Opinion) November 13, 2009 - 1:00am

The official explained to Bibi Netanyahu that if there was a peace settlement, extra investment would push Israel's long-term growth rate from 5% a year to 7%. The Israeli prime minister responded that if the country had 5% growth, it did not need peace. Netanyahu was joking, according to the official who recounted the story – but the quip highlights a serious point. There is no prospect of a settlement between Israelis and Palestinians, and many Israelis are fairly relaxed about that. During a recent visit to Israel, I met very few people who were optimistic about the peace process.

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Fatah signals new strategy if Abbas quits
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Financial Times
by Tobias Buck - November 12, 2009 - 1:00am

Shaken by the prospect of losing their veteran leader, senior Palestinian officials have started debating fresh strategies in their long-running conflict with Israel in the hope of galvanising international support for their cause.

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PA: Israel to focus on Syria
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
November 13, 2009 - 1:00am

Despite Israel's denial that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave a secret message of reconciliation to Syrian President Bashar Assad, the Palestinian Authority is convinced that something has changed in the Israeli approach, and that Jerusalem is now planning to focus its efforts on renewing talks with Damascus.

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Abbas must unilaterally declare Palestinian state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Yossi Sarid - (Opinion) November 13, 2009 - 1:00am

It is precisely now that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas must not give up hope, and not because of the sweet nothings that Shimon Peres uttered at the rally in the square last Saturday night about people giving up hope in Ramallah. As if at the President's Residence every day is Carnaval, and not only when he's packing his bags for his trip to Brazil.

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