February 4th

Lieberman set to swing Israel to the right ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP) February 4, 2009 - 1:00am Israel’s Avigdor Lieberman, much-needed iron fist to some, racist to others, is steamrolling into elections next week as the poll’s biggest spoiler, set to swing the balance of power sharply to the right. The Soviet immigrant’s ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu (Israel is Our Home) party is poised to become parliament’s third-largest, nudging out centre-left Labour, which ruled Israel for more than half of its 60 years, polls say. » Read more

National security again to dominate Israeli elections ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Rory McCarthy - February 4, 2009 - 1:00am Israeli Foreign Minister and Kadima party leader Tzipi Livni speaks at an election campaign rally in the southern city of Sderot. Photograph: David Buimovitch/AFP/Getty Images With less than a week to go before Israel holds elections, the rival candidates are locked in fierce debate not about whether the devastating war in Gaza went too far, but whether it went far enough. » Read more

US Mideast envoy wants regional office ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News February 4, 2009 - 1:00am The special US envoy for Middle East peace, George Mitchell, has asked to open his own office in the region to deal with day-to-day developments between Israel, the Palestinians and neighboring states, signaling a desire for greater American hands-on involvement in negotiations. Mitchell, who just returned from the region on Monday and plans to go back this month after Israel's Feb. 10 elections, has proposed placing a small staff in Jerusalem to monitor the situation on the ground, officials briefed on his recommendation said. » Read more

War crimes accusations rattle Israelm ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Joshua Mitnick - February 4, 2009 - 1:00am Three-and-a-half years ago, Israeli reserve Gen. Doron Almog was forced to flee Britain just after landing in London. He had been tipped off about a surprise warrant for his arrest issued by a British magistrates court. The charge: war crimes. Now, as the recent Gaza war stirs up more accusations of offenses, the Jewish state and international human rights advocates are gearing up for more potential criminal cases against military officers and political leaders in Europe and possibly elsewhere. » Read more

Editorial: Israel flouting own rules on settlements ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News (Editorial) February 4, 2009 - 1:00am There is no such thing as a legal Israeli settlement on the West Bank. Under international law there should have been no building in any of the occupied territories. Yet Israel has carried on constructing, often strategically, chains of settlements as around occupied East Jerusalem, in defiance of UN rulings. A halt to new settlement activity and to the expansion of existing sites has been pivotal to all recent efforts to advance the peace process. » Read more

Hamas official to 'Post': Deal likely this week ATFP World Press Roundup Article from by Brenda Gazzar, Yaakov Katz, Tovah Lazaroff - February 3, 2009 - 1:00am A top Hamas official told The Jerusalem Post late on Monday that he believes an Egyptian-mediated cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas is likely to be reached by Thursday. Ahmed Youssef, the Gaza-based deputy foreign minister and former political adviser to Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, said he had not yet heard back from a Hamas delegation in Cairo, which was scheduled to meet Egyptian officials about a cease-fire proposal. But he said he was optimistic that a cease-fire agreement was imminent. » Read more

Barak okays new West Bank settlement in return for evacuation of illegal outpost ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Akiva Eldar - February 4, 2009 - 1:00am Defense Minister Ehud Barak has agreed to approve the establishment of a new settlement in the Binyamin region in return for settlers' agreement to evacuate the illegal outpost of Migron. The Migron settlers will move into the new 250-house settlement after leaving the illegal one they built on private Palestinian land. Today there are 45 families living in Migron, with only two living in permanent housing and the rest in trailers. » Read more

Hamas police 'seize aid for Gaza' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News February 4, 2009 - 1:00am A UN spokesman said policemen raided a UN warehouse on Tuesday after officials refused to hand over the aid to a Hamas-controlled ministry. The UN said it was the first time its aid had been confiscated by Hamas. It condemned the action and demanded the goods be immediately returned. Hamas denied its men had taken any aid. UN spokesman Christopher Gunness said Hamas police took 3,500 blankets and over 400 food parcels. The Hamas Social Affairs Minister in Gaza, Ahmed al-Kurd, denied that members of the Islamist movement had removed aid from a UN building. » Read more

ICC takes first step toward Gaza war-crimes probe ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP) February 4, 2009 - 1:00am The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said Tuesday he would determine whether there was such a legal entity as a Palestinian state, a precursor to a possible probe of war crimes in Gaza. Having received a request from the Palestinian National Authority to investigate the recent Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip, Luis Moreno-Ocampo said: "My work is now to analyze this in accordance with [international] law." » Read more

El caso Palestino se discutió en la UCR Press Release - Contact Information: Hussein Ibish - February 4, 2009 - 1:00am En Espanol | In English San José, (elpais.cr) - “Si Palestinos y Árabes deben escoger entre el fracaso que se observa como rendición pacífica y el fracaso que se ve como “martirio glorioso” en el nombre de Dios y de la nación, elegirán este último”. Read more