March 4th

Israel Groups Call For Indictment Of Officer, Soldier
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Mohammed Mar’i - August 20, 2008 - 12:00am

The Palestinian peace activist, Ashref Abu Rahmeh, and several Israeli human rights organizations yesterday submitted a petition to Israeli High Court of Justice demanding a harsher indictment be presented against an Israeli army’s commander and soldier who were involved in shooting unarmed and bound Abu Rahmeh in the West Bank village of Nilin in early July. The petition was filed by B’Tselem, Yesh Din, the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, and Abu-Rahmeh.

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Idf To Prosecute Officer Who Shot Palestinian Teen
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Hanan Greenberg - August 20, 2008 - 12:00am

The Judge Advocate General decided Wednesday to file aggravated assault and exceeding military orders charges against Lieutenant A., for his involvement in a shooting incident which caused the severe injury of a Palestinian teenager three years ago. According to the indictment, on December 19, 2005, a riot took place in a Palestinian village near the northern West Bank settlement of Tekoa. During the riot, several teens began stoning the IDF troops present at the scene, among whom was A.

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March 3rd

Secretary of State Clinton's visit to Israel and the West Bank prompts speculation on the future of the peace process and the American role under a new Administration (1) (2) (3) (4) (14). A senior Palestinian Authority official warns that if a right-wing government forms in Israel and abandons the two-state solution, the peace process may crumble (6), while Likud party leader Benjamin Netanyahu continues to avoid taking a clear public stance on the issue (9). In an op-ed for The Weekly Standard, former Deputy National Security Advisor Elliot Abrams, argues that institution building in Palestine is key for establishing a lasting peace (11). The Christian Science Monitor looks at how the Gaza war has made coexistence harder for Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel (14).

Hillary vs. The Israel Lobby
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Nation
by Ari Berman - February 27, 2009 - 1:00am

In her 2000 race for the US Senate, Hillary Clinton was loudly denounced by uncritical right-wing supporters of Israel for a 1999 trip to Ramallah, where she kissed Palestinian First Lady Suha Arafat and listened as Arafat denounced Israel (in Arabic). Pictures of "the kiss" were repeatedly slapped across the cover of the New York Post, in TV ads and invoked by the campaigns of Rudy Giuliani and Rick Lazio. The flap almost derailed Clinton's campaign.

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Clinton puts 'heart' into Mideast peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Times
by Nicholas Kralev - March 3, 2009 - 1:00am

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday committed herself personally to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, saying that finding a solution is "in my heart, not just my portfolio." Mrs. Clinton cited the persistent peacemaking efforts of her husband, former President Bill Clinton, and linked a solution to the future of Israeli and Palestinian children.

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After Gaza war, a harder coexistence for Jews and Arabs
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from
by Joshua Mitnick - February 27, 2009 - 1:00am

The Hagar bilingual kindergarten was founded as a rare cocoon from ethnic alienation for children and parents in Israel. But even this place of innocence and coexistence isn't immune to the deeper divisions between Jews and Arabs here that has followed the Gaza war. "When Assin came back from her first day [after the war] she said, 'Mommy, today we played war between Israel and Gaza,' " says Suha Farhat, about her 5-year-old daughter.

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Challenge of Israeli settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
by Katya Adler - March 3, 2009 - 1:00am

Israel's Prime Minister designate, Benjamin Netanyahu, will not openly commit to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But the US insists it's the only way forward, and Hillary Clinton is visiting the region for the first time as secretary of state. "I feel like a stranger in my own land. I can't go for a long walk. I have to sneak around. Otherwise I'm stopped by Israeli soldiers or threatened by Israeli settlers." “ This is no longer occupation, this is colonisation. Israel has no right to this land ” Raja Shehadeh

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The Path of Realism or the Path of Failure
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Weekly Standard
by Elliott Abrams - March 2, 2009 - 1:00am

Repetition of failed experiments is not a sign of mental health or a path to scientific progress, nor is it a formula for Israeli-Palestinian peace. Yet that is the road we may again take, unless the lessons of the Bush years are learned.

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Abbas: Palestinian unity government must support two-state solution
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
February 28, 2009 - 1:00am

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday said that a Palestinian unity government with Hamas must support a two-state solution. In a Ramallah speech, Abbas went on to say progress was being made toward establishing a Palestinian unity government "that will be committed to our values and will respect agreements previously signed by the Palestinian Authority," Israel Radio reported.

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Netanyahu faces moment of truth
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Leslie Susser - March 2, 2009 - 1:00am

Pressed to take a firm stand on the two-state solution, Benjamin Netanyahu’s moment of truth may have come sooner than he wanted. Despite strong international and domestic pressure, Israel's prime minister-designate is refusing to come out in support of the idea of two states for two peoples, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace. Ever since President Bush outlined his vision of two states in June 2002, the two-state solution has been consensus international policy and the basis for Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

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