August 13th

For how long with impunity? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times (Editorial) August 13, 2009 - 12:00am Slowly, but surely, more and more evidence of Israeli war crimes in Gaza is beginning to surface. On Wednesday, Human Rights Watch - which has previously censored Israel for its use of white phosphorus shells over civilian areas, as well as Hamas’ indiscriminate rocket fire from Gaza - issued a new report on the killing of civilians in Gaza after they had surrendered to Israeli forces. » Read more

New singers, but Fatah needs a new song too ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National (Editorial) August 13, 2009 - 12:00am After a week of contentious, sometimes raucous deliberations, Fatah, the foremost Palestinian nationalist movement, has managed to elect a new leadership committee. This is no small feat for an organisation that most Palestinians see as fractious, corrupt and without compass. Indeed, the Sixth General Congress was mired in controversy and infighting that threatened to erode further the credibility of a party arguably on the wane. » Read more

Israel starved Gaza of power and water ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Vita Bekker - August 13, 2009 - 12:00am Israel deliberately brought the Gaza Strip’s infrastructure to the brink of collapse before its military offensive in the enclave in December and January and has since blocked any efforts of its rehabilitation as part of a strategy to defy Hamas, a report by an Israeli rights group claimed this week. » Read more

Is Boston consul-general's assessment correct? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Hilary Leila Krieger - August 13, 2009 - 12:00am Boston Consul-General Nadav Tamir set off a media firestorm last week when he sent a diplomatic cable to the Foreign Ministry warning that the government's public opposition to the Obama administration's policies were diminishing US popular support for Israel and causing American Jews to feel torn between the two countries. Amid the brouhaha, which resulted in Tamir being summoned to Jerusalem, swirling questions of the propriety of drafting such a letter and rampant speculation on who was behind its leaking, a more fundamental issue arises: was Tamir's assessment correct? » Read more

Protecting human rights is never 'interference' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Jeff Halper - (Opinion) August 13, 2009 - 12:00am The article entitled Spain funds 'summer camp' for foreign volunteers to rebuild demolished illegal Palestinian homes, which merited the front page of The Jerusalem Post (August 10), would seem somewhat of a non-story. After all, Israel and the US funded NGOs assisting Jews in the Soviet Union. » Read more

Israelis help rebuild Palestinian homes ATFP World Press Roundup Article from ABC News by Anne Barker - August 13, 2009 - 12:00am Some Israeli citizens are challenging the Jewish state over its practice of demolishing Palestinian houses. They have taken up trowels and buckets to rebuild two houses that were knocked down in a Palestinian town straddling East Jerusalem and the West Bank. Younes Sbaih says he has been moved by the generosity of about 20 volunteers who are rebuilding his house from a pile of rubble. The group - some who cart sand and cement while others work with saws and jackhammers - will take just two weeks to build the house from scratch. » Read more

Qureia hints Fatah elections unclean ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Ali Waked - August 13, 2009 - 12:00am "The forgeries in Iran were much smaller than what we had in Palestine," said former Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmad Qureia, who was not elected for the Fatah movement's Central Committee in elections this week. The results were published Wednesday, and in response, Qureia said large question marks hovered over the election process and the counting of the votes. » Read more

Israel toughens entry for foreigners with West Bank ties ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amira Hass - August 13, 2009 - 12:00am Israel has recently been putting up more obstacles for foreign nationals who enter the country if they have family, work, business or academic ties in the West Bank. It now restricts their movements to "the Palestinian Authority only." The people concerned are citizens of countries that have diplomatic ties with Israel, mainly Western countries. In imposing such restrictions, Israel is in breach of the Oslo Accords. » Read more

Mashaal: No real progress in Shalit deal ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews August 13, 2009 - 12:00am Hamas politburo chief Khaled Mashaal said there is no real progress in talks for the release of captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, despite recent reports to the contrary. In an interview to Qatari newspaper al-Watan, that will be published in full on Sunday, with parts of it published on the Hamas website Thursday, Mashaal said mediation efforts in the matter were ongoing, but that no real progress has been made. He said this was due to "the manner in which the Zionist enemy's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is handling the matter.' » Read more

Israel Making Positive Steps on Prisoner Exchange Agreement- Egyptian Sources ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat by Nazar Majli - August 13, 2009 - 12:00am Informed Egyptian sources have confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat that significant progress has been made in the Israeli – Palestinian negotiations mediated by Egypt towards reaching a prisoner exchange agreement. These sources revealed that this progress is not dramatic, but that it has taken place as a result of the positive steps taken by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The sources clarified that Netanyahu has agreed to resume negotiations with Hamas from the point that the previous negotiations undertaken by former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had ended. » Read more