September 29th

Israel envoys head to U.S. for talks on relaunching peace talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - September 29, 2009 - 12:00am

Israel and the U.S. will continue their talks in Washington on Wednesday on bridging the open issues between Israel and the Palestinian Authority that are delaying the relaunching of peace negotiations. Formulating the framework for the negotiations and the "terms of reference," or the opening conditions, are the focus of the talks in Washington. At the same time the sides will continue negotiating the terms of the settlement construction freeze.

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Israel ramps up efforts to block Hamas fund-raising network
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Anshel Pfeffer - September 29, 2009 - 12:00am

The defense establishment recently relaunched its campaign with its Western partners to block Hamas' fund-raising network, Haaretz has learned. The government, meanwhile, is considering launching an awareness campaign to highlight the link between fund-raising for Palestinian causes and terror funding. Israeli efforts have had some success in recent years, when Western governments forced certain charity organizations to reveal their records and sever ties with the Charity Coalition, the umbrella organization for groups that raise funds for Hamas abroad.

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Israel, U.S. working on bridging issues to restart PA talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - September 29, 2009 - 12:00am

Israel and the U.S. will continue their talks in Washington tomorrow on bridging the open issues between Israel and the Palestinian Authority that are delaying the reopening of peace negotiations. Formulating the framework for the negotiations and the "terms of reference" are the focus of the talks in Washington. At the same time the sides will continuing negotiating over the length of the settlement construction freeze.

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Report: Abbas drops demand for settlement freeze under US pressure
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
September 29, 2009 - 12:00am

Two key Israeli officials are headed to Washington on Wednesday for continued talks leading up to renewed peace negotiations with the Palestinian Authority. An aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's attorney Yitzhak Molcho, and Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak's chief of staff, Michael Herzog will attend the talks with US Middle East envoy George Mitchell and senior White House officials, according to the newspaper Haaretz.

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Report: Israel threatening to block cell provider over war crimes case
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
September 29, 2009 - 12:00am

Israel is threatening to withhold permission for a second Palestinian cellular phone network if the Palestinian Authority (PA) does not withdraw its call for the International Criminal Court (ICC) to look into allegations of Israeli war crimes in Gaza, a leading Israeli newspaper said on Sunday. Tel Aviv-based Haaretz quoted Israeli security sources saying that the PA’s appeal to the ICC in The Hague has incensed military leaders. Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi is reportedly withholding his approval for mobile provider Wataniya because of the legal petition.

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Yearning for the Golan Heights: why Syria wants it back
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Julien Barnes-Dacey - September 28, 2009 - 12:00am

The US demonstrated its commitment to reengage Syria as a partner for Middle East peace Monday, advancing a process that some Arab countries had declared dead in recent weeks. At Washington's invitation – the first one extended to a high-ranking Syrian official in five years – Deputy Foreign Minister Fayssal Mekdad came to town to meet US officials.

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September 28th

Tensions escalate following violent clashes between Muslim worshipers and Israeli riot police at the Haram al-Sharif in occupied East Jerusalem. Hamas reiterates its opposition to agreed-upon elections in January, and says that it is preparing a final reply to Egyptian national unity proposals. Turkey will push the Security Council to examine the Goldstone Report into the Gaza war, and Palestinian citizens of Israel that protested the Gaza war continue to face detention and house arrest. Fallout from last week's diplomatic activities continues, with analysts deeply divided over whether Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu outmaneuvered President Obama or now finds himself in an even more difficult situation facing permanent status negotiations.

The drama and the farce
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Uri Avnery - (Opinion) September 28, 2009 - 12:00am

No point denying it: In the first round of the match between Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu, Obama was beaten. Obama had demanded a freeze of all settlement activity, including East Jerusalem, as a condition for convening a tripartite summit meeting, in the wake of which accelerated peace negotiations were to start, leading to peace between two states — Israel and Palestine. In the words of the ancient proverb, a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. Netanyahu has tripped Obama on his first step. The president of the United States has stumbled.

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Gaza peace protester is imprisoned in own home
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Jonathan Cook - September 28, 2009 - 12:00am

Nine months after he helped to organise protests against Israel’s attack on Gaza, Samih Jabareen is a prisoner in his home in Jaffa, near Tel Aviv, an electronic bracelet around his ankle to alert the police should he step outside his front door. The 40-year-old actor and theatre director is one of dozens of Arab political activists in Israel who have faced long-term detention during and since Israel’s winter assault on Gaza in what human rights groups are calling political intimidation and repression of free speech by the Israeli police and courts.

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Netanyahu runs a victory lap – but what has he won?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Tony Karon - (Opinion) September 27, 2009 - 12:00am

Say this for Benjamin Netanyahu: he’s not short on chutzpah. He may be the leader of a country whose occupation of conquered territory has put it on the wrong side of UN resolutions for the past 42 years – and was accused of war crimes in a UN human rights report just this month – but that didn’t stop him from sticking a finger in the eye of a US president trying to broker an end to the Middle East’s most toxic conflict, or from rounding on members of the UN General Assembly who dared sit through a vicious speech by the Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

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