October 8th

Fears of third intifada as tension grows in Israel
Media Mention of Ghaith al-Omari In The Telegraph - October 8, 2009 - 12:00am

fter two weeks of mounting tension and sporadic clashes between Israeli security forces and Palestinian protesters, a showdown is expected when Friday prayers are called at the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem's old city. Thousands of Israeli soldiers and policemen are being deployed around the site after the Palestinian Authority called a one-day general strike and a leading Islamic cleric in Egypt urged the Arab world to rise up in "a day of anger".

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The UN Security Council will debate the Goldstone report on the Gaza war, with the support of the PA, on October 14. Israel's Foreign Minister Lieberman reportedly dismisses the idea of a peace agreement in the near future, but Jordan's King Abdullah warns that there is no future without two states. International promises to rebuild Gaza remain unfulfilled, and Gaza residents may have lost up to $500 million in fraudulent tunnel schemes. Arab commentaries assess the political damage to the PA from the Goldstone affair. Hussein Ibish argues that only a determined de-escalation of tensions can prevent an explosion in the occupied territories, especially East Jerusalem.

'Fayyadism' tests the narrative of Palestinian dispossession
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Shlomo Ben-Ami - (Opinion) October 8, 2009 - 12:00am

The forthcoming United Nation’s conference commemorating the 60th anniversary of UNRWA (The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees) could not come at a better moment. The restitution of lands occupied in 1967 will obviously continue to be indispensable to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but it is the legacy of the 1948 war that both parties to the conflict have now put at the center of the debate.

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The dragons of 'progressive' delusion
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Michael Young - (Opinion) October 8, 2009 - 12:00am

By coincidence, I happened to pick up another book while reading Hussein Ibish’s excellent, precise dismantling of the agenda for a single Jewish-Arab state in the area of historical Palestine.

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Lessons from the Goldstone issue
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Daoud Kuttab - (Opinion) October 8, 2009 - 12:00am

The angry political and public reaction to the decision by the Palestinian leadership to postpone discussions of the Goldstone war crimes report requires a sober look at the reasons and lessons that need to be learned to avoid repetition.

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The Palestinian Authority and the Battle of Position and legitimacy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat
by Abdullah Iskandar - (Opinion) October 7, 2009 - 12:00am

What would have happened if the Human Rights Council had voted in favor of referring Goldstone's report to the Security Council? Certainly, the United States would have practiced its veto power to prevent the completion of the report which accuses Israel and Hamas of committing "war crimes" during the aggression on the Gaza Strip. In other words, the result would have been the same if the Palestinian Authority had not requested to delay the voting until next March.

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UN body to debate Gaza 'crimes'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
October 8, 2009 - 12:00am

Arab states say the 14 October debate must tackle a report which criticised Israel, after the US argued against a emergency session dedicated to it. The UN Human Rights Council delayed its debate on the findings of the Goldstone report following a Palestinian request. Libya's envoy to the Security Council said its aim was to "keep momentum". Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has come under sharp criticism at home for requesting the UNHRC delay, which followed intense pressure from the US.

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Palestinian U-turn on Gaza report
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
October 7, 2009 - 12:00am

The UN Security Council is set to discuss whether to hold an emergency session on the Goldstone report, which accuses Israel and Hamas of war crimes. A senior PA politician has said last week's request to defer discussion of the report was a "mistake". The PA decision sparked an outcry among Palestinians. Libya, the only Arab state on the 15-member body, will request the UN session in a closed-door meeting.

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Hamas considering delaying reconciliation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Ali Waked - October 7, 2009 - 12:00am

The Hamas movement is considering asking Egypt to delay a meeting of rival Palestinian factions and the signing of a reconciliation agreement scheduled for October 26, following the Palestinian Authority's decision to defer a United Nations Human Rights Council vote on the Goldstone Report, which accused Israel and Hamas of committing war crimes in Gaza.

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Restraint in a delicate place
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
(Editorial) October 8, 2009 - 12:00am

The growing tension surrounding the Temple Mount threatens to undermine the calm Israel has enjoyed for the past few months. Some of the incidents of the past few days have been routine, such as Jews and Muslims worshipping and the annual Jerusalem March; others not, such as the visit by French tourists to the mosque area and the rumor of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu having dinner in Silwan. Either way, they underlay the recriminations and mutual threats, the diplomatic intervention by Jordan and the United States, and the street protests by masked Palestinians in East Jerusalem.

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