December 7th

Report: Egypt to offer new reconciliation plan
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
December 7, 2009 - 1:00am


Egypt intends to propose a new suggestion to the Hamas-Fatah reconciliation plan, focusing on disputed points, while Cairo will ask both sides to either accept or refuse the plan as a whole, but will not allow amendments, according to Al-Yaum, a Saudi newspaper, on Monday. Egyptian mediators will restart dialogue that was frozen for months following the Palestinian Authority's deferred discussion of the UN-backed Goldstone report, a high-profile source said Monday.


Israeli forces kill Israeli man at Gaza border
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
December 7, 2009 - 1:00am


Israeli forces shot and killed an Israeli citizen near a Gaza border crossing overnight, an official said. An Israeli military spokeswoman told Ma'an that forces opened fire at the man, a civilian in his 30s, as he attempted to enter northern Gaza near the Erez crossing early Monday. The spokeswoman added that when Defense Ministry guards identified seeing the man they first fired warning shots but ultimately targeted him when he failed to respond. The forces aimed at his lower body, she said.


Jordanian FM: Establishing Palestinian state in Jordan's interest
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
December 7, 2009 - 1:00am


Visiting Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh Saturday said establishing an independent Palestinian state is in Jordan's interest. "Establishing a Palestinian state is part of the Arab peace initiative... and it is in Jordan's interest," Judeh told a joint news conference with Palestinian Minister of Foreign Affairs Reyadal-Maliki following a meeting in Ramallah with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. This is the only solution to conflicts in the region, he added.


Egypt says Israel stalling on prisoner swap
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
December 7, 2009 - 1:00am


Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit accused Israel on Sunday of stalling on a prisoner swap with Hamas for a captured Israeli soldier by refusing to free certain Palestinian prisoners. "Israel is still placing obstacles toward releasing all those demanded by the Palestinians," said Abul Gheit, according to a statement released by the foreign ministry. "We hope that the Israeli side, which decided to achieve this exchange, will go through with it and not place further obstacles," he said.


Lebanon's Palestinians: refugees for life
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
by Rita Daou - December 7, 2009 - 1:00am


Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's visit to Beirut on Monday casts the spotlight on the plight of nearly 300,000 Palestinians in Lebanon who fear they are doomed to be refugees for life. His brief trip comes amid renewed efforts to revive the Middle East peace process and concern in Lebanon's political circles that any deal struck on the refugee issue would be at the expense of the Lebanese.


Israel closes sole oil and gas terminal on Gaza border
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Erin Cunningham - December 7, 2009 - 1:00am


The population of the Gaza Strip is facing an acute cooking gas shortage this winter, after a unilateral Israeli decision in October to permanently close the sole oil and gas terminal between the coastal Palestinian territory and the Jewish state. The Nahal Oz crossing has been shut down for "security reasons," an official with the Israeli coordination office for the Gaza Strip said, adding that it will only act as "a backup" when the Kerem Shalom crossing in the south is too congested.


The Fayyad plan
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
(Editorial) December 7, 2009 - 1:00am


ISRAELI PRIME Minister Binyamin Netanyahu took office in March after a campaign in which he refused to support Palestinian statehood, promised an expansion of Jewish settlement in the West Bank and hinted at a new military campaign to "topple" Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Eight months later, the Israeli leader is on record as accepting a Palestinian state, is deep in negotiations with Hamas over a possible prisoner swap, and -- most remarkably of all -- has dispatched inspectors and security forces to the West Bank to enforce a 10-month suspension in Jewish housing construction.


December 4th

Extremist settlers continued to defy the building moratorium, and the Israeli military fears they may attack Palestinians. A confidential EU report accuses Israel of de facto annexation of occupied East Jerusalem. Martin Indyk suggests that ensuring Palestinian control over West Bank territories is essential. Israelis are divided on the prospect of a prisoner swap with Hamas, and the two sides have both rejected mediator's proposals. A militant group claims to have attacked Israeli occupation forces in Gaza, which is suffering under a fuel and power crisis. The UAE is donating $2.5 million to UNRWA after the agency announced a zero balance. Ziad AbuZayyad says PM Netanyahu has to prove he is interested in peace. Ha'aretz says that while Hamas is imposing strict religious social order in Gaza, it is also cracking down on violent extremist groups. Pres. Obama, like all his predecessors, declines to move the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. A bitter argument has erupted over the appointment of Israel's UN ambassador. Patrick Seale agrees with other recent Arab commentaries that the Palestinians should call Netanyahu's bluff and return to negotiations with a strong stance. The Jordan Times denounces as strategically foolish Hamas' declaration that the 1947 UN partition resolution is null and void.

Gaza borders closed Friday; fuel situation remains critical
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
December 4, 2009 - 1:00am


Israeli authorities informed Palestinian crossing officials that all transfer points would be closed Friday, continuing the five-day-a-week opening trend at the terminals. Raed Fattouh, Palestinian crossings liaison, said he was told that all crossings would be closed Friday, although they are scheduled to be open. Crossings have not been open Fridays since summer. The closure means food and fuel waiting to enter the Strip will continue to wait in storage containers. Fuel crisis


UAE donates 2.5 million to struggling UNRWA
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
December 4, 2009 - 1:00am


Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahyan of the UAE ordered the donation of 2.5 million dollars to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, marking the donation for Palestine refugees in the Near East, the Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported Thursday. In his statement accompanying the donation, Al-Nahyan said it represented his government's unwavering and continuous support to the Palestinian people.



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