November 4th

ANALYSIS / Israel preparing public for a new war in Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Avi Issacharoff - (Analysis) November 4, 2009 - 1:00am

Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin, director of Military Intelligence, announced Tuesday that Hamas launched a rocket some 60 kilometers into the sea, apparently as an experiment. Such a rocket, if fired from the northernmost point of the Gaza Strip, could strike the southern cities of the Gush Dan area - including Rishon Letzion, Holon and Bat Yam - and possibly reach as far as Tel Aviv itself.

»

Controversy over draft UN resolution on Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
November 4, 2009 - 1:00am

The UN General Assembly is likely to vote in support of a UN report alleging war crimes in Gaza on Wednesday, but experts say that, if not properly worded, the resolution could close off options for further action on the matter.

»

Palestinians who see nonviolence as their weapon
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Richard Boudreaux - November 4, 2009 - 1:00am

Every Friday, Mohammed Khatib's forces assemble for battle with the Israeli army and gather their weapons: a bullhorn, banners -- and a fierce belief that peaceful protest can bring about a Palestinian state. A few hundred strong, they march to the Israeli barrier that separates the tiny farming community of Bilin from much of its land. They chant and shout. A few teenagers throw stones. Khatib helped launch the weekly ritual five years ago in an attempt to "re-brand" a Palestinian struggle often associated with rocket attacks and suicide bombers.

»

U.S. hope dims for high-level Israeli-Palestinian talks over state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Karen Deyoung, Howard Schneider - November 4, 2009 - 1:00am

The Obama administration has concluded that an early resumption of high-level negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians over a Palestinian state is unlikely in the near future -- an acknowledgment that it has fallen short, for now, on one of its major initial foreign policy goals. While still pressing for face-to-face talks between Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli President Binyamin Netanyahu, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has begun to urge Arab states to encourage Palestinian participation in lower-level talks with Israel to avoid a vacuum.

»

Short-Term Fixes Sought in Mideast
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Mark Landler - November 3, 2009 - 1:00am

For the last seven months, the Obama administration has labored in vain to bring the Israelis and the Palestinians together, pushing for a loose quid pro quo under which Israel would freeze construction of Jewish settlements while its Arab neighbors undertook diplomatic steps to bolster Israel’s confidence in its security.

»

November 3rd

Hussein Ibish on the Fantasy World of One-Staters
Interview with Hussein Ibish - The Atlantic - November 3, 2009 - 1:00am

Hussein Ibish, a senior fellow at the American Task Force on Palestine, which is the leading American group advocating for an independent Palestine alongside Israel, has a new book out, "What's Wrong With the One-State Agenda?" which does a comprehensive job of demolishing the arguments made by those who think that Israel should be eliminated and replaced by a single state of Jews and Palestinians.

»

Secretary of State Clinton insists that the US position on an Israeli settlement freeze has not changed after a firestorm of criticism from Palestinian and Arab officials and media regarding her comments earlier this week in Israel. The Christian Science Monitor interviews and This Week in Palestine profiles Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, who complains Israel is being allowed to set the agenda for peace. Jewish settlers seize control of a Palestinian home in occupied East Jerusalem. Israeli military officials claim Hamas rockets could reach Tel Aviv. The BBC explains that the occupation has forced Palestinian artists in Jerusalem "underground." Fatah co-founder Sakher Habash dies at 70. The PLO is considering all factions running on the united ticket against Hamas in Palestinian elections announced for January.

Need for US-sponsored Arab-Israeli deal
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Ghassan Rubeiz - (Opinion) November 3, 2009 - 1:00am

Palestinians and Israelis are locked in a relationship of deep mistrust. A credible outside force must intervene to break up an enduring cycle of despair. In the foreseeable future, there seems to be no Middle East miracle cure, spontaneous recovery, inspiration, powerful leadership or any of those signs of self-generated breakthroughs.

»

PLO Factions to Run on One Ticket against Hamas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Kifah Zaboun - November 2, 2009 - 1:00am

Ramallah, Asharq Al-Awsat-Well-informed sources have told Asharq Al-Awsat that PLO factions are studying a proposal by Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas to run in the forthcoming presidential and legislative elections as one list to confront Hamas, which achieved a sweeping victory in the previous elections four years ago, when it won majority seats in the Palestinian Legislative Council [PLC].

»

Palestinian revolutionary dies
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Omar Karmi - November 3, 2009 - 1:00am

Sakher Habash, the Palestinian revolutionary and intellectual who died on Sunday after a stroke aged 70, devoted the greater part of his life to the Palestinian struggle. Known by his nom de guerre Abu Nizar, Habash was a founding member of the Fatah Party and although he supported the Oslo process of talks with Israel in the mid-1990s, he never rejected armed resistance. Violence, he argued, was a legitimate way for Palestinians to struggle for their rights. To the end, like his lifelong compadre Yasser Arafat, Habash donned the revolutionary uniform.

»


American Task Force on Palestine - 1634 Eye St. NW, Suite 725, Washington DC 20006 - Telephone: 202-262-0017