October 19th

When the Arabs Shut their Ears ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat by Mohammad Salah - October 19, 2009 - 12:00am You can close your eyes at will, without falling asleep or becoming unconscious, even if for the only reason that you do not want to see something in front of you. However, you cannot shut your ears at will, and as long as your hearing is unimpaired, and also as long as you are conscious, you can still hear, even if you did not want to. » Read more

Two Palestinian Causes… or More ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat by Husam Itani - October 19, 2009 - 12:00am The path taken by the Palestinian reconciliation suggests that the current situation between the struggling parties requires much more than reconciliation. Indeed, the difficulties that obstruct ratifying the Egyptian agreement are only a sample of how deeply rooted and difficult the disagreement is between the components of Palestinian political society. » Read more

Israel’s Dangerously Battered Image ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat by Patrick Seale - (Opinion) October 16, 2009 - 12:00am In international politics, image counts. A country’s reputation, the aura it projects, the esteem in which its leaders are held – these are as important as its armed services in providing protection for its citizens. Most politicians know that ‘soft power’, skilfully used, can be at least as effective as blood-drenched ‘hard power’. » Read more

Fatah Considering Elections Without Hamas Approval ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat by Kifah Zaboun - October 18, 2009 - 12:00am Ramallah, Asharq Al-Awsat- The Palestinian presidency was surprised on Friday by Egypt's stand toward Hamas's request to postpone the signing of the reconciliation agreement and its agreement on postponing the date of the signing, Asharq Al-Awsat has learned. Earlier, Azzam al-Ahmad, official in charge of national relations in the Fatah Movement Central Committee, conveyed to the Egyptian side the movement's approval of the reconciliation agreement, provided that the signing date would not be postponed and no new words would be introduced to the text. » Read more

A Gaza war resolution that resolves nothing ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National October 19, 2009 - 12:00am The recent UN condemnation of Israel brings to mind the image of Nero fiddling away while Rome burned. In the aftermath of the Gaza war, there can be little doubt that war crimes were committed – crimes that will eventually have to be answered for – but the UN Human Rights Council’s vote on Friday is a variation on a very old tune that has done little to assuage the flames in the Middle East. Indeed, by pushing one-sided recriminations into the Security Council at this juncture, the recent resolution makes justice more difficult to attain and peace a more distant prospect. » Read more

Goldstone: Israel could stop report with open inquiry ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) by Ron Kampeas - October 18, 2009 - 12:00am Israel could stop the Goldstone report process if it openly investigated its army's conduct in the Gaza War, Richard Goldstone said. "If the Israeli government set up an appropriate investigation it would really be the end of the matter," said Goldstone, the former South African judge and international human rights prosecutor who authored the report alleging war crimes by both sides in last winter's war between Israel and Hamas. "The heart of the report would become pretty irrelevant if there was an open, bonafide investigation." » Read more

Obama's mettle is about to be tested ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Simon Tisdall - (Opinion) October 19, 2009 - 12:00am It's getting harder each day for the Obama administration to maintain the illusion of progress in Middle East peacemaking. The UN human rights council's vote to condemn January's Israeli assault on Gaza, furiously rejected by the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, at the weekend, was the latest blow to US efforts to kickstart negotiations on a two-state solution. Across the region, all the signs point not to reconciliation, but to renewed confrontation. As Washington talks about talks, the Arab world mutters ominously about the prospect of a third intifada. » Read more

Political struggle over West Bank town ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News by Heather Sharp - October 19, 2009 - 12:00am "The decision was purely political," says Wajih Qawas, fiddling with a string of prayer beads as he explains how he lost his job. Until a month ago, the softly-spoken management systems graduate was the mayor of the West Bank town of Qalqilya, although he has spent much of that time in Israeli prisons. The town of 40,000 was one of several major West Bank towns in which Hamas won control of municipal councils in elections in 2004 and 2005. Locals and outsiders alike wondered how a group known for suicide bombings would handle fixing potholes and sewage pipes. » Read more

Israel pulls textbook with chapter on Nakba ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Or Kashti - October 19, 2009 - 12:00am The Ministry of Education has taken the unusual step of collecting all copies of the history textbook, "Nationalism: Building a State in the Middle East" which was published about two months ago by the Zalman Shazar Center. They will be returned to the shelves only after corrections are made to the text, particularly with reference to the War of Independence. The book had already been approved by the ministry. » Read more

Why Israel failed in the Gaza war ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Yehezkel Dror - (Opinion) October 19, 2009 - 12:00am "Operation Cast Lead was the most planned operation in the annals of Israel's wars," Aluf Benn wrote in these pages over the weekend ("The noose tightens," October 16). Heaven help us for such planning, which was technically sophisticated yet one-dimensional. » Read more