October 26th

MK Dichter cancels Spain trip for fear of arrest ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Yuval Karni - October 26, 2010 - 12:00am MK Avi Dichter (Kadima) was planning on taking part in an international peace summit in Spain over the weekend, but was forced to cancel over fears he would be arrested, and possibly imprisoned, by Madrid authorities, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Tuesday. According to report several days ago, a Spanish organization called The Madrid Coalition, invited Israeli and Palestinian representatives to take part in a summit focusing on the peace process and the Saudi initiative. Senior officials from the Palestinian Authority, including Mohammed Dahlan had RSVP'd to the event. » Read more

Israeli army wounds one Gazan, arrests 16 in West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from October 26, 2010 - 12:00am GAZA, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- The Israeli forces shot and injured a mentally disabled young man in northern Gaza Strip, medical sources said Tuesday. The man was lightly injured, said Adham Abu Selmia, a spokesman for the medical services of the deposed Hamas Interior Ministry. The Israeli forces on Erez crossing point spotted the man approaching the terminal without advanced arrangements and shot him, Abu Selmia noted. Israel allocated a 30-meter-wide buffer zone along its borders with Gaza. The Israeli troops often shot at Gazans who enter the area without special arrangements. » Read more

Palestinians renew threat to seek UN recognit ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman by Mohammed Daraghmeh - October 25, 2010 - 12:00am BETHLEHEM, WEST BANK — The Palestinian president said Monday that Israel has been taking unilateral steps for decades by building settlements, so the Palestinians might take one of their own — asking the United Nations to recognize their independent state. President Mahmoud Abbas was replying to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said the only path to peace is negotiations. The threat of unilateral action indicates the depth of the crisis over peace talks restarted just last month by President Barack Obama. » Read more

'If Rabin were alive, we would have peace' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Yitzhak Benhorin - October 22, 2010 - 12:00am Aaron David Miller, who served as an advisor on Mideast peace to six US secretaries of state in the 1990s, worked extensively with slain Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Now, on the 15th anniversary of his assassination, Miller says he believes Rabin could have changed history if he had been allowed to live. » Read more

Palestinians, Jews race to plant West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman by Diaa Hadid - October 25, 2010 - 12:00am BURQA, WEST BANK — Olive tree by olive tree, Palestinian farmers and Jewish settlers are competing over the rocky hills of the West Bank, planting more of the gnarled evergreens to strengthen their hold on the land. Now in harvest season, the battle gets rough, with orchards robbed, vandalized and burned. This year, the stakes have been raised: Palestinians have planted double the number of trees as in past seasons, and Jewish settlers have responded by boosting their own olive production. » Read more

UN rep. backs declaration of Palestinian state in next year ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Tovah Lazaroff - October 26, 2010 - 12:00am United Nations Special Middle East Peace Negotiator Robert H. Serry told Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on Tuesday that the UN will a support the declaration of an independent Palestinian state. Serry spoke to Fayyad while the two picked olives together near the West Bank village of Turmus'ayyeh, close to the Israeli settlement of Shiloh. » Read more

Israeli general lays out plan for reviving Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman by Karin Laub - October 26, 2010 - 12:00am TEL AVIV, ISRAEL — The Israeli general who controls the gates of Hamas-run Gaza says he is pursuing a complex and delicate strategy: enable exports and development in the impoverished Palestinian territory while somehow preventing the Islamic militants who rule it from getting credit for any progress. » Read more

Ross warns Israel failed talks could imperil its security ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Hilary Leila Krieger - October 26, 2010 - 12:00am A top White House advisor warned Monday night that the progress Palestinians have made on security in the West Bank could be jeopardized if peace talks don’t move forward. Dennis Ross, a senior White House Middle East advisor, pointed to improvements the Palestinians have made in security and coordination with Israel over the past two years in a speech before American Israel Public Affairs Committee activists in Florida. » Read more

Why Israeli settlement construction must stop ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Nabeel Shaath - (Opinion) October 25, 2010 - 12:00am Ramallah, West Bank — After more than two decades of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, we are at a turning point in the history of the region. As a Palestinian negotiator for over 20 years, I see that tough decisions have to be made. The stakes are too high – not just for the Palestinian people, but for the entire region’s stability. » Read more

Hamas official: We are on way to liberate Haifa, Acre ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Khaled Abu Toameh - October 25, 2010 - 12:00am Hamas is on its way to liberate Haifa and Acre together with other armies, Hamas’s Minister of Interior, Fathi Hammad, declared on Monday. His threat came as Palestinian Authority officials stepped up their rhetorical attacks on Israel for refusing to extend a moratorium on settlement construction. One official condemned Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu as an “enemy of peace.” » Read more