October 25th

A 'Jewish and democratic' state ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times by Gwynne Dyer - (Opinion) October 25, 2010 - 12:00am "With this law Israel buys an exit ticket from the family of nations," wrote Israeli journalist Nahum Barnea last week in the newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth. “The proposed loyalty law... is really racist. It obliges non-Jews to declare that they would be loyal to the Jewish state but exempts Jews from this obligation.” But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposed new law is not racist, just shortsighted and nasty. » Read more

The Negotiations and the Illusion of the Palestinian State ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat by Abdullah Iskandar - (Opinion) October 24, 2010 - 12:00am When former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon decided to unilaterally withdraw from the Gaza Strip, he resorted when implementing the step in August 2005 to evacuating the settlements and the Jewish settlers by force. Sharon intentionally did not coordinate with the Palestinian Authority when taking this step, in spite of all of the US’s, and especially Egypt’s, attempts. This was in order to assert that dismantling these settlements had no connection whatsoever to the peace process or to negotiations with the PA, but rather was connected to Israeli interests alone. » Read more

Gaza, The Wright Way ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Forward by Zohar Tirosh-Polk - October 20, 2010 - 12:00am Lawrence Wright, the renowned author and longtime staff member of The New Yorker, seems surprisingly fragile standing alone onstage in New York City’s 3-Legged Dog Art & Technology Center. Considering he is about to take a long, hard look at the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, especially as it pertains to Gaza, one can forgive the jitters. » Read more

'Even if the Israelis confess, I don't expect any justice from them' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent by Said Ghazali, Donald MacIntyre - October 23, 2010 - 12:00am Maysa Samouni, whose husband Tawfiq, 21, was killed and baby daughter Jumana, now two, was injured in the building struck by missiles on 5 January, 2009, was unmoved yesterday by the progress of the investigation into the attack. "The court wouldn't bring back my husband," she said. "Even if they [the Israelis] confessed that they shot at the warehouse crowded with the civilians, I didn't expect any justice from them." » Read more

It was the Gaza assault's worst atrocity. Now the truth may finally be told ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent by Donald MacIntyre - October 23, 2010 - 12:00am Israeli military police are investigating whether an air strike which killed 21 members of the same family sheltering in a building during the Army's Gaza offensive in 2008-9 was authorised by a senior brigade commander who had been warned of the danger to civilians. » Read more

Israeli army officers investigated over Gaza air strike that killed 21 ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Harriet Sherwood - October 22, 2010 - 12:00am Senior Israeli army officers are under investigation by military police over the authorisation of an air strike that killed at least 21 members of one family during the three-week Gaza war in 2008-9. The officers are reported to include the commander of the Givati Brigade, Colonel Ilan Malka. No decision has been made on whether they will be charged. The air strike took place on 5 January 2009, nine days after the war began. The extended Samouni family were ordered to gather in one house after a three-storey property belonging to them was taken over as a military position. » Read more

Gaza hardliners launch arson attack on family leisure park ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Harriet Sherwood - October 24, 2010 - 12:00am Crazy Water Park had already been closed down for two weeks by the Hamas government, over an "unlicensed water whirl", when 40 armed arsonists struck in the middle of the night last month. They set fire to the resort's two main buildings and a tented mosque, causing more than $300,000 (£191,000) worth of damage and leading the owners to wonder whether it was a doomed project. » Read more

Despicable Jewish revenge ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Elyakim Haetzni - October 25, 2010 - 12:00am What at first appeared to be individual mischievous acts, and later became methodical “hooliganism,” is increasingly taking the shape of a threatening phenomenon: The desecration of an Arab cemetery and the torching of mosques, schools, fields and vehicles. The perpetrators of these crimes refer to them as “price tag,” an infuriating term in terms of both morality and logic. » Read more

Pope: Mideast peace is possible, urgently needed ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews October 25, 2010 - 12:00am Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday called for greater religious freedom in the Middle East and said that peace there is possible, urgently needed and the best remedy to the exodus of Christians from the region. Benedict celebrated Mass in St. Peter's Basilica on Sunday to mark the end of a two-week meeting of Mideast bishops, called to discuss the future of embattled Christians in the largely Muslim region. He called freedom of religion "one of the fundamental human rights, which each state should always respect" and said the issue should be the subject of dialogue with Muslims. » Read more

IDF planning for potential PA ban on West Bank raids ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Anshel Pfeffer - October 25, 2010 - 12:00am The Israel Defense Forces is preparing for the possibility that soldiers may not be able to enter Palestinian cities at will, something the Palestinian Authority has been requesting for some time. Military sources told Haaretz they believe such a change would not significantly impact the security situation. » Read more