February 16th

Selling a piece of Palestinian Main Street
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Edmund Sanders - (Interview) February 15, 2010 - 1:00am

Is the West Bank ready for Wall Street? That's a question soon to be answered with the launch of the first-of-its-kind Palestinian private equity fund, which managers hope will raise $50 million to invest in businesses in the Palestinian territories. The Palestine Liberation Organization's finances have at times drawn criticism. Late PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat was accused of controlling a $1-billion investment portfolio that, Western intelligence agencies said, was funded in part through money laundering, arms dealing and diversion of international aid.

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February 15th

An aide to Pres. Abbas is suspended following sexual harassment allegations. Hamas detains a British journalist for 15 days. Sec. Clinton says US can't force Israel and the Palestinians into talks, and meets with Palestinian negotiators in Qatar. The PIF plans a new IT Park. Rep. Baird says the US should break the blockade of Gaza. Hamas is being increasingly challenged by more extreme Islamists. Palestinian protesters pose as Na'vi from "Avatar." Israeli soldiers kill a Palestinian in Hebron. Ha'aretz profiles PM Fayyad, and Ziad AbuZayyad says he deserves congratulations for his Herzliya speech. Israel's Defense Ministry identifies settlements in violation of the partial settlement freeze. Amira Hass describes the arrest of a 12-year-old Palestinian boy by occupation forces. Robert Fisk asks what has happened to Israel's self-image, and Donald Macintyre says a new Israeli McCarthyism is stifling internal criticism. The Israeli military is actively working with Human Rights Watch. Asharq Al-Awsat interviews Israeli Deputy FM Ayalon. Helga Baumgarten says Pres. Abbas' successor is likely to be a Palestinian security figure.

Dr. Fayyad in Herzliya
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Quds
by Ziad Abu Zayyad - (Opinion) February 7, 2010 - 1:00am

Prime Minister Salam Fayyad’s speech before the Herzliya Conference was met with mixed reactions among Palestinians. The comments that circulated on the Internet and in blogs were predominantly negative to the extent that one commentator wrote saying that Fayyad is collaborating in the laying down of Israeli security policy.

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Yasser Arafat's successor will likely be a Fatah security figure
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Helga Baumgarten - (Opinion) February 15, 2010 - 1:00am

Although it appeared that the leadership transition inside the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), the Palestinian Authority, and the Fatah movement was resolved smoothly with the January 2005 election of Mahmoud Abbas following the death of Yasser Arafat, many Palestinians continue to view Abbas’ election as only an interim solution to Palestinian problems. In the meantime, the struggle for succession inside Fatah has continued behind closed doors and recently has come out into the open due to Abbas’ waning legitimacy and popularity.

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Asharq Al-Awsat Talks to Israel Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Ali al-Saleh - (Interview) February 14, 2010 - 1:00am

Perhaps for security reasons, the meeting with Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister David Ayalon was at the Israeli Embassy in a neighborhood across the affluent High Kensington Street in central London. One feels the security measures even before arriving at the big gate to this exclusive area near Kensington Palace, the private residence of the late Princess Diana. You are watched from a distance by a number of British policemen in their traditional uniform, but the untraditional part of the scene is the machine guns they are carrying.

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IDF Turns To Human Rights Watch for Help
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Gal Beckerman - February 10, 2010 - 1:00am

As human rights organizations continue to be vilified by an Israeli government still smarting from the effects of the Goldstone Report, the Forward has learned that the Israeli military has been in conversation and even actively working with Human Rights Watch, the international organization that has been often — and loudly — denounced by the Jewish world.

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State of denial: Robert Fisk searches for peace in Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Robert Fisk - (Opinion) February 11, 2010 - 1:00am

There are no armed guards on the gate of Number 17 Ben-Gurion Boulevard in Tel Aviv, just a tired, two-storey villa set back from the street and an open door that leads to a dark kitchen and a little room with a cot on the floor.

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The new McCarthyism sweeping Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Donald MacIntyre - February 13, 2010 - 1:00am

It's hard, sitting on the other side of the office table from which Naomi Chazan is picking at her modest hummus and salad snack lunch, to believe that the amiable 63-year-old university professor with a self-deprecating sense of humour has suddenly become the most discussed, not to say demonised, woman in Israel.

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A Palestinian arrest so ridiculous even the Israeli judges smiled
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amira Hass - February 15, 2010 - 1:00am

Something about 12-year-old Bassam caused two Israelis to smile. Two Palestinians noticed, but did not remember their smiles as being disparaging or arrogant. On the contrary. The Palestinians regarded the smiles as a rare moment in which two Israelis - and not just any Israelis, but military judges - realized how ridiculous the situation was.

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Defense Ministry reveals West Bank settlement freeze abuses
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Chaim Levinson - February 15, 2010 - 1:00am

Security sources have found and made public 28 incidents of settlements violating the ten-month building freeze in the West Bank declared by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Haaretz learned on Monday. Responding to an appeal made by Meretz MK Haim Oron to clarify alleged settlement freeze infringements, deputy defense minister, Matan Vilnai, responded by that saying "The court order to halt construction has been given out. The implementation of the building freeze will be examined."

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