April 20th

Middle East Peace: So Why Have We Failed?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy
by Yossi Beilin, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Saeb Erakat, Gamal Helal, Daniel Kurtzer, Robert Malley, Michael B. Oren, Dov Weissglas, James Wolfensohn, Anthony Zinni - (Interview) April 19, 2010 - 12:00am

More than 60 years after Israel's stunning victory in the 1948 war that birthed the Jewish state, an end to the world's most exasperating conflict seems more distant than ever. U.S. President Barack Obama is trying to drag both sides kicking and screaming to the negotiating table after nearly a decade of no progress. But is there still any reason for hope?

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Gazans imposed "unreasonable taxes" as Hamas passes fiscal crisis
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by Saud Abu Ramadan - April 20, 2010 - 12:00am

A'ahed al-Shawa, a 31-year-old meat vendor, who owns a butcher shop in western Gaza City, was shocked when representatives of the Hamas-ruled municipality informed him that he has to pay annual taxes for placing his grill machine outside his shop. "They asked me to pay 1,500 Israeli new shekels (404 U.S. dollars) every year for putting my grill meat machine outside my store," al-Shawa said, adding "I have never paid such kind of new unreasonable taxes before, either to Israel or to the Palestinian (National) Authority."

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Mash'al: Hamas won't recognize Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
April 20, 2010 - 12:00am

Hamas leader Khalid Mash'al said Monday that Arab officials had urged the movement to accept the International Quartet's conditions and recognize Israel in exchange for amendments to the Egyptian-backed unity deal. "Whoever asks us to recognize Israel will be disappointed," Mash'al, the senior-most Hamas leader said during a speech marking a week of Prisoners Day activities in Damascus, where he has lived since his August 1999 expulsion from Jordan.

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The False Religion of Mideast Peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy
by Aaron David Miller - (Opinion) April 19, 2010 - 12:00am

On October 18, 1991, against long odds and in front of an incredulous press corps, U.S. Secretary of State James A. Baker III and Soviet Foreign Minister Boris Pankin announced that Arabs and Israelis were being invited to attend a peace conference in Madrid.

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Obama, don't forget Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Richard Cohen - (Opinion) April 20, 2010 - 12:00am

These have been busy days for Jewish bloggers when it comes to Israel. One of them, the formidable Ed Koch, has virtually incinerated President Obama for his Israeli policy. The Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel has taken out full-page ads in major newspapers to tell Obama, in effect, to lay off Jerusalem, and Ronald S. Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, wrote the president to say how concerned he was about the administration's Israel policy. In short, it stinks.

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Mood Is Dark as Israel Marks 62nd Year as a Nation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - April 19, 2010 - 12:00am

Every year, Israelis approach the joy of their Independence Day right after immersing themselves in a 24-hour period of grief for fallen soldiers. Before the fireworks burst across the skies Monday night to celebrate the country’s 62nd birthday, the airwaves filled with anguished stories of servicemen and -women killed, the Kaddish prayer of mourning and speeches placing the deeply personal losses of a small country into the sweep of Jewish history.

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'Palestinians will rule themselves' says Ehud Barak
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
April 20, 2010 - 12:00am

Israel's Defence Minister Ehud Barak has said Israel must, eventually, allow the Palestinians to rule themselves. In an interview with Army Radio he said in the future there would be a separate Palestinian state "whether you like it or not". The interview comes as Israelis mark Memorial Day, commemorating Israeli soldiers killed in action. Mr Barak, a former top ranking soldier, leads the Labour Party which is part of the current government coalition.

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IDF looks to cut off PA protest funding
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Yaakov Katz - April 20, 2010 - 12:00am

The army has begun looking into ways to crack down on the Palestinian Authority’s financial support of the so-called nonviolent public uprising it is supporting in the West Bank, The Jerusalem Post has learned. Leading efforts against the PA’s financial mechanism is the IDF’s Central Command, in conjunction with the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency). IDF sources said recently that PA officials, including Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, were directing and overseeing the weekly protests that the IDF faced in the West Bank, including in Ni’lin, Bil’in and near the Shavei Shomron settlement.

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April 19th

ATFP President Ziad Asali says Palestinians are developing a new diversified and peaceful strategy for liberation. Jackson Diehl says Palestinian-Israeli peace is not achievable under present conditions. Menachem Begin's grandson critiques national identities. Al Qaeda-style fanatics in Gaza claim 11,000 followers. DM Barak expresses concern about rift with the United States, says occupation must end. Israel seals the occupied West Bank for two days. Pres. Peres urges faith in peace. The PA denies Israel is to transfer more territory to its control. Pres. Abbas urges Palestinian prisoners to promote national unity. YNet says even PM Fayyad's harshest critics are giving him credit. Ari Shavit urges Netanyahu to act before it is too late. Akiva Eldar says Israel is turning its back on the Arab Peace Initiative. Shlomo Avineri asks what would happen if Palestinians declared statehood. Tariq Alhomayed says the onus for national reconciliation is on Hamas. Abdul Rahman Al-Rashid says Netanyahu's policies are strengthening the Arab position. The Jordan Times says Israel is escalating tensions. IPS interviews Ziad Abuzayyad.

‘U.S. Can Stop Israeli Settlements’
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS)
by Ziad Abu Zayyad, Jerrold Kessel, Pierre Klochendler - (Interview) April 19, 2010 - 12:00am

Ziad Abuzayyad was Palestinian cabinet minister responsible for Jerusalem affairs and a member of the Palestinian Legislature. During previous rounds of peace talks with Israel he was a leading member of the Palestinian negotiating team Currently, Abuzayyad is co-editor of the ‘Palestine-Israel Journal’ which seeks to create a platform for exploring tangible ways to advance a peaceful two-state solution between Israel and Palestine.

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