More details emerge about Hamas' destruction of Palestinian homes in Gaza. Palestinian students support the PA settlement goods ban. Health and economy indicators are down in Gaza but slightly up in the West Bank. Hamas dismisses the idea that Israel would reoccupy Gaza. The PA, human rights groups condemn Hamas executions. Ha'aretz says Israel should apologize for banning Noam Chomsky, and Carlo Strenger says is encourages an academic boycott and flirts with totalitarianism. Yoel Marcus says if Israel does not act, the world will force it to. Pres. Abbas reportedly says Palestine would accept NATO forces on its borders. Settlers say the PA boycott will backfire. Special Envoy Mitchell will formally launch proximity talks next week. Palestinians commemorate the Nakba. Elvis Costello cancels a concert in Israel in protest at the treatment of Palestinians. Hussain Abdul Hussain says Palestinian nonviolence may be the path to statehood. Sami Moubayed says PM Fayyad is following in a tradition of populist Arab politicians. A.B. Yehoshua says Israeli-Palestinian cooperation on peace is the best answer to Iranian meddling.

As non-violence takes root, so may a Palestinian state
Media Mention of Ziad Asali In The National - May 19, 2010 - 12:00am

Palestinians, hard-headed realists that they are, have never much bought the idea of non-violence. The state of Israel was partly born out of violence and has been sustained mainly through violence. Turning the other cheek to people whose anatomical focus was your knees – and keeping you on them – never seemed especially wise, let alone effective.

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Peace or poison
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by A.B. Yehoshua - May 19, 2010 - 12:00am

Contrary to the hopes of many, the end of World War II and the shock of the Nazi atrocities did not mean the end of war and genocide. Indeed, the decades following it have been rife with bloody conflicts in which entire population groups have been murdered. Remember Angola’s civil war, the Khmer Rouge’s massacre of millions of Cambodians, Rwanda’s tribal wars, the bloody disintegration of Yugoslavia, and the extermination of Christians in Southern Sudan.

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Fayyad's peace plan has merit
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by Sami Moubayed - May 18, 2010 - 12:00am

What is new is that Fayyad pledged himself to non-violence, "an ironclad commitment, not a seasonal thing" he noted, based on the experience of Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi. A few days ago, a photo of Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad feeding a wrinkled Palestinian farmer out of his hand appeared in the Palestinian press — behaviour common for the late Yasser Arafat, but certainly unexpected from a rigid economist like Fayyad.

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Elvis Costello cancels concerts in Israel in protest at treatment of Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Rory McCarthy - May 18, 2010 - 12:00am

Elvis Costello has cancelled two concerts he was scheduled to play in Israel in protest at its treatment of Palestinians. Costello, one of the most gifted British songwriters of his generation, was due to play on 30 June and 1 July but says his "conscience" dictated that he pull out of the performances. He joins a list of performers who have decided not to play in Israel, including Gil Scott-Heron and Santana.

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As non-violence takes root, so may a Palestinian state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Hussein Abdul Hussein - May 19, 2010 - 12:00am

Palestinians, hard-headed realists that they are, have never much bought the idea of non-violence. The state of Israel was partly born out of violence and has been sustained mainly through violence. Turning the other cheek to people whose anatomical focus was your knees – and keeping you on them – never seemed especially wise, let alone effective.

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Palestinians mark 'Nakba' with tears and questions
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
by Paul Wood - May 18, 2010 - 12:00am

Claudette Habesch stood at the gate of what had once been her family house, tears in her eyes as she pointed to the garden shaded by a large date palm. "It was beautiful, a lot of fun, a lot of happiness," she said, recalling an Arab childhood spent in Jerusalem before her family fled in 1948. "(Then) there was the foundation of the state of Israel - on my own homeland, on my own home." As a little girl, she often used to wonder "who is sleeping in my bed, who is playing with my dog?"

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Mitchell to launch proximity talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Khaled Abu Toameh - May 18, 2010 - 12:00am

US Middle East envoy George Mitchell is scheduled to hold talks in Ramallah on Wednesday with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, marking the launch of the “proximity talks” with Israel, PA chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said on Monday. Mitchell is to arrive in Israel on Tuesday afternoon, and meet with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Thursday. He is set to leave the region later that day.

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Industrialists: Palestinians only hurting themselves
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Shmulik Grossman - May 18, 2010 - 12:00am

Major factory owners in Israel began to gird for battle against a Palestinian boycott of their products Tuesday, following the distribution of thousands of pamphlets to homes in the West Bank explaining which products were now off-limits. In a conversation with Ynet the factory owners called the boycott a "hate campaign" and said it was a political move that would "blow up in Salam Fayyad's face". Avi Elkayam, who represents 300 factory owners in the area of Mishor Adumim, the largest Israeli industrial zone in the West Bank, said the Palestinians were only hurting themselves.

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Report: PA willing to have NATO forces in future state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Roee Nahmias - May 19, 2010 - 12:00am

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas intends on informing Special US envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell that the Palestinian Authority would agree to have NATO forces stationed in future Palestine, London-based Arabic-language newspaper al-Quds al-Arabi reported Wednesday. Abbas and Mitchell are scheduled to meet in Ramallah on Wednesday afternoon.

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