May 10th

A massacre of arabs masked by a state of national amnesia ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent by Catrina Stewart - May 10, 2010 - 12:00am More than one unwitting visitor to Jerusalem has fallen prey to the bizarre delusion that they are the Messiah. Usually, they are whisked off to the serene surroundings of Kfar Shaul psychiatric hospital on the outskirts of the city, where they are gently nursed back to health. It is an interesting irony that the patients at Kfar Shaul recuperate from such variations on amnesia on the very spot that Israel has sought to erase from its collective memory. » Read more

All over again? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times (Opinion) May 10, 2010 - 12:00am Palestinians and Israelis are projected to soon commence proximity talks, expected to touch on certain final status issues of crucial import, such as borders and security. Proximity talks, by one definition, mean “diplomatic discussions between intermediaries, though the involved parties are close by”; in the case of Palestinians and Israelis, the notion seems to have gone awry, as it will involve an impartial representative acting as a mediator between parties who are willing to attend the same conference but unwilling to meet face to face. » Read more

'US support for nuke policy eroding' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Herb Keinon - May 10, 2010 - 12:00am Jerusalem is increasingly jittery that cracks are appearing in the nearly half-century-old US policy of upholding Israel’s right to maintain its “nuclear ambiguity,” following reports that Israeli nuclear capabilities are, for the first time, scheduled to be on the agenda of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) board meeting next month. » Read more

Israel's tourism ministry is wiping Palestinians off the map ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Daoud Kuttab - May 10, 2010 - 12:00am As Israeli-Palestinian negotiations restart, Palestinians are determined to begin by tackling the issue of borders, before working backwards toward deciding how to implement the establishment of a Palestinian state. Once agreement is reached on borders, the thinking goes, it will become clear who has the right to decide whether or not settlement activity can continue. » Read more

US: Israel promised not to build in Ramat Shlomo for 2 years ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Yitzhak Benhorin - May 9, 2010 - 12:00am The State Department said the first round of indirect peace talks between Israel and Palestinian authorities have been completed. State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said in a statement Sunday that US special envoy George Mitchell has left the Middle East after concluding talks characterized as serious and wide-ranging. » Read more

Palestinians report first Israeli violation of talks to U.S. ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz May 10, 2010 - 12:00am Just two days after resuming peace talks with Israel, the Palestinian Authority has reported to the United States what it termed the first violation of negotiation terms, a senior Palestinian official said Monday. Yasser Abed Rabbo said the construction of 14 housing units for Jewish settlers in an East Jerusalem neighbourhood, as reported by the Israeli Peace Now pressure group, violated the terms of new talks. » Read more

Israel gets accepted into OECD after unanimous vote ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Barak Ravid - May 10, 2010 - 12:00am The 31 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development on Monday unanimously voted in favor of accepting Israel as a member of the group, a senior Jerusalem source said. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to convene a special press conference at 4 P.M. to discuss Israel's admittance into the Paris-based international economic group. Israeli officials have said acceptance would be an important stamp of approval for the country's economy, boosting its credit rating and strengthening ties with foreign investors. » Read more

Israeli opposition makes coalition overtures as peace talks begin ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua by David Harris - May 9, 2010 - 12:00am United States special envoy George Mitchell is expected to begin his shuttle diplomacy between the Israelis and the Palestinians from next week. This follows Sunday' s announcement by the chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat that the indirect talks with Israel has begun. Mitchell met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday before leaving the Middle East for a week of consultations in Washington. He will be back in the region by the middle of next week to begin the proximity process repeatedly travelling the short distance between Jerusalem and Ramallah. » Read more

Buy Palestinian products ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Akiva Eldar - May 10, 2010 - 12:00am Suppose some Palestinian group managed to set up a new settlement on land abandoned by refugees of the 1967 war in the Jordan Valley. What would your average Israeli patriot have to say about an Israeli contractor who agreed to build it, or about Jewish workers clambering on Palestinian scaffolds? What an outcry we'd hear from the Israeli right about such traitors! Never fear, our forces would never allow the uncircumcised to fix even a peg in the occupied territory under absolute Israeli control (some 60 percent of the West Bank ). » Read more

Palestinians frustrated by report of newly announced East Jerusalem construction plan ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua May 10, 2010 - 12:00am Reports of Israeli renovation work which started Sunday and will include construction of 14 housing units in a Jewish settlement in disputed East Jerusalem frustrated the Palestinians. A report by the Peace Now, an Israeli anti-settlement movement, said that the housing units would be appended to a place that has once been used as a post by Israeli police, which overlooks the Muslim holy shrine al-Aqsa Mosque. » Read more