August 10th

Hamas’ many-splendored contradictions
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from NOW Lebanon
by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) August 10, 2010 - 12:00am

Hamas was in the news last week, accused by Egypt of having been behind the rocket attacks from the Sinai against the Israeli town of Eilat and the Jordanian town of Aqaba. This, once again, told us something about the paradoxes of the Islamist group.

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August 9th

Tom Friedman finds wisdom in a new movie about Israelis and Palestinians. Israeli officials are due to testify before the flotilla inquiry. Israelis and Palestinians in Jerusalem use wire to divide themselves. The LA Times looks at lessons and legacies of Israel's unilateral redeployment from Gaza. Israel destroys more Palestinian homes in the Jordan Valley. A Fatah official says there will be a cabinet reshuffle within two weeks. Libya frees an Israeli photographer as part of an aid deal on Gaza. A Palestinian human rights group says Israel plans to deport 20,000 Palestinians from Jerusalem. Pres. Abbas' office again clarifies that he has no objection to Jews serving in any international force deployed in Palestine. A lack of translators is hindering Israeli military police investigations into abuses. A young Palestinian files court charges that Israeli authorities tortured him. Yossi Beilin says until Israel changes its attitude towards peace, it will be isolated. An Israeli court confirms orders to seal a synagogue in an unauthorized settler outpost. The National says Israel should be held accountable for the flotilla attack. Adel Safty says strategic considerations dictate Abbas' return to directing initiations.

Israeli PM says Turkey ignored flotilla warnings
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Ari Rabinovitch - August 9, 2010 - 12:00am

Turkey ignored repeated warnings and appeals "at the highest level" to halt a Gaza aid flotilla, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told an Israeli inquiry on Monday into the fatal raid by his troops. Netanyahu was the first witness to testify to the state-appointed inquiry into the lethal raid at sea on May 31, in which Israeli commandos killed nine Turkish pro-Palestinian activists after boarding their vessel from a helicopter.

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Libya frees Israeli photographer in Gaza aid deal
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Dan Williams - August 9, 2010 - 12:00am

Libya has freed an Israeli photographer held by its security services for five months, as part of a secret Austrian-mediated deal involving aid for the blockaded Gaza Strip, an Israeli official said on Monday. Israel Radio said Rafael Hadad was detained as a suspected spy in March after travelling to Libya, which is technically at war with Israel, on a Tunisian passport -- his second travel document. But the Israeli official denied any espionage link.

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Fatah official: Cabinet reshuffle within 2 weeks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
August 9, 2010 - 12:00am

The Palestinian Authority cabinet reshuffle will take place within two weeks, Fatah's parliament speaker Azzam Al-Ahmad said Sunday. President Mahmoud Abbas confirmed there would be a reshuffle in May, although reports of a new PA cabinet have been circulating since February. US pressure on Palestinian leadership to move to direct talks with Israel, and a busy schedule of visits have delayed the forming of a new cabinet, Al-Ahmad told Ma’an Radio Network.

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Jordan Valley demolitions continue
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
August 9, 2010 - 12:00am

Israel's Civil Administration began razing housing units Monday in the Ein Hilwa area of the northern Jordan Valley, campaign officials said. Save the Jordan Valley campaign coordinator Fathi Ikhdeirat said Israeli authorities, accompanied by border guards, began tearing down structures and handing down stop-work orders to residents. He described the move as an attempt "to clear the area of its indigenous people and include it into Israel and called on international human rights groups to intervene to bring the demolitions to a halt.

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Lessons and legacies of Israel's Gaza withdrawal
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Edmund Sanders - August 9, 2010 - 12:00am

Five years after then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon embarked on a landmark withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, the disengagement continues to dominate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Here are some of the key lessons and legacies: Although disengagement enjoyed broad support at the time, almost no one calls it a success today.

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Israel intends to deport 20,000 Palestinians from Jerusalem: JCSER head
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
August 8, 2010 - 12:00am

Israel intends to deport over 20,000 Palestinians out of Jerusalem whom it said don't have legal residency to stay in the city, a leading Palestinian human rights defender said on Sunday. "Israeli Interior Ministry has already begun deporting Palestinians under the pretext that they stay in Jerusalem illegally," Ziad Hammouri, head of the Jerusalem center for social and economic rights (JCSER), told Xinhua. The new procedure targets West Bank citizens who live in Jerusalem and possess property and ownerships even before Israel occupied the city in 1967, he said.

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A Jerusalem neighborhood's line in the sky
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Edmund Sanders - August 9, 2010 - 12:00am

The view from Jerusalem's hilltop Abu Tor neighborhood is pretty good. Too good, some might say. From my apartment terrace, I can glimpse the major tourist sites: Old City walls, the golden Dome of the Rock and Temple Mount, the King David Hotel and Mt. Zion, believed to be the location of the Last Supper. But when clashes erupt between Israeli police and Palestinian demonstrators, I can also watch tear-gas clouds rise from the Arab village of Silwan below. And every morning, the sun rises over a massive concrete wall, part of Israel's West Bank security barrier.

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Officials to testify on flotilla events Monday amid intrigue and police investigation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Batsheva Sobelman - (Blog) August 9, 2010 - 12:00am

Somehow, summertime in the Middle East is accident-prone. From military misadventures to political predicaments and diplomatic disasters, the heat just seems to fry judgment.

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