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Fatah: Settlements deepen occupation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency (Analysis) September 10, 2010 - 12:00am RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- "Settlements deepen the occupation, they steal Palestinian lands and water; with settlements there is no peace," a statement from the Fatah Central Committee said Thursday. In an effort to clarify the staunch stance of Palestinain negotiators around the settlement issue, a document was released by the committee following a Ramallah meeting ahead of Eid Al-Fitr, as negotiations will resume on 14 September, a day after the Eid holiday closes. |
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A West Bank Enclave Is on Edge
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Isabel Kershner - (Analysis) September 9, 2010 - 12:00am ARIEL, West Bank — When a group of Israeli artists recently refused to perform in the new theater at this large Jewish settlement, local residents reacted with a mixture of hurt and defiance. When scores of leftist Israeli academics, prominent writers and intellectuals said that they would not lecture at the Ariel University Center or in any other settlement, many here said that nobody had asked them to come. |
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Occupation, split complicate Palestinian forces' reform: report
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua September 8, 2010 - 12:00am Reforming Palestinian security forces in the West Bank would remain difficult as long as Israel occupies large parts of the area and internal Palestinian political split persists, a new report said. "Security reform is one of the Palestinian National Authority's (PNA) most notable successes," says the report named "Squaring the Circle: Palestinian Security Reform under Occupation," released this week by the Brussels-based International Crisis Group. |
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How to Make Peace in the Middle East in Six Months or Less Without Leaving Your Apartment
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Jessica Allen - (Book Review) September 8, 2010 - 12:00am Peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians, brokered by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, are set to resume in two weeks’ time. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says reconciliation is “difficult but possible.” That was last month. |
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Another War Zone: Social Media in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Middle East Report by Adi Kuntsman, Rebecca L. Stein - September 9, 2010 - 12:00am In late May 2010, the convoy known as the Freedom Flotilla met off of Cyprus and headed south, carrying humanitarian aid and hundreds of international activists who aimed to break Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip. The organizers used social media extensively: tweeting updates from the boats; webcasting live with cameras uplinked to the Internet and a satellite, enabling simultaneous rebroadcasting; employing Facebook, Flickr, YouTube and other social networking websites to allow interested parties to see and hear them in real time; and using Google Maps to chart their location at sea. |
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Europe’s Absence from the Palestinian-Israeli Negotiations
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat by Randa Takieddine - September 8, 2010 - 12:00am French President Nicolas Sarkozy expressed a high degree of resentment of the fact that the European Union was not invited to the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations, during his meeting with President Hosni Mubarak at the Elysee Palace on his way to Washington. Meanwhile, the French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner was the only European minister who sent a letter to Catherine Ashton, the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of the European Union, to say that the absence of the European Union (EU) from the these talks is unacceptable. |
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Sanctions shortened for Muslim student group
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) September 8, 2010 - 12:00am A Muslim student group at the University of California, Irvine, had a yearlong suspension shortened to four months. The Muslim Student Union (MSU) on the Irvine campus will be barred from operating this fall semester, the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles reported. The university had recommended a yearlong suspension in May in response to the group’s orchestrated heckling of Israeli U.S. Ambassador Michael Oren during his address to the university last February. Oren walked off the stage twice, unable to continue because of the disruption. |
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Hamas militia's secret West Bank stronghold
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News by Jon Donnison - September 8, 2010 - 12:00am Amid the dust at the side of the road at the Bani Nayim junction in the southern West Bank there is a small makeshift shrine - a pile of rocks covered with Israeli flags. It was here, just over a week ago, that four Israeli settlers were shot dead - their car riddled with bullets - in a drive-by attack by Hamas militants. That attack and another the following day at Ramallah, in which two Israeli settlers were injured, were together a message from Hamas: "You can't ignore us." Secret army Both attacks were carried out by the al-Qassam Brigades, the Hamas military wing. |
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Clinton: There may never be another chance for peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Yitzhak Benhorin - September 8, 2010 - 12:00am US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reiterated the American administration's optimism as to Israeli-Palestinian peace process' chances of success Wednesday. Speaking before the Council on Foreign Relations, Clinton said that she believed the "pessimists" were wrong to think the talks were doomed to fail. Peace can be achieved, she said, if the parties will overcome "initial obstacles" – a clear hint the settlement freeze set to end on September 26. The Palestinians have already threatened to walk away from the negotiating table should Israel resume its settlement activity. |