September 8th

Finding a Steadier Path in Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - (Analysis) September 7, 2010 - 12:00am

KHAN YUNIS, Gaza — Tough-looking ambulance drivers in this central Gazan city are drawing images of their fears with crayons. In the northwestern village of El Atatra, in an overheated hall without electricity, 10-year-olds are closing their eyes and imagining a reassuring place. In Gaza City, women who have lost children to political violence are dancing away their tensions, their black abayas shaking and flowing.

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PA says nabbed West Bank terrorists
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Ali Waked - (Analysis) September 7, 2010 - 12:00am

Palestinian Authority announced Tuesday that it had arrested six men who had carried out two terror attacks that killed four Israelis and injured two last week. The Palestinians say the first attack, which killed four residents of Beit Hagai at a junction near Hebron last Tuesday, was carried out by two shooters and an accomplice. A similarly composed terror cell was responsible for the attack that occurred one day later and injured a couple, according to the authority.

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Palestinian Spokesman Abu-Rudaynah Talks to Asharq Al-Awsat
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Mina Al-Oraibi - (Interview) September 7, 2010 - 12:00am



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Legitimize Hamas and kiss the PLO goodbye
In Print by Hussein Ibish - NOW Lebanon (Opinion) - September 6, 2010 - 12:00am

With the resumption of direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, numerous voices in the United States have been urging the inclusion of Hamas in international diplomacy, a focus on Palestinian unity, or some formal American outreach to the Palestinian Islamist group.

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September 7th

Israeli and Palestinian leaders express optimism after the resumption of direct talks. Drive-by shooting attacks show Hamas is still able to operate in the West Bank. Daoud Kuttab says Palestinian independence is inevitable. Palestinian leaders angrily reject Iranian criticism of negotiations, and have asked the US to intervene on the settlement issue. Todd Gitlin and Liel Leibovitz say both sides must acknowledge each other's attachment to the land. The CSM says Palestinian and Israeli leaders must work together to block extremists. Palestinian officials say they are trying to reach a peace agreement and Israeli officials say one is possible within a year. FM Lieberman pushes for new settlement construction. Shaul Arieli says settlement construction hurts Israel. Egypt says $50 billion will be needed to pay for Middle East peace. Bradley Burston says religious extremists are enemies of humanity. The IMF says loosened Israeli restrictions have prompted Palestinian economic growth. Avi Shlaim says American intervention in negotiations is critical. The US temporarily restricts diplomats from traveling in the West Bank. Israeli authorities are accused of discriminating against Arabs in Jerusalem. Adel Al Toraifi says Palestinian state building is of paramount importance. Hussein Ibish looks at arguments for including Hamas in negotiations and its likely consequences.

Legitimize Hamas and kiss the PLO goodbye
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from NOW Lebanon
by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) September 6, 2010 - 12:00am

With the resumption of direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, numerous voices in the United States have been urging the inclusion of Hamas in international diplomacy, a focus on Palestinian unity, or some formal American outreach to the Palestinian Islamist group.

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Sadat's Shadow
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Adel Al Toraifi - (Opinion) September 7, 2010 - 12:00am

For more than two decades, the United States has tried to conclude a peace agreement between the PLO and Israel. In the beginning there were the 1993 Oslo accords, which was a difficult breakthrough. However, this was the agreement that allowed the opportunity to form much-needed state institutions on the Palestinian territories. Yet this did not happen both as a result of the influence of religious parties on both sides, and as a result of dozens of suicide attacks carried out by the Hamas and Islamic Jihad movements, which disrupted all guarantees of security and reconciliation.

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Israeli police accused of targeting Jerusalem's Arab residents
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Catrina Stewart - September 6, 2010 - 12:00am

A leading civil-rights group has accused Israeli police of systematic discrimination against the Arab residents of East Jerusalem as growing numbers of hardline religious Jews take up residence in Palestinian areas. A report from the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (Acri) found that violent confrontations between Jewish residents and their Palestinian neighbours had risen rapidly, but that Israeli police have largely ignored Palestinian complaints.

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U.S. banning its diplomats from West Bank travel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
September 6, 2010 - 12:00am

The United States temporarily banned its diplomats from traveling to the West Bank and Jerusalem's Old City because of shooting attacks. "Due to heightened tensions and increased security presence after the Aug. 31 and Sept. 1 attacks in the West Bank, the U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem has prohibited all Consulate personnel from personal travel to the West Bank" through Monday, said a statement from the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem, which handles the West Bank.

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This time in Washington, honest brokerage is not going to be enough
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Avi Shlaim - (Opinion) September 7, 2010 - 12:00am

The pope, according to a no doubt apocryphal story, maintains that there are two possible solutions to the Arab-Israeli conflict – the realistic and the miraculous. The realistic solution involves divine intervention; the miraculous solution involves a voluntary agreement between the parties themselves. The American-sponsored peace talks that got under way in Washington last week may be viewed in this light. It will take nothing less than a miracle to produce a peaceful settlement of the century-old conflict between Jews and Arabs over the Holy Land.

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