February 5th

Israel's Uncivil War
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line
by Benjamin Joffe-Walt - (Analysis) February 3, 2010 - 1:00am

It all began with enough reports to fill the average Ph.D. candidate's reading list for weeks. In the months following the Gaza war between Israel and Hamas, governments, civil society groups and human rights organizations issued dozens of reports, some of them well over 100 pages long, on the legality, operation and effects of the war.

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Israel may charge cop over death of Palestinian boy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Chaim Levinson - February 5, 2010 - 1:00am

The central district attorney is set to serve an indictment, pending a hearing, against Omri Abo, who was then in the Border Police, on charges of negligent manslaughter in the fatal shooting of 10-year-old Ahmad Musa in the village of Naalin 18 months ago. The incident took place on Tuesday, July 29, 2008, around 6 P.M. during a demonstration against the construction of the separation fence. Some 100 people, half of them children and teenagers under 19, marched toward the building site. The working day had ended by that time, and there were no workers or security forces at the site.

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Gazans Denied Justice as Rights Take a Beating
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS)
by Mel Frykberg - February 5, 2010 - 1:00am

Gazans hoping for a modicum of justice following Israel’s indiscriminate military assault on the coastal territory during December 2008 and January 2009 - which left 1,400 Palestinians, mostly civilians, dead - could be waiting in vain. The Israeli government has taken the offensive in the propaganda battle and attacked United Nations-appointed Justice Richard Goldstone’s report into war crimes committed during the war. The report alleges that Israel was responsible for the lion’s share of human rights abuses.

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Palestinians, Israelis propose plan for mixed Jerusalem neighborhood
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Nir Hasson - February 5, 2010 - 1:00am

For the first time since Jerusalem's unification after the Six-Day War, a plan has been proposed to create a fully integrated Jewish-Arab neighborhood in the city. The residential area is planned at Tantur, between Bethlehem and the south Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo. It would feature 800 housing units and a hotel district. The project is being promoted by a group of Palestinian and Israeli public figures who hired architect Eli Reches to plan the neighborhood. The plans have been presented to Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat.

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Israel’s hypocrisy in Haiti
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Aijaz Zaka Syed - (Opinion) February 5, 2010 - 1:00am

Israeli hypocrisy would be comical, if its consequences weren’t so tragic. These days, Israeli media and Israel’s powerful friends in the US media have been tomtomming about the noble help and rescue mission Israelis have undertaken in the remote, quake-hit island of Haiti.

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Silver lining?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
(Editorial) February 5, 2010 - 1:00am

Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak seems to have suddenly had the revelation that unless there is peace with Syria, war with it could easily happen, with the potential of escalating into a wider armed conflict. What Barak has just come to realise has been common knowledge in the region for the past four or five decades, including the time when he was prime minister of his country. Maybe he can also remember that it was he who scuppered the peace accord with Syria during the term in office of US president Bill Clinton.

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A Fresh Attempt at Negotiations
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed - (Opinion) February 4, 2010 - 1:00am

It was not accidental that US President Barack Obama ignored the Middle East issue in his annual speech known as the State of the Union address. He did not refer to the issue at all as part of his administration’s activities, which is worrying, as last year following his presidential victory, he began his speeches by speaking optimistically about the peace process.

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February 4th

'Making Sense of the Arab-Israeli Nightmare'
Media Mention of Ghaith al-Omari In Washington Report On Middle East Affairs - September 1, 2008 - 12:00am

IN A JUNE 27 panel entitled “Making Sense of the Arab-Israel Nightmare” held at the New America Foundation in Washington, DC, speakers discussed the lessons to be learned from past administrations and prospects for the Bush administration in its final months, as well as prospects for the next administration. Ghaith al-Omari, a former policy adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Daniel Levy, former senior policy adviser in the Israeli prime minister’s office, and Aaron Miller, author of The Much Too Promised Land, addressed the Arab-Israeli conflict largely as an inherited problem.

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The LA Times profiles Israeli television satire. Palestinian factions meet in Gaza. Pres. Abbas says he is determined to move forward with peace, and PM Netanyahu says talks may begin in weeks. Israel's mayor in Jerusalem says he will demolish a settler structure and 200 Palestinian homes. The US tells Israel that easing the siege of Gaza would help contain fallout from the Goldstone report. A Jerusalem Post commentary says Israeli war confessionals can only be done anonymously. Jewish groups face divisions over J Street's move onto campuses. Aluf Benn says Israelis do not understand their global image and Avi Shlaim complains about the performance of Quartet Envoy Blair. In the Forward, ATFP President Ziad Asali calls for an Arab and Jewish American led coalition for peace. Several Arab commentaries say Israel should face international justice. Joshua Muravchik rebutts a scurrilous attack on ATFP.

In Defense of the American Task Force on Palestine
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Front Page
by Joshua Muravchik - (Opinion) February 4, 2010 - 1:00am

“The Terror and Crime of the American Task Force on Palestine” posted by Joe Kaufman on January 29 was very wide of the mark. Kaufman takes to task various government officials for participation in ATFP’s annual banquet. I regretted having to turn down an invitation to that self-same affair because I was out of town.

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