In his memoirs former PM Olmert says he was close to a deal with the Palestinians. Israel warily views unrest in Egypt. Khaled Elgindy says the Palestinian domestic constituency must be taken into consideration in peace talks. Palestinians say settlers have shot another protester. Al Jazeera's correspondent in Ramallah resigns. There is little recourse for victims of gender-based violence in the occupied territories. Israeli leaders "war-game" a Palestinian unilateral declaration of independence. Leaked alleged documents deepen Palestinian political divides, but Aluf Benn says they show a surprisingly serious process. Israel says Hezbollah is sending agents to Gaza. Yoel Marcus says Israel should focus on peace with the Palestinians, not Iran's nuclear program. Gadi Taub says as long as the occupation continues, Israel will not shed its apartheid image. Bill Clinton says Israel has never had a better peace partner. A British filmmaker looks at the conflict. Students stage a sit-in at the PLO mission in London. Palestinians say they may release documents embarrassing to Qatar.

The Palestinian Authority to release documents critical of Qatar
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Saleh Al-Naami, Kifah Zaboun - January 27, 2011 - 1:00am

Senior Palestinian sources have informed Asharq Al-Awsat that the Palestinian Authority is in possession of important documents that condemn Qatar with regards to numerous issues relating to the Palestinian – Israeli negotiations.

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Palestinian ambassador to UK's office taken over by protesters
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Sam Jones - January 27, 2011 - 1:00am

The offices of the Palestinian ambassador to the UK have been occupied by a group of students who are demanding new Palestinian national council elections. At 1pm today, around a dozen Palestinian students from a number of British universities arrived at the Palestinian general delegation to the UK in Hammersmith, west London. Although they had made an appointment to see the ambassador, Professor Manuel Hassassian, they arrived in large numbers and with computers and banners.

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A film-maker's eye on the Middle East
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Peter Kosminsky - January 28, 2011 - 1:00am

It's April 1988, about five in the morning, 40km outside Kabul in Afghanistan. I'm taking shelter in a scrape in the rock, flattening my cheek against the cold surface, semi-automatic gunfire and the concussion of departing mortars beating in my ears. In theory, I'm making a documentary about young Soviet army conscripts in Afghanistan. In reality, I've been marooned on this "zastava", or mountain outpost, for days. The 17-year-old kids, who are the heroes of our documentary, fire back at the attacking mujahideen, in the grip of a kind of hyper-bravado.

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Israel has never had better peace partner
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
January 27, 2011 - 1:00am

Former US president Bill Clinton on Thursday urged Israel to make peace with the Arabs, saying the Jewish state will never have a better partner than the current Palestinian leadership. Clinton spoke for an hour before an adoring audience of global leaders from business, government and academia at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

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Israel’s apartheid image
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Gadi Taub - (Opinion) January 28, 2011 - 1:00am

Just before going through passport control at Ben-Gurion airport, one sees a stand with small brochures packed with some basic, catchy information about Israel. These booklets are meant to equip Israelis traveling abroad with some flattering anecdotes and fundamental facts to help them improve Israel’s image overseas.

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Palestine papers spotlight surprisingly serious Mideast peace talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Aluf Benn - January 28, 2011 - 1:00am

The diplomatic archive made public thanks to Al Jazeera and the Guardian documents talks held between Israel's Kadima government and the Palestinian Authority, and exposes in detail the positions put forward by the two sides before negotiations were aborted by Operation Cast Lead in Gaza and the advent of a new government in Jerusalem. Ma’aleh Adumim

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Israel should focus on Mideast peace, not Iran's nukes
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Yoel Marcus - (Opinion) January 28, 2011 - 1:00am

When in June 1981 the Israel Air Force bombed the nuclear reactor under construction in Iraq, opinions about the operation were divided. This writer thought that Menachem Begin, the prime minister and defense minister at the time, was at his best. Others considered it a mistake because Iraq would neither forgive nor forget, and at the first opportunity would bomb Israel. This “opportunity” really did present itself 10 years later, when the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait led to Operation Desert Storm, led by the United States and its allies. Iraq launched 39 Scud missiles at Israel.

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Hezbollah agents entering Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Josef Federman - January 27, 2011 - 1:00am

Israel's minister of strategic affairs said Thursday the Lebanese Hezbollah guerrilla group has infiltrated agents into the Gaza Strip to train Palestinian militants. Gaza is ruled by the Hamas militant group, which, like Hezbollah, is sworn to Israel's destruction. The minister, Moshe Yaalon, Israel's former military chief of staff, told reporters that "Hezbollah experts can get into the Gaza Strip, like the Iranian rockets are coming to the Gaza Strip." He said Hezbollah militants can go from Lebanon to Sudan, then to Egypt and on to Gaza.

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Leaks deepen Palestinian split
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Karin Laub - (Analysis) January 28, 2011 - 1:00am

If an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal seemed remote before, it looks downright unattainable after a stormy week of leaks of confidential Mideast protocols by Al-Jazeera TV. The disclosures hurt the credibility of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas among his people, weakening him as a leader. They deepened the chasm between him and Hamas, distancing already faint hopes of restoring Palestinian unity as the Islamic militants burned him in effigy and branded him a traitor.

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