February 16th

Palestinian peace negotiation unit disbanded
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
February 14, 2011 - 1:00am

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has decided to disband the Negotiations Support Unit (NSU) which provided him with technical help during long-running peace talks with Israel, an official said on Monday. The decision was made after it was discovered that employees in the unit were behind the leak of hundreds of documents to the television station al Jazeera which embarrassed Abbas's administration.

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Abbas: Israel has no vision for peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
February 16, 2011 - 1:00am

President Mahmoud Abbas said Monday that the current Israeli government had no vision for an end to the occupation. Addressing Palestinians released from Israeli detention, at his Ramallah headquarters, the president said Israel continued to shut down all avenues to peace. Abbas said the US administration pledged that negotiations launched in September would establish a Palestinian state within a year. He asked how long the international community would watch a population live under occupation if an agreement wasn't reached.

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PLO to press on with settlement vote at UN
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
February 16, 2011 - 1:00am

Palestinian representatives at the UN will push forward with a draft resolution calling on the Security Council to condemn settlement construction, PLO Executive Committee member Saleh Raafat said Tuesday. A vote will be held on the resolution "[d]espite all of the pressure exerted on the Palestinians and the Arab-state supporters by the US," Raafat said.

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EU targets Palestinian state by September
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
by Steve Weizman - February 16, 2011 - 1:00am

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton on Tuesday said the international community still sought to achieve a peace deal and a Palestinian state by September, despite the region's political turmoil. Despite the impasse in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and the resignation of the Palestinian Authority cabinet as well as Saab Erekat, their chief negotiator, Ashton said the goal was still achievable. "It's a time-frame that everybody has signed up to," she told reporters in Jerusalem ahead of talks with President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank town of Ramallah.

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A wrongheaded prosecution of UC-Irvine student protesters
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
(Editorial) February 15, 2011 - 1:00am

ONE BY ONE the students rose in the auditorium, shouting and drowning out a lecture by Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren last year at the University of California at Irvine. "Michael Oren, you are a war criminal!" yelled one student, as a group of others cheered him on. "Michael Oren, propagating murder is not an expression of free speech!" shouted another minutes later.

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Past time for PA to break impasse in the West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
(Editorial) February 16, 2011 - 1:00am

Recent events may have given the Palestinian Authority the nudge, but it was already standing very close to the brink. On Saturday, the PA promised presidential and parliamentary elections in September; two days later, the entire cabinet quit. In a quieter news cycle, those decisions would have dominated the Middle East agenda, but protests in Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen and Iran produce new headlines every day. Indeed, it is worth asking what this recent shake-up in the West Bank will achieve.

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Palestinian Erekat says he resigned to set example, not because of contents of leak
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Joel Greenberg - February 15, 2011 - 1:00am

Saeb Erekat, the longtime chief Palestinian negotiator who resigned Saturday after a massive leak of documents from his office, said Tuesday that he did not leave because of the substance of the leaks but because they happened on his watch. Excerpts from the documents released last month by the al-Jazeera satellite television channel showed Palestinian negotiators discussing significant concessions on the issues of East Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees during talks in 2008. The revelations caused a storm of controversy among Palestinians and in the wider Arab world.

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A blessing for the region: an interview with Bassma Kodmani
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
(Interview) February 10, 2011 - 1:00am

BI: How would you assess Wikileaks' contribution to the revolutionary popular uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and elsewhere?

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Israel: Four Foreign Missions Closed
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - February 15, 2011 - 1:00am

Israel temporarily closed four of its diplomatic missions abroad in recent days because of suspicions that they were under threat of attack, an Israeli official said on Tuesday. He refused to specify their locations, for security reasons, but he said that two had partially reopened. The precautions were taken after “unusual occurrences were identified recently around a few missions abroad,” the Israeli government said in a statement.

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February 15th

Bilal Saab says the upheaval in Egypt should set the stage for Israeli-Syrian negotiations. Hamas calls the PA cabinet reshuffle "superficial." Israel announces more settler housing units in occupied East Jerusalem. The UN says the Gaza unemployment rate is now at 45%. Xinhua looks at prospects for Palestinian elections. Israel's defense ministry is keeping settlement construction laws secret. Susan Lourenco says removing checkpoints does not remove the occupation. Avirama Golan says the rule of law in Israel is threatened by recent legislation. The Israeli military plans a training complex in a Palestinian neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem. Israel's PM and FM spar over diplomatic appointments. The Knesset passes the "Bishara Bill." Gershon Baskin says Palestinian nonviolent protests are the key to peace. Yasser Abed Rabbo says Pres. Abbas may not stand in planned elections. A new play highlights the 1994 massacre in Hebron. Israeli forces continue to demolish a Bedouin village. Dennis Ross will address the upcoming J St. convention. PM Fayyad is reappointed to his position. ATFP President Ziad Asali looks at the successes of Palestinian Authority state and institution building. Hussein Ibish says the Palestinian leadership must follow through on election plans.

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