January 25th

Israeli ministry calls for sanctioning local firms over joining Palestinian boycott ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua January 24, 2011 - 1:00am Israel's Ministry of National Infrastructures on Sunday called for sanctioning local firms that boycott Israeli companies located in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, as a stipulation of tenders to take part in building the Palestinian city of Rawabi, near Ramallah. Minister Uzi Landau said his office would not "tolerate discrimination between different groups of citizens that is contrary to the basic values of the State of Israel." » Read more

Turkish president: Israeli report has no credibility ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua January 25, 2011 - 1:00am Turkish President Abdullah Gul said on Monday that the report prepared by Israel on its attack on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla had no international credibility. Gul made the statement at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul prior to his departure for the winter session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in Strasbourg. Replying to questions on the Israeli report, Gul said, "what Israel did has nothing to do with the international law. The report issued by Israel does not have credibility and legitimacy." » Read more

Encountering Peace: What does Netanyahu want? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Gershon Baskin - January 24, 2011 - 1:00am Understanding what has been leaked, the PM should move forward with current Palestinian leadership as soon as possible. » Read more

News Analysis: Turkey-Israel relations to remain strained after Israeli flotilla report ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua by Adam Gonn - January 24, 2011 - 1:00am After the Israeli Turkel Commission cleared the Israeli soldiers of wrongdoings during last year's deadly raid on a Turkish flotilla bound for Gaza, the relations between Turkey and Israel are expected to remain strained. The Commission, appointed by the Israeli government and headed by a retired supreme court judge to investigate the Israeli commando raid on the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara in Mediterranean last year which killed nine Turkish citizens, reported its finding that the soldiers acted in accordance with international law. » Read more

No Partial Solution ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post (Editorial) January 23, 2011 - 1:00am The two-state solution remains viable. That is the message sent out this weekend by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Nodding to Palestinian demands to use the pre-1967 lines as a basis while at the same time ensuring that a strong majority of the 327,000 Jewish settlers presently living in Judea and Samaria would stay put, David Makovsky, a former Jerusalem Post editor and senior fellow at the institute, presented options for resolving the territorial aspects of a two-state scenario, complete with maps and statistical data. » Read more

Defiant Abbas says he's on 'right path' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by Mohammed Daraghmeh - January 25, 2011 - 1:00am Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas returned to a hero's welcome in the West Bank on Tuesday, making his first public appearance at home since Al-Jazeera published embarrassing documents showing him making broad concessions to Israel in peace talks. » Read more

Peru recognizes 'free and sovereign' Palestine ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency January 25, 2011 - 1:00am Peru recognized a "free and sovereign" Palestinian state Monday, joining a wave of Latin American countries. "Today the government communicated to the ambassador of Palestine in Lima recognition of the Palestinian state as free and sovereign," said Peruvian Foreign Minister Jose Antonio Belaunde. The Peruvian foreign minister contacted the Palestinian ambassador to Peru, Walid Abdul-Rahim, to inform him that his country decided to recognize a Palestinian state. » Read more

The Palestine papers help Abbas in the diplomatic jiujitsu ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Aluf Benn - January 25, 2011 - 1:00am The Palestine papers reveal that Israel has – or had – a partner for a negotiated two-state solution. They reveal that our previous government, led by Ehud Olmert as prime minister and Tzipi Livni as foreign minister, discussed a detailed partition plan involving serious give and take with its Palestinian interlocutors. Alas, the Palestine papers also reveal the lack of political will to conclude the deal, shown by the wide gaps over substantive positions, and both sides' leaning towards fruitless debating, rather than seeking a compromise. » Read more

Palestine Papers backlash? Protesters rally for Mahmoud Abbas at Al Jazeera office ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Ruth Sherlock - January 24, 2011 - 1:00am Protesters stormed the headquarters of the Al Jazeera television station in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Monday afternoon, infuriated over the leak of confidential documents that reveal Palestinian negotiators offered Israel big concessions during peace talks over the past decade. The leak of the so-called Palestine Papers has embarrassed Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian National Authority, but some 250 supporters rallied to his defense in today's demonstration. » Read more

The Palestine Papers: Despair. But we still need a deal ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian (Editorial) January 25, 2011 - 1:00am Yesterday Yasser Abed-Rabbo and Saeb Erekat, senior PLO leaders, attacked al-Jazeera, which obtained the Palestine papers, for distortions and fraud, and questioned the political motives of its Qatari owners. A demonstration in Ramallah burned an al-Jazeera logo. This leak originated in the Palestinian Authority's own institutions, and al-Jazeera is a rarity in the Arab world. It was praised for its coverage of the invasion of Iraq by the very people who attack it today. It should be defended by all who want democracy in the Arab world. » Read more