April 20th, 2009

Bibi’s ‘Economic Peace’ Faces Key Test at Quarries
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Nathan Jeffay - April 15, 2009 - 12:00am

Complaints over Israel’s conduct on Palestinian land are well-known. Less commonly heard, however, is the accusation that Israel is actually removing the land. “How is it that they are taking our land to Israel?” asked Ibrahim Abder, a Palestinian man standing at a stone quarry near his home a few miles south of Bethlehem during an interview with the Forward.

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Israel, Iran and Fear
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Roger Cohen - (Opinion) April 19, 2009 - 12:00am

When I lived in Germany in the 1990s, the return of the capital from Bonn to the scene of the crime, Berlin, prompted agonizing over how to memorialize the Holocaust. Germans thirsted for a “Schlussstrich” — closure with Hitler — even as they acknowledged its impossibility. A large Holocaust memorial was built in Berlin, but not before a leading writer, Martin Walser, had prompted outrage by railing against “the permanent presentation of our shame” and use of Auschwitz as “a moral stick.”

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Recent UCR speaker accused of anti-Semitism
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Press Enterprise
by David Olson - April 18, 2009 - 12:00am

The director of an Inland-based hate-monitoring group is calling on UC Riverside Chancellor Timothy White to denounce a recent campus speaker whom the organization accuses of anti-Semitism. White said through a spokeswoman he will not comment on past statements made by Abdel Malik Ali, who appeared April 11-12 at the Muslim Students' Association western regional conference at UCR.

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US rejects Netanyahu’s peace talks condition
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Mohammed Mar’i - April 20, 2009 - 12:00am

The United States rejected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s demand that the Palestinians recognize Israel as the state of the Jewish people as a condition for renewing peace talks between the two sides, a report said yesterday. The Israeli daily Haaretz quoted the US State Department as saying in a press statement, during special envoy George Mitchell’s visits over the weekend to Ramallah and Cairo, that Netanyahu’s demand is unacceptable to the US and that the Palestinians need not recognize Israel as Jewish state before talks.

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Mitchell Cites '02 Arab Plan For Peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Howard Schneider - April 17, 2009 - 12:00am

White House envoy George J. Mitchell ended two days of talks here with little visible progress between Israelis and Palestinians, but with apparent assent from both sides to pursue peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors.

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April 17th

ATFP Senior Fellow speaks at Towson University
Press Release - Contact Information: Hussein Ibish - April 17, 2009 - 12:00am

ATFP senior fellow Hussein Ibish spoke at Towson University on April 16 on the subject of “a third intifada or peace?” Dr. Ibish told the audience that peace was vital to both the Israeli and Palestinian national interests, and that a “third intifada” might be a predictable outcome of the long-term failure of peace talks, but would likely be a disaster for both sides. “In contrast to the largely nonviolent first intifada, the militarized second intifada was a disaster for the Palestinian national movement” he said.


Mideast envoy George Mitchell continues his meetings with Israeli leadership (1) (2), and is set to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas today (7). The Washington Post profiles the first-year accomplishments of new Jewish lobby J Street (3), while the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reports on J Street's new campus initiative (5). Rahm Emmanuel is reported to have told a Jewish leader that President Obama is determined to see a Palestinian state created in his first term (4). A Palestinian man is shot dead after allegedly trying to stab residents of a West Bank settlement (6), while The Yesha Council of Settlements blames the attack on Israeli cooperation in the efforts to create a Palestinian state (13). A Palestinian protestor in Bilin is killed by the IDF (14).

Lieberman: Israel still forming its foreign policy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Roni Sofer - April 17, 2009 - 12:00am

Lieberman: Israel still forming its foreign policy Foreign minister meets with Russian deputy minister for Middle Eastern affairs, asks for clarifications on Russian weapons supply to Iran, Syria Roni Sofer Israel's foreign policy has yet to be determined, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said during a meeting Friday with Russian Deputy Foreign minister for Middle Eastern Affairs Alexander Saltanov. The remark was made on the backdrop of Lieberman's firm declarations that the Annapolis peace process is no longer valid.

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Palestinian killed in Bilin protest
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Ali Waked - April 17, 2009 - 12:00am

Palestinian sources reported Friday that a local demonstrator was killed after being hit in the chest by a tear gas canister during a protest against the separation fence in the West Bank village of Bilin. The man, 30-year-old Bassem Ibrahim Abu-Rahma from Bilin, was evacuated to a Ramallah hospital in serious condition, where he then died of his wounds. The army confirmed the report of Abu-Rahma's death. Representatives of the IDF and the Coordination and Liaison Authority met with Palestinian officials later in the day as part of the joint investigation into the incident.

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Settler council: Peace talks with Palestinians perpetuate terror
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Nadav Shragai - April 17, 2009 - 12:00am

The Yesha Council of Settlements on Friday said that Israeli cooperation in the efforts to create a Palestinian state were to blame for the attempted terrorist attack on the West Bank settlement of Beit Haggai earlier in the day. A knife-wielding Palestinian infiltrated Beit Haggai Friday morning, and was shot dead by local security guards, preventing his apparent plan to carry out a terror attack, according to the Israel Defense Forces. One Israeli civilian was lightly wounded in the incident.

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