April 16th, 2009

Obama envoy holds talks in Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
April 16, 2009 - 12:00am

George Mitchell reiterated Washington's support for a Palestinian state alongside Israel, in talks with the Israeli president and foreign minister. Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said the diplomatic process was at a "dead end" and a new approach was needed. Mr Mitchell is due to have dinner with Mr Netanyahu later on Thursday. He will then travel to the West Bank for talks with Palestinian leaders on Friday. The US envoy has arrived in Israel to a changed political landscape, says the BBC's Tim Franks in Jerusalem.

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What’s really behind Hizbollah’s recent appearance in Egypt
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Michael Young - (Analysis) April 16, 2009 - 12:00am

Last week the judicial authorities in Cairo announced that they had arrested members of a Hizbollah cell and accused the Lebanese Shiite party of threatening Egypt’s national security. In a televised address, Hezbollah’s secretary general, Hassan Nasrallah, admitted that one of those in custody was a party member working to rearm Palestinians in Gaza. However, he added, no one was trying to undermine Egyptian security. Both accounts told us little about what is really going on.

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Mitchell urges two-state solution
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
April 16, 2009 - 12:00am

The US president Barack Obama’s Middle East envoy today told Israel’s ultranationalist foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, that Washington wants to see the creation of a Palestinian state. With Mr Libeerman at his side, George Mitchell told reporters: “I reiterated to the foreign minister that US policy favours, with respect to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a two-state solution which will have a Palestinian state living in peace alongside the Jewish state of Israel. “We look forward also to efforts to achieving comprehensive peace throughout the region.”

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Obama needs to turn up the heat
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by George S. Hishmeh - (Opinion) April 15, 2009 - 12:00am

US President Barack Obama's maiden venture into foreign policy earlier this month earned him high marks from many, but also ruffled the feathers of icons of the American neoconservative movement, which had its heyday during the just-concluded tenure of George W. Bush. Wherever he went on his first visit overseas, he chose to knock on doors gently and warmly, particularly in Turkey, where he declared that the United States is not at war with the Muslim world.

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What is Left of Egypt's Mediation between the Palestinians?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat
by Elias Harfoush - (Analysis) April 16, 2009 - 12:00am

If there was any hope for negotiations between Fatah and Hamas in Cairo to reach an agreement that would end the state of division between the Palestinians, such a hope has become less likely today as a result of the repercussions of the exchange of smear campaigns between the Egyptian government and Hezbollah, on the background of the cell arrested by the Egyptians, who claim that it had been planning activities that pose a threat to Egypt's security.

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US envoy meets Israeli officials
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Jazeera English
April 16, 2009 - 12:00am

The US special envoy to the Middle East is meeting senior Israeli officials in an attempt to kickstart the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process. George Mitchell met Avigdor Lieberman, Israel's foreign minister, on Thursday and will meet Benyamin Netanyahu, the country's prime minister, later in the day. Mitchell is also expected to discuss progress on peace negotiations with Tzipi Livni, leader of the opposition Kadima party. Shortly after arriving in the country on Wednesday evening, Mitchell met Ehud Barak, Israel's defence minister. Commitment urged

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Eminently possible
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
(Editorial) April 16, 2009 - 12:00am

George Mitchell, the US envoy to the region with a special brief to kick-start meaningful talks between Palestinians and Israelis, has his work cut out for him.

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April 15th

An original ATFP translation of an article by Hassan Khader in Al-Ayyam discusses the implications of Hezbollah’s recent announcement of its involvement in Gaza smuggling networks (1); the issue is also discussed in an analysis by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (4). An Israeli government official tells the Associated Press that Israel is ‘unlikely’ to assist with the UN war crimes probe of the Gaza war (2). Egypt detains three Gazan men entering Egypt and finds explosives near the border (3). IPS reports on the thousands of tons of food aid that is not being allowed to enter Gaza (7). Special Mideast Envoy George Mitchell is set to arrive in Israel today (10).

What’s important is that we resist… T.V. will take care of the rest!
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Ayyam
by Hassan Khader - April 14, 2009 - 12:00am

When someone challenges you by throwing down the gauntlet, it is an invitation to confrontation and conflict. And that’s exactly what Hezbollah’s Chairman did when he publicly acknowledged, on live television, the involvement of members of his organization in the arms smuggling network operating between Egypt and Gaza. Why didn’t Hezbollah ignore the Egyptian accusations and deny any connection with the accused individuals? Why this bold honesty and transparency in threatening the authority of the Egyptian state and its territorial integrity?

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MIDEAST: Aid Rots Outside Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS)
by Erin Cunningham - April 15, 2009 - 12:00am

Hundreds of thousands of tonnes of aid intended for the Gaza Strip is piling up in cities across Egypt's North Sinai region, despite recent calls from the United Nations to ease aid flow restrictions to the embattled territory in the wake of Operation Cast Lead. Food, medicine, blankets, infant food and other supplies for Gaza's 1.5 million people, coming from governments and non-governmental agencies around the world, are being stored in warehouses, parking lots, stadiums and on airport runways across Egypt's North Sinai governorate.

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