February 20th, 2009

Netanyahu Tapped to Form Israel’s New Government ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Isabel Kershner - February 20, 2009 - 1:00am Benjamin Netanyahu, leader of the conservative Likud Party, was invited by Israel’s president, Shimon Peres, on Friday to take the lead in assembling the next government. Whatever form that government takes, Mr. Netanyahu, 59, is widely expected to return as prime minister a decade after the last government he led fell apart. » Read more

US lawmakers hear 'heart wrenching' tales during visit to Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star February 20, 2009 - 1:00am US Democratic representatives Brian Baird and Keith Ellison expressed shock at the plight of the war-shattered Gaza Strip during a rare visit to the Palestinian enclave on Thursday. "The amount of physical destruction and the depth of human suffering here is staggering" Baird said in a statement issued jointly with Ellison during their visit which coincided with a similar trip by US Senator John Kerry. The visits were the first by US lawmakers since Hamas, an Islamist movement Washington labels a terrorist outfit, took power in Gaza by force after having won legislative elections in 2006. » Read more

A Second Chance ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Times February 20, 2009 - 1:00am Israeli prime ministers often achieve most in their second term. Yitzhak Rabin and Yitzhak Shamir were both able to launch the initiatives, garner the political support and conclude the agreements that brought peace closer when they returned to office after an unfocused first round in Israel's bruising political rink. It now looks likely that Binyamin Netanyahu, the leader of the right-wing Likud party, will return to office as prime minister for a second term. » Read more

Keep Lieberman out of the government ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz February 20, 2009 - 1:00am Israelis still don't know who won last week's elections, or who will put together the next government. The only clear result is that Avigdor Lieberman is trying to dictate the nature and composition of the new coalition. This is evident from the conditions he demanded of Likud and Kadima for Yisrael Beiteinu's joining the government and from his appearance yesterday at the President's Residence, where he stipulated that he wanted a broad coalition headed by Benjamin Netanyahu. » Read more

John Kerry's role in Damascus ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Boston Globe February 20, 2009 - 1:00am Syria may not be as indispensable to Mideast peace as its president, Bashar Assad, says it is, but when John Kerry visits Damascus this weekend as the new chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he will have an opportunity to prepare the way for a new policy of dialogue with Syria. » Read more

February 19th

Syria Wants Golan Heights On Middle East Agenda ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters October 1, 2007 - 12:00am Syria will not attend a Middle East peace conference set for next month unless the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights are on the agenda, President Bashar al-Assad said in comments broadcast on Monday. "If they don't talk about the Syrian occupied territory, no, there's no way for Syria to go there," Assad told the BBC, referring to the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. "It should be about comprehensive peace, and Syria is part of this comprehensive peace. Without that, we shouldn't go, we wouldn't go." » Read more

Shifting Targets: The Administration’s Plan For Iran. ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New Yorker by Seymour M. Hersh - October 1, 2007 - 12:00am In a series of public statements in recent months, President Bush and members of his Administration have redefined the war in Iraq, to an increasing degree, as a strategic battle between the United States and Iran. “Shia extremists, backed by Iran, are training Iraqis to carry out attacks on our forces and the Iraqi people,” Bush told the national convention of the American Legion in August. “The attacks on our bases and our troops by Iranian-supplied munitions have increased. . . . The Iranian regime must halt these actions. » Read more

A Small Outbreak Of Mideast Hope ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Jim Hoagland - September 30, 2007 - 12:00am Hopes for an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal that will isolate the Hamas radicals who control the Gaza Strip have brightened measurably in recent days, according to European officials visiting here. The real news is that the Europeans report this possible outcome without a frown. Their cautious but clear optimism is based primarily on movement in the private preparatory talks between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, who are both so weakened politically that they may have no place to go but toward peace. » Read more

A Conversation With Mahmoud Abbas ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post September 30, 2007 - 12:00am When the Islamic radicals of Hamas kicked their more secular Fatah rivals out of the Gaza Strip in June, it looked as though the peace process was dead. But surprisingly, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert have held a series of in-depth talks that U.S. officials hope may culminate in some kind of deal or framework to be presented at a proposed meeting of Middle East leaders in Washington in November. Last week, the Fatah chief attended the opening of the U.N. » Read more

Wanted Palestinians Cross Into Gaza From Egypt ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Isabel Kershner - October 1, 2007 - 12:00am In a surprise move, about 80 Palestinians, including Hamas members and militants from other factions wanted by Israel, crossed from Egypt into the Gaza Strip before dawn on Sunday, according to Hamas and Israeli officials. The entry, through the closed Rafah crossing on the Gaza-Egypt border, was the result of what Hamas said was an agreement it made with Egypt. » Read more