December 12th

Settler Scourge
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Israel Policy Forum
by M.J. Rosenberg - December 12, 2008 - 1:00am

The Chicago Tribune reported this week that President-elect Barack Obama intends to visit the Middle East very early in his term, perhaps within his first month as President. He will visit an Arab capital and deliver an address to the Arab world stating his determination to fight global terrorism and establish Middle East peace. In general, I like the idea although—given the security situation in the region— I’d rather have our President stay out of the Middle East and deliver the address from the Oval Office.

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Bibi's Blunders
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New Republic
by Shmuel Rosner - December 12, 2008 - 1:00am

In October, when Tzipi Livni, who had won the race to succeed outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as head of Israel's ruling Kadima Party, announced that she was unable to form a governing coalition, you could almost hear the groans coming from across the Atlantic and from European capitals. The reason? Livni's failure to assemble a government means new elections will take place in February.

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A pogrom is declared
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Economist
December 11, 2008 - 1:00am

A VAUNTED “fight unto death” by Jewish militants holed up in a disputed building in Hebron, a city on the Palestinian West Bank that is venerated by both Jews and Muslims, ended in their quick and relatively easy eviction by Israeli police on December 4th. But the Israeli police and army failed to prevent a subsequent splurge of violence against Palestinians in the city and elsewhere in the West Bank, which Israel’s outgoing prime minister, Ehud Olmert, termed a “pogrom”. A Jewish settler was filmed shooting and wounding two local Palestinians.

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ATFP President Joins Panel at Israel Policy Forum Symposium
Press Release - Contact Information: Omar Tuffaha - December 12, 2008 - 1:00am

On December 4th, ATFP President Dr. Ziad Asali joined a panel discussion at the Israel Policy Forum's (IPF) Annual Symposium. The panel, entitled "Keeping the Two-State Solution Alive: Israel-Palestine Negotiations One Year After Annapolis," was moderated by IPF National Scholar Dr. Steven Spiegel who presented questions to Dr. Asali and Dr .Yoram Peri, the Head of the Chaim Herzog Institute for Media, Politics, and Society.


December 11th

ATFP Senior Fellow Ghaith al-Omari discusses the Arab Peace Initiative in an article for Middle East Progresss (1). The BBC reports on the plight of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon (2). A recent poll by the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research shows that a majority of Palestinians favor holding elections in 2009 when President Abbas' term ends. (3) (4). Two opinion pieces, one by Daily Star columnist Michael Young and the other by ATFP Board member George Hishmeh, join the ongoing speculation about President-elect Obama's Middle East strategy (5) (6). United States Gen. Keith Dayton praises the capabilities of the Palestinian Security Forces (8).

Hebron settler who shot two Palestinians put under house arrest
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Jonathan Lis - December 11, 2008 - 1:00am

The West Bank settler who was caught on film shooting at Palestinians last week was put under house arrest on Thursday. Ze'ev Braude, 51, of Kiryat Arba, is alleged to have shot two Palestinians at close range during the evacuation of a disputed house in Hebron. The Jerusalem District Court on Thursday overruled a previous Magistrate's Court decision, which moved to release Braude with restrictions, after the presiding judge refused to extend his remand until an appeal was served.

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'Abbas vows to continue peace talks no matter who is elected Israeli PM'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
December 11, 2008 - 1:00am

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has pledged to carry on peace negotiations with Israel regardless of who is elected prime minister in the upcoming elections, the A-Sharq al-Awsat daily reported on Thursday. Abbas told the paper that the domestic political crisis in Israel has hampered progress in the current talks. During the interview, the Fatah leader also attacked the rival Hamas movement for blocking Gaza residents with visas issued by the Palestinian Authority from making the pilgrimage to Mecca this month.

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Livni: National aspirations of Israel's Arabs can be met by Palestinian homeland
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
December 11, 2008 - 1:00am

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said Thursday that the creation of a Palestinian state would serve as a solution to national aspirations of Israel's Arab citizens. "Once a Palestinian state is established, I can come to the Palestinian citizens, whom we call Israeli Arabs, and say to them 'you are citizens with equal rights, but the national solution for you is elsewhere,'" Livni was quoted by Army Radio as saying to students at a Tel Aviv high school. "The idea is to maintain two states for two peoples, that is my path to a democratic nation," she added.

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Dayton: New PA forces are most capable ever
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by David Horovitz - December 11, 2008 - 1:00am

Keith Dayton, the US army general who is overseeing the training in Jordan of the Palestinian Authority's National Security Force for the West Bank, has praised the new recruits as "the most capable Palestinian security forces that have ever been fielded here," and firmly played down the notion that they might one day come to turn their weapons on Israel.

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Official: IDF prepared for Gaza op
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Ron Ben-Yishai - December 11, 2008 - 1:00am

Eight days before the ceasefire agreement brokered with the militant groups in the Gaza Strip is scheduled to end, and amid non-stop rocket fire, a security source said that "the IDF will execute any operation the political echelon orders." The source further criticized statements made by various cabinet members, saying there was no need for them to publicly call for a Gaza operation, while they choose to take different stands – sometimes opposite stands – in the practical discussions on the matter.

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