February 19th, 2008

Olmert, Abbas Agree To Accelerate Talks: Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Adam Entous - February 19, 2008 - 6:30pm

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas agreed on Tuesday to accelerate U.S.-backed peace talks after critics warned Israel not enough was being done to get a deal this year. The negotiations, which President George W. Bush hopes will yield an agreement on Palestinian statehood before he leaves office next January, have been stalled by disputes over Israeli plans to build new homes near Jerusalem and Olmert's insistence on putting off talks on the fate of the Holy city.

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February 18th

Reuters reports on comments from a senior PA adviser that the issue of Jerusalem is still a high priority in talks with Olmert (2.) An Angus Reid poll shows that most Israelis would back a motion to launch a large scale military operation in Gaza (3.) A report by Americans for Peace Now looks at settlement expansion in the West Bank (5.) The Kuwait News Agency covers French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner’s visit to the Palestinian Territories (9.) Ran HaCohen makes the case for Israel to talk with Hamas (11.) Gideon Levy compares the current situation in Azoun Village to the days of the Intifada(12.)

February 15th

Palestinians Say Militant Hub Is Now Safe Town; Israel Unconvinced
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
February 15, 2008 - 2:29pm

Local Hamas activists have pledged to obey the law, Mideast envoy Tony Blair has taken a stroll through once gunman-infested neighborhoods and policemen are now the only ones carrying weapons in public in this former militant hub.  

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The Peacebuilding Prince
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Christianity Today
by Cornelis Hulsman - (Interview) February 15, 2008 - 2:26pm

Prince Hassan bin Talal, brother of the late King Hussein of Jordan, is worried about the future of Christians all over the Arab world, including the Holy Land—the name he gives to the combined area of Israel, the Palestinian region, and his homeland of Jordan. The prince holds two degrees from Oxford University and is renowned worldwide for his views on the relationship of religion and society.

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Adrian Hamilton: Democracy Has Become A Devalued Concept
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Adrian Hamilton - (Opinion) February 15, 2008 - 2:22pm

It's not only the concept of humanitarian intervention that has been fatally undermined by the decade of Bush and Blair. It is the whole ideal of promoting democracy abroad. Not that either the White House or Whitehall have given up on the rhetoric. Indeed, President Bush still goes on about America's historic role in promoting democracy around the world. It was the one single theme that he picked up from the neo-cons at the beginning of his administration and has hammered on about ever since.

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Israeli Generals Oppose Checkpoints
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al Jazeera English
February 15, 2008 - 2:20pm

Checkpoints and roadblocks in the occupied West Bank are harming the Middle East peace process according to a group of retired Israeli generals. The 12 senior former commanders have written a letter to Ehud Barak, the Israeli defence minister, urging the army to remove roadblocks saying that they fuel Palestinian hatred of Israel.   

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Israel's Quandary In Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from International Herald Tribune
by Steven Erlanger - February 15, 2008 - 2:19pm

JERUSALEM: Israel hoped that by pulling its settlers and troops from Gaza in 2005, it would also leave behind responsibility for the Gazans. With the help of the West and more moderate Arab countries, the Palestinian Authority could begin to create a prosperous state, the new Palestine, as if the continuing Israeli occupation of the West Bank were somehow irrelevant.

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Hamas Leader In Egypt For Border Talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
February 15, 2008 - 2:17pm

A leading member of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas entered Egypt from Gaza on Thursday to resume talks with the Egyptian government on arrangements at the border, a security source said. Mahmoud al-Zahar, a Gazan who was Palestinian foreign minister in a short-lived government led by Hamas, crossed with about four other Hamas officials and headed for the coastal town of El Arish, the capital of the Egyptian border province.  

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Israelis Seek Support For Gaza Attack, Abduct 70 In West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
February 15, 2008 - 2:14pm

  While arresting 70 Palestinians in the Occupied West Bank, Israel took nearly 70 foreign ambassadors to its border with the Gaza Strip on Wednesday as part of a diplomatic campaign to enlist international support for tougher action against the enclave's Hamas rulers.

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Valentine Flowers Wilt Behind Gaza's Walls
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
February 15, 2008 - 2:13pm

In past years, Ziad Hejazi's colourful Gaza-grown carnations would adorn the homes of lovers across Europe, bringing an early springtime splash of colour to wintry Valentine Days. But the 35-year-old farmer from the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah says that this year his flowers will be fed to animals because of a punishing Israeli economic lockdown of the Hamas-ruled territory. "I apologise to the lovers on the day of their love because I cannot bring flowers to them," Hejazi says. "Our flowers have become food for the sheep."

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