October 26th, 2007

Lebanon: Palestinian Refugees Face Systematic Discrimination
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS)
by Simba Russeau - October 26, 2007 - 5:45pm

Denied access to social services, education, adequate housing and employment, Palestinian refugees in Lebanon continue to suffer discrimination and marginalisation. More than half of the 400,000 Palestinian refugees in Lebanon have been forced to live in segregated ghettos since they were forced to flee their lands and homes after the creation of Israel in 1948.

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Israel Oks Gaza Electricity Cutoffs
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
October 26, 2007 - 5:43pm

Israel approved Thursday a plan to start punitive disruptions of the Gaza Strip's scarce supplies of electricity in response to rocket attacks from the Palestinian territory. Israeli officials, noting that Palestinian militants fire rockets across the border almost daily, said the sanctions could start anytime. The plan calls for initial power cutoffs of 15 minutes, followed by increasingly longer ones each time more rockets fall.

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Realizing God's Dream For The Holy Land
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Boston Globe
by Desmond Tutu - (Opinion) October 26, 2007 - 5:42pm

WHENEVER I am asked if I am optimistic about an end to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, I say that I am not. Optimism requires clear signs that things are changing - meaningful words and unambiguous actions that point to real progress. I do not yet hear enough meaningful words, nor do I yet see enough unambiguous deeds to justify optimism.

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‘israel Lobby’ Writers Miss The Real Jewish Conflict
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
(Opinion) October 26, 2007 - 5:40pm

Among the (many) things that John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt get wrong in their controversial book, “The Israel Lobby,” is their characterization of the American Jewish community. According to their understanding, there’s a substantial contrast between the policies “the lobby” espouses and the more dovish views of the community at large. For the most part, as they see it, the lobby opposes a two-state solution to the chronic conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, while most American Jews very much favor such a solution.

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Olmert Pledges Gaza Won't Face Crisis
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
October 26, 2007 - 5:36pm

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert promised the Palestinian president Friday that Israel would not cause a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip despite his government's intention to cut power to the territory in hopes of curbing rocket attacks He made the pledge during a working lunch with Mahmoud Abbas at the Israeli leader's Jerusalem residence, responding to Abbas' concern that electricity stoppages could hit hospitals and other essential services, Israeli and Palestinian officials said.

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Chaotic Nablus: Testing Ground For Abbas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
October 26, 2007 - 5:35pm

The Palestinian president has chosen the West Bank's most chaotic city to show he's in control, winning U.S. praise Thursday for beefing up his security forces here as part of an attempt to reassure Israel that he can implement a future peace deal. However, Mahmoud Abbas' campaign to disarm hundreds of militants in Nablus has had mixed results.

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October 25th

The Associated Press reports on continuing Israeli-Palestinian talks aimed at producing a joint document at the Mideast fall meeting (2.) A Forward opinion by Leonard Fein examines the 'psychic dissonance' that is characteristic of an American Jewish community that both supports a two-state solution yet are resistant to assigning any blame to Israel for actions undermining such a solution (3.) Inter Press Service looks at the discrimination and marginalization facing the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon (6.) In the Guardian (UK), filmmaker Clancy Chassay goes to Gaza to witness a debate on the issues that divide the organization (9.) In The Times (UK), former BBC Gaza correspondent Alan Johnston recounts the 144 days he spent as a hostage in Gaza (10.) In Dar Al Hayat (Lebanon) Raghida Dergham contrasts the Mideast fall meeting with the 'Damascus Conference' planned as a counter, suggesting ways for the fall meeting to succeed (12.) Haaretz (Israel) analyzes as two-fold Israel's reasons for imposing further sanctions against the Gaza Strip (15.)

The Voice Of The Old Bush
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Shmuel Rosner - October 25, 2007 - 11:37am

Three days before he announced that he was dropping out of the presidential race, Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kansas) spoke to the Republican Jewish Coalition, and succinctly summed up his opinion on the Bush administration's moves toward ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: "It's time we looked at other ideas."

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Policy In No-man's-land
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Aluf Benn - October 25, 2007 - 11:35am

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's trip to Europe this week once again illustrated that the "peace process" is the most convenient diplomatic situation for Israel. Conducting high-level talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority; Israel's willingness to discuss the principles for ending the conflict; and gestures such as the release of prisoners are in themselves sufficient to remove international pressure on Israel to withdraw from the territories and to end the occupation.

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Breaking The Taboo
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
(Special Report) October 25, 2007 - 11:34am

The general feeling in Washington is that most Americans - there are over 300 million Americans - are not knowledgeable about world affairs, certainly the Middle East, and especially the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. In small part, this explains the lopsided US policy towards the region and, in greater part, exposes the failure of Arab governments and to some extent the Arab-American community in meeting this challenge.

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