October 5th

Haidar Abdel Shafi ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Economist October 5, 2007 - 4:05pm IN THE spring of 1948, around March as he remembered it, Haidar Abdel Shafi found himself at nightfall, waiting, in a small mud hut by the side of the main road in Deir al-Balah. Around him stretched groves of olive and orange trees. Palestine, in those days, was a community of peasants and landowners; a man was judged by how many trees he had. Haidar's father had had none, preferring—as he told the astonished neighbours—to save money for schooling his six children rather than buy plantations. » Read more

Ok, Here We Go, The Israel Lobby ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Prospectsforpeace.com by Daniel Levy - (Blog) October 5, 2007 - 4:02pm I have not commented thus far on the publication of the Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer book on the Israel lobby. The reason is simple – I agreed to review the book for Haaretz and so have waited for that to be published. Well the review came out yesterday in the monthly Haartetz book supplement and should be on the website any day (it is being delayed by the Succot holiday). I have though decided to post that review here below. (I will provide the Haaretz link once it’s available.) » Read more

J'accuse, Sort Of ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Slate by Michael Kinsley - (Opinion) October 5, 2007 - 3:56pm Rep. James P. Moran of Virginia, already a locally famous foot-in-mouther, went national last week by declaring at an anti-war rally that "if it was not for the strong support of the Jewish community," the war against Iraq would not be happening. He said that Jewish "leaders" are "influential enough" to reverse the policy "and I think they should." » Read more

Lobbying Degree Zero ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Nation by Daniel Lazare - (Opinion) October 5, 2007 - 3:51pm On March 23, 2006, John Mearsheimer, a political scientist at the University of Chicago, and Stephen Walt, a professor of international affairs at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, published a lengthy article called "The Israel Lobby" in the London Review of Books. Their thesis: a group of pro-Israel activists and propagandists is actively manipulating policy in Washington to benefit the Jewish state at the expense of the United States' national interests. » Read more

Bush Says 'very Optimistic' On Mideast Peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters October 5, 2007 - 3:39pm President George W. Bush said in comments aired on Friday he was "very optimistic" a Palestinian state could be set up alongside Israel and that next month's Middle East conference could lead towards peace in the region. The U.S.-sponsored conference is due to take place in the Washington area in mid to late November, although there are doubts over how far it will go towards ending decades of conflict and uncertainty over which Arab states will attend. » Read more

On Stage In Jerusalem, Jewish And Arab Audiences Hear The Other Side Of The Story ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Ilene Prusher - October 5, 2007 - 3:21pm The characters: six Jerusalemites. The setting: the embattled city claimed by both Israelis and Palestinians. The point: to get people listening to narratives they didn't think they wanted to hear. Jerusalem Stories is a series of dramatic monologues that are being performed in Jewish and Arab parts of the city, in Hebrew and in Arabic, with the aim of challenging audiences to empathize with the other side – or the "enemy," as many here would say. » Read more

Idea Raised Of Two Capitals In Jerusalems ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by Barry Schweid - October 5, 2007 - 3:14pm Five former State Department and Pentagon officials are proposing Israeli and Palestinian capitals in Jerusalem and excluding Arab refugees from returning to Israel as part of an Middle East accord. In a six-page policy statement submitted to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, they also suggested a series of peace conferences following the one she hopes to convene next month, probably in Annapolis, Md. » Read more

October 4th

Ex-us Officals: Divide Jerusalem ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press October 4, 2007 - 3:02pm Five former State Department and Pentagon officials are proposing Israeli and Palestinian capitals in Jerusalem and excluding Arab refugees from returning to Israel as part of an Middle East accord. In a six-page policy statement submitted to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, they also suggested a series of peace conferences following the one she hopes to convene next month, probably in Annapolis, Maryland, near Washington. Hamas, which controls Gaza and about one-third of Palestinian-held land, has not met US terms » Read more

Jnf's Blatant Hypocrisy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Dror Etkes - (Opinion) October 4, 2007 - 2:59pm It appears that the High Court discussion over the insistence of the Jewish National Fund, which controls about 13 percent of land in Israel, on its right to continue its policy of refraining from leasing out land to Arabs will soon reach the final stretch. JNF's claims in response to the petition of Arab citizens, who it refuses to lease out land to, is that the land it owns is not national land, but rather, assets that were bought for their full price for Jews only, and therefore the JNF has the right to refuse to lease them out to non-Jews. » Read more

‘in The Interest Of Peace’ ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times by Samir Barhoum - (Editorial) October 4, 2007 - 2:53pm Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert unfortunately seem to have very different ideas about what the proposed November meeting in the US on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is about. Abbas wants that meeting to lead to the signing of a peace agreement in six months. Olmert, on the other hand, wants yet another process and is keen to emphasise, as he did yesterday, that the Annapolis meeting is “not a peace conference”. » Read more