Ehud Olmert’s Parting Words Dared To Offer Painful Truth ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward (Editorial) October 1, 2008 - 8:00pm It is a rule of thumb in democracies that lame duck leaders should steer clear of bold new initiatives and sharp turns of policy. They’re supposed to sit tight until their elected successors can settle in and take the wheel. A decent respect for the opinions of the electorate demands that the voters’ decisions be honored, including the decision to repudiate an incumbent. Ehud Olmert, Israel’s outgoing prime minister, broke that rule September 29. And rightly so. » Read more

Olmert’s belated wisdom ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by B. Michael - October 2, 2008 - 8:00pm Even though Prime Minister Olmert had been ridiculed on more than one occasion for his delayed grasp of reality, it is very difficult not to feel great anger in the wake of his Rosh Hashana interview with Yedioth Ahronoth. » Read more

Settler leader charged with assaulting police officers ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Raanan Ben-Zur - October 2, 2008 - 8:00pm Daniela Weiss, the former head of the northern West Bank settlement of Kedumim, was charged Friday with assaulting a police officer, obstruction of justice and obstructing police actions. The charges, filed with the Kfar Saba Magistrate's Court, also named a second defendant, Kedumim resident Shoshana Shilo. The two were indicted for a clash they had with police officers on Thursday. According to the indictment, three policemen dispatched to a Palestinian olive grove which was set on fire near Kedumim, spotted three suspects fleeing the scene in a vehicle. » Read more

Image makers ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Larry Derfner - October 1, 2008 - 8:00pm The settlers from Yitzhar had left their mark on the "Suleiman" house: Stars of David spray-painted in black on the walls. They'd come down the hill into the Suleimans' village, Asira al-Kibliyeh, on Saturday morning, September 13, after a Palestinian burned down an empty Yitzhar bungalow, stabbed a nine-year-old boy and fled into the village. (The young victim, Tuvia Shtatman, suffered two superficial wounds, one of which required stitches, and spent a day in the hospital.) » Read more

Egypt to host ME summit in November ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News by Mohammed Mar’i - October 2, 2008 - 8:00pm Israel, the Palestinians and the Middle East Quartet will meet in November to review progress in US-backed peace talks launched nearly a year ago, according to a senior Israeli official. The official told the Israeli daily Haaretz that the Israeli and Palestine Authority participants would brief the Quartet over progress made in the ongoing peace talks. » Read more

Israeli settlers, anti-occupation activists, clashes near Hebron ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Deutsche Presse Agentur (DPA) October 2, 2008 - 8:00pm Israeli settlers clashed Friday at an olive grove near Hebron with activists protesting the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, police said. According to settlers, the fracas broke out when one of the activists pushed the wife of settler leader Itamar Ben-Gvir. The activists, however, said the settlers attacked them first. One anti-occupation activist was detained by police, a police spokesman, Chief Inspector Mickey Rosenfeld, said. » Read more

Breaking the Silence ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS) by Cherrie Heywood - October 2, 2008 - 8:00pm An Israeli police commander has called them "provocateurs", "militants", and, "lawbreakers". Earlier in the year the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) decided that their presence in the city of Hebron, 30km south of Jerusalem in the Palestinian West Bank, constituted a security threat and banned them from the city, stating that any member of the organisation caught there would be expelled forthwith. » Read more

Jewish settlers, rabbis clash over West Bank olives ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters October 2, 2008 - 8:00pm Militant Jewish settlers clashed with activists of the Rabbis for Human Rights movement near the West Bank city of Hebron on Friday as they protected Palestinians beginning the annual olive harvest. Israeli police and soldiers grappled with settlers who tried to drive off local Palestinians and international supporters of Palestinian rights in the Israel-occupied territories. "This is just the beginning of the olive harvest which will be going on for the next two months," said the executive director of Rabbis for Human Rights, Arik Ascherman. » Read more

Jewish terrorism threatens Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Telegraph by Tim Butcher - October 2, 2008 - 8:00pm Professor Zeev Sternhell knows as much as anyone about the current threat from Jewish terrorism. His right leg is recovering from shrapnel caused when a bomb, believed to have been the work of right-wing Jewish extremists, exploded outside the front door of his Jerusalem apartment last week. While Arab-Jewish violence is common, the attack on the 73-year-old historian has shocked public opinion in Israel because all the evidence points to it being intra-Jewish. "I consider it an act of Jewish terrorism," he said in an interview from the modest apartment where the bomb exploded. » Read more

Egypt to host 'Annapolis 2' peace summit in November ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Barak Ravid - October 1, 2008 - 8:00pm An international summit is to be held in Egypt in November, with representatives from Israel, the Palestinian Authority and the members of the Quartet - the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations. According to a senior official in Jerusalem, the Israeli and PA participants will brief the Quartet over progress made in the ongoing peace talks. » Read more