April 9th

Barghuti Says Palestinians Ready For Peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP) April 9, 2008 - 8:44am Jailed senior Palestinian leader Marwan Barghuti said on Tuesday Palestinians were ready for peace with Israel in a letter congratulating the Israeli Peace Now movement on its 30th anniversary. "The vast majority of the Palestinian people, myself included, are ready for a historic reconciliation based on international resolutions that will result in the establishment of two states," he said in a letter to the group. » Read more

Gazans' Latest Crisis: Fuel Cuts ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by Ibrahim Barzak - April 9, 2008 - 8:43am Muin Abdul Ghani sleeps in his car, parked among dozens of other vehicles at a gas station, unwilling to give up his place in line in his desperate scramble for gasoline. It's one way Gaza's embattled 1.4 million residents are adjusting to their newest crisis: a protest by gas station owners who have refused to sell the small amounts they have in stock or accept future shipments after months of restricted Israeli fuel supplies. » Read more

Approach The Israelis ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Middle East Times by Ori Nir - (Opinion) April 9, 2008 - 8:39am The League of Arab States has re-adopted its six-year-old peace initiative, offering comprehensive peace and normal relations with Israel by all its members in return for an Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 borders, and a resolution of all outstanding issues between Israel and the Palestinians. This initiative is to be commended, but it has a major flaw: it is addressed to the international community at a time when the Arab League really needs to focus on the Israeli public. » Read more

April 7th

Damascus, Ramallah Or Tehran ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amir Oren - (Opinion) April 7, 2008 - 5:57pm In September 1984, when he became defense minister, Yitzhak Rabin summoned the American ambassador, Samuel Lewis, and surprised him with a message for Washington: a request to begin examining secretly to what extent, and under which conditions, Syria was prepared for peace with Israel. Rabin's initiative had no follow-up. The administration of Ronald Reagan and the regime of Hafez Assad were in direct confrontation, the Israel Defense Forces had not yet withdrawn from central Lebanon and Syria was clinging to its "strategic support," the Soviet Union. » Read more

Poll: Israelis Ready For Arab Anchor ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Meirav Crystal - April 7, 2008 - 5:55pm The Israeli public is more than ready for an Arab newscaster, a survey held by Agenda, the Israeli Center for Strategic Communications, revealed Sunday.  The poll, performed by Agenda and the Teleseker polling company, included 400 native Israelis, 200 Israelis who emigrated from the former Soviet Union and 200 Arab Israelis, making up 800 participants. » Read more

Ignore Al-jazeera At Your Own Peril ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star by Lawrence Pintak - (Opinion) April 7, 2008 - 5:53pm It appears that Israel is taking a page from the George W. Bush MBA-Presidents Sep-07 book of public diplomacy: It is attempting to influence coverage in Arab media by boycotting the most influential television station in the Arab world. In the latest news from Jerusalem, it seems that the Ehud Olmert government has decided Al-Jazeera favors Hamas over Israel in the Gaza conflict and will now refuse to deal with its reporters. » Read more

Israel Seeks To Calm Tensions Over Missile Drill ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times April 7, 2008 - 5:47pm Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert sought to reassure Syria and Lebanon on Sunday that Israel did not want a major missile attack drill to worsen tensions along its northern border. "The goal of the exercise is to check the authorities' ability to carry out their duties in times of emergency and for preparing the home front for different scenarios," Olmert told a weekly Cabinet meeting. "There is nothing else hidden behind it. All the reports on tension in the north can be moderated and cooled down. We have no secret plans," he added. » Read more

Israeli Siege Bears Strange Fruit ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Sunday Herald by Alex Renton - April 7, 2008 - 5:45pm FADEL DARDAR stares with weary gloom at the wreck of his orange grove. "They used to bring us $3000 a year - just the trees in this one field. Now they're worth nothing, less than nothing." It's early spring in Gaza, but most of the 100 or so trees have lost their leaves - and the few that remain are brown and brittle. Bizarrely, hundreds of ripe oranges still hang on the branches, but just as many of the fruit are rotting in the stinking, muddy ground. » Read more

Israel's Tough Choice ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons by Nimrod Novik - (Opinion) April 7, 2008 - 5:42pm For several decades now, Israeli policy toward the Palestinians has been all too frequently governed by false assumptions. These include the presumption to "produce" an alternative Palestinian leadership that is more amenable to Israeli preferences and an equally condescending claim to "reeducate" Palestinians to alternative thinking. » Read more

After Bush ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Israel Policy Forum by M.J. Rosenberg - (Opinion) April 7, 2008 - 5:40pm It is fascinating, although not at all surprising, that the candidates for president almost never discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It’s not like it is some minor foreign policy issue. Ask Americans to name two or three of the most pressing foreign policy issues and they are bound to mention the Arab-Israeli conflict. How could they not? After Iraq, there is no other that is so extensively covered by the media nor is there another one of interest to as many voters. » Read more