February 13th

Israel Plans To Build 1,100 Homes ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by Matti Friedman - February 13, 2008 - 5:01pm Israel is planning to build 1,100 new apartments for Israelis in East Jerusalem, a Cabinet minister said yesterday, angering Palestinians and further straining troubled peace talks. Housing Minister Zeev Boim told Israel Radio that plans were under way to build 370 apartments in Har Homa and an additional 750 in Pisgat Zeev, two Jewish neighborhoods in east Jerusalem. An Israeli plan to build an additional 307 apartments in Har Homa two months ago soured the latest round of peace talks just as they were resuming after a seven-year pause. » Read more

Hamas Must Stand Down ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News by Osama Al-sharif - (Opinion) February 13, 2008 - 5:00pm Hamas, the staunchly anti-Israel Islamist movement, which has been governing Gaza ever since its bloody showdown last June with the PNA, is looking increasingly like a spent force. It is not that the Palestinian National Authority has scored any meaningful gains in its peace negotiations with Israel since these talks were resumed in Annapolis last November. Nor is it a result of Israeli sanctions against the enclave that has left more than 1.5 million Palestinians without access to basic needs such as gasoline, food and medicine. » Read more

Israelis, Palestinians Up War Of Words ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line February 13, 2008 - 4:57pm Israeli threats to invade Gaza and target Hamas leaders in retaliation for rocket firing have elicited sharp responses from both the Palestinian Authority and Hamas.   P.A. Chairman Mahmoud 'Abbas threatened on Tuesday to announce the failure of the ongoing peace negotiations in protest at what he calls Israeli 'stubbornness', which is impeding progress in the talks, sources at his office said.   Final talks between Israel and the P.A. resumed last December following the U.S. sponsored Annapolis conference.   Meanwhile, P.A. » Read more

'no Progress' In Mideast Peace Process: Arab League, Eu ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Middle East Times by John Inguanez - February 13, 2008 - 4:56pm Arab League chief Amr Moussa on Tuesday slammed a lack of progress in the Middle East peace process as EU and Arab foreign ministers wrapped up two days of talks in Malta. "We see no progress. We want to send a message, a message of concern," he said following the talks, the first between the two blocs at the level of foreign minister. He added: "We all supported the process with the hope that it will bring peace in 2008. We are now asking what happened, why no progress?" » Read more

Palestinian President Leaves Bahrain ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Kuwait News Agency (kuna) February 13, 2008 - 4:55pm Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas left Manama on Wednesday following a two-day official visit that came as part of his tour of Arab countries. He was bid farewell by Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Mubarak al Khalifa, ministers, senior military officers, the Muharraq governor and Palestinian ambassador to Bahrain. During his visit, Abbas held talks with the kingdom's leadership on bilateral ties, the latest developments in Palestine and Arab and international issues of mutual concern. » Read more

Just Get Out, Now! ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Uzi Benziman - (Opinion) February 13, 2008 - 4:54pm There's a saying that, if it's round, and green on the outside, red on the inside, has black seeds, and otherwise looks like a watermelon - it most probably is a watermelon. The same could be said about Shas, that if it looks like an opposition party, sounds like an opposition party, and behaves like an opposition party - that's a sign it is an opposition party. » Read more

February 12th

Palestinian Revenge Was Inevitable ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Ahmed Yousef - (Opinion) February 12, 2008 - 7:22pm Last week's bombing in Dimona was the first martyrdom operation committed by Hamas in more than five years. For some time, we have been warning the world that the relentless pressure on our people would eventually tell. In the last two months, more than a hundred people have been killed by the Israeli occupation forces in the Gaza Strip, including many civilians, women and children. » Read more

Israel Sees Hamas Gone From Gaza In Months ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters February 12, 2008 - 7:21pm Israeli leaders vowed on Monday to step up their war against Hamas and predicted the Islamists' grip on the Gaza Strip would end within months. Two days after a rocket from the enclave wounded an Israeli child and prompted dramatic headlines, Defence Minister Ehud Barak pledged to step up the Israeli military campaign. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Israel was at "war" and his deputy, Vice Premier Haim Ramon, said he expected Hamas, which seized control in June, to be forced out within the year. » Read more

Settlements, Gaza Cloud Israel-palestinian Talks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Adam Entous - February 12, 2008 - 7:20pm Israeli plans to build 1,100 new homes in and around Arab East Jerusalem came under fire on Tuesday from Palestinians who see the city as the capital of their future state, clouding already troubled peace talks. Israeli officials cited "progress" after negotiators met for the first time on two consecutive days. But comments from ministers threatening new attacks on the Gaza Strip and vowing to expand Jewish settlements angered Palestinian leaders. » Read more

Tom Lantos' Israel-palestine Shift ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Talking Points Memo by Steve Clemons - (Opinion) February 12, 2008 - 7:19pm House Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Tom Lantos (D-CA) died today after a battle with cancer. Lantos was one of the Congress' last real characters of an age mostly gone in which eccentricity, a hybrid of vanity and humility, purpose, passion, and gentility packaged together was a winning path to leadership positions like the one he held for so long. » Read more