September 16th

'Terrorists planning Sinai kidnapping' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Yaakov Katz - September 14, 2008 - 8:00pm Palestinian and Hizbullah terrorists are in the advanced stages of plotting to kidnap Israeli tourists from Sinai beaches and transfer them secretly to the Gaza Strip, the Counter-Terrorism Bureau announced on Monday. The warning came amid growing concern in Israel that Palestinian terrorists have recently infiltrated Egypt via tunnels connecting Gaza and Sinai and are planning attacks against Israeli tourists there. Hizbullah, officials said, also sought to kidnap Israelis in retaliation for the February assassination of arch-terrorist Imad Mughniyeh. » Read more

12 dead as Hamas, clan battle in Gaza City ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Ali Waked - September 15, 2008 - 8:00pm Twelve Palestinians were killed Tuesday as Hamas security police clashed with gunmen in the Gaza Strip, a Hamas security source said. Among those injured in the exchanges of fire was Army of Islam leader Mumtaz Doghmush, who was involved in kidnapping of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit. His brother was killed. The fighting between the Islamist Hamas security forces and members of the Doghmosh clan was the worst among Palestinians in the coastal territory since clashes in July in which more than a dozen died. » Read more

Crucial Israeli vote now two-person race ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Star by Oakland Ross - September 15, 2008 - 8:00pm Israel's notoriously turbulent political climate could become even stormier after members of the ruling Kadima party cast their ballots tomorrow to select a new leader. Depending on a welter of variables, the winner in tomorrow's party primary might ? or might not ? become the country's new prime minister. If the winner does become prime minister, he ? or she ? would replace the outgoing Ehud Olmert, who has been brought low by a series of financial scandals. But events could play out in a variety of different ways and, right now, no one knows which of them is most likely. » Read more

The Issue of Five Million Palestinian Refugees ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat by Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed - September 15, 2008 - 8:00pm Talking to the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz last week, Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas admitted that the refugees represent the main obstacle preventing a peace agreement with Israel. He said that matters are not yet clear; every issue has complicated details for those who would return to the West Bank and Gaza Strip and those whom Israel would agree to return to their land which is today's Israel. » Read more

EU firmly condemns Israeli settler violence in West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) September 15, 2008 - 8:00pm The Presidency of the European Union, currently held by France, on Tuesday severely rebuked extremist Israeli settlers for violence they carried out last weekend and strongly condemned an operation that terrorized several areas in the Occupied West Bank, where one Palestinian and several injured. "The Presidency of the European Union Council firmly condemns the violence perpetrated by the Israeli settlers, notably the fires, vandalism and aggressions that took place Saturday night near Nablus," a statement from the EU said. » Read more

The game that changed their world ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Chicago Tribune by Joel Greenberg - September 15, 2008 - 8:00pm Mai Abdo, an assistant principal and teacher in Jabal Mukabar, a Palestinian neighborhood of Jerusalem, had a dream for the teenage girls in her school that rankled some people in her religiously conservative community. It sounded like a simple proposition: start a girls basketball program to promote fitness and build self-confidence. » Read more

Israel's Gaza shelling may be war crime - Tutu ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters September 15, 2008 - 8:00pm Israel's deadly shelling in the Gaza Strip in November 2006 may constitute a war crime, South Africa's Archbishop Desmond Tutu said in a report to the United Nations released on Monday. Tutu, who serves as an independent UN human rights envoy, said Israel must be held accountable for its strike that hit two homes in the Gaza town of Beit Hanoun, killing 18 people. » Read more

Abbas and Olmert to meet amid doubts of a deal ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Wafa Amr - September 15, 2008 - 8:00pm Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday in a last-minute bid to clinch an agreement a day before his Kadima party holds an election to replace him. "Olmert will make a last-ditch effort to reach a deal, but I doubt they can finalize anything in tonight's meeting," an Israeli political source said. Senior Abbas aides said the Palestinians had rejected Israeli proposals to sign a "shelf" deal, which would not go into effect until Abbas regained control of the Hamas-run Gaza Strip. » Read more

September 15th

Abbas to Haaretz: We will compromise on refugees ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Akiva Eldar - September 14, 2008 - 8:00pm Perhaps it was the daytime fast and abstention from smoking during the holy month of Ramadan, and perhaps it was the conversation about the exhausting negotiations with Israel that caused Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) to press the white button at least three times in the course of last Wednesday's interview. Sa'id, his personal assistant, enters without a word, pulls out the packet and lights a cigarette for the president. Abu Mazen's relaxed mood does not hint at all the troubles bombarding him from inside and out. » Read more

A Mideast Crisis to Avert ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Dennis Ross - September 14, 2008 - 8:00pm Having just spent a week visiting Israelis and Palestinians, I find it hard not to be struck by the sense that everything is in limbo. Even as they continue to negotiate, Israelis and Palestinians are, for the most part, biding their time as they wait to see what the political transition in Israel and in the United States will produce. But there is a looming issue that I found to be worrying Palestinians and Israelis alike: What happens in January when Mahmoud Abbas's term as president of the Palestinian Authority expires? » Read more