Goldstone's Gaza probe did Israel a favor ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Gideon Levy - (Opinion) October 1, 2009 - 12:00am Israel should thank Judge Richard Goldstone and his commission's important report. After subjecting him to useless, automatic mudslinging, Israel suddenly realized that it should finally investigate the events of Operation Cast Lead. Why? What happened? The ground has started to tremble under the feet of a number of Israeli statesmen and officers. » Read more

Report: Shin Bet foot-dragging keeping Gazans from doctors visits ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amira Hass - October 1, 2009 - 12:00am The slow response of the Shin Bet security service to requests by Palestinians seeking to leave the Gaza Strip for medical care via the Erez crossing was the main reason that more than one third of such applicants missed their medical appointments between January and August 2009, according to a new report. » Read more

Netanyahu nixes call for Israeli inquiry into Gaza war ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Barak Ravid - October 1, 2009 - 12:00am Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has nixed the idea of setting up an inquiry committee into alleged Israeli war crimes in the Gaza Strip as a means of dealing with the Goldstone Commission's report. » Read more

A new US perspective on Middle East peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Common Ground News Service by Hussein Ibish - October 1, 2009 - 12:00am Under US President Barack Obama's Administration, the United States has vigorously re-engaged in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and made commitment to Palestinian statehood a national security and foreign policy priority. Obama has said that it is "absolutely crucial" to American interests to resolve the conflict, and appears determined to persist despite all difficulties and obstacles. There are several crucial reasons for this intensification. » Read more

Violence between Palestinians, Israelis may spread ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua by Xu Gang, David Harris - September 30, 2009 - 12:00am JERUSALEM, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- Violence between Palestinian Muslim prayers and Israeli troops and Jewish worshippers on Sunday at the holy site of al-Haram al-Sharif in East Jerusalem, or known as Temple Mount to the Jews, may spread in the near future, analysts said. » Read more

False symmetry ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times by Daoud Kuttab - October 1, 2009 - 12:00am One of the most frustrating things about the American policy towards the Middle East is how Israel seems to always be able to get away with it or at least treated symmetrically with the Palestinians, whether there is cause for such symmetry or not. » Read more

Creating new reality? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times by Michael Jansen - (Opinion) October 1, 2009 - 12:00am Sunday’s clashes at Jerusalem’s Haram Al Sharif between Palestinians and armed Israeli police and soldiers have been either misrepresented or underestimated by the world media. But not by the Palestinian Authority. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Salam Fayyad summoned all the foreign representatives to a crisis meeting in Ramallah where he warned of the dangers posed by such events. The Israelis arrested at least 50 Palestinians they said had taken part in the violence that spilled out of the compound into the narrow streets of the Old City. » Read more

MIDEAST: Riots May Point to Third Palestinian Uprising ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS) by Mel Frykberg - September 30, 2009 - 12:00am EAST JERUSALEM, Sep 30 (IPS) - Palestinian politicians and Israeli political analysts are warning of a third Palestinian Intifadah following serious rioting in East Jerusalem last Sunday. Clashes broke out between Palestinians protesters and Israeli security forces after a group of extremist Israeli settlers, escorted by Israeli soldiers and police, tried to enter the compound of Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third holiest shrine which is situated in Jerusalem's old city. » Read more

Accounting for Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times by Mary Robinson - (Opinion) October 1, 2009 - 12:00am This week, the United Nations Human Rights Council will debate the report of the fact-finding mission led by Judge Richard Goldstone on human rights violations in the Gaza conflict. Let us hope it is a full and fair examination based on the report’s findings and recommendations. » Read more

Dashing hopes ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times (Editorial) October 1, 2009 - 12:00am Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not serious about arriving at peace with the Palestinians. He is only marking time or, better yet, wasting precious time for all sides involved. Tzipi Livni, former Israeli foreign minister and leader of Kadima, the main opposition party in Israel, knows Netanyahu only too well, having engaged in lengthy negotiations with him to form a national coalition government after the Israeli elections in which her party emerged the winner. » Read more