October 23rd

San Francisco protestors call Olmert 'war criminal' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews October 23, 2009 - 12:00am Pro-Palestinian protestors disrupted Ehud Olmert's speech in a San Francisco hotel on Thursday night, exactly one week after the former Israeli premier was verbally attacked at the University of Chicago over alleged war crimes committed by the Jewish state during the Gaza war. "You are a war criminal and a murderer," one of the protestors shouted at Olmert during the speech before being removed from the auditorium by security officers. Another protestor shouted, "You are a war criminal. San Francisco should be ashamed to have a war criminal here." » Read more

Lieberman discusses Goldstone with Ban ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post October 23, 2009 - 12:00am Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman spoke on the telephone with United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon late Thursday on several Middle East issues, among them the Goldstone report which alleges that Israel may have committed war crimes during Operation Cast Lead in Gaza last winter. » Read more

IDF must allow Palestinians to use 'Israelis only' road ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Dan Izenberg - October 23, 2009 - 12:00am The High Court of Justice on Thursday accepted a petition filed by the Association of Civil Rights in Israel and ordered the state to cancel an order prohibiting Palestinians from driving on a road linking small villages near Hebron to the larger towns that provide them with vital services. It gave the state three months to make the necessary preparations before the ban was lifted. » Read more

Israel confirms settlers ramping up West Bank construction ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amos Harel - October 23, 2009 - 12:00am The defense establishment confirmed that in recent weeks West Bank settlers have been making a noticeable effort to expedite construction, in an attempt to maximize the "facts on the ground" before the United States and Israel reach an agreement on a settlement freeze. A senior security source said this week that the defense establishment's view on the situation was reflected in reports published in Haaretz last Friday, which stated that extensive construction is currently being carried out in at least 11 settlements. » Read more

The Palestinians' spoiler ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by David Makovsky - (Opinion) October 23, 2009 - 12:00am Advocates for engaging Hamas often argue that if the group is given a stake in the creation of an independent Palestine by being included in peace negotiations, it will moderate its positions. This co-optation argument is based on the misguided assumption that Hamas is a pragmatic nationalistic movement, motivated primarily by calculations of how to gain power. » Read more

Price of Hamas principles in Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News by Tim Franks - October 22, 2009 - 12:00am Eight bearded policemen, in black fatigues and carrying AK-47s, leap on to an open-backed truck, which then hares off with much squealing of tyres. The policemen have gone to set up a road block in Gaza City, walkie-talkies spluttering with messages about suspicious vehicles. The message is clear: these are not militants firing rockets, or Islamists ordering women off motorbikes. Rather, on display are normal policemen on a normal beat, bringing order to the roads. Crime has indeed fallen in Gaza. But life is still hard. War and Israeli-imposed shortages have seen to that. » Read more

Nightmare on J Street ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy by Rebecca Abou-Chedid - (Opinion) October 22, 2009 - 12:00am At last, somebody found me out. This week, former AIPAC and Israeli embassy official Lenny Ben-David published an article revealing that I had given a donation to the "pro-Israel and pro-peace" organization J Street. Because I am of Lebanese descent, this clearly indicates that my dollars must be intended to advance some pernicious anti-Israel agenda -- and that J Street must be the vehicle for those aims. » Read more

Rabbis Take on Settlers ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS) by Mel Frykberg - October 21, 2009 - 12:00am Away from the media spotlight that focuses on the widening chasm between Israelis and Palestinians, a group of Israeli humanists is quietly working to break down barriers with their Palestinian neighbours. Rabbi Arik Ascherman, director of Israel's Rabbis for Human Rights (RHR), has been used as a human shield, arrested, and beaten up several times by Israeli security forces while defending Palestinians. He has also been stoned by Palestinians who mistook him for a settler. » Read more

A place to live ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times by Karen Janjua - (Opinion) October 23, 2009 - 12:00am Dante’s conception of a tortuous place invoking hopelessness cannot hold a candle to a place that I visited recently. The Gaza refugee camp near Jerash is a ramshackle, over 40-year-old “temporary settlement” where 96 per cent of the inhabitants live without the optimism which comes “bundled” with a passport having a national number. Citizenship is granted to most residents of UNWRA’s nine other official camps in Jordan, but the residents of Gaza camp constitute “a special case”. » Read more

Sunny day on 'Shara'a Simsim' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters October 23, 2009 - 12:00am Ramallah, West Bank - It's always a sunny day on Sesame Street in the West Bank, where the neighbors are friendly and the muppets never see an Israeli army checkpoint. "Shara'a Simsim" teaches Palestinian children they can achieve an independent state through tolerance, education and national pride -- and not anti-Israeli violence. » Read more