Britain raps 'unbalanced' UN rights Gaza report ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP) April 29, 2009 - 12:00am Britain criticised Wednesday a report by a UN human rights investigator on Israel's Gaza offensive as "unbalanced", but insisted it was extremely concerned by the situation in Gaza and the West Bank. Last month, the UN special rapporteur on the Palestinian territories, Richard Falk, said in a report that there was "reason" to conclude that Israel's massive military offensive on Gaza in December and January was a war crime, but the Jewish state slammed the report as "one-sided". » Read more

Egypt puts the bite on Gaza tunnel smugglers ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Nidal Al-Mughrabi - April 28, 2009 - 12:00am Once a profitable business, Abu Abdallah's tunnel under the border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip has been out of work for three weeks due to an Egyptian security crackdown on smuggling. The Palestinian network of some 3,000 tunnels, created to thwart Israel's blockade of the coastal territory ruled by Hamas Islamists, was reduced to hundreds by bombing during Israel's three-week offensive in January. Now Egyptian police efforts are also biting into Gaza's underground supply system, which supplements the tightly restricted flow of aid commodities allowed in by the Israelis. » Read more

Change meets challenge ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons by Ghassan Khatib - April 27, 2009 - 12:00am At a time when neither Palestinian nor Israeli domestic political conditions are conducive to progress on peacemaking, the region is looking to the new US administration as the only source of hope. It is evident that the strategies and approaches of the previous American administration contributed, at least in part, to an unprecedented deterioration in the region, including for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. » Read more

Muslims in Holy Land are cool to next month's visit by Pope Benedict, still angry over speech ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by Diaa Hadid - April 29, 2009 - 12:00am A banner across the main square in Jesus' boyhood town condemns those who insult Islam's Prophet Muhammad — a message by Muslim hard-liners for Pope Benedict XVI during his pilgrimage to the Holy Land next month. The pontiff may have to tread carefully with his visit to Nazareth. Many Muslims are still angry over a 2006 speech in which Benedict quoted a medieval text depicting the prophet as violent. Even some Christians are nervous that Benedict could stir up trouble for them. They worry that if he says anything contentious about Islam again, Muslims might lash out. » Read more

Peres to Meet Obama Next Week ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP) April 29, 2009 - 12:00am Israeli President Shimon Peres will visit the United States next week where he will meet President Barack Obama in the first high-level meeting between the two allies since the new US administration took office. Peres will leave this weekend for Washington to represent Israel at the annual conference of the pro-Israeli lobby AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee), his office said in a statement. “During his stay in Washington, Peres will hold talks with US President Barack Obama,” it said, without providing a date. » Read more

Middle East peace requires joint effort ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News April 28, 2009 - 12:00am In order to find a just and lasting peace and end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it is crucial that all concerned parties become engaged in the process. It is vital that the major powers, and the United States in particular, take on and continue to support a dialogue for peace between the two sides. » Read more

Palestinian rivals deadlocked on power-sharing ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press April 28, 2009 - 12:00am Rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah ended a fourth round of power-sharing talks without a deal Tuesday, but are to meet again on May 16, negotiators said. The key stumbling block remains the political program of a Palestinian unity government that would be in power until elections are held in January 2010. Prospects of a breakthrough in the next round are slim. The international community said it will only deal with a Palestinian government that recognizes Israel, a concession the Islamic militant Hamas is unwilling to make. » Read more

Barak: Israel can and must make peace within three years ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Gidi Weitz - April 28, 2009 - 12:00am "I am certain it is possible and certainly necessary to act with all our might to achieve peace even before I turn 70, which will be in three years," said Defense Minister Ehud Barak in his first extensive interview since joining the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. » Read more

Netanyahu: Israel to do all in its power to bring Shalit home ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz April 29, 2009 - 12:00am Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stressed on Wednesday the state's commitment to the parents of captive Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit to do all in its power to win the corporal's release. "Every combat soldier knows that we will use all our capabilities in order to bring him back home safe and sound," Netanyahu said before a special Independence Day ceremony to honor outstanding soldiers in the President's Residence. » Read more

World Bank finds Israel’s water policy hard to swallow ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Stephen Glain - April 28, 2009 - 12:00am As a former, and by many accounts successful, finance minister, Benjamin Netanyahu presumably knows his way around economics. So when the Israeli prime minister says he will work to provide the Palestinians with economic, if not political, independence, might that not suggest his hard-line government understands that a prosperous Palestine would be an important first step towards a more stable Middle East? » Read more