May 8th

The Hamas 'Peace' Gambit ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Charles Krauthammer - (Opinion) May 8, 2009 - 12:00am "Apart from the time restriction (a truce that lapses after 10 years) and the refusal to accept Israel's existence, Mr. Meshal's terms approximate the Arab League peace plan . . ." -- Hamas peace plan, as explained by the New York Times "Apart from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?" -- Tom Lehrer, satirist » Read more

Life in Nu'man land ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Rory McCarthy - May 8, 2009 - 12:00am The Palestinian villagers of Nu'man have lived on their hilltop for generations, looking out across sweeping views of the terraced olive-tree slopes of the West Bank. But their view is changing dramatically and they fear there will be little place for Nu'man in the new landscape. » Read more

Pope in the Holy Land: The issues ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News May 8, 2009 - 12:00am As the Pope visits Jordan, Israel and the West Bank, he faces a combustible cocktail of issues combining relations between the world's three main monotheistic religions, one of the world's most intractable political conflicts and the legacy of the Holocaust. The BBC News Website looks at the areas of controversy he will have to navigate. CATHOLIC-JEWISH RELATIONS The Catholic Church has moved in recent decades to make amends for a long history of anti-Semitism. » Read more

Pope begins Mid-East pilgrimage ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News May 8, 2009 - 12:00am Pope Benedict XVI stressed his "deep respect" for Islam as he arrived in Jordan to begin a Middle East visit. He described religious freedom as a fundamental human right, and said he hoped the Catholic church could play a role in the Middle East peace process. The Pope says he is going on his eight-day tour - his first to the region as pontiff - as a "pilgrim of peace". But Jordanian Islamist leaders have demanded that he apologise for a speech in 2006 that linked Islam and violence. After Jordan, the Pope's tour will take him to Israel and the West Bank. » Read more

Pope, Hope in Hand, Arrives in Mideast ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Rachel Donadio - May 8, 2009 - 12:00am When Pope John Paul II traveled to the Holy Land in 2000, the visit was history, the first by a pope to recognize the state of Israel or visit sites holy to Islam. » Read more

May 7th

Nation building for Palestine ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Ari Shavit - (Opinion) May 7, 2009 - 12:00am Not everything is bad. True: The situation in Pakistan is deteriorating from day to day. True: Iran is continuing to gallop toward nuclearization. True: The new U.S. administration has yet to find its strategic path. True: Benjamin Netanyahu is still holed up in a bunker, outside of which bizarre coalition partners wait in ambush. But there is good news in the diplomatic world surrounding Israel. » Read more

U.S.: We are committed to Syrian-Israeli peace deal ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Barak Ravid, Yoav Stern - May 7, 2009 - 12:00am The United States told Syria on Thursday it was committed to seeking a peace deal between the Syrian government and Israel, a main objective for Damascus in its rapprochement with Washington. "We conveyed...President Obama's sincere commitment to pursue Arab-Israeli peace on all tracks, including on the Syrian-Israeli track," senior State Department official Jeffrey Feltman said after meeting Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem in the Syrian capital. » Read more

Border Guard kills Palestinian near Tomb of Patriarchs ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Erfat Weiss - May 6, 2009 - 12:00am Border Guard officers stationed at the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron shot and killed a Palestinian man who approached a guard post and disobeyed several orders to halt. One officer was lightly wounded in the incident. The officers became wary of the Palestinian when he approached their post and refused to undergo a search. He then fled towards a guard post located nearby, where other officers were standing watch. » Read more

Settlement expansion seeing biggest boost since 2003 ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amos Harel - May 7, 2009 - 12:00am West Bank construction has been accelerating for several months, putting Israel on a collision course with a U.S. administration taking a hard line on settlement expansion. A new outpost, new roads, and other building projects have raced ahead in and around the settlements, often without legal permits, producing the biggest construction drive since 2003, according to Dror Etkes of the Israeli advocacy group Yesh Din. That group monitors construction in the West Bank. » Read more

Gaza: Why probe is neccessary ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News (Editorial) May 7, 2009 - 12:00am The world has looked on aghast as the Israelis have sowed a deadly harvest of cluster bombs in south Lebanon and bombarded the helpless penned-in citizens of the Gaza ghetto with rockets and heavy ordnance including deadly white phosphorus shells. Had the Serbs or the Iranians launched such attacks, Washington would have howled with rage. But for too long successive American administrations have stayed hypocritically silent while their Israeli ally has flouted the rules of war and common humanity and behaved like a terror state. » Read more