June 23rd

Israel released Palestinian parliament speaker ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press June 23, 2009 - 12:00am The Hamas-affiliated speaker of the Palestinian parliament was freed Tuesday from an Israeli prison after serving the bulk of his three-year sentence. Abdel Aziz Duaik is the most senior of dozens of Hamas politicians arrested after Gaza Strip militants loyal to the group captured an Israeli soldier in June 2006. The soldier, Sgt. Gilad Schalit, will mark three years in captivity on Thursday. » Read more

Create a real American coalition on Middle East peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) June 23, 2009 - 12:00am For years now, my colleagues and I at the American Task Force on Palestine have argued that advocates of a two-state resolution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict need to form a real, functioning national coalition in the United States to support this goal. President Barack Obama has put a great deal of his political credibility and capital on the line in pursuit of negotiated resolution, forcefully articulating what all parties must do to build momentum toward this goal. » Read more

Olmert offered to withdraw from 93% of West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Aluf Benn, Barak Ravid - June 23, 2009 - 12:00am Former prime minister Ehud Olmert offered Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas that the Holy Basin area of Jerusalem would be under no sovereignty at all and administered by a joint committee of Saudis, Jordanians, Israelis, Palestinians and Americans, the former prime minister told Newsweek magazine in an interview in the current issue. » Read more

Unnatural Growth ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewcy by Moshe Yaroni - (Opinion) June 23, 2009 - 12:00am "Israel will not freeze settlement construction for natural growth, despite intense pressure from the Obama administration to do so," The Jerusalem Post, June 1, 2009. The argument that “natural growth” is crucial to Israel's well-being is utter nonsense. Here are a few facts. » Read more

US: Settlement freeze includes Jerusalem ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency June 23, 2009 - 12:00am The US demand that Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank must cease includes East Jerusalem, a State Department spokesperson said on Monday. In response to a question from Israel's Jerusalem Post newspaper, State Department spokesperson Ian Kelly said, “We’re talking about all settlement activity, yeah, in the area across the line,” he said, referring to the 1948 armistice line, or Green Line. » Read more

June 22nd

Gaza's 2 years under Hamas: order and absurdity ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Steven Gutkin, Karin Laub - (Analysis) June 21, 2009 - 12:00am AZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) -- Two years after Hamas seized power, the Gaza Strip is a jumble of absurdities: an economy sustained by smuggling through tunnels, a civil service that gets paid on condition it doesn't work, and a population no longer fearful of gangs but feeling muzzled under the thumb of Hamas. Under a border closure enforced by Egypt and Israel, the U.N. says, shampoo can come in but conditioner can't. Nor can toys, candy or footballs. » Read more

Israel's Barak sees chance for peace progress ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Cynthia Johnston - June 21, 2009 - 12:00am Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Sunday he saw a chance to advance peace talks with Palestinians and that a policy speech by Israel's premier, dismissed by Egypt as flawed, was a major step forward. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu endorsed -- with tough conditions -- the establishment of a demilitarized Palestinian state in a policy speech a week ago, but Cairo said the proposal fell short of the Palestinian state Arabs seek. » Read more

Lawsuit brings murky West Bank land deals to light ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Amy Teibel - June 20, 2009 - 12:00am OFRA SETTLEMENT, West Bank (AP) — It reads like a standard real estate contract between a Zionist institution and an Israeli couple. But it offers a rare glimpse into the bureaucratic smoke screen that helps ensure a strong Jewish presence on lands claimed by the Palestinians for a future state. » Read more

Thank God Obama favors the 'old' Mideast ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star by Leon Hader - (Opinion) June 19, 2009 - 12:00am In July 2006, then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice travelled to Lebanon in an effort to bring an end to the war raging there between Israel and Hizbullah. At the time, she tried to market to reporters in Washington a somewhat odd spin on the violence taking place, not only in Lebanon but also in Iraq and Israel and Palestine. "What we're seeing here is, in a sense, the growing - the birth pangs of a new Middle East, and whatever we do, we have to be certain that we're pushing forward to the new Middle East, not going back to the old Middle East," Rice explained. » Read more

Netanyahu: No foreign troops in PA territory ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Herb Keinon - June 22, 2009 - 12:00am The international guarantees Israel is seeking to ensure that a future Palestinian state remains demilitarized does not mean the introduction of foreign forces, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told the cabinet at its Sunday meeting. » Read more