Washington Watch: Is Obama Bush league? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Douglas Bloomfield - (Opinion) August 26, 2009 - 12:00am President Barack Obama is expected to reveal his Middle East strategy next month, very likely in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly. In many ways it may resemble his predecessor's 2002 vision for Arab-Israeli peace, but the question everyone will be asking is whether this time the American president is really serious. » Read more

Merkel warns Iran on sanctions ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News August 27, 2009 - 12:00am Angela Merkel was speaking after talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Berlin. She also called on Israel to freeze its settlement construction for the sake of progress in peace talks. In London on Wednesday, Mr Netanyahu suggested Israel was close to an agreement on settlements. During his visit to Germany, the Israeli prime minister has also been given original blueprints of the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz. » Read more

Palestinians pay the price for Israel's illegal settlements ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent by Katherine Butler - August 27, 2009 - 12:00am On a still, hot, August afternoon you can only hear the bleating of the lambs and the occasional bark of a dog. There are few places more exposed and isolated in the West Bank than the cluster of tents and caves that is home to Khalil Nawaja, his wife Tamam, their two sons and their 50 sheep. » Read more

Trade revives as Palestinian cities reconnect ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters August 27, 2009 - 12:00am Businesses in normal countries take getting around for granted. They can distribute, export and attract workers and customers from wide areas. In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, access to more than half of the land is restricted. Israel has ultimate control of roads, energy, water, telecommunications and air space. The violent Palestinian intifada (uprising) of 2000 triggered an Israeli security crackdown, creating checkpoints on key routes, closing roads and putting 600 obstacles around Israel's West Bank settlements. » Read more

On the ground in Gaza, hopes for peace still flicker ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Antony Loewenstein - August 26, 2009 - 12:00am Kamal Awaja lost his son in the recent Gaza war. He claims that Israeli soldiers murdered his child in front of his eyes before shooting his wife and himself in the leg, chest and arm. Today he lives with his large family in a tent in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, trying to provide a sense of normality for his children by tending a vegetable patch and constructing a small, plastic swimming pool. » Read more

Fayyad’s brilliant two-year plan for Palestinian Statehood ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times by Daoud Kuttab - (Opinion) August 27, 2009 - 12:00am There are so many ways in which the plan by Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad for the de facto creation of a Palestinian state can be seen as a brilliant idea that is hard to ignore or oppose it. Fayyad’s blueprint includes plans to end the Palestinian economy’s dependence on Israel, unify the legal system and downsize the government. The idea, submitted by him after weeks of meetings with his ministers and staff, also involves building infrastructure, harnessing natural energy sources and water, and improving housing, education and agriculture. » Read more

De-facto deliberations ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Alan Baker - (Opinion) August 27, 2009 - 12:00am The new aims and proposals enunciated by Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salaam Fayad regarding the establishment of a de facto Palestinian state within two years, with or without Israeli cooperation, would appear at first sight to be interesting. To a certain extent it could even be refreshing, offering a more pragmatic and viable forecast for the political and economic development of the Palestinians than any previous visions - which were based mostly on threats and unrealistic, belligerent rhetoric. » Read more

PA wants piece of Shalit deal ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Ali Waked - August 27, 2009 - 12:00am Reports of progress on a prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hamas have led to high expectations in the Palestinian Authority as well, as sources say they hope this means past understandings between Israel and the PA will also be realized with the deal's execution. According to sources, Israel has in the past agreed to release a number of Palestinian prisoners as a goodwill gesture to President Mahmoud Abbas as the deal for the release of captive solder Gilad Shalit nears completion. » Read more

Palestinians uproot Hebrew road signs in West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews August 27, 2009 - 12:00am The US international aid agency says Palestinian authorities in the West Bank have started replacing Israeli-installed road signs bearing Hebrew script with new signs in just Arabic and English. The move is in preparation for a future Palestinian state. Howard Sumka, of USAID, says the American-funded project is expected to take up to four years and cost about $20 million. Israel seized the West Bank from Jordan in the 1967 Mideast war and built military camps and civilian settlements throughout the territory. » Read more

US shifting stance on settlements ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Jazeera English by Mark Levine - August 27, 2009 - 12:00am The US has long seen itself as playing a crucial role in bringing about Israeli-Palestinian peace. Yet, US policy toward Israeli actions in and around Jerusalem has shifted over time. Initially, the Johnson administration took a strong line, with UN representative Arthur Goldberg explaining a week after the 1967 war ended that "the United States does not accept or recognise these measures as altering the status of Jerusalem." » Read more