August 14th

Following election triumph, Fatah sets out to 'liberate' Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Avi Issacharoff - August 14, 2009 - 12:00am At the start of the week, a member of Iz al-Din al-Qassam, the military wing of Hamas, died in the Palestinian Authority's Juneid Prison, in Nablus. The circumstances of Fadi Hamadneh's death are unclear, with PA officials claiming he committed suicide, and Hamas claiming he was tortured to death by PA security operatives. In response to the charges, the spokesman of the Palestinian security services, Adnan Damiri, said that Hamas, which has executed hundreds of people in the Gaza Strip, has no right to talk about torture or the violation of human rights. » Read more

After Alert, Israel Rules Out Kidnapping of Soldier ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Ethan Bronner - August 13, 2009 - 12:00am Twelve hours after the Israeli Army began a desperate search for what it feared was an abducted soldier, it said late Thursday that it had ruled out any such possibility. “The special operations room has been closed and all roadblocks have been removed,” a military spokeswoman said. “Both the army and the Shin Bet have ruled out any kidnapping. There is still an investigation under way to understand what happened.” Shin Bet is Israel’s internal security agency. » Read more

August 13th

Reframing Obama’s Approach to Negotiating Middle East Peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat by Joyce Karam - (Opinion) August 12, 2009 - 12:00am In addressing one of its most pivotal foreign policy challenges in the Middle East, the Obama administration needs to moderate its lexicon in framing the negotiations and expectations on the Peace Process. Using words such as “normalize” in addressing the responsibilities of Arab governments and sending mixed signals on its call for a “complete” settlement freeze from Israel, is creating misperceptions in the Arab Street of the administration’s efforts and undermining its objectives. » Read more

Division of Jerusalem has to be faced now ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News by Jonathan Power - (Opinion) August 13, 2009 - 12:00am Poets as diverse as William Blake and Yehuda Amichai have sung the praises of the heavenly Jerusalem, a land without strife or rancor, war or bitterness, envy, acquisitiveness or hatred. Israel, Fatah and Hamas have the historic opportunity to take a giant step toward making the present day Jerusalem acquire, at least in some of its aspects, the earthly prototype of the heavenly Jerusalem. For once we can see whether the work of imams, rabbis and priests can bear fruit. » Read more

Closer to becoming a political party ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times by Daoud Kuttab - (Opinion) August 13, 2009 - 12:00am Fateh, the key Palestinian guerilla movement within the Palestine Liberation Organisation, moved one step closer to becoming a political party. Having held its sixth congress for the first time in the occupied territories, it would be hard to continue pretending to be a liberation movement. Officially, however, the over 2,000 delegates, representing former Fateh fedayyin (guerillas) and Intifada activists, voted to continue the resistance and the struggle for the liberation of Palestine. Resistance, however, was explained in a much wider perspective than the military struggle. » Read more

For how long with impunity? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times (Editorial) August 13, 2009 - 12:00am Slowly, but surely, more and more evidence of Israeli war crimes in Gaza is beginning to surface. On Wednesday, Human Rights Watch - which has previously censored Israel for its use of white phosphorus shells over civilian areas, as well as Hamas’ indiscriminate rocket fire from Gaza - issued a new report on the killing of civilians in Gaza after they had surrendered to Israeli forces. » Read more

New singers, but Fatah needs a new song too ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National (Editorial) August 13, 2009 - 12:00am After a week of contentious, sometimes raucous deliberations, Fatah, the foremost Palestinian nationalist movement, has managed to elect a new leadership committee. This is no small feat for an organisation that most Palestinians see as fractious, corrupt and without compass. Indeed, the Sixth General Congress was mired in controversy and infighting that threatened to erode further the credibility of a party arguably on the wane. » Read more

Israel starved Gaza of power and water ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Vita Bekker - August 13, 2009 - 12:00am Israel deliberately brought the Gaza Strip’s infrastructure to the brink of collapse before its military offensive in the enclave in December and January and has since blocked any efforts of its rehabilitation as part of a strategy to defy Hamas, a report by an Israeli rights group claimed this week. » Read more

Is Boston consul-general's assessment correct? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Hilary Leila Krieger - August 13, 2009 - 12:00am Boston Consul-General Nadav Tamir set off a media firestorm last week when he sent a diplomatic cable to the Foreign Ministry warning that the government's public opposition to the Obama administration's policies were diminishing US popular support for Israel and causing American Jews to feel torn between the two countries. Amid the brouhaha, which resulted in Tamir being summoned to Jerusalem, swirling questions of the propriety of drafting such a letter and rampant speculation on who was behind its leaking, a more fundamental issue arises: was Tamir's assessment correct? » Read more

Protecting human rights is never 'interference' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Jeff Halper - (Opinion) August 13, 2009 - 12:00am The article entitled Spain funds 'summer camp' for foreign volunteers to rebuild demolished illegal Palestinian homes, which merited the front page of The Jerusalem Post (August 10), would seem somewhat of a non-story. After all, Israel and the US funded NGOs assisting Jews in the Soviet Union. » Read more