August 10th

Palestinian negotiator: Washington plans binding steps for Mideast peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua August 10, 2009 - 12:00am The U.S. administration is preparing obligations that Middle East parties should observe to settle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a Palestinian negotiator said on Saturday. Saeb Erekat said Israel is mainly required to freeze its settlement activities in the West Bank under the new obligations, adding that the Palestinians have more obligations as well without giving further details. » Read more

Is the pro-Israel lobby panicking? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star by Rami Khouri - August 10, 2009 - 12:00am Is the Israeli lobby in the United States in panic mode? The Obama administration hit the ground running when it took office in January, quickly appointing George Mitchell as a special envoy to Arab-Israeli peacemaking, and making it clear that President Barack Obama himself would devote time and energy to the goal of a comprehensive peace. » Read more

Jordan favors Fatah, but without optimism for success ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star by Oraib Al-Rantawi - August 10, 2009 - 12:00am Nearly two years ago, Jordan opened its doors to the attempt by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to restore and awaken the Fatah movement. Fatah is the backbone of the Palestinian national movement and the main Palestinian partner in the peace process to which Jordan attaches special attention. The rise of the Hamas movement and its landslide victory in the 2006 Palestinian legislative elections played a major role in encouraging Jordan to move away from its usual caution and provide all possible facilities for holding the Fatah congress and rebuilding the movement. » Read more

Sheikh Jarrah ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times by Nermeen Murad - (Opinion) August 18, 2009 - 12:00am I went to Jerusalem for the first time in my life in the early 1970s, and I retain many memories from that first trip. The West Bank was under complete Israeli occupation and the only way in was through the King Hussein Bridge. The crossing was arduous, long, hot and dirty. Flies buzzed over children’s heads and the whole atmosphere was tense. » Read more

Fatah concludes elections ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press August 10, 2009 - 12:00am Members of the Palestinian Fatah organisation have finished voting in an election marking the movement’s first convention in 20 years. The new members of the organisation’s powerful central committee are to be announced this afternoon. The results will show whether Fatah has succeeded in reinvigorating the movement by bringing new faces into its ageing leadership. » Read more

Israel continues to oppose peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News by Adel Safty - (Opinion) August 10, 2009 - 12:00am The Obama administration continues to pursue a settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict "actively and aggressively", as Obama himself vowed in the first days of his mandate. Central to this pursuit is the issue of a total freeze on Israeli colony construction - an obligation mandated by the road map for peace, which Israeli leaders refuse to honour. » Read more

March 14 and Fatah ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat by Walid Choucair - (Opinion) August 10, 2009 - 12:00am It is no coincidence that King Abdel-Aziz of Saudi Arabia has recently sent a letter to the Fatah conference in Bethlehem, urging Palestinians to unite “because if the entire world agrees on a Palestinian state, it will not be established if your house is divided,” and dispatched his minister of culture and information, Abdel-Aziz Khoja, to Beirut to help halt the deterioration in relations among the March 14 coalition, and specifically between Prime Minister-designate Saad al-Hariri and Walid Jumblatt, the head of the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP). » Read more

Israeli jets strike Gaza tunnel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC World News August 10, 2009 - 12:00am Israeli planes have bombed a smuggling tunnel into Gaza after Palestinian mortars fell near the main crossing from Gaza into Israel. The Israeli military said two mortar shells landed a few hundred metres from Erez crossing as urgent Palestinian medical cases were being transferred. It was the first such airstrike since mid-June, with Palestinian rocket attacks much reduced in recent months. No casualties were reported in any of the incidents. The Israeli military said the air strike early on Monday morning was in response to "continued" rocket and mortar fire. » Read more

Palestinian Report: progress made in Shalit talks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Roee Nahmias - August 9, 2009 - 12:00am Israel and Hamas are holding intensive Egyptian-mediated talks behind the scenes in an attempt to finalize a prisoner exchange deal, a Palestinian website affiliated with the Islamic Jihad reported Sunday. The report quotes the website's "commentator on Israeli affairs" as saying that an agreement securing the release of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit is about to be finalized and may even be executed before Eid al-Fitr – the holiday marking the end of the Islamic month of Ramadan – in about a month and a half. » Read more

Yishai: If need be we will build without US approval ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Ronen Medzini - August 10, 2009 - 12:00am Interior Minister Eli Yishai, Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin and Maale Adumim Mayor Benny Kashriel visited the E1 area between the city and Jerusalem on Monday with a clear message that this area should be built up, with or without American approval. The tour took place near a police station, the only Israeli building in E1. "At some point, we will have to build, even if we don't manage to convince the Americans, at least in the settlement blocks," Yishai said. » Read more