August 10th

Lieberman urges Boston consul to resign for rebuking Israel policy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Barak Ravid - August 10, 2009 - 12:00am Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Monday called on Israel's Consul-General in Boston Nadav Tamir to resign his post over a confidential memo in which he criticized the government for harming ties with the U.S. last week. "Any official who can't abide by policy dictated by the elected government - must resign," Lieberman declared at a Foreign Ministry meeting. » Read more

Fatah backs two-state solution, sharpening rift with Hamas ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press August 10, 2009 - 12:00am Fatah on Sunday endorsed the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, underlining its ideological conflict with the Islamist Hamas and drawing political battle lines for their next election showdown. The movement adopted the program at its convention - Fatah's first in 20 years - that also tried to finesse the key principle of violent resistance against Israel, calling it a right but preferring measures like civil disobedience. » Read more

Yishai: U.S. can't stop settlement expansion ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Nir Hasson - August 10, 2009 - 12:00am Interior Minister Eli Yishai said on Monday that Israel must go ahead with plans to expand a settlement enclave near Jerusalem despite U.S. objections. While touring the E-1 corridor, Yishai called for continued construction in the contentious corridor between the Ma'aleh Adumim settlement and Jerusalem, and said he hoped Israel would succeed in convincing the U.S. to approve construction. » Read more

Abbas re-elected chairman by deeply divided Fatah ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Irish Times by Michael Jansen - August 10, 2009 - 12:00am Fatah's first general congress in 20 years yesterday delayed until this evening the vote for representatives on two key decision-making bodies. By postponing elections for a third time, Fatah revealed that it remains deeply divided between the “old guard” who have controlled the movement since its founding half a century ago and the “young guard” who seek to initiate wide-ranging reforms. » Read more

Young Israeli settlers go hippie? Far out, man! ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Joshua Mitnick - August 9, 2009 - 12:00am Situated just outside this contoversial Jewish settlement in the West Bank, the hilltop stage was dominated Thursday by a Star of David, an olive tree, and musicians who mix blues licks, reggae rhythms, and messianic refrains from Jewish liturgy. The annual "End of Days" festival – which bills itself as a "place of light and unity, inspiration and calm" – has become something of a mini-Woodstock in the settlements, with meditation groups, religious study sessions, and a crowd dressed in colorful flowing clothes. » Read more

Palestinians Elect Leader, Unopposed, as Party Chief ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Isabel Kershner - August 8, 2009 - 12:00am Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, will retain control of his Fatah party after an election on Saturday in which he ran unopposed. More than 2,000 delegates, a nearly unanimous majority, voted for him in a show of hands at a party conference in the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Fatah’s first such gathering in 20 years. Mr. Abbas succeeded Yasir Arafat as the leader of Fatah, a mainstream nationalist movement, after Mr. Arafat, the Palestinian leader who founded it, died in 2004. » Read more

Israeli Raid Strikes Tunnel Into Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters August 10, 2009 - 12:00am Israeli warplanes bombed a tunnel along the Gaza Strip’s border with Egypt on Monday, the Israeli military, Hamas officials and witnesses said. There were no immediate reports of casualties from the pre-dawn raid in the Palestinian coastal territory, which is governed by the Islamist Hamas movement. The raid was launched in response to recent mortar and rocket attacks from Gaza against Israel, an Israeli military spokeswoman said. » Read more

August 7th

Damaging divide ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times (Editorial) August 7, 2009 - 12:00am King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia summed up the sentiments of the entire Arab and Muslim worlds well when he said that Palestinian divisions constitute a greater danger to the Palestinians and their cause than all the threats and acts of aggression committed by Israel. In a letter to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas marking Fateh’s first congress in 20 years, the Saudi king stressed that all Palestinian factions need to come together to make an independent Palestinian state possible. » Read more

Israel’s broken pledges are not redemption ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National (Editorial) August 7, 2009 - 12:00am The Israeli right-wing has a curious word to describe what happened this week in the Sheikh Jarra neighbourhood of east Jerusalem, where 52 Palestinians were forcibly evicted from their homes: redemption. If this is what redemption looks like than it is difficult to imagine what peace would mean. Regardless of one’s religious beliefs or politics it is difficult to find a redeeming value to theft. The Hanun and Gawi families now live on the street; Israeli settlers now live in their homes. And this is not the story of just these two Palestinan families but of thousands of others. » Read more

Mubarak’s Visit to the US… and the Cards of the Palestinian Cause ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat by Mohammad Salah - (Opinion) August 7, 2009 - 12:00am For about six years, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has not visited the United States for well-known reasons, most prominently of course the deteriorating relations between the two countries during former President George Bush’s second term. And here is the Egyptian President now preparing for his first visit to the US capital next month, in the first year of President Barack Obama’s first term in office. » Read more