Once-legendary Fatah figure makes a comeback ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Richard Boudreaux - September 1, 2009 - 12:00am He ran the Gaza Strip like the Godfather, dispensing brutal punishment and benevolent largess. But that was before his summer of disgrace, two years ago, when Hamas militants drove out his armed followers and allowed looters to pick apart his seaside villa. Mohammed Dahlan, the once-legendary chief of Fatah's forces in the enclave, watched his own defeat helplessly from exile. Then he felt the sting of blame for "losing Gaza," a debacle that split the Palestinians into hostile camps and crippled their drive for statehood. » Read more

President Obama hopes to be Mideast peacemaker at UN session ATFP World Press Roundup Article from New York Daily News by Kenneth R. Bazinet - September 1, 2009 - 12:00am President Obama hopes to bring the leaders of Israel and the Palestinian Authority back to the negotiating table at this month's opening session of the UN, a top Israeli official said Monday. "I think they will meet by the end of September," said Israeli President Shimon Peres. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Obama are all scheduled to be in New York for the start of the UN General Assembly during the week of Sept. 20. » Read more

Hamas leader denies Nazi genocide of Jews ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Diaa Hadid - September 1, 2009 - 12:00am A Hamas spiritual leader on Monday called teaching Palestinian children about the Nazi murder of 6 million Jews a "war crime," rejecting a suggestion that the U.N. might include the Holocaust in Gaza's school curriculum. A senior Israeli official said such statements should make the West think twice about ending its boycott of Hamas, in place since the group seized Gaza by force in 2007. Israeli officials called the comments as "obscene" and said they place Hamas in a pariah club of Holocaust deniers that includes Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. » Read more

Israeli soldiers kill Palestinian in West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters September 1, 2009 - 12:00am A Palestinian died overnight in an Israeli hospital after being shot by Israeli soldiers, Palestinian medical workers said on Tuesday. An Israeli military spokeswoman said soldiers shot the 17-year-old late on Monday after he threw a firebomb at a guard post at the Jewish settlement Beit El, near the West Bank city of Ramallah. He was taken to a hospital in Jerusalem, she said. Palestinian residents of the nearby Jalazone refugee camp said they heard the shooting and saw soldiers surrounding the youth some 400 metres (yards) from the settlement's perimeter. » Read more

A phone call from Prime Minister Fayyad ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Daoud Kuttab by Daoud Kuttab - (Blog) September 1, 2009 - 12:00am Except for a short encounter on a plane years ago, I had never met in person Salam Fayyad. I certainly didn’t have any communications with him before I wrote the piece praising his two year planhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/daoud-kuttab/fayyads-brilliant-two-yea_b_270253.html for Palestinian statehood. No one from his office had sent me a copy of the plan or suggested that I write about it. » Read more