September 22nd

Israel makes secret offer on settlements ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Times by Eli Lake - September 22, 2009 - 12:00am Ahead of the Obama administration's first U.S.-Palestinian-Israeli summit, Israel has agreed to a partial freeze of settlement construction for six to nine months but still wants to build more than 2,500 new housing units, said Israeli officials and an Israeli specialist familiar with the country's evolving policy. » Read more

A false equivalency of false equivalencies? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ibishblog by Hussein Ibish - (Blog) September 17, 2009 - 12:00am I get a lot of interesting responses to the postings on the Ibishblog, but those regarding my last posting on the UN Goldstone commission of inquiry into the Gaza war were particularly revealing. Both Arab and Jewish partisans tend to become enraged by any suggestion of equivalency between Israel and any group of Palestinians, particularly when it comes to conflict, warfare and armed struggle. Indeed, both the Israeli government and Hamas condemned the Goldstone report for the sin of "false equivalency," among other things. » Read more

A false equivalency of false equivalencies? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ibishblog by Hussein Ibish - (Blog) September 22, 2009 - 12:00am I get a lot of interesting responses to the postings on the Ibishblog, but those regarding my last posting on the UN Goldstone commission of inquiry into the Gaza war were particularly revealing. Both Arab and Jewish partisans tend to become enraged by any suggestion of equivalency between Israel and any group of Palestinians, particularly when it comes to conflict, warfare and armed struggle. Indeed, both the Israeli government and Hamas condemned the Goldstone report for the sin of "false equivalency," among other things. » Read more

Low expectations for 'symbolic' trilateral summit in NY ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Roni Sofer - September 22, 2009 - 12:00am Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in the US overnight Tuesday ahead of his scheduled meeting with US President Barack Obama and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. White House officials said their expectations from the trilateral talks, which are set to begin at 6 pm (Israel time), were low. Sources in the PM's entourage said the meeting between Netanyahu, Abbas and Obama would likely be symbolic in nature, adding that they do not foresee any diplomatic achievements during the General Assembly's session. » Read more

PA: Gaza no excuse for stalling peace negotiations ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Ali Waked - September 22, 2009 - 12:00am "We expect (US President Barack) Obama to take advantage of the meeting with (Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu and (Palestinian President Mahmoud) Abbas to press Israel on the settlement issue," a senior Palestinian official told Ynet Tuesday, just hours before the Israeli, Palestinian and American leaders were scheduled to convene in New York. The official called on Obama to try and convince Israel to halt all settlement activity in the West Bank "so that his plan for the establishment of a Palestinian state within two years will not remain on paper alone." » Read more

September 21st

Commentary: Middle East tunnel vision ATFP World Press Roundup Article from United Press International (UPI) by Arnaud De Borchgrave - (Editorial) September 21, 2009 - 12:00am The only bank this Rothschild ever owned was the West Bank. Danny Rothschild, an Israeli general and onetime coordinator of all government activities in the occupied territories, and now one of 1,200 former intelligence officers in Israel's Council for Peace and Security, says the Palestinians should be allowed to have their capital in Arab East Jerusalem. The very thought of allowing Palestinians to set up a government where 200,000 Israeli settlers moved in since the 1967 war, when Israeli forces "liberated" East Jerusalem from Jordanian rule, is sacrilegious. » Read more

Iran and Israel are benefitting from a weakening Obama ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat by Raghida Dergham - (Blog) September 18, 2009 - 12:00am Presidents and Prime Ministers are flocking to the United Nations this week, some of them full of expectations, some burdened with depression and others less enthusiastic about meeting US President Barack Obama, after his international flame has waned as a result of internal battles that were waged against him or that he provoked, weighing him down. » Read more

Gaza: Goldstone’s report ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News by Uri Avnery - (Opinion) September 21, 2009 - 12:00am Is there no limit to the wiles of those dastardly anti-Semites? Now they have decided to slander the Jews with another blood libel. Not the old accusation of slaughtering Christian children to use their blood for baking Passover matzoth, as in the past, but of the mass slaughter of women and children in Gaza. » Read more

To show determination ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times September 21, 2009 - 12:00am It is no surprise that the US envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell, left the region empty handed after talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. A series of meetings were held between the two over the past few days in an effort to convince the Israeli premier that the Israeli settlement activity must end immediately. Netanyahu did not budge; his promises came short of the minimum demands of the Arab side and the rest of the international community, including, of course, the US. » Read more

Fatah: Presidential Decree on Election Date by Oct 25 ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat by Kifah Zaboun - September 21, 2009 - 12:00am Asharq Al-Awsat- High-level sources in Fatah have asserted to Asharq Al-Awsat that a final decision has been made on a presidential decree [related to the upcoming elections] by the Palestinian president to be issued before 25 October, as Asharq Al-Awsat had reported earlier. » Read more