September 1st

PA blames Israel for prisoners' sickness ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post September 1, 2009 - 12:00am A Palestinian Authority minister said Israel was not doing enough to maintain the health of Palestinian prisoners. Prisoner Affairs' Minister Issa Karaki was quoted by the Palestinian Ma'an news agency on Monday as saying that the recent discovery of cancer in 25 Palestinian prisoners "was a troubling phenomenon which indicates the decline in Palestinian prisoners' health conditions and the lack of minimal medical care." » Read more

Encountering Peace: President Obama: Pro-Israeli, pro-Palestinian, pro-peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Gershon Baskin - (Analysis) September 1, 2009 - 12:00am President Obama's popularity in Israel is at an all time low for a US president. Only 4% of Israelis believe that the president is pro-Israeli, according to a survey published last week by the Jerusalem Post. President Obama does not face elections in Israel so perhaps he does not need to be overly concerned with this statistic but in order for Obama's Middle East peace plans to succeed, the Israeli public must have a "buy-in". » Read more

IDF cuts down West Bank raids for fear U.S. diplomats will see ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Anshel Pfeffer - September 1, 2009 - 12:00am The Israel Defense Forces has canceled a number of planned arrest operations in the West Bank fearing soldiers will be seen by American diplomats touring the territories. IDF officers serving with their units in the West Bank said they were instructed by brigade commanders in recent weeks to call off the planned arrests of wanted men inside Palestinian towns, because of these diplomats' presence. » Read more

Obama envisions two years until Mideast peace deal ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Akiva Eldar, Barak Ravid - September 1, 2009 - 12:00am Washington will announce the renewal of talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority through a trilateral summit of U.S. President Barack Obama, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. The meeting would take place on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly late this month; two years would be allotted to completing talks on a peace agreement. On Monday President Shimon Peres confirmed that such a summit was being considered, under facilitation by Obama. » Read more

Fayyad defends plan: Establishing state our responsibility ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency September 1, 2009 - 12:00am Palestinian caretaker Prime Minister Salam Fayyad defended his plan for a de facto independent Palestinian state against Israeli criticism on Sunday night. "Establishing the state and its institutions is a Palestinian responsibility," Fayyad said in a joint press conference with European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana. "We are interested in this project and we are working towards implementing it," he added. Earlier Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman criticized the Fayyad plan. » Read more

Haniyeh: Hamas will not recognize Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency September 1, 2009 - 12:00am De facto Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh on Monday evening reiterated Hamas’ refusal to recognize Israel repeating his famous line, “Castles will not fall, neither will they determine our attitudes by force, and we will not recognize Israel.” Haniyeh’s comments came during an iftar, the sundown meal breaking the Ramadan fast along with dignitaries from the eastern Gaza Strip. “The pledge between us and the Palestinian people is that we do not remiss martyrs’ blood, nor Jerusalem, nor our holy land. Our prisoners will be freed for sure.”

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