February 8th

Israeli forces arrest two foreigners in West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Ori Lewis, Erika Soloman - February 7, 2010 - 1:00am Israeli security forces made an incursion into a Palestinian city on Sunday to arrest two foreign women belonging to an organisation involved in protests against Israel's West Bank barrier. Palestinian government spokesman Ghassan Khatib said the arrest of Spaniard Ariadna Jove Marti and Australian Bridgette Chappell in the city of Ramallah violated interim peace accords that gave Palestinians self-rule in parts of the West Bank. » Read more

International donors, Palestinian officials discuss municipal projects ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency February 8, 2010 - 1:00am Board of directors of the Palestinian Municipal Development Program held a meeting on Monday with international donors in Ramallah in the central West Bank, to discuss developments in municipal services. The conveners included Minister of Local Governance Khaled Al-Qawasmi, member of the board of directors Abdul Ghani Nofal and directors of PMDP as well as representatives of the World Bank, the German Development Bank, the French Agency for Development, the Danish Commission and the German Agency for Technical support. » Read more

Herziliya chairman: More Palestinians should participate ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency February 8, 2010 - 1:00am General (res) Danny Rothschild, chairman of the annual Herziliya conference on Israel's national security, believes more Palestinians should participate in the series. "No doubt Palestinians can benefit from the conference. Direct talks are what we [Israelis] miss. I hope more Palestinians will participate in the future," he said in an interview with Ma'an on Sunday. » Read more

What to Do With the Settlements ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Wall Street Journal by Hillel Halkin - (Opinion) February 4, 2010 - 1:00am There is one obvious solution for Israel's West Bank settlements that has been all but completely overlooked: Let the settlers continue living where they are, but in the state of Palestine. As a conception, it's stunningly simple. Its very obviousness has rendered it invisible, like something in one's field of vision that goes unnoticed because it has been there all the time. If over one million Palestinian Arabs can live as they do in towns and villages all over Israel, why cannot a few hundred thousand Israeli Jews live, symmetrically, in a West Bank Palestinian state? » Read more

Israeli conservatives attack U.S.-based philanthropy as unpatriotic ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Edmund Sanders - February 7, 2010 - 1:00am A U.S.-based philanthropy that funds human rights groups in Israel is under fire amid accusations that its recipients provided the bulk of evidence to a U.N. commission that issued a report highly critical of Israel's Gaza Strip war a year ago. Leaders of the Washington-based New Israel Fund, whose recipients include several groups that promote Palestinian rights, said Sunday that they are being unfairly targeted by conservatives in Israel seeking to silence opposing viewpoints. » Read more

Bit of a Stir as Clinton Strays From Script on Mideast Peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Mark Landler - February 4, 2010 - 1:00am With an inadvertent bit of shorthand, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton set off a buzz in diplomatic circles on Wednesday, and may have offered a glimpse into how the Obama administration hopes to revive the stalled peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. Answering a question at a news conference about how the talks might be revived, Mrs. Clinton said, “Of course, we believe that the 1967 borders, with swaps, should be the focus of the negotiations over borders.” » Read more

Mixed Views of Hamas and Hezbollah in Largely Muslim Nations ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Pew Research Center February 4, 2010 - 1:00am Across predominantly Muslim nations, there is little enthusiasm for the extremist Islamic organizations Hamas and Hezbollah, although there are pockets of support for both groups, especially in the Middle East. » Read more

February 5th

In Herzliya, I Founded Palestine ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'ariv by Ben Caspit - (Opinion) February 2, 2010 - 1:00am [The title refers to a journal entry by Theodor Herzl in 1897, "In Basel I founded the Jewish state"] Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad came to Herzliya on Tuesday. Thinking that he would be participating in a panel discussion, he did not prepare a speech. Suddenly he found himself making the Palestinian "Herzliya speech." Fayyad did not become confused. He is no sucker. In fluent if nearly unintelligible English (Fayyad has a heavy accent), he laid out his doctrine: a Palestinian state within two years. On all the territory. Including East Jerusalem. That is all. » Read more

Not clear if Gaza war probes are credible-UN's Ban ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Louis Charbonneau - February 5, 2010 - 1:00am U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon cast doubt on Thursday on the credibility of Israeli and Palestinian investigations into U.N. allegations of war crimes during the 2008-2009 war in the Gaza Strip. In a cautiously worded message to the U.N. General Assembly, Ban acknowledged Israel and the Palestinian Authority were looking into the behavior of Israeli soldiers and Palestinian militants as demanded by a resolution the 192-nation assembly approved in November. But Ban withheld judgment on whether the probes were "independent, credible and in conformity with international standards." » Read more

Dubai police may pursue Israel PM for Hamas killing -report ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters February 5, 2010 - 1:00am Dubai would seek the arrest of Israel's prime minister if it found evidence intelligence service Mossad was behind the killing of a senior Hamas official, its police chief said in a newspaper on Friday. Hamas has blamed Israel for killing Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, one of its top military commanders, in a Dubai hotel last month. [ID:nLDE60S075] Israel has declined to comment. Police in the United Arab Emirates have said they suspect a foreign "criminal gang" of killing Mabhouh in his hotel room, and are looking into the possible involvement of Israel's spy agency. » Read more