Palestinian PM may reshuffle West Bank government: source ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua April 19, 2010 - 12:00am Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad may reshuffle his government which holds sway in the West Bank, a government source said on Monday. A member of the government told Xinhua on condition of anonymity that there were discussions between President Mahmoud Abbas' office and the government to conduct the reshuffle. Earlier in the day, pan-Arab al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper reported that the differences focus on the interior ministry, as members of Abbas's Fatah party wants someone from the security establishment to hold that portfolio. » Read more

Middle East Peace: So Why Have We Failed? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy by Yossi Beilin, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Saeb Erakat, Gamal Helal, Daniel Kurtzer, Robert Malley, Michael B. Oren, Dov Weissglas, James Wolfensohn, Anthony Zinni - (Interview) April 19, 2010 - 12:00am More than 60 years after Israel's stunning victory in the 1948 war that birthed the Jewish state, an end to the world's most exasperating conflict seems more distant than ever. U.S. President Barack Obama is trying to drag both sides kicking and screaming to the negotiating table after nearly a decade of no progress. But is there still any reason for hope? » Read more

Gazans imposed "unreasonable taxes" as Hamas passes fiscal crisis ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua by Saud Abu Ramadan - April 20, 2010 - 12:00am A'ahed al-Shawa, a 31-year-old meat vendor, who owns a butcher shop in western Gaza City, was shocked when representatives of the Hamas-ruled municipality informed him that he has to pay annual taxes for placing his grill machine outside his shop. "They asked me to pay 1,500 Israeli new shekels (404 U.S. dollars) every year for putting my grill meat machine outside my store," al-Shawa said, adding "I have never paid such kind of new unreasonable taxes before, either to Israel or to the Palestinian (National) Authority." » Read more

Mash'al: Hamas won't recognize Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency April 20, 2010 - 12:00am Hamas leader Khalid Mash'al said Monday that Arab officials had urged the movement to accept the International Quartet's conditions and recognize Israel in exchange for amendments to the Egyptian-backed unity deal. "Whoever asks us to recognize Israel will be disappointed," Mash'al, the senior-most Hamas leader said during a speech marking a week of Prisoners Day activities in Damascus, where he has lived since his August 1999 expulsion from Jordan. » Read more

The False Religion of Mideast Peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy by Aaron David Miller - (Opinion) April 19, 2010 - 12:00am On October 18, 1991, against long odds and in front of an incredulous press corps, U.S. Secretary of State James A. Baker III and Soviet Foreign Minister Boris Pankin announced that Arabs and Israelis were being invited to attend a peace conference in Madrid. » Read more

Obama, don't forget Jerusalem ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Richard Cohen - (Opinion) April 20, 2010 - 12:00am These have been busy days for Jewish bloggers when it comes to Israel. One of them, the formidable Ed Koch, has virtually incinerated President Obama for his Israeli policy. The Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel has taken out full-page ads in major newspapers to tell Obama, in effect, to lay off Jerusalem, and Ronald S. Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress, wrote the president to say how concerned he was about the administration's Israel policy. In short, it stinks. » Read more

Mood Is Dark as Israel Marks 62nd Year as a Nation ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Ethan Bronner - April 19, 2010 - 12:00am Every year, Israelis approach the joy of their Independence Day right after immersing themselves in a 24-hour period of grief for fallen soldiers. Before the fireworks burst across the skies Monday night to celebrate the country’s 62nd birthday, the airwaves filled with anguished stories of servicemen and -women killed, the Kaddish prayer of mourning and speeches placing the deeply personal losses of a small country into the sweep of Jewish history. » Read more

'Palestinians will rule themselves' says Ehud Barak ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News April 20, 2010 - 12:00am Israel's Defence Minister Ehud Barak has said Israel must, eventually, allow the Palestinians to rule themselves. In an interview with Army Radio he said in the future there would be a separate Palestinian state "whether you like it or not". The interview comes as Israelis mark Memorial Day, commemorating Israeli soldiers killed in action. Mr Barak, a former top ranking soldier, leads the Labour Party which is part of the current government coalition. » Read more

IDF looks to cut off PA protest funding ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Yaakov Katz - April 20, 2010 - 12:00am The army has begun looking into ways to crack down on the Palestinian Authority’s financial support of the so-called nonviolent public uprising it is supporting in the West Bank, The Jerusalem Post has learned. Leading efforts against the PA’s financial mechanism is the IDF’s Central Command, in conjunction with the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency). IDF sources said recently that PA officials, including Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, were directing and overseeing the weekly protests that the IDF faced in the West Bank, including in Ni’lin, Bil’in and near the Shavei Shomron settlement. » Read more