UN chief urges Israel to restrain in East Jerusalem ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua May 25, 2010 - 12:00am United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Israel here on Tuesday to exercise particular restraint in East Jerusalem and halt demolishment and settlement expansion. The UN chief made the appeal in his message at the opening session of the United Nations International Meeting in Support for the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process. The secretary-general said in his message: "The parties must avoid provocations or breaches of the Roadmap or international law, which will only create new crisis of confidence." » Read more

Hamas faces dilemma on way to reconciliation, talks with Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua by Fares Akram - May 25, 2010 - 12:00am Unlike its Islamic rivals who control Gaza, the West Bank-based Palestinian National Authority (PNA) has settled on the U.S.-proposed indirect peace negotiations with Israel in parallel with adopting non-violent resistance against Jewish settlement activities. In Gaza, Hamas, which took over the coastal enclave by force in 2007, has been maintaining a ceasefire with Israel since the end of Gaza war last year; neither allowing other factions to fire rockets into Israel nor encouraging peaceful demonstrations against Israel's attempts to enforce a buffer zone along its borders with Gaza. » Read more

Suspects of torching UN summer camp detained: Hamas ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua May 25, 2010 - 12:00am Hamas authorities arrested a number of people suspected of torching a UN-run summer camp in Gaza City earlier this week, the interior ministry of deposed Hamas government announced Tuesday. The suspects are being interrogated, a statement sent to reporters by the ministry said. There has been no more information about the number of the detainees or the group they are affiliated to. Ihab Al-Ghussein, the ministry's spokesman, told Xinhua that he can't reveal more before the questioning is over. » Read more

Israeli police recommend indicting FM Lieberman ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman May 24, 2010 - 12:00am Israeli police say the country's contentious foreign minister should be indicted on charges of trying to disrupt an investigation into his business dealings. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said Monday that an investigation has shown Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman should be charged with breach of trust. This is the first in a long series of steps that could lead to an indictment. Lieberman, who is known for his blunt, hard-line pronouncements, has denied wrongdoing. » Read more

PA, PLO slam Israeli stance on boycott ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency May 25, 2010 - 12:00am President Mahmoud Abbas continued to insist on the necessity of boycotting Israeli settlement products, in the face of ballooning Israeli criticism, highlighting again on Monday the parameters of the movement. The statement followed the publication of accusations by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, alleging the boycott was one of several Palestinian "steps that in the end hurt themselves," and soil the atmosphere for "economic peace" with Israel. » Read more

Did Israel offer to sell South Africa nuclear weapons? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Christa Case Bryant - May 24, 2010 - 12:00am In an apparent blow to Israel’s policy of “nuclear ambiguity,” the Guardian newspaper in Britain today asserted that it had the first written proof of a robust Israeli nuclear weapons program that the country has never formally admitted to. Relying on South African documents released to American academic Sasha Polakow-Suransky, whose book "The Unspoken Alliance: Israel's Secret Relationship with Apartheid South Africa" is coming out tomorrow, the Guardian said that Israel had offered nuclear weapons of three different sizes to apartheid South Africa in 1975. » Read more

Mideast peace is a global issue ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Saad Hariri - May 25, 2010 - 12:00am Previous reconciliation efforts fell on deaf ears, feeding the fanaticism that now plagues the world, says Saad Hariri. The time for arbitration may be at hand. In the fall of 1991, I was an undergraduate student at Georgetown University, following the coverage of the Madrid peace conference. In the Spanish capital, the United States had managed to gather Arabs and Israelis around a table with the aim of ending what was then half a century of war and desperation, whose first victims were the people of the region, including the people of my country, Lebanon. » Read more

Babylon & Beyond ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Maher Abukhater - May 24, 2010 - 12:00am Hamas announced Monday its decision to boycott the municipal elections slated for the West Bank on July 17, citing the fact that holding elections at this time will only increase the Palestinian division. The Palestinian faction, which controls the Gaza Strip, also said that arrests and harassment of its West Bank members does not make it possible for it to participate in the elections. » Read more

U.S. to set deadline for Middle East peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy by Barbara Slavin - May 25, 2010 - 12:00am George Mitchell, the Obama administration's special envoy for Middle East peace, plans to set a deadline for an Israel-Palestinian agreement, applying lessons learned from his successful mediation in a previous conflict. » Read more