May 27th

Israel's Arab-Jewish conflict played out on a soccer field ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Lisa Rosen - May 27, 2010 - 12:00am Any soccer fanatic gearing up for the World Cup will tell you that national pride is on the line with every game. When that pride is caught up in geopolitics, keeping score can get even more complicated. The documentary "After the Cup: Sons of Sakhnin United" looks at Bnei Sakhnin, a soccer team from an Arab city in Israel that won that country's national cup in 2004. » Read more

The dig dividing Jerusalem ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Ahdaf Soueif - May 27, 2010 - 12:00am If you walk out of Jerusalem Old City through its south-eastern gate and on to the perimeter road encircling it, you will most likely see several large coaches with elderly western tourists climbing out of them. You will see them stand at the low wall at the edge of the road and peer down into the lush valley with its pretty houses that nudge and lean against each other. The tourists may notice the woman marking exercise books on her sunny terrace, they may smile to see the bright-haired four-year-old riding her tricycle round the yard. » Read more

White House to Host Mideast Leaders ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters May 27, 2010 - 12:00am President Obama has invited Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, to the White House for separate meetings, White House officials said Wednesday. The meetings with Mr. Obama will be the first for the Middle Eastern leaders since the start of the indirect peace talks that began last month, with the president’s special envoy, George J. Mitchell, mediating between the parties. » Read more

Elections in Palestine, again ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency by Daoud Kuttab - May 27, 2010 - 12:00am The Palestinian Authority is going ahead with plans to hold municipal elections on July 17. The elections are taking place despite the fact that the de facto government in Gaza has refused to accommodate them in areas under its control. Hamas has also said that it is calling on its supporters in the West Bank not to participate in the coming elections. The movement, which has yet to agree to the Egypt-sponsored reconciliation plan, says that elections of any kind (municipal, parliamentary or presidential) should only take place after Palestinians are unified. » Read more

Rattling the Cage: Living it up in Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Larry Derfner - May 27, 2010 - 12:00am Don’t you just wish you lived in Gaza? Don’t you just envy those people who get to raise their kids amid such abundance? Look at all the stuff they’ve got: “Truckloads of meat, poultry, fish, dairy products, fruits, vegetables, milk powder, baby food, wheat and other staples arrive in Gaza on a daily basis,” said the Foreign Ministry in advance of the “Freedom Flotilla,” due to either reach Gaza or get intercepted by the navy today. » Read more

May 26th

An understandable but ill-planned gesture ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons by Yossi Alpher - May 24, 2010 - 12:00am I don't like boycotts. Israel suffered from a comprehensive Arab boycott prior to 1967, when settlements and territories were not an issue. Israel is today targeted for academic and economic boycotts by elements in the West whose hostility toward it in many cases goes far beyond the West Bank, Jerusalem and the settlements. » Read more

End the blockade in Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Hill by Iara Lee - May 25, 2010 - 12:00am This week, I will be boarding one of several ships that are part of a flotilla sailing to Gaza. The Israeli government’s recent decision to deny internationally renowned scholar Noam Chomsky entrance into the occupied territories suggests we, too, might be refused entry. Nevertheless, we will set sail with the intent of delivering food, water, medical supplies and reconstruction materials to communities in Gaza that are in need of humanitarian relief. » Read more

'Palestinians are hijacked by Iran' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post May 26, 2010 - 12:00am Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas came out against Iran on Wednesday, calling his people "hijacked, at the hands of the Iranians." "The decision-making power is not in our hands," he told Egyptian television station Nile TV, possibly referring to Hamas's refusal to reconcile with Fatah at Teheran's behest. "The Palestinian people's unity... is not in our hands." » Read more

Palestinians: Israeli threats meaningles ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Ali Waked - May 25, 2010 - 12:00am Palestinian Authority sources say they are unimpressed by Minister Silvan Shalom's threats to impose sanctions against the PA to counter a Palestinian boycott on settlement goods. PA spokesman Dr. Ghassan al-Khatib said Tuesday that threats by "settler leaders and manufacturers as well as by ministers and settler sympathizers do not deter us." "We are not interested in maintaining the welfare of settlements any longer. We are interested in boosting the local Palestinian industry and economy," al-Khatib said » Read more

Rightist banned from J'lem neighborhoods ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Shmulik Grossman - May 26, 2010 - 12:00am In an unprecedented move, the administrative order against settler Neriah Ofen, keeping him away from the West Bank, was extended to also include the Jerusalem neighborhoods of Pisgat Zeev and Neve Yaakov. The order was signed by GOC Home Front Command Major General Yair Golan. Ofen, a right-wing activist, is well known to the security services from the days of the Gaza disengagement, when he was suspected of planning attacks against Arabs. He was also under administrative detention. » Read more