Gaza tops agenda as Abbas arrives in US ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency June 9, 2010 - 12:00am President Mahmoud Abbas arrived in the United States on Tuesday with two goals, ending the siege on Gaza and moving the peace process forward, PLO Secretary-General Yasser Abed Rabbo said. Abed Rabbo told Palestine TV that the president and his delegation would meet Senator John Kerry and leaders of the American Jewish and pro-Israel lobby in the US in addition to the main meeting with US President Barack Obama. » Read more

Israel faces a dilemma as the Brits once faced ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Chicago Tribune by Ron Grossman - (Opinion) June 9, 2010 - 12:00am Last month's bloody encounter on a ship off Gaza offered deadly proof of the adage: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Israelis above all others should have recalled that aphorism, which was coined by the philosopher George Santayana. Six decades ago, Zionist freedom fighters attempted to run a blockade of the Holy Land's coast maintained by the British, setting off a lethal confrontation that turned world opinion in favor of the establishment of a Jewish homeland. » Read more

Never mind the 'Freedom Flotilla.' Is Israel's Gaza blockade legal? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Robert Marquand - June 9, 2010 - 12:00am Israel’s raid of a “Freedom Flotilla” of activists that ended with nine deaths brought a global firestorm of protest, dimmed the chances for a peace deal, and threatened Israel’s relations with Turkey, its closest ally in the region. » Read more

Obama to meet with Palestinian Authority leader ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Scott Wilson - June 9, 2010 - 12:00am President Obama is scheduled to meet Wednesday with the head of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, in a White House session whose mission has changed in the past week. Once viewed primarily as a presidential push to turn indirect Israeli-Palestinian talks into direct peace negotiations, the meeting will now focus on how best to contain the fallout from Israel's deadly raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla last week. » Read more

Two Activists Describe Raid and Deny Israeli Claim They Are ‘Terrorist Operatives ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Robert Mackey - (Blog) June 9, 2010 - 12:00am Two pro-Palestinian activists who were raised in the United States, and who were on board the main ship in the flotilla challenging Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza last week when it was raided by Israeli commandos, have denied a claim by Israel’s military that they are “involved in terrorist activity.” » Read more

Palestinian Takes a Road Less Traveled ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Dan Williams - June 9, 2010 - 12:00am Palestinian inspectors were on the hunt for goods in West Bank stores made in Israeli settlements, and metal scouring pads with no labeled place of origin caught their attention. “You better find out where these came from,” said one man, who slapped a “No settlement products” sticker on the door of the Riviera Palace Mall Grocery Store in Ramallah. “They might be from them.” The inspectors were conducting a campaign organized by Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, known until a few months ago for trying to prepare Palestinians for statehood through gradual political and economic change. » Read more

Abbas Arrives ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Politico by Laura Rozen - June 9, 2010 - 12:00am Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his delegation have arrived in Washington, ahead of a meeting with President Barack Obama at the White House Wednesday. “The whole entourage is here,” the American Task Force for Palestine’s Hussein Ibish said. “The real ask they have is really for the U.S. to tell Israel to simply be more serious about peace negotiations, to talk about the substantive issues, in a more permanent, serious way, and not kind of dance around the problem – to focus on a well in Nablus or a procedural question.” » Read more

Palestine's Great Hope ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Slate by Michael Weiss - June 9, 2010 - 12:00am Given the deadly confrontation off the coast of Gaza, the recent froideur in U.S.-Israeli relations, Iran's defiant pursuit of a nuclear weapon, not to mention two ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the broader fight against al-Qaida, it's perhaps forgivable that the biggest news story to emerge from the Middle East in years has been eclipsed. But no one can accuse the Palestinian prime minister of neglecting to call attention to himself. » Read more

Pres. Abbas: Peacemaking takes courage, leaders ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Hill by Mahmoud Abbas - June 9, 2010 - 12:00am Negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis have resumed after a year and a half of a stalemate that began after Israel launched its devastating military assault against the Gaza Strip in December 2009. The resumption of negotiations came as a result of concerted and persistent efforts by the U.S. administration and by President Barack Obama in particular, together with extensive Palestinian, Arab and international support. » Read more