July 22nd

Palestinian shot dead near settlement ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency July 22, 2010 - 12:00am A Palestinian man was killed and a second injured by Israeli gunfire in the occupied West Bank on Thursday morning, Palestinian security officials said. They told Ma’an that an Israeli force opened fire on the two at 4:30 a.m. at the entrance of the illegal Barqan settlement in the Salfit district, killing one man while the second was injured. » Read more

One-State or Two-State: If Israel Doesn’t Decide, the UN Will ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line by Felice Friedson - July 22, 2010 - 12:00am It is conceivable within the course of realpolitik that despite obfuscation; political filibustering; dancing the diplomatic two-step (direct, indirect); wading through a plethora of plans, initiatives, think-tank reports, white papers and expert opinions (from Madrid to Oslo to Allon to Arab to Faya’d); it appears increasingly likely that all might boil down to a single resolution enacted by the United Nations Security Council. » Read more

High on success, pro-Palestinian group that organized Gaza flotilla attracts more volunteers ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Diaa Hadid - July 22, 2010 - 12:00am The stream of ships heading to Gaza in defiance of Israel's blockade reflects the success of a pro-Palestinian group that's been creatively confronting Israel for years. High on victory, they are flush with new volunteers. Activists of the International Solidarity Movement first sailed to Gaza in summer 2008 to challenge Israel's blockade of the Hamas-ruled territory. Most recently in May, it organized a Gaza-bound flotilla that led to a botched Israeli raid that killed nine activists, sparked an international outcry and forced Israel to ease its 3-year-old blockade. » Read more

Palestinian PM to reshuffle government ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua July 22, 2010 - 12:00am Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad will reshuffle the government in the West Bank soon, an official from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party said Wednesday. "President Abbas has started discussions to do the reshuffle that may take place within the coming 10 days," said Amin Maqboul, a member of the Fatah Central Committee. Maqboul added that Fayyad would continue leading the government and he would carry out the reshuffle "because he is not a subject of big controversy" for Fatah. » Read more

Israeli shelling kills 2 Gaza militants, wounds 6 ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Allyn Fisher-Ilan - July 22, 2010 - 12:00am Israeli shellfire killed two Palestinian militants and wounded six people, including a 10-year-old girl, in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, Palestinian medical workers and an official with a militant group said. An Israeli military spokeswoman said soldiers opened fire on militants suspected of preparing to fire a rocket at them. A security source said the troops fired a tank shell. Officials with a militant group active in Gaza said the dead men, one of whom was pronounced dead soon after the incident and the other of whom died later, were both among their members. » Read more

Discussions, not war ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times by Michael Jansen - July 22, 2010 - 12:00am Following Israel's 1948 war of establishment, the Truman administration warned the leaders of the new state that the US would not send in the cavalry for protection, but provide military hardware so it could defend itself. President Harry Truman argued that US voters would support Israel as long as the blood of US soldiers was not being shed to preserve it. » Read more

Dispute Over Killing in the West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Isabel Kershner - July 22, 2010 - 12:00am Israeli forces shot to death a Palestinian man early on Thursday at the edge of a Jewish settlement in the northern West Bank, the Israeli military and Palestinian officials said. The Palestinian Authority government condemned the killing and said the dead man was not armed. The Israeli military said soldiers spotted two Palestinians approaching the settlement of Barkan before dawn, suspected that one of them was armed and opened fire. One was killed, and the other man fled. » Read more

Abbas signals will resist U.S. pressure for talks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Ali Sawafta - July 22, 2010 - 12:00am Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has indicated he will resist U.S. pressure for face-to-face peace talks with Israel for now, saying indirect negotiations must make progress first. Abbas has said he wants the indirect negotiations to produce results on the issues of the security and borders of a future Palestinian state to be founded alongside Israel on land it occupied in 1967. » Read more

U.S. official: Final status issues to be discussed only in direct Mideast peace talks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Natasha Mozgovaya, Barak Ravid - July 22, 2010 - 12:00am Final status issues, including the borders of a future Palestinian state, can only be addressed during direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, a top U.S. official said Wednesday. The comment by State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley came after reports surfaced earlier Wednesday, according to which Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has vowed to resist U.S. pressure to open direct peace talks with Israel, unless he receives less "vague" guarantees on the issues of Israeli settlement construction and the borders of a future Palestinian state. » Read more

The missing link in the peace process: Trust ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Douglas Bloomfield - (Opinion) July 22, 2010 - 12:00am About the only thing Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas have in common these days is a conviction that the other is bluffing when he says he is ready to make peace. But so far neither has shown the courage to call the other’s bluff. » Read more