July 15th

Fatah urges no direct Mideast talks for now ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Tom Perry - July 15, 2010 - 12:00am The Palestinian president's Fatah party said on Thursday there should be no move to face-to-face Middle East peace talks sought by the United States without progress in the indirect talks it is mediating. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, due to meet U.S. President Barack Obama's Middle East envoy on Saturday, is facing pressure from Washington to agree to direct negotiations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu -- who says he is ready to start talks with the Palestinian leader right away. » Read more

The olive branch in the West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Bulletin by Hugh Gusterson - (Opinion) July 15, 2010 - 12:00am Israel's ambassador to the U.S., Michael Oren, was recently quoted as saying that relations between the U.S. and Israel were undergoing a "tectonic rift in which continents are drifting apart." If the quote is accurate, which Oren later disputed, it is surely an overstatement. Still, an interesting divergence is developing in the means by which the U.S. and Israeli militaries are dealing with Islamic militants in territories they are occupying. » Read more

Home demolition leaves mother, four children homeless ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Maher Abukhater - July 13, 2010 - 12:00am Dalal Rajabi, a mother of four children, came home Tuesday to find that her modest two-room house that has sheltered her family for two years had been razed. A team of Jerusalem municipal workers protected by a large police force came to the Rajabis' 200-square-foot home in Beit Hanina, an East Jerusalem Arab neighborhood, broke down the main door, took the furniture out and proceeded to demolish it. Dalal Rajabi was not home at the time. She had left the house to take her son to see a doctor when the workers and a bulldozer arrived. » Read more

Despite Settlement Freeze, Buildings Rise ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Ethan Bronner - July 14, 2010 - 12:00am One of the most contentious issues facing the Middle East peace talks is whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will extend the 10-month-old building freeze in West Bank Jewish settlements, as the Palestinians and Americans want. » Read more

Cheer, Then Gloom, on Talks for Peace Deal in Mideast ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Isabel Kershner - July 14, 2010 - 12:00am In the upbeat atmosphere after their recent meeting in Washington, the prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, and President Obama expressed hopes of an imminent resumption of direct Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and of achieving a peace deal — within a year, according to Mr. Netanyahu, or in Mr. Obama’s case, before the end of his term. There has been vague talk in Washington about a narrowing of gaps in the weeks since the indirect, American-brokered negotiations started in May. » Read more

Police suspect alleged Jewish terrorist killed four Palestinians ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amos Harel, Chaim Levinson - July 15, 2010 - 12:00am A right-wing Israeli extremist arrested this week over a string of stabbing attacks is suspected of murdering four Palestinians and attempting to murder another seven, according to details of the investigation released on Thursday. Chaim Pearlman was arrested Tuesday, initially on suspicion of carrying out two murders in 1998, and for a series of attacks on other Palestinian victims over the last 12 years. The Petah Tikva Magistrate's Court on Thursday extended his remand by six days. » Read more

Palestinians in Lebanon deserve better ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News by Joseph A. Kechichian - (Opinion) July 15, 2010 - 12:00am Once again, the fate that befell 450,000 plus Palestinian refugees in Lebanon has preoccupied that hapless country's leaders. Like other neighbouring states, Lebanon warmly welcomed Palestinians expelled from Israel over the years, providing them with relative security even if weak governments failed to regularise their presence. After the hugely mistaken 1969 Cairo Accords, which allowed refugees to arm themselves — ostensibly to attack Israel — Lebanon compounded the Palestinian tragedy by authorising a new battlefront on its own territory. » Read more

Jerusalem home demolition leaves mother, four children homeless ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Maher Abukhater - (Blog) July 15, 2010 - 12:00am Dalal Rajabi, a mother of four children, came home Tuesday to find that her modest two-room house that has sheltered her family for two years had been razed. A team of Jerusalem municipal workers protected by a large police force came to the Rajabis' 200-square-foot home in Beit Hanina, an East Jerusalem Arab neighborhood, broke down the main door, took the furniture out and proceeded to demolish it. Dalal Rajabi was not home at the time. She had left the house to take her son to see a doctor when the workers and a bulldozer arrived. » Read more

July 14th

Next Steps ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward (Editorial) July 14, 2010 - 12:00am All the right words were spoken. Praise was effusive. The handshake made a perfect photo op. The wives had tea. Now that the July 6 summit between President Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been duly recorded, the true test of its worth will begin. It is clear that, for both political and pragmatic reasons, Obama seriously wants to preside over a peace accord between Israelis and Palestinians. The question is whether Netanyahu and his Palestinian counterparts want it as bad, and are willing to sacrifice for this elusive but necessary goal. » Read more

Great atmospherics ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons by Yossi Alpher - (Opinion) July 14, 2010 - 12:00am The Obama-Netanyahu meeting in Washington last week was an elegant exercise in short-term realpolitik. Very short-term. US President Barack Obama needs urgently to project an image of tranquility, friendship and cooperation in his relationship with Israeli PM Binyamin Netanyahu. This helps his administration ensure the support of a variety of pro-Israel sectors of American society as mid-term congressional elections approach. It also seeks to correct the impression that Obama has simply mismanaged his relations with Netanyahu and Israel and fumbled the peace process from the start. » Read more