August 16th

Palestinians reiterate demand for settlement freeze before direct talks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua August 16, 2010 - 12:00am The Palestinian leadership Sunday stressed anew that Israel must stop all forms of settlement activities before launching direct negotiations with the Palestinians. The demand, long held by the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), was a focal point when President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad held separate meetings with Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store in Ramallah late last night. » Read more

PA reports year's achievements ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Ali Waked - August 15, 2010 - 12:00am The Palestinian government on Sunday published a report outlining its activity in the past year. According to the document, in the past 12 months the Palestinian Authority's government, headed by Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, marked significant achievements in the construction of government institutions and other infrastructure. » Read more

Israel's Barak approves U.S. F-35 fighters purchase ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Ori Lewis - August 15, 2010 - 12:00am Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak approved in principle on Sunday the purchase of 20 U.S.-built radar-evading stealth fighters in a deal worth $2.75 billion, defence ministry officials said. The F-35 warplanes are expected to be delivered between 2015 to 2017, an Israeli defence official said. Israeli leaders have spoken of arch-foe Iran potentially developing a nuclear weapon by mid-decade, suggesting that the F-35s would not be used for any preventive action, but rather to bolster the country's deterrence. » Read more

Palestinian Health Ministry Moves to Self-Reliance ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line by David Miller - August 15, 2010 - 12:00am Transfer of Palestinian patients to Israel for medical treatment will soon come to an end in order to keep funding inside the Palestinian Authority, according to the Palestinian Minister of Health. Minister Fathi Abu-Moghli said that funds previously used to cover medical treatment for Palestinians abroad would now be channeled into developing the Palestinian health sector. » Read more

INTERVIEW-Cash for Palestinians needed to support peace-Norway ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Tom Perry - August 16, 2010 - 12:00am The Palestinian Authority's budget is in the red and donors should make good on pledges to fill the gap, said Norway's foreign minister, who chairs a donor group that backs the Palestinian government. Jonas Gahr Stoere also said he was optimistic face-to-face Palestinian-Israeli talks would resume soon, restarting the peace process his country helped to launch 17 years ago. » Read more

Inside Israel's commando unit which raided Gaza flotilla ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News by Jane Corbin - August 15, 2010 - 12:00am Some of the Israeli special forces took off their balaclavas to talk to me and show me the wounds they received the night nine people were killed and 50 were wounded on board the Turkish ship the MV Mavi Marmara. "I saw a knife in my abdomen and pulled it out," Captain R said. "The beating was continuous - and the cries of Allah Akbar." Israeli footage shows Captain R, a member of Naval Commando 13 being beaten with bars by activists, stabbed and then thrown to the deck below. Who started the violence that ended in death on the boat, has been fiercely contested. » Read more

Abbas consults with US on resuming talks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency August 16, 2010 - 12:00am President Mahmoud Abbas will continue consulting with the US administration over resuming direct talks with Israel, a presidential spokesman said after the leader met with US official David Hale in Ramallah on Sunday. Nabil Abu Rudaineh said some progress has been made, but the Palestinian Authority would only announce its stance on direct talks when the Quartet releases its expected statement Monday. » Read more

Direct Mideast talks set to resume ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Paul Richter - August 16, 2010 - 12:00am After months of quiet U.S. diplomacy, Israeli and Palestinian leaders appear poised to announce a resumption of direct peace talks, perhaps as early as this week. Nearly two years after the last round of talks broke off, U.S. and allied officials in recent days cleared the final hurdle by persuading Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to take a seat at the negotiating table, officials say. » Read more

Gaza doctor writes book of hope despite death of three daughters ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Harriet Sherwood - August 15, 2010 - 12:00am On a cool but sunny December day in Gaza, Dr Izzeldin Abuelaish took his eight children to the beach for the simple pleasures of paddling in the Mediterranean and playing in the sand. Two months earlier, the children's mother had died from acute leukaemia, and Abuelaish was comforted to see his older daughters laughing and chatting as they wrote their names in the damp grains close to the water's edge: Bessan, Maya, Aya. "It was as close to heaven and as far from hell as I could get that day," he later wrote. » Read more

Mavi Marmara inquiry: Denying the obvious ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News by Gwynne Dyer - August 15, 2010 - 12:00am The pro-Palestinian activists who said that the flotilla of ships that tried to breach the Israeli blockade and bring aid to the Gaza Strip had purely humanitarian goals were lying, and so are the Israeli officials who blandly insist that the blockade is solely to stop offensive weapons from reaching the Hamas-ruled enclave. But only the Israeli commandos who seized the ships and killed nine people had guns. » Read more