August 10th

Three times no ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Akiva Eldar - August 10, 2010 - 12:00am At the start of his last meeting with George Mitchell at the Muqata'a in Ramallah about three weeks ago, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen ) introduced the American envoy to an unfamiliar person: "I'd like you to meet Yasser al-Masri, a head of the Takamul (Wholeness ) group, which is calling for the establishment of a single state on the land of historical Palestine." » Read more

Hezbollah Leader Says Israel Was Involved in Lebanese Assassination ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Nada Bakri - August 10, 2010 - 12:00am In a two-hour long television appearance, Hezbollah’s leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, offered Monday what he contended was evidence proving Israel’s involvement in the assassination of the former Lebanese prime minister, Rafik Hariri, in a 2005 bombing. » Read more

Hamas’ many-splendored contradictions ATFP World Press Roundup Article from NOW Lebanon by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) August 10, 2010 - 12:00am Hamas was in the news last week, accused by Egypt of having been behind the rocket attacks from the Sinai against the Israeli town of Eilat and the Jordanian town of Aqaba. This, once again, told us something about the paradoxes of the Islamist group. » Read more

August 9th

Israeli PM says Turkey ignored flotilla warnings ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Ari Rabinovitch - August 9, 2010 - 12:00am Turkey ignored repeated warnings and appeals "at the highest level" to halt a Gaza aid flotilla, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told an Israeli inquiry on Monday into the fatal raid by his troops. Netanyahu was the first witness to testify to the state-appointed inquiry into the lethal raid at sea on May 31, in which Israeli commandos killed nine Turkish pro-Palestinian activists after boarding their vessel from a helicopter. » Read more

Libya frees Israeli photographer in Gaza aid deal ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Dan Williams - August 9, 2010 - 12:00am Libya has freed an Israeli photographer held by its security services for five months, as part of a secret Austrian-mediated deal involving aid for the blockaded Gaza Strip, an Israeli official said on Monday. Israel Radio said Rafael Hadad was detained as a suspected spy in March after travelling to Libya, which is technically at war with Israel, on a Tunisian passport -- his second travel document. But the Israeli official denied any espionage link. » Read more

Fatah official: Cabinet reshuffle within 2 weeks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency August 9, 2010 - 12:00am The Palestinian Authority cabinet reshuffle will take place within two weeks, Fatah's parliament speaker Azzam Al-Ahmad said Sunday. President Mahmoud Abbas confirmed there would be a reshuffle in May, although reports of a new PA cabinet have been circulating since February. US pressure on Palestinian leadership to move to direct talks with Israel, and a busy schedule of visits have delayed the forming of a new cabinet, Al-Ahmad told Ma’an Radio Network. » Read more

Jordan Valley demolitions continue ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency August 9, 2010 - 12:00am Israel's Civil Administration began razing housing units Monday in the Ein Hilwa area of the northern Jordan Valley, campaign officials said. Save the Jordan Valley campaign coordinator Fathi Ikhdeirat said Israeli authorities, accompanied by border guards, began tearing down structures and handing down stop-work orders to residents. He described the move as an attempt "to clear the area of its indigenous people and include it into Israel and called on international human rights groups to intervene to bring the demolitions to a halt. » Read more

Lessons and legacies of Israel's Gaza withdrawal ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Edmund Sanders - August 9, 2010 - 12:00am Five years after then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon embarked on a landmark withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, the disengagement continues to dominate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Here are some of the key lessons and legacies: Although disengagement enjoyed broad support at the time, almost no one calls it a success today. » Read more

Israel intends to deport 20,000 Palestinians from Jerusalem: JCSER head ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua August 8, 2010 - 12:00am Israel intends to deport over 20,000 Palestinians out of Jerusalem whom it said don't have legal residency to stay in the city, a leading Palestinian human rights defender said on Sunday. "Israeli Interior Ministry has already begun deporting Palestinians under the pretext that they stay in Jerusalem illegally," Ziad Hammouri, head of the Jerusalem center for social and economic rights (JCSER), told Xinhua. The new procedure targets West Bank citizens who live in Jerusalem and possess property and ownerships even before Israel occupied the city in 1967, he said. » Read more

A Jerusalem neighborhood's line in the sky ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Edmund Sanders - August 9, 2010 - 12:00am The view from Jerusalem's hilltop Abu Tor neighborhood is pretty good. Too good, some might say. From my apartment terrace, I can glimpse the major tourist sites: Old City walls, the golden Dome of the Rock and Temple Mount, the King David Hotel and Mt. Zion, believed to be the location of the Last Supper. But when clashes erupt between Israeli police and Palestinian demonstrators, I can also watch tear-gas clouds rise from the Arab village of Silwan below. And every morning, the sun rises over a massive concrete wall, part of Israel's West Bank security barrier. » Read more