August 5th

Shin Bet: Suspected Jewish terrorist Pearlman didn't work alone ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Liel Kyzer - August 5, 2010 - 12:00am The Shin Bet security service and the police believe that Chaim Pearlman, suspected of murdering four Palestinians and wounding several others, committed the acts attributed to him with the help of accomplices. The suspicions emerged at Pearlman's remand in a Petach Tikvah court. Pearlman's remand was extended by six days. Sources close to Pearlman said "There has been no progress in the investigation ever since he was arrested. The Shin Bet insists on holding him for no reason." » Read more

Israel Fights Isolation With New Measures ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Gal Beckerman - August 4, 2010 - 12:00am Israel is taking significant new steps to relieve its international isolation following the fatal raid on a humanitarian flotilla and the accusatory Goldstone Report. » Read more

Netanyahu: Hamas responsible for rockets on Eilat; we will retaliate ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz August 5, 2010 - 12:00am Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared on Israeli television Wednesday that Hamas was responsible for the deadly rocket fire on Israel's and Jordan's Red Sea ports on Monday, and that Israel would retaliate. Earlier Wednesday, Egyptian officials also confirmed that the rocket attacks, which had killed a Jordanian taxi driver in Aqaba, had been carried out by the militant Palestinian group operating from Egypt, after days of denials. » Read more

Contacts underway to set peace reference: Palestinian official ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua August 5, 2010 - 12:00am A Palestinian official revealed on Tuesday that international and Arab contacts are underway to set the terms of reference for the peace process. "There are many contacts between the Palestinian leadership and international and Arab peace players to ensure that the Palestinian demands to start direct talks will be met," Fatah official Jamal Mohaisen told Xinhua following a meeting of the party's central committee that was chaired by President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah. » Read more

Obama Administration Presses Palestinians To Enter Direct Talks With Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Nathan Guttman - August 4, 2010 - 12:00am State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley strove hard to hit the right note August 2 in describing the Obama administration’s recent effort to push the Palestinians into direct peace talks with Israel. » Read more

Mubarak, Obama tackle over phone requirements of launching direct peace talks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua August 5, 2010 - 12:00am Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak received Wednesday a phone call from U.S. President Barack Obama during which they discussed the requirements for starting direct peace talks between the Palestinians and Israel, Egypt's official MENA news agency reported. Mubarak underlined during the conversation Egypt's appreciation of the commitment of U.S. president to establish peace and create a propitious atmosphere for launching peace talks in line with clear terms of reference and a specific time frame. » Read more

Hamas urges Fatah not to go to direct talks with Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua August 5, 2010 - 12:00am Islamic Hamas movement warned on Thursday Fatah party of going to direct negotiations with Israel after the latter declined holding a tripartite meeting to set terms of reference for the stalled peace process. Salah al-Badawil, Gaza-based spokesman for Hamas, in a press release, demanded Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party not to return to "absurd talks" with Israel, urging the West Bank- ruling movement to give the priority for achieving national unity and isolating Israel. » Read more

Abbas: Either Fight or Negotiate! ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat by Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed - August 5, 2010 - 12:00am No one ever tells the whole truth, even in simple cases such as negotiations, and here is a story to illustrate that. Of all the American Presidents, Barack Obama is actually the most enthusiastic to establish a Palestinian state and liberate the West Bank and Gaza. This is something that the Arabs and their supporters have failed to achieve through war, bombings, demonstrations or zealous speeches over the past 40 years. It is natural to regard negotiations as an alternative to defeat, and even the "Oslo Accords" that were criticized by many achieved more than empty rhetoric. » Read more

Israel indicts 3 Arabs on espionage charges ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press August 5, 2010 - 12:00am Israel has indicted three Arab men on charges of spying for Syria. The Shin Bet security service reported on Thursday that two Druse Arabs living in the Golan Heights and an Arab citizen of Israel were charged with passing information to the enemy and plotting to kidnap a Syrian pilot who had defected to Israel. Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 war. The two indicted Druse Arabs — a father and son — are Syrian citizens, like most of the Druse in the Golan Heights. » Read more

Israeli forces demolish rebuilt Area C structures ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency August 5, 2010 - 12:00am Israel's Civil Administration returned to the Jordan Valley on Thursday to demolish 23 structures recently rebuilt by residents and farmers in Al-Farisiya. The town, in the Tubas district located across the highway from the Nahal Rotem settlement, is part of the nearby Sdemot Mehola. The area has a total of five settlements, most engaged in farming, with more than half of the settlement-occupied land in the northern part of the Jordan Valley used for agriculture. » Read more