August 5th

Violence as Hebron outpost evacuated ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency August 5, 2010 - 12:00am An illegal Israeli settlement outpost erected near the larger Kiyrat Arba settlement in Hebron was evacuated by Israeli forces on Thursday morning, sparking violence from squatters. The outpost, a collection of wood buildings and tents in Hebron's Al-Buwayra area, was taken down and more than a dozen settlers removed from the area, who proceeded to torch Palestinian lands, witnesses said. » Read more

Israel’s insistence on direct talks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times by Michael Jansen - August 5, 2010 - 12:00am Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu insists on holding direct talks with the Palestinian Authority (PA) for four important reasons. First, he seeks to end Israel's isolation on the international scene. Second, he wants to project the impression that his right-wing government is prepared to negotiate with the Palestinians. Third, he is determined to begin anew, to erase 19 years of negotiations and arrangements agreed by previous Israeli premiers. His intention is to impose and formalise new "red lines? across which Israel will not budge. » Read more

Turkey and Israel Do a Brisk Business ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Dan Bilefsky - August 5, 2010 - 12:00am Israeli business executives here like to point out that most of the angry Turks who protested Israel’s deadly raid on a Turkish-led flotilla to Gaza this past spring do not know that their cellphones, personal computers and plasma televisions were made using parts and technology from Tel Aviv. For Manashe Carmon, chairman of the Israel Turkish Business Council, such ignorance is a blessing for Israelis and Turks. » Read more

Hamas Blamed for Contested Gaza Explosion ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line August 5, 2010 - 12:00am A mysterious explosion which obliterated eight Gazan homes, damaged another 30 and injured over 50 people on Monday originated in a house used by Hamas to store weapons, The Media Line has learned. The Deir Al-Balah refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip was rocked Monday by an explosion centered in an uninhabited house belonging to 'Alaa Al-Danaf, a field commander of the 'Izz A-din Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas The 'Iz A-Din Al-Qassam Brigades blamed the explosion on Israel, claiming it was an assassination attempt on their field commanders. » Read more

PA minister apologizes for closing TV stations ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency August 5, 2010 - 12:00am The Palestinian Authority Minister of Telecommunications apologized Wednesday for a series of raids and closures of several TV and radio stations in the northern West Bank city of Nablus. Mashhur Abu Daqqa told Ma'an radio that an investigation committee would be formed to follow up on the raids, which were undertaken by PA ministry employees and customs officers, vowing to "bring to account those who violated the law." » Read more

August 4th

The West Bank illusion ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Menachem Klein - August 4, 2010 - 12:00am Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad are darlings of Israel and the international community. For a long time now, they have been seen as brand names, not as officeholders dependent on circumstances of time and place. Abbas represents building the state in stages from the top down by negotiations. Fayyad represents building the state in stages from the bottom up. To Israel and the international community, they seem eternal. » Read more

Obama’s carrots and sticks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Eytan Gilboa - August 4, 2010 - 12:00am With his policy on the Israeli-Palestinian diplomatic process currently focusing on exerting massive pressure in a bid to launch direct talks, US President Barack Obama aims to rectify the grave mistakes he made thus far. However, there is no certainty that he drew all the lessons from his failures and from the experience of his predecessors. Obama is determined to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and through this secure a comprehensive solution for the Arab-Israeli conflict. He earmarked this objective as one of the most important ones among his foreign policy’s priorities. » Read more

Nasrallah accuses Israel over Hariri murder ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News August 4, 2010 - 12:00am In a fiery speech, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said he would prove the claim at a press conference next week. The BBC's Jon Leyne says Mr Nasrallah is trying to pre-empt a UN report due to implicate Hezbollah in the killing. Mr Nasrallah was speaking hours after a firefight on the Lebanon-Israeli border left five people dead. Referring to the rare exchange of fire, he said his forces were ready to join the fighting. Mr Hariri and 22 other people were killed in Beirut in a car bomb in 2005. » Read more

Gaza girls turn to fishing to feed family ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Google News by Adel Zaanoun - August 4, 2010 - 12:00am Every morning the two girls wake up before dawn, row their wooden skiff out into Gaza's heavily-patrolled waters, and try to catch enough fish to feed their family. They are perhaps the only women in the territory of 1.5 million people who make a living from fishing, and are a rare sight in Gaza's conservative society where women rarely venture into the sea even to swim. But Madeleine Kulab, 16, and her sister Reem, 13, have had few other options since their father was struck with palsy 10 years ago, and like many women in Gaza have had to work for wages once earned by men. » Read more

Israeli and Palestinian Teens Mix at MEET ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line by Felice Friedson, Arieh O'Sullivan - August 4, 2010 - 12:00am Most people don’t believe Israeli and Palestinian high school students can get together and get along. But a summer program in Jerusalem proves they can. For four weeks this summer, 100 Palestinian and Israeli students cross paths as they learn not only basic science and business skills, but also how to communicate with the other in a unique program aptly called MEET – Middle East Education through Technology. “It was a great opportunity in MEET to meet Israelis and see their point of view,” said » Read more