September 1st

Israel seals off Hebron following shootings ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency September 1, 2010 - 12:00am Israeli forces on Wednesday sealed off parts of the southern West Bank district of Hebron in the wake of an attack against Israeli settlers in the area which killed four. Deputy mayor of Bani Na'im Raja Ziadat, a village close to the illegal Kiryat Arba settlement, where the attack occurred, said a curfew was imposed at dawn after troops withdrew. He added that Israeli forces were deployed heavily throughout the district. Israeli forces are denying residents access to the village and barring vehicular travel on the Route 60 bypass road, the mayor said. » Read more

Israel seals off Hebron following shootings ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency September 1, 2010 - 12:00am Israeli forces on Wednesday sealed off parts of the southern West Bank district of Hebron in the wake of an attack against Israeli settlers in the area which killed four. Deputy mayor of Bani Na'im Raja Ziadat, a village close to the illegal Kiryat Arba settlement, where the attack occurred, said a curfew was imposed at dawn after troops withdrew. He added that Israeli forces were deployed heavily throughout the district. Israeli forces are denying residents access to the village and barring vehicular travel on the Route 60 bypass road, the mayor said. » Read more

Obama Aims for Middle East Agreement to Counter Iran by Stabilizing Region ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bloomberg by Gwen Ackerman, Nicole Gaouette - September 1, 2010 - 12:00am President Barack Obama leads Israel and the Palestinian Authority into direct talks starting tomorrow aiming for a big prize: a peace deal that will help stabilize the region and thwart Iran’s bid to expand its influence. Obama is bringing Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu together in Washington to seek agreement on security and territorial issues that lie at the heart of their dispute and have defied solution over two decades of negotiation. » Read more

Hamas targets Israeli-Palestinian talks by killing four Israelis ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Joshua Mitnick - August 31, 2010 - 12:00am As Middle Eastern leaders gathered in Washington to inaugurate a new round of Israeli-Palestinian talks, Hamas gunmen killed four Israeli settlers in their car outside the West Bank city of Hebron. The attack appeared to be an attempt to spark violence that could undermine the peace negotiations and was a stark reminder that the Islamist Hamas movement remains an important force in Palestinian politics, no matter how much either the Israelis or the Palestinian Authority's Mahmoud Abbas wish they would go away. » Read more

A Peace Plan Within Our Grasp ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Hosni Mubarak - (Opinion) August 31, 2010 - 12:00am IT’S been 10 long years since the Palestinians and Israelis last came close to establishing a permanent peace, in January 2001 at Taba in Egypt. During my career in the Egyptian Air Force, I saw the tragic toll of war between the Arabs and Israel. As president of Egypt, I have endured many ups and downs in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Egypt’s decision to be the first Arab state to make peace with Israel claimed the life of my predecessor, Anwar el-Sadat. » Read more

You Ain’t Seen This Before ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Thomas L. Friedman - (Opinion) August 31, 2010 - 12:00am President Obama is embarking on something I’ve never seen before — taking on two Missions Impossible at the same time. That is, a simultaneous effort to heal the two most bitter divides in the Middle East: the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Shiite-Sunni conflict centered in Iraq. Give him his due. The guy’s got audacity. I’ll provide the hope. But kids, don’t try this at home. » Read more

Killing of Israeli Settlers Rattles Leaders ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Isabel Kershner - August 31, 2010 - 12:00am The killing of four Israeli settlers, including a pregnant woman, in the West Bank on Tuesday evening rattled Israeli and Palestinian leaders on the eve of peace talks in Washington and underscored the disruptive role that the issue of Jewish settlements could play in the already fragile negotiations. The military wing of Hamas, the Islamic group, claimed responsibility for the attack — in which gunmen fired on a vehicle carrying two men and two women at a junction near the city of Hebron — and described it on its Arabic Web site as a “heroic operation.” » Read more

Barak to Haaretz: Israel ready to cede parts of Jerusalem in peace deal ATFP World Press Roundup Article from by Ari Shavit - (Interview) September 1, 2010 - 12:00am Ehud Barak has always vacillated between peace and security, dovishness and hawkishness, left wing and right wing. Even when he left south Lebanon, offered the Golan Heights to Hafez Assad and the Temple Mount to Yasser Arafat, he didn't do this as a bleeding heart. He always spoke forcefully, talked about the importance of sobriety. He always spoke about how Israel must survive in a jungle. It must do so even now, on the eve of the peace summit in Washington. » Read more

Abbas: We're committed to peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency (Interview) September 1, 2010 - 12:00am WASHINGTON (Ma'an) -- The PLO's decision to return to direct negotiations with Israel reflects its commitment to peace, not fear of pressure from the international community, President Mahmoud Abbas said Tuesday. Speaking with Ma'an aboard the presidential jet en route to Washington, Abbas said the Obama administration appeared committed to resolving the Palestinian struggle for self-determination by implementing the two-state solution. » Read more