April 6th

Medics: 4 wounded in Israeli strikes on Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency April 6, 2011 - 12:00am Israeli aircraft attacked two targets in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, wounding four people, Palestinian medics and witnesses said. They said the targets were a group of militants and a plastics factory, both east of Gaza City. All of the wounded were at the factory, they added. A Ma'an correspondent said two of those injured were women, and that one of them was pregnant. An Israeli military spokeswoman told AFP that aircraft hit "two terror tunnels," a phrase the army uses to refer to tunnels being prepared by Gaza militants to launch cross-border raids. » Read more

Peres urges Obama to stay with peace process ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) April 5, 2011 - 12:00am It is critical for the United States to remain committed to the peace process, Israeli President Shimon Peres told President Obama. “I told him we would not want the Middle East peace process to continue without the United States,” Peres told reporters after his lunchtime meeting with Obama. A Peres aide later told reporters that this was the “critical message” Peres came to Washington to convey to the White House, suggesting that there is an impression in the Israeli government that the Obama administration is washing its hands of the peace process. » Read more

Now that Goldstone has changed his mind, what’s next? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) by Ron Kampeas, Marcy Oster - April 5, 2011 - 12:00am What happens now with the Goldstone Report may well be up to Goldstone. Richard Goldstone’s April 2 Op-Ed in the Washington Post disavowing his earlier assumption that Israel had committed war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity during the 2009 Gaza war has left pro-Israel activists wondering: What next? Moves already are afoot to get the United Nations to retract the U.N. Human Rights Council’s endorsement of the Goldstone report on the monthlong 2008-09 Gaza war. The Israeli government and an array of Jewish groups have issued such calls. » Read more

Cafe culture blooms in West Bank's Ramallah ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Mohammed Assadi - April 6, 2011 - 12:00am While Paris's Left Bank is famous for its fine restaurants and bustling cafes, Palestine's West Bank is not. But that might be about to change. The hilly city of Ramallah, which lies just to the north of Jerusalem, has undergone a massive boom in recent years on the back of Western donor support, with new smart eateries and bars mushrooming alongside a plethora of pristine office blocks. Latest data says Ramallah and the adjacent town of Al-Bireh that it has utterly engulfed have more than 120 coffee shops and some 300 restaurants, with 50 new diners opening in 2010 alone. » Read more

Ex-Fatah official named in Libya arms deal ATFP World Press Roundup Article from United Press International (UPI) April 6, 2011 - 12:00am Fatah is investigating reports former Palestinian security chief Mohammed Dahlan supplied Israeli-made weapons to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. "The committee will take measures that suit the size of these allegations," The Jerusalem Post quoted a Fatah spokesman saying. The spokesman noted the Fatah Central Committee had already suspended Dahlan's membership because of "political and organizational trespasses." Rebel forces battling the Libyan leader said they seized Israeli arms smuggled into the country and named Dahlan a suspect, the Ma'an news agency reported Tuesday. » Read more

Beyond Goldstone: A truer discussion about Israel, Hamas and the Gaza conflict ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Jessica Montell - (Opinion) April 5, 2011 - 12:00am The word Goldstone has entered the modern Hebrew lexicon as shorthand for anti-Israel bias and the deterioration of Israel’s international position. When the fact-finding U.N. mission headed by Judge Richard Goldstone released its report into Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip 18 months ago, it seemed as if the world divided into two camps. There was the pro-Goldstone camp, arguing that Israel had committed war crimes in Gaza and must be held accountable; and there was the anti-Goldstone camp, which insisted that the report was nothing less than a blood libel against the Jewish state. » Read more

Palestinian Security Forces Abused Journalists, Report Says ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Ethan Bronner - April 6, 2011 - 12:00am Palestinian journalists have been subjected to detention and abuse at the hands of Palestinian security agencies, a pattern that has led many to self-censor and produced a chilling effect on the free exchange of information and ideas, a human rights group said in a new report. » Read more

April 5th

Growing Mideast democracy could benefit Israel too ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Moshe Arens - (Opinion) April 5, 2011 - 12:00am Trying to evaluate the implication of the wave of demonstrations sweeping over the Arab World, one is reminded of Zhou Enlai, the premier of the People's Republic of China under Mao Zedong - who when asked what he thought of the French Revolution, reportedly replied that it was too early to tell. Samuel Goldwyn's well-known aphorism reminds us that we should not hasten to predict future events: "Never make forecasts, especially about the future," he said. And especially not about the future of the Middle East, one might add. » Read more

Barak to approve development plans for 4 West Bank settlements ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Chaim Levinson - April 4, 2011 - 12:00am Defense Minister Ehud Barak is set to sign off on four settlement development plans, Haaretz learned on Sunday, joining two plans Barak had earlier decided to approve. The plans are for the settlements of Rotem, Eshkolot-Sansana, Halamish-Neve Tzuf, Nofim, and Kiryat Netafim. All of the above settlements were founded following a government decision, and all of their lands are converted state lands. The plans set to be signed will in fact perpetuate the status quo in these settlements, disallowing any new legal construction, making the planned signing more of a symbolic achievement. » Read more

UN Human Rights Council stands by Goldstone Report ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Eldad Yaniv - April 5, 2011 - 12:00am The United Nations Human Rights Council stands by the Goldstone Report despite its author's admission that he now questioned his own findings: UNHRC spokesman Cedric Sapey told Yediot Ahronot Monday that the op-ed written by Richard Goldstone, published in the Washington Post on Friday, expressed the judge's personal opinion and did not represent the other committee members. » Read more