April 26th

'Hamas delegation is in Cairo to discuss Schalit' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post April 26, 2011 - 12:00am A Hamas delegation traveled to Cairo on Tuesday in order to discuss the release of captive IDF soldier Gilad Schalit, Israel Radio reported. A Palestnian source told Israel Radio that the possible reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah will be the main topic of discussion at the meeting, but Schalit is also on the agenda. The delegation reportedly includes one of Hamas's leaders, Mahmoud Zahar, as well as two members of the negotiating team for Schalit, Halil el Haya and Nizar Awdallah. » Read more

Poll: Most Egyptians favor annulling peace with Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Lahav Harkov - April 26, 2011 - 12:00am Most Egyptians are in favor of annulling a peace treaty with Israel, according to a Pew Research Center poll released on Monday. The US-based think tank polled 1,000 adults throughout Egypt between March 24 and April 7, finding that only 36 percent would maintain peace. The percentage of Egyptians who support annulling the treaty (54%) does not vary amongst those who sympathize with Islamic fundamentalists and those who do not. However, those with lower incomes are less likely to support the peace with Israel than those with higher incomes. » Read more

What Obama can learn from Israel's peace with Egypt ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amir Oren - (Opinion) April 26, 2011 - 12:00am He was present during the secret talks between Richard Nixon, Golda Meir, Henry Kissinger and Yitzhak Rabin, before and after the Yom Kippur War. He witnessed Israel's plight in October 1973, when it desperately needed military equipment and a cease-fire even at the price of an Egyptian victory. He heard from Kissinger that Jordan's King Hussein was prepared to accept the Allon Plan but only if "the mosques and another street" in Jerusalem were thrown in. In November 2008, immediately after Barack Obama was elected U.S. » Read more

Encountering Peace: Imposed peace plans will not work ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Gershon Baskin - (Opinion) April 25, 2011 - 12:00am First came the Caesarea conferences on Israel’s economic policies and plans run by the Israel Democracy Institute where ministers and Bank of Israel officials came to deliver high-profile speeches on the future of our economic welfare. Then came the Herzliya conferences to which prime ministers, foreign ministers, chiefs of staff and others leaders from the security military establishment presented their views and policy plans. » Read more

Why the Israeli-Palestinian conflict refuses to be resolved ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by A.B. Yehoshua - (Opinion) April 26, 2011 - 12:00am The question in the headline should ostensibly be directed to a Middle East expert, a political scientist, or even a foreign historian, not a writer whose expertise is his imagination. But because the question is a real one that is painful to everyone in the region regardless of his nationality, I will try to propose an answer. » Read more

Peres hands Obama letter from Pollard ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) April 26, 2011 - 12:00am Israeli President Shimon Peres handed President Obama a letter from Jonathan Pollard pleading for his release. "I write to implore you, Mr. President, in the wake of numerous calls by senior American officials urging you to commute my sentence to time served, and in light of the official request by Prime Minister Netanyahu, to please send me home to Israel now, in time to celebrate my first Passover in freedom in 26 years," said the April 1 letter, Pollard's first direct communication with an American president. » Read more

Peres hands Obama letter from Pollard ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) April 26, 2011 - 12:00am Israeli President Shimon Peres handed President Obama a letter from Jonathan Pollard pleading for his release. "I write to implore you, Mr. President, in the wake of numerous calls by senior American officials urging you to commute my sentence to time served, and in light of the official request by Prime Minister Netanyahu, to please send me home to Israel now, in time to celebrate my first Passover in freedom in 26 years," said the April 1 letter, Pollard's first direct communication with an American president. » Read more

No peace partner ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times by Hassan Barari - (Opinion) April 26, 2011 - 12:00am It is hard to avoid the feeling that the current Israeli government is neither interested in nor capable of making peace with the Palestinians, let alone the rest of the Arabs. If anything, all steps taken by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government are designed to sidestep any genuine peace effort. » Read more

Nablus shooting is a deadly mistake, until proven otherwise ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz (Editorial) April 26, 2011 - 12:00am The tragic death of Ben-Yosef Livnat in Nablus could have been prevented. The preliminary investigation shows that Livnat and his companions decided to visit Joseph's tomb without coordinating their trip into the Palestinian Authority with the Israel Defense Forces. They apparently broke through a Palestinian roadblock, and Palestinian police officers shot them in response. » Read more

International activists harvest on Gaza border ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency April 26, 2011 - 12:00am Just a kilometer from the 'security fence' separating Israel and Gaza, international solidarity activists and Palestinian volunteers on Monday began a wheat and barley harvest on behalf of landowners who fear Israeli artillery and gunfire in the no-go zone. Several Palestinian farmers have been killed and injured in the area as they tended their land or collected crops. The Israeli army imposes a no-go zone inside the Gaza Strip border areas, citing security concerns. » Read more