Palestinian official: Peace possible in days, but Israel isn't interested ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz May 16, 2011 - 12:00am The Palestinian Authority on Monday rejected statements Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made at a parliament session, which he described as pre-conditions for peace. Netanyahu said that the Palestinians have to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, solve the refugee problem outside Israel and accept a permanent Israeli army presence in a demilitarized Palestinian state in parts of the West Bank that does not include Jerusalem. » Read more

Netanyahu's Hollywood show is over ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amir Oren - (Opinion) May 17, 2011 - 12:00am "The problem is this," said Yitzhak Rabin. "The starting point is that we cannot be Nazi-like in terms of the drastic measures we take as an occupying power." » Read more

Netanyahu and Obama: is this the final showdown? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Aluf Benn - (Opinion) May 17, 2011 - 12:00am This week the Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu will fly to Washington on a diplomatic mission. His goal is formidable: pre-empting the "diplomatic tsunami" threatening Israel in September, the Palestinians' target date for declaring their internationally sanctioned statehood within the pre-1967 borders. Netanyahu wants to keep the US at his side while preserving the territorial status quo in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. » Read more

Encountering Peace: The Palestinian Spring of May 2011 ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Gershon Baskin - (Opinion) May 16, 2011 - 12:00am I was quite surprised at the rallying of Israeli troops and the high-alert calls of the army and the police beginning Friday morning and lasting throughout May 15 – Nakba Day. I was interviewed repeatedly by local and international media regarding what was expected to happen here. Is this the beginning of the third intifada? Will the Palestinian territories now erupt in violent or non-violent marches to the Israeli borders and checkpoints until September? » Read more

Obama's draft speech to urge '67 borders, negate PA's state bid ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Yitzhak Benhorin - May 17, 2011 - 12:00am US President Barack Obama is set to give his next political speech at 6pm Thursday, just hours before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu leaves for Washington and according to a draft of the speech, obtained by Yedioth Ahronoth, the American president's Middle East policy, though unwavering, may not be as discordant as some have feared. Obama is expected to urge Israel to return to the 1967 lines while negating the Palestinian Authority's planned unilateral bid for statehood in September. » Read more

Not all Palestinian demands are a threat to Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz (Editorial) May 17, 2011 - 12:00am The defense minister was right to say he refuses to get excited over the fact that "a few dozen" Palestinians succeeded in entering Israel from Syria and thereby "violated Israel's sovereignty." Ehud Barak was also right to say that the Israel Defense Forces cannot station thousands of soldiers along the border to prevent such a "violation of sovereignty." » Read more

Israeli army northern command, intelligence trade accusations over border breach ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua May 17, 2011 - 12:00am In the wake of violent clashes on Israel's northern frontiers on Sunday, in which around 10 Palestinian demonstrators were killed at two locations, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Military Intelligence (MI) division said a warning it issued well ahead of the confrontations was ignored. All eyes were turned to the West Bank early on Sunday, as thousand of Palestinians took to the streets to commemorate Nakba, an annual ritual that marks the "catastrophe" of Israel's creation in 1948. » Read more

Israel's Likud demanding West Bank settlement annexation ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua May 17, 2011 - 12:00am Israel's Likud party on Monday asked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to annex areas of the West Bank containing Israeli settlements, ahead of a possible United Nations General Assembly resolution in September recognizing a Palestinian state. The call comes after Likud Knesset member Danny Danon announced findings of a party-sponsored poll that showed more than half of the respondents supporting annexation of West Bank settlement areas, the Ynet news site reported on Monday. » Read more

Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, Syria bury dead ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Albert Aji - May 16, 2011 - 12:00am Tens of thousands of Palestinians in Lebanon and Syria carried coffins through the streets of their refugee camps Monday as they buried those killed when protesters marched on Israel's border. Israeli forces opened fire on thousands of Arab protesters who marched toward Israel's borders with Syria, Lebanon and Gaza on Sunday in an unprecedented wave of demonstrations, killing at least 15 people, including 10 in Lebanon. The Palestinians were marking a Palestinian day of mourning for their displacement in the war that followed Israel's creation in 1948. » Read more

Palestinians test tactic of unarmed mass marches ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Karin Laub - May 16, 2011 - 12:00am Palestinian activists are calling it a preview of new tactics to pressure Israel and win world support for statehood: Masses of marchers, galvanized by the Arab Spring and brought together by Facebook, descending on borders and military posts — and daring Israeli soldiers to shoot. It could prove more problematic for Israel than the suicide bombings and other deadly violence of the past — which the current Palestinian Authority leadership feels only tainted their cause. » Read more