Democratic Arab world to embrace peace with Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons by Hamid Alkifaey - (Opinion) May 5, 2011 - 12:00am One could reasonably argue that the golden opportunity for peace in the Middle East was blown away when Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated on November 4, 1995. He was the only Israeli leader capable of making peace with the Palestinians, and was about to do so had it not been for the bullets of Yigal Amir, the rightwing religious zealot who believed in the "winner takes all" principle. » Read more

Democracy-based Arab-Israel conflict? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons by Abdel-Moneim Said - (Opinion) May 5, 2011 - 12:00am Predictions and speculations are the nightmare of scholars and analysts alike. The case is doubly horrifying when events are in motion and nothing seems to stand still for a snapshot. The Middle East is currently going through such a dynamic and there is no indication that the situation will stabilize any time soon. » Read more

Democracy-based Arab-Israel conflict? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons by Abdel-Moneim Said - (Opinion) May 5, 2011 - 12:00am Predictions and speculations are the nightmare of scholars and analysts alike. The case is doubly horrifying when events are in motion and nothing seems to stand still for a snapshot. The Middle East is currently going through such a dynamic and there is no indication that the situation will stabilize any time soon. » Read more

Palestinians should declare their state ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times by Ahmad Majdoubeh - (Opinion) May 6, 2011 - 12:00am While many are lukewarm about or totally disinterested in the reconciliation between Fateh and Hamas, many have welcomed it warmly, seeing some hope in it for a future Palestinian state. Those who are either lukewarm or disinterested see the reconciliation, at best, as a marriage of convenience - perhaps even inconvenience. Fateh is largely liberal and secular, and Hamas is largely reactionary and theological. » Read more

The Removal of the Palestinian “Card” ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat by Hassan Haidar - May 5, 2011 - 12:00am The official signing of the Palestinian reconciliation agreement in Cairo yesterday put an end to years of costly political – and sometimes even military – conflicts. The event was filled with numerous meanings, the most prominent of which probably being the fact that the Palestinians placed their own interests ahead of the regional factors which played a role in encouraging the widening of the division between the two major organizations, i.e. Fatah and Hamas. » Read more

Palestinian factions begin groundwork for political unification ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Hugh Naylor - May 6, 2011 - 12:00am Now that the unity accord has been signed, Hamas, its new friends in Fatah and a dozen other Palestinian factions must begin laying the groundwork for political reunification. The first test facing the former enemies will be forming an interim government that the agreement says will be run by politically independent "technocrats". They are supposed to govern the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and Fatah-run West Bank until there are national elections in a year or less. » Read more

Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron calls on Hamas to recognize Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) May 6, 2011 - 12:00am British Prime Minister David Cameron during a meeting with his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu called on Hamas to recognize Israel's right to exist and join peace negotiations. Cameron and Netanyahu met Wednesday night; the Israeli leader traveled to France on Thursday. According to a statement released Wedneday night by Cameron, the two leaders discussed the Fatah-Hamas unity deal. » Read more

Will PA-Hamas Reconciliation Threaten Other Palestinian Commitments? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Washington Institute for Near East Policy by David Makovsky - (Opinion) May 3, 2011 - 12:00am On May 4, Palestinian Authority (PA) president Mahmoud Abbas is slated to sign a reconciliation agreement with Hamas leaders in Cairo, a development first announced last week. The move will mark an end to the period of estrangement between the two factions, which began in summer 2007 when Hamas expelled PA security services and Fatah officials from Gaza. Given their acrimonious past, the extent to which the parties will work together going forward is questionable. The Agreement » Read more

Guarded praise for Palestinian deal ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC World News May 5, 2011 - 12:00am Palestinian and Israeli papers have given a cautious welcome to the unity deal signed by the two main Palestinian factions, Fatah and Hamas, in Cairo on Wednesday. In the pro-Fatah Palestinian press, there is praise for Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal's call for a Palestinian unity state in the West Bank and Gaza while a paper affiliated to Hamas warns that the success of the agreement depends on its implementation on the ground. » Read more

Arab Spring challenges Israel leader Benjamin Netanyahu ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC World News (Editorial) May 6, 2011 - 12:00am There is a satirical TV show in Israel which portrays Benjamin Netanyahu as an operatic baritone, stretching and bending every note he sings in a desperate effort to play for time as the chorus plagues him with awkward questions. What is to be done about the Palestinians and their plans to ask the UN to recognise their statehood in September they ask; what will the Israeli prime minister say in the speech to Congress in which he will have to ensure that the US at least remains bound to Israel in the face of a rising tide of support for the Palestinians. » Read more