May 20th

It took a village ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Rona Sela - May 20, 2011 - 12:00am This story begins as a clandestine affair of espionage marked by daring, adventurism, improvisation and imagination as embedded in the official Israeli narrative. In the 1940s, squads of young scouts from the Haganah, the pre-state army and forerunner of the Israel Defense Forces, collected information about the Arab towns and villages in Palestine for intelligence purposes: in preparation for a future conflict and as part of a more general project of creating files of target sites. » Read more

A third intifada? Not necessarily ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amos Harel, Avi Issacharoff - May 20, 2011 - 12:00am Everyone is heaping praise - with some justification - on the reservists' restrained response to the demonstrators who infiltrated from Syria on Nakba Day, restraint that prevented a mass slaughter. However, it is best not to forget that what a series of previous Arab moves - including army invasions, cross-border infiltrations and terror attacks, airplane hijackings, suicide attacks and rocket barrages - failed to achieve, may be accomplished via mass marches to the borders, the settlements and the Israel Defense Forces roadblocks ahead of September. » Read more

Abbas says UN support essential for statehood ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua May 19, 2011 - 12:00am Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Thursday that the UN has an essential role to help the Palestinians establish their statehood. "We will go to the UN to get the recognition of our independent state," Abbas said after meeting Tony Blair, the envoy of the Middle East Quartet, in Ramallah. He added that an end to Israel's occupation and the creation of the Palestinian state will enable the Palestinian people to live in peace and stability with their Israeli neighbors. » Read more

Hamas says Obama's speech leaning to Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua May 19, 2011 - 12:00am Islamic Hamas movement on Thursday rejected U.S. President Barack Obama's speech on the Middle East, accusing him of leaning towards Israel. "Obama adopted Israel's position to boost himself in preparation for an electoral campaign," said Mahmoud Zahar, a Gaza- based leader of Hamas, which does not recognize Israel. Obama delivered a speech Thursday in which he urged Israel and the Palestinians to resume peace talks, stalled over a dispute on settlement activities since last year. » Read more

Abbas welcomes Obama call to renew peace talks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters May 19, 2011 - 12:00am Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas welcomed on Thursday U.S. President Barak Obama's efforts to renew talks with Israel that collapsed last year, a senior Palestinian official said. "President Abbas expresses his appreciation of the continuous efforts exerted by President Obama with the objective of resuming the permanent status talks in the hope of reaching a final status agreement," said the official, Saeb Erekat. » Read more

Netanyahu in U.S., says Obama misunderstands ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Jeffrey Heller, Matt Spetalnick - May 20, 2011 - 12:00am Israel said the United States "does not understand reality" as its leader arrived in Washington on Friday after President Barack Obama endorsed a longstanding Palestinian demand on borders of a future state. In a policy speech on the eve of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit, Obama laid down his clearest markers yet on the compromises he believes Israel and the Palestinians must make to resolve the decades-old conflict. » Read more

Palestinians condemn latest Israel settlement plan ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters May 20, 2011 - 12:00am Palestinian officials on Friday condemned an Israeli plan to build 1,550 housing units on annexed land around Jerusalem, authorised the day Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu left for talks in Washington. An Israeli Interior Ministry spokeswoman said a planning committee had approved two building projects in Pisgat Zeev and Har Homa. These urban settlements were built on land that Israel annexed after a 1967 war, in a move not recognised internationally, and that it sees as Jerusalem neighbourhoods. The spokeswoman did not say when construction was expected to start. » Read more

Israeli military attache to Moscow expelled as spy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press May 18, 2011 - 12:00am Israel's military has rejected Russian charges that a military attache to Moscow was a spy as "unfounded." The military said in a statement Wednesday that the officer underwent a "thorough investigation" after he returned to Israel. Israeli media identified the officer as Col. Vadim Leiderman. The military statement said the officer "was detained for investigation last week by Russian authorities,on suspicion of spying." Channel 2 TV reported he was taken away by Russian agents during dinner. He was questioned and expelled. » Read more

Harsh West Bank 'honor killing' brings tougher law ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Nasser Shiyoukhi - May 19, 2011 - 12:00am A 20-year-old Palestinian woman who was thrown into a well and left to die in the name of "family honor" has not become just another statistic in one of the Middle East's most shameful practices. The killing of Aya Baradiya — by an uncle who didn't like a potential suitor — sparked such outrage that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas scrapped laws this week that guaranteed sentences of six months or less for such killings. » Read more

Harsh West Bank 'honor killing' brings tougher law ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Nasser Shiyoukhi - May 19, 2011 - 12:00am A 20-year-old Palestinian woman who was thrown into a well and left to die in the name of "family honor" has not become just another statistic in one of the Middle East's most shameful practices. The killing of Aya Baradiya — by an uncle who didn't like a potential suitor — sparked such outrage that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas scrapped laws this week that guaranteed sentences of six months or less for such killings. » Read more