May 17th

Report: Hamas, Fatah say progress in Cairo ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency May 17, 2011 - 12:00am Fatah and Hamas officials say talks in Cairo to work out the details of reconciliation have so far been positive, Egyptian media reported Tuesday. Officials did not say who was being considered for posts in the new technocrat government being created, but said the new administration would be in place "soon," the Cairo-based newspaper Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat reported. » Read more

Nakba Day protests: Palestinians, Israelis must heed Arab Spring principles ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor (Editorial) May 16, 2011 - 12:00am The world, especially Israel, has once again been surprised by the latest expression of the Arab Spring. On Sunday, thousands of unarmed Palestinian refugees living in Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan tried to cross the military borders of Israel. They were attempting to enter land that earlier Palestinians had been forced to flee, either during the 1948 creation of modern Israel or during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. » Read more

Israeli leader's upcoming U.S. trip loses steam ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Paul Richter, Edmund Sanders - May 16, 2011 - 12:00am As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepares to embark on a U.S. trip his aides once said would include a "historic" announcement designed to jump-start the Middle East peace process, there's a growing consensus that neither Israel nor Washington is ready to make any bold moves after all. Some of the pressure Israel was facing from the U.S. and Europe has been at least temporarily lifted by the international unease over a May 4 reconciliation deal between rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas, officials and analysts say. » Read more

What would Netanyahu do for peace? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by David Makovsky - (Opinion) May 16, 2011 - 12:00am Just a few weeks ago, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s upcoming visit to Washington had the makings of a confrontation amid U.S. dissatisfaction over peace policy. Then Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas signed a power-sharing arrangement with Hamas. Although Washington cannot easily demand that Netanyahu make major concessions on peace as Abbas joins forces with a group sworn to Israel’s destruction, the Israeli prime minister should still arrive this week with a plan for renewed peace talks. » Read more

Israel’s border bloodshed: Will Syria be held accountable? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post (Editorial) May 16, 2011 - 12:00am THE SYRIAN regime of Bashar al-Assad on Sunday made a desperate effort to distract attention from its continuing, bloody assaults on its own people. Hundreds of Palestinians were bused from refu­gee camps near Damascus to the de facto border with Israel in the Golan Heights, where they broke through a fence and invaded a nearby town. Surprised and badly outnumbered, Israeli troops eventually opened fire, killing at least one person. » Read more

The Long Overdue Palestinian State ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Mahmoud Abbas - (Opinion) May 16, 2011 - 12:00am SIXTY-THREE years ago, a 13-year-old Palestinian boy was forced to leave his home in the Galilean city of Safed and flee with his family to Syria. He took up shelter in a canvas tent provided to all the arriving refugees. Though he and his family wished for decades to return to their home and homeland, they were denied that most basic of human rights. That child’s story, like that of so many other Palestinians, is mine. » Read more

Israel Leader Outlines Points Before U.S. Trip ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Ethan Bronner - May 16, 2011 - 12:00am Days before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to meet with President Obama, he laid out his principles Monday for accepting a Palestinian state, showing greater flexibility on territory but still pursuing a far more hawkish approach than any Palestinian leader is likely to accept. He also made clear that if the recent reconciliation accord between Hamas and Fatah, the two main Palestinian parties, led to Hamas becoming part of a Palestinian government, no peace would be negotiated. » Read more

Israel Leader Outlines Points Before U.S. Trip ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Ethan Bronner - May 16, 2011 - 12:00am Days before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to meet with President Obama, he laid out his principles Monday for accepting a Palestinian state, showing greater flexibility on territory but still pursuing a far more hawkish approach than any Palestinian leader is likely to accept. He also made clear that if the recent reconciliation accord between Hamas and Fatah, the two main Palestinian parties, led to Hamas becoming part of a Palestinian government, no peace would be negotiated. » Read more

May 16th

Mideast middleman quits _ but does it matter? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Dan Perry - (Opinion) May 16, 2011 - 12:00am The question of whether mediators matter took on acuity this weekend with the resignation of U.S. Mideast envoy George Mitchell, a move that came exactly as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict he was asked to help resolve seems about to retake center stage. For all the hand-wringing in diplomatic circles, reaction on the ground in the Middle East itself, was uncharacteristically muted. That reflected the fact that peace talks have been largely frozen since 2008, with the exception of a brief span in September, a Mitchell-mediated effort that quickly ran aground. » Read more

Israel to hand over Palestinian tax revenues ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency May 16, 2011 - 12:00am The Civil Servants' union said the Palestinian Authority would pay government employees' salaries on Monday, following confirmation that Israel would resume transfers of Palestinian tax revenues A PA government spokesman, however, said he could not confirm the announcement, adding that the salaries would be paid when Israel transferred the cash. Israel said it "got confirmation from the Palestinians that no [tax revenue] money will be transferred to Hamas or to terrorist operations," allowing the country's finance ministry to resume cash transfers, reports said Sunday night. » Read more