May 16th

Palestinian protests: Arab spring or foreign manipulation? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News by Jim Muir - May 15, 2011 - 12:00am In a very different position from most Arab nations, the Palestinians had so far been largely left out as the spirit of assertive demands for rights and freedoms swept the region and threatened its dictators. The pent-up frustrations of the Palestinians largely took the form of pressure on their own divided leaderships to unite, something that has now happened. » Read more

Mideast peace is bigger than a lone mediator ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National (Editorial) May 15, 2011 - 12:00am Five years after the Arab League chief Amr Moussa announced that the Middle East peace process was "dead", another blow has befallen the long-vexing struggle between Israel and the Palestinians. George Mitchell, the skilled US diplomat and veteran negotiator, tendered his resignation on Friday, becoming the latest victim in this intractable conflict. » Read more

Palestinians storm into Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Times by Shaun Waterman - May 15, 2011 - 12:00am Thousands of Palestinian demonstrators clashed with Israeli security forces on three hostile borders Sunday in an unprecedented wave of protests marking an annual ritual against the founding of the Jewish state in 1948. Israeli soldiers opened fire, leaving at least 15 dead and many more injured, as rioting Palestinians poured across the borders with Syria, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories. Israeli officials said 13 troops were wounded and blamed Syria and Iran for orchestrating the clashes. » Read more

The awakening ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star (Editorial) May 16, 2011 - 12:00am Sunday’s deadly commemoration of the “Nakba” in Lebanon, Syria and the Palestinian territories came as added confirmation that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is entering a new and irreversible phase. » Read more

Israeli massacre at Lebanon border ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star by Mohammed Zaatari - May 16, 2011 - 12:00am Ten Palestinian protesters were shot dead and 112 others wounded Sunday by Israeli forces along Lebanon’s borders with Israel as thousands of unarmed Palestinians rallied to the frontier to mark the Nakba, the 63rd anniversary of the expulsion from their homeland. Thousands of Palestinian men, women and children, some wrapped in kaffiyehs, flocked in buses from various Palestinian refugee camps across Lebanon to the borders, in a rally they called “the march to return to Palestine.” The buses carried the names of Palestinian villages whose residents were displaced in 1948. » Read more

Egyptian protesters mark Nakba outside Israeli Embassy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Masry Al-Youm by Ali Abdel Mohsen - May 15, 2011 - 12:00am Hundreds of pro-Palestine protesters gathered at the Israeli Embassy early on Sunday to mark the occasion of the 63rd anniversary of the creation of the State of Israel, commonly known across the Arab world as the “Nakba”, or catastrophe. Among other demands, the protesters called for the “right of return” for Palestinians forced to flee after the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. The protesters displayed Palestinian flags of varying sizes, some of them hung from nearby lamp posts. They simultaneously called for the removal of the Israeli flag from the embassy. » Read more

George Mitchell resigns as U.S. Middle East envoy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Yahoo News by Laura Rozen - May 13, 2011 - 12:00am George Mitchell, Obama's special envoy for Middle East peace, will step down after a frustrating two and a half years seeking to jump-start the stalemated Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Both President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warmly thanked Mitchell, 77, the former Senate majority leader from Maine and North Ireland peace negotiator, for his service, in statements sent out by the White House Friday. Mitchell, in a brief resignation letter to the president, said he'd agreed to serve two years, and had now served longer than that. » Read more

Changing realities in the Mideast ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Khaleej Times by Naava Mashiah, Ghanem Nuseibeh - (Opinion) May 14, 2011 - 12:00am The uprisings in the Middle East are plunging the region into uncharted territory. But, as international and other regional powers scramble to adjust to the changing realities, they are also an opportunity for Israel and Arab countries to forge mutually beneficial economic ties and to coalesce around common regional interests. » Read more

Palestinian refugees call for third intifada during deadly clashes at Israel-Lebanon border ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Nicholas Blanford - May 15, 2011 - 12:00am At least six people were killed and scores wounded Sunday when Israeli troops opened fire on a massive crowd of Palestinian refugees who gathered on Lebanon’s southern border with Israel to demand a return to the homes they were forced to leave 63 years ago. Another four Palestinians were reportedly killed when they infiltrated the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights from Syria during another demonstration to mark the anniversary of the "nakba," or "catastrophe," as many Palestinians call the day Israel was founded in 1948. » Read more

Palestinian president calls for 3 days of mourning for 15 dead in marches on Israeli borders ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press May 16, 2011 - 12:00am Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday declared three days of mourning for 15 people killed in mass marches toward multiple Israeli borders that marked a stunning new tactic in the struggle for Palestinian statehood. Sunday’s marches, on the date Palestinians mourn their uprooting as a result of Israel’s 1948 creation, illustrated Arab dissatisfaction with the deadlocked efforts to establish a Palestinian state. The unprecedented tactic also reflected an Arab world emboldened by the anti-government protests sweeping the Middle East this year. » Read more