May 12th

Top Fatah official: 'PA won't be able to stop 3rd intifada' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by David Miller, Arieh O'Sullivan - May 12, 2011 - 12:00am The Palestinian leadership won’t be able to contain the street protests planned for this weekend marking the 63rd anniversary of the creation of Israel, said a senior member of Central Committee of the Fatah movement. Abbas Zaki, whose tasks include monitoring the Arab Spring revolts, told The Media Line that Palestinians have been encouraged by how Arabs across the Middle East have toppled two leaders and threaten others with mass protests. With no peace talks with Israel on the horizon, Zaki warned, the Palestinian leadership will be hard pressed to contain the rage of demonstrators. » Read more

Hamas skeptical of Fatah's statehood bid ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Elior Levy - May 11, 2011 - 12:00am Senior Hamas official Mahmoud al-Zahar said Wednesday that the Islamist movement was somewhat skeptical as to the viability of Fatah's September-bound bid for statehood. Speaking with the Palestinian Ma'an News Agency, al-Zahar said that "all the talk of a Palestinian state is… an attempt to pacify us." » Read more

Palestinian PM urges Arab donors aid ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters May 11, 2011 - 12:00am The Palestinian Authority appealed to Arab countries on Wednesday to pay the salaries of 155,000 government workers after Israel decided to suspend the transfer of tax funds to the PA. "We say to our Arab brothers: save us. We need your help more than any time before. It is the moment of truth," Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad told a news briefing in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Public sector workers' April salaries were about a week overdue following Israel's decision, taken in protest at a Palestinian unity deal involving the Islamist group Hamas. » Read more

Netanyahu's US speech raises speculations ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Attila Somfalvi - May 12, 2011 - 12:00am Likud sources close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu estimated Thursday that he will not announce Israeli concessions or a withdrawal from West Bank territories during his speech in Congress later this month. The sources, nevertheless said that should Netanyahu receive significant strategic guarantees from US President Barack Obama he may tone down his Congress address. » Read more

Fayyad could yet survive as Palestinian PM ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Tom Perry - May 12, 2011 - 12:00am Salam Fayyad could survive as prime minister of a new Palestinian government to be agreed by Fatah and Hamas if the rival groups continue to show the flexibility that brought about their surprise unity deal. While the Islamist Hamas has expressed opposition to his leadership, at least one senior Hamas official, Izaat al-Rishq, has been quoted as saying that the idea of him remaining prime minister in the new government would be studied. Removing the internationally respected former World Bank economist from office now makes no sense to his supporters. » Read more

Obama plans address on Middle East after Arab spring, death of bin Laden ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Yahoo News by Laura Rozen - May 11, 2011 - 12:00am President Barack Obama plans to give a major speech on the dramatic shifts underway in the Middle East and North Africa, White House officials said today. » Read more

Amid Syria's turmoil, Israel sees Assad as the lesser evil ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Joshua Mitnick - May 6, 2011 - 12:00am As Syria's Assad regime buckles under mass protests for reform and democracy, neighboring Israel is watching with unease. True, the downfall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad would ostensibly remove a key player in the Iranian-led alliance threatening the Jewish state on several fronts. But Syria under Mr. Assad has been a stable neighbor and maintained a regional balance that officials and analysts fear could crumble – providing an opening for hard-line Islamist groups. » Read more

Middle East peace: The wrong pact ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Michael B. Oren - (Opinion) May 12, 2011 - 12:00am The world shared the American people's gratitude for the special forces who rid us of Osama bin Laden, but there was one flagrant exception. "We condemn the assassination of an Arab holy warrior," declared Ismail Haniyeh, the prime minister of the Hamas regime in Gaza, who also deplored "the continuing American policy … of shedding Muslim blood." » Read more

For Jerusalem’s Armenians, 1,600 years of history and an uncertain future ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press May 12, 2011 - 12:00am One of the four quarters of old Jerusalem belongs to the Armenians, keepers of an ancient monastery and library, heirs to a tragic history and to a stubborn 1,600-year presence that some fear is now in doubt. » Read more

A Year After Israeli Raid, 2nd Flotilla to Set Sail for Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Susanne Gusten - May 11, 2011 - 12:00am Riding the ripples of the Golden Horn, the Mavi Marmara tugs at its moorings in the shipyard where it is being readied to head back into troubled waters. A flotilla of 15 ships carrying humanitarian aid and activists from 100 countries will sail for Gaza next month, in a second attempt to break the Israeli blockade of the Palestinian territory, organizers announced this week. » Read more