May 9th

Livni: Settlement freeze could have stopped PA deal ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Gil Hoffman - May 7, 2011 - 12:00am Fatah and Hamas would not have reached a reconciliation agreement had Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu immediately agreed to a Palestinian request to extend the 10-month settlement housing start freeze that ended in September 2010, opposition leader Tzipi Livni said on Saturday. Speaking on the Channel 2 program Meet the Press, Livni said Israel needed a prime minister who could persuade the world not to allow a Palestinian state to be declared unilaterally at the UN General Assembly in September, but that Netanyahu did not fit the bill. » Read more

Abbas meets J Street reps in Ramallah ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Elior Levy - May 8, 2011 - 12:00am Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met with a J Street delegation in Ramallah on Sunday and addressed various political issues. Abbas said that the two-state solution can not be achieved without first securing Palestinian national unity. The Palestinian president stressed that the Palestinian Authority is willing to immediately resume peace talks with Israel as long as Israel freezes settlement construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. » Read more

'Hamas signed unity pact from position of weakness' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Ilana Curiel - May 7, 2011 - 12:00am Minister for Strategic Affairs Moshe Ya'alon commented Saturday on an interview published by the Wall Street Journal, in which Hamas politburo Chief Khaled Mashaal said his organization will determine the nature of the resistance against Israel – including the use of violence – in coordination with the Fatah. "I've heard plenty of statements like this; particularly those said in English and addressed to western audiences," Ya'alon said. » Read more

Report: Abbas wants Fayyad to head unity gov't ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Elior Levy - May 8, 2011 - 12:00am Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is interested in keeping Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad as the head of the Hamas- Fatah unity government despite recent reports to the contrary, the Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper reported Sunday. It was recently said that Abbas, like Hamas leaders, is not among Fayyad's supporters. The relationship between the two has been strained for years; loyalists of the president accuse the prime minister of stealing the spotlight by gaining international popularity. » Read more

Report: Abbas wants Fayyad to head unity gov't ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Elior Levy - May 8, 2011 - 12:00am Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is interested in keeping Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad as the head of the Hamas- Fatah unity government despite recent reports to the contrary, the Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper reported Sunday. It was recently said that Abbas, like Hamas leaders, is not among Fayyad's supporters. The relationship between the two has been strained for years; loyalists of the president accuse the prime minister of stealing the spotlight by gaining international popularity. » Read more

Report: Abbas wants Fayyad to head unity gov't ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Elior Levy - May 8, 2011 - 12:00am Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is interested in keeping Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad as the head of the Hamas- Fatah unity government despite recent reports to the contrary, the Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper reported Sunday. It was recently said that Abbas, like Hamas leaders, is not among Fayyad's supporters. The relationship between the two has been strained for years; loyalists of the president accuse the prime minister of stealing the spotlight by gaining international popularity. » Read more

May 6th

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