August 24th

Fatah official: Hamas requested elections delay ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency August 24, 2011 - 12:00am Fatah central committee member Mahmoud Al-Aloul on Tuesday said Hamas requested the postponement of local elections. In a statement, Al-Aloul said a delegation representing Hamas requested that the vote be postponed until reconciliation with Fatah was finalized. President Mahmoud Abbas issued a decree on Monday postponing local West Bank elections, scheduled for Oct. 22, "until appropriate circumstances" exist. The October vote was planned to take place in the West Bank and the elections commission said Hamas had blocked efforts to organize elections in the Gaza Strip. » Read more

Arab League supports Palestinian bid ATFP World Press Roundup Article from United Press International (UPI) August 24, 2011 - 12:00am The Arab League's Peace Initiative Committee pledged to support the Palestinian bid for unilateral statehood at the United Nations next month. At a meeting in Doha Tuesday, members of the committee approved a work plan to build up international support for the move, paving the way for the Palestinians to secure full membership status with East Jerusalem as its capital, Gulf Times reported Wednesday. In an interview on al-Jazeera, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas accused Israel of initiating the recent tensions in Gaza to distract attention from the wave of social justice protests. » Read more

UN bid 'endangers Palestinian rights' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency August 24, 2011 - 12:00am The Palestinian team responsible for preparing the United Nations initiative in September has been given an independent legal opinion that reveals a high risk involved with its plan to join the UN. An initiative to transfer the Palestinians' representation from the PLO to a state will terminate the legal status held by the PLO in the UN since 1975 that it is the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, according to the document. » Read more

August 23rd

The return of the generals ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News by Uri Avnery - (Opinion) August 23, 2011 - 12:00am Since the beginning of the conflict, the extremists of both sides have always played into each other's hands. The cooperation between them was always much more effective than the ties between the corresponding peace activists. This was proved again this week. At the beginning of the week, Binyamin Netanyahu was desperately looking for a way out of an escalating internal crisis. The social protest movement was gathering momentum and posing a growing danger to his government. The whole content of the public discourse had changed beyond recognition. » Read more

Convenient occurrences ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times (Opinion) August 23, 2011 - 12:00am Tension is flaring up again between Israel and Gaza, after the recent attacks by unknown assailants against Israeli vehicles along the Israeli border with Sinai, which killed and wounded a number of Israelis, both military and civilians, and between Israel and Egypt. Israel’s knee-jerk response was to immediately send its military planes to strike Palestinian targets in Gaza Strip, killing and wounding a number of civilians, including children. Before that, Israeli forces killed five Egyptian soldiers on its border with Sinai, while allegedly in pursuit of attackers. » Read more

“The Embassy… in the Building” ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat by Mohammad Salah - (Opinion) August 22, 2011 - 12:00am Very innocent, pure and chaste are the feelings of pride that erupted among Egyptians when a young man was able to climb the tall building, the last floor of which is occupied by the Israeli embassy, bringing down the flag of the Hebrew state and raising the Egyptian flag in its stead. For more than quarter of a century, walking alongside the building or near it remained an endeavor rife with danger (the embassy was located in Iran Street in the Dokki district, before it moved to a building overlooking the Nile in Giza). » Read more

New Strategic Flaw Affects Israel? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat by George Semaan - (Opinion) August 22, 2011 - 12:00am The Arab action has started to cast its shadows over Israel, while the security repercussions of the Eilat operation on the Gaza Strip and the killing of the Egyptian soldiers with the bullets of the Israeli army on the border between the two countries might lead to political repercussions that could make the Hebrew state come face to face with a blunt strategic flaw. In the meantime, Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is standing before challenges for which it is not envied. » Read more

The EU must give Gazan hope a hand ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Sami Abdel-shafi - (Opinion) August 22, 2011 - 12:00am It is no longer fitting to wonder whether Gaza is a problem: of course it is, and will continue to be for as long as its residents are forced to survive on aid for lack of economic opportunity and are denied the simple freedoms to pursue a decent and peaceful life. Whenever violence breaks out in or around the Gaza Strip, whether Gazans are responsible or not, we end up bearing the brunt. » Read more

Yes, apologize to Egypt ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Eitan Haber - (Opinion) August 23, 2011 - 12:00am Some of the people reading this column, and possibly very many of them, are infuriated and fuming at this very moment: Apologize? To the Egyptians? Why should we? What for? And what about our “national honor”? Well, they can relax, take a tranquillizer and get some rest. The undersigned cares about national honor no less than they do, and possibly even more so. However, peace – as long as it’s alive – is more important. We have nothing that is more important. » Read more

Glenn Beck Brings Firebreathing Rhetoric Back to Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Noam Sheizaf - (Opinion) August 22, 2011 - 12:00am Glenn Beck is in Israel, again. In July, the talk radio host and former Fox News star was invited to the Kensset, where he met “a room full of admirers” — in the words of a Channel 1 report — led by Likud MK Danny Danon. Beck urged Israelis to stand strong; among those shaking his hand was Baruch Marzel, former chairman of the outlawed Kach movement. Yet it seems that this honor wasn’t enough for Beck, who is back for a couple of Israeli rallies this week under the name of “Restoring Courage.” » Read more