November 17th

Palestinian Authority president to meet Hamas leader next week ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Maher Abukhater - November 16, 2011 - 1:00am Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Wednesday that he plans to meet Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal next week, a move bound to upset Israel and the U.S. The meeting, which is expected to take place in Cairo, will include discussion of the reconciliation agreement that rival factions Fatah and Hamas signed in May, which was supposed to set the ground for reuniting the West Bank and Gaza Strip under one leadership. » Read more

Israel Allows a Rare Shipment of Construction Materials to Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press November 17, 2011 - 1:00am Israel allowed the first truckloads of a rare shipment of construction materials into Gaza on Wednesday to permit the reconstruction of 10 privately owned factories, the Israeli military and Palestinian officials said. Until now, only international projects were allowed to import such materials, which Israel restricts because of concerns they could be used by militants who launch rockets at Israeli towns. Gaza, which is ruled by the militant group Hamas, is subject to an Israeli blockade that has been eased but includes restrictions on the movement of goods and people. » Read more

November 16th

Two roads to justice meet in Palestine ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Tenessean by Nour Joudah - (Opinion) November 15, 2011 - 1:00am I grew up with two stories, two histories and, in many ways, two countries. From the age of 5 until 21, I roamed, lived in and loved Tennessee’s hills. But, in those same formative years, I lived from news piece to news piece, following with bated breath the events of my homeland, Occupied Palestine. » Read more

Pro-settlement attacks by Israeli militants endanger any hope of peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Sacramento Bee by Trudy Rubin - (Opinion) November 16, 2011 - 1:00am When Hagit Ofran woke up Tuesday — within days of the 16th anniversary of the murder of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin — she found death threats spray-painted on her door. "You are dead. Ofran, Rabin is waiting for you," was the message scrawled in red against the white walls of her stairwell. » Read more

Sinai Bedouin Join Al-Qa’ida Out of Bitterness, Not Ideology ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line by Arieh O'Sullivan - (Opinion) November 16, 2011 - 1:00am Egyptian authorities have widened their sweep against militants believed to be behind attacks in the Sinai Peninsula and southern Israel, cracking down on Bedouin tribesmen who have affiliated themselves with the notorious Al-Qa’ida organization. Angered for being marginalized and impoverished by the Egyptian rulers, the Bedouin have embraced the Islamist extremist terror network out of bitterness about their economic circumstances rather than religious ideology, experts say. » Read more

Palestinian Diplomacy, Lost at Sea ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Council On Foreign Relations by Elliott Abrams - (Blog) November 16, 2011 - 1:00am “Palestinians ponder next step in their statehood bid,” said the Los Angeles Times. “Palestinians will keep knocking on U.N.’s door,” said Reuters. They will go to the Security Council; or they’ll go to the Security Council only if they’ll win; even if they won’t win; now, or maybe later; then to the General Assembly, or maybe not, after all. Palestinian “diplomacy” is now a series of contradictions that display little more than confusion. In this context it is not at all surprising to see renewed negotiations between Fatah and Hamas. » Read more

Fayyad Reported Sidelined as a New Palestinian Political Era Emerges - Will Abbas Follow? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Time by Tony Karon - (Blog) November 16, 2011 - 1:00am Once hailed by Western pundits as the technocrat-magician who would conjure a Palestinian state into being through irrepressible institutional competence, Salam Fayyad has been unceremoniously sidelined from his job as Palestinian Prime Minister according to a deal announced Tuesday -- a sign of the collapse of the illusions projected onto him, and of the peace process itself. Fayyad's ouster is expected to be a consequence of the reconciliation agreement between President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement and the Islamist Hamas organization, that is to be sealed in Cairo on Friday. » Read more

Palestinians must come to the table ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Boston Herald by Shai Bazak - (Opinion) November 16, 2011 - 1:00am The situation in our part of the Middle East doesn’t appear to make much sense at first glance. Israel has declared that it supports the establishment of two states for two peoples — which includes a Palestinian state. The Palestinians say they want a state. So why do two seemingly identical positions not lead to the expected outcome? The answer is simple — both sides hold opposing views on the means to reach this goal. » Read more

Disbanding the PA ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Danny Rubenstein - (Opinion) November 16, 2011 - 1:00am Israel?s relationship with the Palestinian Authority (PA ) has reached a new low, the worst it has been since the second intifada and the 2002 siege on then-PA president Yasser Arafat at his headquarters in the Mukata'ah in Ramallah. In those days of bloodshed and violence, Palestinians perpetrated devastating suicide bombings and the IDF conducted retaliatory raids into the Palestinian cities. » Read more

Dissolving the Palestinian National Authority or considering a new strategic direction ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons by Sameer Abu Eisheh - (Opinion) November 14, 2011 - 1:00am First, we have to ask ourselves about the role of the Palestinian National Authority. Is the PNA a vehicle for independence and the establishment of a sovereign state, or is it limited to running an autonomous area and, in parallel, relieving the Israelis from the burdens of their occupation? » Read more