October 1st, 2012

Qatar opens diplomatic office in Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press October 30, 2012 - 12:00am GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — In a boost to Gaza's Hamas government, the Gulf state of Qatar said on Sunday it opened the first diplomatic office in the isolated territory since the Islamic military group took power five years ago. » Read more

Spare a Thought for Bibi’s Medievalists ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by Daniel Levy - (Opinion) September 28, 2012 - 12:00am Let’s face it: September 27th, 2012, was not a good day for the Israeli Prime Minister’s office props and graphics department. » Read more

Hamas corruption weighs heavily on Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star by Tamir Haddad - (Opinion) October 1, 2012 - 12:00am Recently, an official of the Finance Ministry in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip announced that since 2006 the office had not received a single report of corruption. Whether or not this is true, the fact is that Hamas corruption is not only pervasive in Gaza, it has also been detrimental to the greater social and economic good. » Read more

Palestinian Authority’s woes are a problem for US, Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Boston Globe (Editorial) October 1, 2012 - 12:00am The Palestinian Authority is on the verge of financial collapse — and that’s not just a problem for Palestinians. It is also bad news for the United States and Israel, both of which say they support a future Palestinian state. Unrest is spreading in the West Bank over high prices and delayed salary payments by the Palestinian Authority, the area’s largest employer. Economic woes add to mounting frustration after four years of stalled peace talks. » Read more

Snubbed by Obama? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Aaron David Miller - (Opinion) September 30, 2012 - 12:00am President Obama did not meet with Egypt's Mohamed Morsi or Israel's » Read more

Mitt Romney: A New Course for the Middle East ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Wall Street Journal by Mitt Romney - (Opinion) September 30, 2012 - 12:00am Disturbing developments are sweeping across the greater Middle East. In Syria, tens of thousands of innocent people have been slaughtered. In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood has come to power, and the country's peace treaty with Israel hangs in the balance. In Libya, our ambassador was murdered in a terrorist attack. U.S. embassies throughout the region have been stormed in violent protests. And in Iran, the ayatollahs continue to move full tilt toward nuclear-weapons capability, all the while promising to annihilate Israel. » Read more

September 28th

The Entebbe Option ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy by Mark Perry - (Opinion) September 27, 2012 - 12:00am While no one in the Barack Obama administration knows whether Israel will strike Iran's nuclear program, America's war planners are preparing for a wide array of potential Israeli military options -- while also trying to limit the chances of the United States being drawn into a potentially bloody conflict in the Persian Gulf.  » Read more

Netanyahu and Abbas offer little hope for future peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Hugh Naylor - (Opinion) September 28, 2012 - 12:00am JERUSALEM // The Palestinians and Israelis diverge on almost every issue but what they do have in common is that they have done little to satisfy the administration of Barack Obama. In his address at the United Nations yesterday, Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority president, called for world recognition of a Palestinian state while Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, demanded firmer international pressure on Iran. » Read more

Netanyahu, Abbas display divergent priorities at UN ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News by Jonathan Marcus - (Opinion) September 27, 2012 - 12:00am t is perhaps one of the paradoxes of the past 18 months in the Middle East that as people protested and dictators toppled, so the region's longest-lasting conflict - that between Israel and the Palestinians - has largely disappeared from the headlines. What used to be termed "the peace process" has largely become moribund - a useless label as there is no peace process to describe. » Read more

A honeymoon that wasn’t ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Economist (Analysis) September 29, 2012 - 12:00am ABOVE Gaza’s parliament hangs a tableau of two smiling Islamist leaders. Muhammad Morsi, the new president of Egypt, and Ismail Haniyeh, prime minister of the neighbouring Gaza Strip, which is run by Hamas, the Palestinians’ dominant Islamist movement. The two men are raising their hands together, hailing a regional dawn against a backdrop of Cairo’s pyramids. The billboard’s message is that the new Egypt, under a Muslim Brother, recognises Hamas, originally a Brotherhood branch, as its new ally—and as the legitimate authority in Palestine. » Read more