Israeli officials warn against support for UN report
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Ben Lynfield - October 11, 2009 - 12:00am

A jittery Israeli government reacted furiously yesterday after a top British diplomat voiced support for aspects of a UN report that could lead to prosecution of Israeli army officers for alleged war crimes. The UK ambassador to the UN, John Sawers, told Israel Army radio that the report on last winter’s Gaza war contains “some very serious details which need to be investigated by both the Palestinian authorities and the Israeli authorities.” He added that “serious information” in the document gives rise to the suspicion that violations of the laws of war were committed.

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Hundreds of war crimes lawsuits filed against Israelis
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by David Sapsted - October 11, 2009 - 12:00am

Almost 1,000 lawsuits alleging war crimes by Israeli ministers and military personnel have now been filed around the world, Israel has admitted. And the situation could become immeasurably worse for Israel’s politicians and soldiers as efforts continue to have the Goldstone report, which accuses Israel and Hamas of crimes against humanity during last winter’s Gaza Strip invasion, raised at the United Nations.

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Hamas…Procrastination is Not Reconciliation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Tariq Alhomayed - October 11, 2009 - 12:00am

The Palestinian Authority made the mistake of participating in the postponement of the Goldstone report which deals with Israeli war crimes committed in Gaza without revealing and clarifying the reasons for this. However does this mistake necessitate the hard-line positions taken by the Hamas movement which is now calling for the Egyptians to postpone inter-Palestinian reconciliation? The answer is most certainly no.

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Defiant Abbas Reiterates Conditions Before Talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Times
by Howard Schneider - October 11, 2009 - 12:00am

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday seemed to distance himself from U.S. efforts to restart peace talks and defended his recent handling of a report on war crimes in the Gaza Strip in a defiant televised address meant to boost his political standing amid growing criticism.

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Too early to villainize Obama in Mideast
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Rami Khouri - October 10, 2009 - 12:00am

The Obama administration policy in the Middle East vis-à-vis the Arab-Israeli conflict is starting to become clearer, but remains mostly unclear. It is clearer because of recent moves on such matters as the Richard Goldstone report on the Gaza war or the pressure on Israel to freeze settlements, but it would be a mistake to jump to conclusions and assume that the Obama Middle East policy is quickly reverting to the traditional American default position of being in Israel’s pocket.

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Talk to Hamas now or fight new radicals indefinitely
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Nathan Stock - (Opinion) October 9, 2009 - 12:00am

History is repeating itself in the Palestinian territories. Washington refuses to engage a right-wing Palestinian group – and so spawns organizations that are even more extreme. It happened in the 1980s, when the US balked at recognizing the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and hesitated to seek a resolution to the Middle East conflict through the creation of a Palestinian state. Those long delays helped propel the rise of the hard-line Islamist party Hamas.

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UN envoy visits Al-Aqsa compound, urges calm
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
October 9, 2009 - 12:00am

The UN's special Mideast coordinator, Robert Serry, went to the Al-Aqsa compound on Thursday as a guest of the Waqf, in a visit facilitated by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, his office said. "[UN] Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon has been very concerned at the recent clashes in Jerusalem, and I have been in contact with all sides in an effort to defuse tensions," he said in a statement that followed his visit.

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'U.S. furious over Israeli incitement against Obama'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - October 9, 2009 - 12:00am

The U.S. administration is furious over Israeli incitement against President Barack Obama, Democratic congressmen close to Obama told an Israeli source who returned from a visit to Washington this week. The congressmen even hinted that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been personally involved.

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Barak to Mitchell: Time to move peace process forward
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - October 9, 2009 - 12:00am

Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Thursday told the visiting U.S. envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell, that the time had come to advance the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. "The time has come to move forward to start the process and pass all of the obstacles, because this will help everyone," Barak said at the start of the meeting, according to a statement he released. "No obstacle is impassable."

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Lose-lose situation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Avi Issacharoff - (Opinion) October 9, 2009 - 12:00am

Two weeks of continuous incitement by the Islamic Movement's northern branch, members of the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian clerics has generated a particularly volatile mixture. The escalation in Jerusalem surrounding the Temple Mount and its Al-Aqsa Mosque has led the world's most important Sunni cleric, Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, to declare today "Al-Aqsa Day." In addition, there are no diplomatic negotiations under way with Israel.

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