Shalit deal win-win situation for all
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by Linda S. Heard - (Opinion) October 18, 2011 - 12:00am

Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier abducted by Palestinian fighters on the Israeli side of Israel's border with Gaza over five years ago, is scheduled to be released today as part of a prisoner-swap deal between Hamas and the Israeli government brokered by Egypt. His parents Noam and Aviva, who have been camping out in occupied Jerusalem for a year have left their protest tent to spruce up their home in the tiny northern Israeli village of Mitzpe Hila for their son's homecoming.

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Palestinian envoy is asked to leave Ottawa after controversial tweet
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Globe and Mail
by Campbell Clark - (Analysis) October 17, 2011 - 12:00am

The Palestinian envoy to Canada has been told she’s not welcome in Ottawa after she tweeted a link to a video that the federal government deemed an offensive diatribe against Jews. Now, Linda Sobeh Ali, the chargé d’affaires of the Palestinian delegation in Ottawa, is just one cut above persona non grata. The Canadian government called her in for a high-level dressing down, made a formal protest to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, and has decided to “limit communication” with her until a replacement arrives.

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Hard Questions and Tough Answers with Yossi Alphe
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Americans For Peace Now
(Interview) October 17, 2011 - 12:00am

Q. Israel and Hamas have agreed to exchange more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners for IDF soldier Gilad Shalit? Why now, after more than five years of negotiating?

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Gilad Schalit and the peace process
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by David Newman - (Opinion) October 17, 2011 - 12:00am

In an era when there is little real optimism about the possibility of meaningful conflict resolution between Israel and the Palestinians, the negotiations between Israel and Hamas that led to the Gilad Schalit deal can be instructive for the future of the peace process.

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Israel Releases Names of 477 Prisoners to Be Freed in Trade
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner, Stephen Farrell - (Analysis) October 16, 2011 - 12:00am

Israel on Sunday released the names of the first 477 Palestinian prisoners that it will exchange for a soldier held by the militant faction Hamas, and the list revealed why the country has found the trade so wrenching: a majority of the inmates were convicted of manslaughter, attempted murder or intentionally causing death.

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Behind the scenes: How the Schalit deal came about
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Yaakov Katz - (Analysis) October 14, 2011 - 12:00am

The main breakthrough came in July. After five years of negotiations, Hamas forwarded a letter to Israel in which, for the first time, it outlined its final terms for a prisoner swap for Gilad Schalit. Three months earlier, David Meidan, a former senior Mossad operative, had been appointed chief mediator to the Schalit talks by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. Upon receiving the letter, he immediately got to work.

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Transfer of freed Palestinian prisoners 'begins Tuesday'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
October 14, 2011 - 12:00am

One of the groups involved in the capture of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit said Thursday that the transfer of some 450 Palestinian prisoners will begin Tuesday. Spokesman Abu Mujahed of the Popular Resistance Committees said Thursday that as soon as the detainees are released, officials will check each one to make sure they are among those listed in the deal. Once the prisoners are checked, the factions holding Shalit will release him too.

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Why the president was right
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
by Gabi Fahel, John Quigley - (Analysis) October 13, 2011 - 12:00am

President Mahmoud Abbas' decision to request UN membership for Palestine at the Security Council is the right decision. It is the right decision if you believe in two states. It is the right decision if you believe in one state. It is the wrong decision if you believe in the status quo. The status quo is the continuing occupation of Palestine and its people, daily human rights violations, denial of access to Jerusalem and Palestinian holy sites, as well as settlement construction without end. The status quo also means no tangible remedy for Palestinian refugees.

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Palestinian prisoner swap: Rare outbreak of common sense
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
(Editorial) October 13, 2011 - 12:00am

It is hard to read the prisoner swap agreement to free Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier held in Gaza for five years, as anything less than a victory for his captors, Hamas. But it is a qualified one. Of the 1,027 prisoners Israel has agreed to release, 479 of the names have been nominated by Hamas (the rest will be chosen by Israel). Of the 479, 315 were serving life sentences for involvement in some of the bloodiest attacks on Israel, and most served over 20 years.

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Hamas trades Shalit for a new lease on its political standing
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Taufiq Rahim - (Opinion) October 13, 2011 - 12:00am

When Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas spoke to the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York last month, he demanded the release of about 6,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. At the time he was riding a wave of momentum due to the bid for recognition of a Palestinian state at the world body.

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