Reconciliation after prisoner exchange
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
(Editorial) October 13, 2011 - 12:00am

The prisoner exchange between Hamas and Israel - announced but not yet concluded - could not have come at a more urgent moment. The fate of the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit has caused friction between Hamas and Fatah since he was kidnapped on Israeli soil in 2006. Removing such a stumbling block to unity can only be a good thing.

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Palestinian success at UN serves Israeli and US interests
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Ilan Baruch - (Opinion) October 13, 2011 - 12:00am

Palestine knows, Israel knows, the US knows, and the entire world knows what the end result of any attempt to end the conflict in the Middle East must be. Like so many others in Israel and Palestine, I, too, sat transfixed in front of the television screen as I listened to the speeches at the UN by US President Barack Obama, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. All three of them addressed the representatives of the countries around the world but spoke to their peoples at home. And I was amazed.

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Freeing Gilad Shalit: The Cost to Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
by David Makovsky - October 13, 2011 - 12:00am

On Tuesday, Israel and Hamas announced a two-phase prisoner exchange that would secure the release of Sgt. Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier kidnapped in 2006 and held for more than five years in Gaza. In return, Israel would release 1,027 prisoners, including 280 who are serving life sentences for their involvement in terrorist acts. The deal was initially mediated by Gerhard Conrad, a senior German official with expertise in the Middle East who has overseen prisoner swaps between Israel and Hizballah since the 1990s. But it was Egyptian intelligence chief Maj. Gen.

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Jubilation over planned Israeli-Palestinian prisoner swap dampens
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Edmund Sanders - October 13, 2011 - 12:00am

Initial jubilation over the impending prisoner swap between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas began to dampen Wednesday as people on both sides expressed concerns that their leaders may have given away too much at the negotiating table.

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Fatah official says meeting with Hamas chief 'positive'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
October 13, 2011 - 12:00am

Fatah leader Azzam al-Ahmad said Wednesday that his meeting in Cairo with Hamas chief Khalid Mashaal was "positive" and that reconciliation talks would restart "soon." Al-Ahmad, who heads the Fatah delegation in talks with Hamas, told reporters after the meeting that the talks had not been planned, but were arranged at the last minute as the officials happened to be in the Egyptian capital. During the meeting, Mashaal phoned President and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas and expressed his full supported the president's recent bid for full UN membership, al-Ahmad said.

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U.S.: Israel move to legalize West Bank outposts 'unhelpful to peace efforts'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
October 13, 2011 - 12:00am

The U.S. State Department criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's newly launched attempt to legalize West Bank outposts on Wednesday, saying the move was "unhelpful" to Mideast peace efforts. On Tuesday, Netanyahu's office announced instructed Justice Minister Yaakov Neeman to set up a task force to explore ways to legalize houses in the settlements that were built on private Palestinian land.

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Palestinians aim to join U.N. bodies
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Tom Perry - October 13, 2011 - 12:00am

The plan is likely to generate more criticism from the United States, which has pledged to veto a Palestinian request last month for full membership of the United Nations, if it comes to a vote in the Security Council. The Palestinians have been preparing their drive for membership of the U.N. agencies over the past two years as part of a plan to get ready for statehood, said Omar Awadallah, who heads the U.N. department at the foreign ministry.

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Hezbollah praises prisoner deal as victory for 'resistance'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
October 13, 2011 - 12:00am

Hezbollah on Wednesday said that the deal to release over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners for the kidnapped soldier Gilad Schalit was a victory for the resistance, Lebanon's Daily Star reported. According to the report, Hezbollah released a statement praising the agreement and saying that it showed that Palestinian resistance is "effective in regaining land, freeing prisoners, and preserving its freedom, dignity, and independence." The Hezbollah comments echoed Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal, who spoke on Tuesday when news of the deal broke, calling it a "great achievement."

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Barghouti's fate now firmly in Israel's hands
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Alertnet
(Opinion) October 13, 2011 - 12:00am

Left out of a prisoner swap between Hamas and Israel, the Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti must now wait for a different type of deal to get him out of the Israeli jail where he is serving multiple life sentences. It may never happen. Hamas's indirect negotiations with Israel to exchange the soldier Gilad Shalit for 1,000 Palestinians in Israeli jails were seen over the last few years as Barghouti's best hope of release.

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Details emerge of prisoner swap
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
by Nidal Al-Mughrabi, Ori Lewis - October 12, 2011 - 12:00am

Prospects of a long-elusive deal with Hamas to secure the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in exchange for 1,000 Palestinian prisoners began to take off in July, Israel's negotiator said on Tuesday. David Meidan, who did the talking for Israel, said Israeli intelligence identified three months ago that the Islamist movement which rules the Gaza Strip and holds Shalit had become more pragmatic and was ready to do a deal with Egypt as mediator.

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