Ties Between Israel and Arab Allies Fray Over Mosque Burning
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - October 7, 2011 - 12:00am

The founders of this Bedouin Arab village in the Israeli countryside tied their fate to that of their Jewish neighbors even before the establishment of the Israeli state in 1948. Israeli police officers fired tear gas at residents of the village protesting the arson attack.

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Abbas urges Europe: Support Palestinian spring
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
October 7, 2011 - 12:00am

President Mahmoud Abbas told the Council of Europe on Thursday that security is created through peace, and not force. Addressing the council's parliamentary assembly in Strasbourg, Abbas appealed to Europe to support Palestine's bid for full UN membership, which is under review by a Security Council standing committee. "Today we are at the heart of the Arab spring: we say that the hour of the Palestinian spring has struck," he told European parliamentarians. "You supported the Arab spring which was seeking democracy and freedom," he said.

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Carter: Obama must make good on Nobel Prize and back Palestinian statehood
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
October 7, 2011 - 12:00am

U.S. President Barack Obama needs to make good on the promises that won him the Nobel Peace Prize, fellow laureate and former U.S. president Jimmy Carter said on Thursday. Carter called on the current American president to back the Palestinian’s bid to the UN for statehood and seize the opportunity provided by the Arab Spring to facilitate Palestinian-Israeli peace.

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Hamas, Israel's enemy or economic partner?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amos Harel, Avi Issacharoff - October 7, 2011 - 12:00am

The line of trucks at the entry to Kerem Shalom, the southern crossing point into the Gaza Strip, is more than a kilometer long. The trucks, mostly from Israel and some from the West Bank, carry a variety of goodies: equipment from the German company Siemens for Gaza's power station, boxes of soft drinks, sacks of cement. North of the crossing point, on the Israeli side, renovation work to expand the terminal continues energetically, at an estimated cost of some NIS 100 million.

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PA official: IDF protects settlers who attack Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Khaled Abu Toameh - October 7, 2011 - 12:00am

The IDF dismissed accusations by the Palestinian Authority that it was protecting settlers who attack Palestinians and/or their property in the West Bank as ridiculous on Thursday. “It is both baseless and ridiculous to say the IDF is supporting such activity,” an army source said. “The IDF together with other law enforcement bodies constantly work to prevent and investigate unlawful activities in the West Bank, whether they are perpetuated by Palestinians or Israelis,” the sources said.

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Palestinians Feel Effects Of Frozen U.S. Aid
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from National Public Radio (NPR)
by Sheera Frenkel - October 7, 2011 - 12:00am

The Obama administration is urging Congress to rescind a decision blocking some aid to the Palestinians. The congressional decision to put a hold on $200 million of aid money was prompted by the Palestinian Authority's bid for statehood recognition at the United Nations —something both the administration and Congress oppose. The funding cut is already having an impact in the Palestinian territories.

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It’s about peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Uri Savir - (Opinion) October 7, 2011 - 12:00am

We are inundated with analysis in these days of soul-searching, regarding all the important issues that determine our well-being as a country in crisis in a tumultuous Middle East. Everyone seems to have a recipe for a better tomorrow. For Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu the magic wand is better hasbara – if we would just succeed to tell the world the “truth,” we would convince it to support Israel, except for Muslims and anti-Semites of course. From foreign policy to speechology.

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Anwar Sadat's vision for Egypt
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Scott MacLeod - (Opinion) October 6, 2011 - 12:00am

Egyptians have hardly noticed as the 30th anniversary of Anwar Sadat's death approached this week. It isn't only because they're too busy with ongoing political protests and labor strikes as the country zigzags toward democratic elections. They just don't care.

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Turkey’s potential as Middle East leader marred by Israel dispute
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by John Hughes - (Opinion) October 6, 2011 - 12:00am

If asked which Muslim country in the Middle East is most significant to them, many Americans might cite Saudi Arabia because of its oil. Some might suggest Egypt because it is the heart of the Arab world. But the fact is that Turkey, perhaps with memories of past Ottoman glory, seems intent on becoming the most influential leader in the greater Middle East, and might overtake Saudi Arabia and Egypt in significance regionally, and for the United States.

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You and I and the next Yom Kippur War
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Gideon Levy - (Opinion) October 6, 2011 - 12:00am

Here's a new law of nature: The further we get from the Yom Kippur War, the closer it gets to us. At the end of this week we will once again recall that war, the pages of the newspapers and the television programs will be full of stories of heroism - and the real lesson will once again be blurred beyond recognition, as always happens here.

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