Fears of third intifada as tension grows in Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Telegraph
by Adrian Blomfield - October 8, 2009 - 12:00am

After two weeks of mounting tension and sporadic clashes between Israeli security forces and Palestinian protesters, a showdown is expected when Friday prayers are called at the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem's old city. Thousands of Israeli soldiers and policemen are being deployed around the site after the Palestinian Authority called a one-day general strike and a leading Islamic cleric in Egypt urged the Arab world to rise up in "a day of anger".

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Jerusalem's troublesome sheikh
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Mick Dumper - October 7, 2009 - 12:00am

A subtle shift in power has recently taken place on the street in Jerusalem. The confrontations during the past week between Palestinians and the Israeli police over perceived Israeli threats to the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa mosque bring home the growing role of the Israeli Islamic movement in the politics of the city. As a result of the ineffectiveness of the secular and traditional Palestinian leadership, below the radar, Palestinians in the city are being mobilised by the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, led by the charismatic Sheikh Ra'ed Salah.

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Mosque rumour sparks clashes
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
October 7, 2009 - 12:00am

Israeli police mobilised reinforcements from across the country to secure the streets of Jerusalem yesterday, deploying thousands of officers amid fears that violence would escalate after two days of clashes with Palestinian protesters. Rumours that Israeli extremists planned to march on the most sacred Muslim and Jewish shrine in the Holy Land apparently fuelled the unrest. No such march has taken place.

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Banned from Al Aqsa
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Jonathan Cook - October 7, 2009 - 12:00am

Tensions over control of the Haram al Sharif compound of mosques in Jerusalem’s Old City has reached a pitch unseen since clashes at the site sparked the second intifada nine years ago. Ten days of intermittently bloody clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces in Jerusalem culminated yesterday in warnings by Palestinian officials that Israel was “sparking a fire” in the city. Israel’s Jerusalem Post newspaper similarly wondered whether a third intifada was imminent.

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Credit Barack Obama with resolve on a Palestinian state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Hussein Ibish - October 7, 2009 - 12:00am

Under the administration of President Barack Obama, the United States has vigorously re-engaged in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and made commitment to Palestinian statehood an American national security and foreign policy priority. Obama has said that it is “absolutely crucial” to US interests to resolve the conflict, and appears determined to persist despite all difficulties and obstacles.

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What to Do With Hamas? Question Snarls Peace Bid
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Howard Schneider - October 7, 2009 - 12:00am

In the two years since it seized power here, the militant Hamas movement has undercut the influence of the Gaza Strip's major clans, brought competing paramilitary groups under its control, put down an uprising by a rival Islamist group, weathered a three-week war with Israel, worked around a strict economic embargo -- and through it all refused a set of international demands that could begin Gaza's rehabilitation.

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What was Abbas promised in return for burying Goldstone?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
October 7, 2009 - 12:00am

The public is both bewildered and outraged about President Mahmoud Abbas’ reported capitulation to US pressure in delaying action on Richard Goldstone’s report on war crimes in Gaza. One of many unanswered questions about the Geneva affair is: What was he promised? What did the US offer Abbas that convinced him to burry Goldstone’s meticulously-researched indictment of Israel? An Israeli journalist attempts to answer this question in an article that appeared on Tuesday.

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Israel tightens Jerusalem 'siege'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
October 7, 2009 - 12:00am

Palestinians in Jerusalem’s Old City are describing it as a community “under siege” as Israeli forces continue to operate in large numbers fearing renewed demonstrations. Restrictions in the city were so severe Wednesday that children were prevented from reaching schools in the Old City. Israeli forces also prevented Islamic Endowment (Waqf) personnel from reaching the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which has been the site of rolling demonstrations and clashes with Israeli forces over the past four days.

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U.S. to Israel and PA: Calm Jerusalem tensions
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - October 7, 2009 - 12:00am

In its first response to recent clashes in Jerusalem, the U.S. administration of President Barack Obama on Tuesday called on Israel and the Palestinian Authority to take steps to calm the tensions in the capital. Israeli police mobilized reinforcements from across the country to secure the volatile Jerusalem on Tuesday, deploying thousands of officers on city streets for fear that two days of low-grade clashes with Palestinian protesters would escalate.

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Israel fears violence following arrest of Islamic Movement head
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - October 7, 2009 - 12:00am

Security forces fear an outbreak of further violence following the arrest of the leader of the Islamic Movement's northern branch, Sheikh Ra'ad Salah on Tuesday. Salah was arrested, and later released, after Police Commissioner David Cohen, State Prosecutor Moshe Lador and Jerusalem police chief Aharon Franco decided that Salah would be interrogated about recent statements.

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