'Barak wanted to avenge border incident, attack Lebanon'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Roee Nahmias - August 11, 2010 - 12:00am

France dissuaded Israel from opening a large-scale military operation against Lebanon in response to the border incident which killed Ltc. Dov Harari, the London-based al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper reported Wednesday. French sources told the paper that Defense Minister Ehud Barak had informed French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner that "Israel intends on opening a large-scale military operation to educate the Lebanese Army and avenge the death of the senior Israeli officer."

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As UN Gaza flotilla inquiry opens, a chance for improved Turkey-Israel relations?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Christa Case Bryant - August 11, 2010 - 12:00am

The UN investigation into Israel's Gaza flotilla raid that left 8 Turks and one Turkish-American dead opens today with Turkey insisting that Israel bears full responsibility for the deaths and Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak saying a Turkish aid group's attempt to breach the economic blockade of Gaza was a "deliberate provocation." The UN investigation will start with Secretary General Ban Ki-moon meeting with the four-member panel, which includes both an Israeli and a Turkish representative. The panel will investigate the fatal Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound aid boat.

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Editorial: Crux of the problem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
(Editorial) August 10, 2010 - 12:00am

When last week the Arab League backed restarting direct peace talks between the Palestinians Authority and Israel, but only when the Palestinians believe the circumstances are right, the response of Hamas was of angry rejection. The movement’s Damascus-based leader Khaled Mashaal not only said that such negotiations were illegitimate, he denied the Arab League’s right to make such a pronouncement.

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UN panel on Gaza flotilla incident begins work
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Patrick Worsnip - August 10, 2010 - 12:00am

The United Nations sought to head off any potential clash with Israel over a U.N. inquiry into a deadly Israeli assault on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, as a panel began work on the task on Tuesday. A U.N. statement on an inaugural meeting between the four-man team and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressed that the inquiry was "not designed to determine individual criminal responsibility." Instead it would "examine and identify the facts, circumstances and the context of the incident."

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Libya frees Israeli photographer in Gaza aid deal
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Dan Williams - August 9, 2010 - 12:00am

Libya has freed an Israeli photographer held by its security services for five months, as part of a secret Austrian-mediated deal involving aid for the blockaded Gaza Strip, an Israeli official said on Monday. Israel Radio said Rafael Hadad was detained as a suspected spy in March after travelling to Libya, which is technically at war with Israel, on a Tunisian passport -- his second travel document. But the Israeli official denied any espionage link.

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Israeli PM says Turkey ignored flotilla warnings
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Ari Rabinovitch - August 9, 2010 - 12:00am

Turkey ignored repeated warnings and appeals "at the highest level" to halt a Gaza aid flotilla, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told an Israeli inquiry on Monday into the fatal raid by his troops. Netanyahu was the first witness to testify to the state-appointed inquiry into the lethal raid at sea on May 31, in which Israeli commandos killed nine Turkish pro-Palestinian activists after boarding their vessel from a helicopter.

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A Talk with Palestinian Negotiator Ahmed Qurei
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Kifah Zaboun - August 9, 2010 - 12:00am

Ramallah, Asharq Al-Awsat- Ahmed Qurei, who is also known by his Arabic Kunya Abu Alaa, is a former Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority, and a veteran negotiator. In 1968 he joined the Fatah political party, and lived in exile with its founder, Yasser Arafat. After improving the economic fortunes of the party, he became a member of the Fatah central committee in 1989, and subsequently went on to play a prominent role in peace negotiations. He is highly regarded for the instrumental role he played in negotiating the Oslo accords of 1993.

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Egypt: Palestinian factions behind rocket launch on Aqaba, Eilat
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
August 4, 2010 - 12:00am

Egypt accused on Wednesday the Palestinian factions in Gaza, of firing the rockets which hit Aqaba and Eilat, killing a Jordanian. "Palestinian factions from the Gaza Strip were behind the launch of five rockets on Aqaba and Eilat on Monday," state-run MENA news agency quoted an official Egyptian source as saying. Preliminary investigations carried out by Egyptian security authorities showed that Palestinian factions from the Gaza Strip stood behind the operation, the source said Wednesday.

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Israel Fights Isolation With New Measures
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Gal Beckerman - August 4, 2010 - 12:00am

Israel is taking significant new steps to relieve its international isolation following the fatal raid on a humanitarian flotilla and the accusatory Goldstone Report.

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Israel, Turkey and the U.N.
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
(Editorial) August 3, 2010 - 12:00am

It took too long, but Israel made the right decision in saying it would cooperate with a United Nations-led investigation into its disastrous attack on a Gaza-bound aid ship. Only a transparent and credible inquiry has a chance of calming international outrage over the incident and beginning to repair fractured Israeli-Turkish ties.

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