The EU must show real courage on the Middle East
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Chris Patten - (Opinion) June 11, 2010 - 12:00am

Today's miserable standoff in the Middle East requires new initiatives. The short-term failure of Israeli policies has concentrated global attention on their blockade of Gaza rather than on Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons. The long-term failure has rendered increasingly difficult a two-state solution as Palestine is broken up into barriered Bantustans.

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Tel Aviv faces a formidable Middle East coalition
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by Patrick Seale - (Opinion) June 11, 2010 - 12:00am

A formidable coalition against Israel is taking shape in the Greater Middle East. At its core are Turkey, Iran and Syria, three countries harbouring bitter grievances against the Jewish state. They are determined to hold in check Israel's military power and force it to change course.

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Israel Without Clichés
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Tony Judt - (Opinion) June 10, 2010 - 12:00am

The Israeli raid on the Free Gaza flotilla has generated an outpouring of clichés from the usual suspects. It is almost impossible to discuss the Middle East without resorting to tired accusations and ritual defenses: perhaps a little house cleaning is in order. No. 1: Israel is being/should be delegitimized

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Israel eases Gaza embargo on food, other goods
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Edmund Sanders - June 10, 2010 - 12:00am

Let them eat cake — well, at least cookies, potato chips and jam. That's how many here viewed Israel's relaxation of border restrictions to permit a variety of new items into Gaza Strip. The list, announced Wednesday, includes soda, juice, jam, shaving cream, potato chips, cookies, candy and a variety of herbs, including coriander. Israel's move impressed almost no one in this impoverished seaside territory. Some accused Israel of tossing them a few scraps to score points with the outside world.

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Why Israel ignores global criticism of Gaza flotilla raid
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Joshua Mitnick - June 10, 2010 - 12:00am

Five decades ago, while debating an offensive against Gaza militants, Israel's founding prime minister, David Ben Gurion, is said to have discounted United Nations intervention with a now famous Hebrew quip: "oom shmoom." Rough translation: "UN is nothing." In the face of an international uproar over the May 31 Israeli commando raid of a Gaza aid flotilla that left nine Turks dead, a similar disdain for the global community has resurfaced here.

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Israel and Its Liberal 'Friends'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Wall Street Journal
by Bret Stephens - (Opinion) June 10, 2010 - 12:00am

Questions for liberals: What does it mean to be a friend of Israel? What does it mean to be a friend of the Palestinians? And should the same standards of friendship apply to Israelis and Palestinians alike, or is there a double standard here as well?

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Forging Palestinian unity tough task, even for Turkey
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Tom Perry - June 10, 2010 - 12:00am

The prospect of Israel easing its blockade of Gaza has generated new pressure on Fatah and Hamas to end their feud, but the chances of the rival factions restoring Palestinian unity soon appear faint. Turkey, seeking to build on the kudos it has won among Arabs for challenging the blockade, has offered to mediate between the rivals and its prime minister has said the division must end. "For the peace in Palestine, it is necessary to overcome the problems between Fatah and Hamas," Tayyip Erdogan said this week. "There shouldn't be divisions anymore, there can't be."

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Non-Arab states dictating the Arab political agenda
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Michael Young - (Opinion) June 10, 2010 - 12:00am

All politics is local, the saying goes. But quite often the instruments are found abroad. The Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has shown how well he understands this. Last week he used Israel’s cretinous overreaction to the humanitarian flotilla to Gaza to curry favour in the Arab world and burnish his bona fides at home. However, Mr Erdogan’s ability to play on Arab outrage represents a larger phenomenon, what we might call the “peripheralisation” of the Middle East.

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Israel’s weakness is an opportunity for peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
(Opinion) June 10, 2010 - 12:00am

With all the intense scrutiny of Israel’s assault on the Freedom flotilla, yesterday’s meeting between the US president, Barack Obama, and the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, will appear to many as an irrelevant sideshow.

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Arabs need to take responsibility
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by Joseph A. Kechichian - (Opinion) June 10, 2010 - 12:00am

It was easy to dominate the Arab World during the Cold War. So-called Eastern powers pretended to share revolutionary zeal that was alien, coupled with massive sales of mediocre weapons. Western countries fared no better. They relied on three non-Arab surrogates — Iran, Turkey and Israel (who were allies and maintain close relations despite everything that one hears) — to sustain a privileged hegemony over the one thing that really mattered then as now: oil. East and West alike benefited from Arab complacency.

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