Hamas gives U.N. response to Gaza war crimes report
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Nidal Al-Mughrabi - February 3, 2010 - 1:00am

The Islamist group Hamas on Wednesday formally rejected allegations it had committed war crimes during last year's fighting in Gaza, charges made in a United Nations report. Hamas officials said the group set out in a 52-page response handed to a U.N. official in Gaza that the killing of three Israeli civilians in rocket attacks during Israel's Dec. 27, 2008-Jan. 18, 2009 offensive was an accident and military installations had been targeted.

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Dubai warns Mossad, Hamas against covert operations
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Avi Issacharoff - February 3, 2010 - 1:00am

Dubai warned Israeli intelligence as well as Hamas of working "behind its back" on Wednesday, in the wake of the assassination of Hamas strongman Mahmoud al-Mabhouh last month. Dubai police chief Dahi Halfan warned international intelligence agencies from working "behind our back," saying anyone who did so "should be wary of his own back. Halfan added that that threat was also applicable "to any intelligence organization around the world, whether Mossad, Hamas or any other agency."

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Netanyahu hopes for talks with Palestinians in weeks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
February 3, 2010 - 1:00am

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday he had reason to hope stalled peace talks with the Palestinians could resume within weeks. "I have a basis to hope, in a realistic way, that in the coming weeks we will renew the peace process with the Palestinians," Netanyahu said at a keynote national security conference in Herzilya, near Tel Aviv. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, asked in Washington about the prospect of talks, said the United States hoped to relaunch talks as soon as possible.

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Hillel at odds over J Street’s ‘pro-Israel pro-peace' prog.
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by E.B. Solomont - February 3, 2010 - 1:00am

As J Street puts the finishing touches on plans to fan out into more than 20 communities with new local chapters, detractors in Philadelphia are crying foul over a kick-off event that the “pro-Israel, pro-peace” movement has planned for Thursday night.

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Build a Partnership for Peace, Right Here in America
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Ziad Asali - (Opinion) February 3, 2010 - 1:00am

With the turbulence surrounding diplomacy and the Middle East peace process, it is more urgent than ever for civil society to unite around the obvious reality that a conflict-ending solution can only be attained through the creation of a Palestinian state living side by side with Israel in peace and security.

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Build a Partnership for Peace, Right Here in America
In Print by Ziad Asali - The Jewish Daily Forward (Opinion) - February 3, 2010 - 1:00am

With the turbulence surrounding diplomacy and the Middle East peace process, it is more urgent than ever for civil society to unite around the obvious reality that a conflict-ending solution can only be attained through the creation of a Palestinian state living side by side with Israel in peace and security.

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Netanyahu risks Muslim wrath over Jerusalem holy site
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - February 2, 2010 - 1:00am

Will Netanyahu use a court decision to forgo a plan to alter the Mughrabi Gate? King Abdullah of Jordan is distancing himself from Israel's prime minister because of the violation of the status quo in East Jerusalem. The Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is waiting in the corner for the slightest provocation against Islamic holy places by the Israeli government. The only trouble Benjamin Netanyahu is still missing is that of the Mughrabi Gate, at the entrance to the Temple Mount/Noble Sanctuary compound.

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A real plan to build Palestine
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) February 2, 2010 - 1:00am

Two weeks ago the Palestinian Authority issued a detailed budget for the state and institution-building programme it adopted last August. The programme calls for Palestinians to unilaterally build the administrative, economic and institutional framework of an independent state in spite of the Israeli occupation and as a peaceful, constructive means of countering it.

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A real plan to build Palestine
In Print by Hussein Ibish - The Guardian (Opinion) - February 2, 2010 - 1:00am

Two weeks ago the Palestinian Authority issued a detailed budget for the state and institution-building programme it adopted last August. The programme calls for Palestinians to unilaterally build the administrative, economic and institutional framework of an independent state in spite of the Israeli occupation and as a peaceful, constructive means of countering it.

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Mitchell Urges Europe to Pressure Abbas Back to Negotiations- French Sources
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Michel Abu Najm - February 2, 2010 - 1:00am

Well-informed official French sources have revealed to Asharq Al-Awsat that US Envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell, has called for French and European officials to pressure Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to return to the negotiating table with the Israelis.

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