Why Israel failed in the Gaza war
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Yehezkel Dror - (Opinion) October 19, 2009 - 12:00am

"Operation Cast Lead was the most planned operation in the annals of Israel's wars," Aluf Benn wrote in these pages over the weekend ("The noose tightens," October 16). Heaven help us for such planning, which was technically sophisticated yet one-dimensional.

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A Gaza war resolution that resolves nothing
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
October 19, 2009 - 12:00am

The recent UN condemnation of Israel brings to mind the image of Nero fiddling away while Rome burned. In the aftermath of the Gaza war, there can be little doubt that war crimes were committed – crimes that will eventually have to be answered for – but the UN Human Rights Council’s vote on Friday is a variation on a very old tune that has done little to assuage the flames in the Middle East. Indeed, by pushing one-sided recriminations into the Security Council at this juncture, the recent resolution makes justice more difficult to attain and peace a more distant prospect.

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Abbas' indecision benefits Netanyahu
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by Adel Safty - October 19, 2009 - 12:00am

The Goldstone Commission's report about the Gaza war, which was published by the UN last month, has generated intense debates about how to handle its findings and its recommendations, both in the corridors of the United Nations and beyond.

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PA on a slippery slope
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Uri Avnery - (Opinion) October 19, 2009 - 12:00am

IT is, of course, all the fault of Judge Richard Goldstone. He is to blame for the trouble we are having at the UN, both in New York and in Geneva. Now he is to blame also for the existential danger facing Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen). When the Goldstone Report was submitted to the UN Human Rights Council, the Israeli government exerted heavy pressure on the US. The US exerted heavy pressure on Abbas. Abbas gave in and instructed his representative in Geneva to withdraw his request for a debate.

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Painful Mideast Truth: Force Trumps Diplomacy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - October 19, 2009 - 12:00am

As the Obama administration tries to broker a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, there is a dark truth lurking: force has produced clearer results in this dispute than talk. The results of the violence may prove short-lived — and possibly counterproductive; condemnation of Israel and Hamas is likely to grow after the United Nations Human Rights Council voted Friday to endorse a report detailing evidence of war crimes in Gaza.

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Obama's Mistakes
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Yossi Alpher - (Opinion) October 19, 2009 - 12:00am

There are plenty of reasons why the Israeli-Palestinian peace process has not yet been restarted through American mediation. Israeli PM Binyamin Netanyahu's manipulations and his coalition are one; the weakness of the Palestinian Authority and PLO under Mahmoud Abbas are another. The moderate Arab states have done precious little to help. But right now US President Barack Obama's mistakes are the most glaring.

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Goldstone: Israel could stop report with open inquiry
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Ron Kampeas - October 18, 2009 - 12:00am

Israel could stop the Goldstone report process if it openly investigated its army's conduct in the Gaza War, Richard Goldstone said. "If the Israeli government set up an appropriate investigation it would really be the end of the matter," said Goldstone, the former South African judge and international human rights prosecutor who authored the report alleging war crimes by both sides in last winter's war between Israel and Hamas. "The heart of the report would become pretty irrelevant if there was an open, bonafide investigation."

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U.N. Panel Backs Gaza Report
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Colum Lynch, Howard Schneider - October 17, 2009 - 12:00am

The U.N. Human Rights Council on Friday endorsed a controversial report on alleged Israeli war crimes in the Gaza Strip, advancing a process that has roiled Palestinian politics and threatens to further derail the Middle East peace process. The vote drew condemnation from Israel's main political parties, while both the Islamist Hamas movement and the Palestinian Authority hailed the decision.

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Israel’s Dangerously Battered Image
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat
by Patrick Seale - (Opinion) October 16, 2009 - 12:00am

In international politics, image counts. A country’s reputation, the aura it projects, the esteem in which its leaders are held – these are as important as its armed services in providing protection for its citizens. Most politicians know that ‘soft power’, skilfully used, can be at least as effective as blood-drenched ‘hard power’.

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UN vote to endorse Goldstone report increases pressure on Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Joshua Mitnick - October 16, 2009 - 12:00am

The United Nations Human Rights Council's decision Friday to adopt the controversial Goldstone report on the Gaza war increases the pressure on Israel to conduct its own investigation into alleged war crimes. The council voted 25-to-6, with 11 abstentions, to endorse the report, which calls for both Israel and Hamas to investigate its allegations within the next few months. If either side fails to comply – and Israel has so far refused to do so – the report calls for the UN Security Council to take up the matter and consider referring it to the UN's International Criminal Court.

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