Vice Premier and ex-IDF chief cancels U.K. visit over arrest fears
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Uri Blau - October 5, 2009 - 12:00am

Vice Prime Minister Moshe Ya'alon recently canceled a planned trip to Britain for fear of being arrested there. Ya'alon was invited to London to attend a fund-raising dinner for Benji's Home, a group home for soldiers with no family in Israel. The project is the initiative of the parents of Maj. Benji Hillman, who was killed in the Second Lebanon War. Ya'alon was asked to attend the dinner by the British branch of the Jewish National Fund, which is helping the Hillmans raise money for the project, and said he would if the Foreign Ministry's legal department okayed it.

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PA source: US to press Israel on settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Ali Waked - October 5, 2009 - 12:00am

Palestinian sources told Ynet the United States has reiterated its commitment to the Palestinian Authority in recent days to reach a peace deal with Israel within two years, based on the Road Map and the 1967 borders. The sources said that in light of the PA's position on the Goldstone Report on Operation Cast Lead in Gaza, the Americans said they would continue to pressure Israel in the matter of settlements, and said this would be put into action in the coming days with special Mideast envoy George Mitchell's visit to the region.

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Analysis: US backs Israel, but leaves door open for external Cast Lead probe
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Dan Izenberg - (Analysis) October 5, 2009 - 12:00am

The address last week by US Assistant Secretary of State Michael Posner to the UN Human Rights Council on the Goldstone Report must have been music to Israel's ears. Posner said almost exactly what Israel has been trying to say, without much success, ever since the report was published last month. Here are some of those statements: • We believe that the document is deeply flawed and disagree sharply with its methodology and many of its recommendations, including their extraordinarily broad scope.

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Diplomacy: Regional forecast: A thaw between Israel and the Gulf
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Yoel Guzansky - (Opinion) October 5, 2009 - 12:00am

As part of its attempt to jumpstart Israeli-Palestinian discussions, the US administration has in recent months put forth a significant effort to persuade different Arab nations, headed by the Gulf states, to make certain gestures toward Israel. While in geopolitical terms the Arab-Israeli arena and the Persian Gulf arena are separate, the Persian Gulf states are nonetheless directly or indirectly involved in the Arab-Israeli conflict and are influenced by Israeli-Palestinian relations.

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UN to teach children about Holocaust in Gaza schools
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Donald MacIntyre - October 5, 2009 - 12:00am

The United Nations' refugee agency is planning to include the Holocaust in a new human-rights curriculum for pupils in its Gaza secondary schools despite strident opposition to the idea from within Hamas. John Ging, the UN Relief and Works Agency's (UNRWA) director of operations in Gaza, told The Independent that he was "confident and determined" that the Holocaust would feature for the first time in a wide-ranging curriculum that is being drafted.

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Why Obama's critics are wrong
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by Adel Safty - (Opinion) October 5, 2009 - 12:00am

In parallel with the United Nations General Assembly meetings held in New York last month, US President Barak Obama met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President of the Palestinian National Authority Mahmoud Abbas.

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Israel After Iran
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Tariq Alhomayed - (Opinion) October 5, 2009 - 12:00am

If the agreement that Iran reached with Western states on its nuclear file is real- whereby nuclear enrichment will now take place outside of Iran thus preventing a major crisis- then now it must be Israel’s turn.

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UN Panel Defers Vote on Gaza Report
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Colum Lynch, Howard Schneider - October 5, 2009 - 12:00am

The U.N. Human Rights Council on Friday shelved a controversial report on Israel's recent war in the Gaza Strip, averting a crisis in the push to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace talks but potentially scuttling efforts to initiate broad war-crimes prosecutions over the conflict.

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Palestinians slam Abbas over UN Gaza report delay
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Mohammed Assadi - October 4, 2009 - 12:00am

Critics accused Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday of letting down his people by bowing to U.S. pressure and postponing action on a U.N. report that criticised Israel's offensive in Gaza. The Palestinian Authority agreed in Geneva on Friday to defer a vote in the United Nations Human Rights Council on a resolution that would have condemned Israel's failure to cooperate with a U.N. war crimes investigation led by South African jurist Richard Goldstone. It would also have forwarded his report to the Security Council.

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Palestinians Halt Push on War Report
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Neil MacFarquhar - October 2, 2009 - 12:00am

In a startling shift, the Palestinian delegation to the United Nations Human Rights Council dropped its efforts to forward a report accusing Israel of possible war crimes to the Security Council, under pressure from the United States, diplomats said Thursday. The Americans argued that pushing the report now would derail the Middle East peace process that they are trying to revive, diplomats said.

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