Fatah: The 'moderate' Alternative?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Miftah
by Caelum Moffatt - (Opinion) October 23, 2007 - 10:57am

Recently, President Mahmoud Abbas urged the PLO Central Council to support his decision to call early elections. The usually composed Fatah leader showed signs of agitation in his address, directing his words towards his rivals Hamas, the victors of the bloody battle for Gaza over a month ago. ‘We will not wait for approval from those sitting over there in Gaza or from those sitting abroad…Hamas dug their own grave with their own nails as a result of the crimes they carried out in Gaza.’

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Ayoon Wa Azan ( Both Are Wrong )
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al Hayat
by Jihad El-khazen - (Opinion) October 23, 2007 - 10:55am

The present situation in the Palestinian territories has placed me in a position of objection par excellence as I oppose everything that is taking place in Palestinian politics today. 

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Even Comatose, Israel's Sharon Casts A Long Shadow
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Der Spiegel
by Christoph Schult - October 23, 2007 - 10:53am

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has been lying in a coma for more than a year and a half now, but his sons have not given up hope that he will recover. Political camps haven't given up claiming his support for their sides. Sheba Hospital on the outskirts of Tel Aviv looks like a small, self-contained city. Eight-hundred-and-fifty doctors and 2,000 nurses work on a campus the size of 80 football fields. The rehab center is located in the eastern section of the complex, and the respiration rehabilitation department is on the building's first floor.

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Palestine: A Policy Of Deliberate Blindness
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Le Monde Diplomatique
by Régis Debray - (Opinion) October 22, 2007 - 2:49pm

Dennis Ross, formerly the United States envoy to the Middle East, admitted back in 2000 that mistakes had been made in the 1978 Camp David accords: the diplomatic process had not taken enough account of developments on the ground, especially the settlements. The number of Jewish settlers in the Palestinian territories doubled from 1994 to 2000. As many Israelis have settled in the West Bank since the Oslo accords of 1993 as in the previous 25 years. With an international conference again being discussed, it would be a mistake to continue to ignore the real state of affairs.

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Soldier's Refusal To Heed West Bank Evacuation Orders Roils Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Ilene Prusher - (Opinion) October 22, 2007 - 2:39pm

The Israeli military order sounded small and simple: evacuate two families of Jewish settlers who had moved to the West Bank city of Hebron without permission. But when 12 soldiers refused Tuesday, that order turned significant and symbolic. Israel is awash in debate over whether its army can tolerate soldiers who won't carry out orders they oppose ideologically. The answer from the army is no; it is sending those soldiers to jail.

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White Elephants
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arabic Media Internet Network
by Uri Avnery - (Opinion) October 22, 2007 - 2:33pm

THE KING of Siam knew how to deal with domestic opponents: he would present them with a white elephant. White elephants are rare in nature, and therefore sacred. Being sacred, they may not be put to work. But even a sacred elephant does eat, and eat a lot. Enough to turn a rich man into a pauper. My late friend, General Matti Peled, one time Quartermaster General of the army, pointed out the similarity between this elephant and many of our gifts from the President of the United States.

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Israel Shaken By Troops' Tales Of Brutality Against Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
(Special Report) October 22, 2007 - 1:20pm

A study by an Israeli psychologist into the violent behaviour of the country's soldiers is provoking bitter controversy and has awakened urgent questions about the way the army conducts itself in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.

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On The Road To Nowhere, Merchants Pay The Toll
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Scott Wilson - October 22, 2007 - 1:06pm

From the Zeituna Restaurant to the Basel Furniture store, business once thrived along the road that runs through this Palestinian village, conducted in a language no longer spoken here.

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A Borderless State Is No Solution
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
(Special Report) October 22, 2007 - 11:41am

For weeks now, America and Israel have talked up the idea that, contrary to all appearances, a peace initiative may be afoot in the Middle East. Last week Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, announced a $63bn package in military aid to the Middle East, aiming to counter Iran's growing influence in the region, but also shoring up Arab support for a peace initiative. Yesterday the Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert met the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank town of Jericho.

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Award-winning Film-maker's Death Divides Uk And Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Eric Silver - October 22, 2007 - 11:02am

Britain and Israel face a diplomatic and legal showdown this week over the death of James Miller, an award-winning British film-maker who was shot by Israel soldiers while working on a documentary in the Gaza Strip more than four years ago. Israel has failed to respond to an ultimatum issued by Lord Goldsmith, the former attorney general, to his opposite number, Meni Mazuz, on 26 June to launch a criminal investigation within six weeks against the officer suspected of firing the fatal shot. The deadline expires tomorrow.

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