Bring in the third parties
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Gershon Baskin - May 25, 2010 - 12:00am

Israeli-Palestinian negotiations have finally been renewed. Even though the current round of talks is not direct, the parties are dealing with the core issues with the goal of reaching a permanent status agreement at some point. According to news reports, the first topics on the agenda are borders and security arrangements, both of which will rapidly lead to negotiations on Jerusalem and refugees.

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Babylon & Beyond
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Maher Abukhater - May 24, 2010 - 12:00am

Hamas announced Monday its decision to boycott the municipal elections slated for the West Bank on July 17, citing the fact that holding elections at this time will only increase the Palestinian division. The Palestinian faction, which controls the Gaza Strip, also said that arrests and harassment of its West Bank members does not make it possible for it to participate in the elections.

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Did Israel offer to sell South Africa nuclear weapons?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Christa Case Bryant - May 24, 2010 - 12:00am

In an apparent blow to Israel’s policy of “nuclear ambiguity,” the Guardian newspaper in Britain today asserted that it had the first written proof of a robust Israeli nuclear weapons program that the country has never formally admitted to. Relying on South African documents released to American academic Sasha Polakow-Suransky, whose book "The Unspoken Alliance: Israel's Secret Relationship with Apartheid South Africa" is coming out tomorrow, the Guardian said that Israel had offered nuclear weapons of three different sizes to apartheid South Africa in 1975.

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No Worries, Israel Insists, Defense Drill Is Just a Drill
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - May 23, 2010 - 12:00am

As Israel embarked on a large-scale civil defense exercise on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought to reassure Israelis and some jittery Arab neighbors that the nationwide drill was not meant to signal a deterioration in security or an imminent war. “This is a routine exercise that has been scheduled for some time,” Mr. Netanyahu said at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting. “I would like to make it clear that it is not the result of any exceptional security development. On the contrary, Israel aspires towards calm, stability and peace.”

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GAO faults Israel for limits on Palestinian security
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
May 13, 2010 - 12:00am

The U.S. congressional auditor says Israeli restrictions and Palestinian limitations are hampering the effectiveness of an American-led mission to train Palestinian security forces. The General Accounting Office published a report on the $392 million that the U.S. State Department has spent to train and equip Palestinian Authority security forces.

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'Fayyad is a partner for peace'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by David Horovitz - May 13, 2010 - 12:00am

Alan Dershowitz, the Harvard law professor who has become one of Israel’s most committed and articulate advocates, on Wednesday emphatically hailed Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad as a potential partner for peace, calling him “the best that Israel has, and probably the best that Israel has ever had.” Speaking to The Jerusalem Post immediately after a 90-minute meeting with Fayyad in Ramallah, their first meeting, Dershowitz said Fayyad “genuinely would like to bring peace and a two-state solution, based on his conception of what a two-state solution would look like.”

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Abbas, Obama agreed to top proximity talks with borders, security issues
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
May 12, 2010 - 12:00am

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and U.S. President Barack Obama have agreed that the U.S.-proposed indirect Israeli-Palestinian proximity talks would focus on the issues of security and borders, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported Tuesday. In a phone conversation, the two leaders have also emphasized that neither the Palestinians nor the Israelis should make any " provocative" action "that could destroy the confidence" during the talks, according to Wafa.

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Obama asks Abbas to prevent anti-Israel incitement
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from
by Yitzhak Benhorin - May 11, 2010 - 12:00am

US President Barack Obama Tuesday asked Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to prevent anti-Israeli incitement during indirect peace talks and said he would welcome him at the White House "soon." During a phone conversation between the two leaders, Obama also expressed appreciation for Abbas' recent decision to appear on Israeli television, and said he would hold both the Palestinians and the Israelis accountable for any actions that undermine the proximity talks.

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NGO petitions against reopening Highway 443 to Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Dan Izenberg - May 11, 2010 - 12:00am

The Shurat Hadin Israel Law Center organization on Monday petitioned the High Court of Justice on behalf of more than 1,000 Israelis who drive on Highway 443, asking it to reject as insufficient to ensure safety the security measures the IDF intends to apply when the road is reopened to Palestinian traffic on May 29. Until such time as effective measures are in place, Palestinians should continue to be prohibited from driving on the road, Shurat Hadin attorney Nitzana Darshan-Leitner wrote.

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Special Place in Hell / If the secret police ran a Jewish state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Bradley Burston - (Opinion) May 10, 2010 - 12:00am

If a Jewish state were run by the secret police, Israelis could disappear without a trace. No contact with lawyers. Court-ordered muzzles on broadcast and print news media. If a Jewish state were run by the secret police, there were be gag orders forbidding journalists to write even of the existence of the gag orders. Thank God such a thing couldn't happen here.

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