Turkey: Israel excluded from NATO drill over Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
October 12, 2009 - 12:00am

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told CNN on Sunday that his country excluded Israel from a planned NATO military exercise partly due to its criticism of the IDF's winter offensive in Gaza. Asked by CNN why Turkey excluded Israel from the exercise, Davutoglu said, "We hope that the situation in Gaza will be improved, that the situation will be back to the diplomatic track. And that will create a new atmosphere in Turkish-Israeli relations as well. But in the existing situation, of course, we are criticizing this approach, (the) Israeli approach."

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Disappointing state of affairs
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
(Editorial) October 12, 2009 - 12:00am

George Mitchell, the US Middle East envoy, is dangerously close to going the way of so many others who have tried to mediate between the Palestinians and Israelis. It was hoped that Mitchell would arrive in Ramallah Friday with something to rescue the Palestinian leadership from the doldrums that it has found itself in ever since the PLO accepted the UN to defer a vote on the Goldstone report on alleged war crimes during Israel’s brutal offensive on Gaza earlier this year.

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Livni accuses Netanyahu of 'humiliating Palestinians'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Amnon Meranda - October 12, 2009 - 12:00am

Opposition Chairwoman Tzipi Livni on Monday accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of being responsible for the uproar created by the United Nations report into the Israeli operation in Gaza. She hinted that Israel was the one who revealed that the Palestinians had deferred a Human Rights Council vote on the report, because the prime minister "had to boast of his performance." Livni, who spoke during the opening ceremony of the Knesset's winter session, was interrupted several times by Likud Knesset members.

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Defiant Abbas Reiterates Conditions Before Talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Times
by Howard Schneider - October 11, 2009 - 12:00am

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday seemed to distance himself from U.S. efforts to restart peace talks and defended his recent handling of a report on war crimes in the Gaza Strip in a defiant televised address meant to boost his political standing amid growing criticism.

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U.S. upholds contiguous Palestinian state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by David Harris - October 11, 2009 - 12:00am

U.S. special envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell told reporters after meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday that Washington supports the creation of a Palestinian state with "contiguous territory." The "contiguous" Palestinian state suggests that Palestinians would be able to travel between any two places of their future state without entering Israel. Analysts believe that Mitchell was reassuring Palestinians over its position of upholding the creation of a Palestinian state.

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Too early to villainize Obama in Mideast
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Rami Khouri - October 10, 2009 - 12:00am

The Obama administration policy in the Middle East vis-à-vis the Arab-Israeli conflict is starting to become clearer, but remains mostly unclear. It is clearer because of recent moves on such matters as the Richard Goldstone report on the Gaza war or the pressure on Israel to freeze settlements, but it would be a mistake to jump to conclusions and assume that the Obama Middle East policy is quickly reverting to the traditional American default position of being in Israel’s pocket.

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Restricted: Visas Good for West Bank Only
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Nathan Guttman - October 10, 2009 - 12:00am

Omar Rahman was on his way from America to a friend’s wedding in Jerusalem. The 25-year-old journalist, born and raised in Washington to parents of Palestinian descent, had visited the West Bank and Israel many times before, and although he was used to the four-hour wait at the border crossing, he had never encountered any problems. But last July, when Rahman went through the Allenby Bridge border crossing between Jordan and the Israeli-controlled West Bank, the Israeli officer put a new stamp on Rahman’s American passport, restricting his visit to only the West Bank.

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Israel on Nobel Peace Prize: Hopes for progress
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Joshua Mitnick - October 9, 2009 - 12:00am

Top Israeli and Palestinian government officials both had words of praise for President Barack Obama following the announcement of the Nobel Peace Prize. The well-wishers included Israeli President Shimon Peres, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, and Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat. But Obama's efforts to push a comprehensive peace between Israelis and Arabs is still a work in progress, and many in both the Palestinian and Israeli camps have been disappointed as Obama has, so far, fallen short of expectations.

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Postponing Discussion on the Goldstone Report: Many Attackers and Even More Beneficiaries!
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat
by Raghida Dergham - October 9, 2009 - 12:00am

A useful comparison can be made between, on the one had, internal US discourse as well as US-international discourse over the issue of the problem of Afghanistan and the extent to which Islamic extremism affects the interests of nations, and, on the other, the way the international community as well as the Arabs – amongst themselves – is addressing the report of the head of the UN Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza War, Judge Richard Goldstone. This report condemned both Israel and Hamas for committing “war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity”.

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'U.S. furious over Israeli incitement against Obama'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - October 9, 2009 - 12:00am

The U.S. administration is furious over Israeli incitement against President Barack Obama, Democratic congressmen close to Obama told an Israeli source who returned from a visit to Washington this week. The congressmen even hinted that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been personally involved.

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