Middle East News: World Press Roundup

Articles by ATFP President Ziad Asali and Daoud Kuttab examine Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad’s plan for de facto statehood. The New York Times profiles J Street. Zahi Khouri argues that occupation and economic growth are incompatible. A 2006 letter from captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit adds pressure on Israeli leaders to secure his release. Violent incidents erupt on the Israel-Gaza border. The UN reiterates that Israeli settlements are illegal, and analysis of a possible freeze continues. Commentaries consider a new Palestinian TV satire program and the B’Tselem report on Gaza civilian deaths.

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Getting real about a Palestinian state ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Daoud Kuttab - (Opinion) September 10, 2009 - 12:00am Writing From Ramallah, West Bank - Something different is happening among the Palestinians. Their political leaders and civil servants are spending more time planning for a Palestinian state than criticizing the Israelis for their intransigence. » Read more

The New Israel Lobby ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by James Traub - September 10, 2009 - 12:00am In July, President Obama met for 45 minutes with leaders of American Jewish organizations. All presidents meet with Israel’s advocates. Obama, however, had taken his time, and powerhouse figures of the Jewish community were grumbling; Obama’s coolness seemed to be of a piece with his willingness to publicly pressure Israel to freeze the growth of its settlements and with what was deemed his excessive solicitude toward the plight of the Palestinians. » Read more

The West Bank's Deceptive Growth ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Zahi Khouri - (Opinion) September 10, 2009 - 12:00am Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long tried to substitute the slogan of “economic peace” for genuine progress with the Palestinians on the political front. Yet the International Monetary Fund’s projected growth of 7 percent in the West Bank for 2009 is largely the result of Palestinian reforms undertaken in spite of the obstacles Israel continues to place in the way of Palestinian development. Too many in the West remain unaware of the impediments to economic development — not to mention political freedom — we Palestinians continue to face. » Read more

Seized Israeli Writes of Deep Depression ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press September 10, 2009 - 12:00am An Israeli soldier seized by Palestinian fighters more than three years ago described his captivity as an "intolerable and inhumane nightmare" in a 2006 letter to his parents that was made public Wednesday. In carefully printed script, Sgt. Gilad Shalit reported deteriorating health and deep depression, making an anguished appeal to the Israeli government to release him from his "closed and solitary prison." Shalit, now 23, wrote the 14-line letter three months after gunmen affiliated with the Gaza Strip's Islamist Hamas rulers captured him in a cross-border raid. » Read more

Netanyahu risks US anger by building settlements ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Josef Federman - September 10, 2009 - 12:00am Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has given the green light for hundreds of new homes in a Palestinian-claimed area of Jerusalem, officials confirmed Wednesday, part of a gamble to mollify his restive coalition without sparking a major confrontation with the U.S. » Read more

Rare TV satire mocks Palestinian politicians ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Mohammed Daraghmeh - September 10, 2009 - 12:00am Palestine TV was once the boring channel that viewers skipped over while searching for entertainment. But this time, the state-run station has picked a winner — an irreverent comedy show that mocks and often bites the hand that feeds it: the government. "Homeland on a Thread" satirizes inept Palestinian politicians, police bullies and Muslim extremists. It's Palestine TV's first ever attempt at political satire, an art form that remains rare in the Arab world where authoritarian regimes abound. » Read more

Gaza border violence heats up: Israel enters, factions retaliate ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency September 10, 2009 - 12:00am Clashes erupted as Israeli bulldozers and armored vehicles entered 800 meters beyond the Gaza border near Beit Hanoun and began destroying agricultural land near the border, witnesses said Wednesday afternoon. Israeli soldiers reportedly fired on civilians in the area as they began bulldozing lands. Farmers fled the area and shortly after they reported hearing explosions from the same direction. The Military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, claimed they launched a rocket propelled grenade shell at the invading forces. » Read more

Abbas receives Egypt's vision of reconciliation, response in 2 days ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency September 10, 2009 - 12:00am Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas received Egypt’s conciliation plan and is currently reviewing it, Presidential Spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeineh said Wednesday. In a statement published on the official government news website WAFA, Abu Rudeineh said it was expected Abbas would take two days to prepare an official response to the submitted plan, or “vision,” as the statement called it. » Read more

UN chief Ban: Israel settlements in West Bank are illegal ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press September 10, 2009 - 12:00am UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed "deep concern" on Wednesday about Israel's decision to approve new settler homes in the occupied West Bank and urged the Jewish state to end all such activity. "Such actions and all settlement activity are contrary to international law and the roadmap," said a statement read out by UN spokesman Farhan Haq. The 2003 Middle East roadmap drawn up by international mediators calls on Israel to halt settlement expansion in the West Bank and for the Palestinians to rein in militants. » Read more

Netanyahu bureau mired in anarchy, turf wars and lies ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Barak Ravid - (Opinion) September 10, 2009 - 12:00am If over the past few weeks Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seemed to be making some order in his office, his conduct and that of his advisers regarding his secret trip to Moscow reveal that anarchy, turf wars and mendacious responses to both the media and the public are but a few of the manifestations of the organizational culture prevailing in the office that runs the State of Israel. » Read more

Why stop with Elbit? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amira Hass - (Opinion) September 9, 2009 - 12:00am The question is not why Norway divested from the defense electronics giant Elbit Systems, but why only now, and why only from that company? The country that gave the name of its capital city to what the world thought of as a peace process is still invested in companies involved in construction and development in the West Bank settlements - the principal factor in destroying any chance for peace (at least any peace other than the belligerent demand that the Palestinians say "thank you" for what Israel is willing to give them). » Read more

Spanish FM: We'll act to prevent war crimes probes against Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Barak Ravid - January 30, 2009 - 1:00am Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Moratinos informed Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on Friday of Spain's plan to amend legislation that granted a Spanish judge the authority to launch a much-publicized war crimes investigation against senior Israeli officials. Judge Fernando Andreu launched an investigation Thursday into seven current or former Israeli officials over a 2002 bombing in Gaza that killed a top Hamas militant, Salah Shehadeh, and 14 other people, including nine children. » Read more

Spain supports Palestinian statehood on 1967 borders: FM ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua September 10, 2009 - 12:00am RAMALLAH, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) -- Foreign Minister of Spain Miguel Angel Moratinos said Wednesday that his country supports the establishment of an independent Palestinian statehood on the borders of 1967. Moratinos made the statement in a joint news conference held in Ramallah with chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, adding that Spain and the European Union "will keep exerting every possible effort to achieve the Palestinian goals." » Read more

Media war rages over Gaza conflict ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Seth Freedman - (Opinion) September 9, 2009 - 12:00am Gone are the days when history was written solely by the victors. In today's democratised climate of instantly disseminated words and images, those on either side of a battlefield have the potential to feed facts and figures to media outlets around the world, or to pass on video footage and photographs that their opponents might prefer never saw the light of day. » Read more

Make the Palestinian state an essential fact on the ground ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Ziad Asali - (Opinion) September 10, 2009 - 12:00am The Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad’s blueprint for what he has called “de facto Palestinian statehood” offers a new and important element to the quest for peace in the Middle East. » Read more

Fayyad's Statehood Plan ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News by Ziad Asali - (Opinion) September 10, 2009 - 12:00am PALESTINIAN Prime Minister Salam Fayyad’s blueprint for what he has called “de facto Palestinian statehood” offers a new and important element to the quest for peace in the Middle East. » Read more

A frustrating vicious cycle ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times by Daoud Kuttab - (Analysis) September 10, 2009 - 12:00am Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to approve new Jewish settlements just as a possible settlement freeze was being suggested shows yet again his country’s disregard of reason, a trend exhibited for over 40 years now. » Read more

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