Middle East News: World Press Roundup

Israel agrees to release 20 Palestinian women and girl prisoners in exchange for a video of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. The Israeli Air Force again attacks tunnels in southern Gaza after militants launch a project to into southern Israel. VOA profiles Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. Speculation continues about the prospects of a third intifada. Prime Minister Netanyahu says Israel will not investigate its conduct during the Gaza war, but several commentators defend the Goldstone report. Nathan Guttman examines new "PA only" visas Israel is issuing mainly to Arab-Americans. Asharq Al-Awsat interviews Assistant Secretary of State Jeffrey Feltman about Iran and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Hussein Ibish looks at the reasons behind the new US re-engagement in Israel-Palestinian diplomacy.

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Israel to Free 20 Palestinians in Return for Proof Soldier Is Alive ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Isabel Kershner - September 30, 2009 - 12:00am JERUSALEM — Israel said Wednesday that it would release 20 Palestinian women from its jails in exchange for a videotape of a captured Israeli soldier that would prove that he was alive. The soldier, Gilad Shalit, was seized by the Islamic group Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups in 2006 in a cross-border raid and taken into Gaza. The prisoner release offer, announced Wednesday by the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was the first significant sign of progress in negotiations about him since Mr. Netanyahu took office in March. » Read more

Kidnapped Israeli Soldier Shown Alive in Traded Videotape ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Howard Schneider - September 30, 2009 - 12:00am JERUSALEM, Sept. 30 -- Kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit is alive, according to a newly recorded videotape that will be provided to Israel by the Islamist Hamas movement in return for Israel's release of 20 Palestinian women prisoners, government officials said. The videotape already has been turned over to German mediators and will be given to Israel on Friday, when the prisoners are due to be set free, according to government officials and a statement from Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's office. » Read more

Israel: Airstike on Gaza tunnels following Strip projectile launch ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency October 1, 2009 - 12:00am Bethlehem - Ma'an/Agencies - Israeli warplanes blasted two areas in the southern Gaza Strip Thursday morning, reportedly following the launch of a projectile from the northern Strip hours earlier. Israeli news sources said the pilots hit two smuggling tunnels at Rafah. One tunnel worker was killed by an electrical shock in a nearby tunnel shortly following the strikes. » Read more

For Palestinian Refugees, Dream of Returning Home Remains ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Voice of America by Sonja Pace - September 30, 2009 - 12:00am Two states side by side, two homelands for two peoples - those are the broadly accepted tenets for an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and a cornerstone for peace in the Middle East. Many hurdles lie ahead, not least of which is the claim to land. For Palestinians, that means the right of return for more than four million people - those who fled or were driven from their homes at Israel's founding in 1948 and their descendants. » Read more

MIDEAST: Riots May Point to Third Palestinian Uprising ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS) by Mel Frykberg - September 30, 2009 - 12:00am EAST JERUSALEM, Sep 30 (IPS) - Palestinian politicians and Israeli political analysts are warning of a third Palestinian Intifadah following serious rioting in East Jerusalem last Sunday. Clashes broke out between Palestinians protesters and Israeli security forces after a group of extremist Israeli settlers, escorted by Israeli soldiers and police, tried to enter the compound of Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third holiest shrine which is situated in Jerusalem's old city. » Read more

Violence between Palestinians, Israelis may spread ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua by Xu Gang, David Harris - September 30, 2009 - 12:00am JERUSALEM, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- Violence between Palestinian Muslim prayers and Israeli troops and Jewish worshippers on Sunday at the holy site of al-Haram al-Sharif in East Jerusalem, or known as Temple Mount to the Jews, may spread in the near future, analysts said. » Read more

Netanyahu nixes call for Israeli inquiry into Gaza war ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Barak Ravid - October 1, 2009 - 12:00am Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has nixed the idea of setting up an inquiry committee into alleged Israeli war crimes in the Gaza Strip as a means of dealing with the Goldstone Commission's report. » Read more

Report: Shin Bet foot-dragging keeping Gazans from doctors visits ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amira Hass - October 1, 2009 - 12:00am The slow response of the Shin Bet security service to requests by Palestinians seeking to leave the Gaza Strip for medical care via the Erez crossing was the main reason that more than one third of such applicants missed their medical appointments between January and August 2009, according to a new report. » Read more

Goldstone's Gaza probe did Israel a favor ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Gideon Levy - (Opinion) October 1, 2009 - 12:00am Israel should thank Judge Richard Goldstone and his commission's important report. After subjecting him to useless, automatic mudslinging, Israel suddenly realized that it should finally investigate the events of Operation Cast Lead. Why? What happened? The ground has started to tremble under the feet of a number of Israeli statesmen and officers. » Read more

First Palestinian prisoner released ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Ali Waked - October 1, 2009 - 12:00am The videotape deal between Israel and Hamas is already underway, with the first Palestinian prisoner, 15-year-old Bara'ah Malki, released from prison Wednesday night. Malki was convicted of attempted murder and carrying a knife with intent to harm, and was slated to be released in November 2009. According to the deal, announced by the Prime Minister's Office on Wednesday, 20 female Palestinian prisoners are slated to be released in exchange for a recent video of captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. » Read more

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. » Read more

Assistant US Secretary of State Jeffrey Feltman Talks to Asharq Al-Awsat ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat by Manal Lutfi - October 1, 2009 - 12:00am Jeffrey Feltman has stressed that there is a sense of urgency for dealing with the Iranian nuclear dossier and explained in an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat in New York that Iran has an "opportunity" at the 1st October meeting to cooperate with the international community and allow the [International Atomic] Energy Agency [IAEA] inspectors to enter the secret Qom installation. » Read more

Dashing hopes ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times (Editorial) October 1, 2009 - 12:00am Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not serious about arriving at peace with the Palestinians. He is only marking time or, better yet, wasting precious time for all sides involved. Tzipi Livni, former Israeli foreign minister and leader of Kadima, the main opposition party in Israel, knows Netanyahu only too well, having engaged in lengthy negotiations with him to form a national coalition government after the Israeli elections in which her party emerged the winner. » Read more

Accounting for Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times by Mary Robinson - (Opinion) October 1, 2009 - 12:00am This week, the United Nations Human Rights Council will debate the report of the fact-finding mission led by Judge Richard Goldstone on human rights violations in the Gaza conflict. Let us hope it is a full and fair examination based on the report’s findings and recommendations. » Read more

Creating new reality? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times by Michael Jansen - (Opinion) October 1, 2009 - 12:00am Sunday’s clashes at Jerusalem’s Haram Al Sharif between Palestinians and armed Israeli police and soldiers have been either misrepresented or underestimated by the world media. But not by the Palestinian Authority. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Salam Fayyad summoned all the foreign representatives to a crisis meeting in Ramallah where he warned of the dangers posed by such events. The Israelis arrested at least 50 Palestinians they said had taken part in the violence that spilled out of the compound into the narrow streets of the Old City. » Read more

False symmetry ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times by Daoud Kuttab - October 1, 2009 - 12:00am One of the most frustrating things about the American policy towards the Middle East is how Israel seems to always be able to get away with it or at least treated symmetrically with the Palestinians, whether there is cause for such symmetry or not. » Read more

A new US perspective on Middle East peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Common Ground News Service by Hussein Ibish - October 1, 2009 - 12:00am Under US President Barack Obama's Administration, the United States has vigorously re-engaged in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and made commitment to Palestinian statehood a national security and foreign policy priority. Obama has said that it is "absolutely crucial" to American interests to resolve the conflict, and appears determined to persist despite all difficulties and obstacles. There are several crucial reasons for this intensification. » Read more

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