May 26th

Barak to offer US compromise on settlements ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Roni Sofer - December 31, 1969 - 8:00pm Israel will dismantle the 26 illegal outposts in the West Bank within a matter of weeks in return for the resumption of the 'natural growth' of existing settlement blocs. This is the offer Defense Minister Ehud Barak will present to the US administration during his visit to Washington next week. The deal was agreed upon in a late-night meeting Sunday between Barak and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. » Read more

The never-ending evacuation ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Nehemia Shtrasler - (Editorial) December 31, 1969 - 8:00pm Maoz Esther is an extremely flexible outpost. In effect, it's part of the unwritten agreement between the settlers and government. Every time the Americans apply pressure, the police get orders, start moving their equipment, and hundreds of policemen evacuate the tiny outpost. Their lives at risk, they dismantle four tin huts, two tents and one wooden building containing toilets and showers. » Read more

PA: Settlers can become Palestinian citizens ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Akiva Eldar - (Interview) December 31, 1969 - 8:00pm Perhaps it is a small coincidence that key Fatah figure Ahmed Qureia (Abu Ala), who heads the Palestinian negotiating team with Israel, decided to present the Palestinian position a few days before his boss, President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), talks to United States President Barack Obama about those negotiations. » Read more

Obama wants to reset the Middle East agenda; Israel must listen ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons by Ellen Laipson - (Opinion) May 25, 2009 - 12:00am President Barack Obama and Premier Benjamin Netanyahu made it through their first official meeting with no apparent harm done to US-Israel comity. But their careful language about shared threat perceptions and deep historic ties did little to disguise the obvious: there are interesting and difficult challenges ahead as Israel and the United States, separately and together, approach the enduring quest for peace and security in the Middle East. » Read more

Israel admits Tube advert map 'mistake' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News May 22, 2009 - 12:00am Israel's tourist ministry has admitted to a "mistake" over adverts on the London Underground after complaints that they "wipe Palestine off the map". The ads include a map which campaigners say shows the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip - as well as Syria's Golan Heights - as integral parts of Israel. The ministry said that in general, maps should not be used on billboards. But it denied a Transport for London statement that it had asked for the offending posters to be removed. » Read more

Netanyahu says settlements can expand ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News May 24, 2009 - 12:00am Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says settlements in the occupied West Bank will be allowed to expand despite US objections. Mr Netanyahu said no new settlements would be built, but natural growth in existing settlements should be allowed. During Mr Netanyahu's visit to the US last week, President Barack Obama told him all settlement activity must end. The US regards the Jewish settlements -home to some 280,000 Israelis - as obstacles to the peace process. » Read more

Anger over Palestinian Nakba ban proposal ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News May 25, 2009 - 12:00am Israeli campaigners and left-wing lawmakers have condemned moves to ban Israeli Arabs from marking the Nakba - the "catastrophe" of Israel's creation. On Sunday a government panel backed putting the bill, proposed by the party of far-right Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, before the Israeli Knesset. A Labour minister opposed it; Hadash, a mainly Arab party, called it "racist". Some 700,000 Palestinians fled or were forced from their homes in the 1948 war after Israel declared independence. » Read more

Israel would forgo outposts to expand settlements ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National December 31, 1969 - 8:00pm Israel is prepared to dismantle nearly two dozen wildcat settlement outposts in the West Bank in the next few weeks if the US drops its objections to continued building in existing, government-sanctioned settlements, Israeli officials say. The defence minister Ehud Barak will bring this proposal to senior American officials during his visit to Washington next week, the Israeli officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the proposal has not yet been officially submitted. » Read more

Palestinian fishermen hemmed in ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Omar Karmi - May 25, 2009 - 12:00am At the helm of his fishing vessel, Naheth Abu Ameera, 49, apologised for not being able to show his guests a haul. By way of explanation he reached down and picked out a tiny sardine from the net strewn on the side of the deck. “This is what we got this afternoon. We’ll have to wait until tonight to get any kind of catch.” Even then, however, the skipper did not expect a good haul. Ever since Israel’s war on Gaza ended on Jan 22 and Gaza’s 3,500 fishermen could take to the sea again, the Israeli navy has restricted fishing to within three nautical miles (approximately 5.5km) of shore. » Read more

Time for action on illegal Israeli colonies ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News (Editorial) May 25, 2009 - 12:00am We are being assured by world leaders that they agree Israeli colony expansion must be stopped. They say the expansion of colonies in the Occupied Territories is an obstacle to peace in the Middle East and the creation of a viable independent Palestinian state. But the question is, what are they doing about it? Nothing really. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed yesterday to continue the construction of homes in Jewish colonies in the West Bank, less than a week after US President Barack Obama called on the Israeli government to halt such actions. » Read more