Netanyahu says seeks peace with Palestinians ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Roee Nahmias - July 23, 2009 - 12:00am "We hope in the months and years ahead to forge peace with the Palestinians and to expand that into a vision of a broader regional peace," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday. Speaking during a reception at the residence of Egyptian Ambassador Yasser Reda in Herzliya, days before US President Barack Obama's peace envoy, George Mitchell, is expected in the region for new talks about how to renew peace efforts, Netanyahu praised the 2002 Arab Initiative for regional peace. » Read more

Arab Jerusalemite's plight is proof of two-faced policy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Akiva Eldar - July 24, 2009 - 12:00am Thirty-one years ago, the High Court of Justice rejected a petition by Mohammed Said Burkan to lease an apartment in Jerusalem's Jewish Quarter on the ruins of his family's home which, he asserted, had been bought under Ottoman rule. The ruling put a legal gloss on the practice of blocking access by non-Jews to state land. After years of steady encroachment, Burkan now lives in the heart of a Jewish neighborhood. The court not only rejected his petition but ordered him to pay court expenses to the state. » Read more

Reform leader: Most U.S. Jews back settlement freeze ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Natasha Mozgovaya - July 24, 2009 - 12:00am The vast majority of American Jews back a settlement freeze, according to Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union of Reform Judaism. "American Jews don't like when their government is at odds with the government of Israel," said Yoffie, whose organization's 1.5 million members make it the largest Jewish denomination in the U.S. » Read more

U.S. warns Israel: Don't build up West Bank corridor ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Aluf Benn - July 24, 2009 - 12:00am The U.S. administration has issued a stiff warning to Israel not to build in the area known as E-1, which lies between Jerusalem and the West Bank settlement of Ma'aleh Adumim. Any change in the status quo in E-1 would be "extremely damaging," even "corrosive," the message said. » Read more

Catastrophe? Israel bans 'nakba' from Arab textbook. ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Ilene Prusher - July 23, 2009 - 12:00am In the lexicon of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, few terms elicit as much energy as the word nakba – Arabic for "the catastrophe," the term Palestinians use to describe the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. This week, the term became even more of a lightning rod. Amid a rising nationalistic tide in Israel's government, Education Minister Gideon Saar moved to expunge the word from school textbooks, reversing a 2007 decision. » Read more

Hamas Shifts From Rockets to Public Relations ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Ethan Bronner - July 23, 2009 - 12:00am Seven months after Israel started a fierce three-week military campaign here to stop rockets from being fired on its southern communities, Hamas has suspended its use of rockets and shifted focus to winning support at home and abroad through cultural initiatives and public relations. » Read more