EU retracts criticism of Israeli settlements ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Akiva Eldar - July 9, 2009 - 12:00am The European Commission on Thursday backtracked on its unusually harsh criticism of Israeli settlements, declaring that a statement released earlier this week did not reflect the commission's position. The contentious statement accused Israel's settlement policy of strangling the Palestinian economy and making the Palestinian government more dependent on foreign aid. » Read more

Security wall barely built in past 15 months ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Tovah Lazaroff - July 9, 2009 - 12:00am Almost no progress has been made toward completing the West Bank security barrier in the past 15 months, according to numbers provided to The Jerusalem Post by the Defense Ministry on Wednesday. To date, around 490 km. of the planned 805-km. barrier have been finished, according to Defense Ministry spokesman Shlomo Dror. This is the same figure he gave the Post in February 2008, just after a suicide bomber came through a gap in the structure and killed a woman in Dimona while wounding 40 other people. » Read more