July 13th

Negotiations and settlement construction cannot coexist
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Ghassan Khatib - (Opinion) July 13, 2009 - 12:00am

One subject on which there is complete Palestinian consensus across the political spectrum is that negotiations and Israeli settlement expansion in occupied territory including East Jerusalem are mutually exclusive. Indeed, according to numerous studies and surveys, one of the main reasons for the steady decline in public support for the PLO leadership, whether under President Mahmoud Abbas during the Annapolis process or the late President Yasser Arafat before him, is that they continued negotiating with Israel in spite of the settlement expansion.

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Britain revokes 5 arms export licenses to Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Amy Teibel - July 13, 2009 - 12:00am

Britain has revoked several licenses granted to British companies to sell weapons parts to Israel because of concerns over their use in Israel's recent war in the Gaza Strip, British and Israeli officials said Monday.

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Defending the indefensible settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Richard Silverstein - July 13, 2009 - 12:00am

A former insider at Aipac has spilled the beans on a major secret initiative by The Israel Project (TIP) designed to counter opposition in the US to Israeli settlements in the occupied territories. Douglas Bloomfield, former chief lobbyist for Aipac, writes that TIP, a group dedicated to promoting Israel's positive image among the US media and policymakers, has circulated a 140-page primer designed to prompt supporters in their exchanges with US journalists and key decision-makers when they are arguing in favour of the settlements:

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Playing for Peace: Palestinian and Israeli Teenagers Groove
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line
by Matthew Kalman - July 12, 2009 - 12:00am

An unusual scene in Tel Aviv: Palestinian and Israeli teenagers – Christians, Muslims and Jews – have just spent two weeks together recording a music track, writing their own lyric and producing a video clip to upload to YouTube. The 19 youngsters, aged from 14 to 17, gathered at the headquarters of Windows for Peace, a veteran people-to-people organization that tries to bridge the gaps between Israeli and Palestinian youth through workshops, a regular magazine in Hebrew and Arabic, and other joint activities.

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Conflict-worn Palestinians carve out niches of joy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Mohammed Daraghmeh - July 11, 2009 - 12:00am

Middle-class matrons shop for imported furniture in a marble-and-glass emporium. A new movie house is screening "Transformers." Teens bop to a Danish hip-hop band performing on their high school basketball court. Life in the West Bank — in sharp contrast to beaten down, Hamas-ruled Gaza — has taken on a semblance of normalcy. Exhausted after more than two decades of on-and-off conflict with Israel and deeply skeptical about prospects of statehood, Palestinians here are increasingly trying to carve out their own little niches of happiness.

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Abbas says he won't meet Netanyahu
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Khaled Abu Toameh - July 12, 2009 - 12:00am

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas reiterated on Sunday his refusal to resume peace talks with Israel unless Binyamin Netanyahu's government accepted the two-state solution and agreed to freeze all construction in the settlements in the West Bank. Abbas's remarks came in response to an appeal from Netanyahu made during the Sunday cabinet meeting in which the Israeli prime minister called for the two leaders to revive the stalled peace process. Abbas was speaking to reporters in Ramallah after meeting with visiting Romanian President Traian Basescu.

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EU's Solana calls for UN to recognise Palestinian state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
July 12, 2009 - 12:00am

The European Union's foreign policy chief called for the U.N. Security Council to recognise a Palestinian state by a certain deadline even if Israelis and Palestinians have not reached agreement among themselves. The EU's Javier Solana made his comments on Saturday at a lecture in London while Palestinian and Israeli peace talks remain stalled. The Palestinians have said they will not revive peace talks unless there is a halt to Israel's settlement activities in the West Bank.

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Israel phone firm's West Bank wall gag fails to amuse
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Allyn Fisher-Ilan - July 12, 2009 - 12:00am

A television advert for an Israeli cellphone firm showing soldiers playing soccer over the West Bank barrier has sparked cries of bad taste and prompted Arab lawmakers on Sunday to demand it be taken off air. The jaunty commercial for Israel's biggest mobile phone company Cellcom makes light of Palestinian suffering and shows how far Israelis fail to understand their neighbors, critics said. The company stood by the ad, however.

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July 10th

The West Bank city of Nablus sees signs of renewed economic growth (1) as Israel begins to relax restrictions on movement for Palestinians (9)(13). Tensions between the EU and Israel continue during a visit by the German foreign minister (2). Six months after the cessation of the war in Gaza, the outlook for the area remains grim (3)(7). Israeli National Security Adviser Uzi Arad rules out a total withdrawal from the Golan Heights during a discussion about possible talks with Syria (4). Egypt claims progress in negotiations for the release of captive IDF soldier Gilad Shalit (8)(10). Israel may permit a specially trained Palestinian counterterrorism unit to operate in the West Bank (12).

Peace Now: Probe settler youth movements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Erfat Weiss - July 10, 2009 - 12:00am

Peace Now has declared war on Hilltop Youth – will the State join in? In an appeal to Attorney General Menachem Mazuz, Peace Now demanded Friday that an investigation be opened against two prominent right-wing youth organizations that focus their energies on establishing illegal outposts in the West Bank and on fighting authorities seeking to evacuate them.

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