June 1st

PM won't freeze settlement construction for natural growth, 'Post' learns ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Herb Keinon - June 1, 2009 - 12:00am Israel will not freeze settlement construction for natural growth, despite intense pressure from the Obama administration to do so, The Jerusalem Post has learned. While Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has indicated that he will remove illegal settlement outposts, he is determined, the Post has learned, to continue building for natural growth in settlements beyond the security barrier. In Netanyahu's view, it is further understood that there is no reason housing units cannot be built inside the major settlement blocs for people who want to move there, as well as for natural growth. » Read more

Israeli Rejection of Settlement Freeze: Trouble for Obama ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Time by Tim McGirk - June 1, 2009 - 12:00am If President Barack Obama thought he could deliver the promise of a few Israeli concessions during his upcoming Cairo speech to the Muslim world, he was sorely mistaken. » Read more

Settlers seek takeover of East Jerusalem area ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters June 1, 2009 - 12:00am Israeli settlers are waging court battles to evict dozens of Palestinians from homes in an East Jerusalem neighborhood, a move threatening to widen Israel's rift with U.S. President Barack Obama over settlements. They are trying to reclaim plots of land in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood which they say were owned by Jews before Israel's creation in 1948. They have already won property rights to six Arab homes, whose residents were subsequently evicted. Palestinians and an Israeli rights group say settlers are trying to evict a further 27 Arab families from 28 buildings. » Read more

ATFP was right to keep focusing on the settlements over the past year ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ibishblog by Hussein Ibish - (Blog) May 29, 2009 - 12:00am Daniel Byman of Georgetown University points out in Laura’s posting mentioned below, “Over the past 15 years, settlements have gone from being seen in Washington as an irritant, to the dominant issue.” I think this is very well put. The Obama administration is absolutely right to be focusing with crystalline intensity on the question of the settlements. The settlements are a dagger aimed at the heart of peace based on two states, the only plausible option for ending the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. » Read more

Abbas vows to crack down on Hamas violence ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Ali Waked - May 31, 2009 - 12:00am Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said following clashes between Fatah and Hamas in the West Bank Sunday that the Palestinian Authority would "strike with an iron fist" against anyone attempting to harm Palestinian interests. A Palestinian Authority (PA) official said that Sunday's fierce clashes in Qalqilya, which left six people dead, were part of the Authority's efforts to curb Hamas' increased activity in the West Bank, which includes resuming the activity of its military cells and obtaining arms and explosives. » Read more

Halutz: Conflict with US must be avoided ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Daniel Edelson - May 31, 2009 - 12:00am Former IDF Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. (res) Dan Halutz, warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against engaging in a diplomatic conflict with the United States. He also reminded Netanyahu that despite criticisms regarding the Second Lebanon War, Hizbullah has not attacked Israel since it ended. » Read more

What will happen if Israel 'defeats' Obama? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Akiva Eldar - (Editorial) June 1, 2009 - 12:00am You had to read it twice to believe it: "Criticism of the United States in Jerusalem." A senior Israeli official warns: "We are disappointed." The fly hovering about is complaining that the elephant is not obeying its orders. What chutzpah on the part of Barack Obama. He just entered the White House and already has something to say - about how many new houses we are building in Ofra, and about when we will dismantle the walls in the "illegal outposts," which are already beginning to disintegrate because of old age. » Read more

Anti-Hamas crackdown sign of renewed PA confidence ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amos Harel, Avi Issacharoff - June 1, 2009 - 12:00am The Hamas leader who was killed in a shootout with Palestinian policemen in Qalqilyah on Sunday had been on the Shin Bet security service's most wanted list for a long time. His terror network is believed to be responsible for the failed attempt to detonate an explosives-laden truck in the Dan region two years ago. It was the Palestinian Authority that finished the job - dealing Hamas in the West Bank a second blow, after last week's killing of another Hamas leader by an Israeli SWAT team near Hebron. » Read more

Egypt rejects U.S. plan for Arab-Israel normalization ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Zvi Barel - June 1, 2009 - 12:00am Egypt has rejected an American proposal for gradual normalization between the Arab world and Israel that would have allowed Israeli planes to fly freely through Arab air space. The idea arose during discussions in Washington last week between Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman and senior White House and State Department officials, including National Security Advisor James Jones and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. » Read more

Goldstone's UN inquiry team arrives in Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News June 1, 2009 - 12:00am A UN team investigating possible war crimes in Gaza, led by Richard Goldstone, has arrived in the Strip on a week-long fact finding mission. The four-member team entered from Egypt after Israel failed to grant visas, despite repeated requests by the UN. The UN wants to investigate whether Israel and Hamas committed war crimes during Israel's three-week operation in Gaza in December and January. Israel accuses the UN branch carrying out the mission of bias against it. » Read more