Palestine hopeful US won't use veto ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency January 20, 2011 - 1:00am Member of the Palestinian negotiating committee Nabil Shaath told a French delegation Tuesday that he believed the US would have a hard time using their veto on a draft resolution submitted to the UN over Israeli settlement building. US officials, however, the same day warned at the United Nations that putting the resolution to a Security Council vote would "complicate" peace efforts. While the US has still not said though whether it would veto the measure, Israeli media has said indications are that the resolution will be quashed. » Read more

Israel drops investigation into police shooting of Palestinian ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Edmund Sanders - January 19, 2011 - 1:00am Israeli officials said Tuesday they were dropping a criminal probe of an Israeli border policeman who shot to death a Palestinian motorist after the man sideswiped a foot patrol of soldiers and then tried to escape when they opened fire. Justice Ministry officials described the incident as a "lethal and rapid chain of events that ended tragically with a man's death," but said in a statement that there was insufficient evidence to bring criminal charges. » Read more

Israeli human rights groups sound alarm over parliamentary panel on funding ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Joel Greenberg - January 19, 2011 - 1:00am An initiative in the Israeli parliament this month to investigate the funding of local human rights organizations has intensified debate here about the role of the groups, which rightist critics have accused of harming Israel. Human rights advocates say they are working in an increasingly hostile public climate - particularly since the Gaza war two years ago, which brought allegations of Israeli war crimes - and they warn that free speech and the right to dissent are being challenged. » Read more

Israeli army to discharge soldier in mistaken killing of Palestinian ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Joel Greenberg - January 19, 2011 - 1:00am The Israeli army said Wednesday that it will discharge a soldier for fatally shooting a 66-year-old Palestinian man in his bed in the West Bank city of Hebron during an early-morning roundup of Hamas militants on Jan 7. The man, Omar al-Qawasmeh, was killed by special forces troops who apparently mistook him for a militant who lived in the same building. Qawasmeh's wife said he had been sleeping and she was praying when soldiers came to their bedroom and immediately opened fire. » Read more

Israeli Soldier Discharged Over Killing of Unarmed Palestinian ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Isabel Kershner - January 19, 2011 - 1:00am The Israeli military announced Wednesday night that a soldier’s military career had been terminated after the fatal shooting of an unarmed 65-year-old Palestinian man in his bed during an arrest last week in the West Bank city of Hebron. Soldiers apparently mistook the man, Omar al-Qawasmeh, for a Hamas militant whom they had come to arrest, and who lived in an apartment in the same building. » Read more