Palestinians and Israelis dispute the circumstances of the death of a woman protester. PM Netanyahu formally asks for the release of convicted spy Jonathan Pollard. Israelis and Palestinians come together over boxing. Israeli police raid the home of leftist activists who join Palestinian protests. FM Lieberman says there will be no peace for "at least a decade." The fall of Mohammed Dahlan,accused of a coup plot, demonstrates the power of Pres. Abbas. The US Homeland Security chief is visiting Israel. Israel bombs Gaza. Ben Caspit says Palestinians are being forthcoming in negotiations but Israel isn't. The PA says Palestinian settlement laborers will be punished. Noam Ben Zeev says the creation of a National Orchestra is another step towards Palestinian statehood. Leaked cables show Israel decided to attack the Gaza economy. Quartet Envoy Tony Blair warns of dangers without progress on peace. Pres. Medvedev will visit the PA but not Israel. Israel's latest anti-missile system is running into several problems. Leonard Fein says Israel's dismal treatment of its Palestinian minority is yet another argument against a single state. The National says the US needs more cooperation from Israel for all its aid. The Jordan Times says Palestinians are right to take the settlement issue to the UN Security Council.

Another right step
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
(Editorial) January 5, 2011 - 1:00am

The Palestinians decided to go to the UN Security Council and seek censorship of Israel’s continued settlement activities on territories seized from them. It would not be the first time the Security Council condemns such act; it has repeatedly done so, calling on Israel to cease and desist from this illegal action.

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Money can't buy love from Netanyahu
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
(Editorial) January 5, 2011 - 1:00am

An "unbreakable" bond doesn't have to be inflexible. This holds in any marriage, and it's especially true for the United States and Israel, a relationship that is quickly becoming abusive. The prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's statement to the Knesset on Monday that he was ready to extend a settlement freeze in the West Bank late last year, and that it was Washington who got cold feet, was the political equivalent of tossing an old friend under the proverbial bus.

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Mirror Image
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Leonard Fein - (Opinion) January 3, 2011 - 1:00am

The argument has long-since been familiar: If a two-state solution fails, dies from sheer exhaustion, then we’re looking either at a continuation of the status quo or at some form of one-state solution. The status quo is inherently noxious; it is also inherently unstable. It is folly to suppose that it can endure indefinitely, that it will not periodically be interrupted by ever more lethal confrontations.

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Israel’s Iron Dome Anti-Missile Project Facing Fire at Home and Delayed Funding From U.S.
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Matthew Gutman, Nathan Jeffay - January 4, 2011 - 1:00am

It has been promoted as a cutting-edge technological marvel and marketed as the ultimate solution to the misery Israeli civilians experienced facing rocket attacks from Gaza militants. But as the Iron Dome rocket defense system moves into its final stages of development, Israelis are questioning its effectiveness, and American lawmakers are seeking assurances that the system they are poised to fund will indeed be used to protect citizens in the battered Negev city of Sderot, close by Gaza, and not just used to defend military bases.

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Abbas suspends Dahlan from Fatah over 'coup plot'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
by Wyre Davies - January 4, 2011 - 1:00am

A senior figure in the Palestinian Fatah movement has denied plotting an internal coup to remove President Mahmoud Abbas. Mohammed Dahlan has been suspended from Fatah's central committee pending an investigation into the allegations, which he describes as "fantastical". There are increasing divisions in the movement, which runs the Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank. Mr Dahlan was Fatah's security chief in Gaza before Hamas took over in 2007.

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Medvedev to visit PA despite canceled Israel tour
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Israel News
by Ronen Medzini - January 4, 2011 - 1:00am

Russian President Dmitri Medvedev will not visit Israel due to disruptions imposed by the Foreign Ministry's workers union but is nonetheless planning to travel to Jordan and the Palestinian Authority later this month. President Shimon Peres spoke to Medvedev Tuesday who told him he intends to visit the Palestinian territories.

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Blair: Serious trouble if no talks soon
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
January 5, 2011 - 1:00am

The Quartet Special Envoy to the Middle East Tony Blair said Tuesday on CNN that Israel and the Palestinians will be in serious trouble if they don't begin talks in the near future. The former British prime minister added that behind the scenes a lot of work was being done to restart direct negotiations, which were halted in September after settlement construction in the West Bank was renewed following a nine-month moratorium. Blair acknowledged that the level of confidence between the two sides was low but said the talks can nonetheless be put back on track.

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WikiLeaks: Israel vowed to limit Gaza economy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
January 5, 2011 - 1:00am

Israel told US officials in 2008 it would keep Gaza's economy "on the brink of collapse" while avoiding a humanitarian crisis, according to US diplomatic cables published by a Norwegian daily on Wednesday. Three cables cited by the Aftenposten newspaper, which has said it has all 250,000 US cables leaked to WikiLeaks, showed that Israel kept the US embassy in Tel Aviv briefed on its internationally criticized blockade of the Gaza Strip.

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Today an orchestra, tomorrow a Palestinian state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Noam Ben Ze'ev - January 4, 2011 - 1:00am

On the night of May 7, 2004, silence reigned in the small, old auditorium of the Friends School in El Bireh. Daniel Barenboim, one of the greatest conductors of his generation, was about to raise his baton before the newly minted Palestine Youth Orchestra. Before the first chord was struck there was a sense of historic import - and the memory of a similar defining moment came to mind.

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