November 18th

Top settler rabbi: Soldiers will sooner choose death than suffer women's singing
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Yair Ettinger - (Analysis) November 17, 2011 - 1:00am


Israel Defense Forces soldiers should choose death before they remain at army events which include women's singing, a top settler religious leader said in an interview on Thursday. The comment made by Elyakim Levanon, the rabbi of the West Bank settlement of Elon Moreh, came after earlier this week, 19 reserve major generals sent a letter to Defense Minister Ehud Barak and IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz, imploring them not to allow harm to come to women's service in the army as a result of religious soldiers' demands.


Israel effectively annexes Palestinian land near Jordan Valley
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from
by Akiva Eldar - (Analysis) November 18, 2011 - 1:00am


Israel carried out a de facto annexation of Palestinian land northeast of the Jordan Valley and given it to Kibbutz Merav. Merav, part of the Religious Kibbutz Movement, is about seven kilometers northwest of the parcel. The route of the separation barrier in the area was changed so that the plot in question, about 1,500 dunams (375 acres), would be on the Israeli side.


With eye on militants, Israel builds Africa ties
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Josef Federman - (Analysis) November 17, 2011 - 1:00am


Israel has identified eastern Africa as an important strategic interest and is stepping up ties with nations in the region in a joint effort to control the spread of Islamic extremists, officials said Thursday. In effect, Israel would become a player siding with Christian-led African nations in conflicts with Muslim movements, a fault line that has sharpened around the continent in recent years. Israeli moves come as the United States as well has hiked up military support for African governments, in large part to combat al-Qaida-linked groups.


Israel-Gaza tensions: Pilot program to expand Gaza exports falters
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Kristen Chick - (Analysis) November 18, 2011 - 1:00am


The Bright Star textile company in Gaza used to sew 4 million pieces of clothing a month, most of it for export to Israel and beyond – part of a humming manufacturing sector that accounted for nearly a third of Gaza's economy. But after Israel imposed a blockade in 2006, Gaza's factories fell silent, unable to import the raw materials they needed or send their finished products abroad for sale.


Hamas-Appointed Court Fines Gaza Banks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Fares Akram, Ethan Bronner - (Analysis) November 18, 2011 - 1:00am


In what could be the first of many such decisions, a Hamas-appointed court this week ordered two major banks in Gaza to pay tens of millions of dollars in back fees and fines for refusing to accept the taxing power of the Hamas government, rather than its West-Bank-based rival, the Palestinian Authority. Bank officials, who boycotted the judicial hearings, said the decision, handed down by a lower court earlier this week, might force them to shut down temporarily, at least, further reducing access to money in this isolated coastal enclave.


November 17th

Palestinians Rethink Statehood Bid
Media Mention of Hussein Ibish In The Jewish Daily Forward - November 17, 2011 - 1:00am

Israelis warned of a “diplomatic tsunami,” Palestinians promised a game changer that would reshape Middle East peacemaking, and the White House and Congress geared up for an all-out battle inside and beyond the United Nations. But on November 11, the Palestinians’ initiative to gain statehood recognition from the U.N. Security Council ended finally not with a bang, but with a whimper.


NEWS: Israel allows a shipment of construction materials into Gaza. Pres. Abbas will meet Hamas leaders next week, and Israel accuses him of preferring to deal with Hamas over peace with Israel. Israelis accuse a Palestinian journalist of being “an Iranian agent.” PLO officials dismiss reports, citing European diplomats, of a secret deal to release Palestinian tax revenues. The widow of the late Pres. Arafat says she never took any public money. The Israeli economy again faces the threat of a slowdown or recession. Concerns are growing over settler violence. Palestinians are reconsidering their diplomatic options.Israel has been building multibillion-dollar electronic weapons that could be deployed in the event of an attack against Iran. COMMENTARY: Michael Cohen says Palestinians and other Arabs have learned historical lessons but Israel and the US haven't. Gideon Levy says PM Netanyahu is Israel's last hope for democracy. Ari Shavit says without its political left, Israel would be a backward country. Musa Abu Hashhash says events in Hebron show religious extremists on both sides pose a grave danger. Douglas Bloomfield asks if Middle East peace has become a mission impossible. Dan Stein says pro-Palestinian activists have created a controversy within the occupy Wall Street movement. Trudy Rubin says the peace process is the victim of neglect. Khaled Diab profiles Palestinian “freedom riders.”

Arrests greet Palestinian freedom riders
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Salon.com
by Khaled Diab - (Opinion) November 17, 2011 - 1:00am


We headed for Road 60, one of the few main arteries in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, which is open both to Israeli and Palestinian travelers.


Worldview: Israeli-Palestinian effort a victim of neglect
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Philly.com
by Trudy Rubin - (Opinion) November 17, 2011 - 1:00am


Traveling in Israel and the West Bank, and talking to leaders on both sides, one thing soon becomes apparent: The Israeli-Palestinian peace process of the last two decades is dead. Israeli leaders don't believe in it, Palestinian leaders have given up on it, and the White House has abandoned it. An end to talks on a two-state solution means a slide toward a "one-state solution" in which Palestinians outnumber Jews inside Israel's borders. This ensures perpetual violence.


Pro-Palestinian activists push cause within Occupy Wall Street movement
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Dan Klein - (Opinion) November 17, 2011 - 1:00am


As the Occupy Wall Street protests continue to spread across America, an internal struggle is percolating over how the movement relates to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Pro-Palestinian activists are trying to insert the issue into the protests and are co-opting the Occupy Wall Street movement’s language to attack Israel. But some left-wing Jewish activists warn that these efforts will give ammunition to the movement’s critics and make it harder to build a big tent in support of Occupy Wall Street’s main economic agenda.



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