November 29th

Israel apologizes for treatment of NYT journalist
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
(Analysis) November 28, 2011 - 1:00am

Israel's Defense Ministry apologized Monday for the treatment of a pregnant American news photographer who said she was strip searched and humiliated by Israeli soldiers during a security check. Lynsey Addario, who was on assignment for the New York Times, had requested that she not be forced to go through an X-ray machine as she entered Israel from the Gaza Strip because of concerns for her unborn baby.

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Rockets fired across Lebanon, Israel border
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
(Analysis) November 29, 2011 - 1:00am

An exchange of rocket fire hit the Lebanese-Israeli border on Tuesday in the first such incident since 2009, coming at a time of heightened regional tensions over Syria and Iran's nuclear programme. UNIFIL, the U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon, said at least one rocket was fired at northern Israel, prompting the Israeli army to return fire. The Lebanese army said Israel launched four rockets in return.

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Abbas 'hopes' for May 4 elections
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
(Analysis) November 29, 2011 - 1:00am

President Mahmoud Abbas said Monday he hoped elections would be held on May 4 next year, after what he called "important" talks between his Fatah group and Hamas in Cairo. "I hope, God willing, that the elections will be on May 4," Abbas told reporters during a visit to Vienna after talks with Austrian President Heinz Fischer. The comments followed Abbas' reconciliation talks last week in Cairo with Hamas chief Khalid Mashaal aimed at cementing a stalled unity deal signed six months ago.

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Fatah, Hamas to release political prisoners
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
(Analysis) November 29, 2011 - 1:00am

Fatah and Hamas are in talks to release political prisoners in a bid to end all outstanding disagreements, an official said Monday. "(President Mahmoud) Abbas gave instructions to the director of the Palestinian Authority’s general intelligence service, Majid Faraj, to release Hamas-affiliated detainees stated in a list received from Hamas," Fatah affiliated lawmaker Faysal Abu Shahla told Ma'an. There are no political detainees in Ramallah, only suspects held on security-related charges, Abu Shahla added.

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Second Palestinian teenager found guilty in murder of settler family
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Edmund Sanders - (Blog) November 28, 2011 - 1:00am

An Israeli military court on Monday convicted a second Palestinian teenager of murder in the March deaths of five Jewish settlers, including three children, as they slept in their home. Conservative Israeli lawmaker Michael Ben-Ari repeatedly interrupted Monday's hearing, cursing the defendant, Amjad Awad, 19, and urging the judges to impose the death penalty. Prosecutors are recommending five life sentences. In September, Awad's cousin and co-defendant, Hakim Awad, 18, was given five terms in the slayings.

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Israeli Leader Visits Jordan to Discuss Palestinian Issue
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - (Analysis) November 28, 2011 - 1:00am

King Abdullah II of Jordan played host on Monday to Shimon Peres, the president of Israel, in an effort to make progress on the stubborn Palestinian question at a time of regional diplomatic uncertainty and fragmentation. Last week, the king made his first visit in a decade to the West Bank to see Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, and is to travel next week to Washington. As postrevolutionary Egypt pulls back from its longstanding role as the bridge between Israel and the Arab world, Jordan sees an opportunity and is using these public visits to make that clear.

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Majority of Palestinians Support Retaining Fayyad as Prime Minister
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from AWRAD
(Analysis) November 29, 2011 - 1:00am

According to the preliminary findings of Arab World for Research and Development‘s [AWRAD] most recent poll in the West Bank and Gaza, conducted November 22-24, a majority of Palestinians (57 percent) believe that Salam Fayyad should be retained as Prime Minister in a unity government. The results were identical in the West Bank and Gaza. The percentage of respondents opposed was higher in Gaza at 40 percent compared to 28 percent in the West Bank. About 11 percent responded "don‘t know"; 4 percent in Gaza and 15 percent in the West Bank.

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November 28th

NEWS: Palestinian leaders say they will skip forming an interim unity government and go directly to elections. Israel may be considering releasing withheld Palestinian tax revenue, as PM Fayyad says the sanctions are taking their toll. Deputy FM Ayalon says the collapse of the PA “would not be the end of the world” for Israel. Supporters of Israel intensify outreach efforts aimed at the African-American community. A majority of Palestinians once again say they do not support armed struggle against the Israeli occupation. PM Netanyahu is strongly critical of the pro-democracy Arab uprisings. Christian groups are quarreling over who gets to repair the roof of the Church of the Nativity. Palestinian children create a human sculpture for peace. Israel delays controversial demolition plans for a bridge at a holy site. COMMENTARY: Akiva Eldar says Netanyahu has personally "won," but Israel has lost, many diplomatic battles. Chemi Shalev says the kind of support Israel is getting from most Republican candidates isn't worth having. The Jordan Times says Palestinians should remain united against Israeli bullying. Uri Avnery says Israel is paying a historic price for the consistent policy of blocking Palestinian statehood. Amira Hass outlines what she thinks Palestinian national reconciliation should accomplish. Karl Vick says Hamas is moving closer to the international mainstream. Neil Steinberg interviews the Israeli consul general in Chicago. Dan Ephron reviews a new documentary about Israeli military tribunals in the occupied territories. Amir Oren says there are two legal processes set for January that could bring down the Israeli government. Gershom Gorenberg says “price tag” violence, extreme segregation and other occupation phenomena are coming home to Israel itself.

Israel’s Other Occupation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Gershom Gorenberg - (Opinion) November 25, 2011 - 1:00am

“CLEARLY, there’s a war here, sometimes even worse than the one in Samaria,” the yeshiva student said. “It’s not a war with guns. It’s a war of light against darkness.” We were sitting in the mixed Jewish-Arab town of Acre in Israel. The war he described was another front in the struggle he knew from growing up in a settlement in the northern West Bank, or Samaria: the daily contest between Jews and Palestinians for control of the land between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River.

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Netanyahu's day of reckoning is nearing
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amir Oren - (Opinion) November 27, 2011 - 1:00am

Two separate legal processes in the area of public law that are finally nearing completion will rock Israel's political establishment in January, possibly even to the point of bringing down the government. The first is State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss versus Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the matter of the Carmel forest fire of last December. The second is Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein versus Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, whose indictment for money laundering, fraud, breach of trust and harassing a witness, among other charges, is a near certainty.

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