November 16th

Palestinian 'freedom riders' board Israeli buses in protest
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Rebecca Collard - November 16, 2011 - 1:00am

Decked-out in T-shirts bearing slogans such as “dignity,” “freedom,” and “justice,” and wearing the symbolic black and white Palestinian kaffiyeh scarves, six Palestinian activists waited at a bus stop this afternoon with a group of Israeli settlers.

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Palestinian activists arrested on Israeli bus
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman
by Diaa Hadid - November 16, 2011 - 1:00am

Six Palestinian activists, clutching national flags and surrounded by dozens of reporters, were dragged off an Israeli bus they planned to ride into Jerusalem after a standoff with police Tuesday. They were detained and then released a few hours later in the West Bank, said pro-Palestinian activist Jonathan Pollack. The Palestinians boarded the Israeli bus in a widely advertised action hoping to draw attention to what they call discriminatory measures in the West Bank, particularly travel restrictions.

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Israel announces more housing in West Bank and the Jerusalem area
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
November 16, 2011 - 1:00am

Israel announced Tuesday it would soon issue tenders for 5,000 new units of housing nationwide, including about 570 apartments on land it seized during the 1967 Mideast war. The government said the new housing was needed to address Israel's rising real estate prices, which triggered massive popular demonstrations this summer. But critics objected to the inclusion of 348 units in Har Homa and 18 in Pisgat Zeev, two Jewish developments in the Jerusalem area. An additional 213 units are planned for the West Bank settlement of Efrat.

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Israeli Army May Need to Hit Gaza, General Says
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - November 16, 2011 - 1:00am

Israel’s military chief of staff warned Tuesday that the repeated rounds of escalated violence in the south would eventually require Israel to carry out another large-scale military operation in Hamas-controlled Gaza. “We cannot continue with one round after another,” the official, Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, told a closed meeting of the Parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. He said the point at which a military operation would become necessary was “drawing closer.”

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The Great Debate: Middle East Peace
Media Mention of Hussein Ibish In Boston University - November 16, 2011 - 1:00am

Achieving meaningful peace in the Middle East has become one of the most contentious issues facing the international community. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, centered largely on issues of borders, control of Israeli settlements, and freedom of movement for Palestinians, remains a stalemate, despite efforts by the Obama administration to bring both sides back to the table for revived peace talks earlier this year.

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November 15th

NEWS: The French consul in the Gaza Strip is injured in an Israeli military attack. The Quartet does not appear to have made any progress between Israel and the Palestinians. The CSM asks if Israel was responsible for a massive explosion in Iran. Palestinian officials say they have made progress on national reconciliation talks, and Fatah officials say that may mean replacing PM Fayyad. Israeli generals want to fight gender segregation in their ranks, and say there is the prospect of a major military action in Gaza. The Knesset is proceeding with two controversial bills. Egypt arrests a suspect in the attacks on the gas pipeline to Israel. Israeli and Palestinian activists are launching “freedom rides” on segregated buses in the occupied territories. COMMENTARY: Richard Cohen says Pres. Peres' new book about Ben-Gurion is worth reading. Sefi Rachlevsky says Israel desperately needs a new prime minister. Ha'aretz says there are serious threats to freedom of the press in Israel. Gershon Baskin says “economic peace” may be the only thing available right now. Ron Kampeas asks what the exchange between Pres. Obama and Pres. Sarkozy about PM Netanyahu really means. The National says Israel is wrong to withhold Palestinian tax revenues. Yossi Alpher says dissolving the PA would be extremely risky, Yossi Beilin says it's actually a possibility, but Ghassan Khatib says it's simply not an option. Donald Macintyre looks at why the sincerity of Netanyahu is doubted by other leaders.

Palestinian, Israeli activists launch campaign against settlement transportation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Arabiya
by Amjad Samhan - (Analysis) November 15, 2011 - 1:00am

Dozens of Palestinian and Israeli activists are gearing up for the launch on Tuesday of a campaign against transportation companies that serve settlements in the West Bank in protest of the continuation of the occupation and the construction of more units in the Occupied Territories. The campaign aims at obstructing means of transportation affiliated to Egged and Veolia, two Israeli public transportation companies that transfer Jewish settlers from the West Bank to East Jerusalem and Israel.

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Why sincerity of Israeli leader is doubted
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Donald MacIntyre - (Opinion) November 15, 2011 - 1:00am

Exactly what Nicolas Sarkozy meant by describing Benjamin Netanyahu as a "liar" is not immediately clear, and the French President is unlikely to prolong the episode by explaining it. But it is safe to assume that Mr Sarkozy has become increasingly unconvinced of Mr Netanyahu's sincerity in saying he is willing to negotiate a two-state solution with the Palestinians. By insisting the Palestinians recognise Israel as a "Jewish state" and by resuming a surge in Jewish settlement building, Mr Netanyahu has given no sign that he envisages the minimum deal the Palestinians could accept.

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Both sides would suffer
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Yossi Beilin - (Opinion) November 15, 2011 - 1:00am

The Palestinian Authority was supposed to cease existing on May 4, 1999, the date a final status agreement was to take effect. Of course, that never happened. In the absence of any alternative agreement, the PA could remain in existence until final status is agreed or, indeed, until the end of time (whichever comes first. . .).

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Egypt nabs suspect believed linked to Eilat attack
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Oren Kessler, Reuters - (Analysis) November 13, 2011 - 1:00am

Egyptian authorities arrested a top member of an Islamist terror group suspected of involvement in pipeline bombings that have disrupted gas supplies to Israel and Jordan, Egyptian state media reported on Sunday. The Palestinian news agency Ma'an reported that the detainee, Mohammed al-Teehi, was also being investigated for an August terror attack in southern Israel that killed eight people. Teehi, of the armed Islamist group Al-Takfir Wa Al-Hijra (Excommunication and Exodus), was arrested in the northern coastal city of El-Arish, Egypt's news agency MENA reported.

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