NEWS: Israel approves settlement expansions near occupied East Jerusalem.Palestinians begin municipal elections in the occupied West Bank, but face a lack of competition due to a boycott by Hamas. Over 1,000 women are running in the election. A spokesman for Pres. Morsy confirms the authenticity of a letter to Pres. Peres. Both Lebanese and Israelis are annoyed by the TV show “Homeland.” Experts say Jewish Americans are still solidly Democratic. Syrian rebels assassinate a pro-Assad Palestinian activist. Hamas vows to capture more Israeli soldiers. Some Palestinian citizens of Israel say voting is pointless for them, and a new report suggest their towns receive inferior public transportation. Palestinians and settlers trade accusations over this year's olive harvest. Palestinians released in last year's prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas vowed to continue "resistance.”Controversies rage over street-naming in Jerusalem. Palestinians in the West Bank say brewing beer is a form of resistance to occupation. COMMENTARY: Ha'aretz interviews former Amb. Gabriella Shalev, who says she couldn't represent Israel under the current circumstances. Gideon Levy says Israeli statesmen are perennially the “almost-peacemakers.”Patrick Seale says Gaza is a demographic and humanitarian timebomb. Dawoud Abu Lebdeh asks if the PA could deploy civil disobedience as a tool of resistance to the occupation. Ahmad Majdoubeh says Pres. Abbas' decision to try to resume negotiations with Israel after a UN vote is sound. Raja Shehadeh describes Israeli and Palestinian remembrances of the Nakba. Dmitry Shumsky says history doesn't provide a basis for comparing the experiences of Jewish and Palestinian refugees. Paul Pillar says the US must not neglect the need for Israeli-Palestinian peace.

Don't Neglect an Israeli-Palestinian Peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National Interest
by Paul Pillar - (Opinion) October 18, 2012 - 12:00am

Leon Hadar in these spaces has commended as a “sensible stance” toward the Israeli-Palestinian a policy, enunciated by a prominent American politician, that “we sort of live with it, and we kick the ball down the field and hope that ultimately, somehow, something will happen and resolve it.” Hadar criticizes “some self-proclaimed foreign-policy realists,” implying that their belief that “Washington can and ought to help make peace between Israelis and Palestinians” somehow contradicts realist criticisms of neocon ambitions to remake the Middle

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The Jewish refugee, hypothetically speaking
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Dmitry Shumsky - (Opinion) October 18, 2012 - 12:00am

Let's consider the following hypothetical scenario: At the end of World War I the Allied Powers decide to offer national self-determination to the Arab entity of the Ottoman Empire, and give their blessing to the founding of a single, broad Arab state in the region. Immediately upon establishment, this new state halts Jewish immigration to the Land of Israel and begins a relentless persecution of the local Zionism movement, claiming that it threatens to rip the historic land from the Islamic nation.  

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The Nakba, Then and Now
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from International Herald Tribune
by Raja Shehadeh - (Editorial) October 16, 2012 - 12:00am

LYDDA, Israel — Last Friday, some 40 Israeli Jews and Arabs gathered in Lydda, a small mixed Arab-Israeli city less than 10 miles southeast of Tel Aviv, for “a study tour” featuring “Zionist testimonies from 1948.” It was part of the project Towards a Common Archive, sponsored by Zochrot (Hebrew for remembering), an Israeli organization that hopes to bring “awareness and recognition of the Nakba” to Jewish Israelis so that they can take “responsibility for this tragedy.”

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Abbas’ right decision
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Ahmad Majdoubeh - (Opinion) October 18, 2012 - 12:00am

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ decision to talk peace with Israel only after the Palestinian bid for UN non-member state status is accepted is correct.

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Can the Palestinian Authority lead with civil disobedience?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Dawoud Abu Lebdeh - (Opinion) October 19, 2012 - 12:00am

Last month, large protests swept through major cities in the West Bank. In some places the demonstrations escalated into destruction of public property and a display of anarchy, while in others they were calm and collected. Peaceful or otherwise, the various demonstrations shared a common grievance: the economic policies of Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, recently highlighted after price hikes on main consumer items such as fuel and flour.These protests have called into question whether the Palestinian Authority is still able to lead the Palestinian people.

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Gaza siege: A bomb waiting to explode
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by Patrick Seale - (Opinion) October 19, 2012 - 12:00am

One of the most urgent tasks for the international community in 2013 must surely be to lift Israel’s cruel siege of Gaza, now entering its sixth year, and end the misguided boycott of its Hamas government.

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Israeli statesmen are the almost-peacemakers
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Gideon Levy - (Opinion) October 18, 2012 - 12:00am

Once every few years, usually before the elections, a story of this kind comes out. An Israeli statesman was a hairbreadth away from achieving peace. Had he only had two months more, even two weeks more, the great peace would have been signed, forever. Shimon Peres almost achieved peace with the London Agreement; Ehud Barak almost did so at Camp David; Ehud Olmert almost had it with Mahmoud Abbas, and with Bashar Assad too. Even Tzipi Livni came close with Ahmed Qureia, and the Oslo agreement was of course almost peace.

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Former Israeli ambassador to UN: 'I couldn't represent Israel now'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Ayelett Shani - (Interview) October 19, 2012 - 12:00am

You once made a statement that stuck in my mind: “The United Nations is the place where all the hatred is concentrated.”

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‘Making beer is a form of resistance’: brewing West Bank tensions
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Crikey
by Matthew Clayfield - October 19, 2012 - 12:00am

Beer brewers in Palestine lost many of their customers when the Israeli walls went up. But one defiant ale maker says it’s all part of a resistance fight for freedom. The most famous section of the Israeli-West Bank separation barrier is also the shortest: the eight feet tall concrete slabs festooned with anti-Zionist graffiti, the vast majority of it written, somewhat tellingly, in languages other than Arabic, make up only 6% of the structure’s total length.

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