December 18th

Lieberman: We will be building again in 10 months
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
December 18, 2009 - 1:00am

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Thursday that the 10-month settlement freeze was simply a tactical move and not a real effort to stop settlement growth, Israeli media sources reported Friday. "It is clear to everyone that in 10 months, we will be building again [in] full force; anyone who understands anything knows this," he told gathered settlers at a meeting in the West Bank settlement town of Ariel as quoted in the Israeli daily Haaretz.

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Abbas: Israel wants to expel Palestinians from Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
December 17, 2009 - 1:00am

Israel is attempting to expel Palestinians from East Jerusalem, President Mahmoud Abbas said on Thursday evening. Speaking at the closing event of the Al-Quds Capital of Arab Culture festival in Nablus, Abbas said, “Jerusalem is suffering an unprecedented settlement attack aimed at eliminating its identity, separating it from its surroundings and suffocating every activity in order to achieve one goal, which is expulsion, and this will not be allowed to happen.” “There is no Palestine without Jerusalem no one will accept this. Without Jerusalem there will be no peace,” he also said.

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Israeli forces report coming under fire in Hebron
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
December 18, 2009 - 1:00am

Palestinians opened fire at Israeli forces at the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron early Friday morning, an Israeli military spokesperson said. the troops were performing what was described as "a routine deployment" near the holy site when Palestinians opened fire, the spokesperson added. Other sources said a Palestinian car approached the group and fired three bullets, adding that the troops exchanged fire. The spokesperson did not comment on the exchange of fire. No one was injured in the incident, according to sources, and the car fled the scene.


Middle East peace efforts face race against time, UN envoy warns
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
December 17, 2009 - 1:00am

Efforts to forge a Middle East peace are "in a race against time" with both sides needing to do more -- Israel by fulfilling its commitments, including a settlement freeze, under an internationally endorsed plan for a two-State solution, and the Palestinians by resuming negotiations, a senior United Nations official warned here on Thursday.

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Stand-off over Palestinian demo in Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
December 17, 2009 - 1:00am

Israeli police surrounded the French cultural centre in mostly Arab east Jerusalem on Thursday, apparently to detain the organiser of a Palestinian cultural event, a French diplomat said. Around 50 people, including officials from the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority (PA), took part at an event at the centre in honour of Jerusalem's selection as the 2009 "capital of Arab culture" by UNESCO and the Arab League.

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December 17th

After 35 years in office, the Saudi foreign minister says his biggest regret is the lack of an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement. In the LA Times, an international law expert affirms that settlements in occupied territories are illegal, and a separate report highlights the rise of religious extremism in Israel. The Christian Science Monitor analyzes the PLO's move to extend Pres. Abbas' term pending new elections. In a Herald Tribune commentary, Mustafa Barghouti warns that time is running out for a two-state solution. The AP profiles a Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank surrounded by settlements. Several reports examine the tragic consequences of last year's war in Gaza. Ha'aretz provides details of former PM Olmert's peace proposal, which reportedly involved Israel annexing 6.3% of the West Bank and much of East Jerusalem. Hamas reaffirms its intention to "liberate all of Palestine," and is reportedly inclined to accept Israel's current offer on a prisoner exchange. Egypt chides the organization for "foot dragging" on Palestinian reconciliation. JJ Goldberg critiques four common opinions about Israel and the occupation, and Michael Young says for all its imperfections, the Oslo framework offers the only chance of peace. In a highly unusual move, the pan-Arab daily Asharq Al- Awsat runs an "open letter to the Arab world" from Israel's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Danny Ayalon.

An Open Letter to the Arab World
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Danny Ayalon - December 17, 2009 - 1:00am

Since the reestablishment of our state, Israeli leaders have sought peace with their Arab neighbors. Our Declaration of Independence, Israel’s founding document that expressed our hopes and dreams reads, “We extend our hand to all neighboring states and their peoples in an offer of peace and good neighborliness, and appeal to them to establish bonds of cooperation and mutual help.” These words are as true today as when they were first written in 1948. Sadly, sixty one years later, only two nations, Jordan and Egypt, have accepted these principles and made peace with the Jewish State.

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Oslo: far from perfect but it’s the best place to start
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Michael Young - (Opinion) December 17, 2009 - 1:00am

Two authors who have written lucidly and imaginatively on the Palestinian-Israeli peace process are Robert Malley and Hussein Agha. Mr Malley served in the National Security Council under Bill Clinton, and heads the Middle East programme at the International Crisis Group, while Mr Agha is a senior associate member at St Antony’s College, Oxford. Yet recently they wrote an article in The New York Review of Books that showed how, when it comes to a final settlement between Israelis and Palestinians, their imagination has dried up.

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Four Myths About the Mideast and Real Estate
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by J.J. Goldberg - (Opinion) December 17, 2009 - 1:00am

‘Take not heed unto all words that are spoken,” the wise old preacher Ecclesiastes wrote. You might find to your grief that people don’t always say what they mean — or worse, that they do. In that spirit, here’s a quick primer to some common sayings in circulation these days and what they really mean. Myth No. 1: Israeli settlements in the territories aren’t the problem preventing peace. The problem is Arab refusal to accept Israel’s legitimacy as a Jewish state.

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The impunity of Israel and its allies will carry a price
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Seumas Milne - (Opinion) December 17, 2009 - 1:00am

When evidence of war crimes is produced, you might expect states that claim to defend the rule of law to want those crimes investigated and the perpetrators held to account. Not a bit of it. The decision by a London judge to issue a warrant for the arrest of Israel's former foreign minister Tzipi Livni over evidence of serious breaches of the laws of war in Gaza has sparked official outrage in Britain.

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