December 16th

IDF raids Naalin photographer's home ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Ali Waked - December 16, 2009 - 1:00am Family members of a girl who shot a video showing an Israel Defense Forces soldier firing a rubber bullet at a bound Palestinian in the West Bank village of Naalin last year say the army has been harassing them ever since. The relatives told Ynet that a massive IDF force raided their house on Wednesday night and left behind a lot of damage. The girl's father and brother were then summoned for investigation. An IDF official claimed, however, that the soldiers arrived to arrest a man suspected of rioting and that the incident had nothing to do with the videotape. » Read more

UN: Much of West Bank closed to Palestinian building ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amira Hass - December 16, 2009 - 1:00am Israel effectively allows Palestinians to build in only 1 percent of Area C, the 60 percent of the West Bank over which it retains full control, according to a new report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The report also said that so far this year Israel has demolished 180 Palestinian structures in Area C. As a result, 319 Palestinians, including 167 children, have lost their homes. » Read more

U.S. planning to restart Israel-PA talks based on '67 borders ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Akiva Eldar - December 16, 2009 - 1:00am The United States and Egypt, along with France, are planning a joint move to restart Israeli-Palestinian talks on the basis of the June 4, 1967, borders, territorial exchanges and a complete freeze of construction beyond the Green Line, including East Jerusalem. The freeze would not be announced publicly. Egypt's foreign minister, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, said in an extensive interview with the Arabic daily Asharq Al-Awsat that "once they realized their earlier approach had failed, the Americans see themselves forced to change direction." » Read more

Abbas to Haaretz: Peace possible in 6 months if Israel freezes all settlements ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Avi Issacharoff - December 16, 2009 - 1:00am If Israel completely halts construction in the settlements, negotiations with the Palestinians on a final-status agreement can be completed within six months, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas told Haaretz Tuesday, adding that Israel needn't declare the freeze, just carry it out. Abbas, who appeared self-assured and upbeat during the exclusive interview, said the Palestinians had no preconditions for talks with Israel but wanted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to meet his obligations to the road map, which calls for a cessation of construction in the settlements. » Read more

France to deliver €200m in aid to PA ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency December 16, 2009 - 1:00am The French government will deliver 200 million Euros for the support and development of Palestinian infrastructure over three years, officials announced Wednesday. Palestinian Minister of Foreign affairs Riyad Al-Maliki and his French counterpart Bernard Kouchner signed three agreements for the funds in the French minister’s office in Paris shortly before the announcement. » Read more

Hamas: PA security forces arrest 80 members in 24 hours ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency December 16, 2009 - 1:00am Palestinian Authority security forces have arrested 80 members of the Hamas movement from locations across the West Bank in the last 24 hours a statement from the party issued on Wednesday said. The statement noted that the arrests occurred in ten of the eleven districts in the West Bank, including Nablus, Jenin, Salfit, Hebron, Tulkarem, Bethlehem, Ramallah, Jericho, Qalqiliya and Tubas. The statement included the names of 50 alleged supporters, which could not all be independently verified by Ma'an. » Read more

Hamas-Fatah summit proposed ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency December 16, 2009 - 1:00am Egyptian mediators agreed to hold a meeting between opposing Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah, a Palestinian official involved in the talks said on Wednesday. Iyad As-Sarraj, a prominent Gaza psychiatrist who heads the nonpartisan Palestinian Reconciliation Committee, said Egypt accepted a suggestion from the group during a meeting in Cairo on Tuesday night to hold a three-day workshop with Hamas, Fatah, and other factions. » Read more

Israel is ready for peace. Are its neighbors? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Nadav Tamir - (Opinion) December 15, 2009 - 1:00am The time for peace in the Middle East is now. This has been the consistent message from both the Netanyahu and Obama administrations. And it is time to take advantage of the fact that we have a stable government in Israel capable of making a move toward peace, a US government that has made it an important foreign-policy priority, our best Palestinian Authority negotiating partner thus far in President Mahmoud Abbas, and a majority of the population and government on both sides who desire a two-state solution. » Read more

Mahmoud Abbas remains in charge of PLO until elections can be held ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Edmund Sanders - December 16, 2009 - 1:00am Reporting from Ramallah, West Bank - With a giant poster of deceased leader Yasser Arafat smiling over them, members of the Palestine Liberation Organization's central council gathered here Tuesday to indefinitely extend President Mahmoud Abbas' term until credible elections can be held. The extension, expected to be formally approved today, should provide a degree of short-term stability to the fractured Palestinian movement. But for some, the stopgap measure only papers over an emerging PLO leadership crisis that could become yet another obstacle to peace talks. » Read more

Palestinian leaders to extend President Mahmoud Abbas's term indefinitely ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Howard Schneider - December 16, 2009 - 1:00am The Palestinian Liberation Organization's ruling Central Council gathered here this week to extend the soon-to-expire term of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, a session that promised to say as much about the drift and division in Palestinian politics as about the 74-year-old leader's standing. » Read more