UN Secretary General: Israel must halt settlement building ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP) July 22, 2009 - 12:00am UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon joined international pressures on Israel to freeze building in West Bank settlements. He said that he calls upon the government of Israel to fulfill its obligations to place a moratorium on the building, according to a letter read in his name at the UN session on Palestinians in Geneva. In his letter, Ban added that Israel must desist from unilateral moves in Jerusalem, such as destroying houses.

PM delays discussion on Temple Mount project ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Roni Sofer - July 23, 2009 - 12:00am On the backdrop of protests from Jordan, the Palestinian Authority and the Muslim Waqf, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently postponed a decisive discussion aimed at setting a date for beginning the construction of the new Mugrabi Gate on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, Ynet has learned. » Read more

Fatah reascendant? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Wafa Amr - July 23, 2009 - 12:00am Ten days before the Nov. 27, 2007 Annapolis peace conference, the Palestinians sent a letter to the Bush administration insisting they would accept no less than a total freeze on settlement building in the West Bank. Arab countries were also pushing for a settlement freeze to agree to attend the conference. But the Palestinians and many Arab officials attended without their precondition being fulfilled. In fact, negotiations were carried out at a slower pace than the construction of homes in West Bank settlements and East Jerusalem. » Read more

Israel envoy: No crisis with U.S. over settlements ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz July 23, 2009 - 12:00am There is no crisis in relations between Israel and the United States, despite a lingering dispute - which will be settled "soon" - over settlement construction in the West Bank, Israel's new ambassador to Washington said Wednesday. But a highly respected Tel Aviv think tank said the two countries could be on a "collision course" unless Israel undertook practical measures to back up its statements that it wanted peace with the Palestinians. » Read more

Israel circulates photo of Hitler greeting late Palestinian mufti ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters July 23, 2009 - 12:00am Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has ordered diplomats to use an old photograph of a former Palestinian religious leader meeting Adolf Hitler to counter world criticism of a Jewish building plan for East Jerusalem. Israeli officials said on Wednesday that Lieberman told Israeli ambassadors to circulate the 1941 shot in Berlin of the Nazi leader seated next to Haj Amin al-Husseini, the late mufti or top Muslim religious leader in Jerusalem. » Read more

Israel's other Israel: the Tel Aviv 'bubble' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Joshua Mitnick - July 19, 2009 - 12:00am The Israeli relationship with this city is captured in a hit song about a 20-something who moves here from Jerusalem: "I mix in with the scene. Everything is fresh, and that's good," goes the hip-hop verse by Dag HaNahash. "After two years of Sodom and Gomorrah, I don't recognize myself in the mirror." Welcome to The Bubble, as Israelis call it. Here, residents forgo news about Hamas rocket fire for an espresso, then mosey down to the beach. While Jewish settlers spar with Palestinians in the West Bank, "Tel Avivis" make merry at disco clubs. » Read more

Don't Go There ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by George Fletcher - (Opinion) July 22, 2009 - 12:00am Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo deserves great credit for having led the International Criminal Court from its birth pangs to its present position, where it commands global respect. » Read more