Can Palestinian police get respect through soccer clinics?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Joshua Mitnick - October 5, 2010 - 12:00am


For years, the Palestinian police force has been considered by many in the West Bank and Gaza to be weak, corrupt, disconnected from the people – not to mention in cahoots with Israel. But, in an effort to win the hearts and minds of the Palestinian grassroots, the West Bank police force has embarked on a community outreach campaign, organizing soccer clinics, town meetings, and antidrug information chats for kids.


Rabbis replace Korans at burned mosque in West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Joel Greenberg - October 5, 2010 - 12:00am


In a rare act of conciliation Tuesday, a group of rabbis from Jewish settlements near the Palestinian town of Beit Fajar visited a mosque there that had been torched by arsonists and brought Korans to replace those burned in the blaze. The attackers, who struck early Monday, left behind Hebrew graffiti and are suspected to be radical Jewish settlers. The rabbis, from the Gush Etzion cluster of settlements south of Bethlehem, arrived in a convoy of Israeli military government jeeps escorted by Palestinian police.


A key back channel for U.S., Israeli ties
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Glenn Kessler - October 6, 2010 - 12:00am


Dennis Ross, a longtime Middle East expert, has emerged as a crucial, behind-the-scenes conduit between the White House and the Israeli government, working closely with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's private attorney - and also Defense Minister Ehud Barak - to discreetly smooth out differences and disputes between the two governments.


Netanyahu Examines Offer on Settlement Freeze
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - October 5, 2010 - 12:00am


As the Palestinians consider withdrawing from peace talks with Israel unless a freeze on Jewish settlement building in the West Bank is extended, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel is engaged in his own calculations about whether accepting an American offer aimed at prolonging the freeze would destroy his political coalition.


Risks and Advantages in U.S. Effort in Mideast
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Mark Landler - October 5, 2010 - 12:00am


When President Obama reopened face-to-face talks between the Israelis and Palestinians last month, he pledged that his administration would hold their hands but warned, “The United States cannot impose an agreement, and we cannot want it more than the parties themselves.” With the negotiations deadlocked over the issue of Jewish settlements, several veterans of Middle East peacemaking said Mr. Obama’s warning had come true — only weeks after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, agreed to sit down.



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