January 25th

With Mideast peace talks stalled, activists fear a new intifada ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Joshua Mitnick - January 22, 2010 - 1:00am US peace envoy George Mitchell met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday to try to break a diplomatic impasse that some say could give rise to a new Palestinian uprising, or intifada. After a nearly year-long vacuum in negotiations, Palestinian and Israeli peace activists say that Israel has escalated arrests of protesters to prevent wide-scale demonstrations. » Read more

Building a Different Middle East ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Nation by Joel Beinin - (Opinion) January 15, 2010 - 1:00am Like every other woman in her village Umm Hasan wears a headscarf. Her husband and other male relatives are not on the scene. But this is not an obstacle to her animated interactions with the sixteen Israelis and foreigners she has never previously met but welcomes into her home. Among the visitors are a German and a Serb who are making a film about Palestinian hip-hop. Everyone has come to participate in the weekly demonstration against the separation barrier organized by the local Popular Committee. » Read more

U.S. appears to lower expectations in Middle East ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Edmund Sanders - January 23, 2010 - 1:00am As U.S. envoy George J. Mitchell wrapped up his Mideast trip Friday with little to show for his efforts to kick-start peace talks, the Obama administration was signaling a growing pessimism that Israelis and Palestinians would return to negotiations any time soon. In his first visit since November, Mitchell met separately with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. But officials on both sides said little progress was made toward restarting talks that collapsed a year ago. » Read more

Israeli's Livni says reports of her political demise are premature ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Edmund Sanders, Batsheva Sobelman - January 25, 2010 - 1:00am Many people expected Tzipi Livni to become Israel's first female prime minister since Golda Meir. After her high-profile stint as foreign minister, the centrist Kadima party she heads won more votes than any other in elections last year. International leaders praised her as a new-style Israeli politician who could finally make peace with the Palestinians. Yet things aren't working out that way for Livni. Rather than making history, the 51-year-old is fighting for her political life. » Read more

The perils of certainty ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ibishblog by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) January 23, 2010 - 1:00am Among the most dangerous aspects of the political culture surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on both sides are glib assertions of inevitable victory and the uninterrogated assumptions that inevitably lie behind them. It's an obvious point, but was brought home to me with some force yesterday when a friend pointed out the following passage from a particularly foolish Arab-American blog: » Read more

Netanyahu Says Some Settlements to Stay in Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Isabel Kershner - January 24, 2010 - 1:00am JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said Sunday that several Jewish settlement blocs in the West Bank would always remain part of Israel, a comment that upset the Palestinians even as the Obama administration’s Middle East envoy was trying to coax them back into peace talks. The prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, helped plant a tree in a West Bank settlement near Jerusalem on Sunday. Mr. Netanyahu spoke about the Etzion bloc on Sunday. » Read more

January 22nd

Elliott Abrams on The West Bank Resurgence ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Atlantic (Interview) January 21, 2010 - 1:00am In my continuing mission to understand the Obama Administration's understanding of the Middle East peace process (such as it is), I turn now to Elliott Abrams, the key Middle East policymaker on President Bush's National Security Council. Unfortunately, I got sidetracked by bigger questions than those that concern George Mitchell's travel schedule. » Read more

Gaza Faces ‘Catastrophic’ Gas Shortage ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line by Rachelle Kliger - January 21, 2010 - 1:00am An impending shortage of cooking gas in the Gaza Strip is likely to cause a humanitarian disaster unless Israel allows more into the coastal enclave, say industry representatives. With winter temperatures in Gaza dropping, petrol and gas vendors say Palestinians are getting only a third of the gas need for heating and cooking. » Read more

MIDEAST: Civil Society Takes On Israeli Settlements ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS) by Jerrold Kessel, Pierre Klochendler - January 21, 2010 - 1:00am Salam Fayyad turned civil society activist this week. In Salfit, on the West Bank, the Palestinian prime minister threw onto a giant bonfire goods made in Israeli settlements. The fire was lit by municipal officials as part of a new Palestinian Authority (PA) campaign to ban anything produced by settlers in the occupied Palestinian territories. Fayyad told the campaigners, "We must all, officials and public, join together in cleaning our markets of settlements products." » Read more

Israel facing the looking glass ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times by George S. Hishmeh - (Opinion) January 22, 2010 - 1:00am The row between Israel and Turkey when Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon undiplomatically “rebuked” the Turkish ambassador to Israel during a humiliating encounter over a Turkish television programme critical of Israel reminds me of the saying: “The [black Israeli] pot calls the [shiny Turkish] kettle black.” » Read more