August 11th

Israel approves 1,600 Jerusalem settler homes ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency by Agence France Press (AFP) - August 11, 2011 - 12:00am Israel's interior minister Eli Yishai has given final approval for the construction of 1,600 new settler homes in east Jerusalem, his spokesman told AFP on Thursday. The move is likely to anger both the Palestinians and the international community, as it struggles to find a way to relaunch peace talks in a bid to head off a Palestinian plan to seek United Nations membership. Roei Lachmanovich also said the interior minister was set to give final approval for another 2,700 settler homes in east Jerusalem neighborhoods in "a couple of days." » Read more

WEST BANK: Not everyone's laughing at Palestinian TV comedy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Maher Abukhater - August 10, 2011 - 12:00am At a time when revolts in Arab nations are gradually taking their toll on the leaders of those countries, Palestinian officials seem worried that too much criticism of their performance may eventually lead them to a fate similar to their Arab brothers. At least that's what one comedian-actor-writer believes. » Read more

August 10th

The fabric of Palestinian identity ATFP World Press Roundup Article from NOW Lebanon by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) August 9, 2011 - 12:00am What can a book about traditional folkloric costumes tell us about contemporary politics? Quite a lot as it happens. Hanan Karaman Munayyer’s beautiful new volume, “Traditional Palestinian Costume: Origins and Evolution” (Interlink, 2011) combines superb photography of the renowned Munayyer collection of traditional Palestinian dress with an analysis of their origins, evolution and variations. Since the 1980s, Munayyer and her husband Farah have been assembling these costumes and other artifacts of Palestinian traditional life in their Palestinian Heritage Foundation. » Read more

Challenging the Insupportable Arguments against Palestinian Statehood ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National Interest by Henry Siegman - (Opinion) August 10, 2011 - 12:00am In their near-hysterical efforts to prevent Palestinians from asking the United Nations to recognize the Palestinian right to self-determination and statehood in the West Bank and Gaza, Israel and the United States have put forward a number of insupportable arguments that cannot be allowed to go unchallenged. » Read more

Reinforcing support ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times (Editorial) August 10, 2011 - 12:00am His Majesty King Abdullah held talks with visiting Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, reiterating Jordan’s support for the Palestinians’ quest for statehood and freedom. Jordan has legitimate concerns about an eventual “deal” on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict which, as our foreign minister underscored, can best be reached through negotiations. In the absence of talks, however, which Israel shows no interest in, continuing to hang on to its intransigent stand, the options are limited and the Palestinians’ statehood bid will have to be pursued at the UN. » Read more

In accepting ‘67 lines for talks, Netanyahu tries some political maneuvering ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) by Jessica Steinberg - (Opinion) August 9, 2011 - 12:00am JERUSALEM (JTA) -- In the never-ending game of diplomatic chess played by Israeli and Palestinian leaders, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week made a new move to try to outflank the Palestinians. On Aug. 2, he said that Israel is ready to use the pre-1967 lines as a rough starting point for discussion of a Palestinian state -- if the Palestinians recognize Israel as the Jewish state and back down from their plan to petition the United Nations for statehood recognition in September. » Read more

On My Mind: American Jews and Israeli Arabs ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Kenneth Bandler - (Opinion) August 10, 2011 - 12:00am Encouraging American Jewish interest in the 20 percent of Israeli citizens who are not Jewish has been a longstanding challenge. For a long time learning about the history and concerns of the Arab minority visiting their communities, or engaging with their representatives who come to the United States on speaking tours, was relegated to a very low priority, often barely on the radar. » Read more

Encouraging Peace: Forgetting September ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Gershon Baskin - (Opinion) August 9, 2011 - 12:00am The sudden sprouting of tent camps and Israeli demonstrations has allowed the public a brief reprieve from having to confront Israel’s international reality and the Palestinian decision to bring the conflict to the UN Security Council in September.While the public is busy thinking about solutions to all the social-economic distortions, the US has been busy trying to pre-empt disaster. » Read more

Netanyahu's government has proven it fits in well in the Middle East ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Nehemia Shtrasler - (Opinion) August 10, 2011 - 12:00am No question about it, the establishment of the Trajtenberg Committee is another embarrassment for the Finance Ministry. The people at the treasury are skulking about, bruised and shattered, unable to understand how they fell so far. The fact that the panel for socioeconomic change is headed by an outsider, not the director general of the ministry or its budgets director, proves how weak the ministry and Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz have become. » Read more

Why the US must support bid for Palestinian statehood ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Ibrahim Sharqieh - (Opinion) August 9, 2011 - 12:00am In 1998, while attending a peace process conference in Germany, I witnessed intense discussions about whether Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Chairman Yasser Arafat should unilaterally declare a Palestinian state. (The Oslo Accord’s five-year interim phase was to end one month after the conference date.) European diplomats argued aggressively against the declaration, insisting that more time should be given to negotiations. Ultimately, pressure, particularly from Europe and the United States, changed the course of action for Mr. Arafat, and no state was declared. » Read more