December 16th

Bethlehem gears up for a busy Christmas ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP) December 16, 2008 - 1:00am The traditional birthplace of Jesus is preparing to welcome a record number of tourists in its first year of relative calm in the West Bank since 2000, Bethlehem's mayor said on Monday. Victor Batarseh said at his annual news conference ahead of Christmas and the New Year celebration that there has been a "clear improvement in the situation of tourism since the beginning of the year." He said the West Bank town where Christians believe Jesus was born was expecting to host more than a million tourists and pilgrims "from now until the end of the year." » Read more

Palestinians celebrate release from Israeli jails ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Ali Sawafta - December 16, 2008 - 1:00am Israel released 224 prisoners in a goodwill gesture to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday, prompting joyous family reunions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Families sang and danced as prison buses rolled up full of newly freed men, shouting and waving from the windows, and mothers wept as they embraced their children. Abbas greeted them individually with kisses on the cheeks at his office in Ramallah, the seat of his government, but said Israel should release all Palestinians it was holding. » Read more

Rice cites Mideast peace moves ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press December 16, 2008 - 1:00am US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said at a farewell UN appearance Monday that Israel and the Palestinians had moved much further along the path to peace since US President George W. Bush brought their leaders together a year ago, though they won't clinch an agreement by the end of the year. » Read more

Israeli high court restricts barrier ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by Karin Laub - December 16, 2008 - 1:00am Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank cannot run in wide loops around Israeli settlements to allow for their expansion, the country's Supreme Court ruled yesterday in an order hailed by a lawyer for Palestinian villagers as a precedent-setting victory. Israeli officials say the barrier, two-thirds complete, is designed to keep out Palestinian attackers, including suicide bombers. » Read more

Wanted: an Israeli peace initiative ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Tony Klug - (Opinion) December 16, 2008 - 1:00am As any serious observer of the Israeli-Palestinian tragedy can testify, partisan enthusiasts of either side are very good at telling everyone else what they should think, where they are wrong and how they should behave. The Israeli ambassador to London, Ron Prosor is, to be fair, not alone in ploughing this path. I counted a total of 11 such imperatives in his brief article for the Guardian last week. » Read more

New face of law and order in the West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Times by Mick Hume - December 16, 2008 - 1:00am The traffic policeman doing Michael Jackson-esque moves outside the Stars and Bucks café in busy Ramallah attracts a lot of attention. To many however, the sight of any Palestinian uniform in the West Bank is still a novelty. The dancing policeman is the face of a new force — trained in Jordan with US and European support — in an attempt to establish Palestinian law and order in the West Bank. » Read more

Egyptian intellectuals pay price for curiosity ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Jeffrey Fleishman - December 16, 2008 - 1:00am It has been a tough peace for Ali Salem. His plays don't have a stage. Intellectuals shun him; the writers union refuses to pay his pension. He sits in a cafe window, typing on his laptop and defending his choice long ago to cross the border into Israel and make friends. Egypt and Israel made peace in 1979, but that treaty remains as agitating to Egyptian artists and intellectuals as a sliver of glass beneath the skin. Most of them don't accept it, and those who do are often vilified, their artistic voices muffled by condemnation. » Read more

In new ads, Palestinians try to sway Israeli public on peace plan ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Ilene Prusher - December 16, 2008 - 1:00am Along Route 2, which follows the Mediterranean coastline, motorists are seeing an unusual sight: a Palestinian flag next to an Israeli one. Below the image appearing on billboards is a message in Hebrew: There's a viable peace initiative on offer from Arab states. Reach a land-for-peace deal with Palestinians, and we will recognize you. The signature? The flags of 57 Arab and Muslim states – all except Iran. » Read more

U.N. Rights Investigator Expelled by Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Isabel Kershner - December 16, 2008 - 1:00am Israeli authorities on Monday expelled Richard Falk, a United Nations investigator of human rights in the Palestinian territories, saying he was unwelcome because of what the government has regarded as his hostile position toward Israel. Mr. Falk, an American, arrived in Israel on Sunday. He was held at the airport and placed on the first available flight back to Geneva, his point of departure. A spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry said that Mr. Falk had been informed in advance that his entry would be barred. Mr. Falk was not immediately available for comment. » Read more

December 15th

Top US diplomat on the Middle East David Welch Urges Effective Diplomacy on Iran and Continuity on the Peace Process ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat by Joyce Karam - December 15, 2008 - 1:00am With less than five weeks left for the Bush administration in office, the top U.S. diplomat to the Middle East, Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch, speaks to Al-Hayat in an exclusive interview discussing the long journey that Washington has taken in the region over the last eight years. The U.S. official who brokered the U.S.-Libyan comprehensive claims settlement agreement, calls for an effective diplomacy in the face of the increasing Iranian threat, and sees urgency in continuing the peace process and pursuing a two state solution: » Read more