November 19th, 2008

Lawmaker moves into Hebron house ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) November 18, 2008 - 8:00pm An Israeli lawmaker moved into a house in Hebron that the High Court has ordered to be evacuated. Rabbi Nissim Ze’ev of the religious Shas Party on Tuesday moved into the "Peace House," a four-story building located halfway between Kiryat Arba and the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, a day before a court-ordered deadline for the 20 Jewish families living in the building to vacate. The families, who moved into the building in March 2007, claim they bought the home from its Palestinian owner. The Palestinian has denied the sale. » Read more

Palestinians will need Barack Obama's helping hand ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star by Yasser Abed Rabbo - November 18, 2008 - 8:00pm President-elect Barack Obama's defiantly positive campaign for change has inspired hope not only in the millions of Americans who voted for him, but also in the billions of others worldwide who could not. Across the Middle East, as elsewhere, expectations are building that his presidency will herald a new era for America's role in the world. » Read more

Churches to deliver Christmas notes to Bethlehem ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press November 18, 2008 - 8:00pm The World Council of Churches will help deliver Christmas messages and prayers of peace to the biblical birthplace of Jesus. Christianity's largest ecumenical movement says messages e-mailed before the Jan. 7 Christmas celebrated by Orthodox Christians will be printed and handed out at schools and places of worship in the West Bank city of Bethlehem. » Read more

UN resumes food distribution in Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP) by Mai Yaghi - November 18, 2008 - 8:00pm Food distribution to half the Gaza Strip's 1.5 million population resumed on Tuesday, although the United Nations warned aid supplies would soon run out unless Israel eases its crippling blockade. "Distribution will go on of the very small amount we brought in on Monday," said UN Relief and Works Agency spokesman Chris Gunness. "The supplies will last days, not weeks," he told AFP. Crowds rushed to the UNRWA distribution centres to try to get hold of the limited supplies of flour, sugar, rice, powdered milk and luncheon meat. » Read more

High in the Holy Land, a Biblical view of peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Douglas Hamilton - November 18, 2008 - 8:00pm When God ordered Abraham to slaughter a son, the angel of the Lord stepped in at the last minute to stay his hand. Was it a test of faith, or had Abraham's imagination simply run away with him? Scholars may differ, but to many Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank, the story is as real as the airy heights and rocky slopes where Hebrew and Philistine armies clashed in biblical times, and where they live today. » Read more

Israel renews blockade of Gaza crossings ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Nidal Al-Mughrabi - November 18, 2008 - 8:00pm Israel resealed border crossings with the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, blaming continued rocket fire at its towns, despite warnings from world aid groups of looming shortages of food and fuel in the coastal territory. Israel had allowed 33 truckloads of supplies into Gaza for the first time in two weeks on Monday, and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas he would not permit a humanitarian crisis to develop there. » Read more

Foreign Reporters’ Group Fights Israeli Prohibition on Entering Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Isabel Kershner - November 18, 2008 - 8:00pm An association representing international news organizations is campaigning for an end to an unusual Israeli policy barring foreign reporters from entering Gaza that has lasted for almost two weeks. » Read more

November 18th

Palestinian PM: Settlement building will destroy peace process ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Akiva Eldar - November 17, 2008 - 8:00pm Palestinian Prime Minister and Finance Minister Salam Fayyad called on the international community to up the pressure on Israel to suspend all construction in the settlements and implied that the Palestinian Authority could apply to the International Court of Justice in this regard, adopting the example of the separation fence. » Read more

Abbas said to ask Olmert to free Barghouti as goodwill gesture ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Avi Issacharoff - November 17, 2008 - 8:00pm Ramallah-based paper Al-Ayyam reported Tuesday that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas asked outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Monday to release Fatah militant leader Marwan Barghouti a goodwill gesture. The paper reported that Abbas asked that Barghouti be freed ahead of next month's Eid al-Adha festival, making the request during a meeting with Olmert on Monday. Abbas also reportedly asked the prime minister to release Popular Front Secretary General Ahmad Sadat, and Palestinian Legislative Council Speaker and Hamas member Aziz al-Dweik. » Read more

PA to publish ads in Israeli media ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Ali Waked - November 17, 2008 - 8:00pm The Palestinian Authority will try to influence public opinion in Israel ahead of the general elections in February by publishing advertisements in Israeli newspapers. The ads, which outline the Saudi peace plan, will appear in the papers as of this Thursday. This is the first time that the PA is using this channel to communicate with the Israeli public. A source said that similar ads will be published in American and European newspapers as well. » Read more