Likud MKs: PM doing what he fancies
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Yair Altman - November 29, 2010 - 1:00am

As talks between Israel and the United States on a new settlement construction freeze continue, the Likud party's hawkish camp clarified Monday that it was not going to make life easy for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Some 200 Central Committee members and heads of the party's offices across the country took part in the conference at the Knesset, calling on the prime minister not to resume the building freeze.

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B'tselem hands Naalin shooting tape to police
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Naama Cohen-Friedman - November 28, 2010 - 1:00am

The B'tselem organization handed over a tape in which an IDF soldier is seen shooting at the foot of a bound Palestinian protestor in Naalin, two and a half years after it was recorded. The police are expected to give the tape, which shows Staff Sgt. Leonardo Corea firing at the order of Lt. Colonel Omri Burberg, to forensics for an objective investigation.

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Zionism is not an ideology
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by A.B. Yehoshua - November 26, 2010 - 1:00am

Recently there has been exaggerated, misleading and perhaps even harmful use of the concept of "Zionism." The problem is prevalent both in Israel and outside the country; in the nationalist camp, the religious camp and the Labor movement; among liberals and ultra-nationalists; among Diaspora Jews as well as non-Jews; and mainly among Arabs.

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Left standing: Signs of life in Israel's peace camp
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Shay Fogelman - November 26, 2010 - 1:00am

The road to the settlement of Kedumim passes through the center of the village of Al-Funduq. There's hardly any traffic there; the few cars that have to pass through the village drive very fast. It's only 8 P.M., but there's not a soul to be seen. The road that cuts through the village provides a livelihood for those who own or work in shops along it, but once darkness falls, it becomes dangerous for locals, too. A person could get run over, or stopped for inspection by a military patrol, and in the past there have also been violent raids by settlers there. It's best to stay home.

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Settlers to teach school kids about 'evils' of moratorium
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Akiva Novick - November 25, 2010 - 1:00am

A new Yesha Council initiative will bring the movement opposing the West Bank construction moratorium into the classroom: Elementary and high schools in Judea and Samaria will hold a special lesson next week on the "damage and consequences of the construction freeze." Tens of thousands of students attending 60 Judea and Samaria schools are set to take part in the project. Schools in the Ariel and Ma'aleh Adumim settlements and in haredi towns will not participate. Homeroom teachers in charge of the lesson will independently convey to the students their own opinions on the moratorium.

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Israeli defense minister mulls unity government
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
November 25, 2010 - 1:00am

Israel's Labor Party chairman and Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Thursday suggested that the current Israeli government should be widened so as to move forward the peace process. "If this government can't move towards peace talks, we must consider widening it and making a national unity coalition," Barak said in a speech before the Pensioners' Union in Tel Aviv. "We joined the government so it would go in this direction, but we still haven't reached the goal," he added.

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Law that would require public vote to surrender land stirs ire in Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Edmund Sanders - November 24, 2010 - 1:00am

A new measure potentially requiring Israel to receive public approval before surrendering land in any Middle East peace deal came under fire Tuesday for setting a legal precedent that could undermine the government and further complicate negotiations.

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New layer of doubt cast over Middle East peace drive
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Crispian Balmer - (Analysis) November 24, 2010 - 1:00am

The path to Middle East peace, already strewn with an array of daunting obstacles, has now got one more hurdle to overcome. Israel's right-leaning coalition government this week passed a law that will probably force a referendum on any peace deal that involves withdrawing from land annexed by Israel, including East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, captured from Syria. Palestinians and Syrians have howled in protest, saying that Israel was obliged by international law to return land seized in a 1967 war and had no right to put the matter to a public vote.

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Israel stakes out lonely position on Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman
by Matti Friedman - November 24, 2010 - 1:00am

If there is ever to be Middle East peace, here's a knot that must somehow be undone. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis who have moved to sprawling Jewish areas in east Jerusalem believe they are ordinary residents of their capital who will never be asked to vacate their homes. It's a sentiment shared by most of their countrymen and affirmed by lawmakers who voted this week to limit a government's ability to ever pull out.

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Israel's leaders have handcuffed themselves to the extreme right
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
(Editorial) November 24, 2010 - 1:00am

For years, right-wing circles have tried to derail diplomatic steps taken by Israeli governments by, among other things, drafting laws that predicate territorial concession upon an absolute Knesset majority or a referendum. On Monday the government joined forces with the most right-wing parliament ever witnessed in the history of the state, for the purpose of handcuffing the political leadership's moves in the peace process.

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