Palestinians slam Israeli referendum law
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
November 23, 2010 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM (Ma’an) -- Palestinian leaders in Israel and the West Bank slammed Monday, the passing of a Knesset bill mandating a national referendum ahead of any pullout from zones occupied by Israel, including the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. Palestinian citizen of Israel and member of the Knesset Jamal Zahalqa called the law “an Israeli invention which is unprecedented in world history,” while chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said with the passing of the bill “the Israeli leadership, yet again, is making a mockery of international law.”

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Israel Enacts Bill to Force Referendum on a Treaty
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - November 22, 2010 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM — Israel’s right-leaning Parliament approved legislation late Monday that could hamper the leadership’s ability to seal future peace deals with the Palestinians or Syria. The measure requires that any peace deal involving the ceding of territory annexed by Israel — namely East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights — must be put to a national referendum. The West Bank, which Israel never annexed, does not fall within the scope of the legislation, but it would include other pieces of sovereign Israeli territory that might be ceded in the context of land swaps in a peace agreement.

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Israeli referendum bill could hinder peace moves
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman
by Josef Federman - November 22, 2010 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM — Israel's parliament passed a bill Monday that could complicate peace efforts with the Palestinians and Syria by making it very difficult for any government to make territorial withdrawals. The bill requires a two-thirds Knesset majority to cede land in east Jerusalem to the Palestinians or in the Golan Heights to Syria. Failing that, either withdrawal would become subject to a referendum, and polls show winning public approval would be an uphill battle.

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Palestinian Leader Insists on Halt to Settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - (Analysis) November 21, 2010 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM — The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, said Sunday that any American proposal for restarting Israeli-Palestinian negotiations must include East Jerusalem as part of a complete halt in Israeli settlement building. It was not immediately clear whether Mr. Abbas’s position, which is consistent with Palestinian policy, would scuttle a proposed deal that the Americans hope will lead to resumption of the negotiations. In the past the sides have found ways to surmount such difficulties.

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Israeli bill seen sinking future peace deals
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman
by Ben Hubbard - November 21, 2010 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM — Israel's hawkish parliament is voting on legislation that could sink future peace deals with the Palestinians and Syria. Lawmakers are expected to approve Monday a bill that would make it harder for the government to cede east Jerusalem and the Golan Heights in any future accords. The legislation would require a two-thirds majority in Israel's 120-seat parliament for territorial concessions to win approval. Without that super majority, the government would need to win approval in a national referendum.

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MI chief: Tel Aviv may be target in next war against Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - November 21, 2010 - 1:00am

Israel should not be misled by a recent lull in regional violence, outgoing Military Intelligence chief Amos Yadlin said Sunday, adding that Jerusalem's enemies were continually building up their military power. Giving farewell remarks during his final cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, Yadlin said that "Israel's deterrence is very strong but the lull shouldn't mislead anyone, the opposite is true. Our enemies are strengthening and arming."

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Israeli press is censoring the truth away
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Gideon Levy - (Opinion) November 21, 2010 - 1:00am

We’re meeting in Eilat this week for our annual conference; let’s use it for some soul-searching. There are many reasons to be proud of what we write, broadcast, uncover and express. Not everywhere can you find such a lively press, especially such a free press. But this freedom of ours is in great danger, friends, a freedom we don’t take proper advantage of. A dangerous fire is burning around us, and even if it hasn’t reached us, it’s on the way, yet we are complacent. The monster is coming, and there is no one to stop it.

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Education students boycott Ariel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
November 19, 2010 - 1:00am

Education students at a college in central Israel have refused to participate in their final project at a facility in Ariel. In refusing to join in the teaching project in the Jewish West Bank city, the students from Beit Berl College have joined theater professionals, authors and academics in boycotting institutions in Ariel.

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Jerusalem official told to 'evict' Silwan settlers
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from
November 18, 2010 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM (AFP) - Israel's attorney general has asked its Jerusalem city council to implement a 2007 court order evicting Jewish settlers from a building in East Jerusalem, the justice ministry said Wednesday. Ministry spokesman Moshe Cohen said Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein had written to its municipality and its city police over repeated delays in carrying out the eviction order. "He told them there is no alternative and asked them to implement the order," Cohen told Agence France-Presse.

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U.S. official: Israel must refrain from East Jerusalem construction during freeze
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - November 18, 2010 - 1:00am

The United States will demand that Israel refrain from construction in both the West Bank and East Jerusalem as part of a 90-day settlement freeze Secretary Hillary Clinton has requested in exchange for a package of incentives, a U.S. official told Haaretz on Thursday. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scrambling to gather cabinet support for the settlement freeze. The ultra-Orthodox party Shas currently holds the balance of votes on the matter.

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