Crisis Spurs Migration to Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Wall Street Journal
by Sarah Toth Stub - December 3, 2009 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM -- Immigration into Israel and the Palestinian West Bank is surging after the financial crisis and economic downturn evaporated jobs elsewhere. After years of a brain drain from the region, and despite the lack of a peace settlement, by the end of this month about 4,000 North American Jews will have immigrated to Israel this year, an increase of 33% over 2008 and the most in one year since 1973, according to Nefesh B'Nefesh, an organization that oversees and assists with immigration to Israel from North America.

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Shattering Israel's image of 'democracy'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Ben White - (Opinion) December 3, 2009 - 1:00am

A struggle over land, home demolitions, and an Israeli government working with Jewish agencies to "develop" the land for the benefit of one group at the expense of another. It could be a picture of the illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, but in fact, it's inside Israel – in the Negev. The Negev, or al-Naqab in Arabic, is an area that since the inception of the state has been targeted by Israeli governments, along with agencies like the Jewish National Fund (JNF), for so-called "development".

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Settlers reject Netanyahu plea to respect settlement freeze
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Chaim Levinson, Barak Ravid - December 3, 2009 - 1:00am

Defiant West Bank settler leaders rejected on Thursday a personal plea from the prime minister to respect a construction freeze in the territories, vowing to keep confronting security forces sent to enforce the edict. In the West Bank, settlers blocked inspectors from entering a settlement to search for unauthorized construction, the third straight day of such confrontations. There has been no violence, but authorities have made at least six arrests.

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There’s no turning back
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Shimon Shiffer - (Opinion) December 2, 2009 - 1:00am

It was hard to believe the prime minister Tuesday evening when he declared that the settlement freeze is a temporary one-time move, to be followed by resumed construction; a statement he made in a bid to mitigate the anger of the settlers. However, it appears that nothing is more permanent than the temporary: This assumption may turn out to be accurate in respect to the cabinet’s decision to freeze settlement construction for 10 months.

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Israeli settlers scuffle with govt inspectors
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
December 1, 2009 - 1:00am

Residents of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday scuffled with government inspectors who had come to enforce a moratorium on construction, a military official said. "There were several scuffles between residents of various Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria (West Bank) and site inspectors," a senior military official told AFP on condition of anonymity. "But the authorities will continue to work to apply the decision."

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Settlers label Obama 'enemy of the Jews'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
November 30, 2009 - 1:00am

Members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s own party held a meeting on Saturday to voice outrage at a declared slowdown in construction of West Bank settlements. Settler leaders were among the 200 members of the ruling Likud party who attended the meeting in the city of Ra’ana inside Israel. The right-wing activists saved their most intense criticism for US President Barack Obama, who for 10 months has been urging a total freeze on the expansion of settlements on land taken from Palestinians.

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Case of Israeli chutzpah
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Orly Azoulay - November 30, 2009 - 1:00am

Exactly at the time when US President Barack Obama was holding the traditional Thanksgiving dinner, Minister Limor Livnat was speaking in Beersheba and badmouthing the American Administration. We have never faced such terrible US Administration, she said. Never before has an Israeli minister spoken out about the American government that way; at least not publicly.

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Minister Livnat: We are facing an awful administration
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Ilana Curiel - November 27, 2009 - 1:00am

"I do not envy the prime minister. We are facing an awful administration," Culture and Sports Minister Limor Livnat said during a Likud convention in Beersheba Thursday, referring to US President Barack Obama's government.

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Israel's pro-settlement soldiers worry leaders
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
November 25, 2009 - 1:00am

In Israel, most men and women do military service. As a result, the public's attitude towards their military is rather familial and criticism is mostly expressed in private. But, suddenly, an increasing number of soldiers are openly protesting against their involvement in the evacuation of Jewish settlement outposts in the West Bank, reports the BBC's Katya Adler.

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Peres: Netanyahu can and must make peace with Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
November 23, 2009 - 1:00am

President Shimon Peres said Monday that just peace between Israel and the Palestinians was just a "step away," and urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to do everything necessary to ensure an end to the conflict during its tenure. "Today, there is just one step left between us and the end of this conflict," said Peres. "The current government can and must do it. The painful solution of dividing the land, two states for two peoples, was something the [Israel's first prime minister] David Ben-Gurion took on himself, and today it is accepted by the majority of the nation.

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