Netanyahu cabinet to adopt parts of Levy report on legal status of West Bank outposts
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - October 17, 2012 - 12:00am

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet will adopt parts of a report by a cabinet-sanctioned panel that advised to legalize West Bank outposts and which rejected the claim that Israel's presence in the territories is that of an occupying force, Israel Radio reported on Wednesday.

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Binational reality
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
(Editorial) October 17, 2012 - 12:00am

With the start of the election campaign, the major parties are displaying a worrying tendency to put social, economic and security issues at the top of the agenda while evading the diplomatic issue at the root of Israel's democratic identity.

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Rice: US does not accept legitimacy of settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
October 16, 2012 - 12:00am

US Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Susan E. Rice said on Monday that the US "does not accept the legitimacy of Israeli settlement activity, and will continue to oppose any efforts to legalize outposts." Speaking at the Security Council Open Debate on the Middle East, Rice emphasized: "The fate of existing settlements must be dealt with by the parties along with other permanent-status issues."

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Palestinians protesters shut West Bank highway to avoid settlers' raids
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
October 16, 2012 - 12:00am

RAMALLAH, Oct. 16 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian protesters and international peace activists on Tuesday briefly blocked a street in the West Bank allocated for the use of Israeli vehicles only. The protesters shut Route 443 on a highway linking Jerusalem and Tel Aviv near Ramallah city, causing traffic jam for half an hour.

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Diplomacy Ministry seeks to boost settlers' global image
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Itamar Fleishman - October 15, 2012 - 12:00am

Against the backdrop of the upcoming Knesset elections, the Ministry of Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs is set to launch a campaign aiming to boost the West Bank settlements' global image.

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The Israeli settlers who make unlikely peace activists
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Khaled Diab - (Opinion) October 15, 2012 - 12:00am

In his recent speech to the UN general assembly, Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas warned that Israel's ongoing settlement construction in East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank would make the creation of a viable Palestinian state alongside Israel "extremely difficult if not completely impossible".

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Rare twist as Palestinians, Israeli settlers cooperate
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
October 12, 2012 - 12:00am

Saed's village, Khirbet Zakariya, is in a part of the West Bank under full Israeli administrative and security control. As a Palestinian, he cannot build without Israeli permission, which is often extremely difficult to secure. "Settlers came to visit the village three years ago and were surprised when they saw how little housing there was," he told AFP.

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West Bank settlers stealing tons of soil from Palestinian land
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Chaim Levinson - October 11, 2012 - 12:00am

Roughly a month ago, infrastructure work began in one of the house-trailer neighborhoods in the West Bank settlement of Ofra. Brown soil was needed to cover the foundations. In properly functioning places, such soil is bought and paid for, but not in Ofra. Tzvi, a local farmer, nicknamed “Kishu,” found an alternative: He sent a rented tractor and truck to the outskirts of the settlement, next to the Palestinian villages of Silwad and Deir Dibwan, where they simply stole dirt. Tzvi claims that the land belongs to him.

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Occupation Tourism
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from International Herald Tribune
by Shmuel Rosner - (Blog) October 11, 2012 - 12:00am

MOUNT GERIZIM, West Bank — Last week, with family in tow, I took the day off to go on an organized tour of the West Bank. The trip started in Peduel, a Jewish settlement half an hour from central Tel Aviv. It’s a scenic spot. Ariel Sharon used to call it “the balcony of Israel”: located on top of a mountain in the Samaria region, Peduel reveals below the big cities of Israel that lie near the Mediterranean shore.

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Gaza rockets hit southern Israel following air strike
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
October 10, 2012 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Militants in the Gaza Strip early Wednesday fired more rockets at Israeli communities in the western Negev, as a new round of hostilities entered its fourth day.

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