Who "Froze" The Peace Process?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast
by Peter Beinart - (Opinion) October 3, 2012 - 12:00am


Jeff Goldberg has a new Bloomberg column arguing that President Obama has not done enough to support the rebels in Syria, which had me mostly nodding in agreement until I reached this offhand comment about Israel: "Obama was wrong to draw a line in the sand over settlements, which are a derivative issue (if the Israelis and Palestinians settle their borders, the settlement issue will also be solved). But because he made it an issue without a thought to follow-up, he managed to freeze the process."


License to Care
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from International Herald Tribune
by Raja Shehadeh - (Blog) October 2, 2012 - 12:00am


JERUSALEM — Last month I took my wife to Al Makassed Islamic Charitable Hospital in East Jerusalem to have the head of the orthopedic ward, Dr. Rustom Nammari, examine her arm; she broke it this summer during a hike in Scotland. Since its establishment in 1968, this hospital has been the medical institution of choice for Palestinians in the West Bank.


Pro-settler vandals deface Jerusalem monastery
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
October 2, 2012 - 12:00am


JERUSALEM, Oct 2 (Reuters) - Suspected hardline Israelis scrawled pro-settler graffiti and religious insults on a monastery outside the walls of Jerusalem's Old City on Tuesday, police said, in the latest of a series of attacks on non-Jewish sites. The vandals wrote the phrase "price tag" in Hebrew on the gate of the Monastery of Saint Francis on Mount Zion - a reference to a violent campaign supporting unauthorised settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.


Israel frees two Hamas lawmakers in West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
September 30, 2012 - 12:00am


RAMALLAH, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Israeli authorities on Sunday released two lawmakers in the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) in the West Bank.


UNHRC settlement probe calls for submissions
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Tovah Lazaroff - September 27, 2012 - 12:00am


The UN Human Rights Council fact-finding mission into UN Human Rights Council settlements is seeking written submissions with documentation on the topic from all relevant parties. It has made this request of member states, international organizations, national institutions and nongovernmental organizations, according to a letter sent last week by Christine Chanet, the head of the three-person mission, to council president Laura Dupuy Lasserre.


Inside Out: Barak’s unilateral proposition
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Jonathan Rosen - (Opinion) September 27, 2012 - 12:00am


Defense Minister Ehud Barak gave a lengthy interview to Israel HaYom on Tuesday in which he called on the government and the public to consider a partial unilateral withdrawal from large swathes of the West Bank, in the absence of a peace agreement with the Palestinians. Such a withdrawal would involve abandoning Israeli control over dozens of settlements and the creation of a Palestinian state in the vacated areas.


West Bank university puts Israeli policies to the test
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Maayan Lubell - September 26, 2012 - 12:00am


ARIEL, West Bank (Reuters) -- An Israeli government move to upgrade Ariel University Center in the occupied West Bank to a full-fledged university has put the 30-year-old school at the center of a debate at the core of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: how the settlements will figure in defining a future Palestinian state.


Palestinian leaders dismiss Barak's proposal for partial withdrawal
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
September 25, 2012 - 12:00am


BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Palestinian leaders on Monday dismissed a proposal by Israel's defense minister suggesting a partial withdrawal from the occupied West Bank. Ehud Barak told the newspaper Israel Hayom that in the absence of peace talks, smaller illegal settlements in the West Bank should be evacuated, with the major settlement blocs remaining under Israeli control. Barak's proposal was swiftly shot down by Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor, who said the army will remain in the West Bank until a peace agreement is reached.


Israeli left-wing party introduces new peace plan to replace Oslo Accords
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
September 25, 2012 - 12:00am


JERUSALEM, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- The head of Israel's left-wing Meretz party, Knesset (parliament) member Zehava Gal-On introduced her party's draft for a new peace plan with the Palestinians on Tuesday.


Israeli DM's West Bank pullout bid ires right-wingers: report
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
September 24, 2012 - 12:00am


  JERUSALEM, Sept. 24 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Monday floated a controversial West Bank pullout plan which included unilaterally leaving areas beyond several large settlement blocs, with details that immediately drew fire from both his right flank and official Palestinian sources.



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