Barak Approves New Settler Homes in Gevoat
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Tovah Lazaroff - February 10, 2012 - 1:00am

Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Thursday authorized construction of homes and educational facilities in a small, isolated area of Gush Etzion known as Gevaot. This marks the first time that permanent housing has been authorized in Gevaot, which is made up of caravan homes. Hagit Ofran of Peace Now charged that the approvals were tantamount to the creation of a new settlement – an allegation the Defense Ministry rejected. Officially, on the map, Gevaot is located within the Alon Shvut settlement.

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Jews, Palestinians plant trees together in West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Akiva Novick - February 8, 2012 - 1:00am

School children from the Efrat settlement and residents of the neighboring Palestinian village of Jurat al-Shama planted trees together in an initiative that promoted co-existence in the West Bank, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Wednesday. The event, held on the Jewish holiday of Tu B'Shvat, aimed to block the hazardous dust that is being disseminated by a nearby tree-processing plant.

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Israel: New Subsidies Don’t Apply to Settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Amy Teibel - February 3, 2012 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM — New financial incentives designed to lure Israelis to poorer, outlying areas have been revised to exclude West Bank settlements, officials said Thursday. A government announcement about the Cabinet decision earlier this week identified some 550 communities that qualified for the subsidies, including 70 West Bank settlements. Many of them are deep inside the West Bank, the heartland of what the Palestinians hope will be an independent state. In the original announcement, the government said the subsidies are "meant to encourage positive migration to these communities."

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Key settlement outpost slated for evacuation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from IRIN
February 2, 2012 - 1:00am

RAMALLAH (IRIN) -- Israel's High Court of Justice has ordered Israeli settlers in the Migron outpost in the West Bank to leave by March 31 in response to a 2006 petition filed by seven Palestinian landowners and Israeli pressure group Peace Now. "The prime minister is trying to implement the court's decision peacefully," by reaching an agreement with the Migron settlers which would include moving them from their homes to new housing on adjacent Israeli "state land", Mark Regev, spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told IRIN.

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Israel backtracks on housing benefits for West Bank settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - February 2, 2012 - 1:00am

Housing benefits will not be granted to some 70 West Bank settlements unless specifically approved by the defense minister, who has authority over West Bank construction, the cabinet decided on Wednesday. The decision amended a cabinet resolution approved on Sunday that granted various housing benefits to people living in national priority areas. Since about 70 settlements are located in national priority areas, the new decision was passed to exclude them.

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Israelis, Palestinians at loggerheads over praise of settler killer
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
February 2, 2012 - 1:00am

AWARTA, West Bank — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s latest complaints about Palestinian “hate speech,” after relatives of the killer of a Jewish settler family praised him in a phone call to the official Palestine TV, spotlight the intense animosity and mutual distrust that have blocked peace talks for years. Netanyahu argues that President Mahmoud Abbas’ government has failed to educate Palestinians for peace, stoking Israeli suspicions about a hidden Palestinian agenda, and that this poses a major obstacle to any peace deal.

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Netanyahu’s unnecessary committee on settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
(Editorial) February 1, 2012 - 1:00am

In the Likud leadership contest, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has portrayed himself as the antithesis of his challenger, the Jewish Leadership faction's Moshe Feiglin, who represents extremists among West Bank settlers. But Netanyahu's policy on settlements and unauthorized West Bank outposts, as with his "peace policy," shows that he deserves the loyalty of those extremists no less than Feiglin does.

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Israeli Settlements: Errors Beget Errors
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Weekly Standard
by Elliott Abrams - (Opinion) February 1, 2012 - 1:00am

On January 29, Israel’s cabinet approved new “housing benefits” for “national priority areas.” The exact application of these benefits to communities in the West Bank is unclear, to me at least, but the cabinet statement says, “The decision is designed to encourage positive migration to the communities.” News reports suggest that of the 557 communities eligible for the aid, 70 are in the West Bank: “The list of qualifying settlements include major enclaves that would likely remain in Israeli hands under a peace deal.

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Words matter: A new language for peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Jazeera English
by John V. Whitbeck - (Opinion) February 1, 2012 - 1:00am

The words which people use, often unconsciously, can have a critical impact upon the thoughts and attitudes of those who speak and write, as well as those who listen and read. Dangerously misleading terminology remains a major obstacle to Israeli-Palestinian peace.

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Israeli government offers concessions to settlers
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Amy Teibel - January 31, 2012 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government has made two overtures to West Bank settlers in the run-up to his party's leadership race on Tuesday: It's offering financial incentives to encourage people to move to settlements and opening the door to legalizing rogue settler outposts.

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