US envoy demands halt to settlement growth in E. Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
November 17, 2009 - 1:00am

US Special Envoy George Mitchell called on Israel to stop construction in the Israeli settlement of Gilo, in east Jerusalem, according to Israeli media on Tuesday. The demand was made during a meeting on Monday between George Mitchell and Yitzhak Molcho, an Israeli official with the country's envoy to Washington, concerning plans to build a new residential complex in Gilo that are currently awaiting authorization from Jerusalem municipality officials, according to the Israeli daily Ynet.

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Israeli ministers threaten to annex West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
November 17, 2009 - 1:00am

Israeli ministers continued threatening to take unilateral measures if the Palestinian Authority (PA) declares statehood without a negotiated peace agreement. According to Israeli sources, Benjamin Netanyahu's administration may even consider withdrawing from the Oslo Accords. Israeli Minister of Environment Gilad Erian on Monday threatened to stop delivering taxes collected on behalf of the PA. He also threatened to erect more military checkpoints in the West Bank. "We will not allow the Palestinians to declare a state unilaterally."

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US backs Palestinian state through talks - not UN
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
November 17, 2009 - 1:00am

The United States backs Palestinian efforts to achieve an independent state, but only through negotiations with Israel, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters on Monday. "We support the creation of a Palestinian state that is contiguous," he said. "We are convinced that has to be achieved through negotiations between two parties. We support a Palestinian state that arrives as a result of negotiations between two parties." Kelly also said he was unaware if the PLO had sought America's opinion, according to Agence France-Presse.


Palestinians under world pressure not to declare state unilaterally
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Natasha Mozgovaya - November 17, 2009 - 1:00am

The Palestinian Authority is coming under increasing pressure ­ from Israel and the international community ­to back down from its threat to unilaterally declare a state without first concluding a peace agreement with Israel. On Monday evening, The United States on Monday reaffirmed its support for the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through negotiations, in its first official response to the Palestinian plan.

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EU rejects Palestinian bid for unilateral declaration of state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
November 17, 2009 - 1:00am

The European Union has rejected the Palestinian Authority's request to back its plan for gaining recognition as an independent state at the United Nations Security Council without Israeli consent. Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, whose country holds the EU presidency, explained that the EU does not believe conditions are ripe yet for such a move. The EU is not on the Security Council, but EU members France and Britain are permanent council members that wield veto power.

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U.S. Jews on mission to buy in settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
November 17, 2009 - 1:00am

A group of American Jews arrived in Israel on a mission to promote home purchases in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem. The 46 members of the three-day mission, which began Monday, were scheduled to meet with realtors.

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The return of the illusionist
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Yoel Marcus - (Opinion) November 17, 2009 - 1:00am

Let's say Benjamin Netanyahu was prime minister in 1977 instead of Menachem Begin. Would he have gone the same way? Made a peace agreement with Egypt via Camp David? Renounced all the Pithat Rafiah settlements? Withdrawn to the last millimeter in Sinai? Signed an agreement affirming the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people?

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Donald Macintyre: Palestinians throw down challenge to Obama and UN
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Donald MacIntyre - (Analysis) November 17, 2009 - 1:00am

As so often in the Middle East, we have been here before. The latest suggestion – that a frustrated Palestinian leadership would unilaterally declare a state and invite international recognition for it – is not new. It was made a decade ago by Yasser Arafat when Benjamin Netanyahu, then as now, was Prime Minister. It was made again after the collapse of the Camp David talks a year later, when then Prime Minister Ehud Barak, like some of Mr Netanyahu's more hawkish ministers now, threatened to annex the most populous settlements in the West Bank in retaliation.

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Dilemma of the peace process
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Hassan Barari - (Opinion) November 17, 2009 - 1:00am

Now, in the absence of a peace process in the Middle East, one feels compelled to discuss two main obstacles to conciliation that have been debated time and again to no avail. First, Israel will not proceed towards peace if the Americans are not on board. This explains the explicit demand, mainly voiced by the Arabs, that a third party intervention be secured if we really aspire to a quick fix to the seemingly intractable conflict between Israel and its Arab neighbours.

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Hamas rejects PA’s UN move for statehood
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by HIsham Abu Taha - November 17, 2009 - 1:00am

Hamas rejected Monday a Palestinian suggestion to seek UN Security Council support for unilaterally declaring a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Such a declaration would have no meaning and was merely an attempt by the rival Palestinian camp of President Mahmoud Abbas to pretend it had an alternative to faltering peace negotiations, other than armed struggle, said Hamas, which is ruling Gaza.

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