Letter To An Israeli In Christmas Time ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arabic Media Internet Network by Dr. Bernard Sabella - December 20, 2007 - 4:59pm This is the time of feasts and holidays. We are on our second day of Eid El Adha, the Muslim Feast of Sacrifice; Hanukkah, the Feast of Lights, was celebrated few days ago.   Christmas is around the corner. As we celebrate our separate holidays, it is clear that we have not yet found the middle ground that would enable all of us to genuinely share the celebrations of each other. There are many theories, academic arguments and practical reasons of why we have not yet arrived at the middle ground. » Read more

Gaza: To Die With The Philistines? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News by Uri Avnery - December 20, 2007 - 4:58pm The most famous words ever spoken in Gaza were the last words of Samson (Judges, 16, 30): “Let me die with the Philistines!” According to the Biblical story, Samson took hold of the central pillars of the Philistine temple and brought down the whole building upon the Lords of the Philistines, the people of Gaza and himself. The teller of the story sums it all up: “So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life.” » Read more

Hamas, Pa Census Bureau Locked In Dispute Over Gaza Survey ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amira Hass - December 20, 2007 - 4:57pm The United Nations and Palestinian parliament members are mediating between Hamas and the Palestinian Central Statistics Bureau (CBS) over a census taken in the Gaza Strip. The Hamas authorities shut the CBS offices last month and declared the census suspended, after CBS refused to hand over its data to a committee Hamas set up to supervise the census. » Read more

In Jerusalem, Build Up, Not Out ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz December 20, 2007 - 4:56pm We shouldn't envy those who are building the future of Jerusalem. The secular people may be leaving the city, but it is growing by leaps and bounds - though it is not easy to find a place to build. The city cannot develop to the east, in the area known as E1, because of clear-cut pledges to the Americans not to create territorial contiguity between Jerusalem and Ma'aleh Adumim. It cannot expand westward because the Safdie plan has been shelved. A real problem. » Read more

Experts: Extreme Rightists Will Use Violence If Settlements Are Evacuated ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amoss Harel - December 20, 2007 - 4:55pm Extreme right-wing activists are expected to use severe violence to disrupt any move to evacuate outposts or settlements, even the destruction of a few homes, according to an evaluation recently presented to the government by the security establishment and law enforcement officials in the territories. The evaluation states that the violence during any attempt at evacuation would be more serious than that seen during the evacuation of Amona two years ago. » Read more

Paris Donors Conference For The Palestinian State: The Ball Is In Israel's Court ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Reut Institute December 20, 2007 - 4:53pm In light of yesterday's donor conference in Paris, the Reut Institute contends that the key to upgrading the PA's political status lies with Israel rather than with the donor countries. Yesterday, the Donors Conference for the Palestinian State (rather than the Palestinian Authority) was convened in Paris. » Read more

Analysis: Palestinian Aid And Politics ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bbc News by Jeremy Bowen - December 20, 2007 - 4:50pm If delegates to the Palestinian donors' conference in Paris felt like a little light shopping after their work was done it was a mere step from their meeting hall to the Champs Elysees. If they had worked up an appetite, there are restaurants where a modest piece of grilled fish can cost more than 60 Euros (US $86). » Read more

Bush To Make First Presidential Visit To Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Ewen Macaskill - December 20, 2007 - 4:48pm President George Bush is to embark on a week-long tour of the Middle East in the new year to nudge Israelis and Palestinians towards an end to their decades-long conflict and to bolster an Arab coalition against Iran. It will be the first time in his seven years as president that Bush will have visited Israel, the West Bank, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states. Elaborate security planning is already under way in Israel and the Arab countries for the visit, which begins on January 8, given the level of hostility towards Bush in the Middle East over the Iraq war. » Read more

Israeli Operations In Gaza Meet Little Resistance In Washington ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Nathan Guttman - December 20, 2007 - 4:46pm As Israel stepped up air attacks on Gaza this week, the Bush administration refrained from blocking any measures or criticizing Israel’s activity. The Israeli Air Force last week renewed the practice known as “targeted killing” against members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group in Gaza. Israeli officials have said in recent weeks that if rocket fire against Israeli towns is not stopped, further escalation might be imminent, including a full-scale ground incursion into the Hamas-controlled strip. » Read more

The Israel Lobby Revisited ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy In Focus by Stephen Zunes - December 20, 2007 - 4:45pm It has been 21 months since John Mearsheimer and Steve Walt published their article “The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy” in The London Review of Books and four months since their publication of a book by the same name. Their main arguments are that unconditional U.S. support for the Israeli government has harmed U.S. interests in the Middle East and that American organizations allied with the Israeli government have been the primary influence regarding the orientation of U.S. Middle East policy. » Read more