Words Won't Stop The Construction ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz (Editorial) January 2, 2008 - 2:44pm The announcement that the prime minister has directed cabinet ministers not to build in the territories behind his back sounds like a sleight of hand. The prime minister should not instruct his ministers to "increase awareness" of their ministries' actions that might impair negotiations with the Palestinians, but rather he should once and for all bring the Sasson report to the cabinet for approval. The report states clearly how to monitor settlement expansion. » Read more

Here's To The '67 Borders, The New Middle Of The Road ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Bradley Burston - January 2, 2008 - 2:42pm There was a time, not long past, that the mere mention of the 1967 borders was seen by many in the Jewish community as an expression of disloyalty, of sacrilege, of foolhardy risk, almost of profanity. Gradually, remarkably, there are signs that the route of the middle of the road has shifted. That we've come a long, long way. At this point, for many on the Israeli side and, in fact, on the Palestinian side as well, the middle of the road passes very, very close to the Green Line, the post-1948 war, pre-1967 war boundary between the West Bank and Israel. » Read more

Olmert Says Israel Must Internalize Divided J'lem ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Herb Keinon And David Horovitz - January 2, 2008 - 2:40pm Israel needs to internalize that even its supportive friends on the international stage conceive of the country's future on the basis of the 1967 borders and with Jerusalem divided, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has declared to The Jerusalem Post. At the same time, he made clear that he did not envisage a permanent accord along the '67 lines, describing Ma'aleh Adumim as an "indivisible" part of Jerusalem and Israel. » Read more

Settlements Contradict The Essence Of Peacemaking ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons by Ghassan Khatib - (Opinion) January 2, 2008 - 2:36pm The policy of establishing and expanding settlements may well be the only constant in Israeli practices on occupied Palestinian territory since 1967. Yet it is possible to discern several distinct phases in this policy depending on the party in power in Israel. » Read more

Cautious Hope For Peaceful Middle East ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Asia Times by Kaveh Afrasiabi - January 2, 2008 - 2:34pm Unlike 2007, a rather bloody year in the history of modern Middle East, 2008 should have a better prospect for peace than at any time since 2001, year zero in the American-declared "global war on terror", assuming that the lame-duck George W Bush administration does not somehow stifle that prospect. » Read more

Gaza Sewage, Water Disaster Looms ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Middle East Times by Mel Frykberg - January 2, 2008 - 2:31pm More than 1.4 million Gaza Palestinians are facing an impending health disaster from decaying sewage and water systems that lack vital spare parts, fuel, and maintenance work, due to an Israeli economic siege on the Gaza Strip. "We are a one-generator-failure away from disaster," Michael Bailey, an Oxfam spokesman, told the Middle East Times. » Read more

Israeli Arabs Split Over National Service Plan ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Ken Ellingwood - January 2, 2008 - 2:29pm Seated in the corner of a bustling classroom, school volunteer Hanan Masarwa is barely visible amid a scrum of first-graders. The 18-year-old Masarwa is teaching the children to add as part of an Israeli national service program created in August. The volunteer program is an attempt to provide avenues, other than mandatory military service from which they are exempt, for integrating Arabs and religious Jews more fully into the mainstream Jewish state. » Read more

Israeli-palestinian Fatalities Drop, But Other Issues Persist ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Ilene Prusher - January 2, 2008 - 2:28pm In its year-end report issued on New Year's Eve, the leading Israeli human rights group B'tselem said that the numbers of Palestinians and Israelis killed in clashes in the West Bank and Gaza Strip has dropped dramatically, but that other human rights abuses persist. Overall, the number of both Palestinians and Israelis who fell victim to the conflict decreased, a benchmark year that is being quietly noted by analysts as a sign of progress in a troubled region. » Read more

Clinton Leads In Jewish Backers, But Key Ones Back Obama, Mccain ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) by Ben Harris - January 2, 2008 - 2:27pm As the nation trains its spotlight on Iowa and New Hampshire, two Jewish politicians have become central players in the Granite State's political drama that may well determine who secures the Democratic and Republican nominations. » Read more

Declaring Forever War ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The American Conservative by Michael Desch - January 2, 2008 - 2:24pm Like most Americans, I knew little about Rudolph Giuliani, save that he had been the very successful mayor of New York City catapulted to iconic status for his cool-headed demeanor after the Sept. 11 attacks. I was curious about where he stood as a presidential candidate, so in April 2007, I joined nearly 3,000 other Texas A&M faculty and students to hear him speak. » Read more