October 24th

Israel's key Shas party will not join coalition
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
October 23, 2008 - 8:00pm

The Israeli ultra-orthodox Shas party decided on Friday not to join a coalition led by Israeli premier-designate Tzipi Livni, a party spokesman said, making early elections almost inevitable. On Thursday, Livni set a Sunday deadline to either say she can form a new Israeli coalition government or announce failure, thereby starting the constitutional process that leads to an early general election.

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West Bank land prices skyrocket
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
October 22, 2008 - 8:00pm

In the city of Ramallah, the value of central commercial plots has doubled each year since 2005, hitting $4,000 per square metre ($372 per sq foot). Prices are being pushed up by a weak dollar and Israeli control of large chunks of the territory, the organisation said in a report. Investment in the Palestinian economy is "precariously" low, it also warned. In the report published on Thursday, the World Bank said prices for land in key West Bank cities are now beyond the reach of most local businesses and homebuyers.

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Chances for peace emerge in Mideast clashes
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Ilene Prusher - October 23, 2008 - 8:00pm

Both Israel and the United States soon will have new leaders at the helm. The Palestinians, too, are facing possible elections. During such transitional times for the three major players in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, few expected any concrete steps toward peace. But a new calm has emerged in the cross-border battle between Gazan militants and the Israeli army, Palestinian rival factions Fatah and Hamas are preparing for reconciliation talks, and on Thursday in Egypt Israeli President Shimon Peres backed the "spirit" of a 2002 Arab initiative that maps out regional peace.

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Pilgrimage to Roots of Faith and Strife
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - October 23, 2008 - 8:00pm

They came in waves, ardent Jewish settlers, religious women from central Israel, black-clad followers of Hasidic courts and groups of teenage boys and girls, almost a thousand of them in all. Crammed into a dozen buses and escorted by the Israeli military, the Jewish pilgrims slid quietly along deserted streets throughout the early hours of a recent morning while the residents of this Palestinian city, a militant stronghold ruled until recently by armed gangs, slept in their beds.

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October 23rd

The Los Angeles Times answers some basic questions regarding the formation of Israel’s new ruling coalition (1). The World Bank issues a report citing Israeli restrictions as a main inhibitor of economic growth in the West Bank (2). Israeli President Shimon Peres lends his support to the revival of the Arab peace initiative (3). Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad joins West Bank farmers to help with the olive harvest (4). Israel approves the deployment of additional Palestinian Security Forces in Hebron (5). An Israeli citizen is stabbed and killed by a Palestinian in Jerusalem (7).

MKs demand: Raze Jerusalem terrorist's home
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Amnon Meranda - October 22, 2008 - 8:00pm

Knesset Member Yitzhak Aharonovitch (Yisrael Beiteinu) warned Thursday that the latest streak of terror attacks in Jerusalem was a direct result of Israel's failing deterrence. Aharonovitch spoke in response to Thursday morning's stabbing attack in Jerusalem, which claimed the life of 86-year-old Avraham Ozeri and left a police officer moderately wounded. Ozeri was a resident of the Gilo neighborhood in the capital.

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Livni: I'll call elections Sunday if no coalition formed by then
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Mazal Mualem - October 22, 2008 - 8:00pm

Prime Minister-designate Tzipi Livni set an ultimatum on Thursday, giving her potential coalition partners three days to join a new government under her leadership or face the prospect of new elections. Livni, who under law has until Nov. 3 to put together a parliamentary majority, informed President Shimon Peres of her decision. "This is the time for decisions for all of us - either a government or elections and the decision will fall on Sunday and until Sunday everyone is going to have to some soul searching and make their decision," she told her Kadima party.

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Hamas: Jerusalem stabbing is natural response to Israeli aggression
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Jonathan Lis - October 22, 2008 - 12:00am

A Palestinian attacker killed a 86-year-old Israeli and wounded a policemand in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo. The policeman was classified as serious. The attacker, 20-year-old Mohammed al-Badan, was shot and disarmed during the attack. The Palestinian militant group Hamas added that the terror attack came as a direct response to Israeli moves to make Jerusalem more Jewish. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said two police officers on patrol in Gilo had stopped an Arab for questioning on the street when he pulled out a knife and stabbed one of them.

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Abbas 'Changing Old Guard' With Removal of Intel Chief
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Middle East Times
by Sana Abdallah - October 22, 2008 - 8:00pm

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has sacked his intelligence chief in the West Bank, Brig-Gen. Tawfiq al-Tirawi, in a move widely believed to be part of security reforms linked to ensuring the success of upcoming reconciliation talks between rival Fatah and Hamas in Cairo next month.

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Israel approves more Palestinian police in Hebron -- radio
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)
October 22, 2008 - 8:00pm

Israel has approved deploying several hundred additional Palestinian policemen in the West Bank town of Hebron as part of an operation to restore order, Israeli public radio reported Thursday. The deployment, the date for which has yet to be set, was agreed at a meeting Wednesday between officials of the Israeli military and the Palestinian Authority's security service.

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