Erekat: Determined to declare state ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Ali Waked - November 16, 2009 - 1:00am The Palestinians are making it clear that they will not hesitate to take their fate into their own hands: Top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat on Sunday said the Palestinians are determined to obtain the international support necessary to approach the UN Security Council with the demand to declare a Palestinian state in the borders of June 1967. » Read more

IDF Chief Rabbi: Troops who show mercy to enemy will be 'damned' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Anshel Pfeffer - November 16, 2009 - 1:00am The Israel Defense Forces' chief rabbi told students in a pre-army yeshiva program last week that soldiers who "show mercy" toward the enemy in wartime will be "damned." Brig. Gen. Avichai Rontzki also told the yeshiva students that religious individuals made better combat troops. » Read more

Netanyahu: If Palestinians act unilaterally, so will Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz November 16, 2009 - 1:00am Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Sunday that Israel would respond to any unilateral Palestinian steps - particularly declarations of statehood - with one-sided steps of its own. This was the prime minister's first response to a Palestinian initiative to ask the United Nations Security Council to endorse a Palestinian state, seen as an appeal for international backing. » Read more

Report: US diplomats held up at checkpoint ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency November 16, 2009 - 1:00am Israeli soldiers manning new USAID-funded military checkpoint held up a convoy of US Consulate vehicles for several hours on Sunday, the Hebrew-language daily newspaper Maariv reported. The incident was apparently sparked when the diplomats refused to submit to a search, which Israeli soldiers were demanding at the new Jalamah crossing, which opened this week. » Read more

Netanyahu: We too can act unilaterally ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency November 16, 2009 - 1:00am Palestinians are determined to build state institutions in preparation for statehood, caretaker Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said in Ramallah on Sunday. Speaking alongside US officials, he dismissed Israeli concerns as irrelevant. "They're talking about unilateralism, to which we reply - yes, building state institutions is our responsibility and we embrace it," Fayyad said. » Read more

Israeli ministers threaten to annex West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency November 16, 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." » Read more

Abbas mandate as president could be extended: PLO official ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP) November 16, 2009 - 1:00am Mahmud Abbas's mandate as Palestinian president, disputed by Hamas, could be extended to avoid a constitutional vacuum, a Palestinian official said on Sunday. "The PLO central committee will discuss the options to avoid a constitutional vacuum" at its meeting due to take place on December 15, Mohammed Dahlan told reporters in the West Bank town of Ramallah. "One of them (the options) is the extension of the mandate of president Abbas," said Dahlan, a member of both the committee and of the Palestinian leader's mainstream Fatah party. » Read more

Israel rejects Palestinian statehood bid via the UN ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Ilene Prusher - November 16, 2009 - 1:00am Palestinian Authority leaders say that they are launching a new diplomatic campaign to gain international backing for a Palestinian state, after which they will unilaterally declare statehood in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem – without waiting for a peace treaty with Israel. Israel pushed back Sunday, issuing a warning that such a declaration of statehood would destroy previous peace agreements and goodwill. » Read more

Unusual Partners Study Divisive Jerusalem Site ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Isabel Kershner - November 15, 2009 - 1:00am At the heart of this contested city, the holy site known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as Haram al-Sharif, or Noble Sanctuary, has become, for many, the epicenter of the conflict between Israel, the Palestinians and the wider Muslim world. The mere mention of the place stirs passions and memories of centuries of bloodshed. Its alternative names evoke the depth of religious devotion and the competing claims. » Read more