Libya urges UN to take up Israeli settlements ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP) November 25, 2009 - 1:00am Libya indicated on Tuesday that it would introduce a fresh draft resolution before the United Nations Security Council demanding that Israel end its settlement activity in Palestinian territory. "We are discussing it with the Palestinians and other members of the Security Council. We are going to do that, yes," Libya's UN Ambassador Mohamed Shalgham told reporters about the plans. Arab countries could quickly reach an agreement on the principles and terms of the text, perhaps before the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday on Friday, he said. » Read more

Barghouti: Shalit abduction achieved what no dialogue could ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amos Harel, Avi Issacharoff - November 25, 2009 - 1:00am Fatah strongman Marwan Barghouti said in an interview on Wednesday that he intends to run in the next Palestinian presidential election, and remarked that the abduction of Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit by Gaza militants achieved what no negotiations could ever achieve. » Read more

Obama Under Siege ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat by Mostafa Zein - (Opinion) November 24, 2009 - 1:00am The neoconservatives in the United States were defeated, but they were victorious in Israel and for Israel. They achieved a single victory during the administration of President George Bush, who spread chaos in the manner of the nihilists, believing, stupidly, that it was the way to spread American values. » Read more

Hamas leader accuses Israel of holding up Shalit deal ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Avi Issacharoff, Jack Khoury - November 25, 2009 - 1:00am Prisoner swap talks between Hamas and Israel have hit a snag over some of the top militants the Islamic group wants freed in return for Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit, and a deal is unlikely in the coming days, Hamas officials said Wednesday. Israel is objecting to some of the names put forward by Hamas, a senior official of the militant group familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press. He said the German mediator shuttling between the sides has presented an alternative list of names provided by Israel, and Hamas leaders are studying it. » Read more

Report: US officials survey settlements ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency November 25, 2009 - 1:00am US officials, some of them aides to special envoy George Mitchell, have been visiting illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank as a part of an investigation, the Israeli daily Ma’ariv reported on Wednesday. In the first such visit on Monday, officials from the US consulate in Jerusalem and Mitchell’s team visited the settlement of Efrat, southwest of Bethlehem, the newspaper said. The officials were reportedly comparing the boundaries and number of buildings in the settlement with earlier maps to see whether settlements are expanding. » Read more

Israel rejects to free 40 Palestinians, delaying prisoner exchange: source ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua November 24, 2009 - 1:00am Israel refuses to release 40 Palestinians whom the Islamic Hamas movement demands for freedom in a prisoner exchange deal a well-informed Palestinian source said on Tuesday. The Israeli reservations on the 40 names delayed the prisoner swap deal, which German and Egyptian mediators have tried to broker, the source told Xinhua. "Accomplishing the swap within one week is unexpected, it is almost impossible," the source said. » Read more

Hamas: Israel continues to manipulate swap talks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency November 25, 2009 - 1:00am Israel has exaggerated the progress of recent prisoner swap talks and manipulated the hopes and expectations of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, Hamas leaders proclaimed late Tuesday. The proclamation followed days of reports from Palestinian and Israeli media heralding the immanent release of 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for an Israeli soldier captured in 2006. Talks have been proceeding with German mediation following the release of a video tape showing the Israeli soldier in good health. » Read more

Mash'al to decide on prisoner deal ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency November 25, 2009 - 1:00am Hamas’ senior-most leader Khalid Mash’al is expected to make a decision about a proposed prisoner exchange with Israel on Wednesday. A delegation of senior Hamas leaders were reported to be in Damascus Tuesday night, where Mash’al and other top Hamas figures in exile are based. They are reportedly discussing whether to go forward with a deal in which resistance groups in Gaza would release an Israeli soldier held in the Strip in return for some 1,000 Palestinian prisoners. » Read more

Mahmoud Abbas, the Mideast's big loser ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times (Editorial) November 25, 2009 - 1:00am There are reports of a deal to exchange hundreds of Palestinian prisoners for captured Israeli Sgt. Gilad Shalit. This is welcome news because the Islamic militant group Hamas has held the 23-year-old soldier as a human pawn, virtually incommunicado, since his capture on the Gaza Strip border in June 2006. » Read more

Book Calls Jewish People an ‘Invention’ ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Patricia Cohen - November 25, 2009 - 1:00am Despite the fragmented and incomplete historical record, experts pretty much agree that some popular beliefs about Jewish history simply don’t hold up: there was no sudden expulsion of all Jews from Jerusalem in A.D. 70, for instance. What’s more, modern Jews owe their ancestry as much to converts from the first millennium and early Middle Ages as to the Jews of antiquity. Other theories, like the notion that many of today’s Palestinians can legitimately claim to be descended from the ancient Jews, are familiar and serious subjects of study, even if no definitive answer yet exists. » Read more