Hamas: Israel refusing to free 4 senior prisoners ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Ali Waked - December 29, 2009 - 1:00am The Hamas organization says Israel is refusing to release the "heaviest" prisoners as part of a possible prisoner exchange deal. The movement's official website on Tuesday mentioned the names of Marwan Barghouti, Ahmed Saadat, Ibrahim Hamed and Abdullah Barghouti. Abu Ubaida, a spokesman for Hamas' military wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, said that there was no news on the talks aimed at securing kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit's release. » Read more

Hamas: Shalit mediator to start new round of talks next week ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Avi Issacharoff - December 30, 2009 - 1:00am The German mediator brokering a prisoner swap between Israel and Hamas for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit will begin a new round of talks next week, a source in the Palestinian Islamist group said Wednesday. The comments came shortly after Hamas reportedly rejected the latest offer from Israel to free hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in return for its corporal, who has been held in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip for more than three years. » Read more

28 kilometers of distilled apartheid ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Gideon Levy - (Opinion) December 30, 2009 - 1:00am This highway has told the whole story. They pave a road, expropriate Palestinian land and the High Court of Justice approves the expropriation, in its words, "provided that it is done for the sake of the local population." Afterwards they prevent the "local population" from using the road, and finally they build a wall with drawings of creeks and meadows so we don't see and don't know that we are driving on an apartheid road, that we are traveling on the axis of evil. » Read more

Israel approves new building plan for West Bank settlement ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz December 30, 2009 - 1:00am In an unusual step, the state announced on Tuesday its plan to promote planning and construction in the northern West Bank settlement of Kiryat Netafim, Army Radio reported Wednesday. Left wing human rights group Peace Now petitioned the High Court of Justice recently against the construction of 14 structures that were illegally built, some of them on Palestinian land without any authorization, according to the petition. In response to the petition, the Defense Ministry approved the Kiryat Netafim construction plans, to legalize the construction of the 14 structures in question. » Read more

Israel and Egypt eye movement on peace process ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Ilene Prusher, Liam Stack - December 29, 2009 - 1:00am Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met in Cairo Tuesday with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in talks aimed at bringing Egyptian pressure on the Palestinians ahead of a flurry of diplomatic activity expected next week, including a visit from US Middle East envoy George Mitchell. » Read more

'Footnotes in Gaza' by Joe Sacco ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by David L. Ulin - (Book Review) December 27, 2009 - 1:00am Joe Sacco's "Footnotes in Gaza" is not a sequel to his 1996 book " Palestine," although it's tempting to read it as such. Both are works of comic-book journalism that take place in the occupied territories, and both offer a ground's-eye-view of situations that seem too big, too incomprehensible for us to wrap our minds around. But while "Palestine" is a portrait of its moment, an account of Sacco's visit to the West Bank and Gaza during the early 1990s, "Footnotes in Gaza" is a more expansive effort. » Read more

White House decries Israel's plan to build homes in East Jerusalem ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Edmund Sanders - December 29, 2009 - 1:00am An Israeli government plan to build nearly 700 homes for Jewish families in Palestinian-dominated East Jerusalem drew fire Monday from the Obama administration, which called the plan a hindrance to relaunching peace talks. "The United States opposes new Israeli construction in East Jerusalem," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said, calling on Israelis and Palestinians to return to U.S.-brokered talks. "Neither party should engage in efforts or take actions that could unilaterally preempt, or appear to preempt, negotiations." » Read more

Protesters Gather in Cairo for March to Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Mona El-Naggar - December 29, 2009 - 1:00am More than 1,000 people from around the world were gathered here on Tuesday for a solidarity march into Gaza despite Egypt’s insistence that the Gaza border crossing that it controls would remain closed to the vast majority of them. » Read more

Israeli Segregated Road Ruled Down ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Ethan Bronner - December 29, 2009 - 1:00am Israel’s Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that a major access highway to Jerusalem running through the occupied West Bank could no longer be closed to most Palestinian traffic. In a 2-to-1 decision, the court said the military overstepped its authority when it closed the road to non-Israeli cars in 2002, at the height of the second Palestinian uprising. The justices gave the military five months to come up with another means of ensuring the security of Israelis that permitted broad Palestinian use of the road. » Read more