J'lem banning foreign leaders from Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Herb Keinon - December 8, 2009 - 1:00am Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's government has an undeclared, but de facto policy, of not letting senior political figures, such as foreign ministers, enter the Gaza Strip from Israel, The Jerusalem Post has learned. According to government officials, the reasoning is twofold: to deny Hamas legitimacy that would come of such visits, and as a way of trying to apply pressure over kidnapped soldier Gilad Schalit. The policy has come to light after Irish Foreign Minister Michael Martin told a parliamentary committee last week that Israel had banned a visit he had hoped to make to Gaza. » Read more

Shalit mediator asks Hamas to stop press leaks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Ali Waked - December 8, 2009 - 1:00am The German mediator in talks for the release of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit has asked Hamas to refrain from leaking details of the prisoner swap deal to the Arab press, a Palestinian source in Gaza told Ynet Tuesday. He said the mediator personally relayed this message to senior Hamas official Dr. Mahmoud al-Zahar and asked him to tell members of the organization to stop mentioning the names of Palestinian prisoners who may be released to the press. » Read more

Akiva Eldar / Israel may have frozen settlements, but does it want peace? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Akiva Eldar - (Analysis) December 8, 2009 - 1:00am On the eve of signing the settlement construction freeze order, Avigdor Lieberman told reporters that the settlements had never been an obstacle to peace. The proof, the foreign minister explained, is that the Jewish settlement enterprise in Judea and Samaria did not stop Egypt and Jordan from signing peace agreements with Israel. » Read more

Justice Minister: Jewish law should be binding law in Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Yair Ettinger - December 8, 2009 - 1:00am Justice Minister Yaakov Neeman on Monday said he believes Jewish law (Halakha) should be the binding law in Israel, Army Radio reported. "Step by step, we will bestow upon the citizens of Israel the laws of the Torah and we will turn Halakha into the binding law of the nation," said Neeman at a Jewish law convention at the Regency hotel in Jerusalem, in the presence of many rabbis and rabbinical judges. "We must bring back the heritage of our fathers to the nation of Israel," Neeman said. "The Torah has the complete solution to all of the questions we are dealing with," he added. » Read more

Report: Netanyahu okays Israel-Egypt border wall ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency December 8, 2009 - 1:00am Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has approved the construction of a wall along the border between Israel and Egypt, Israeli media reported on Tuesday. The decision came, according to Israeli daily Ma’ariv, after consultations involving security, political, and financial officials in Israel. Netanyahu believes construction of a barrier will stop smuggling and the migration of Africans seeking work or asylum in Israel. The decision, according to Ma’ariv, was made as a result of an increase in the number of African immigrants crossing into Israel. » Read more

Hamas to reap prisoner swap reward ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Financial Times by Tobias Buck - December 8, 2009 - 1:00am Less than a year ago, Hamas was cowering under an Israeli military onslaught that pulverised much of its political and military infrastructure. Now, in a reversal of fortune that must surprise even its leaders, Hamas is poised for a political triumph with the potential to transform its standing and Palestinian politics for years to come. The Islamist group, according to several officials, is closing in on a deal that would see hundreds of Palestinians released from Israeli jails. » Read more

Popular Fatah Leader Complicates Prisoner Swap ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Wall Street Journal by Charles Levinson - December 8, 2009 - 1:00am Marwan Barghouti, the popular imprisoned Palestinian leader, embodies the promise and the peril Israel faces as it negotiates with Hamas to trade hundreds of Palestinian prisoners for a long-held Israeli soldier. Islamist Hamas says Mr. Barghouti tops the list of approximately 1,000 prisoners it is demanding Israel free in exchange for Sgt. Gilad Shalit, who Hamas has held captive in Gaza for more than three years. » Read more

Edward Sanders dies at 87; advisor to President Carter on the Middle East ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times December 7, 2009 - 1:00am Edward Sanders, an attorney and leader in the Jewish community who served President Carter as a special advisor on Mideast policy, died Monday at his Los Angeles home. He was 87. The cause was cancer, according to his son-in-law, Stanley Witkow. Sanders gained prominence during the 1973 energy crisis when, as president of the Jewish Federation Council of Greater Los Angeles, he challenged a letter from Standard Oil Co. to 300,000 stockholders that appeared to support a pro-Arab Mideast policy. He later became president of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. » Read more