December 2nd

UN expresses solidarity with Palestinians ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency December 2, 2009 - 1:00am Members of the UN Committee on the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People discussed the status of Palestinians and the ongoing Israeli occupation on Monday as the UN observed the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed his concerns over the failure to resume peace talks based on a two state solution for over a year and further called on Israel and Palestinian authorities to conduct immediate investigations into allegations of grave human rights violations committed in Gaza during Israel’s Operation Cast Led last year. » Read more

Israel settlers obstruct building curbs inspectors ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News December 1, 2009 - 1:00am Groups of settlers, who have vowed to ignore the curbs, gathered at the entrance to one settlement and said they had forced inspectors to leave. A government official said there had been some "low level friction". The Palestinians say Israel's 10-month building pause is not enough and are refusing to restart peace talks. The building restrictions do not apply to East Jerusalem, where the Palestinians want to locate the capital of their future state. 'Without violence' » Read more

Hamas fighter dies in Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency December 2, 2009 - 1:00am Hamas’ armed wing said one of its members died early Wednesday during what it described as a “Jihad mission” in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip. In a statement, the Al-Qassam Brigades said 37-year-old Yasser Sabri Radi, a resident of the An-Nuseirat Refugee Camp, died during the mission. The statement did not disclose further details. On Monday night a member of Fatah’s armed wing, the Al-Aqsa Brigades, was killed when a car exploded in the Ash-Shati Refugee Camp near Gaza City. The Israeli military said it had no connection to the blast.

Islamic Movement gathers steam in Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) by Dina Kraft - November 30, 2009 - 1:00am It's time for noon prayers in this Israeli Arab city, and a jumble of sneakers piles up outside the doors of a mosque on the top floor of a private high school for the sciences. Inside, the boys, led in prayer by a math teacher, stand in two rows on a soft green-and-beige carpet and then kneel in unison. The $5.8 million tab to construct the high school, considered one of the top Arab schools in Israel with its state-of-the art physics and chemistry labs, was picked up by the Islamic Movement. » Read more

One Palestinian Prisoner Could Change the Balance ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS) by Jerrold Kessel, Pierre Klochendler - (Analysis) November 30, 2009 - 1:00am The political timing is definitely ripe. This week a major residual source of tension between Israelis and Palestinians may just be about to be resolved - if German mediation finally overcomes last-minute hitches to the long-awaited exchange - a thousand Palestinian prisoners for the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. It's not yet certain that the prisoner exchange will go through. Nor is it clear who among the 10,000 Palestinians in Israeli jails will be part of the deal. » Read more

Spoilers: The End of the Peace Process ATFP World Press Roundup Article from World Affairs Journal by Elliott Abrams, Michael Singh - December 2, 2009 - 1:00am Typically, explanations for the lack of progress in the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians revolve around disagreements over the “core issues,” insufficient diplomatic activism and pressure on Israel from the United States, and Israeli intransigence. Such views share one premise: that Israeli bargaining power overwhelms that of the Palestinians and must be compensated for by action on the part of the international community. » Read more

Israeli settlers scuffle with govt inspectors ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP) December 1, 2009 - 1:00am Residents of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday scuffled with government inspectors who had come to enforce a moratorium on construction, a military official said. "There were several scuffles between residents of various Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria (West Bank) and site inspectors," a senior military official told AFP on condition of anonymity. "But the authorities will continue to work to apply the decision." » Read more

We have the building blocks for Mideast peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The San Francisco Chronicle by Akiva Tor - (Opinion) December 2, 2009 - 1:00am Israel and the Palestinian Authority need to renew negotiations immediately to achieve permanent peace between our peoples. Considering the fundamental points of agreement between us, it is frustrating that for the better part of a year we have not managed to sit down and move forward toward peace: -- We both believe that Israel and a Palestinian state should live alongside each other in peace, security and economic well-being. -- We both understand that the best future for our children requires that we make painful concessions to accommodate each other's essential national aims. » Read more

Israel rejects European Union plan to divide Jerusalem ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Ilene Prusher - December 1, 2009 - 1:00am Israel's foreign ministry said Tuesday that a Swedish-led push for the European Union to call for the division of Jerusalem and the recognition of East Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian state would trip up Europe's own efforts to play a role in Middle East peacemaking. » Read more

Public building in W. Bank down 60% ATFP World Press Roundup Article from CBS News December 2, 2009 - 1:00am Public building starts in the West Bank have dropped some 60 percent since Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu took office, according to Central Bureau of Statistics figures quoted in an Israel Radio report Wednesday. The data showed that between the months of April and September 2009, only 132 housing units were approved, compared to 330 in the same period last year, during former prime minister Ehud Olmert's term in office. Between April and September 2007, the figure was 370. » Read more