June 29th

After U.S. pressure, Barkat to halt 70% of East Jerusalem demolitions ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Nir Hasson - June 29, 2009 - 12:00am Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat is set to announce a plan to freeze demolition orders on around 70 percent of unauthorized construction in the east of the city, Haaretz has learned. The municipality would also negotiate compensation terms with families evicted from the remaining 30 percent. The plan represents a departure from earlier statements, in which Barkat spoke out against illegal construction by Palestinians in East Jerusalem. » Read more

End the Spat With Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Jackson Diehl - June 29, 2009 - 12:00am The upheaval in Iran offers the Obama administration a host of fresh foreign policy opportunities. Not the least of them is a chance to creep away from the corner into which it has painted itself in the Arab-Israeli peace process. » Read more

What a Freeze Can't Do ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by David Ignatius - June 28, 2009 - 12:00am Israel's new foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, seemed perplexed during his visit to Washington this month: At a time when America and Israel agreed on all the big issues -- from Iran and North Korea to Afghanistan and Pakistan -- how could the little issue of Israeli settlements on the West Bank get in the way? » Read more

Barak heads to U.S. in bid to end settlements row ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Akiva Eldar - June 29, 2009 - 12:00am Defense Minister Ehud Barak was set to head to the United States Monday in a bid to end a quarrel with U.S. President Barack Obama's administration over Israel's refusal to completely halt West Bank settlement construction. Barak is expected to propose two potential compromises on the matter: Either a temporary complete settlement freeze, or the limiting of building in settlement blocs to high-rise construction only. » Read more

Israel to build 50 West Bank homes for outpost evacuees ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Tomer Zarchin - June 29, 2009 - 12:00am Israel will build 50 new homes in an existing West Bank settlement as part of a wider plan to absorb residents slated to be evicted from the illegal outpost of Migron. The complete plan calls for the construction of 1,450 homes in the settlement of Adam. The State Prosecutor's Office informed the High Court on Friday that 190 housing units will be built in the settlement of Adam in the first stage, in accordance with the plan, which was approved by the Defense Ministry in May. » Read more

Gaza residents 'live in despair' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News by Aleem Maqbool - June 29, 2009 - 12:00am In a report, it said that a main cause was the continuing Israeli blockade. The report comes six months after the end of Israel's military offensive in Gaza in which at least 1,100 Palestinians died. Israel said the offensive was aimed at curbing rocket attacks into southern Israel by Palestinian militants. The Red Cross says that the people of Gaza are unable to rebuild their lives and are sliding ever deeper into despair. There is not the cement or steel to reconstruct neighbourhoods hit by Israeli strikes. » Read more

Israel's settlements are on shaky ground ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Sarah Leah Whitson - June 28, 2009 - 12:00am The debate over Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories is often framed in terms of whether they should be "frozen" or allowed to grow "naturally." But that is akin to asking whether a thief should be allowed merely to keep his ill-gotten gains or steal some more. It misses the most fundamental point: Under international law, all settlements on occupied territory are unlawful. And there is only one remedy: Israel should dismantle them, relocate the settlers within its recognized 1967 borders and compensate Palestinians for the losses the settlements have caused. » Read more

Israel alone cannot block peace progress ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National (Opinion) June 28, 2009 - 12:00am Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, is attempting to drum up support for his peace plan. He claimed that Europe had responded favourably to his conditions for a peaceable resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: the recognition of Israel as a Jewish state, a refusal to resettle Palestinian refugees within Israel proper and that any future Palestinian state would be denied the right to an army or control over its borders and airspace. » Read more

U.N. fact-finding commission faces skepticism in Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Edmund Sanders - June 29, 2009 - 12:00am Reporting from The Gaza Strip -- A novel approach toward injecting international justice into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict got underway Sunday in this embattled enclave, but it left neither side particularly satisfied. Borrowing from the South African reconciliation experience, a United Nations fact-finding commission opened what it said was the first-of-its-kind public hearing to gather witness testimony about alleged war crimes during Israel's 22-day assault on the Gaza Strip in winter. » Read more

Netanyahu's Settlement Smoke Screens ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Gershom Gorenberg - (Opinion) June 27, 2009 - 12:00am It has become a fixed feature in the Israeli media, almost like the weather forecast. Nearly every day come reports that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's government is on the verge of a deal with President Obama to avoid a full freeze on construction in West Bank settlements. The sources are normally Israeli government officials, with an occasional American source speaking very far off the record. » Read more