June 26th

Israel in plan to expand West Bank settlement
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Financial Times
by Vita Bekker - June 24, 2009 - 12:00am

Ehud Barak, Israel’s defence minister, has approved a plan to construct hundreds of new homes in an unauthorised outpost in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, an Israeli rights group said on Tuesday in a report that appeared to defy Washington’s calls for a freeze on settlement growth.

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G8 calls for Israeli settlement freeze
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
June 26, 2009 - 12:00am

The Group of Eight (G8) powers called for a freeze in Jewish settlement construction in the West Bank and urged all parties to "re-enter direct negotiations on all standing issues consistent with the Road Map," according to a final draft statement seen by Reuters on Friday. The G8 foreign ministers, who are meeting in Trieste, Italy, also deplored the post-electoral violence in Iran.

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U.S. Rejects Hamas Criticism Middle East Peace Process Too Slow
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bloomberg
by Paul Tighe - June 26, 2009 - 12:00am

June 26 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. rejected criticism by the leader of the Palestinian Hamas group that the Middle East peace process is too slow, saying it is trying to bring all parties back to talks. “We’re encouraging all parties to take steps that will lead to a positive context, that will lead to renewed negotiations,” State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said at a briefing in Washington.

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Want to Stop Israeli Settlements? Start With Americans
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Ronit Avni - (Opinion) June 25, 2009 - 12:00am

This month, both at Cairo University and from the Oval Office, President Obama has called on the Israeli government to stop the expansion of settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. He should send the same message to the Americans who are funding and fueling them.

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Americans' Unfettered Support for Israel Is Beginning to Erode -- And That May Help the Peace Process
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from
(Analysis) June 26, 2009 - 12:00am

The Israel Project hired pollster Stanley Greenberg to test American opinion on the Middle East conflict -- and got a big surprise. In September 2008, 69% of Americans called themselves pro-Israel. Now, it's only 49%. In September, the same 69% wanted the U.S. to side with Israel; now, only 44%.

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June 25th

The Israeli army announces plans to limit incursions into four West Bank cities in recognition of major improvements in Palestinian security force capabilities (1). The Arab League embraces President Obama’s vision for Middle East Peace (3). Former Bush administration official Elliott Abrams claims that there was a US-Israeli “understanding” allowing for settlement construction when Ariel Sharon was Israel’s Prime Minister, although Secretary of State Clinton has stated categorically that there is no record of any such agreement (5). Several articles assess the impact of continuing tensions over Israel's unfulfilled Roadmap commitment to a settlement freeze (6) (7) (11) (12). The National examines the most recent rift between Fatah and Hamas (10).

What have we gained?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Hadas Ziv - June 24, 2009 - 12:00am

The blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip has been in place for two years, and who can even remember its aims by now? How did Palestinian civilians become the target of Israel's defense establishment?

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Aharon Barak: Jews want equality, and to kick Arabs out
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Daniel Edelson - June 25, 2009 - 12:00am

Speaking at a New Israel Fund legal conference at the Rabin Center in Tel Aviv, former Supreme Court President Aharon Barak said, "The situation of human rights in the occupied territories is problematic, and this situation has an indirect effect on human rights in Israel." Barak, who said he is a "big believer in a state of all its citizens", while maintaining its Jewish character, criticized the general Jewish public.

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Why Defining ‘Natural Growth’ Is So Confusing, On Purpose
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Nathan Jeffay - June 24, 2009 - 12:00am

Givat Ha’eytam, West Bank — Givat Ha’eytam, a lonely hill in the Israeli occupied West Bank, seems like anything but a natural part of the bustling 8,000-person Jewish settlement of Efrat. Indeed, the stony outcrop, with its view of Efrat’s buildings in the distance, soon will be cut off from that settlement by the separation barrier Israel is building across the length of the West Bank, ostensibly to protect Israelis from Palestinian terrorism.

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Some Jewish settlers turning against Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Dina Kraft - June 24, 2009 - 12:00am

YITZHAR, West Bank (JTA) -- The Od Yosef Chai Yeshiva in this Jewish settlement looks more like a well-fortified auto repair shop than a house of learning. Located in an industrial neighborhood, the yeshiva has a drab aluminum exterior and tin roof, and it’s surrounded by a metal gate. A small guard house sits out front, and teenage boys wearing oversized, thick-knit kipot walk in and out of the gate and past a lonely basketball hoop. Appearances notwithstanding, these students and their teachers have become the face of radical Jewish nationalism in Israel.

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