PM heads to Europe with backing for settlement freeze ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Roni Sofer - August 24, 2009 - 12:00am Behind Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's optimistic statement suggesting peace talks with the Palestinians may reignite by the end of September, is the apparent silent assurance that Yisrael Beiteinu chair and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman will not extract his party from the coalition in the event Israel will comply with the US demand to halt all settlement expansion. Should Netanyahu have to force the narrow cabinet forum to make a decision on the matter, and with Lieberman abstained on the vote, he would have a majority of four. » Read more

Hamas to expel Gaza schoolgirls not wearing Muslim dress ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Avi Issacharoff - August 24, 2009 - 12:00am Female students in the Gaza Strip will be required to wear head coverings and full-length robes beginning this school year, the Hamas rules of the Gaza Strip announced on Monday. According to the new regulations, any female student that does not attend class in the proper attire will be sent home. The ministry also has ruled that male teachers cannot teach in girls' schools and women are not allowed to teach at boys' schools. » Read more

Pro-Israel group: Obama settlements policy backs 'ethnic cleansing' of Jews ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Gilad Halpern - August 23, 2009 - 12:00am A pro-Israel lobby group in the U.S. has launched a project intent on shifting the focus of the Obama administration away from West Bank settlements, claiming they are not an obstacle to peace and that their evacuation would amount to "ethnic cleansing." A manual called Global Language Dictionary, circulated among supporters of the right-wing Israel Project group, seeks to develop a strategy to downplay the centrality of settlement freeze in the American efforts to press on with the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians. » Read more

Netanyahu to tell Mitchell: Israel won't accept limits on Jerusalem ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Chaim Levinson, Barak Ravid - August 24, 2009 - 12:00am Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to tell the special U.S. Mideast envoy on Monday that Israel will not accept any limitations on its sovereignty over Jerusalem, and will allow settlers to continue to live in the West Bank. Netanyahu traveled to London on Monday, where he will meet with the U.S. envoy, George Mitchell, in order to continue the discussion on the Obama administration's demands for confidence-building measures between Israel and the Arab world. » Read more

West Bank: slowly, determinedly, settlers bid to build new town ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Rory McCarthy - August 23, 2009 - 12:00am Early in the morning, Nadia Matar drove to the hills south of Jerusalem, near the Palestinian town of Beit Sahour, and turned into a dusty, unmarked road. There she planted a sign which read "Welcome to Shdema". She drove on, stopping every few metres along the route to jam into the rocky ground a series of fluttering blue and white Israeli flags. Israeli soldiers let her pass unhindered as she drove up to the concrete ruins of what was until a few years ago the Israeli military base of Shdema. » Read more

Israel PM expects no breakthroughs in London talks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Allyn Fisher-Ilan - August 24, 2009 - 12:00am Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expects no breakthroughs at a meeting this week with a U.S. peace envoy, but hopes talks with the Palestinians can resume within two months, a spokesman said on Monday. A right-winger in power since March, Netanyahu has resisted Western pressure to freeze Jewish settlements on occupied land where Palestinians seek statehood. The dispute has opened a rare rift between Israel and its top ally, the United States. » Read more

Gaza schoolgirls say Hamas cracking down on dress code ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency August 24, 2009 - 12:00am Responding to multiple reports on Sunday that the de facto government was cracking down on dress in Gaza's schools, Hamas on Monday denied making any recent policy changes on uniforms or expulsions. A spokesman for the Hamas-run Education Ministry in Gaza, Khaled Radi, reiterated that his office had not received instructions from the de facto government imposing conservative dress codes on schoolgirls. » Read more

Accusation of Organ Theft Stokes Ire in Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Isabel Kershner - August 23, 2009 - 12:00am Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel urged the Swedish government on Sunday to condemn an article in a Swedish newspaper last week accusing the Israeli Army of harvesting organs from Palestinians wounded or killed by soldiers. » Read more

What is Required of Europe and Russia in Support of Justice? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat by Raghida Dergham - (Opinion) August 21, 2009 - 12:00am Russia, France, Britain and the remaining European countries can do much more than they are doing now to compel the Palestinians and Israelis to implement their commitments according to the Road Map to the two-state solution, which these countries supported in Security Council resolutions and within the framework of the Quartet for peace in the Middle East. Indeed, it is not enough to express support for the efforts of US President Barack Obama and to wait for an initiative from him when he addresses the UN General Assembly next month. » Read more