September 14th

U.S. is blind to limits of Palestinian politics
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - (Opinion) September 14, 2009 - 12:00am

After a drawn-out and frustrated negotiation over several hundred housing units in the settlements, the Obama administration realized that instead of tasting the grapes, it is wasting its time fighting with the vineyard's gatekeeper. They also revealed that the greatest superpower came to the fight unarmed. They discovered that to threaten Benjamin Netanyahu and Moshe Ya'alon with ceasing construction in the West Bank by pain of not resuming the Oslo process, was akin to threatening them that if Israel does not remove the outposts, the United States would bomb Iran.

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Armed settlers enter West Bank village, spark clashes
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
September 14, 2009 - 12:00am

Violent clashes between Israeli settlers and Palestinians erupted in the village of Burin south of the West Bank city of Nablus erupted Sunday evening. Ghassan Daghlas, Palestinian official following Israeli settlement activities in the northern West Bank, told Ma’an that “dozens of heavily armed settlers from the nearby illegal Israeli settlement of Yitzhar attacked Palestinians in Burin after failing to steal dozens of sheep from a Palestinian shepherd who was in the area,” he explained.

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U.S. Mideast efforts impaired amid Palestinian, Israeli infighting
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
September 14, 2009 - 12:00am

Power struggles and partisan frictions within Israel and among the Palestinians have become a hindrance to the peace efforts in the region, including an on-going Mideast tour by U.S. envoy George Mitchell. Mitchell, who arrived in Israel on Saturday, expected to strike a deal during his visit on an Israeli settlement freeze and revival of the stalled peace process between the Palestinians and Israelis.

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Many American Jews support President Obama's proposed settlement freeze
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Seattle Times
by Richard Silverstein - (Editorial) September 14, 2009 - 12:00am

Over the past few months, the Obama administration has urged Israel to accept a settlement freeze as a means of showing good faith toward its Palestinian neighbors in negotiating peace. The freeze is important because 300,000 Israeli settlers live beyond the Green Line and they have poisoned the political atmosphere and prevented the parties from negotiating in earnest.

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Mitchell in Israel to jumpstart talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Joshua Mitnick - September 14, 2009 - 12:00am

US Middle East envoy George Mitchell sounded cautiously optimistic before meeting with Israeli President Shimon Peres on Sunday about the prospects for an agreement before October on a settlement freeze that's expected to jump start peace negotiations with the Palestinians.

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Passions High Ahead of Talks On Settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Howard Schneider - September 14, 2009 - 12:00am

The scene from the Dr. Billye Brim Community Pool, named after the American pastor from Branson, Mo., who helped underwrite it, is decidedly suburban and removed from the international fray over Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. The modern design lets in ample sunlight and fresh air for swimmers doing laconic laps in the midafternoon, while sunbathers lounge on a courtyard of clipped grass spotted with white umbrellas. The more energetic pound away on treadmills in a swanky fitness center.

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Israeli Cities Differences With U.S. on Peace Talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Mark Lavie - September 14, 2009 - 12:00am

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, speaking ahead of a key meeting with the White House's Middle East envoy, said Sunday that differences remain with the United States over resuming peacemaking with the Palestinians. Netanyahu delivered the assessment before flying to Cairo for talks with Egypt's president, a main mediator in efforts to restart peace talks, and ahead of a meeting with George J. Mitchell, the U.S. envoy, later in the week.

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Resolve of West Bank Settlers May Have Limits
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner, Isabel Kershner - September 14, 2009 - 12:00am

Of the hundreds of thousands of Israeli settlers in the West Bank, those who live in unauthorized hilltop outposts like this one, a hardscrabble unpaved collection of 20 trailers, are considered the most dangerous.

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September 11th

An article in the Economist finds that life is improving in the West Bank. Speculation continues regarding prospects for revival of a US-led peace process in the Middle East. Special Mideast envoy George Mitchell is scheduled to visit both Israel and the Palestinian territories this weekend. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Egyptian President Mubarak are scheduled to meet in Cairo. Senior Fatah member, Azzam Al-Ahmad, expresses reservations over Egypt’s proposal for Palestinian elections. The severing of ties between the Bank of Israel and Gaza banks has severe repercussion for disabled Palestinian laborers. Israeli Defense Minister Barak urges Israel's left to tone down its criticisms. Police forces of Israel and the Palestinian Authority have reportedly demonstrated increasing cooperation.

Not as horrible as it was
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Economist
September 10, 2009 - 12:00am

A COUPLE of brown sheep squeal and squirm as they are dragged into the backyard of the Alian family’s house in the Jalazun refugee camp, north of the West Bank city of Ramallah. A man slits their throats, spraying the wall with blood. Once the sheep are motionless, women silently start cutting the meat into neat portions to be distributed to the camp’s poorest families in honour of the family’s “martyr”, 15-year-old Muhammad, who was recently killed by Israeli soldiers.

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