September 10th

Netanyahu risks US anger by building settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Josef Federman - September 10, 2009 - 12:00am

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has given the green light for hundreds of new homes in a Palestinian-claimed area of Jerusalem, officials confirmed Wednesday, part of a gamble to mollify his restive coalition without sparking a major confrontation with the U.S.

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Seized Israeli Writes of Deep Depression
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
September 10, 2009 - 12:00am

An Israeli soldier seized by Palestinian fighters more than three years ago described his captivity as an "intolerable and inhumane nightmare" in a 2006 letter to his parents that was made public Wednesday. In carefully printed script, Sgt. Gilad Shalit reported deteriorating health and deep depression, making an anguished appeal to the Israeli government to release him from his "closed and solitary prison." Shalit, now 23, wrote the 14-line letter three months after gunmen affiliated with the Gaza Strip's Islamist Hamas rulers captured him in a cross-border raid.

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The West Bank's Deceptive Growth
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Zahi Khouri - (Opinion) September 10, 2009 - 12:00am

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long tried to substitute the slogan of “economic peace” for genuine progress with the Palestinians on the political front. Yet the International Monetary Fund’s projected growth of 7 percent in the West Bank for 2009 is largely the result of Palestinian reforms undertaken in spite of the obstacles Israel continues to place in the way of Palestinian development. Too many in the West remain unaware of the impediments to economic development — not to mention political freedom — we Palestinians continue to face.

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The New Israel Lobby
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by James Traub - September 10, 2009 - 12:00am

In July, President Obama met for 45 minutes with leaders of American Jewish organizations. All presidents meet with Israel’s advocates. Obama, however, had taken his time, and powerhouse figures of the Jewish community were grumbling; Obama’s coolness seemed to be of a piece with his willingness to publicly pressure Israel to freeze the growth of its settlements and with what was deemed his excessive solicitude toward the plight of the Palestinians.

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Getting real about a Palestinian state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Daoud Kuttab - (Opinion) September 10, 2009 - 12:00am

Writing From Ramallah, West Bank - Something different is happening among the Palestinians. Their political leaders and civil servants are spending more time planning for a Palestinian state than criticizing the Israelis for their intransigence.

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September 9th

Talks go on despite W. Bank construction
Media Mention of Ghaith al-Omari In The Jerusalem Post - September 9, 2009 - 12:00am

Despite angry statements from the Palestinians and the Arab world, and condemnations from the US and the EU, Israel's announcement Monday of new housing starts in the settlements did not derail the diplomatic process; US envoy George Mitchell is expected here Saturday night, and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is scheduled to fly to Egypt for talks on Sunday. "The settlements aren't the be-all, end-all" of American policy efforts, one State Department official told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday. "Our ultimate goal [is] to create the conditions for negotiations."

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Former President Jimmy Carter responds to Elliott Abrams’ criticism of his recent op-ed in the Washington Post. The Israeli human rights group B'Tselem says that Israel underestimated Palestinian civilian deaths in Gaza war and that most Palestinians killed were civilians. Israel picks contractors for 486 new settlement homes in occupied East Jerusalem. PLO officials Yasser Abed Rabbo and Saeb Erekat say settlement expansion may terminate the peace process before it begins.Fatah appoints Muhammad Dahlan to an information post. Palestinian citizens of Israel plan to strike on October 1. The Israeli Right pressures the government to reject US demands for a settlement freeze.

Israel's settlement charade makes mockery of peace, curbs Palestinians' options
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
(Editorial) September 9, 2009 - 12:00am

The Israeli government’s approval this week of plans to construct hundreds of new settler homes on occupied Palestinian Territory may well be remembered as the hammer that drove the final nail into the coffin of President Barack Obama’s peace efforts. All Israeli settlement construction on occupied Palestinian land is viewed as a “breach of international law,” according to a 2004 ruling by the International Court of Justice.

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Jerusalem can only gain through cooperative neighborhood initiatives
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Fuad Abu Hamed, Hagai Agmon-Snir - (Opinion) September 9, 2009 - 12:00am

All over the Western world, community empowerment programs encourage resident participation by involving community leaders and organizers in decisions about the city in which they live. What could be better than the authorities and residents taking joint responsibility for muni­cipal challenges? In East Jerusalem, this is not so straightforward.

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The Salam Fayad Document: A Palestinian Initiative to Bear Responsibility
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat
by Raghida Dergham - (Analysis) September 9, 2009 - 12:00am

Quite frankly, the program put forth by the government of the Palestinian Authority, detailed by Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in a document entitled “Palestine: Ending the Occupation, Establishing the State”, for the next two years is the only program that preserves the two states, undermines the occupation and ruptures its backbone by building the institutions of the de facto state.

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