November 19th

Israeli warplanes strike Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
November 19, 2009 - 1:00am

Gaza/Bethlehem – Ma’an – Israeli warplanes bombed the Gaza Strip in three locations early on Thursday, according to the country’s military and Palestinians in the coastal Strip. A military spokesperson said the strikes targeted a “weapons manufacturing facility in the southern Gaza Strip and two smuggling tunnels in the Rafah border area.” Sources in Gaza confirmed that two tunnels were bombed, in addition to a facility said to be operated by Hamas’ armed wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades.

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Ramallah's road map to statehood
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by David Ignatius - (Opinion) November 19, 2009 - 1:00am

Looking at this city, you can imagine what a Palestinian state could someday be like if folks got serious: The streets are clean, there's construction in every direction and Palestinian soldiers line the roads. A visitor sees new apartment buildings, banks, brokerage firms, luxury car dealerships and even health clubs.

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Real Estate Shopping Is Used as Political Theater on Jerusalem’s Contested Ground
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - November 18, 2009 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM — Dov Hikind, a member of the New York State Assembly, was in this disputed city on Wednesday looking for property to buy. He said he was most excited about a new apartment complex overlooking the Old City called Nof Zion. At noon, Mr. Hikind led a group of about 50 American Jews in laying a cornerstone for the next phase of Nof Zion, with construction scheduled to start next spring. “I want to buy here,” Mr. Hikind said. “I might make a deal while I am here this time.”

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Mideast Peace Talks Hang in Balance Over Abbas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - November 18, 2009 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM — Two weeks after the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, vowed not to run for re-election and hinted that he might resign, the Middle East peace process has sunk into a deep crisis amid urgent efforts to revive it.

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East Jerusalem Settlement Plan Deepens Rift With Washington
Media Mention of Ghaith al-Omari In The Wall Street Journal - November 19, 2009 - 1:00am

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. sharply criticized Israel's decision to move ahead with a building expansion in East Jerusalem, underscoring the rift between the Obama administration and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over how to push forward the stalled Middle East peace process. The U.S. has unsuccessfully lobbied Mr. Netanyahu over the past nine months to agree to a total Israeli construction freeze in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, to underpin negotiations aimed at creating an independent Palestinian state.

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November 18th

Israeli government plans to add 900 new settler housing units in occupied East Jerusalem draws ire from the US government, the UN, Europeans, Palestinians and Arabs. Israeli bulldozers demolish two Palestinian apartments in the city. A group of Jewish Americans is on a mission to buy property in Jerusalem and other parts of the occupied territories. A commentary in Ha'aretz suggests that PM Netanyahu senses US weakness on Jerusalem, but another suggests that he has a personal and political interest in advancing peace. A new poll finds 75% of Jewish Israelis support negotiations with the PA. In Cairo, Pres. Abbas reaffirms a commitment to seek UN recognition of Palestinian statehood, and an editorial in the Arab News argues that if both Israel and Hamas are against the idea, it must have some merit. Rami Khouri argues that the world is tiring of the Palestinian question, and Daoud Kuttab says that Palestinians have no choice left other than unilateral action. Shai Feldman and Khalil Shikaki propose guiding principles for further US engagement in Israeli-Palestinian peace making.

The Obama Presidency and the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Brandeis University Crown Center for Middle East Studies
by Shai Feldman, Khalil Shikaki - November 18, 2009 - 1:00am

The first ten months of the Obama administration’s efforts to achieve a breakthrough in Arab-Israeli peacemaking have led to widespread disappointment among Palestinians and to growing anxiety among Israelis. Inevitably, this unsatisfactory interim report card is partly a result of the high expectations created by President Barack Obama himself, during the presidential campaign as well as in his inaugural address and following his inauguration.

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The Only Hope Left?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy
by Daoud Kuttab - November 17, 2009 - 1:00am

Mahmoud Abbas is in a bind. Faced with a seemingly insurmountable impasse to negotiations with Israel, the Palestinian Authority president can either resign from his PLO chairmanship or come up with some serious, unilateral action to break the deadlock. With hopes that Barack Obama would stand up to the right-wing Israeli leadership dashed, an unwillingness to return to violent resistance, and the inability to resign his presidency of the PA in protest, the Palestinian leader has no alternative but to declare a Palestinian state unilaterally.

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Editorial: Time for action
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
(Editorial) November 18, 2009 - 1:00am

If both Israel and Hamas condemn the proposal of a UN declaration of independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, as they have, it suggests it must be the right idea. The Palestinian Authority has come up with it because nothing is happening to the peace process. It is their way of forcing it back onto the international agenda.

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Let down by Obama, Palestinians see few options
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Tom Perry - (Opinion) November 18, 2009 - 1:00am

With US diplomacy seemingly going nowhere, Palestinians are exploring desperate and at best symbolic measures to press a demand for a state that even firm believers in peace among them fear may never emerge. Appeals to the United Nations and European Union to consider recognizing a state that Israel says it cannot accept on the Palestinians’ terms look unlikely to break the deadlock.

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