November 3rd

Obama betrays hope created by Cairo speech ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Craig Nelson - (Opinion) November 3, 2009 - 1:00am It’s official: forget Cairo. Fold up the speech and throw it in the bin, or put it in that already bulging folder marked “Bad Faith & Broken Promises”. That seems to be the unintended but unavoidably obvious message of the about-face by the US president Barack Obama and his decision last weekend to press ahead with Israeli-Palestinian talks despite Arab and Palestinian demands that Israel halt West Bank settlement construction first. » Read more

Jerusalem artists go underground ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC World News November 3, 2009 - 1:00am Jerusalem has played host to a two-day arts festival with a difference as part of Palestinian attempts to celebrate the city's year of being Capital of Arab Culture. The BBC Arabic Service correspondent in the city, Ahmad Budeiri, joined the audience. A group of about 100 specially invited guests gathered at Jerusalem's Damascus Gate for the evening's programme to begin. » Read more

US view on settlement 'unchanged' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC World News November 2, 2009 - 1:00am US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said that Washington has not changed its stance against Israeli settlements in the West Bank. She has been meeting Arab foreign ministers in Marrakech in Morocco. On Saturday, Mrs Clinton urged the Israelis and Palestinians to restart talks as soon as possible. This appeared to endorse an Israeli position that talks could start before a settlement freeze which the Palestinians are demanding. On Saturday, she met Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, in a new US drive to restart the peace talks. » Read more

U.K., France want Israel, PA to probe Goldstone war crimes claims ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Barak Ravid - November 3, 2009 - 1:00am A joint French-British UN initiative would call on Israel and the Palestinians to hold immediate, independent investigations into war crimes allegations stemming from the war in Gaza, as part of a bid to send the Goldstone report back to Geneva and out of the hands of the Security Council or the International Criminal Court at The Hague. The proposal comes before the United Nations General Assembly is scheduled Wednesday to deliberate on the Goldstone report on the war in the Gaza Strip earlier this year. » Read more

ANALYSIS / PA fury over U.S. policy on settlements paid off ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Avi Issacharoff - (Analysis) November 3, 2009 - 1:00am The statements and condemnations of the Palestinian Authority, which is insisting the U.S. change its stance regarding a settlement freeze, appear to have paid off. In Israel on Saturday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton praised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's stance on limiting settlement construction and calling for a resumption of negotiations with the Palestinians. However, in Morocco Monday, she sought to tone down her statements. » Read more

MI chief: Hamas missiles can strike Tel Aviv ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Jonathan Lis - November 3, 2009 - 1:00am Hamas operatives in the Gaza Strip possess in their military arsenal a missile that is capable of striking Tel Aviv, the army's top military intelligence officer told a parliamentary panel in Jerusalem on Tuesday. The head of Military Intelligence for the Israel Defense Forces, General Amos Yadlin, told the Knesset foreign affairs and defense committee on Tuesday that Hamas has recently tested a missile capable of reaching targets at a distance of 60 kilometers. » Read more

Personality of the Month: Dr. Salam Fayyad ATFP World Press Roundup Article from This Week in Palestine November 3, 2009 - 1:00am Born in Nablus in 1952, Dr. Salam Fayyad remembers his early school years in Tulkarem, when doing well at school was not the main thing (as it continues to be today), it was the only thing. Well, almost the only thing. Back then, after-school street football was also a daily routine and a prominent item on his agenda. » Read more

Settlers take control of East Jerusalem home ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency November 3, 2009 - 1:00am Israeli settlers arrogated the home of the Al-Kurd family in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem on Tuesday, residents of the area said. About 30 settlers were seen entering the house and throwing the family's furniture into the street. The settlers have refused to leave the building and Israeli police blocked members of the Al-Kurd family from entering the area. Witnesses also reported heated arguments between police and Palestinian residents. » Read more

A Stalemate Looms in Obama's Mideast Peace Effort ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Time by Tony Karon - (Opinion) November 3, 2009 - 1:00am The Obama Administration's bid to relaunch an Israeli-Palestinian peace process is falling apart faster than you can say settlement freeze — in no small part because President Obama began his effort by saying settlement freeze. On Monday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton found herself struggling to persuade skeptical Arab foreign ministers to see the silver lining in Israel's "No, but ..." answer to the U.S. demand that Israel halt all construction in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. » Read more

Palestinians downbeat despite US backtracking ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP) November 3, 2009 - 1:00am The Palestinians remained pessimistic about the likelihood of relaunching peace talks with Israel despite US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's attempt to clarify earlier remarks about settlements. During a visit to Morocco, Clinton told Arab leaders that Washington remained opposed to all Israeli settlement activity after she had praised an Israeli offer to ease construction as "unprecedented" during a visit to Jerusalem. » Read more