U.S.: We want clear path, not two-month delay of peace process deadlock ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Natasha Mozgovaya - October 12, 2010 - 12:00am The United States doesn't want a two-month delay on peace process but rather achieve a clear path that allows Israel and the Palestinians to continue negotiations, the U.S. State Department said Tuesday in response to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's offer to extend the settlement freeze in return for Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish state. "We don't just want to push the can down the road two months," U.S. State Department Spokesman Philip J. Crowley said. » Read more

Israel says flotilla detainees were treated well ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman October 12, 2010 - 12:00am Israeli officials have denied allegations in a U.N. report that international activists detained during a deadly raid of a Gaza-bound flotilla were abused. In testimony to an Israeli investigative committee in Jerusalem on Monday, Interior Ministry official Yossi Edelstein, who was in charge of processing detainees, said everyone was treated "with restraint and respect." He also said he had received no formal complaints of mistreatment. The U.N. report accused Israel of "extreme and unprovoked violence" against detainees. » Read more

US nudges Palestinians to answer Israeli proposal ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters October 12, 2010 - 12:00am The United States nudged the Palestinian Authority to make a counter-offer to Israel's proposal for a new freeze on building in Jewish settlements if the Palestinians recognized Israel as a Jewish state. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday said if the Palestinian leadership recognized Israel "as the homeland of the Jewish people," he was ready to ask his government to extend a freeze on West Bank settlement building. The Palestinians immediately rejected the proposal, which they have long opposed. » Read more

Hamas shuts down journalists syndicate in Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency October 13, 2010 - 12:00am Security forces in the Gaza Strip closed the headquarters of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate without explanation Tuesday, a member of the press union's general secretariat said. Tahseen Al-Astal told Ma’an that forces arrived in civilian clothes and told them that the Ministry of the Interior had issued a decision to close the syndicate. He added that they were informed of the decision orally and received nothing in writing. The syndicate's Ramallah office condemned the move and is investigating. » Read more

A new Israeli settlement freeze? What's behind Netanyahu's offer. ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Joshua Mitnick - October 12, 2010 - 12:00am Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revived a previous offer Monday, saying he would support a new settlement freeze if Palestinians would recognize Israel as a Jewish state. The offer is consistent with a demand Mr. Netanyahu made when he first endorsed a Palestinian state a year ago. But Israeli analysts and former diplomats disagree as to what the prime minister, who acknowledged that the offer had already been turned down in private negotiations with Palestinians, sought to achieve by raising the issue in parliament's opening day of winter session Monday. » Read more

In West Bank, olive groves are on the front line in struggle over land ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Joel Greenberg - October 12, 2010 - 12:00am When members of the Shalabi family went out recently to harvest their olives, they discovered that a few dozen trees had been chopped down, their branches hacked by vandals. In other groves belonging to this Palestinian village, there were scores of dead trees that had apparently been poisoned, with holes drilled in their trunks. The groves are near Adei Ad, an unauthorized Jewish settlement outpost, and villagers, citing past incidents of assaults and harassment, pointed an accusing finger at the settlers. » Read more

In West Bank, Peace Symbol Now Signifies Struggle ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Isabel Kershner - October 12, 2010 - 12:00am Palestinians from villages like this one in the West Bank governorate of Ramallah still remember when the olive harvest was a joyous occasion, with whole families out for days in the fall sunshine, gathering the year’s crop and picnicking under the trees. “We considered it like a wedding,” said Hussein Said Hussein Abu Aliya, 68. » Read more