October 13th

Biding time ATFP World Press Roundup Article from NOW Lebanon by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) October 12, 2010 - 12:00am The United States will most probably succeed in convincing Israel to extend its partial and temporary settlement moratorium for another two or three months. It has already offered a package of benefits that seems completely disproportionate to what is being asked for, and which even US newspaper The New York Times has described as “overly generous.” » Read more

Where is Israel going? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from ABC News by Michael Brull - (Opinion) October 13, 2010 - 12:00am Shortly after Israel conquered the West Bank and Gaza, one of Israel’s most brilliant intellectuals, Yeshayahu Leibowitz called for an immediate withdrawal from the occupied territories. » Read more

Buying “Time” Will Lead Negotiations Out of Predicaments? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat by George Semaan - (Opinion) October 13, 2010 - 12:00am The ball is now in Washington’s court, knowing it never exited it in the first place, after Washington decided to be the sole sponsor of the new round of direct talks between Israel and the Palestinian authority. » Read more

Cheap gimmickry ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Economist (Analysis) October 12, 2010 - 12:00am ISRAEL was defined as the "Jewish state" in 1947 by the UN resolution that brought it into being. But now Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu wants the Palestinians to confirm it: both the Palestinian leaders who are supposed to be negotiating with him over a state of their own, and individual Palestinians (and other non-Jews) who apply for Israeli citizenship. » Read more

Loyalty oath law, causing stir in Israel, met by U.S. Jewish silence ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) by Ron Kampeas - October 12, 2010 - 12:00am A day after Israel’s Cabinet announced that it would consider making a loyalty oath mandatory for non-Jewish immigrants, the question put to The Israel Project’s president and founder was simple enough. “How did your organization react?” Natasha Mozgovoya, the Washington correspondent for Israel’s daily Haaretz, asked Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi at a news conference last week announcing an expansion of The Israel Project’s activities. “We didn’t put out a press release” was all Mizrahi would say at the time. » Read more

Anger at West Bank protester's sentence ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent by Donald MacIntyre - October 13, 2010 - 12:00am The British Foreign Office last night expressed concern over a one-year prison sentence handed down by a military court to Abdallah Abu Rahma, a leader of unarmed anti-occupation protests in the West Bank. Mr Abu Rahma, 39, was given the jail sentence along with a further six months suspended for three years and a 5000 shekel (£760) fine after being convicted for incitement and organising demonstrations against the separation barrier in the village of Bil'in. The demonstrations often end in clashes between stone-throwing protesters and youths using tear gas and gunfire. » Read more

Rights group asks Netanyahu to make 'no population transfer' pledge ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Liel Kyzer - October 13, 2010 - 12:00am The Association for Civil Rights in Israel has written to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asking he make clear his government has not discussed the transfer of Israeli Arab citizens to the Palestinian Authority as part of a peace agreement, and that the government will not bring the subject up in the future. » Read more

Top 10 worst errors Israel is about to make ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Bradley Burston - (Blog) October 12, 2010 - 12:00am 1. The Loyalty Oath. What it is: A proposed amendment to Israel's Law of Citizenship, which, if approved by the Knesset, would require non-Jews seeking citizenship to pledge allegiance to Israel as a "Jewish and democratic state." The bill does not require Jews to make the same declaration. Why it matters: A watershed measure which has been widely condemned as formally racist, passage of the bill, a key demand of Avigdor Lieberman's Israel Beiteinu party, could also fuel Lieberman's drive to head the Israeli right, and eventually, run for the premiership. » Read more

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