October 6th

The New York Times looks at the costs and benefits of the US engagement with Middle East peace. PM Netanyahu is considering a US offer on settlements, but may want more concessions. The Washington Post looks at the role of Dennis Ross. Rabbis from nearby settlements replace Korans at a torched West Bank mosque. Palestinian police run soccer clinics. Hamas militants threaten the PA leadership. Farmers complain they have not been compensated by the PA as promised. International activists help Gazans harvest olives. Amira Hass says Israel "is punishing Palestinians shamelessly." An imam from Nazareth is arrested on various charges. 350 new settler housing units are under construction. Palestinians say the US is working on a three-month settlement freeze extension. Shlomo Ben-Ami says the Palestinian leadership is facing a crisis of legitimacy. Former president Clinton says peace would be a serious blow to terrorism.

Bill Clinton: Mideast peace would undercut terror
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Yahoo News
by Paul Schemm - October 5, 2010 - 12:00am

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton said Tuesday that solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would take away much of the motivation for terrorism around the world. He described the long-running conflict as the key problem in the region and said resolving it would have a knock on effect that could result in Syria ending its support for the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and Iran turning back its controversial nuclear program.

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ATFP Senior Fellow Joins APN Spokesman at Peace Event at The Washington Center
Press Release - Contact Information: Hussein Ibish - October 6, 2010 - 12:00am

ATFP Senior Fellow Joins APN Spokesman at Peace Event at The Washington Center On Sept. 20, ATFP Senior Fellow Hussein Ibish joined Ori Nir, the spokesman for Americans for Peace Now, at an event hosted by the Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars entitled “The Two-State Solution to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Why it is a Win-Win for Israelis, Palestinians and the United States.” More than 200 students, interns and others listened to the two explaining why all responsible parties have a vested interest in a two-state peace agreement.


For Netanyahu to accept new freeze, U.S. might have to sweeten the deal
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Leslie Susser - (Analysis) October 5, 2010 - 12:00am

Following reports of an unprecedented U.S. offer of a host of assurances in return for a 60-day extension of the freeze on building in West Bank settlements, some political analysts are wondering why Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not grabbed the deal with both hands. According to the reports, President Obama is offering Netanyahu pledges that the United States will: * Not ask for additional extensions on the partial ban on settlement building, which expired Sept. 26;

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Netanyahu, Abbas and the legitimacy deficit
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Shlomo Ben-Ami - (Opinion) October 6, 2010 - 12:00am

Since its inception in Oslo almost two decades ago, the Israeli-Palestinian peace process has been stymied by the dysfunctional political systems of both sides. Hostage of an impossible coalition and of a settlement movement of freelance fanatics, Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu's leadership is seriously compromised. His Palestinian counterparts are hardly in a better position.

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PA: US working on 3-month freeze extension to save talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Khaled Abu Toameh, Ruth Eglash - October 5, 2010 - 12:00am

The Palestinian Authority said on Tuesday that it had won the backing of Egypt, Jordan and several other Arab countries for its refusal to return to the negotiating table unless Israel extended the moratorium on settlement construction. The announcement was made following a meeting in Cairo between PA President Mahmoud Abbas and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. A senior PA official in Ramallah told The Jerusalem Post that the US administration was now talking about the possibility of extending the moratorium by an additional three months to avoid the collapse of the peace talks.

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10 days after settlement freeze expires, 350 new units under construction
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Chaim Levinson - October 6, 2010 - 12:00am

A Haaretz investigation reveals that since the building freeze in the West Bank was lifted ten days ago, bulldozers have been working furiously on the construction of 350 new housing units in various settlements. As the end of the freeze approached, the settlements have made great efforts to launch a massive building campaign in response. The Yesha Council has expressed satisfaction at the large amount of construction that has taken place so far.

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Imam from Nazareth suspected of supporting terror groups
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Jack Khoury - October 6, 2010 - 12:00am

Shin Bet forces arrested two Israeli Arabs, residents of Nazareth, on suspicion of supporting terror groups, illegal unionizing, and plotting to commit crimes, according to information released on Wednesday. The two men, Sheikh Nazem Abu Salim and Mohammed Naarani, will be tried in the Nazareth Magistrate's court, which issued a gag order on the details of the investigation.

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Israel is now punishing Palestinians shamelessly
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amira Hass - (Opinion) October 6, 2010 - 12:00am

Behind a modest desk with a view of Beit Jala sits a nameless Shin Bet security service officer who is very pleased with himself. He has just saved the Jewish people in Israel from yet another grave security risk by preventing a 47-year-old woman, for five weeks now, from going abroad for urgent medical tests.

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Gaza farmers harvest olives with peace activists
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by Ahmed Aldabba, Osama Radi - October 6, 2010 - 12:00am

For the first time in two months, Palestinian farmer Abdul Qader al-Basyoni, joined by international and local peace activists, managed to enter his olive farm which is dozens of meters away from the security fence separating the Gaza Strip and Israel. The 50-year-old man with grey hair, from the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun, hurried to touch the ripe olive fruits that dangled on the branches in his deserted 20-donums (1,000 square meter) field located in the heart of a 300-meter wide no- man zone imposed by the Israeli army along its borders with the enclave in 2008.

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