Tony Blair Urges Support for Palestinian State-Building at ATFP Event
Press Release - Contact Information: Ghaith al-Omari - December 15, 2010 - 1:00am

Washington, DC, Dec. 15 -- TRH Tony Blair, the Representative of the Middle East Quartet, called today for more international "support for [Palestinian] Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and the state-building effort." He stressed that these efforts should continue and intensify in the context of seeking a negotiated two-state solution. Mr.


Controversy surrounds a planned Jerusalem marathon. The CSM praises the Obama administration for continuing intensive diplomacy. Pres. Abbas visits Egypt. Dennis Ross travels to Israel. The UN is concerned about Hamas' closure of a charity. Rock-throwing youths play cat and mouse with occupation forces in occupied East Jerusalem. Special Envoy Mitchell reiterates US commitment to Palestinian statehood and may have presented new ideas to the parties. PM Netanyahu says he's happy to discuss core issues. Hamas leaders say they will never recognize Israel. A soccer brawl highlights tensions between Jordanians and Palestinians. Pres. Peres says time is running out for peace. Israel is still seeking more F-35 fighter jets. The JTA looks at Jewish American tensions over Israel. Israeli policies stir debate at Brooklyn College. The long struggle of a Palestinian family chips away at Jewish-only housing policies in Israel. The Jordan Times says the diplomatic impasse may result in renewed violence.

Untenable status quo
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
(Editorial) December 15, 2010 - 1:00am

Now it is out in the open that the US has given up trying to convince Israel to stop its settlement activities on Palestinian lands, including East Jerusalem. It is either because Israel is not listening or that the US administration does not want to be forceful enough. The end result is that the euphoria generated earlier by the resumption of direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians is short-lived.

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Arab family's home win blow to Israeli 'Jews only' policy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Jonathan Cook - December 15, 2010 - 1:00am

The pretty two-storey home with a red-tiled roof built by Adel and Iman Kaadan looks no different from the rows of other houses in Katzir, a small hilltop community in northern Israel close to the West Bank. But, unlike the other residents of Katzir, the Kaadans moved into their dream home this month only after a 12-year battle through the Israeli courts. The small victory for the Kaadans, who belong to Israel's Palestinian Arab minority, dealt a big blow to a state policy that for decades has reserved most of the country's land for Jews.

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Anti-Israel Rhetoric Raises Alarms At Brooklyn College
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Week
by Doug Chandler - December 15, 2010 - 1:00am

In a discomforting scene last month, three young Palestinians found themselves detained at an Israeli “checkpoint,” where an unsympathetic soldier ordered them to kneel on the pavement, hands behind their backs, and blindfolded them. As shouting began, both by the soldier and by the three detained Palestinians, the possibility of violence seemed to become a real possibility.

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On Israel, can U.S. Jews disagree nicely?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Sue Fishkoff - December 15, 2010 - 1:00am

Laura Sutta says she doesn’t feel safe talking about Israel. Sutta returned to the United States in 2003 after 23 years living in Israel and found that while she was away, the vitriol over Israel had reached a fever pitch in her Jewish community in the San Francisco Bay area. “I’ve lost two friendships over it,” she said. “One was a friend from high school. When I talked to him about Israel, I could feel him judging me.” Sutta says she’s dumbfounded by the “fury of the volleys being exchanged.”

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Oren: Still pursuing F35s from US settlement freeze offer
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
December 15, 2010 - 1:00am

Ambassador to the US, Michael Oren, said Israel is still seeking 20 additional F- 35 fighter jets even after the failure of a US offer to provide the planes in exchange for a freeze on settlement construction. The 20 jets would be in addition to the 20 Lockheed Martin Corp.-built F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, valued at about $2.8 billion, that Israel ordered in October, Oren told Bloomberg News reporters and editors in Washington yesterday. RELATED: US, Israel, PA fail to reach settlement freeze deal US refuses to confirm offer of 20 F-35 fighter jets

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Peres: Time running out on peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Ahiya Raved - December 15, 2010 - 1:00am

The European Union expressed its faith in peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians on Monday, but President Shimon Peres believes there is not much time left. "We are starting the countdown for peace, and time is running out," he said Tuesday at a Galilee convention in the northern city of Beit Shean. "There are serious processes of de-legitimizing Israel, radical Islamization in the region and Iran arming itself. We must come to our senses now. There is not much time left for discussions," the president warned.

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Mitchell presented Abbas with offers
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Roee Nahmias - December 15, 2010 - 1:00am

US special envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell presented a document of "unofficial" offers to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, London-based Arabic-language al-Hayat newspaper reported Wednesday. But the report adds Mitchell offered no US guarantees. Israeli Side Netanyahu welcomes US focus on core issues / Reuters Prime minister tells economic forum that Clinton's announcement of intention to focus on borders, refugees, rather than additional settlement freeze will move talks along. 'To reach peace, we have to discuss issues delaying peace,' he says Full Story

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Jordan soccer brawl highlights Palestinians' feelings of deprivation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Zvi Barel - December 15, 2010 - 1:00am

A soccer match played Friday between the Jordanian league's Al-Faisaly and Al-Wihdat ended in a 1:0 victory for Al-Wihdat. The real news, though, wasn't the score, but the skirmish that broke out, in which 250 fans and policemen were injured, after the wire fence that separates the spectators from the field collapsed. This wasn't just a clash between fans accompanied by stone-throwing, broken bones and arrests. It was a political battle pitting the Al-Wihdat fans, mostly of Palestinian descent, against the Al-Faisaly fans, mostly of Jordanian origin.

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