December 13th

Israeli army steps up operations along Gaza border as violence escalates ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua December 12, 2010 - 1:00am JERUSALEM -- The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is deploying more troops along the Gaza border in response to recent cross-border clashes, and a spike in missile and mortar attacks against Israeli civilians over the last week. On Saturday evening, two Palestinian militants were killed and an IDF paratrooper was moderately wounded in an exchange of fire along the Gaza border after the former were spotted attempting to infiltrate into Israel. The army said the Israeli trooper was wounded by a Palestinian sniper. » Read more

Abbas asks U.S. to press Israel to cancel Jerusalem evictions ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua December 13, 2010 - 1:00am RAMALLAH -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday asked the United States to press Israel to cancel the eviction of a Hamas lawmaker from Jerusalem. Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, who is in Washington, carried a letter from Abbas to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, which asked the U.S. administration to intervene, said Azzam Al-Ahmad, an aide to Abbas. On Wednesday, an Israeli court ruled to expel Mohammed Abu Tair from Jerusalem, who was later sent to the West Bank city of Ramallah. » Read more

Fatah, Hamas agree to meet in late December: official ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua December 13, 2010 - 1:00am RAMALLAH-- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party agreed with Islamic Hamas movement to resume reconciliation dialogue by the end of December, a Fatah official said Monday. The two movements will meet by the end of this month for more discussions of controversial issues between the two rivals, said Azzam Al-Ahmad, a member of the Fatah Central Committee. » Read more

Palestinians express doubts over 2-state future ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman by Tia Goldenberg - (Analysis) December 12, 2010 - 1:00am JERUSALEM — Conventional wisdom on Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking has long held that Israel should relinquish most of the lands it occupied in 1967 in favor of a Palestinian state — the "two-state solution" that much of the world has supported for years. » Read more

Israel group blasts arrests of Palestinian minors ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman by Ben Hubbard - December 12, 2010 - 1:00am JERUSALEM — Heavily armed Israeli police dragged the Dana brothers from their home before dawn, tossed them in armored jeeps and hauled them in for interrogation, the Palestinian boys and their father told The Associated Press. While Israel has long relied on night raids like this to nab Palestinian militants who seek to kill Israelis, the Dana brothers didn't fit the bill. Their alleged crime: throwing stones. Their ages: 14 and 16. » Read more

Israel PM welcomes US backdown on settlement curbs ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman December 13, 2010 - 1:00am JERUSALEM (AP) — Washington's Mideast envoy is returning to the region on his first mission since the United States abandoned efforts to salvage direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians. In the absence of direct talks, George Mitchell will mediate between the two sides, meeting the Israeli leader on Monday and the Palestinian president on Tuesday. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton wants Israel and the Palestinians to detail their positions on the major issues dividing them. » Read more

Rough road ahead for new U.S. Mideast peace push ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Alertnet by Tom Perry - December 12, 2010 - 1:00am RAMALLAH, West Bank, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Neither Israeli nor Palestinian officials showed any enthusiasm on Sunday for a U.S. proposal of a return to indirect peace talks after the swift collapse of face-to-face negotiations. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, looking ahead to Washington's next steps in the troubled peace process, said in a speech on Friday the United States would push for the resolution of the core issues of the six-decade-old conflict. » Read more

Israel releases non-violent protest leader ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency December 13, 2010 - 1:00am RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Israeli authorities on Sunday released anti-wall activist Adeeb Abu Rahmah after detaining him for 18 months. Adeeb was convicted of "incitement" for his role in organizing non-violent weekly protests against the separation wall in Bil'in, which annexes 60 percent of the village's land. The International Court of Justice and the Israeli Supreme Court ruled the route of the wall illegal. An Israeli military court sentenced Adeeb to 12 months in prison, but a military judge extended his sentence to 18 months after an appeal by army prosecutors. » Read more

Palestinian nonviolence: Is the Budrus model still viable? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Mahmoud Abbas - (Analysis) December 10, 2010 - 1:00am With Middle East peace talks on the brink after the US this week gave up on an Israeli settlement freeze, Palestinians are reevaluating their options for securing statehood. Amid disappointment with both negotiations and violence, a documentary film now showing around the globe highlights the nonviolence protest movement as a hopeful alternative. » Read more

Hopes of Fatah-Hamas reconciliation still alive ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Maher Abukhater - (Interview) December 11, 2010 - 1:00am Reporting from Ramallah, West Bank — With reconciliation talks between leading Palestinian movements Fatah and Hamas apparently at another impasse, hopes of an accord are fading fast. In the wake of a violent split in June 2007, when a coalition government collapsed, the more moderate Fatah has been in control of the West Bank and the militant Islamist Hamas has run the Gaza Strip, in effect dividing the Palestinian cause. » Read more