November 1st

Enough Game-Playing
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
(Editorial) October 29, 2010 - 12:00am

Israeli-Palestinian peace talks have been suspended for four weeks, about as long as they were on. The more protracted the impasse, the harder it will be for the parties to get back to the negotiating table. More delay only plays into the hands of extremists. Both sides are at fault. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has refused President Obama’s request to extend a moratorium on construction in the Jewish settlements for a modest 60 days. The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, has refused to negotiate until building in the settlements stops.

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Obama can let Palestinians seek state recognition at the UN
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
(Editorial) October 29, 2010 - 12:00am

President Obama may soon have an unusual chance to serve the cause of Middle East peace by remaining silent. He could quietly acquiesce to a move being considered by Palestinian leaders to ask the United Nations to recognize a state of Palestine. Such a request would only be necessary in one case: if Israel effectively ends any hope of renewed peace negotiations by continuing to build Jewish settlements on Palestinian territory in the West Bank.

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As stonethrowing escalates, Israeli police round up Arab children in E. Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Ben Lynfield - October 29, 2010 - 12:00am

Jerusalem — Amid rising Israeli-Arab tensions, Israeli police are waging a crackdown on Palestinian youths – many not yet teenagers – in East Jerusalem’s most volatile neighborhood, Silwan. In a recent incident, M., a slightly chubby 10-year-old with dark eyes, was harmed by a group of plainclothes forces who sprang out of an unmarked car and grabbed him off the street, according to his father's account, which was backed up by other residents. (M.'s full name could not be used because of an Israeli law protecting juveniles.)

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ISRAEL: Officials find Morocco a tough room these days
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Batsheva Sobelman - October 31, 2010 - 12:00am

Officially, diplomatic relations between Morocco and Israel are "suspended," according to Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This is the way things have been since 2000, when Morocco (along with Tunisia and Oman) closed "interest offices" opened only six years earlier, in better days. Still, relations continue, quiet and generally fair. Besides the several thousand tourists every year and warm sentiments Israel's Moroccan Jews maintain still today, Israeli academics, journalists and sometimes politicians travel frequently enough to Morocco.

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October 29th

15 years after his assassination, Israelis are divided on PM Rabin's legacy. Saeb Erakat says peace depends on an end to Israeli settlement activity. PM Fayyad says he's not running for president. The PA opposes Hamas involvement in peace talks. Pres. Abbas says Palestinians may be forced to seek UN recognition, but negotiations remain the first option. The US reportedly suggests Israel lease land in East Jerusalem from a future Palestinian state. Israel bars Palestinian children from a Tel Aviv film festival. Amnon Be'eri-Sulitzeanu says segregation of Jews and Arabs in Israel is “almost absolute.” Israel's settler population is growing at three times the national average. The Jerusalem Post says PM Netanyahu lacks a Cabinet majority for a settlement freeze. Egyptian officials say there has been no breakthrough on negotiations. Daphna Baram says a recent row over school textbook shows some Israeli thinking is evolving, but some not. Hassan Haidar says Israel's government and settlers are becoming obsessed with the Palestinian olive harvest.

The Obsession with Olive Trees
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat
by Hassan Haidar - (Opinion) October 28, 2010 - 12:00am

Israel, its government, army and settlers have become morbidly obsessed with olive trees. Rarely does a day pass by without a battle being waged against these trees, which turn into the number one enemy of the state at every harvest season, because they always remind it that it is occupying a land that is not its own. The stubbornness of roots that run deep makes Israelis lose their temper, frenziedly attacking to pull them out and break their branches, in a desperate attempt to erase this symbol from the memory of the Palestinians.

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A shared story offers hope to Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Daphna Baram - October 29, 2010 - 12:00am

A piece of news from Israel this week hides a grain of hope in a rather bleak reality: a group of high school students demanded to meet a senior official at the education ministry after one of their textbooks was banned from use in schools. The book in question, Learning Each Other's Historical Narrative, was the fruit of a joint project in which Israeli and Palestinian teachers constructed a text presenting both narratives of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict alongside each other.

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No breakthrough in Mid-East peace talks - Egypt envoy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
October 28, 2010 - 12:00am

Ahmed Aboul Gheit reiterated Arab support for Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas's demand that Israeli settlement building be frozen ahead of new talks. Israel has refused to renew the freeze despite pressure from Washington. Mr Abbas said he was still mulling an appeal to the UN, but said his first choice would be to return to talks. "We have discussed our options... but our first option is to return to direct negotiations if Israel halts all settlement activity," Mr Abbas said.

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Israelis Remain in Tug-of-War Over the Rabin Legacy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line
by Kalindi O'Brien, David Rosenberg - October 28, 2010 - 12:00am

Fifteen years after Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was gunned down at a Tel Aviv rally, the tug-of-war has yet to let up over the former prime minister’s legacy as the architect of a troubled peace process and a symbol of the dangers to democracy from extremism. Officially, Rabin is mourned by all of Israel. His name appears on city squares and streets as well as schools and hospitals. As in years past, he was memorialized at official government ceremonies earlier this month on the date of his assassination on the Hebrew calendar.

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PM lacks majority in any cabinet forum to renew freeze
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Gil Hoffman - October 29, 2010 - 12:00am

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu lacks a majority to pass a new moratorium on housing starts in Judea and Samaria in any possible forum of ministers, The Jerusalem Post has established. Netanyahu has been making an effort to gauge what kind of support he would have if he wanted to renew the freeze in order to satisfy US President Barack Obama and bring the Palestinian Authority back to the negotiating table.

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