October 18th

Israel Renews Bid to Free Soldier Held by Hamas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - October 17, 2010 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM —Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Israel had recently renewed contacts with a German mediator to negotiate the release of a captured Israeli soldier, Staff Sgt. Gilad Shalit, who is being held by Hamas. Related “We are working all the time and in various ways to try to bring Gilad back,” Mr. Netanyahu told Israel’s Army Radio. “One of those ways, even the main way, is through negotiations, which indeed resumed a few weeks ago.”

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Israel Renews Bid to Free Soldier Held by Hamas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - October 17, 2010 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM —Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Israel had recently renewed contacts with a German mediator to negotiate the release of a captured Israeli soldier, Staff Sgt. Gilad Shalit, who is being held by Hamas. Related “We are working all the time and in various ways to try to bring Gilad back,” Mr. Netanyahu told Israel’s Army Radio. “One of those ways, even the main way, is through negotiations, which indeed resumed a few weeks ago.”

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October 15th

Mustafa Barghouthi says Palestinians should unilaterally declare independence and invite international recognition like Kosovo. PM Netanyahu approves 240 new settler housing units in occupied East Jerusalem. Hamas leaders are banned from entering Egypt. Pres. Abbas reiterates there is no alternative to a two-state agreement, urges Quartet action, and says Israel can call itself whatever it likes. Palestinian refugees are disillusioned. Arab states may ask the UN to recognize Palestine. Zeev Sternhell says Israel's right requires perpetual war, and Gideon Levy says they just hate Arabs. 36% of Jewish Israelis want to revoke Palestinian citizens' voting rights. Elderly Israelis claim former homes in occupied East Jerusalem. There is more criticism of Israel's proposed new loyalty oath, and Jonathan Cook says if he is forced to take it, he will be lying. Palestinian women make a living hitting Jewish skullcaps. The Forward asks if Netanyahu will have to choose between peace and his coalition partners. Abdul Rahman Al-Rashid says Israeli extremists want to expel Palestinian citizens. Joseph Chamie says demographics are a threat to peace. Christopher Hayes looks at settler conduct and ideology in Hebron and Jerusalem.

Abbas: What Israel calls itself is none of our business
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Khaled Abu Toameh - October 15, 2010 - 12:00am

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said on Thursday that it was none of the Palestinians’ business if Israel wanted to call itself a Jewish state, or anything else. “If the Israelis want to call themselves any name, they should address the international community and the United Nations, because this is none of our business,” Abbas told reporters after meeting with Finnish President Tarja Halonen in Ramallah. Abbas said that the PLO had recognized Israel when the Oslo Accords were signed in 1993.

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Ruth Gavison: Loyalty declaration bill is bad legislation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Dan Izenberg - October 15, 2010 - 12:00am

Hebrew University law professor Ruth Gavison, an outspoken supporter of characterizing Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, told The Jerusalem Post in an exclusive interview Wednesday that she was opposed to the loyalty oath bill approved in the cabinet earlier this week. “It is possible to unequivocally support [the characterization of] Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, as I do, and still think that this bill, at this time, in this fashion and in this context, is a bad move,” she said.

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Postcard From Palestine
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Nation
by Christopher Hayes - (Opinion) October 14, 2010 - 12:00am

The first thing you notice when you drive into Hebron is the lack of cars. Since 1997 this second-largest Palestinian city in the West Bank, the only one with an Israeli settlement in its midst, has been formally divided. Within the Israeli section, which takes up much of the historic downtown, Palestinians are not allowed to drive, so they walk or use donkey carts. When people are ill or injured, they are carried to the hospital. It is not surprising, therefore, that many of the 30,000 Palestinians who once lived here have moved out.

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Demographics may scuttle Mideast peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Joseph Chamie - (Opinion) October 15, 2010 - 12:00am

Countless words have been spoken and written, several wars and numerous armed clashes have taken place. Thousands have died, with even more injured and suffering. Yet, after more than 60 years of struggle, numerous diplomatic initiatives, agreements and peace offers, intergovernmental conferences and behind-the-scenes negotiations, comprehensive resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict remains disappointingly elusive.

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Will Israel Expel a Million Palestinians?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed - (Opinion) October 14, 2010 - 12:00am

The extremists in Israel are trying to build a case that aims to bring the peace process to a complete halt. [They are saying] if you want a Palestinian state, you must realize that we will expel a million and a quarter Palestinians who hold the Israeli nationality and live inside the Jewish state. This proposal means that Israel is for Jews only. Is it reasonable for a state to be established for three million people, whilst at the same time this results in the displacement of another million?

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An oath for the few excludes the many in an ethnocracy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Jonathan Cook - October 15, 2010 - 12:00am

In all likelihood, I will be one of the very first non-Jews expected to swear loyalty to Israel as an ideology rather than as a state. Until now, naturalising residents, like the country's soldiers, pledged an oath to Israel and its laws. That is the situation in most countries. But soon, if the Israeli parliament passes a bill being advanced by the government, aspiring citizens will instead be required to uphold the Zionist majority's presumption that Israel is a "Jewish and democratic state".

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Bibi's Tough Choices
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Nathan Jeffay - October 13, 2010 - 12:00am

All eyes are on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as the world awaits his final response to calls for a further settlement freeze. But what happens if he agrees – will he be able to push it through his cabinet and keep his coalition together? Since the final days of Netanyahu’s first settlement freeze in late September, his right-wing coalition partners have been flexing their muscles. But a close examination of their stands suggests Netanyahu may have more flexibility than most perceive.

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