US diplomacy on Israeli-Palestinian peace appears stalled. An Israeli panel finds the Gaza flotilla attack to have been lawful. Egypt links Palestinian extremists based in Gaza to the bombing of a church in Alexandria. Al Jazeera releases documents purporting to show Palestinian concessions to Israel during negotiations several years ago. Intolerance is reportedly increasing in Israel. Aaron David Miller says the Obama administration must proceed cautiously. Mohammed Khatib and Jonathan Pollak say Palestinian nonviolent protests will continue despite an Israeli crackdown. FM Lieberman proposes an interim plan. A Palestinian village in "Area C" of the West Bank is cut off from the outside world. A Palestinian reporter may be tried for mocking Pres. Abbas. Akiva Eldar and Jonathan Freedland both say the leaks prove Israel has had a peace partner all along. The US says it cannot vouch for the leaks' veracity, and UN officials say they create an "inaccurate impression" of the Palestinian leadership. The Guardian purports to explain how and why the papers were released. The Washington Institute releases maps of possible land swaps. Robert Grenier says the leaks may show the peace process is over.

Serry: Leaked papers 'convey an inaccurate impression'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Lahav Harkov - January 24, 2011 - 1:00am

UN coordinator responds to 'The Palestine Papers,' saying PA is committed to securing "the legitimate rights and interests" of Palestinians. The UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process said on Monday that the commentary on the leaked "Palestine Papers" is inaccurate. "I welcome robust political debate, but some of the commentary I have seen conveys an inaccurate impression," Robert Serry said in a statement.

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Egypt Links Palestinians to Attack at Church
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Michael Slackman - January 23, 2011 - 1:00am

Egypt’s interior minister charged Sunday that a Palestinian extremist group with links to Al Qaeda was behind the Dec. 31 bombing outside a church in Alexandria that killed 21 people and set off days of sectarian rioting around the nation. In a nationally televised speech, the minister, Habib el-Adly, said the authorities had “conclusive evidence” linking the attack on Egyptian Christians to the Army of Islam, a militant group based in the Gaza Strip.

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Israeli Panel Rules Flotilla Raid Legal
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - January 24, 2011 - 1:00am

An Israeli commission that examined the deadly raid on a flotilla bound for Gaza last May concluded Sunday that Israel had acted in accordance with international law when its military enforced its naval blockade by intercepting the ships in international waters.

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Washington Institute unveils land swap proposals
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
January 24, 2011 - 1:00am

A pro-Israel U.S. think tank released proposals that would reconcile allowing a majority of the settlers to stay in place with a Palestinian state through commensurate land swaps. The detailed proposal, released Jan. 20 by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, nods to longstanding Palestinian demands for a return to 1967 lines by adhering to one-to-one land swaps. Under the proposal, 68 percent to 80 percent of settlers would remain in place, and the Palestinian state would receive Israeli lands adjacent to the Gaza Strip, the Sinai Desert and parts of the West Bank.

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The Palestine papers: Al-Jazeera trumps WikiLeaks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - January 24, 2011 - 1:00am

While the leaked documents on Middle East negotiations are received in Israel and in the world as incisive evidence of the moderate positions of the Palestinian Authority led by Mahmoud Abbas, the Hamas leadership as well as Abbas' rivals in Fatah will see the documents as additional proof of what they call the "defeatism" of the PA. Abbas is constantly treading the thin line between his will to acquire the sympathy of the Israeli and international public and his need to guard his back from the knives of his rivals at home.

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Palestinian reporter faces trial for insulting PA President Abbas on Facebook
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
January 24, 2011 - 1:00am

Reporter who works for Al-Quds TV, which is sympathetic to Hamas, said he was held for over 50 days in Palestinian lockup after he was tagged in a Facebook image that mocked Abbas. A Palestinian reporter tagged in a Facebook image that mocked the Palestinian president said Saturday he faces trial for insulting a public figure despite already being detained for more than 50 days.

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Abbas: Concessions in Palestine papers came from Israel, not us
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
January 24, 2011 - 1:00am

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday denied offering secret concessions to Israel and said that reporting of purportedly leaked documents had presented Israeli positions as those of his own negotiators. "What is intended is a mix-up. I saw them present things yesterday as Palestinian, but they were Israeli ... This is therefore intentional," Abbas told reporters in Cairo after a meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. "We say things very clearly, we do not have secrets." Abbas stressed.

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PA official: Israelis don't want a two-state solution
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Khaled Abu Toameh - January 24, 2011 - 1:00am

Erekat says Al-Jazeera release part of campaign targeting PA, Abbas refused to make concessions on J'lem; Abbas: We have nothing to hide. Palestinian Legislative Council official Mustafa Barghouti on Monday said that Israelis don't want a two-state solution, according to The Guardian's news blog on 'The Palestine Papers.' "Regardless of how flexible the negotiators are and how many concessions are offered, it makes no difference because Israel does not want a two state solution. All this flexibility is in vain," he was quoted as saying.

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West Bank village in Area C blocked from modern life
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by Omer al-Othmani - January 23, 2011 - 1:00am

For the residents of a remote Palestinian village, located near the northern West Bank city of Nablus, it seems that the hands of the clock has stopped moving. Around 1,200 people live in the village with no water or electricity supply. The first ten years of the 21st century have passed, while the villagers of Froosh Beit Dajan in southeast of Nablus still lives in the "middle ages" -- isolated, gloomy, with no sign of modern life, because it was classified as part of the Area C by Israel.

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