Hezbollah praises prisoner deal as victory for 'resistance' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post October 13, 2011 - 12:00am Hezbollah on Wednesday said that the deal to release over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners for the kidnapped soldier Gilad Schalit was a victory for the resistance, Lebanon's Daily Star reported. According to the report, Hezbollah released a statement praising the agreement and saying that it showed that Palestinian resistance is "effective in regaining land, freeing prisoners, and preserving its freedom, dignity, and independence." The Hezbollah comments echoed Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal, who spoke on Tuesday when news of the deal broke, calling it a "great achievement." » Read more

Palestinians aim to join U.N. bodies ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Tom Perry - October 13, 2011 - 12:00am The plan is likely to generate more criticism from the United States, which has pledged to veto a Palestinian request last month for full membership of the United Nations, if it comes to a vote in the Security Council. The Palestinians have been preparing their drive for membership of the U.N. agencies over the past two years as part of a plan to get ready for statehood, said Omar Awadallah, who heads the U.N. department at the foreign ministry. » Read more

U.S.: Israel move to legalize West Bank outposts 'unhelpful to peace efforts' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz October 13, 2011 - 12:00am The U.S. State Department criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's newly launched attempt to legalize West Bank outposts on Wednesday, saying the move was "unhelpful" to Mideast peace efforts. On Tuesday, Netanyahu's office announced instructed Justice Minister Yaakov Neeman to set up a task force to explore ways to legalize houses in the settlements that were built on private Palestinian land. » Read more

Israeli settlers attack Palestinian school amid fears for more violence ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua October 13, 2011 - 12:00am Jewish settlers attacked on Thursday a Palestinian school, raising fears that conflicts between Israelis and Palestinians may increase when the U.N. Security Council was debating on a Palestinian bid for statehood, witnesses and security sources said. The witnesses said that several Jewish settlers threw stones and empty bottles at Kortoba females school in the southern West Bank city of Hebron. » Read more

Inside Israeli desert, standoff over land ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman by Amy Teibel - October 13, 2011 - 12:00am Decades of fraught relations between the Israeli government and Bedouin Arabs living in the hardscrabble Negev desert are coming to a head over a state plan that would expel 30,000 of the nomads from unauthorized tent encampments and shantytowns and move them into some of the country's most destitute towns. The Israeli Cabinet recently approved the plan, reflecting growing anxiety that Bedouin are taking over more of the Negev, an inverted triangle in the country's south crisscrossed with rocky mountains and dry riverbeds and covering more than half of Israel's land mass. » Read more

Fatah official says meeting with Hamas chief 'positive' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency October 13, 2011 - 12:00am Fatah leader Azzam al-Ahmad said Wednesday that his meeting in Cairo with Hamas chief Khalid Mashaal was "positive" and that reconciliation talks would restart "soon." Al-Ahmad, who heads the Fatah delegation in talks with Hamas, told reporters after the meeting that the talks had not been planned, but were arranged at the last minute as the officials happened to be in the Egyptian capital. During the meeting, Mashaal phoned President and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas and expressed his full supported the president's recent bid for full UN membership, al-Ahmad said. » Read more

Jubilation over planned Israeli-Palestinian prisoner swap dampens ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Edmund Sanders - October 13, 2011 - 12:00am Initial jubilation over the impending prisoner swap between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas began to dampen Wednesday as people on both sides expressed concerns that their leaders may have given away too much at the negotiating table. » Read more

Israeli-Hamas Agreement to Trade Prisoners May Reshape Politics in Region ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Ethan Bronner - October 12, 2011 - 12:00am The prisoner exchange between Hamas and Israel that is expected to begin next week could reshape regional relationships, strengthening Egypt, Hamas and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel while posing an acute challenge to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. One result might be a more confrontational — and Hamas-imbued — Palestinian movement that could, in the long run, increase Israel’s difficulties, drawing inspiration from and invigorating popular protests across the Middle East. It could also tighten the relationship between Hamas, Egypt and Turkey. » Read more