NEWS: As Palestinians seek UNESCO recognition for heritage sites in the occupied territories, Israel also lays claim to them. Jordan's King Abdullah visits Pres. Abbas in Ramallah. Senior US officials will meet with Palestinian and Israeli leaders this week. The Israeli government delays a bill that would restrict foreign funding to liberal NGOs. Israel's ambassador returns to Egypt. PM Fayyad says he's ready to leave office if a new prime minister is selected. Ha'aretz describes the procedure through which Palestinians are arrested by occupation authorities. Israeli officials say they will continue to withhold Palestinian tax revenues. Unemployment continues to grow in the occupied territories. Experts say Abbas is performing a delicate political balancing act. COMMENTARY: ATFP President Ziad Asali says Israel must do more to curb “price tag” settler violence. Shlomo Avineri says the “Jewish identity” bill in Israel would cause chaos. Amos Harel says strong ultra-Orthodox participation is changing the nature of the Israeli military. David Michaels says it's shameful that Christians in Jerusalem are abused by some Jewish extremists. Leonard Fein says the world should thank Pres. Sarkozy for giving a frank opinion of PM Netanyahu. The National says Israel is isolating itself internationally. Fahed Fanek says Jordan should promote more trade with Palestine. Brigitte Herremans says the EU needs to do much more to invest in peace. Yossi Alpher looks at best and worst case scenarios for a Palestinian unity government. Ghassan Khatib doubts that Hamas is in a hurry to complete an agreement with the PLO.

'Price Tag' Attacks Pose Test for Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Ziad Asali - (Opinion) November 21, 2011 - 1:00am

Israeli society has been confronted recently by a troubling new trend: vigilante attacks by some settlers and their supporters against Palestinians in the occupied territories, Arab citizens of Israel and, increasingly, Israeli peace groups. These began as the settlers’ own form of retaliation — exacting a “price” for any Palestinian violence — but have devolved into a campaign of terror. Marauding bands of armed settlers have uprooted olive trees, burned mosques and schools, shot at cars, run over children.

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The problem is not reconciliation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Ghassan Khatib - (Opinion) November 21, 2011 - 1:00am

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced last week that he plans to meet the head of Hamas, Khaled Meshaal, on November 25 to discuss two issues. First, the leaders will discuss the future and challenges facing the Palestinian cause, and second, they will explore the prospects for reconciling the two factions they head and implementing a reconciliation agreement signed in May.

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The regional Islamist circumstances are changing
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Yossi Alpher - (Opinion) November 21, 2011 - 1:00am

The notion of integrating Hamas, and with it the Gaza Strip, into a Palestinian unity government reflects the primary trend that has thus far defined the Arab revolutionary wave: Arab Islamist movements are entering government. In this sense, Hamas' victory in the 2006 Palestinian elections was very much a harbinger of things to come elsewhere in the Arab world.

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Advocating the two state solution: the best bet?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Open Democracy
by Brigitte Herremans - (Opinion) November 21, 2011 - 1:00am

Nowadays, it is not an easy task to be a staunch advocate of the two state solution. True, there is a near-universal consensus at the international level that a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict lies in a viable and independent State of Palestine living in peace and security alongside the State of Israel.[i] However, far from the ideal solution, it is an imperfect compromise.

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Towards more trade with Palestine
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Fahed Fanek - (Opinion) November 21, 2011 - 1:00am

Supporting the steadfastness of the Palestinians on their soil is supposed to be a firm and repeatedly confirmed Jordanian policy. Such policy is not subject to reservations or reconsideration at any time. However, the details of the current trade between Jordan and Palestine, as revealed by the Department of Statistics, do not support this claim. Trade with Palestine is running at a very low level. The trend deserves to be corrected, sooner rather than later, if we really want Palestinians to stay in Palestine.

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A consensus that further isolates a repressive Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
(Editorial) November 21, 2011 - 1:00am

The latest international condemnation of Israel will receive the usual denunciation, but it is becoming harder to deny. There is a growing international consensus that Israel is constructing a repressive system governing Palestinians that can be compared to apartheid South Africa. It is a mark of shame, and one that Israel has tried to reject.

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Bibi Is a Liar, So What's the Fuss?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Leonard Fein - (Opinion) November 20, 2011 - 1:00am

Few stories that start out as potential bombshells end up as utterly duddish (from “dud”) as the “hot mic” exchange between Presidents Sarkozy and Obama. Duddish, that is, here in Israel, where I am for a couple of weeks; not so back home, in the States, as we shall see. If I were a rich man, I’d immediately do a survey of Israeli public opinion, a survey with just two questions: (1) Do you believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu is a liar? (2) Do you hope that Prime Minister Netanyahu will stay in power for another term after the next elections?

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An open letter to Christian leaders in Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by David Michaels - (Opinion) November 19, 2011 - 1:00am

I write with a request: for your forgiveness. As a representative of the oldest Jewish communal organization – B’nai B’rith International, which includes members of many backgrounds in over 50 countries, including Israel, where we have been present in Jerusalem since 1888 – I feel obliged to express my revulsion over new reported incidents of spitting at Christian clergy in certain areas of the Holy City. I feel especially obliged to do so as an Orthodox Jew.

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The ultra-Orthodox are changing the face of the IDF
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amos Harel - (Opinion) November 18, 2011 - 1:00am

The 19 reservist major generals who signed the letter to Chief of Staff Benny Gantz on Monday, warning of extremist religious trends in the Israel Defense Forces, "were in the army long ago," Rabbi Avichai Rontzki declared this week. Brig. Gen. (res. ) Rontzki, who was chief army rabbi until a year and a half ago, claimed that the veteran officers don't know what the IDF is like anymore. "Things are different nowadays," he explained.

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