October 16th

Israeli parliament dissolves for early election
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Aron Heller - October 15, 2012 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM —Israel officially opened its election season on Monday as parliament dissolved itself and scheduled a vote for January, plunging the country into a vicious, three-month political campaign.

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Olmert Plans Comeback to Challenge Netanyahu
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Jodi Rudoren - October 15, 2012 - 12:00am

TEL AVIV — Ehud Olmert, the former prime minister who has spent the last several years battling corruption charges, is plotting a comeback that analysts say offers the best hope of uniting Israel’s fragmented political center, but also shows the opposition’s desperation in trying to block the seemingly inevitable re-election of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

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Palestinian official reports "diminished hope" in peace process
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
October 16, 2012 - 12:00am

UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- Palestine said here Monday there were "diminished hopes" in the peace process with Israel to translate the two-state solution into reality, and urged the international community to act to help reach the goal. Riyad Mansour, the permanent Palestinian observer to the United Nations, made the statement as he was taking the floor at an open meeting of the UN Security Council on the current situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question.

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U.S. says Palestinian status bid jeopardizes peace process
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
October 15, 2012 - 12:00am

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 15 (Reuters) - A Palestinian bid to upgrade its U.N. status to a sovereign country would jeopardize the peace process with Israel and make it difficult to get the two sides to return to talks on a two-state solution, the United States said on Monday. Having failed last year to win recognition of full statehood at the United Nations, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said last month he would seek a less-ambitious status upgrade at the world body to make it a "non-member state" like the Vatican.

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October 15th

NEWS: The Romney Campaign announces the formation of an “Arab-Americans for Romney” coalition. An all-female ticket is making its presence felt in upcoming local Palestinian elections. New Israeli airstrikes bring the number killed in Gaza during the ongoing round of violence to five. Former Hamas prisoner Shalit recalls his captivity in Gaza. The US cancels scholarships for students in Gaza after Israel refuses to allow them to travel. Islamists in Egypt play on anti-Israel sentiment. Pres. Abbas says he was “two months” away from a peace agreement with former PM Olmert. Salafists in Gaza complain Hamas is preventing them from establishing a new political party. The Emir of Qatar is reportedly planning to visit Gaza. A former senior aide to the late Pres. Arafat says Israel is reaching out to potential future Palestinian leaders, including those in Israeli prison. Israel is planning an international PR campaign to improve the image of settlers. PM Netanyahu is in a strong position for upcoming Israeli elections, but faces numerous uncertainties. Palestinians in the West Bank are holding weekly nonviolent protests against the latest expansion of the Gush Etzion settlement bloc. COMMENTARY: Saliba Sarsar and Hussein Ibish point to vital lessons for the Middle East conflict from events during past Novembers. Barak Ravid says, as Israel's elections loom, Palestinians feel nothing but despair. Harriet Sherwood thinks Netanyahu is on the right track to victory. Ha'aretz interviews PLO official Ashrawi. Ari Shavit says new reports on secret Israeli-Syrian negotiations reflect well on Netanyahu. Amos Harel says extremists in Sinai are making a Hamas-Israel conflict, which neither party wants, more likely. Jeff Barak says the next American president will find a pressing need to get the parties to return to the negotiating table. Khaled Diab says Israeli settlers can prove to be unlikely peace activists. Zohar Nevo says the new head of Magen David has a long history of ugly anti-Arab racism. Pierre Klochendler looks at the struggle over neighborhoods in occupied East Jerusalem.

Caged in the Great City
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS)
by Pierre Klochendler - (Opinion) October 15, 2012 - 12:00am

AR-RAM, Occupied East Jerusalem, Oct 15 2012 (IPS) - Ali Shuruf turns on the lights, that shine into a gaudy living room. Beyond the window, the dominant colour is uniformly grey: the house stands literally against a wall. Not just any wall – the infamous eight-metre cement wall separates Palestinians from Israelis.

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Michael Bloomberg and Magen David's Anti-Arab Rabbi
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Eshkol Nevo - (Opinion) October 15, 2012 - 12:00am

When one enters Jerusalem, two structures immediately catch the eye. The first is a digital sign informing the traveler when the next Sabbath begins and ends. The second is a building bearing a sign identifying it as the William H. Bloomberg MDA Jerusalem Station.

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The Israeli settlers who make unlikely peace activists
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Khaled Diab - (Opinion) October 15, 2012 - 12:00am

In his recent speech to the UN general assembly, Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas warned that Israel's ongoing settlement construction in East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank would make the creation of a viable Palestinian state alongside Israel "extremely difficult if not completely impossible".

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Getting back to the negotiating table
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Jeff Barak - (Opinion) October 15, 2012 - 12:00am

Guess who wrote this and where it was first published: “The Arab Spring showed the world that the Palestinians are happier and in [a] better situation than their Arab brothers who fought to liberate them from the Israelis. Now, it is time to stop the hatred and wars and start to create better living conditions for the future Arab generations.”

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Gaza extremists endanger the balance of terror along border with Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amos Harel - (Opinion) October 15, 2012 - 12:00am

For several months now, Israel and Hamas are maintaining a complex balance of terror along the Gaza Strip border. The relative calm is kept despite rockets being fired at Israel by extremist groups supporting al-Qaida (sometimes with a nod from Hamas, sometimes with its indirect assistance), and despite Israeli airstrikes against members of these groups. It is true that lately the lulls between escalation to escalation have become shorter, but still there is no room for comparison to the situation along the border during the years that preceded Operation Cast Lead in 2008.

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