NEWS: Hamas' appeal rises in Gaza but it still faces financial woes. Hamas holds an unusual public rally in the West Bank that continues for second day. Israel says in spite of its jubilation, Hamas has been daunted by its losses in the recent conflict. The end of conflict is bringing some life back to Gaza markets. FM Lieberman faces indictment on lesser charges, Including breach of trust, that may allow him to continue his political career. Israeli soldiers assault two Reuters cameramen. An Israeli court urges the rerouting of parts of the West Bank separation barrier. An Israeli border police officer who killed a Palestinian youth is "wanted for murder" on Facebook pages. Israel will equip its military reservists with a new generation of rifle. The Arab League calls on donors to meet pledges to the PA. Reports say PA officials may be studying the possibility of a confederation with Jordan. Gaza fishermen continue to tentatively explore whether Israel has in fact expanded the area in which they are permitted to fish following the cease-fire. COMMENTARY: Adam Gonn says Lieberman's indictment will have little political impact. Oded Carmeli says both Israelis and Palestinians are having fewer children. Sara Hirschhorn says extremist Israeli politician Feiglin poses a clear and present danger to Israel. Salman Masalha says a little-known Israeli "park project" is as dangerous to peace as the E1 settlement expansion plan. Arsen Ostrovsky says Israel is "winning" in Europe by removing the conflict as the central issue in bilateral relations. Uri Savir says the Middle East needs a coalition of young progressives. Raja Shehadeh reflects on recent events. Gil Troy says Pres. Obama's attitude towards Israel reminds him of the late Sen.Moynihan. Amy Ayalon says constructive unilateral moves can help the situation. Jonathan Schanzer asks who or what can succeed Pres. Abbas.Henry Siegman calls Hamas leader Mishaal's Gaza speech "reckless incitement."

Meshal's folly
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Henry Siegman - (Opinion) December 14, 2012 - 1:00am

Just as the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly recognized Palestine as a state in the occupied territories beyond Israel's pre-1967 borders, providing new hope and encouragement to those who have not given up on the struggle for a Palestinian state living in peace alongside the State of Israel; and as major European countries condemned in unprecedentedly strong terms Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to enlarge the settlement project in the Jerusalem area and elsewhere, a move that would prevent such a two-state outcome, Hamas' political bureau chief Khaled Meshal las

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After Abbas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy
by Jonathan Schanzer - (Opinion) December 13, 2012 - 1:00am

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas went to the United Nations last month and brought his people one step closer to statehood. But amid all the fanfare, Western diplomats quietly conceded that the General Assembly vote to upgrade the Palestinians' U.N. mission was not simply a step taken to advance their national project. It also reflected a desire to counter Hamas's growing influence, particularly after the Gaza-based terrorist group claimed victory in its war with Israel in November.

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How Unilateral Moves Can Help
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast
by Ami Ayalon - (Opinion) December 13, 2012 - 1:00am

Several signs lately reinforce the conclusion that the direct negotiations paradigm for resolving the Israel-Palestinian conflict has failed and must be replaced. The recent U.N. vote accepting Palestine as a non-member state is one such sign: 138 states supported the Palestinians’ resolution, only 9 voted against it, including the United States (a prisoner of the old paradigm).

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On Israel, Obama brings Moynihan to mind
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Gil Troy - (Opinion) December 13, 2012 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM (JTA)  -- Those who view American-Israel relations through a dualistic “are you pro-Israel or anti-Israel” lens must be confused. In one week, the United States stands virtually alone with Israel against the Palestinians’ upgrade of their status at the United Nations, then immediately condemns Israel’s settlement expansion. Similarly, despite Republican warnings that a reelected Barack Obama would “throw Israel under a bus,” the president backed Israel during the recent Gaza War.

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Palestine: Diary of a historic month
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Raja Shehadeh - (Opinion) December 14, 2012 - 1:00am

9 November It was inevitable that at some point Jewish settlements in the West Bank would endanger even the trees. This was the thought I had as I was driven through the northern part of the West Bank on a field trip organised by Oxfam, which is working with Palestinian NGOs to help local cooperatives improve their agricultural practices and open up local and international markets to them. The villagers told us that tens of thousands of olive trees have been uprooted to make way for the construction of the Israeli separation barrier.

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A Middle East union of young progressives
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Uri Savir - (Opinion) December 13, 2012 - 1:00am

I have a young Egyptian friend, Ahmed Meligy, who also happens to be a Jerusalem Post blogger. At the moment that this article is being written, he is taking part in pro-democratic demonstrations in Cairo, as he did continually during the Tahrir revolution. The courage and outspokenness of Meligy and his peers is the hope for the Middle East to steer toward greater democratization and peace.

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Israel winning in Europe
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Arsen Ostrovsky - (Opinion) December 14, 2012 - 1:00am

Before the ink was even dry on the Palestinian vote at the UN last week, headlines already started flooding on how Israel 'lost Europe.' The reality however, could not be further from the truth, as Israel continues to make stunning headway in its trade and bilateral relations with the EU.

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'Neutralizing' East Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Salman Masalha - December 14, 2012 - 1:00am

All of a sudden, everyone is protesting vehemently - those who are called left-wing here, and all the other sorts of hypocrites from the rest of the world - about the plans to build in the area known in the Zionist secret code as E-1. I must admit that I haven't fully understood those who are protesting. Because in which way is this site more outrageous than the other conquests we have witnessed in the past decades, so that it has aroused their ire?

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Feiglin: Israel's clear and present danger
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Sara Hirschhorn - (Opinion) December 13, 2012 - 1:00am

This is the story of Moshe Zalman Feiglin, an Israeli ultranationalist activist who “had a dream” to lead the government of the Jewish state  - and that day may well arrive soon. On January 22, Israelis will go the polls to elect, in all likeliness, a new Likud-Israel Beiteinu slate that some consider the most right-wing in the party’s history - a candidate list where even MK Benny Begin, the heir of the Revisionist movement, has now been edged out in favor of a new identity politics and ideological orientation.  

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