June 30th, 2009

Israel ministers divided on settlement halt
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - June 30, 2009 - 12:00am

Defense Minister Ehud Barak will meet in New York today with U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell in an effort to agree on a compromise formula on settlement construction. The meeting takes place in light of a recent disagreement among the "forum of six" ministers over this issue. A political source in Jerusalem said Monday that a "temporary freeze" of construction in the settlements was met with objections by three of the six senior ministers in the forum.

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PA: Hamas plotted attacks on West Bank officials
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
June 29, 2009 - 12:00am

Hamas members planned attacks on Palestinian Authority (PA) officials in the West Bank on orders from Hamas leaders abroad and the group’s armed wing in Gaza, a senior official said on Monday. At-Tayib Abdul Rahim, secretary-general of the Palestinian Presidency reveled the alleged plot at a news conference in Ramallah. He said the PA learned of the plans from interrogations of Hamas prisoners. He said that a Hamas cell had planned the attack ahead of the 7 June deadline set by Egypt for an agreement between Hamas and Fatah. Hamas has not yet responded to these charges.

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Editorial: The Gaza ghetto
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
(Editorial) June 30, 2009 - 12:00am

THE report on life in Gaza just issued by the International Committee of the Red Cross six months after the brutal Israeli attacks which killed between 1,100 and 1,400 people makes bitter reading.

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Israel and US hold settlement discussions
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Vita Bekker - June 30, 2009 - 12:00am

Ehud Barak, Israel’s defence minister, will meet with George Mitchell, the top US Middle East envoy, in New York today for talks aimed at bridging a growing rift between the two countries on the expansion of Jewish settlements in occupied territory that Palestinians want as part of their future state.

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June 29th

The New York Times reports that Israel may be willing to accept a temporary halt to settlement activity as part of a broader Mideast peace endeavor (1), as tension continues to build over the proposed freeze (7) (8). The Los Angeles Times features a backgrounder on Israeli settlements in the West Bank (3). The U.N. fact-finding commission begins its hearing on allegations of war crimes during the Gaza war (4). The International Red Cross issues a report saying that the 1.5 million residents of Gaza are "trapped in despair" in their current conditions, especially children (9). Israel approves construction of 50 new homes in an existing West Bank settlement to absorb the evacuees of the Migron outpost (13) (14) (17). Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak heads to Washington to meet with Mideast envoy George Mitchell in a bid to resolve the settlements dispute (15) (18).

US-trained Palestinian force is keen for action
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Karin Laub - June 28, 2009 - 12:00am

In the live-fire exercise, everything was carefully choreographed — Palestinian commandos, faces blackened, stormed a hide-out in an abandoned building, "wounded" one gunman and "arrested" a second. But is this corps, American-trained and steadily growing, ready for the real thing? President Barack Obama's hopes for a Middle East peace breakthrough may rest heavily on that question.

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Report: Most West Bank wastewater untreated
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
June 28, 2009 - 12:00am

The wastewater of 2 million of the 2.8 million people living in Jerusalem and the West Bank is not treated, according to a new report. The human rights group B'Tselem on Sunday released its report "Foul Play: Neglect of Wastewater Treatment in the West Bank." While the organization laid much of the blame on Israel, it said the Palestinians also were at fault. The report said the failure to treat the Israeli and Palestinian wastewater could result in the permanent contamination of the mountain aquifer, a main source of water for both Israelis and Palestinians.

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State approves construction of 50 new housing units in Adam
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by SHALHEVET ZOHAR - June 29, 2009 - 12:00am

Hours before Defense Minister Ehud Barak leaves for the United States, the Defense Ministry on Monday notified the High Court that in accordance with a 1996 government master plan for the construction of 1,450 housing units in a new neighborhood in the West Bank settlement of Adam, the ministry has at this stage approved only 190 units, of which 50 have received final approval. These 50 units are intended to house the settlers expected to be evacuated from the unauthorized Migron outpost, near Ramallah.

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Final preparations head of Barak-Mitchell meeting
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Roni Sofer - June 29, 2009 - 12:00am

"The settlements will not be an obstacle to peace with the Palestinians." That is the message Defense Minister Ehud Barak will be carrying with him on his upcoming trip to meet with special US envoy George Mitchell. Barak is being dispatched in an attempt to dissipate the tensions between the White House and Jerusalem, and to allow the renewal of negotiations with the Palestinians. Until now Israel has not given any sign to suggest it intends to acquiesce to the international demand that all construction in the West Bank be frozen, including within existing settlements.

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Israel May Shift on Settlements Freeze Amid Broader Effort
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - June 28, 2009 - 12:00am

Israel would be open to a complete freeze of settlement building in the West Bank for three to six months as part of a broad Middle East peace endeavor that included a Palestinian agreement to negotiate an end to the conflict and confidence-building steps by major Arab nations, senior Israeli officials said Sunday. The officials spoke before a planned meeting in Washington on Tuesday between Israel’s defense minister, Ehud Barak, and George J. Mitchell, the Obama administration’s Middle East envoy, and said this was the message Mr. Barak would take with him.

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