December 10th

Israeli Court Frees Settler Seen Shooting At Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
December 10, 2008 - 1:00am

A Jerusalem court Wednesday freed a Jewish settler suspected of firing on Palestinians at point blank range in the flashpoint West Bank city of Hebron. Zeev Braudeh from the settlement of Kiryat Arba on the city's outskirts turned himself into police Saturday after video footage released by a human rights group showed him firing at a group of Palestinians. Two Palestinians were injured by the gunfire and Braudeh suffered light wounds after a Palestinian crowd threw stones at him.

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Nobel Peace Prize winner urges Obama to focus on Middle East
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
December 10, 2008 - 1:00am

Nobel Peace Prize winner Martti Ahtisaari urged U.S. President-elect Barack Obama on Wednesday to start his term by giving high priority to the Middle East conflict, calling it the world's most challenging peace-building project. In his acceptance speech in Oslo, the Finnish diplomat and mediator also warned that the global financial crisis would strike hard at the developing world, and called on governments to not cut back on foreign aid.

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Far right gains bring setback for Netanyahu
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Financial Times
by Tobias Buck - December 9, 2008 - 1:00am

The veteran leader of the Israeli right is opposed to current peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority and has called for a tougher policy towards Iran. Mr Netanyahu is also a committed supporter of free-market reforms and economic liberalisation.

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Barack Obama plans to reach out to Muslim world
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Chicago Tribune
by John McCormick, Peter Nicholas, Christi Parsons - (Interview) December 10, 2008 - 1:00am

Barack Obama says his presidency is an opportunity for the U.S. to renovate its relations with the Muslim world, starting the day of his inauguration and continuing with a speech he plans to deliver in an Islamic capital. And when he takes the oath of office Jan. 20, he plans to be sworn in like every other president, using his full name: Barack Hussein Obama.

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Arabs enjoy a bit of comic relief
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Times
by Dale Gavlak - December 10, 2008 - 1:00am

Torrents of raucous laughter erupted through the crowd, packed mainly with youths clad in T-shirts and jeans who were eager for some good, clean fun. "This is great. Everybody's on time. All the Arabs showed up," Jordanian-American comic Mike Batayneh said, ribbing the audience of 3,000 about the penchant for lateness in the Middle East. "Normally, it's like, 'What time did you get here?' Ah, 'Sometime between 2:30 and Monday'," the Detroit native joked in English. The audience in the capital's plush King Hussein Cultural Center auditorium roared.

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Israeli Wall Fuels Migration
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Linda Gradstein - December 10, 2008 - 1:00am

Samih Bashir, a Palestinian lawyer, plans to move early next year to a large house with two living rooms, three bathrooms and a big backyard where his four children can play. It is in a Jerusalem neighborhood called French Hill -- a part of the city that Israel says will never become part of a Palestinian state. Bashir worries that his current neighborhood, Beit Hanina, would end up under Palestinian control if the two sides ever reach a peace deal.

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December 9th

The Christian Science Monitor examines the recent settler violence in Hebron (1). Israel reopens Gaza crossings to international journalists and humanitarian aid (2). Israel again threatens Gaza over rocket attacks (3) (8). President Bush extends the national security waiver keeping the U.S. Embassy to Israel in Tel Aviv (4). An op-ed in The Daily Star suggests high hopes for Gen. Jim Jones, the National Security Advisor designate (6). An ATFP translation of a Hassan Khader article in Al-Ayyam daily examines the struggle between the Palestinian national movement and Hamas (10).

Analyzing the National Situation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Ayyam
by Hassan Khader - December 30, 2008 - 1:00am

The Palestinian political struggle is not between Fatah and Hamas, but is between the Palestinian national movement as such and an armed militia that is supported by Syria, Iran, Qatar, and Muslim Brotherhood cells in the Arab world and beyond. And if both sides are accorded equal political status, then the national movement will lose.

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What 'yes' means
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Mati Steinberg - (Opinion) December 9, 2008 - 1:00am

Finally, six years after it was conceived and in the six years in which it has been reaffirmed annually, the Arab Peace Initiative has merited a discussion among the Israeli public. When the Arab world unanimously said "no," we didn't ask about its intentions. When the Arab world says "yes" to Israel, yes to normalization and an end to the conflict, the puzzled expressions multiply as to what exactly is meant by "yes."

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Olmert: We won't just defend against Gaza terror, we'll attack
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amos Harel - December 9, 2008 - 1:00am

Outgoing Prime Minster Ehud Olmert on Tuesday threatened that Israel would lash out against Gaza militants in response to ongoing cross-border attacks. "We will never flee from our homes. We won't defend, but will attack - and stop once and for all what threatens our daily lives," he vowed. Olmert made the comments while speaking to schoolchildren during a tour of rocket-battered communities bordering the Gaza Strip.

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