December 9th

Middle East's History Predicts Its Future
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Middle East Times
(Editorial) December 8, 2008 - 1:00am

Throughout history man has tried to predict the future, turning alternatively from science to witchcraft and everything in between. That being said, predicting the future, in some instances, may be easier than imagined. Simply look at the past. Indeed history offers us a goldmine of information, if only we take the time to dig through it, and then remember the lessons it offers.

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Watch Jim Jones, he breaks stalemates
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by David Ignatius - (Opinion) December 6, 2008 - 1:00am

For a preview of how General Jim Jones will operate as national security adviser in the incoming Obama administration, it's useful to look at his performance as special envoy on Middle East security for the outgoing Bush administration. His effort there has helped yield one of the few recent success stories in the grinding Israeli-Palestinian stalemate.

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Jerusalem Tensions on the Rise
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Americans For Peace Now
December 8, 2008 - 1:00am

A new report by the Israeli Peace Now movement warns that settlers are taking advantage of a “perfect storm” of political conditions to create “new facts on the ground” in Jerusalem “that could later make it difficult if not impossible to resolve the Israeli Palestinian conflict peacefully.”

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Bush extends Jerusalem waiver
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
December 8, 2008 - 1:00am

President Bush extended his waiver of a law mandating the move of the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. The order, sent Dec. 4 to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and published Tuesday, cites the "national security interests of the United States" in waiving the Jerusalem Embassy Act for six months. Bush and his predecessor, Bill Clinton, have waived the act routinely since its passage in 1995, citing the dangers that Muslim outrage over such an act would pose to U.S. interests in the Middle East.

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Israel threatens 'no restraint' if Hamas keeps retaliating
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
December 8, 2008 - 1:00am

Israel threatened tougher action against rocket fire from the Gaza Strip on Sunday as the territory's sole power plant again shut down in the face of a crippling blockade. Outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he has told security chiefs to draw up contingency plans for military action against militant groups in Gaza, although there have been no deaths as a result of the rocket and mortar fire of the past week - and Israel initiated the latest flare-up with a deadly invasion of the enclave in early November.

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Israel reopens crossings with Gaza to aid, fuel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
December 9, 2008 - 1:00am

Israel has reopened its crossings with Gaza to shipments of humanitarian aid and fuel. International journalists are also being allowed in. The Israeli military says 45 trucks of food and medical supplies are to pass through on Tuesday, along with shipments of cooking gas and fuel for Gaza's power plant. The military says cargo and passenger crossings were reopened because of a lull Monday in attacks by Gaza militants on Israel.

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Does Hebron clash signal new round of settler revolts?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Ilene Prusher - December 9, 2008 - 1:00am

The violence here last week that started with the Israeli army evacuating ultranationalist settlers from a disputed house was captured on film and broadcast around the world. One thing it made clear for many was the extent to which extreme right-wing Jewish settlers have gone beyond the control of the Israeli government and army. There are differing story lines that describe exactly what happened, but what isn't in dispute, because it was recorded on video, is this:

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December 8th

Speculation about President-elect Obama's Middle East strategy continues as his team is assembled (1) (5) (10) (11). In blockaded Gaza, cash shortages prompt a dire warning from the World Bank about the potential collapse of the commercial banking system (2) (8). Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem experience increased pressure and tensions (3). A report issued by an Israeli human rights group likens the Israeli occupation to South African apartheid (6). American Jewish groups largely back Israel's recent decision to evacuate settlers from a Hebron building (7). Israel reimposes the ban on international journalists entering Gaza, despite much protest (9).

This election's real meaning
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - (Opinion) December 8, 2008 - 1:00am

It happened four weeks before the heroic evacuation of the House of Contention in Hebron. In the middle of the night, police officers entered a small apartment in the Shimon Hatzadik compound in the Sheikh Jarra neighborhood of East Jerusalem. The police officers easily overwhelmed a handful of human-rights activists and evicted the al-Kurd family, which had lived there for 52 years.

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Following settler attacks, Hebron residents feel anger and fear
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Brenda Gazzar - December 8, 2008 - 1:00am

Hebron resident Faez Rajabi was feeling a mix of emotions on Sunday. On the one hand, he was pleased that the disputed four-story apartment building in Hebron that he built for himself and his family was no longer inhabited by settlers. On the other, he lamented the turmoil that erupted during Thursday's eviction of the settlers from the home, as mostly young extremist settlers attacked policemen, set homes and cars on fire, shot at residents and broke windows and satellite dishes.

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