December 10th

A New Test For Americans And Palestinians ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star by Rami Khouri - December 10, 2007 - 7:11pm You do get a second chance in most things in life, as the United States and the Palestinian leadership are experiencing now, in the wake of the revived Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiations at Annapolis. The second chance to get things right has been triggered by the announcement earlier this week that Israel plans to build over 300 new housing units on occupied Palestinian Arab land in East Jerusalem at the Har Homa settlement - which the Arabs know as Jabal Abu Ghneim. » Read more

Siege That Spells Slow Death For The Innocents ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Sunday Herald by Ed Oloughlin - December 10, 2007 - 7:09pm FOR three weeks, seven-month-old Mohammed Abu Amra has been lying in Gaza's main paediatric hospital, suffering from immune deficiency and suspected cystic fibrosis. His doctors do not have the drug they need to relieve his symptoms, which include fever and distressed breathing, racking his thin ribs at almost twice the healthy rate of breaths per minute. » Read more

Gaza's Donkeys In Demand As Fuel Crisis Mounts ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent by Donald Macintyre - December 10, 2007 - 7:07pm It's not surprising the buyers at yesterday's weekly donkey market here were looking over their prospective purchases with care. They opened the jaws of the tolerant beasts to examine their teeth, and test-drove them, harnessed to a cart, out of the crowded yard to gauge their pulling power. » Read more

Unilateral Military Strike Still An Option, Senior Ministers Insist ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Rory Mccarthy - December 10, 2007 - 7:06pm Senior Israeli officials warned yesterday that they were still considering a military strike against Iran, despite a fresh US intelligence report that concluded Tehran was no longer developing nuclear weapons. Although Israel says it wants strong diplomatic pressure put on Iran, it is reluctant to rule out the threat of a unilateral attack. Matan Vilnai, Israel's deputy defence minister, told Army Radio yesterday: "No option needs to be off the table." » Read more

Annapolis Outcome "proves Arab Failure" ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS) by Khaled Moussa Al-omrani, Adam Morrow - December 10, 2007 - 7:05pm n the wake of last month's Annapolis conference, some quarters of Arab officialdom express optimism that the talks might yet lead to a settlement of the perennial Israel-Palestine conflict. Many independent analysts, however, saw the event as little more than an exercise in submission. "Annapolis was proof of total Arab failure," Gamal Zahran, political science professor at the Suez Canal University and independent parliamentarian, told IPS. "It confirmed the ability of the Zionist U.S. administration to force its will on Arab capitals." » Read more

An Insult To Intelligence ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New Republic by Yossi Klein Halevi - (Opinion) December 10, 2007 - 7:04pm Since the early 1990s, when Israel first began preparing for a possible military strike against Iran's nuclear program, its security establishment has been divided not about the threat Iran posed--which was almost universally agreed upon to be grave--but about whether America and the international community would have the will to stop Tehran. Optimists noted the near-total Western acceptance of the Israeli intelligence assessment that the goal of the Iranian nuclear program was a bomb. » Read more

December 10, 2007 - Vol. 9, Issue 14 ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Americans For Peace Now by Middle East Peace Report - December 10, 2007 - 7:02pm ADDING A WALL IN JERUSALEM: Israel issued a tender Tuesday for the construction of 307 new homes in Har Homa, an East Jerusalem neighborhood near Bethlehem. Har Homa, where about 4,000 Israelis now live, lies in territory that Israel de facto annexed in 1967 in an act that also expanded Jerusalem’s municipal boundaries.   » Read more

Nine Little Words In The Nie ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Thomas Powers - (Opinion) December 10, 2007 - 7:01pm The world turned upside down for President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and the state of Israel on Monday when the National Intelligence Council, drawing conclusions from new information after a year of internal debate about Iran's nuclear weapons program, said that, in fact, there was no problem after all -- and that "in fall 2003, Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program." » Read more

Israeli Intends To Keep Jerusalem Areas ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by Mark Lavie - December 10, 2007 - 7:00pm A key ally of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Sunday that Israel will hold on to all Jewish neighborhoods of Jerusalem but would have to relinquish Arab neighborhoods in a peace agreement with the Palestinians. The comments by Vice Premier Haim Ramon appeared aimed at defusing U.S. criticism of an Israeli plan to expand one of its Jewish neighborhoods in east Jerusalem, the section Palestinians claim as capital of a future state. » Read more

Eu Urges Israel To Stick To Peace Commitments ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by David Brunnstrom - December 10, 2007 - 6:59pm The European Union joined the United States on Monday in expressing concern about new Israeli settlement activity and urged Israel to stick to its commitments in Middle East peace efforts. "I am very concerned," EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner told reporters when asked about Israel's plan to build 300 homes and other units on land captured in the 1967 Middle East war. » Read more