UN envoy condemns Israeli resumption of Palestinian house demolitions in West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press October 31, 2008 - 8:00pm The U.N.'s Mideast envoy said Saturday he was "alarmed" by Israel's decision to resume house demolitions in the West Bank. Earlier this week, Israel knocked down dozens of shacks in two West Bank villages, leaving dozens of Palestinians homeless. U.N. envoy Robert Serry said Israel agreed in April to halt the demolitions and he urged it to reinstate the moratorium. Israel's actions "send a discouraging signal" about Israeli support for efforts to improve living conditions in the West Bank and to build Palestinian backing for peacemaking, Serry added in a statement. » Read more

Abbas rejects permanent Palestinian resettlement in Lebanon ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press August 27, 2008 - 8:00pm Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he rejects the idea that Palestinian refugees living in Lebanon might be forced to stay there permanently. He emphasized that all Palestinians should have the right to return home. When it comes to armed Palestinian factions, however, Abbas says he supports any decisions the Lebanese government makes on how to deal with militants outside refugee camps. Abbas spoke to reporters Thursday in Lebanon's capital, Beirut. » Read more

13 years after Rabin killing, Israeli spy chief warns of political murder by Jewish extremists ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by Matti Friedman - November 1, 2008 - 8:00pm The head of Israel's internal security service said Sunday he is "very concerned" that Jewish extremists could assassinate an Israeli leader in an attempt to foil peace moves with the Palestinians. There has been a recent increase in violence by hardline Jewish settlers in the West Bank, and this week, Israel marks the 13th anniversary of the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin by an Israeli opponent of his negotiations. » Read more

Tzipi or Bibi? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Economist October 29, 2008 - 8:00pm IT SEEMS to happen every time. The moment Israel comes close to getting a prime minister serious about making peace with the Palestinians, fate steps in to block the way. Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated; Shimon Peres was rejected by the voters; no sooner had Ariel Sharon come round to ceding (far too little) land for peace than he was felled by a stroke. » Read more

Israeli Activist Abie Nathan Dies ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News August 27, 2008 - 8:00pm Abie Nathan, the maverick Israeli peace activist, has died aged 81. Israeli President Shimon Peres paid his tributes saying Nathan was "a great fighter against war, poverty and discrimination". Abie Nathan was born in Iran 1927, educated in India and served in the Royal Air Force during World War II. He volunteered as a pilot in Israel's war of independence in 1948; but he became disillusioned with the Israeli government. In 1966 he flew his private plane to Egypt, in a push for peace. » Read more

An Israeli dove's descent from politics ATFP World Press Roundup Article from International Herald Tribune by Ethan Bronner - November 1, 2008 - 8:00pm For the last two decades, the easiest way to invoke dovishness in Israel has been to utter the words "Yossi Beilin." The politician who navigated mutual recognition between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization in the early 1990s and has never stopped believing, Beilin has a unique place in the Israeli political galaxy, both admired and reviled for his relentlessness. » Read more

Israel Acts to Cut Off Funds to Illegal Settlements ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Isabel Kershner - November 2, 2008 - 8:00pm Ehud Olmert, the departing prime minister of Israel, announced a series of measures on Sunday in response to a rise in violence by extremist Jewish settlers in the West Bank, including a halt to all direct or indirect government financing of illegal outposts. The announcement amounted to an acknowledgment that public funds were still being spent on the outposts, contrary to government policy and despite a longstanding pledge to the United States to remove at least two dozen settlements immediately. » Read more

Israeli Settlers Look for Compensation to Leave ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Der Spiegel by Christoph Schult - August 24, 2008 - 8:00pm When Benny Raz comes home in the evening and gets out of his car, his neighbors turn their backs on him and disappear into their houses. Ras is wearing a short black jacket and jeans. His head looks like a coarsely modeled sculpture, with his protruding cheekbones and eyes set deeply in their sockets. He is 55, and he says: "I have lost all of my friends here." » Read more

To carry a camera in Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat by Diana Mukkaled - August 22, 2008 - 8:00pm Anybody carrying a camera in the Gaza Strip is a potential target. This is the simple conclusion that can be reached following the Israeli military prosecutor’s report that was issued a few days ago. The report cleared Israeli soldiers who shot dead Palestinian cameraman Fadel Shana who died on April 16, 2008 along with eight unarmed youths under 16 years of age. Why did Israeli soldiers venture upon launching two missiles towards a group of unarmed youths and the Reuters cameraman who was holding his camera and whose clothes and equipment were clearly marked ‘press’? » Read more

Hamas Seeking to Come In From Cold ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Middle East Times by Sana Abdallah - August 27, 2008 - 8:00pm Chances of coming in from the cold are looking better for Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement ruling the Gaza Strip, as the world braces itself for crucial changes in political leaderships and power shifts that might also bring strategic policy turns in the Middle East. » Read more