December 18th

Abbas: Israel wants to expel Palestinians from Jerusalem ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency December 17, 2009 - 1:00am Israel is attempting to expel Palestinians from East Jerusalem, President Mahmoud Abbas said on Thursday evening. Speaking at the closing event of the Al-Quds Capital of Arab Culture festival in Nablus, Abbas said, “Jerusalem is suffering an unprecedented settlement attack aimed at eliminating its identity, separating it from its surroundings and suffocating every activity in order to achieve one goal, which is expulsion, and this will not be allowed to happen.” “There is no Palestine without Jerusalem no one will accept this. Without Jerusalem there will be no peace,” he also said. » Read more

Israeli forces report coming under fire in Hebron ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency December 18, 2009 - 1:00am Palestinians opened fire at Israeli forces at the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron early Friday morning, an Israeli military spokesperson said. the troops were performing what was described as "a routine deployment" near the holy site when Palestinians opened fire, the spokesperson added. Other sources said a Palestinian car approached the group and fired three bullets, adding that the troops exchanged fire. The spokesperson did not comment on the exchange of fire. No one was injured in the incident, according to sources, and the car fled the scene.

Middle East peace efforts face race against time, UN envoy warns ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua December 17, 2009 - 1:00am Efforts to forge a Middle East peace are "in a race against time" with both sides needing to do more -- Israel by fulfilling its commitments, including a settlement freeze, under an internationally endorsed plan for a two-State solution, and the Palestinians by resuming negotiations, a senior United Nations official warned here on Thursday. » Read more

Stand-off over Palestinian demo in Jerusalem ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP) December 17, 2009 - 1:00am Israeli police surrounded the French cultural centre in mostly Arab east Jerusalem on Thursday, apparently to detain the organiser of a Palestinian cultural event, a French diplomat said. Around 50 people, including officials from the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority (PA), took part at an event at the centre in honour of Jerusalem's selection as the 2009 "capital of Arab culture" by UNESCO and the Arab League. » Read more

December 17th

An Open Letter to the Arab World ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat by Danny Ayalon - December 17, 2009 - 1:00am Since the reestablishment of our state, Israeli leaders have sought peace with their Arab neighbors. Our Declaration of Independence, Israel’s founding document that expressed our hopes and dreams reads, “We extend our hand to all neighboring states and their peoples in an offer of peace and good neighborliness, and appeal to them to establish bonds of cooperation and mutual help.” These words are as true today as when they were first written in 1948. Sadly, sixty one years later, only two nations, Jordan and Egypt, have accepted these principles and made peace with the Jewish State. » Read more

Oslo: far from perfect but it’s the best place to start ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Michael Young - (Opinion) December 17, 2009 - 1:00am Two authors who have written lucidly and imaginatively on the Palestinian-Israeli peace process are Robert Malley and Hussein Agha. Mr Malley served in the National Security Council under Bill Clinton, and heads the Middle East programme at the International Crisis Group, while Mr Agha is a senior associate member at St Antony’s College, Oxford. Yet recently they wrote an article in The New York Review of Books that showed how, when it comes to a final settlement between Israelis and Palestinians, their imagination has dried up. » Read more

Four Myths About the Mideast and Real Estate ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by J.J. Goldberg - (Opinion) December 17, 2009 - 1:00am ‘Take not heed unto all words that are spoken,” the wise old preacher Ecclesiastes wrote. You might find to your grief that people don’t always say what they mean — or worse, that they do. In that spirit, here’s a quick primer to some common sayings in circulation these days and what they really mean. Myth No. 1: Israeli settlements in the territories aren’t the problem preventing peace. The problem is Arab refusal to accept Israel’s legitimacy as a Jewish state. » Read more

The impunity of Israel and its allies will carry a price ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Seumas Milne - (Opinion) December 17, 2009 - 1:00am When evidence of war crimes is produced, you might expect states that claim to defend the rule of law to want those crimes investigated and the perpetrators held to account. Not a bit of it. The decision by a London judge to issue a warrant for the arrest of Israel's former foreign minister Tzipi Livni over evidence of serious breaches of the laws of war in Gaza has sparked official outrage in Britain. » Read more

Childhood in ruins ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Harriet Sherwood - (Opinion) December 17, 2009 - 1:00am Ghiada abu Elaish's fingers twist in her lap and her eyes cloud over as she recalls the day an Israeli shell killed four of her cousins and left her in a coma for 22 days. She has had almost 12 months to reflect on the tragedy, a time in which hatred and anger might have consumed the 13-year-old. Remarkably, though, not only has she survived shocking injuries and a dozen operations, with many more to come, but she has retained both her sweet nature and faith in a bright future. » Read more

Egypt rebukes Hamas over 'foot-dragging' in Palestinian reconciliation ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Roee Nahmias - December 17, 2009 - 1:00am During a recent meeting with a Palestinian delegation in Cairo, Egyptian Intelligence head General Omar Suleiman accused Hamas, including its politburo chief Khaled Mashaal, of violating agreements, Palestinian sources told Al-Jazeera Thursday. Referring to Egypt's efforts to reconcile Hamas and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement, Suleiman said, "We (Egypt) don't work for Hamas or Mashaal," adding that the Islamist group's conduct was a source of embarrassment to Egypt. » Read more