December 8th

Palestinian grocer sues Sacha Baron Cohen ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) December 7, 2009 - 1:00am A Palestinian grocer is suing actor Sacha Baron Cohen for $115 million over his portrayal in "Bruno." Ayman Abu Aita filed the lawsuit in the United States against the movie's producers and Cohen, according to reports. In the movie, Ayman Abu Aita, a Christian peace activist, escorted Cohen's alter-ego Bruno, a gay fashion journalist, to a Lebanese refugee camp. Abu Aita was identified in a caption as "Terrorist group leader, Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade." » Read more

Did group raise funds for Hamas on college campuses? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) by Eric Fingerhut - December 7, 2009 - 1:00am A U.S. congressman is the latest to call for a Justice Department investigation into whether a pro-Palestinian group has been raising money on college campuses for Hamas. In a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) urged a probe into Viva Palestina USA, a humanitarian aid convoy led by British lawmaker George Galloway that brought medical supplies to Gaza last July. Both the Zionist Organization of America and Anti-Defamation League in recent months have urged Holder to investigate reports about the convoy's links to Hamas. » Read more

Peace must begin with the plight of Palestine's refugees ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Karen Koning Abuzayd - (Opinion) December 8, 2009 - 1:00am Sixty years ago today the United Nations general assembly voted into existence a temporary body known as UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. UNRWA's task was to deal with the humanitarian consequences of the dispossession of some three-quarters of a million Palestine refugees forced by the 1948 Middle East war to abandon their homes and flee their ancestral lands. Just two decades later, the six-day war generated another spasm of violence and forced displacement, culminating in the occupation of Palestinian territory. » Read more

The US cash behind extremist settlers ATFP World Press Roundup Article from by Andrew Kadi, Aaron Levitt - (Opinion) December 8, 2009 - 1:00am Last month, a Brooklyn-based non-profit organisation called the Hebron Fund, which supports Jewish settlers in the Israeli-occupied city of Hebron, held a fundraiser at the New York Mets' stadium, Citi Field. » Read more

Trust the settlers to lose the West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Bradley Burston - (Opinion) December 7, 2009 - 1:00am Barack Obama cannot and will not compel Israel to withdraw from the West Bank and free up land for a Palestinian state. Neither will the international community as a whole, nor Hamas, and certainly not the Palestinian Authority, nor what remains of the Israeli left. Trust the settlers, though. They alone will make it possible. Sooner or later, they'll lose the West Bank all by themselves. » Read more

J'lem banning foreign leaders from Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Herb Keinon - December 8, 2009 - 1:00am Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's government has an undeclared, but de facto policy, of not letting senior political figures, such as foreign ministers, enter the Gaza Strip from Israel, The Jerusalem Post has learned. According to government officials, the reasoning is twofold: to deny Hamas legitimacy that would come of such visits, and as a way of trying to apply pressure over kidnapped soldier Gilad Schalit. The policy has come to light after Irish Foreign Minister Michael Martin told a parliamentary committee last week that Israel had banned a visit he had hoped to make to Gaza. » Read more

Shalit mediator asks Hamas to stop press leaks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Ali Waked - December 8, 2009 - 1:00am The German mediator in talks for the release of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit has asked Hamas to refrain from leaking details of the prisoner swap deal to the Arab press, a Palestinian source in Gaza told Ynet Tuesday. He said the mediator personally relayed this message to senior Hamas official Dr. Mahmoud al-Zahar and asked him to tell members of the organization to stop mentioning the names of Palestinian prisoners who may be released to the press. » Read more

Akiva Eldar / Israel may have frozen settlements, but does it want peace? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Akiva Eldar - (Analysis) December 8, 2009 - 1:00am On the eve of signing the settlement construction freeze order, Avigdor Lieberman told reporters that the settlements had never been an obstacle to peace. The proof, the foreign minister explained, is that the Jewish settlement enterprise in Judea and Samaria did not stop Egypt and Jordan from signing peace agreements with Israel. » Read more

Justice Minister: Jewish law should be binding law in Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Yair Ettinger - December 8, 2009 - 1:00am Justice Minister Yaakov Neeman on Monday said he believes Jewish law (Halakha) should be the binding law in Israel, Army Radio reported. "Step by step, we will bestow upon the citizens of Israel the laws of the Torah and we will turn Halakha into the binding law of the nation," said Neeman at a Jewish law convention at the Regency hotel in Jerusalem, in the presence of many rabbis and rabbinical judges. "We must bring back the heritage of our fathers to the nation of Israel," Neeman said. "The Torah has the complete solution to all of the questions we are dealing with," he added. » Read more

Report: Netanyahu okays Israel-Egypt border wall ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency December 8, 2009 - 1:00am Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has approved the construction of a wall along the border between Israel and Egypt, Israeli media reported on Tuesday. The decision came, according to Israeli daily Ma’ariv, after consultations involving security, political, and financial officials in Israel. Netanyahu believes construction of a barrier will stop smuggling and the migration of Africans seeking work or asylum in Israel. The decision, according to Ma’ariv, was made as a result of an increase in the number of African immigrants crossing into Israel. » Read more