June 2nd

No More Room for Excuses in Peace Process ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National (Editorial) June 1, 2009 - 12:00am It would be easy to dismiss Fatah’s crackdown on Hamas members in the West Bank as yet more factional infighting. Since the collapse of the Palestinian government and the ousting of Fatah from the Gaza Strip, the two sides have been in constant conflict. It seems that every time Hamas needs to score political points it cracks down on Fatah, and every time Fatah needs to show it is tough on terror it arrests Hamas members. » Read more

Obama Talks of Being ‘Honest’ With Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Helene Cooper - June 1, 2009 - 12:00am Obama Talks of Being ‘Honest’ With Israel By HELENE COOPER WASHINGTON — President Obama indicated on Monday that he would be more willing to criticize Israel than previous administrations have been, and he reiterated his call for a freeze of Israeli settlements. » Read more

Blair Sees Possibility of Israeli-Palestinian Breakthrough ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by David Sapsted - June 1, 2009 - 12:00am There could be a breakthrough in diplomatic moves to establish peace between Israel and the Palestinians within a few weeks, Tony Blair, the UN’s special Middle East envoy, predicted yesterday. The former British prime minister told a committee of British MPs that the month of June would be “critical” to efforts to find a way forward. » Read more

ATFP Original Translation: The Nakba Narrative ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Hayat by Hassan Khader - (Opinion) May 24, 2009 - 12:00am A quick review of the annual commemoration of the Nakba leads to the realization that there is a standard operating procedure repeated each year. » Read more

June 1st

U.S. Weighs Tactics on Israeli Settlement ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Helene Cooper - May 31, 2009 - 12:00am As President Obama prepares to head to the Middle East this week, administration officials are debating how to toughen their stance against any expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank. The measures under discussion — all largely symbolic — include stepping back from America’s near-uniform support for Israel in the United Nations if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel does not agree to a settlement freeze, administration officials said. » Read more

44% of outpost land is Palestinian-owned, Peace Now says ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Dan Izenberg, Tovah Lazaroff - May 31, 2009 - 12:00am Peace Now on Sunday said that 44 percent of the land - 7,000 out of 16,000 dunams - on which 100 unauthorized West Bank outposts sit, is under private Palestinian ownership. Overall, it said, 80 of the outposts make some use of some private Palestinian land. In 37 cases, she added, more than 50% of the outpost makes use of Palestinian land. Another 17, she said, are totally built on Palestinian land. » Read more

PM won't freeze settlement construction for natural growth, 'Post' learns ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Herb Keinon - June 1, 2009 - 12:00am Israel will not freeze settlement construction for natural growth, despite intense pressure from the Obama administration to do so, The Jerusalem Post has learned. While Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has indicated that he will remove illegal settlement outposts, he is determined, the Post has learned, to continue building for natural growth in settlements beyond the security barrier. In Netanyahu's view, it is further understood that there is no reason housing units cannot be built inside the major settlement blocs for people who want to move there, as well as for natural growth. » Read more

Israeli Rejection of Settlement Freeze: Trouble for Obama ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Time by Tim McGirk - June 1, 2009 - 12:00am If President Barack Obama thought he could deliver the promise of a few Israeli concessions during his upcoming Cairo speech to the Muslim world, he was sorely mistaken. » Read more

Settlers seek takeover of East Jerusalem area ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters June 1, 2009 - 12:00am Israeli settlers are waging court battles to evict dozens of Palestinians from homes in an East Jerusalem neighborhood, a move threatening to widen Israel's rift with U.S. President Barack Obama over settlements. They are trying to reclaim plots of land in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood which they say were owned by Jews before Israel's creation in 1948. They have already won property rights to six Arab homes, whose residents were subsequently evicted. Palestinians and an Israeli rights group say settlers are trying to evict a further 27 Arab families from 28 buildings. » Read more

ATFP was right to keep focusing on the settlements over the past year ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ibishblog by Hussein Ibish - (Blog) May 29, 2009 - 12:00am Daniel Byman of Georgetown University points out in Laura’s posting mentioned below, “Over the past 15 years, settlements have gone from being seen in Washington as an irritant, to the dominant issue.” I think this is very well put. The Obama administration is absolutely right to be focusing with crystalline intensity on the question of the settlements. The settlements are a dagger aimed at the heart of peace based on two states, the only plausible option for ending the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. » Read more