July 13th

Defending the indefensible settlements ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Richard Silverstein - July 13, 2009 - 12:00am A former insider at Aipac has spilled the beans on a major secret initiative by The Israel Project (TIP) designed to counter opposition in the US to Israeli settlements in the occupied territories. Douglas Bloomfield, former chief lobbyist for Aipac, writes that TIP, a group dedicated to promoting Israel's positive image among the US media and policymakers, has circulated a 140-page primer designed to prompt supporters in their exchanges with US journalists and key decision-makers when they are arguing in favour of the settlements: » Read more

Playing for Peace: Palestinian and Israeli Teenagers Groove ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line by Matthew Kalman - July 12, 2009 - 12:00am An unusual scene in Tel Aviv: Palestinian and Israeli teenagers – Christians, Muslims and Jews – have just spent two weeks together recording a music track, writing their own lyric and producing a video clip to upload to YouTube. The 19 youngsters, aged from 14 to 17, gathered at the headquarters of Windows for Peace, a veteran people-to-people organization that tries to bridge the gaps between Israeli and Palestinian youth through workshops, a regular magazine in Hebrew and Arabic, and other joint activities. » Read more

Conflict-worn Palestinians carve out niches of joy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Mohammed Daraghmeh - July 11, 2009 - 12:00am Middle-class matrons shop for imported furniture in a marble-and-glass emporium. A new movie house is screening "Transformers." Teens bop to a Danish hip-hop band performing on their high school basketball court. Life in the West Bank — in sharp contrast to beaten down, Hamas-ruled Gaza — has taken on a semblance of normalcy. Exhausted after more than two decades of on-and-off conflict with Israel and deeply skeptical about prospects of statehood, Palestinians here are increasingly trying to carve out their own little niches of happiness. » Read more

Abbas says he won't meet Netanyahu ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Khaled Abu Toameh - July 12, 2009 - 12:00am Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas reiterated on Sunday his refusal to resume peace talks with Israel unless Binyamin Netanyahu's government accepted the two-state solution and agreed to freeze all construction in the settlements in the West Bank. Abbas's remarks came in response to an appeal from Netanyahu made during the Sunday cabinet meeting in which the Israeli prime minister called for the two leaders to revive the stalled peace process. Abbas was speaking to reporters in Ramallah after meeting with visiting Romanian President Traian Basescu. » Read more

EU's Solana calls for UN to recognise Palestinian state ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters July 12, 2009 - 12:00am The European Union's foreign policy chief called for the U.N. Security Council to recognise a Palestinian state by a certain deadline even if Israelis and Palestinians have not reached agreement among themselves. The EU's Javier Solana made his comments on Saturday at a lecture in London while Palestinian and Israeli peace talks remain stalled. The Palestinians have said they will not revive peace talks unless there is a halt to Israel's settlement activities in the West Bank. » Read more

Israel phone firm's West Bank wall gag fails to amuse ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Allyn Fisher-Ilan - July 12, 2009 - 12:00am A television advert for an Israeli cellphone firm showing soldiers playing soccer over the West Bank barrier has sparked cries of bad taste and prompted Arab lawmakers on Sunday to demand it be taken off air. The jaunty commercial for Israel's biggest mobile phone company Cellcom makes light of Palestinian suffering and shows how far Israelis fail to understand their neighbors, critics said. The company stood by the ad, however. » Read more

July 10th

Peace Now: Probe settler youth movements ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Erfat Weiss - July 10, 2009 - 12:00am Peace Now has declared war on Hilltop Youth – will the State join in? In an appeal to Attorney General Menachem Mazuz, Peace Now demanded Friday that an investigation be opened against two prominent right-wing youth organizations that focus their energies on establishing illegal outposts in the West Bank and on fighting authorities seeking to evacuate them. » Read more

Officer: Removing roadblocks spares moral problems ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Hanan Greenberg - July 10, 2009 - 12:00am The ease of restrictions on the Palestinian population in the West Bank and the cooperation with the Palestinian security organizations have led to a cautious satisfaction in the Israel Defense Forces. "Where roadblocks are not needed – they will be removed," a senior officer told Ynet on Thursday night. "This spares conflicts and moral problems for us too, and the risk we are taking is very calculated." » Read more

Israel may allow PA counter-terror force ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Yaakov Katz - July 10, 2009 - 12:00am The IDF is considering allowing the Palestinians to establish a specially trained counterterror squad qualified to carry out pinpoint operations against Hamas terrorist cells in the West Bank, The Jerusalem Post has learned. Such a force would be able to carry out special operations against Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist infrastructure in the West Bank more effectively than could existing Palestinian security forces. The French have already offered to train such a team. » Read more

Settlers are encountering their first real opponent - Obama ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amos Harel - (Opinion) July 10, 2009 - 12:00am The mood in Jerusalem this week was one of shock. As if it weren't enough that the Obama administration is ignoring previous understandings between Israel and the Bush administration regarding natural growth in the settlements, now it seems there isn't agreement even on the outposts. » Read more