September 9th

Israel picks contractors for new settlement homes ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP) September 9, 2009 - 12:00am Israel has picked contractors for 486 new homes in a settlement in annexed Arab east Jerusalem, officials said on Wednesday, days after approving hundreds of new homes in the West Bank. "We published the winner of the bids," a spokesman for the Israel Lands Authority said. He was clarifying an earlier statement that said the tendering process had been reopened. Tenders were first invited in October 2008 but authorities rejected all the bids because of pricing disagreements. Authorities last month reversed the decision following an appeal by companies that had tendered. » Read more

Israel pushes ahead with East Jerusalem building ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Jonathan Adams - September 9, 2009 - 12:00am Israel announced building plans in contested East Jerusalem today in a move likely to complicate US-Israel talks over a freeze on Israeli settlements in disputed territories. The reports came days after Israel announced other plans to build new settlements in the West Bank (see a map of the settlements here). The Obama administration has pressed Israel for a freeze on all settlement activity as a condition for a return to peace talks with the Palestinians. Israel has shrugged off that demand. » Read more

Taking Exception: A Genuine Effort for Peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Jimmy Carter - September 8, 2009 - 12:00am I notice that Elliott Abrams has contradicted some points in my Sept. 6 op-ed "The Elders' View of the Middle East" (though my suggested title, "What Next for the Holy Land," would have been a better headline). » Read more

September 8th

Palestinian workers seek livelihood in Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Erika Soloman - September 8, 2009 - 12:00am Before dawn, a crackling sound breaks up the cool, still air, as boots tread over rocks on a 7-km (4-mile)-long path that leads hundreds of illegal Palestinian workers into Israel each day. None holds an Israeli work permit and as the laborers make their way from the occupied West Bank, they risk a dangerous run-in with Israeli paramilitary border police. The small Arab village of Beit Iksa , nestled among foothills and surrounded by Jewish settlements, opens out to a dark panorama of Jerusalem studded by twinkling street lights. » Read more

Palestinians warn of new "Intifada" against Israeli settlement ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua by Saud Abu Ramadan - September 7, 2009 - 12:00am Palestinian political figures warned on Monday that if the United States and Europe fail to urge Israel to halt settlement, repression would prevail among the Palestinians, and "it would be an incitement for a popular uprising against Israel." Ghassan Daghlas, a senior Palestinian National Authority (PNA) official in charge of the Israeli settlement file in northern West Bank, said the current Palestinian status concerning the settlement expansion is like "fire under ashes." » Read more

The hollowness of the one-state agenda ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) September 8, 2009 - 12:00am On college campuses in the United States and the United Kingdom, and increasingly among grassroots activists in the West generally, the cause of ending the Israeli occupation and securing independence for a Palestinian state is being abandoned in favor of a much more far-reaching goal of replacing Israel with a single, democratic state for all Israelis and Palestinians, including all of the refugees. Until now, this rhetoric has been largely unchallenged from a pro-Palestinian perspective, which has probably been a significant factor in its appeal. » Read more

Barbaric Footsteps ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat by Hussein Shobokshi - (Opinion) September 8, 2009 - 12:00am The project of juadizing the city of Jerusalem is continuing at a steady pace and arduous efforts are being made in this regard. Forty years after the Al Aqsa fire that was masterminded by Israeli terrorists, crimes are still being carried out against residents of that city. » Read more

The rise of Israel's military rabbis ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News by Katya Adler - September 8, 2009 - 12:00am Military rabbis are becoming more powerful. Trained in warfare as well as religion, new army regulations mean they are now part of a military elite. They graduate from officer's school and operate closely with military commanders. One of their main duties is to boost soldiers' morale and drive, even on the front line. This has caused quite some controversy in Israel. Should military motivation come from men of God, or from a belief in the state of Israel and keeping it safe? The military rabbis rose to prominence during Israel's invasion of Gaza earlier this year. » Read more

Obama Mid-East plans in jeopardy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News by Roger Hardy - September 8, 2009 - 12:00am The Netanyahu government in Israel has approved the building of 455 new homes for settlers in the West Bank - in defiance of Mr Obama's call for a complete settlement freeze. One former US diplomat with extensive experience of the Middle East calls it "a huge slap in the face" for the Obama administration. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to have it both ways. He wants to appease the settler lobby by allowing new construction, and to appease the Americans by finalising an agreement on a temporary freeze. But he is in danger of satisfying no-one. » Read more

Lieberman: Despite settlement freeze, Right won't topple gov't ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post September 8, 2009 - 12:00am The Right will not bring down Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's government, and Israel Beiteinu will not leave the coalition in the face of the anticipated six-month moratorium on new construction in the West Bank, Foreign Minister and Israel Beiteinu Chairman Avigdor Lieberman said on Tuesday. » Read more