December 15th

Abbas: Israel remains intransigent ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency December 15, 2009 - 1:00am President Mahmoud Abbas told Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) leaders that the Palestinian Authority (PA) will return to negotiations once Israel abides by its previous commitments, as well as reiterated that he will not seek reelection. “The PA will restart peace negotiations once Israel halts all settlement construction and recognizes the 1967 borders as the official borders of the future Palestinian state,” Abbas said. » Read more

A Year of Stalemate, Dashed Hopes in Israeli-Palestinian Conflict ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Voice of America by Luis Ramirez - December 14, 2009 - 1:00am 2009 saw no resumption of the peace process between Israelis and Palestinians. Both sides are beginning the New Year at a stalemate over Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, and rising tensions over the status of Jerusalem. 2009 began with bombs and rockets as Israel launched a massive assault, Operation Cast Lead, aimed at stopping militants from firing rockets at Israel. During the assault, militants from Gaza continued to fire homemade missiles over the border, exploding in communities of southern Israel. » Read more

Israel: Who will soldiers obey on settlements – Netanyahu or rabbis? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Joshua Mitnick - December 14, 2009 - 1:00am In an unprecedented move, Israel Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Sunday cut ties with one of the dozens of religious seminaries that feed students to the military amid concerns that its ideologically driven students might refuse orders to evacuate settlements. The military was concerned that the chief rabbi of the school, known as a “hesder” yeshiva and located in the West Bank settlement of Har Bracha, was educating students to become insubordinate soldiers. » Read more

Gaza border: Why Egypt is building a steel underground wall ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Sarah A. Topol - December 14, 2009 - 1:00am Reports that Egypt is building a steel underground wall along its border with the Hamas-run Gaza Strip have fueled speculation about what exactly Cairo intends to accomplish with the project, which British newspapers claim is being carried out with the help of the US Army Corps of Engineers. » Read more

The Palestinians' opposite poles ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Howard Schneider - December 15, 2009 - 1:00am Sami and Tayseer Barakat grew up together in the concrete warrens of this refugee camp in Gaza, but the common thread ends there. As young adults, Tayseer moved to the West Bank while Sami remained in Gaza. The choices have shaped the brothers' lives, values, prosperity and opportunities, and they have placed the two at very different points in what is now a three-way feud among Israelis and Palestinians. » Read more

Abbas Sets Terms for Resuming Stalled Peace Talks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times December 15, 2009 - 1:00am President Mahmoud Abbas said on Tuesday the Palestinians would only resume peace talks if Israel fully halted settlement building in the occupied West Bank, but ruled out any return to violence. Addressing a meeting of the Palestine Liberation Organisation's central council, which is expected to extend his term as president, Abbas dismissed Israel's partial settlement freeze and said the Israelis did not want negotiations. » Read more

December 14th

Editorial: Unsettling facts ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News (Editorial) December 14, 2009 - 1:00am Israeli Jewish settlers need not worry about being evicted or that the homes built for them will be brought down. They should have no concerns that Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition will stop settlement construction. There has never been a climate in Israel more conducive to building them. And the reasons are economical as much as they are ideological. » Read more

Norway leads against the settlements ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star by Rami Khouri - (Opinion) December 14, 2009 - 1:00am While US President Barack Obama has not been able to secure a total freeze of Israeli settlements, several European governments and the European Union collectively have undertaken a series of measures related to Israeli colonization policies in the occupied West Bank that are worth noting. The increasing focus in some Western countries on the criminality of Israel’s colonization may represent a new point of pressure that – like the international boycott of South Africa – could ultimately push Israel to a more responsible and realistic response to criticisms of its colonialism. » Read more

Peace itself may be the price for these attacks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National (Opinion) December 14, 2009 - 1:00am ‘The IDF won’t determine where to fight us. We will choose the battlefield.” This taunt aimed at the Israeli army did not come from Hamas or Hizbollah, but it presents just as much danger to the state of Israel and to greater hopes for peace in the Middle East. It came from Yonatan Rachamin, a 25-year-old Israeli, and he is not alone in his intransigence. » Read more

Gaza one year on: The aftermath of a tragedy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent (Opinion) December 14, 2009 - 1:00am Hilmi Samouni still hopes at some point – "inshallah" – to go back to his old job as a kitchen assistant in the Palmyra, Gaza City's best known shwarma restaurant. But unlike his 22-year-old brother Khamiz, who is working once again in a car paint shop, and his 20-year-old cousin Mousa, on a two-year accountancy diploma course at Al Azhar University, Hilmi, who is 26, found that he couldn't cope when he returned to the Palmyra after the war. » Read more