December 8th

Hamas to reap prisoner swap reward ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Financial Times by Tobias Buck - December 8, 2009 - 1:00am Less than a year ago, Hamas was cowering under an Israeli military onslaught that pulverised much of its political and military infrastructure. Now, in a reversal of fortune that must surprise even its leaders, Hamas is poised for a political triumph with the potential to transform its standing and Palestinian politics for years to come. The Islamist group, according to several officials, is closing in on a deal that would see hundreds of Palestinians released from Israeli jails. » Read more

Popular Fatah Leader Complicates Prisoner Swap ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Wall Street Journal by Charles Levinson - December 8, 2009 - 1:00am Marwan Barghouti, the popular imprisoned Palestinian leader, embodies the promise and the peril Israel faces as it negotiates with Hamas to trade hundreds of Palestinian prisoners for a long-held Israeli soldier. Islamist Hamas says Mr. Barghouti tops the list of approximately 1,000 prisoners it is demanding Israel free in exchange for Sgt. Gilad Shalit, who Hamas has held captive in Gaza for more than three years. » Read more

Edward Sanders dies at 87; advisor to President Carter on the Middle East ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times December 7, 2009 - 1:00am Edward Sanders, an attorney and leader in the Jewish community who served President Carter as a special advisor on Mideast policy, died Monday at his Los Angeles home. He was 87. The cause was cancer, according to his son-in-law, Stanley Witkow. Sanders gained prominence during the 1973 energy crisis when, as president of the Jewish Federation Council of Greater Los Angeles, he challenged a letter from Standard Oil Co. to 300,000 stockholders that appeared to support a pro-Arab Mideast policy. He later became president of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. » Read more

December 7th

Altogether more than a footnote ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star by Olivia Snaije - December 4, 2009 - 1:00am The first thing that comes to mind when holding graphic novelist and journalist Joe Sacco’s new book, “Footnotes in Gaza,” is the colossal amount of work that went into it. Not only is this pen-and-ink graphic novel almost 400 pages long, the subject too is heavy: The Israeli military’s massacre of Palestinian civilians in Khan Younis and Rafah (Gaza), during the 1956 Suez Crisis. The Malta-born American researched and reported on the subject for seven years, making two extended trips to Gaza – where he was often under fire from weapons paid for with his tax dollars. » Read more

Editorial: Fayyad’s plan ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News (Editorial) December 7, 2009 - 1:00am Both the Palestinian and Israeli public have taken great interest in the plan by Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad proposing the unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state within two years, and taking the case to the UN Security Council for recognition of the prospective state. The expected response, by Israeli President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has been to warn against any unilateral steps by the Palestinians. » Read more

Israeli resentment grows on trees ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Seth Freedman - (Opinion) December 7, 2009 - 1:00am The Jewish National Fund (JNF) is no stranger to controversy, its sectarian approach to charity work having fomented tension for decades in Israel and abroad. The JNF is once again embroiled in a row, though this time the tables have turned, with the fund's administrators finding themselves cast as pantomime villains by diehard supporters of the Jewish state. » Read more

New Construction in East Jerusalem: What it Really Means ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Huffington Post by Orly Noy - December 3, 2009 - 1:00am The recent diplomatic and journalistic storm over plans to expand the Gilo neighborhood in Jerusalem exposed a fundamental difference of view between Israel and many of its strongest supporters. Reacting to news that plans for 900 new dwellings in Gilo were to be approved by the Jerusalem Planning Committee, the White House was said to be "dismayed" by the move, and the UN General Secretary Ban-Ki Moon "deplored" it. » Read more

Planned City “Rawabi” Draws on Palestinian Enterprise and Israeli Experience ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line by Felice Friedson - November 29, 2009 - 1:00am Just six miles north of Ramallah, Palestinians have begun planting thousands of evergreen tree saplings as part of a major greening project to grow a forest to hug the edges of what will be the first planned Palestinian city. The city is already named Rawabi, Arabic for “hills”. For Palestinians it presents a new kind of urbanism, which aims to draw middle-class professionals away from smoggy towns and villages towards a better way of life. » Read more

World Bank gives Palestinian Authority $64 million ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press December 7, 2009 - 1:00am The World Bank has given $64 million to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank to help it prepare for statehood. Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad signed the agreement on Sunday. World Bank official Shamshad Akhtar says the goal is to boost Fayyad's plan to set up institutions for a state within two years, though talks with Israel are stalemated. A World Bank delegation visiting the West Bank and Gaza Strip will also look for ways to ease entry of construction materials into Gaza. » Read more

Israel gears to fight Swedish initiative ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Roni Sofer - December 7, 2009 - 1:00am A senior political source defined Monday Sweden's attempt to declare Jerusalem the capital of Palestine as an "underhanded move by Stockholm, a mere moment before its term as head of the European Union is over. We are making efforts to thwart this move at the highest diplomatic levels." The European Union's foreign ministers are scheduled to convene in Brussels later Monday, ahead of the EU meet scheduled to take place in the city on December 10. The agenda for the second day of the conference is said to include the Balkans, the Middle East peace process and Iran. » Read more