The Obsession with Olive Trees ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat by Hassan Haidar - (Opinion) October 28, 2010 - 12:00am Israel, its government, army and settlers have become morbidly obsessed with olive trees. Rarely does a day pass by without a battle being waged against these trees, which turn into the number one enemy of the state at every harvest season, because they always remind it that it is occupying a land that is not its own. The stubbornness of roots that run deep makes Israelis lose their temper, frenziedly attacking to pull them out and break their branches, in a desperate attempt to erase this symbol from the memory of the Palestinians. » Read more

A shared story offers hope to Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Daphna Baram - October 29, 2010 - 12:00am A piece of news from Israel this week hides a grain of hope in a rather bleak reality: a group of high school students demanded to meet a senior official at the education ministry after one of their textbooks was banned from use in schools. The book in question, Learning Each Other's Historical Narrative, was the fruit of a joint project in which Israeli and Palestinian teachers constructed a text presenting both narratives of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict alongside each other. » Read more

No breakthrough in Mid-East peace talks - Egypt envoy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News October 28, 2010 - 12:00am Ahmed Aboul Gheit reiterated Arab support for Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas's demand that Israeli settlement building be frozen ahead of new talks. Israel has refused to renew the freeze despite pressure from Washington. Mr Abbas said he was still mulling an appeal to the UN, but said his first choice would be to return to talks. "We have discussed our options... but our first option is to return to direct negotiations if Israel halts all settlement activity," Mr Abbas said. » Read more

Israelis Remain in Tug-of-War Over the Rabin Legacy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line by Kalindi O'Brien, David Rosenberg - October 28, 2010 - 12:00am Fifteen years after Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was gunned down at a Tel Aviv rally, the tug-of-war has yet to let up over the former prime minister’s legacy as the architect of a troubled peace process and a symbol of the dangers to democracy from extremism. Officially, Rabin is mourned by all of Israel. His name appears on city squares and streets as well as schools and hospitals. As in years past, he was memorialized at official government ceremonies earlier this month on the date of his assassination on the Hebrew calendar. » Read more

PM lacks majority in any cabinet forum to renew freeze ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Gil Hoffman - October 29, 2010 - 12:00am Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu lacks a majority to pass a new moratorium on housing starts in Judea and Samaria in any possible forum of ministers, The Jerusalem Post has established. Netanyahu has been making an effort to gauge what kind of support he would have if he wanted to renew the freeze in order to satisfy US President Barack Obama and bring the Palestinian Authority back to the negotiating table. » Read more

Settler numbers rise at almost 3 times nat’l average ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Tovah Lazaroff - October 29, 2010 - 12:00am The growth of the settler population slowed slightly in the first five months of 2010, but the numbers still rose at almost three times the national average, according to Central Bureau of Statistics data released this week. This despite the government’s efforts to dramatically curb construction in settlements. » Read more

Segregation of Jews and Arabs in 2010 Israel is almost absolute ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Arabiya by Amnon Be'eri-Sulitzeanu - October 29, 2010 - 12:00am Under the guise of the deceptively mundane name "Amendment to the Cooperative Associations Bill," the Knesset's Constitution, Law and Justice Committee this week finalized a bill intended to bypass previous rulings of the High Court of Justice. If indeed this legislation is approved by the Knesset plenum, it will not be possible to describe it as anything other than an apartheid law. » Read more

IDF bars Palestinian children from Tel Aviv film festival ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Ruta Kupfer - October 29, 2010 - 12:00am The army yesterday prevented children from the West Bank village of Umm al-Hir from entering Israel in time to watch a movie they appear in at a children's film festival in the Tel Aviv Cinematheque. The children, first- and second-graders, were supposed to enter via the Meitar checkpoint to watch the film they had appeared in as part of the Children Make Movies project, run jointly by the Education Ministry, the Children's Channel and the Lahav and Mifalot associations. » Read more

Report: U.S. proposes Israel lease lands from Palestinians under future deal ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz October 29, 2010 - 12:00am Israel is conducting secret negotiations with the U.S. on establishing the future borders of a Palestinian state, the London-based Arabic language daily Asharq al-Awsat reported on Friday. According to the report, Palestinian sources confirmed that the two sides discussed an option wherein Israel may lease lands in East Jerusalem from the Palestinians in exchange for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. Israel would lease the territories from the Palestinian state for a period of 40 to 99 years. » Read more

Abbas: Resuming negotiations remains first option ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua October 28, 2010 - 12:00am Resuming direct peace negotiations will remain the first option of the Palestinian leadership, Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Thursday. "We are ready to go back to the negotiations as soon as Israel stops settlement activities," Abbas told a news conference in Ramallah after meeting with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit. Abbas said he has "seven options" to respond to Israel's expansion of Jewish settlement in the West Bank which caused the U. S.-brokered negotiations to halt after nearly three weeks since it restarted. » Read more