The Charade of Israeli-Palestinian Talks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from In These Times by Noam Chomsky - (Opinion) December 2, 2010 - 1:00am Washington’s pathetic capitulation to Israel while pleading for a meaningless three-month freeze on settlement expansion—excluding Arab East Jerusalem—should go down as one of the most humiliating moments in U.S. diplomatic history. In September the last settlement freeze ended, leading the Palestinians to cease direct talks with Israel. Now the Obama administration, desperate to lure Israel into a new freeze and thus revive the talks, is grasping at invisible straws—and lavishing gifts on a far-right Israeli government. » Read more

A bold stroke ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News (Editorial) December 2, 2010 - 1:00am The announcement by Hamas’ leader in Gaza Ismael Haniyah that the movement would accept a peace treaty with Israel and a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders if Palestinians approve it in a referendum is a development of immense importance. It is a political icebreaker. Until now, Hamas has stuck rigidly to the one-state solution, insisting that there could never be any recognition of Israel and that the only acceptable settlement would be for the Palestinians to be given all that land that between 1923 and 1948 comprised British mandated-Palestine. » Read more

Essential for Mideast peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times by George S. Hishmeh - December 3, 2010 - 1:00am Considering that the United States, Israel and the Palestinian Authority have shamefully ran out of original ideas and remain deadlocked on the issue of peace negotiations, it may be time for all three to do some house cleaning. Whether this will herald a new and successful approach remains to be seen, but it is certainly dependant on their commitment to fairness and peace making in the Middle East. » Read more

Rosen Remains Determined to Prove Trafficking in Secrets is Normal at AIPAC ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Nathan Guttman - December 2, 2010 - 1:00am A key court filing in the legal battle between Steve Rosen and his former employers at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee has been postponed, but tensions still run high. » Read more

Gazans Start to Eat Well Again, But Animals Face Starvation ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line by David Miller - December 3, 2010 - 1:00am Shops in the Gaza Strip are overflowing with food these days after Israel eased its blockade, but chickens, sheep and goats of the coastal enclave aren’t sharing in the new bounty. According to an Agriculture Ministry official in Gaza, a severe shortage of animal feed is threatening mass starvation of livestock. Zakariyah Kafarneh, head of veterinary services in the Palestinian Health Ministry, blamed Israel for the shortage, saying the Gaza Strip was in need of 16,000 tons of feed every month. Israel has been letting in only half of that quantity, he said. » Read more

Israeli, Palestinian Ministers Trade Blame for Stalled Peace Process ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line by David Rosenberg - December 3, 2010 - 1:00am Israel Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer and his Palestinian counterpart, Economic Minister Dr. Hassan Abu-Libdeh, sought to tackle a host of economic issues in a private meeting in Jerusalem on Wednesday, but the two agreed that economic cooperation couldn’t substitute for a peace agreement. » Read more

'US committed to peace talks, Israel’s security' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Hilary Leila Krieger - December 3, 2010 - 1:00am The Obama administration is “fervently” seeking progress in the peace process as it continues talking to Israel to find a formula for moving forward with talks, senior White House adviser David Axelrod told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday evening. “This is a critical juncture and we so fervently want to move forward, to get that two-state solution so that Israel can live in peace and security, and we’re going to keep pressing for that,” he told the Post, speaking ahead of an Israeli Embassy candlelighting ceremony in honor of Hanukka. » Read more

Childcare experts condemn police treatment of Palestinian stone-throwers ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Avi Issacharoff - December 3, 2010 - 1:00am Sixty Israeli childcare experts and literary figures have sent an open letter to the prime minister and attorney general calling on the authorities to monitor more closely police interactions with minors suspected of stone throwing in East Jerusalem. The letter, sent last week, came amid recent complaints that the police have been making illegal arrests and using questionable interrogation methods in their campaign against stone throwing. » Read more

Israel can't be a democracy with two classes of citizens ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz (Editorial) December 3, 2010 - 1:00am Cracks are emerging in Israel's democracy. A comprehensive survey compiled by the Israel Democracy Institute and reported in yesterday's Haaretz paints a gloomy, worrisome picture whose gist is a lack of understanding of the basic principles of Israel's political system. » Read more

Yearender: Mideast peace talks back in limbo despite Obama's push ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua by Ran Hacohen - December 2, 2010 - 1:00am Since his inauguration in Jan. 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama has been making strenuous efforts to bring the Palestinians and Israelis back to the negotiating table. A glimpse of hope emerged when the two sides resumed direct talks in Washington in September. But the brief optimism was worn off quickly as negotiations relapsed in limbo over Jewish settlements, without any sign of breakthrough on the horizon. DISPUTE OVER SETTLEMENT » Read more