May 10th

US: Israel promised not to build in Ramat Shlomo for 2 years ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Yitzhak Benhorin - May 9, 2010 - 12:00am The State Department said the first round of indirect peace talks between Israel and Palestinian authorities have been completed. State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said in a statement Sunday that US special envoy George Mitchell has left the Middle East after concluding talks characterized as serious and wide-ranging. » Read more

Palestinians report first Israeli violation of talks to U.S. ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz May 10, 2010 - 12:00am Just two days after resuming peace talks with Israel, the Palestinian Authority has reported to the United States what it termed the first violation of negotiation terms, a senior Palestinian official said Monday. Yasser Abed Rabbo said the construction of 14 housing units for Jewish settlers in an East Jerusalem neighbourhood, as reported by the Israeli Peace Now pressure group, violated the terms of new talks. » Read more

Israel gets accepted into OECD after unanimous vote ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Barak Ravid - May 10, 2010 - 12:00am The 31 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development on Monday unanimously voted in favor of accepting Israel as a member of the group, a senior Jerusalem source said. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to convene a special press conference at 4 P.M. to discuss Israel's admittance into the Paris-based international economic group. Israeli officials have said acceptance would be an important stamp of approval for the country's economy, boosting its credit rating and strengthening ties with foreign investors. » Read more

Israeli opposition makes coalition overtures as peace talks begin ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua by David Harris - May 9, 2010 - 12:00am United States special envoy George Mitchell is expected to begin his shuttle diplomacy between the Israelis and the Palestinians from next week. This follows Sunday' s announcement by the chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat that the indirect talks with Israel has begun. Mitchell met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday before leaving the Middle East for a week of consultations in Washington. He will be back in the region by the middle of next week to begin the proximity process repeatedly travelling the short distance between Jerusalem and Ramallah. » Read more

Buy Palestinian products ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Akiva Eldar - May 10, 2010 - 12:00am Suppose some Palestinian group managed to set up a new settlement on land abandoned by refugees of the 1967 war in the Jordan Valley. What would your average Israeli patriot have to say about an Israeli contractor who agreed to build it, or about Jewish workers clambering on Palestinian scaffolds? What an outcry we'd hear from the Israeli right about such traitors! Never fear, our forces would never allow the uncircumcised to fix even a peg in the occupied territory under absolute Israeli control (some 60 percent of the West Bank ). » Read more

Palestinians frustrated by report of newly announced East Jerusalem construction plan ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua May 10, 2010 - 12:00am Reports of Israeli renovation work which started Sunday and will include construction of 14 housing units in a Jewish settlement in disputed East Jerusalem frustrated the Palestinians. A report by the Peace Now, an Israeli anti-settlement movement, said that the housing units would be appended to a place that has once been used as a post by Israeli police, which overlooks the Muslim holy shrine al-Aqsa Mosque. » Read more

Camp committees: UNRWA reduced aid by 70% ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency May 9, 2010 - 12:00am West Bank refugee camp committees have accused UNRWA of reducing food aid to Palestinian refugees by 70 percent. Following an emergency session of Nablus and northern West Bank refugee camp committees, Nablus-area refugee camp coordinator Ibrahim Saqr said UNRWA had not adhered to its duties laid out in previous agreements. "After two months, the emergency support program failed to cope with the demands of needy families in refugee camps and has several shortcomings which were reported to more than one UN official on several occasions," said Saqr. » Read more

Israeli air force strikes Gaza tunnels ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency May 10, 2010 - 12:00am Israeli warplanes struck what a military spokesman described as "two terror sites" in the southern Gaza Strip on Monday morning, destroying two smuggling tunnels with no injuries reported. The spokesman said the strikes were in response to projectile fire from Gaza on Saturday night. The Jerusalem Post reported a single home-made projectile landed in Israel at approximately 11pm on the night in question, but no Gaza factions have claimed the assault. The last time a projectile hit Israel, a Thai worker was killed just outside of Ashkelon, over one month ago.

ISRAEL: Netanyahu's government reaches out in Arabic ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Batsheva Sobelman - May 10, 2010 - 12:00am Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bureau is upgrading its public diplomacy efforts with the appointment of an Arabic-language spokesman. Ofir Gendelman, formerly the Arabic media spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign affairs, will from now on be entrusted with getting Israel's message out in Arabic too. A news release from the prime minister's office last week said the appointment was important in order to deal with "recent media developments in the Arab world and especially in light of global developments regarding Arabic language television stations." » Read more

U.S.-Brokered Mideast Shuttle Talks Begin Again ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Isabel Kershner - May 9, 2010 - 12:00am The Obama administration announced Sunday that indirect, American-brokered talks had resumed between Israel and the Palestinians, capping a year of efforts by Washington to revive the peace process. The American special envoy to the region, George J. Mitchell, is expected to shuttle between the two sides over the next four months as mediator of the so-called proximity talks. They are aimed at forging a joint vision of the outlines of a solution based on the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. » Read more