14 justices sue PA over vehicle restrictions ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency September 29, 2010 - 12:00am Fourteen Palestinian supreme court justices have filed a lawsuit against the Palestinian Authority, prime minister and finance minister Salam Fayyad, and transportation minister Sa’di Al-Krunz. The plaintiffs complain that the Ramallah-based Palestinian government’s decision to reduce the number of government cars used by civil servants has inflicted social and financial harm on them. » Read more

New iPhone app tracks Israeli settlement expansion ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Joshua Mitnick - September 28, 2010 - 12:00am With building ramping up again in West Bank settlements after Israel's 10-month moratorium expired Sunday, the antisettlement group Peace Now is hoping to get Israelis more in touch with what's happening there – literally. A new iPhone app called "Facts on the Ground" allows users to zoom in on Google satellite images of the West Bank, where little blue Monopoly-style houses denote the size of each settlement – 123 in all. » Read more

Palestinian eviction threat comes at a sensitive moment ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Edmund Sanders - September 29, 2010 - 12:00am A threat to evict about three dozen Palestinians this week from their East Jerusalem homes to allow Jewish landowners to build housing in an Arab-dominated neighborhood is posing the latest threat to fragile Mideast peace talks. The ruling in the long-running dispute comes at a particularly sensitive time, as Israel faces mounting criticism for its decision to resume settlement construction in the West Bank after a 10-month moratorium. U.S. Mideast envoy George Mitchell arrived in Israel on Tuesday in a diplomatic bid to keep Palestinians from quitting the talks in protest. » Read more

A One-to-Two-State Solution ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Robert Wright - (Blog) September 28, 2010 - 12:00am This week’s bad news from the West Bank — the resumption of settlement construction after a 10-month moratorium, just as a new round of peace talks had gotten underway — didn’t much dampen optimism among seasoned Middle East watchers. That’s because there wasn’t much optimism to dampen. For the past few years, more and more people who follow these things have been saying that the perennial goal of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks — a two-state solution — will never be reached in any event. These experts fall into two camps. » Read more

Israeli Foreign Minister Distances Himself From Talks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Neil MacFarquhar - September 28, 2010 - 12:00am Sharp differences within the Israeli government over peace negotiations played out in the unusual setting of the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, with Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman using the podium to say that peace with the Palestinians required an intermediate agreement lasting “decades” and that the issue of Iranian belligerence should be addressed first. » Read more

U.S. Jews outraged by Lieberman's UN speech on population exchange ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Barak Ravid, Shlomo Shamir - (Analysis) September 29, 2010 - 12:00am Many American Jewish leaders fumed Wednesday when Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman proposed "an exchange of populated territory" as part of a Mideast peace deal in a speech before the UN General Assembly in New York. Lieberman suggested ceding parts of Israel with large Arab populations to a future Palestinian state in exchange for Israel keeping large settlement blocs in the West Bank, a proposal which has been part of his party's platform. » Read more

US pressing Israel to halt West Bank construction ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Amy Teibel - (Analysis) September 29, 2010 - 12:00am JERUSALEM — Washington's special envoy to the Mideast is in Israel Wednesday to try and get the stalled peace process back on track and press for a halt to new settlement construction on land the Palestinians want for a future state. Israel's own foreign minister highlighted the stiff opposition Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces within his own governing coalition to making concessions to the Palestinians. At the United Nations on Tuesday, Avigdor Lieberman spoke of a decades-long interim agreement with the Palestinians instead of the near-term statehood they demand. » Read more

Separating gimmickry from reality on settlements ATFP World Press Roundup Article from NOW Lebanon by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) September 28, 2010 - 12:00am Israel’s temporary, partial settlement construction moratorium has finally expired without being renewed in any way. This is in spite of repeated American entreaties to the Israeli government to extend the moratorium and repeated Palestinian warnings that negotiations could not continue if building resumes. As things stand, the issue is unresolved and poses a serious threat to the future of negotiations, with the United States urgently looking for a compromise and the Palestinians putting off any final decision for at least another week. » Read more