September 21st

Israeli Arab accused of spying freed in plea deal ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press (Analysis) September 20, 2010 - 12:00am JERUSALEM — An Israeli Arab charged with spying for Hezbollah has been released from jail in a plea bargain. Courts spokeswoman Nitzan Eyal said Monday that Omar Sayid was freed last week after five months behind bars. He pleaded guilty to contact with an enemy agent — a crime that could have carried up to seven years in prison. » Read more

Premier wants Israeli troops at Palestinian border ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Amy Teibel - (Analysis) September 21, 2010 - 12:00am JERUSALEM — Israel's leader is demanding that Israeli troops remain on the eastern border of a future Palestinian state, further antagonizing the Palestinians at a time when they are already threatening to walk out of peace talks. The negotiations, which resumed this month in Washington after a two-year breakdown, are foundering over Palestinian demands that Israel extend a curb on Jewish construction in the West Bank. That curb, in place for 10 months, is to expire Sunday. » Read more

EU pays €3.58 million to rebuild Gaza economy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency (Analysis) September 21, 2010 - 12:00am JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- The EU has contributed over €3.58 million in its second disbursement to the Palestinian Authority to aid rebuilding of Gaza's private sector, a statement issued Monday said. The EU will contribute a total of €22 million towards the project, the statement added. The Private Sector Reconstruction in Gaza program was launched by the PA following Israel's December 2008 offensive on the coastal enclave, Operation Cast Lead. The program targets businesses whose buildings and assets were destroyed in the war. » Read more

Peres meets Abbas in New York ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency (Analysis) September 21, 2010 - 12:00am NEW YORK (Ma’an) -- All Israelis are watching negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians attentively hoping for success, Israeli President Shimon Peres said Monday in New York. At a news conference on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, Peres addressed questions from the Palestinian press as to whether he was taking a leadership role in the ongoing talks, and whether he had intervened in the process. » Read more

Could Syria become a force for peace? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by John Hughes - (Analysis) September 20, 2010 - 12:00am After decades-long hostility, Israelis and Palestinians are tiptoeing their way, at the urging of the United States, through talks toward a peace that has been as elusive as a desert mirage. The goal is to provide security for Israel and nationhood for the Palestinians, ordered by boundaries yet to be defined and agreed upon. Ironically, the wild card in all this may be the nation not even seated at the negotiating table: Syria. » Read more

Israelis Float Settlement Deal Involving Spy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Isabel Kershner - (Analysis) September 20, 2010 - 12:00am JERUSALEM — Israeli officials have tried to float a trade-off in which they would extend the temporary moratorium on settlement construction in exchange for the release by the United States of Jonathan Jay Pollard, the American who pleaded guilty to spying for Israel and is serving a life term in an American jail, Israel’s Army Radio reported Monday. » Read more

Peace Now Flight Highlights West Bank Settlements ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Isabel Kershner - (Analysis) September 20, 2010 - 12:00am TEL AVIV — Local leaders often take visitors to Jewish settlements occupying the high ground of the northern West Bank to lookout points from where, on a clear day, they can see the glass towers of Tel Aviv, the shimmering waters of the Mediterranean and the contours of Israel’s heavily populated coastal plain. The aim is to underline the strategic dangers that the leaders say would be inherent in any Israeli withdrawal from the area to make way for a Palestinian state. » Read more

West Bank settlements can now be tracked on your iPhone ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Natasha Mozgovaya - (Analysis) September 20, 2010 - 12:00am Want to know what's happening in the West Bank settlements in real time? In addition to 'Sudoku' and 'Street Fighter,' iPhone owners will now be able to install the "Facts on the Ground" application, which monitors the expansion of settlements in Judea and Samaria, created by Americans for Peace Now. » Read more

Abbas: Israel can call itself whatever it wants ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post (Analysis) September 21, 2010 - 12:00am Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said in a Monday night interview with Palestinian news source Ma'an that "Israel was free to call itself the Israeli Zionist Jewish Empire." The PA leader made cynical remarks to Maan shortly after Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu called upon Abbas to recognize Israel as a Jewish state. » Read more

Quartet to urge Israel to keep settlement freeze ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Andrew Quinn - (Analysis) September 21, 2010 - 12:00am NEW YORK, Sept 20 (Reuters) - The Quartet of Middle East peace mediators will on Tuesday call on Israel to extend its settlement moratorium, saying the freeze has had a positive impact as the two sides seek a peace deal within the next year, according to a draft statement seen by Reuters. » Read more