November 23rd

Fortifying Palestinian state-building ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons by Yossi Alpher - (Blog) November 22, 2010 - 1:00am In the eyes of many knowledgeable Israeli observers, improved security in the West Bank and the role played therein by Palestinian security forces is the most important aspect of the Palestinian Authority's successful state-building program of recent years. We pay far less attention to the other aspects: creating judicial, financial and administrative institutions that work and are relatively uncorrupt. We don't particularly care whether the Palestinians have a national bar code system. Only a few Israelis have become involved in the renascent West Bank economy. » Read more

Settlements make Israel less secure ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons by Ghassan Khatib - (Blog) November 22, 2010 - 1:00am Israel presents security as its main concern and a major component of negotiations with Palestinians. It uses security to rationalize both justifiable and unjustifiable positions and acts. Palestinians, who live under Israel's military occupation in the least secure conditions imaginable, believe that in most cases, Israel uses the issue of security as a pretext for doing things that the world might not accept otherwise. » Read more

Gaza’s blockade silences women voice ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times by Lakhdar Brahimi, Mary Robinson - (Analysis) November 23, 2010 - 1:00am We have just visited Gaza Strip where we met many courageous people trying to live relatively normal lives despite the crippling effects of the illegal Israeli blockade. The blockade was imposed to punish the Hamas-led government, but it is women and children who are paying the highest price. In our conversations with a range of women, we learned that despite the apparent “easing” of restrictions by Israel and Egypt, important socio-economic indicators such as poverty, malnutrition, unemployment and family violence are getting worse. » Read more

Timing, noodging advance new push for Jonathan Pollard ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) by Ron Kampeas - November 22, 2010 - 1:00am WASHINGTON (JTA) -- A combination of timing, diplomatic considerations and, above all, good old-fashioned noodging has culminated in the biggest push in years to free Jonathan Pollard. Insiders associated with the push, which resulted last week in a congressional letter to President Obama asking for clemency for the American Jew convicted in 1987 of spying for Israel, say the main factor was one man: David Nyer, an Orthodox activist from Monsey, N.Y. » Read more

Gaza: A love that knows no boundaries ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent by Donald MacIntyre - (Opinion) November 23, 2010 - 1:00am When Nicole Hamdan, a Jewish Israeli citizen, failed to report for compulsory army service a couple years ago, the military police came knocking at the doors of her uncles in the Tel Aviv suburbs of Holon and Bat Yam. » Read more

How international law affects the Palestine 'peace process' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Oliver Miles - (Analysis) November 22, 2010 - 1:00am As a former professional diplomat, I regard international law, with all its shortcomings, as much better than the alternative, the law of the jungle. I have often argued this with Israeli officials in particular, but they tend to prefer the doctrine of the iron wall, which they hope their enemies are powerless to break down and behind which they may live in safety. » Read more

IDF flights over West Bank to continue ahead of freeze ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Yaakov Katz - November 23, 2010 - 1:00am The Civil Administration is continuing to conduct reconnaissance flights over Jewish settlements in the West Bank ahead of the possible implementation of a new freeze on construction in the coming weeks, senior defense officials told The Jerusalem Post on Monday. The flights over settlements were conducted during the previous 10-month moratorium that went into effect last year and expired in late September. RELATED: Poll: 51% of Israelis favor building moratorium Settlers to Netanyahu: Yes, you can say no to Obama » Read more

Encountering Peace: Five minutes to midnight ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Gershon Baskin - (Opinion) November 22, 2010 - 1:00am Israel is facing the most severe crisis in its history. Surprisingly, most of its citizens choose to ignore this reality. The growing movement to delegitimize our right to exist cannot simply be dismissed by calling it anti- Semitism. The reasons are more complex than that. » Read more

Rattling The Cage: Face of Israel in a West Bank courtroom ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Fund by Larry Derfner - (Analysis) November 22, 2010 - 1:00am This was justice as I’d never seen it, as very, very few Israelis have seen it. The judge was an IDF officer in a light-green uniform and knitted kippa. The prosecutor was an IDF officer in a light-green uniform, no kippa. The defendant was a Palestinian in a brown prison jumpsuit. This was last Thursday afternoon in a bungalow that serves as military appeals court on the grounds of Ofer Prison, the towering, concretewalled monstrosity on Route 443 between Modi’in and Jerusalem. Ofer is Israel’s prison in the West Bank for Palestinians. » Read more

Jaffa imam released, cleared of terror charges ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Yoav Zitun - November 22, 2010 - 1:00am The Jaffa imam who was arrested on suspicion of involvement in undisclosed security offenses earlier this month was released Monday. "They made me out to be Osama bin Laden," imam Muhammad Ayash of the al-Bahr mosque told Ynet upon his release. "They want to make Jaffa into Umm al-Fahm and the Jaffa Arabs into terrorists. They are going to destroy the co-existence that we have build together with our Jewish neighbors over decades. "I have Jewish friends and neighbors, I studied at local schools; the investigators were even surprised at how good my Hebrew is," he added. » Read more