November 10th

Israel's latest building plan is a pointless provocation ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz (Editorial) November 10, 2010 - 1:00am "That's my character," the scorpion says to the frog, in a familiar joke, as it stings the frog to death after being transported by its victim across the river. It appears that the Interior Ministry, the Jerusalem District Planning and Building Committee and planning authorities in Ariel suffer from similar symptoms. » Read more

PNA de facto controls Jerusalem's Arab neighborhoods: report ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua November 10, 2010 - 1:00am JERUSALEM, Nov. 9 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) is the de facto sovereign in Jerusalem's Arab neighborhoods as Israeli institutions gradually sever ties with their residents, local daily Ma'ariv reported on Tuesday. While senior officials in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing government often pledge that Jerusalem will forever be united under the Israeli sovereignty, the PNA exercises its control in the Arab neighborhoods in its eastern sector, the report said. » Read more

Israeli parliament sets to deny pension from former Arab legislator ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua November 10, 2010 - 1:00am JERUSALEM, Nov. 9 (Xinhua) -- The Israeli Knesset parliament on Tuesday approved in its first reading of a bill that would revoke stipends and other benefits from legislators who fail to appear at criminal proceedings held against them, reported The Jerusalem Post. One former lawmaker who stands to lose his monthly pension is Azmi Bishara, an Israeli Arab who headed the Balad party and fled the country in April 2007 after being suspected of allegedly spying for Hezbollah during the Second Lebanon War in 2006. » Read more

Israel arrests Hamas official in West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua November 10, 2010 - 1:00am RAMALLAH, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- The Israeli army arrested a Hamas official in the West Bank on Wednesday, Palestinian sources said. The soldiers detained Mahmoud al-Rumhi, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), in his house near Ramallah city, sources from his family told Xinhua. In March 2009, Israel released al-Rumhi after 32 months of detention. » Read more

Headdress, radio, holy book help tell Arafat story ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman by Mohammed Daraghmeh - November 9, 2010 - 1:00am RAMALLAH, WEST BANK — Yasser Arafat had a knack for turning ordinary objects into symbols, including the black-and-white checkered headdress that came to represent the Palestinian quest for a homeland. Six years after his death, the keepers of Arafat's memory are gathering thousands of objects — photographs, pistols, the trademark sunglasses and military-style suits he favored — for display in a museum under construction at his former West Bank headquarters, where Arafat spent the last three years of his life encircled by Israeli forces. » Read more

Palestinians say it's time to recognise their state ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Douglas Hamilton - November 10, 2010 - 1:00am ERUSALEM, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Israel's plan to build new homes on occupied land should be countered by international recognition of a Palestinian state, the chief Palestinian negotiator said on Tuesday. Raising the stakes in deadlocked U.S.-sponsored peace talks, Saeb Erekat said it was clear from the latest announcement of building plans that Israel wants settlements, not peace. "Israeli unilateralism is a call for immediate international recognition of the Palestinian state," he said in a statement. » Read more

Israeli raid targets Jerusalem neighborhood ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency November 10, 2010 - 1:00am Confrontations erupted in an East Jerusalem town under siege for three days and facing a campaign of repeated Israeli police raids. A 50-strong Israeli force raided the northern entrance of Al-Isawiya on Wednesday morning and another entered through the south, onlookers said. Luba As-Samry, a spokeswoman for the Israeli police, said an Israeli police officer was lightly injured during confrontations on the northern entrance of the village. She added that four young men were detained for throwing stones at the police. » Read more

How Israel's easing of Gaza blockade has hurt Gaza business ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Kristen Chick - (Opinion) November 9, 2010 - 1:00am Gaza City, Gaza — Israel's move to ease the three-year blockade on the Gaza Strip has put consumer products that were long absent back on Gazan shelves and is cited as one of the reasons the territory’s economy grew rapidly this year. But the June move, which has allowed Israeli goods to start flowing into Gaza, is actually hurting Gaza businesses. By allowing Israeli goods to flood the coastal enclave, while continuing to restrict Gazan manufacturers by keeping them from importing raw materials and exporting goods, the policy tilts the playing field. » Read more

Where is Israel's peace plan? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Robert Danin - (Opinion) November 10, 2010 - 1:00am One thing that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should bring to his meeting in New York on Thursday with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is a plan for Israeli-Palestinian peace. In the year and a half that Netanyahu has been in power, he has professed a keen desire to negotiate peace with the Palestinians, but his vision for that peace remains a mystery. » Read more

Netanyahu defiantly answers Obama's warning over construction in East Jerusalem ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Christi Parsons - November 10, 2010 - 1:00am Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu clashed publicly with President Obama on Tuesday over Israeli construction in disputed East Jerusalem, throwing a teetering Mideast peace effort deeper in doubt. Responding to criticism from Obama, Netanyahu struck a defiant tone in commenting on plans to build 1,300 more Jewish housing units in East Jerusalem, saying his government had never agreed to limit construction in the city. » Read more