November 18th

Christian community divided by Israeli separation barrier ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Hugh Naylor - (Analysis) November 18, 2011 - 1:00am Even though its concrete pillars and barbed wire have yet to be pieced together through these terraced olive orchards, Israel's separation barrier has already divided this small Christian community. Israeli authorities are expected to build a segment of its 760-kilometre fence through Cremisan, an area of verdant hills wedged between occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank. » Read more

Settlers 'attempted to kill' Israeli soldiers ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent by Donald MacIntyre - (Analysis) November 18, 2011 - 1:00am Though fairly hair-raising, the blog Haim Har-Zahav wrote about how his Israel Defence Forces unit was attacked several times in the West Bank back in September would have gone almost unnoticed – except for one thing. » Read more

Top settler rabbi: Soldiers will sooner choose death than suffer women's singing ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Yair Ettinger - (Analysis) November 17, 2011 - 1:00am Israel Defense Forces soldiers should choose death before they remain at army events which include women's singing, a top settler religious leader said in an interview on Thursday. The comment made by Elyakim Levanon, the rabbi of the West Bank settlement of Elon Moreh, came after earlier this week, 19 reserve major generals sent a letter to Defense Minister Ehud Barak and IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz, imploring them not to allow harm to come to women's service in the army as a result of religious soldiers' demands. » Read more

Israel effectively annexes Palestinian land near Jordan Valley ATFP World Press Roundup Article from by Akiva Eldar - (Analysis) November 18, 2011 - 1:00am Israel carried out a de facto annexation of Palestinian land northeast of the Jordan Valley and given it to Kibbutz Merav. Merav, part of the Religious Kibbutz Movement, is about seven kilometers northwest of the parcel. The route of the separation barrier in the area was changed so that the plot in question, about 1,500 dunams (375 acres), would be on the Israeli side. » Read more

With eye on militants, Israel builds Africa ties ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Josef Federman - (Analysis) November 17, 2011 - 1:00am Israel has identified eastern Africa as an important strategic interest and is stepping up ties with nations in the region in a joint effort to control the spread of Islamic extremists, officials said Thursday. In effect, Israel would become a player siding with Christian-led African nations in conflicts with Muslim movements, a fault line that has sharpened around the continent in recent years. Israeli moves come as the United States as well has hiked up military support for African governments, in large part to combat al-Qaida-linked groups. » Read more

Israel-Gaza tensions: Pilot program to expand Gaza exports falters ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Kristen Chick - (Analysis) November 18, 2011 - 1:00am The Bright Star textile company in Gaza used to sew 4 million pieces of clothing a month, most of it for export to Israel and beyond – part of a humming manufacturing sector that accounted for nearly a third of Gaza's economy. But after Israel imposed a blockade in 2006, Gaza's factories fell silent, unable to import the raw materials they needed or send their finished products abroad for sale. » Read more

Hamas-Appointed Court Fines Gaza Banks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Fares Akram, Ethan Bronner - (Analysis) November 18, 2011 - 1:00am In what could be the first of many such decisions, a Hamas-appointed court this week ordered two major banks in Gaza to pay tens of millions of dollars in back fees and fines for refusing to accept the taxing power of the Hamas government, rather than its West-Bank-based rival, the Palestinian Authority. Bank officials, who boycotted the judicial hearings, said the decision, handed down by a lower court earlier this week, might force them to shut down temporarily, at least, further reducing access to money in this isolated coastal enclave. » Read more

November 17th

Arrests greet Palestinian freedom riders ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Salon.com by Khaled Diab - (Opinion) November 17, 2011 - 1:00am We headed for Road 60, one of the few main arteries in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, which is open both to Israeli and Palestinian travelers. » Read more

Worldview: Israeli-Palestinian effort a victim of neglect ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Philly.com by Trudy Rubin - (Opinion) November 17, 2011 - 1:00am Traveling in Israel and the West Bank, and talking to leaders on both sides, one thing soon becomes apparent: The Israeli-Palestinian peace process of the last two decades is dead. Israeli leaders don't believe in it, Palestinian leaders have given up on it, and the White House has abandoned it. An end to talks on a two-state solution means a slide toward a "one-state solution" in which Palestinians outnumber Jews inside Israel's borders. This ensures perpetual violence. » Read more

Pro-Palestinian activists push cause within Occupy Wall Street movement ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) by Dan Klein - (Opinion) November 17, 2011 - 1:00am As the Occupy Wall Street protests continue to spread across America, an internal struggle is percolating over how the movement relates to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Pro-Palestinian activists are trying to insert the issue into the protests and are co-opting the Occupy Wall Street movement’s language to attack Israel. But some left-wing Jewish activists warn that these efforts will give ammunition to the movement’s critics and make it harder to build a big tent in support of Occupy Wall Street’s main economic agenda. » Read more