November 16th

Palestinian official: Rivals agree on election ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman by Mohammed Daraghmeh - November 16, 2011 - 1:00am The rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas have agreed to hold elections next May, a senior official said Tuesday, in what would be a major step toward ending a four-year rift. Azzam al-Ahmad, a senior Fatah negotiator, said the sides agreed on the election plan in secret talks and are expected to formally approve it later this month. The plan calls for the establishment of a caretaker government to prepare for the vote — most likely without current Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. » Read more

Abbas vows to speed up reconciliation with Hamas ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency November 16, 2011 - 1:00am President and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas pledged Wednesday to speed up reconciliation with Hamas in a speech to honor late President Yasser Arafat. Abbas said he would meet Hamas leader Khalid Mashaal in Cairo on Nov. 23, addressing his leadership in Ramallah to commemorate the seventh anniversary of Arafat's death. The party leaders will address the reconciliation deal signed in May to end years of rivalry that split Palestinians into separate administrations in the West Bank and Gaza. » Read more

France summons Israeli ambassador over Gaza raid ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters November 16, 2011 - 1:00am France's Foreign Ministry summoned Israel's ambassador on Wednesday over an airstrike in Gaza that injured the French consul and his family on Sunday. Majdi Jameel Yaseen Shaqqoura and his daughter were injured by shrapnel and his wife suffered a miscarriage when Israeli warplanes bombed a police building in Beit Lahiya early Monday morning, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights said in a statement. » Read more

Israeli-Palestinian jolt? Why some want to dismantle PA. ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Joshua Mitnick - November 16, 2011 - 1:00am The Palestinian Authority is seeking to regroup after the United Nations Security Council officially declared its bid for full UN membership to be dead. After the Council's announcement Friday, Israeli-Palestinian relations returned to a familiar stasis this week. In talks with the Quartet (the US, UN, European Union, and Russia) yesterday, Israel sought a return to the table with no preconditions and Palestinians insisted on a settlement freeze before resuming talks. » Read more

Palestinian 'freedom riders' board Israeli buses in protest ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Rebecca Collard - November 16, 2011 - 1:00am Decked-out in T-shirts bearing slogans such as “dignity,” “freedom,” and “justice,” and wearing the symbolic black and white Palestinian kaffiyeh scarves, six Palestinian activists waited at a bus stop this afternoon with a group of Israeli settlers. » Read more

Palestinian activists arrested on Israeli bus ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman by Diaa Hadid - November 16, 2011 - 1:00am Six Palestinian activists, clutching national flags and surrounded by dozens of reporters, were dragged off an Israeli bus they planned to ride into Jerusalem after a standoff with police Tuesday. They were detained and then released a few hours later in the West Bank, said pro-Palestinian activist Jonathan Pollack. The Palestinians boarded the Israeli bus in a widely advertised action hoping to draw attention to what they call discriminatory measures in the West Bank, particularly travel restrictions. » Read more

Israel announces more housing in West Bank and the Jerusalem area ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times November 16, 2011 - 1:00am Israel announced Tuesday it would soon issue tenders for 5,000 new units of housing nationwide, including about 570 apartments on land it seized during the 1967 Mideast war. The government said the new housing was needed to address Israel's rising real estate prices, which triggered massive popular demonstrations this summer. But critics objected to the inclusion of 348 units in Har Homa and 18 in Pisgat Zeev, two Jewish developments in the Jerusalem area. An additional 213 units are planned for the West Bank settlement of Efrat. » Read more

Israeli Army May Need to Hit Gaza, General Says ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Isabel Kershner - November 16, 2011 - 1:00am Israel’s military chief of staff warned Tuesday that the repeated rounds of escalated violence in the south would eventually require Israel to carry out another large-scale military operation in Hamas-controlled Gaza. “We cannot continue with one round after another,” the official, Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, told a closed meeting of the Parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. He said the point at which a military operation would become necessary was “drawing closer.” » Read more

November 15th

Palestinian, Israeli activists launch campaign against settlement transportation ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Arabiya by Amjad Samhan - (Analysis) November 15, 2011 - 1:00am Dozens of Palestinian and Israeli activists are gearing up for the launch on Tuesday of a campaign against transportation companies that serve settlements in the West Bank in protest of the continuation of the occupation and the construction of more units in the Occupied Territories. The campaign aims at obstructing means of transportation affiliated to Egged and Veolia, two Israeli public transportation companies that transfer Jewish settlers from the West Bank to East Jerusalem and Israel. » Read more

Why sincerity of Israeli leader is doubted ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent by Donald MacIntyre - (Opinion) November 15, 2011 - 1:00am Exactly what Nicolas Sarkozy meant by describing Benjamin Netanyahu as a "liar" is not immediately clear, and the French President is unlikely to prolong the episode by explaining it. But it is safe to assume that Mr Sarkozy has become increasingly unconvinced of Mr Netanyahu's sincerity in saying he is willing to negotiate a two-state solution with the Palestinians. By insisting the Palestinians recognise Israel as a "Jewish state" and by resuming a surge in Jewish settlement building, Mr Netanyahu has given no sign that he envisages the minimum deal the Palestinians could accept. » Read more