January 18th

Hamas militant dies in tunnel collapse ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua January 18, 2011 - 1:00am A Palestinian militant from Islamic Hamas movement was killed Tuesday when a tunnel under Gaza's southern border with Egypt collapsed. Hamas said that the 23-year-old member was inside the smuggling tunnel, but refused to give details what kind of work he was doing. The tunnels are often used to bring in materials that Israel prevents from entering Gaza through commercial crossings, including construction materials and fuel. Before Israel eased its Gaza blockade in June 2010, the tunnels had been the key lifeline of the 1.5 million inhabitants of the coastal enclave. » Read more

Palestinians to turn to Security Council this week ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by Karin Laub - January 17, 2011 - 1:00am The Palestinians expect to submit their request for a U.N. Security Council condemnation of Israeli settlements this week and will not be deterred by a U.S. appeal to abandon the idea, senior officials said Monday. In recent weeks, the Palestinians have prepared a draft that would have the Security Council declare settlements illegal and demand a halt of their construction. During this time, Palestinian diplomats have tried to win support for the proposed resolution. » Read more

Israel approves more East Jerusalem settler homes ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency January 18, 2011 - 1:00am The city council on Monday approved the building of another 122 Israeli settler homes in occupied East Jerusalem, a councilor said, a move likely to bring fresh censure from the international community. Elisha Peleg, head of the conservative Likud group on the city council, told AFP its planning and construction committee had given the green light for construction of 90 housing units in Talpiot East and another 32 in Pisgat Zeev. » Read more

Russia affirms recognition of Palestine ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency January 18, 2011 - 1:00am Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Tuesday reaffirmed Moscow's commitment to an independent Palestinian state. "We have supported the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital since the last century, and we still support it," Medvedev said, during his first official visit to Palestine. The late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat first issued a declaration of independence at a meeting in Algiers in November 1988, with the former Soviet Union quick to express support for it. » Read more

Israel's Barak breaks from Labor Party, fortifying bond with Netanyahu ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Joshua Mitnick - January 17, 2011 - 1:00am Facing growing calls from within his party to withdraw from Israel's government over the peace process deadlock, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak instead bolted from the Labor Party to form a breakaway parliamentary faction that would preserve his alliance with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. » Read more

WEST BANK: Political upheaval in Tunisia spurs Palestinian leaders to issue reassurances on own economy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Maher Abukhater - January 16, 2011 - 1:00am The factors that led to the popular upheaval in Tunisia set off alarm bells throughout the Arab world, and the Palestinian Authority was no different. Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad spent more than two hours on Sunday talking to 40 Palestinian journalists at his Ramallah office about the economic situation and living conditions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. » Read more

Barak’s Break With Party Shakes Up Israeli Politics ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Ethan Bronner - January 17, 2011 - 1:00am Israel’s defense minister, Ehud Barak, broke away Monday from the left-leaning Labor Party he had led and formed a smaller centrist faction that will stay in the governing coalition under a new name. The surprise move shook up Israeli politics but was expected to have little impact on its policies. » Read more

January 14th

The Hamas-Fatah Two-Step ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Ideas Daily by Elliot Jager - (Opinion) January 14, 2011 - 1:00am Disturbed by the diplomatic deadlock over negotiations with the Palestinians, many Westerners, and some Israelis themselves, have focused on the need to accommodate the demands of Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority (PA). For, they suggest, the alternative would be much worse: namely, being forced to deal with the chronic and openly violent rejectionism of Hamas, the terrorist movement that controls the Gaza Strip. » Read more

Israeli firms on Palestinian building project sign anti-settlement clause ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Harriet Sherwood - January 13, 2011 - 1:00am A dozen Israeli companies working on a Palestinian construction project have signed contracts stipulating they must not use Israeli products originating in the West Bank, East Jerusalem or the Golan Heights. The move has sparked calls from Jewish settler groups and their supporters for a counter-boycott. The lucrative contracts are conditional on the firms agreeing to eschew "products of the territories" in line with the Palestinian Authority's boycott of goods and services from settlements. » Read more

Arabs must end the ambiguity and hypocrisy when facing terrorism ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star by Ziad Asali - (Opinion) January 14, 2011 - 1:00am The recent bomb attacks against Christian communities in Egypt and Iraq have been roundly condemned by most political and religious leaders, commentators and public opinion in the Arab world. They have also been met with an outpouring of passionate condemnation by ordinary people who have taken to the streets to express anger and demand justice. People have sensed the danger to their whole society inherent in such atrocities. » Read more