February 17th

Jordan calls for resuming Palestinian-Israeli peace talks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua February 16, 2011 - 1:00am Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh on Wednesday urged intensified international efforts to realize progress in resuming Palestinian-Israeli peace talks. In a joint press conference with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, Judeh stressed the need for pushing peacemaking efforts forward and re-launching serious and effective negotiations that will address all final status issues. These negotiations should lead to the creation of an independent and viable Palestinian state on the borders of 1967 with East Jerusalem as its capital, Judeh said. » Read more

Aide: Palestinian elections proceed without Hamas ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Mohammed Daraghmeh - February 16, 2011 - 1:00am Palestinian elections will go ahead this fall regardless of whether the Islamic Hamas participates, an aide to the Palestinian president said Wednesday. Yasser Abed Rabbo's statement means presidential and parliamentary elections might take place only in the West Bank, as Hamas has refused to allow elections in the Gaza Strip. "We can't be held hostage by Hamas and remain without elections," Abed Rabbo said. » Read more

Abbas stresses Palestinian clinging to Jerusalem's Armenian Quarter ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua February 16, 2011 - 1:00am Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas stressed Wednesday his leadership will never give up the Armenian area in East Jerusalem under any peace deal with Israel. "The Armenian Quarter is an undividable part of East Jerusalem, which is the capital of the (future) independent Palestinian state, " Abbas said during a meeting with Christian leaders at his office in Ramallah. » Read more

Jordan: Israelis' killer will serve life sentence ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Jamal Halaby - February 16, 2011 - 1:00am Seeking to allay Israeli anger, Jordan reassured its neighbor Wednesday that a soldier who killed seven Israeli schoolgirls in 1997 will serve out his life sentence. On Monday, Justice Minister Hussein Mjali had joined a protest in Amman calling for the release of Cpl. Ahmed Daqamseh. Mjali, once Daqamseh's defense lawyer, promised the protesters that he will seek his former client's immediate release. In comments that particularly angered Israelis, Mjali portrayed the soldier as a hero who does not deserve to be in prison. » Read more

Netanyahu faces international isolation as peace process stalls ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Barak Ravid - February 17, 2011 - 1:00am Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under increasing pressure and international isolation as a result of the breakdown in the peace process. European leaders do not believe he is serious about achieving peace, the Chinese are still furious with him for canceling his trip at the last minute in November, and India has been diplomatically sidestepping his request to visit. » Read more

Rights org says Israel failing to control settler violence ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency February 16, 2011 - 1:00am Israeli rights group Yesh Din released a report Wednesday, accusing Israel of "chronic failure" to enforce the law on Israeli citizens who commit offenses against Palestinians in the West Bank Nine out of 10 investigations of Israeli attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank are closed with no indictment served, the report said. » Read more

U.S. pushing Palestinians to drop UN resolution on settlement construction ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Barak Ravid - February 17, 2011 - 1:00am The United States is putting heavy pressure on the Palestinian Authority and Arab states to withdraw a draft resolution condemning Israeli settlements. The resolution is due to come up for a vote at the United Nations Security Council on Friday. Washington has made it clear that it will veto the resolution should it come to a vote, and has implored the Palestinian Authority and other Arab nations to withdraw the proposal, but to no avail. » Read more

Jerusalem official warns eyes on Egypt put city at risk ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency February 16, 2011 - 1:00am With global political attention on Egypt, a Fatah spokesman warned Wednesday, "Israel has been increasing settlement activity in East Jerusalem," and putting the future of the city at risk. Recent decisions by Israeli forces, including the announcement of three new settlement construction projects and plans to move the police training college into the occupied eastern flank of the city, spokesman Osama Al-Qawasmi said in a statement, have officials concerned. » Read more

Rattling the Cage: We must turn Israel inside out ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Larry Derfner - (Opinion) February 16, 2011 - 1:00am This is an extraordinary time for the Middle East, an unprecedented one, a glorious one – and it’s passing Israel by. » Read more

Israeli government to organize school field trips to West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Ben Lynfield - February 16, 2011 - 1:00am The Israeli government plans to begin organizing high school field trips to a contested West Bank religious site in a move that could reignite tension over a historic flash point in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The initiative, announced yesterday, could bring hundreds of thousands of Israeli teens to Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, revered in Judaism as the burial site of the biblical figures Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Muslims revere the same compound for its ties to Abraham, referring to it as the Ibrahimi mosque after the man they look up to as a prophet. » Read more