December 2nd

Israel needs a peace process to connect with a new Egypt ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Yoel Marcus - (Opinion) December 2, 2011 - 1:00am When I watched the long lines of Egyptian voters on television this week, the names of two historical figures came to mind: Mao Zedong and Shraga Netzer. One was the legendary leader of China, and the other was the leader of the “bloc” in Mapai (the predecessor of the Labor Party), who was involved in everything related to preserving the veteran leadership. » Read more

Fayyad to Haaretz: I will not lead a Palestinian unity government ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Avi Issacharoff - December 2, 2011 - 1:00am Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said on Thursday that he would not serve as the prime minister of a Fatah-Hamas unity government, nor would he run for president. "I don't intend to run for the presidency or anything else for that matter," Fayyad said in an interview to Haaretz. "I cannot accept being an obstacle, never was and never will be ... I made a very explicit call on the factions ... to go ahead and agree on a new prime minister. That's my position and nothing has happened since then to change my mind ... So the short answer is no." » Read more

Chabot: U.S. Warned That It Would Defund UNESCO ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Roll Call by Representative Steve Chabot - (Opinion) December 1, 2011 - 1:00am On Oct. 31, the United States announced that it would be withholding its contribution to UNESCO in response to that body’s decision to grant full membership to a state of Palestine. This decision was neither rash nor surprising; on the contrary, it was mandated by provisions of two U.S. laws, one of which has been on the books for more than a decade. » Read more

Chabot: U.S. Warned That It Would Defund UNESCO ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Roll Call by Representative Steve Chabot - (Opinion) December 1, 2011 - 1:00am On Oct. 31, the United States announced that it would be withholding its contribution to UNESCO in response to that body’s decision to grant full membership to a state of Palestine. This decision was neither rash nor surprising; on the contrary, it was mandated by provisions of two U.S. laws, one of which has been on the books for more than a decade. » Read more

December 1st

Weakening Abbas only strengthens Hamas ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Douglas Bloomfield - (Opinion) December 1, 2011 - 1:00am In his zeal to punish Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for assorted affronts real and imagined, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu may be Hamas’s most important benefactor. The Islamic terror organization has many friends – Iran, Syria, Hezbollah – but none is doing as much to expand its power and popularity from the Gaza Strip to all of the West Bank as the Netanyahu government. » Read more

In Your Eyes a Sandstorm: the Palestinian collective experience ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Jesse Rosenfeld - (Opinion) December 1, 2011 - 1:00am I first met the British journalist Arthur Neslen in Ramallah during the autumn of 2007 when he was researching his new book, In Your Eyes A Sandstorm: Ways of Being Palestinian. A cloud of disillusionment hung over the region at that juncture. The separation wall had all but severed the West Bank, the Gaza blockade was tightening and political division between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority (PA) was at its peak. Israeli raids across the West Bank, intended to round up the remnants of the resistance from the Second Intifada, were matched by PA reprisals and arrests against Hamas. » Read more

Inside Out: Back to unilateralism ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Jonathan Rosen - (Opinion) December 1, 2011 - 1:00am Over the past two decades Israel and the PLO have negotiated intermittently over a final-status arrangement to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. That process has essentially been at an impasse since 2009 for a variety of reasons, some of which are technical and tactical, while others are more substantive in nature. If we are to accept at face value the statements made by the two parties, the substantive issue for both Israelis and Palestinians preventing negotiations from advancing can be summed up as a lack of confidence in the other’s true intentions. » Read more

As the Peace Process Goes Sideways, Gaza's Economy Remains Stifled ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Time by Karl Vick - (Blog) December 1, 2011 - 1:00am Israel's grip on the Palestinian economy amounts to business as usual. Palestinians carry shekels in their pockets, and most of what they buy with the Israeli currency comes from Israel, which is said to account for at least 80% of foreign trade with the occupied territories. That is a dependence that goes unremarked until something untoward comes along, such as the recent Palestinian effort to gain recognition as a state. » Read more

Israel hurting itself ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Uri Misgav - (Opinion) December 1, 2011 - 1:00am Ever since the Palestinians were accepted into UNESCO last month, Israel has been halting fund transfers for the taxes and duties it collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority in the framework of the Oslo Accords. While hundreds of millions of shekels are being held up in Jerusalem, members of Israel’s government continue to argue over what’s the right move. Let’s make it easier for them. Below is a list of conditions that make it permissible, reasonable, and preferable to continue freezing these funds: » Read more

Working to solve the conflict ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Howard Sumka - (Opinion) December 1, 2011 - 1:00am Across Israel and the Palestinian territories hard-liners empower each other and drown out voices for peace. Distrust, fear and alienation increasingly define the next generation of Israelis and Palestinians. The status quo of fatalism and political lethargy looms over them. » Read more