December 5th

Abbas says new Israeli settlements 'red line' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Dalia Nammari - December 5, 2012 - 1:00am RAMALLAH, West Bank — An Israeli-Palestinian showdown over plans for new Jewish settlements around Jerusalem escalated on Wednesday. Israel pushed the most contentious of the projects further along in the planning pipeline, and the Palestinian president said he would seek U.N. Security Council help to block the construction. » Read more

Cheering U.N. Palestine Vote, Synagogue Tests Its Members ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Joseph Berger, Sharon Otterman - December 4, 2012 - 1:00am Congregation B’nai Jeshurun, a large synagogue on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, is known for its charismatic rabbis, its energetic and highly musical worship, and its liberal stances on social causes. » Read more

December 4th

Bibi Is Bluffing On E1 ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by Michael Koplow - (Opinion) December 3, 2012 - 1:00am Following Thursday’s U.N. vote granting non-member state observer status to Palestine, Netanyahu’s security cabinet voted to advance plans to build in the area between Jerusalem and Ma’ale Adumim known as E1, which would cordon off East Jerusalem from the West Bank, making a future contiguous Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital impossible. This would probably deal a fatal blow to the two-state solution given that borders and Jerusalem are two of the four final status issues that must be negotiated. » Read more

Trouble Lies Ahead For Two-State Solution ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor by Alon Pinkas - (Opinion) December 3, 2012 - 1:00am What are the implications of the Palestinians' achieving non-member observer status at the United Nations, and the Israeli response announcing more settlements, including in areas east of Jerusalem delineated in maps as possibly part of a future Palestinian state? There are two scenarios.  In one word: Nothing. In one acronym: A LOT, meaning A Lot Of Trouble. » Read more

The Case Against Benjamin Netanyahu ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy by Blake Hounshell - (Opinion) December 4, 2012 - 1:00am Ehud Olmert is running. Or maybe he's not. He insists he'll only make an announcement about his political future on Israeli soil, though he seems to take great pleasure in dropping hints. Either way, the former Israeli prime minister had a two-pronged message on this weekend's trip to America: Benjamin Netanyahu can be beaten in the upcoming elections in January. And peace with the Palestinians is still possible. » Read more

Settling reality ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star (Editorial) December 2, 2012 - 1:00am The West condemned Israel’s settlement plan Monday in no uncertain terms, but the 3,000 planned new homes are just the latest in a well-established policy by the Jewish state. The takeover of Palestinian land seized in 1967 via settlements has been a creeping plan by Israel to change the reality of the situation over the past 45 years. » Read more

Where Gaza Has Left Us ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Yossi Alpher - (Opinion) December 4, 2012 - 1:00am Now that the fog of war over Gaza has lifted and the ceasefire appears to be settling in, a number of strategic questions and lessons emerge. Many are relevant not just to the Israel-Hamas confrontation. » Read more

This is Europe's big chance to help the two-state solution become reality ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Martti Ahtisaari, Mary Robinson - (Opinion) December 3, 2012 - 1:00am The vote to grant Palestine observer state status at the UN last month brought a rare promise of hope to a land where it has been in short supply. It is disappointing, however, that European countries failed to endorse the bid unanimously. As former European heads of state, we find such a lack of coherence difficult to reconcile with the European Union's support for a two-state solution. » Read more

Middle East conflict: it's time for Europe to suggest its own path to peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Ian Black - (Opinion) December 3, 2012 - 1:00am Israel's ambassadors to Britain and France must have spent an uncomfortable few minutes on Monday as they were called in to hear of official displeasure in London and Paris at their government's decision to expand settlements in a key area of the occupied West Bank. Sweden, Denmark and Spain also summoned Israeli envoys for a slap on the wrist. Even Germany, often cautious about criticism of Israel, issued a public protest. » Read more

Encountering Peace: The stage is set for the final act ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Gershon Baskin - (Opinion) December 3, 2012 - 1:00am Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s speech at the UN was a bad one. I could explain that he was speaking to his own public after a war in which Palestinians were killed, and his people were angry. I could point out that throughout the world experts noted that the one real loser of the Gaza war was Abbas and his Palestinian Authority. » Read more