January 4th

Israelis and Palestinians meet, agree to keep talking ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Joel Greenberg - January 3, 2012 - 1:00am JERUSALEM — Israeli and Palestinian negotiators met for the first time in more than a year in Amman on Tuesday and agreed to keep talking at further meetings, Jordan’s foreign minister said, adding that Israel had received written Palestinian proposals on borders and security and would respond. Although the minister, Nasser Judeh, was careful not to characterize Tuesday’s talks and the coming meetings as negotiations, the discussions in Jordan marked a resumption of direct contacts between the Israelis and Palestinians after a protracted impasse in peace efforts. » Read more

As Israelis and Palestinians Talk, the Rise of a Political Islam Alters the Equation ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Ethan Bronner - January 3, 2012 - 1:00am JERUSALEM — Israeli and Palestinian officials met in Amman, Jordan, on Tuesday, their first encounter in more than a year, and while little emerged, the meeting said a great deal about the crossroads facing the Palestinians — and the entire Middle East — as political Islam emerges as a potentially transformative force in the region. » Read more

Israel, PA agree to meet again next week ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Khaled Abu Toameh, Herb Keinon - January 3, 2012 - 1:00am Israel and Palestinian negotiators meeting in Amman on Tuesday for the first direct talks in 16 months agreed to continue talking, with another round scheduled in Jordan next week, The Jerusalem Post has learned. » Read more

Palestinians pessimistic about negotiation prospects ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Elior Levy - January 4, 2012 - 1:00am Palestinian sources in Ramallah said Tuesday that the meeting between Israeli and Palestinian representatives in Amman may be important but doubted it will yield results. This despite optimism expressed on the Israeli side. "One cannot say progress was achieved, there is just an attempt to create atmosphere," one Palestinian official said. "It was an important meeting indeed as it's the first official meeting between the parties after a long period of political stalemate, but it's not a big deal." » Read more

PLO gives borders, security proposal at Amman meet ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency January 4, 2012 - 1:00am Palestinian envoys handed Israeli officials a proposal for resolving border and security issues at a meeting in the Jordanian capital on Tuesday attended by international Quartet delegates. Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Juda said Israeli representatives promised to respond to the proposals in future meetings, which were agreed to be held in Amman at an unspecified date, official PA news agency Wafa reported. Juda emphasized that there were no specific breakthroughs at the meeting, which was called by the international Quartet and attended by » Read more

January 3rd

Fight for Palestinian women’s rights takes on a new dimension ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News by Nida' Tuma - (Opinion) January 3, 2012 - 1:00am A Facebook page with nearly 2000 members has recently attracted the attention of the Palestinian public and media. "Puzzled young women" is becoming an important arena in the debate on women's rights in the Palestinian territories, a debate which previously lacked one essential element: Dialogue with proponents of a more traditional role for women. » Read more

A critical moment for Palestinian unity ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star by Rami Khouri - (Opinion) December 31, 2011 - 1:00am What event this month is likely to reverberate across the Middle East most clearly next year? My prediction is that it will be the continued attempts by the leading Palestinian factions, Fatah and Hamas, to reconstitute a unified national leadership and government. If this initiative succeeds in holding elections for a new parliament and government, it will soon generate a more coherent Palestinian strategy for dealing with Israel. This in turn will allow democratic and legitimate Arab leaderships to harness public support for the Palestinian cause in a more credible and effective manner. » Read more

Lieberman’s fury ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times by Musa Keilani - (Opinion) January 1, 2012 - 1:00am It is an understatement to say that Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman is hopping mad at some of his European counterparts because of their objective observations about Israel’s practices and policies against not only the Palestinians living under its occupation but also its own Arab citizens. » Read more

Israel's right-wing is trying to stifle the reality of Palestinian demographics ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Barak Ravid - (Blog) January 2, 2012 - 1:00am Every year, in almost every country, government reports detailing statistics and demographics of the country's citizens are published during the last week of December. The reports detail how many babies were born that year and how many people died. Some of those reports are turned into semi-comic articles on the back page of the newspaper, or discussed on current event radio programs, and sometimes they are simply thrown to the wastebasket. » Read more

Israel’s modern tragedy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Boston Globe by H.D.S. Greenway - (Opinion) January 3, 2012 - 1:00am IN THE last days of the dying year, Israel’s foreign office issued a sharp rebuke to the European nations on the UN Security Council, accusing them of “interfering with Israel’s domestic affairs.’’ Britain, France, Germany, and Portugal had pointed to the upsurge in violence against the Palestinians by Israeli settlers in the occupied territories, and called upon Israel to reverse its settlement policies. The Europeans are part of the “quartet’’ of peacemakers, made up of the United States, Europe, Russia, and the UN. » Read more