November 21st, 2011

Israel envoy in Egypt for first time since embassy storming ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters November 20, 2011 - 1:00am JERUSALEM, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Israel's ambassador to Cairo has travelled to Egypt for the first time since he and his staff were evacuated from the country in September after protesters stormed the Israeli embassy, a Foreign Ministry official said on Sunday. Playing down the significance of Yitzhak Levanon's trip, the official, who asked not to be identified, said the ambassador went to Egypt on Saturday for farewell meetings with foreign and Egyptian diplomats before his retirement. » Read more

Israel delays foreign funding bill -gov't source ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Maayan Lubell - November 20, 2011 - 1:00am JERUSALEM, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu put on hold on Sunday legislation to limit foreign funding of non-governmental organisations, a government source said, after critics denounced the bill as a bid to mute left-wing groups. A ministerial panel last week gave preliminary approval to the proposal. Supporters of the bill said it would help to prevent intervention by foreign states in Israeli politics. » Read more

Report: US envoy to meet Abbas over unity govt ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency November 21, 2011 - 1:00am JERUSALEM (AFP) -- A top US diplomat is to hold emergency talks with Palestinian and Israeli leaders over the next two days regarding plans for a Palestinian unity government, the Israeli newspaper Maariv said Sunday. A spokesman for the US consulate in Jerusalem confirmed that Deputy Secretary of State William Burns would meet President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday. He was unable to provide any other details about the agenda for the talks. » Read more

Jordan’s King Abdullah II pays rare visit to West Bank, in nod to Palestinian president ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press November 21, 2011 - 1:00am RAMALLAH, West Bank — Jordan’s King Abdullah II paid a rare visit to the West Bank on Monday to show support for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, as the two moderate leaders try to engage with previously shunned Islamists now on the rise in the region. » Read more

In the West Bank, a contested heritage ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Joel Greenberg - November 20, 2011 - 1:00am JERUSALEM — At a museum just off the desert road from Jerusalem to Jericho in the West Bank, the artifacts of a contested heritage are on display. Colorful mosaic floors from Byzantine-era churches and synagogues, inscriptions, Roman capitals and stone burial boxes — all dug up by Israeli archaeologists in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip — are shown at the site, developed by Israel’s West Bank military administration with the Israeli antiquities authority. » Read more

November 18th

The mother of all gambles ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Ahram by Abdel-Moneim Said - (Opinion) November 18, 2011 - 1:00am It is reported that in his attempt to pitch to the Palestinian leadership the Oslo Accords, which he played a key role in negotiating, Mahmoud Abbas -- Abu Mazen -- described them as a gamble. Before long it was palpable that he did not master the rules of the game that he had dragged the Palestinians into. It seems that Abu Mazen, like any skill-less gambler, was placing his hopes solely on being dealt a royal flush. » Read more

Sen. George Mitchell on Mid-East Peace Process ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Free Press by Christine Parrish - (Opinion) November 17, 2011 - 1:00am Senator George Mitchell told an overflow crowd at the University of Maine Hutchinson Center in Belfast on Tuesday morning that the Middle East peace process, which he spent two and a half years shepherding as the U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, is not dead and that it is crucial to continue the effort towards a two-state solution. » Read more

The Palestinians' Most Potent Weapon ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National Interest by Paul Pillar - (Blog) November 17, 2011 - 1:00am Nine years ago an article by Gal Luft titled “The Palestinian H-Bomb: Terrorism's Winning Strategy” addressed suicide bombing against Israeli citizens as a fearsome and inexorable force. The tactic instead proved to be a self-destructive fizzle. It earned enemies rather than friends, drove Israelis deeper into their defensive crouch, was ultimately controlled by Israel through measures such as a meandering defensive barrier, and did absolutely nothing to bring Palestinians closer to self-determination and their own state. » Read more

The Eviction of One Palestinian Family Might Cause the Next Political Crisis Over East Jerusalem ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Huffington Post by Hagit Ofran - (Opinion) November 17, 2011 - 1:00am August 2nd, 2009. The Ghawi and Hannun families of Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem are waking to the sounds of police and trucks and movers. In a few hours, their houses will have become the home to settler families, and they will be kicked out to the street. » Read more

Who Will Write Jerusalem's Story? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Huffington Post by Ronit Avni - (Opinion) November 18, 2011 - 1:00am While Jerusalem has always received its fair share of attention at the center of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, too often it is treated as an idealized symbol rather than a real place. In debates surrounding the future of the city, religious proclamations and lines on maps overshadow the needs and interests of the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians and Israelis who live, work and raise their families in the city. » Read more