ATFP News Roundup October 6, 2016

News:

The United States strongly condemned Israel's decision to advance a plan for a new settlement deep in the West Bank, the State Department said on Wednesday, saying it would damage prospects for a two-state solution. (Reuters)

The PLO slammed Israel’s decision to advance plans for the construction of a new settlement -- expected to be used to relocate the residents of the illegal Amona outpost, which the Supreme Court ordered to be demolished by the end of the year -- saying the move affirmed Israel’s “resolve to destroy the two-state solution.” (Ma'an)

An outpost on privately owned Palestinian land must be dismantled, Israel’s Supreme Court says, but residents and their supporters plan to resist. (New York Times)

Israel sends female naval cadets to stop women’s boat headed to Gaza. (Washington Post/Ma'an/JTA)

A West Bank hospital official says Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will undergo a heart test after being hospitalized. (AP/Times of Israel)

A rocket fired from the Gaza Strip struck Israel for the second day in a row. (JTA)

The new president of FIFA, the governing body of international soccer, said he would make finding a resolution to the conflict over West Bank Israeli soccer teams “a priority.” (JTA)

A court in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip sentenced a Palestinian woman to death by hanging on Wednesday, after she was convicted of premeditated murder. (Ma'an)

The union of employees of UNRWA, the UN agency responsible for providing services to some five million Palestinian refugees, announced a one-day strike on Wednesday in the besieged Gaza Strip, with only schools and health centers exempted, to protest a reduction of UNRWA services to refugees and employees. (Ma'an)

France is to launch a new push for United Nations backing for a ceasefire in Syria that would allow aid into the city of Aleppo after some of the heaviest bombing of the war. (Reuters)

Analysis of satellite imagery of a deadly attack on an aid convoy in Syria last month showed that it was an air strike, a U.N. expert said on Wednesday in remarks that were later toned down to say it was not a conclusive finding. (Reuters)

President Vladimir V. Putin, analysts say, is advancing goals in the Syrian conflict while President Obama is on the way out and his replacement is undetermined. (New York Times)

Syria's army will reduce air strikes and shelling on rebel-held eastern Aleppo on humanitarian grounds, it said on Wednesday, after mounting international criticism of it and Russia. (Reuters)

At least 20 Sunni tribal fighters were killed in an air strike south of Mosul early on Wednesdaywhen they were mistaken for Islamic State militants, Iraqi police said. (Reuters)

The widely anticipated ousting of the Islamic State group from its stronghold of Mosul in northern Iraq is likely to transform the extremist group into an even more dangerous force, a Canadian general who directs training of Iraqi security forces said Wednesday. (AP)

Commentary:

Adnan Abu Amer says Hamas might be issuing a document soon detailing its stances toward various aspects of the Palestinian cause, as well as its ties with local parties and foreign countries. (Al-Monitor)

Ahmad Abu Amer says Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is under Egyptian pressure to achieve reconciliation with dismissed Fatah leader Mohammed Dahlan, but it might push the president to agree on reconciliation talks with Hamas instead in Doha. (Al-Monitor)

Shlomi Eldar says Israel has been revoking the travel and import permits of Gaza merchants and importers, threatening the collapse of Gaza's economy. (Al-Monitor)

Ben Caspit says Zionist Camp leader Isaac Herzog keeps denying reports by which he is negotiating with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the possibility of joining the government. (Al-Monitor)

Khaled Diab explains why flotillas and protests threaten Israel more than rockets from Gaza. (Ha'aretz)

Ari Shavit says two speeches by Pres. Obama were more precise, on-point and moving than anything said by any center-left Israeli leader of the past generation. (Ha'aretz)

Samer Attar says in Aleppo, U.S. inaction green-lights war crimes. (Washington Post)

Nicholas Kristof looks at the blot on Obama’s legacy. (New York Times)

Steven Simon and Jonathan Stevenson say with the cease-fire collapsed and horrific violence in Aleppo, American intervention might seem tempting. It’s still a bad idea. (New York Times)

Mikah Zenko says neither of the presidential campaigns knows what their Syria policies actually mean. (Foreign Policy)

ATFP News Roundup October 5, 2016

News:

Israeli warplanes struck Hamas sites in the northern and southern Gaza Strip on Wednesdayafternoon, in the second such attack of the day after a rocket fired from the coastal enclave struck Sderot, according to Palestinian media. (Times of Israel)

The United Nations expressed its support for the PA’s decision to postpone municipal elections for four months with the intent of holding elections in the entirety of the occupied Palestinian territory, after a Supreme Court decision to exclude the Gaza Strip from elections was met with political backlash. (Ma'an/Times of Israel)

Hamas has rejected a decision announced by the PA to postpone municipal elections for four months with the intent of holding them in the entire occupied Palestinian territory, following backlash over a Supreme Court ruling to exclude the Gaza Strip from the elections altogether. (Ma'an)

A delegation from the world’s only permanent war crimes court is visiting Israel and the West Bank this week to “promote better understanding” about its work, the chief prosecutor saidWednesday. (Times of Israle)

The Gaza Strip’s electricity company announced that the Egyptian power lines feeding the southern part of the besieged enclave were back in operation after being disconnected due to damage. (Ma'an)

The Palestinian Ministry of Education warned hundreds of public school teachers that they could be fired if they go forward with plans to strike in protest over unmet demands over salary issues. (Ma'an)

A group of Israeli settlers’ children escorted by Israeli forces harrassed a Palestinian family harvesting olives in the southern occupied West Bank city of Hebron on Monday. (Ma'an)

Maj. Hanan Shwartz of the Menashe Brigade discusses Palestinian security cooperation, olive harvests and the round-the-clock effort to keep two West Bank cities calm. (Times of Israel)

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday efforts to end Syria's war must continue despite Washington's decision to break off talks with Moscow over what he called its "irresponsible" support for President Bashar al-Assad. (Reuters/New York Times)

Syrian rebels said on Tuesday they had repelled an army offensive in southern Aleppo as Russian and Syrian warplanes pounded residential areas, while nations spoke of rebuilding a peace process the United States broke off this week. (Reuters/AP)

The United Nations human rights chief told Russia on Tuesday that air strikes on civilian targets in the Syrian city of Aleppo may amount to crimes against humanity which could be brought before the International Criminal Court. (Reuters)

Egypt's interior ministry said on Tuesday its forces had killed a senior Muslim Brotherhood leader, whom it described as responsible for the group's "armed wing", as well as his aide in a shootout overnight. (Reuters)

Yemen's Houthis toughened demands for the resumption of talks to end the 19-month-old civil war, saying President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi must go and an agreement must be reached on the presidency. (Reuters)

Saudi Arabia began naval war games including live fire exercises on Tuesday in the Gulf and Strait of Hormuz, the world's most important oil route, official media reported, a move that coincides with heightened tensions with regional rival Iran. (Reuters)

The Washington Post reporter who was detained for more than 18 months in Iran after being accused of espionage has filed a federal lawsuit against the Iranian government. (AP)

Commentary:

David Ignatius says the Russians have made Syrian civilian suffering “a weapon of war.” (Washington Post)

Abdul Rahman Al Rashed says it’s historically proven that the Syrian regime responds to serious threats and not to verbal threats of the kind we have become used to hearing from the US secretary of state. (Al Arabiya)

Joyce Karam says Washington has continuously underestimated Russia’s determination to help Assad win even if it means turning Aleppo or Idlib or Douma to another Grozny. (Al Arabiya)