Report: Egypt to offer new reconciliation plan
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
December 7, 2009 - 1:00am

Egypt intends to propose a new suggestion to the Hamas-Fatah reconciliation plan, focusing on disputed points, while Cairo will ask both sides to either accept or refuse the plan as a whole, but will not allow amendments, according to Al-Yaum, a Saudi newspaper, on Monday. Egyptian mediators will restart dialogue that was frozen for months following the Palestinian Authority's deferred discussion of the UN-backed Goldstone report, a high-profile source said Monday.

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Israel's Settlement Freeze
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Wall Street Journal
by Michael B. Oren - (Opinion) December 7, 2009 - 1:00am

Distracted by the crucial debate over Afghanistan, many Americans may have missed a pivotal event in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. On Nov. 25, Israel's government announced a 10-month construction freeze in Judea and Samaria—the areas generally known as the West Bank. Though some projects already begun will be completed and essential public buildings like medical clinics and schools will be approved, no new housing permits will be issued.

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Israelis want Shalit home, despite the price
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Dina Kraft - (Analysis) December 4, 2009 - 1:00am

In promos for an upcoming Israeli television special on Gilad Shalit’s family, the captive soldier’s parents are seen viewing the Hamas-made video of their son for the first time. In the promo, Shalit's mother, Aviva, is seen wide-eyed, cupping her hands over her mouth. A small smile curls on the face of Shalit’s usually reserved father, Noam, the most public face of the family's 3 1/2-year struggle to bring home their son from the Gaza Strip.

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Report: Israel, Hamas reject mediator's proposals
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Roee Nahmias - December 4, 2009 - 1:00am

A senior Hamas source told the London-based Arabic-language al-Hayat newspaper in an interview published Friday morning that the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian organization on a prisoner exchange deal are facing three major obstacles: Israel's refusal to release 50 prisoners out of 450 demanded by Hamas, its insistence on deporting 130 prisoners, and its refusal to include Israeli Arabs in the deal.

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In Israel, sentiment mixed on negotiations for Gilad Shalit release
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Ilene Prusher - December 4, 2009 - 1:00am

Yossi Zur's son was on his way back from school on a March day in 2003. But Asaf, then 16, never made it home. The Haifa city bus he was on was blown up by a Hamas suicide bomber, in an attack that killed 17 people and wounded 53.

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The fruits of chronic mistakes
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Ziad Abu Zayyad - (Opinion) December 4, 2009 - 1:00am

When Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad announced his two-year plan for building the institutions of a Palestinian state, in August, it was received warmly and favorably in international forums. They viewed it as the first serious institution-building blueprint, one that could pave the way to a declaration of the political independence of a Palestinian state. It was assumed at the time that, while creation of the institutions proceeded, the negotiation process would be put to the test under the new American administration.

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Barak: Settlements are part of Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Tal Rabinovsky - December 3, 2009 - 1:00am

Defense Minister Ehud Barak met with four West Bank council heads in his office on Wednesday, and stressed to them that "the settlement blocs are an inseparable part of Israel in all future negotiations with the Palestinians. The Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea are regions that are dear to my heart." Present at the meeting were Alfei Menashe Council head Hasdai Eliezer, Megilot Council head Mutzi Dahman, head of the Jordan Valley Regional Council David David Elhayani, and Oranit Council head Shumi Langer.

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New Construction in East Jerusalem: What it Really Means
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Huffington Post
by Orly Noy - December 3, 2009 - 1:00am

The recent diplomatic and journalistic storm over plans to expand the Gilo neighborhood in Jerusalem exposed a fundamental difference of view between Israel and many of its strongest supporters. Reacting to news that plans for 900 new dwellings in Gilo were to be approved by the Jerusalem Planning Committee, the White House was said to be "dismayed" by the move, and the UN General Secretary Ban-Ki Moon "deplored" it.

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Critics of Mr Abbas are rarely a logical or loyal opposition
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Michael Young - (Opinion) December 3, 2009 - 1:00am

It isn’t difficult to grasp why the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, elicits such tepidness. Judged by the dual benchmarks of charisma and political success, he fails on both counts. To many people he seems a man out of touch with his people’s revolutionary situation.

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Abu Mujahid: No Shalit deal yet
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
December 3, 2009 - 1:00am

Gaza – Ma’an – A spokesman for the captors of Gilad Shalit in Gaza denied on Thursday a report that the Israeli soldier was transferred to Egypt as a step toward a prisoner exchange. Popular Resistance Committees spokesman Abu Mujahid said in a statement that Israel is propagating false information about Shalit in order to force the hand of the Palestinian negotiators. "The ball is in Israel's court," he said, noting that a "deal is not over yet."

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