US 'disappointed' after settlement freeze ends
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
September 28, 2010 - 12:00am

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- US envoy George Mitchell will hold meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders this week to discuss the consequences of Israel's decision not to extend a temporary moratorium on settlement building. The US administration is "disappointed" at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision, State Department spokesman Philip Crowley was quoted as saying by The Associated Press. Crowley praised the "restraint" of the Palestinian response to resumed building.

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New iPhone app tracks Israeli settlement expansion
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Joshua Mitnick - September 28, 2010 - 12:00am

With building ramping up again in West Bank settlements after Israel's 10-month moratorium expired Sunday, the antisettlement group Peace Now is hoping to get Israelis more in touch with what's happening there – literally. A new iPhone app called "Facts on the Ground" allows users to zoom in on Google satellite images of the West Bank, where little blue Monopoly-style houses denote the size of each settlement – 123 in all.

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Settlement Moratorium Expires: Will Mideast Peace Talks Last?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from PBS
by Ghaith Al-Omari, Gwen Ifill, David Makovsky - (Analysis) September 27, 2010 - 12:00am

GWEN IFILL: For more on what's holding these talks together so far, we turn to Ghaith Al-Omari, the advocacy director for the American Task Force on Palestine and a former adviser to President Abbas, and David Makovsky, senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and the co-author of "Myths, Illusions, and Peace." Let's talk about myths, illusions and peace, Ghaith Al-Omari. What happened today? Why didn't the Palestinians walk away from the table, as they had promised they would if these settlements were not frozen? ARTICLE TOOLS Print E-mail * Share

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Top Likud minister: Obama knows settlements are part of Jewish homeland
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Jonathan Lis - September 26, 2010 - 12:00am

A holiday toast at the home of Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz (Likud) on Sunday evening turned quickly from a festive gathering into a triumphant celebration to mark the end of Israel's temporary freeze on construction in the West Bank. Thousands of activists from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's faction crowded the lawn outside Katz's estate in Moshav Kfar Achim, where their host declared that Israel should never accede to international pressure when it comes to exhibiting their right to settle in the Jewish homeland.

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Jerusalem remains on lockdown following clashes
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
September 24, 2010 - 12:00am

Checkpoints were erected at the entrances to several Jerusalem neighborhoods on Friday, with soldiers preventing residents from leaving the areas in several cases, witnesses said. Hundreds of police and border officers were deployed around the Old City, with 3,000 in total across East Jerusalem, officials estimated. Israeli Police Commander in Chief Dudi Cohen reportedly decided to maintain the state of alert declared Friday morning in the city, extending it through the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.

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The government must stop funding zealotry in Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
(Editorial) September 24, 2010 - 12:00am

The circumstances under which a private security guard fired at demonstrators in Silwan in East Jerusalem, killing a local man, Samar Sirhan, still need to be clarified. The police are investigating the guard's version of events, that he had to fire at people throwing stones who were endangering his life. Presumably the police will also look into the rules of engagement the security company gives its guards, and whether it properly trains them to deal with such situations.

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Olmert urges ‘int’l trusteeship’ for Holy Basin
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
September 24, 2010 - 12:00am

Israel should agree to an international trusteeship in Jerusalem’s Holy Basin, should allow non-Jewish neighborhoods of Jerusalem to serve as the capital of a Palestinian state, and should offer to solve the Palestinian refugee problem within the framework of the Arab peace initiative, former prime minister Ehud Olmert urges in an op-ed article in today’s Jerusalem Post. “If [Israel] takes a clear stance on these issues and presents them as its position for the negotiations,” Olmert writes, it would “transform the atmosphere” surrounding the direct talks with the Palestinian Authority.

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Fatah trying to calm tensions in east Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Ali Waked - (Analysis) September 23, 2010 - 12:00am

Police forces remain on high alert in Jerusalem in view of the riots following the death of Silwan resident Samar Sarchan, as Fatah is trying to curb any further escalation in the situation. Radical elements in the east Jerusalem village threatened to renew the riots, but sources in Fatah said that the group has issued an order to its members in Jerusalem to ensure the riots do not spread further.

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Hope for peace talks remain despite tensions in east Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Catrina Stewart - September 23, 2010 - 12:00am

The Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, has said he may remain in peace talks even if the Israelis resume construction in Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank after a 10-month building moratorium expires. His comments signal a dramatic about-turn days before the end of the moratorium, and could head off an early challenge to the newly revived peace negotiations.

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Hopes and fears as settlement freeze due to expire
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
by Yolande Knell - September 22, 2010 - 12:00am

His landlord has long wanted him to leave the property nearby where he currently lives with his six children. He has been waiting to begin work since November. "Most of all I have hope. This Sunday we start to build the house," he declares. "It will take only four months." Mr Erdan lives in Shilo, a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank, half-way between Ramallah and Nablus. He got his construction permit from the Israeli defence ministry a day before the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, imposed a 10-month partial moratorium on new residential buildings.

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