Rattling the Cage: Go for it, Abbas!
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Larry Derfner - (Opinion) November 19, 2009 - 1:00am

What we're seeing now in the West Bank is something the democratic world has been awaiting for a very, very long time: a non-violent Palestinian independence movement.

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The Obama Presidency and the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Brandeis University Crown Center for Middle East Studies
by Shai Feldman, Khalil Shikaki - November 18, 2009 - 1:00am

The first ten months of the Obama administration’s efforts to achieve a breakthrough in Arab-Israeli peacemaking have led to widespread disappointment among Palestinians and to growing anxiety among Israelis. Inevitably, this unsatisfactory interim report card is partly a result of the high expectations created by President Barack Obama himself, during the presidential campaign as well as in his inaugural address and following his inauguration.

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Real Estate Shopping Is Used as Political Theater on Jerusalem’s Contested Ground
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - November 18, 2009 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM — Dov Hikind, a member of the New York State Assembly, was in this disputed city on Wednesday looking for property to buy. He said he was most excited about a new apartment complex overlooking the Old City called Nof Zion. At noon, Mr. Hikind led a group of about 50 American Jews in laying a cornerstone for the next phase of Nof Zion, with construction scheduled to start next spring. “I want to buy here,” Mr. Hikind said. “I might make a deal while I am here this time.”

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Housing plan for Jerusalem neighborhood spurs criticism
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Howard Schneider - November 18, 2009 - 1:00am

City officials moved forward Tuesday with a plan to build 900 homes in a disputed neighborhood of Jerusalem, prompting sharp criticism from the White House, the Palestinians and others who feel it will further undermine the chance of renewing peace talks. The new units will expand the Jewish neighborhood of Gilo, one of several built on land taken by Israel in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and annexed to the city in a step not recognized by the international community.

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Israel razes Palestinian homes in Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
November 18, 2009 - 1:00am

Israeli bulldozers demolished a two-family Palestinian home in the town of Al-Isawiya in occupied East Jerusalem on Wednesday, the second home demolition in two days. Residents of the town said Israeli forces entered the village with three bulldozers on the premise of carrying out demolition orders, and noted Israeli police and border guards blocked off the main entrances of the community.

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ANALYSIS / Netanyahu senses Obama's weakness on Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - (Analysis) November 18, 2009 - 1:00am

If there is anything that irks the White House more than news from the American consulate in Jerusalem about new West Bank settlements, it is a newspaper report on a new neighborhood in East Jerusalem. Thus when U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell spoke with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's envoy, Yitzhak Molcho, on Monday about a new construction project in Jerusalem's Gilo neighborhood, which is beyond the 1967 lines, Mitchell was hoping to settle the matter quietly.

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Ban Ki-moon condemns plan to expand Gilo
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Yitzhak Benhorin - November 18, 2009 - 1:00am

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon strongly denounced Wednesday Israel's plan to expand the Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo, calling it a blatant expansion of a settlement. A spokesman for the secretary general said that Ban "believes that such actions undermine efforts for peace and cast doubt on the viability of the two-state solution". The Secretary-General reiterated his position that settlements are illegal, and called on Israel to respect its commitments under the Road Map to cease all settlement activity, including natural growth.

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America speaks Arabic
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Moshe Elad - (Opinion) November 18, 2009 - 1:00am

US Special Envoy Mitchell’s demand that the Israeli government refrain from building in Jerusalem’s Gilo neighborhood is merely the prelude to a process meant to erode the legitimate status of Israel’s Jerusalem neighborhoods. These neighborhoods (including Gilo, Ramot Alon, French Hill, and Neve Yaakov) were built after the Six-Day War within the jurisdiction of Israel’s capital; now, they are finally being granted American recognition of their traditional Palestinian name: Settlements.

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US envoy demands halt to settlement growth in E. Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
November 17, 2009 - 1:00am

US Special Envoy George Mitchell called on Israel to stop construction in the Israeli settlement of Gilo, in east Jerusalem, according to Israeli media on Tuesday. The demand was made during a meeting on Monday between George Mitchell and Yitzhak Molcho, an Israeli official with the country's envoy to Washington, concerning plans to build a new residential complex in Gilo that are currently awaiting authorization from Jerusalem municipality officials, according to the Israeli daily Ynet.

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EU rejects Palestinian bid for unilateral declaration of state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
November 17, 2009 - 1:00am

The European Union has rejected the Palestinian Authority's request to back its plan for gaining recognition as an independent state at the United Nations Security Council without Israeli consent. Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, whose country holds the EU presidency, explained that the EU does not believe conditions are ripe yet for such a move. The EU is not on the Security Council, but EU members France and Britain are permanent council members that wield veto power.

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