Israel's evictions upset even its friends
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Ian Black - August 4, 2009 - 12:00am

It isn't necessary to be unduly cynical to wonder exactly what it takes for British diplomats to be "appalled" by anything. But that was the reaction to Israel's eviction of Palestinian families from the east Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah – the ugly face of ethnic cleansing and the creation of new "facts on the ground" that make nonsense of hopes for any movement in the moribund peace process.

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Israel Evicts Palestinians From Homes
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - August 2, 2009 - 12:00am

Israeli security forces evicted two Palestinian families from their homes in East Jerusalem early Sunday after the families lost a long legal battle to remain in the contested properties, furthering a plan for Jewish settlement in the predominantly Arab area. The move, days after senior American officials visited Jerusalem to press for a settlement freeze, prompted sharp international criticism.

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Israel condemned over evictions
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
August 2, 2009 - 12:00am

The US has led international condemnation of Israel after it evicted nine Palestinian families living in two houses in occupied East Jerusalem. Washington said the action was not in keeping with Israel's obligations under the so-called "road map" to resolve the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Jewish settlers moved into the houses almost immediately. Israel occupied East Jerusalem in 1967 and later annexed it, a move not recognised by the world community. The removal of the 53 people was also condemned by the United Nations, the Palestinians and the UK government.

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'Netanyahu freezes East Jerusalem construction'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
July 30, 2009 - 12:00am

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has frozen a project for the construction of some 900 apartments in East Jerusalem, Channel 10 television reported late Wednesday. The report of Netanyahu's order to freeze the project came a day after he held talks in Jerusalem with U.S. President Barack Obama's special envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell. Netanyahu has been under tremendous pressure from the United States to freeze all construction in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

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A shared Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Boston Globe
by James Carroll - (Opinion) July 27, 2009 - 12:00am

George Mitchell is in the Middle East, pressing for peace. His planned itinerary brackets Israel and Palestine with a start in Abu Dhabi and Syria and a conclusion in Bahrain and Egypt. The Obama administration’s determination to revivify the Israeli-Palestinian peace process is further indicated by the arrivals in the region next week of Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, National Security Adviser James Jones, and special Middle East adviser Dennis Ross. President Obama has replaced the Bush policy of hands-off with a gloves-off readiness to push all parties hard.

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Israeli Report Stirs Settlement Worries
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Wall Street Journal
by Joshua Mitnick - July 24, 2009 - 12:00am

An Israeli nonprofit said the city of Jerusalem and Israel's government are helping Jewish settler groups convert parts of an Arab neighborhood in East Jerusalem into a tourist park, fanning international concern over Israeli expansion into areas claimed by Palestinians as their future state.

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PM delays discussion on Temple Mount project
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Roni Sofer - July 23, 2009 - 12:00am

On the backdrop of protests from Jordan, the Palestinian Authority and the Muslim Waqf, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently postponed a decisive discussion aimed at setting a date for beginning the construction of the new Mugrabi Gate on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, Ynet has learned.

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Status of Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Daoud Kuttab - July 23, 2009 - 12:00am

The standoff between the Obama administration and the Netanyahu government remind many of a similar standoff between the US and Israel in the 90s when Bill Clinton was president. At the time Netanyahu insisted on Israel’s right to build Har Homa settlement on the Palestinian Jabal Abu Ghneim on the edge of Bethlehem. Today, Har Homa is a thriving settlement with thousands of Jewish Israelis residing in the complex built on expropriated Palestinian land.

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US repeats opposition to J'lem project
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Herb Keinon - July 21, 2009 - 12:00am

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley confirmed Monday that a new housing development in east Jerusalem had been a topic of conversation last week during a meeting between senior US diplomats and Israel's ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren. Crowley said US opposition to construction in east Jerusalem and settlements in the West Bank had not changed. "We have made our views known to Israel," he told reporters. "Our views are not new either: that this kind of construction is the type ... of issue that should be subject to permanent-status negotiations."

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Most Arabs can't buy most homes in West Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Nir Hasson - July 21, 2009 - 12:00am

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed this week that Jerusalem is an "open city" that permits all its inhabitants, Jewish and Palestinian, to purchase homes in both its eastern and western parts. "Our policy is that Jerusalem residents can purchase apartments anywhere in the city. There is no ban on Arabs buying apartments in the west of the city, and there is no ban on Jews building or buying in the city's east," Netanyahu said in response to the U.S. request to halt a Jewish construction project in East Jerusalem.

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