News Analysis: What if current round of Israeli-Palestinian talks fail?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by Adam Gonn, Geng Xuepeng - October 7, 2010 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM, Oct. 6 (Xinhua) -- The direct Palestinian-Israeli peace talks will remain at a standstill until Friday's meeting of the Arab League (AL) in Libya. The organization is due to decide whether or not to back Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' position not to continue with the negotiations until Israel extends its moratorium on construction in Jewish settlements in the West Bank, a 10-month freeze that expired on Sept. 26.

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Labor expects new settlement freeze as payoff for loyalty oath
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Jonathan Lis - October 7, 2010 - 12:00am

Labor party ministers angered by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's snap decision to back a controversial citizenship loyalty oath said late Wednesday that they expected a new freeze in settlement building as a payoff. Netanyahu neglected to inform his Labor coalition partners that he had approved a right-wing minister's draft of a new oath that would require any non-Jew taking Israeli citizenship to swear allegiance to Israel as a "Jewish and democratic state."

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Loyalty oath proves Israel is racist, say Israeli Arab leaders
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Jack Khoury - October 7, 2010 - 12:00am

The Israeli Arab sector responded furiously Wednesday when it learned that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu intends to bring to cabinet vote an amendment to the Citizenship Law requiring anyone applying for citizenship to declare loyalty to Israel as a "Jewish and democratic" state. Israeli Arabs, who already have citizenship, would not be required to sign a loyalty, but it raised furor in their communities nonetheless. The amendment was proposed by Justice Minister Yaakov Ne'eman and has already been adopted by Netanyahu.

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Negotiations that are 'going nowhere
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Michael Jansen - October 7, 2010 - 12:00am

Since September 2, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have held three sessions of talks. But according to Western diplomats interviewed by the Israeli liberal daily Haaretz, the negotiations are “going nowhere”.

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Israel loyalty oath bill stirs Arab-Israeli unease
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Joshua Mitnick - October 7, 2010 - 12:00am

Israel's cabinet next week will consider a bill that would require non-Jewish candidates for Israeli citizenship to pledge allegiance to the country as a Jewish state. The bill, backed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calls for an amendment to Israel's citizenship law to include "a Jewish and democratic state" in a mandatory oath of loyalty.

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ISRAEL: Yom Kippur war protocols declassified, provoking debate
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Batsheva Sobelman - October 6, 2010 - 12:00am

A few months ago, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved new regulations allowing state archives to extend classification of material from a period of 50 years to 70. The decision was made following pressure from Israel's security services and likely connected to an ongoing petition by journalists over access to archives kept by individual government bodies (in violation of the law, evidently) such as the Mossad and the Atomic Energy Commission. Documents whose due date was coming up cover Israel's first two decades but may now be released to scholars and the public in 2018.

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Partying or Peacemaking?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Forward
by Todd Hasak-Lowy - October 6, 2010 - 12:00am

The tenth anniversary just passed of the start of the Second, or Al-Aqsa, Intifada, which began not long after a breakdown in negotiations between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. It was the week of Ariel Sharon’s provocative visit to the Temple Mount, the week Palestinians renewed their rioting against Israeli forces. This time, the rioting was more violent — as was the Israeli response. These events killed the peace movement inside Israel, and sadly a lot of Israelis and Palestinians as well.

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Washington Watch: Israel needs a real foreign minister
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by D. Bloomfield - (Opinion) October 6, 2010 - 12:00am

It appears that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will once more be dragged kicking and screaming to the peace table. In exchange for briefly extending the settlement moratorium, he is expected to get a generous package of American military aid, weapons systems, security guarantees, and political backing for years.

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How Will Jews React to ‘Budrus’?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Josh Nathan-Kazis - October 6, 2010 - 12:00am

Protesters in the Palestinian town of Budrus were growing frustrated. After months of nonviolently demonstrating against the Israeli separation barrier being built through their olive groves, the demonstrators faced increased force from Israeli border police who were firing tear gas and swinging batons. Young Palestinians began tossing rocks at the soldiers despite pleas from protest organizers, and Israeli forces occupied the town, sending live ammunition down the narrow streets.

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Egypt president warns of 'global terror' if Mideast peace talks fail
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Avi Issacharoff, Natasha Mozgovaya, Barak Ravid - October 5, 2010 - 12:00am

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has warned that a failure in Israel-Palestinian peace negotiations would lead to "violence and terrorism" across the world. In an interview with the journal of the Egyptian armed forces, given to mark the anniversary of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, he said he has told several leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, that "if the peace process collapses, violence and terrorism will erupt in the Middle East and all over the world."

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