Israel takes aim at Palestinian 'incitement'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman
by Ian Deitch - November 3, 2010 - 12:00am

Israel announced Wednesday it will officially monitor "incitement" by the Palestinians, taking aim at what it says are widespread provocations against the Jewish state that undermine efforts to reach Mideast peace. The announcement further strained an atmosphere that has grown increasingly tense in recent weeks following the breakdown of U.S.-sponsored Mideast peace talks. Palestinians accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of trying to divert attention away from the impasse in the negotiations and its own failures to live up to obligations, such as a settlement freeze.

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PLO official: Dissolving PA an option
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
November 2, 2010 - 12:00am

PLO negotiator Nabil Sha'ath said Tuesday that dissolving the Palestinian Authority would be considered as a last resort if efforts to end Israel's occupation failed. The Fatah official told Ma'an radio that if the PA was unable to meet its responsibilities, it would be shameful to retain authority. "Its decisions are shot down by the occupation, as the people of the West Bank can’t visit Gaza and Gazans can’t live in the West Bank. It is not permitted for anyone to build a new Palestinian village or city, which is unacceptable."

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Palestinian PM stakes claim to east Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman
by Mohammed Daraghmeh - November 2, 2010 - 12:00am

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on Tuesday staked a claim to Israeli-controlled east Jerusalem, announcing that his government quietly helped fund the renovation of 14 schools in what the Palestinians hope will be their capital. However, Fayyad stopped short of a full-fledged confrontation with Israel. He heeded an Israeli warning not to set foot in Jerusalem for the announcement and instead chose a West Bank school on the edge of the city as a venue.

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Let Palestinian police control Area C
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Kieron Monks - November 1, 2010 - 12:00am

When Israeli officials say security is their highest priority, they do not mean in Area C. The 60% of the West Bank placed under their military control since the 1993 Oslo Accords has descended into lawlessness on their watch. Israel could stabilise areas plagued by violence and crime, and further its own interests, by conceding security responsibilities in these areas to the Palestinian Authority.

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IDF waits to see PA’s treatment of terror suspects
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Yaakov Katz - November 1, 2010 - 12:00am

In what some view as a test of the Palestinian Authority’s newly reformed legal system, the IDF is waiting to see what charges the PA brings against the alleged perpetrators of a recent shooting in the West Bank. Rabbi Moshe and Shira Moreno were wounded on September 8 as they drove near the Rimonim junction, halfway between Ramallah and Jericho and about 15 minutes north of the capital. The attack came a day after four Israelis were killed in a drive-by shooting near the Beit Hagai settlement in the South Hebron Hills.

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Editorial: Hijacking the history
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
(Editorial) October 31, 2010 - 12:00am

Athough it won’t say so, the recent decision by UNESCO to define two mosques in the occupied territories as Palestinian is a reply to Israel that earlier this year registered the mosques — the Bilal Ibn Rabah Mosque near Bethlehem, and the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron — as its national heritage sites. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the sites would be renovated “in order to reconnect Israelis to their history” even though the two mosques are located in the heart of Palestinian population centers where no significant Jewish population exists.

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Fayyad says not planning to run for president
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
October 29, 2010 - 12:00am

Appointed Prime Minister in the Palestinian Authority Salam Fayyad said an end to the Palestinian factional split could only be rectified by a turn at the ballot boxes, the Jerusalem daily newspaper Al-Hayyat reported Friday. An interview published by the newspaper quoted Fayyad as saying he believed the ballot box should be the Fatah-Hamas mediator, with Palestinians and the international community agreeing to accept the results.

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PA opposes Hamas involvement in peace talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
October 29, 2010 - 12:00am

The Palestinian Authority opposes efforts to normalize ties between Hamas and the international community, a PA security official said Wednesday. Adnan Dmeiri, PA security services spokesman, said the US and EU were making efforts to engage Hamas in the peace process. "This is not the first attempt by some Europeans and Americans to present Hamas as the party that can 'provide the commodity,'" Dmeiri told Ma'an.

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Abbas: Resuming negotiations remains first option
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
October 28, 2010 - 12:00am

Resuming direct peace negotiations will remain the first option of the Palestinian leadership, Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Thursday. "We are ready to go back to the negotiations as soon as Israel stops settlement activities," Abbas told a news conference in Ramallah after meeting with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit. Abbas said he has "seven options" to respond to Israel's expansion of Jewish settlement in the West Bank which caused the U. S.-brokered negotiations to halt after nearly three weeks since it restarted.

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Senior Egyptian officials to visit West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
October 27, 2010 - 12:00am

Senior Egyptian officials will visit the West Bank on Thursday to discuss stalled peace negotiations, a Palestinian official said Wednesday. Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit and Intelligence Chief Omar Suleiman would be leading the Egyptian delegation, said Yasser Abed Rabbo, a Palestinian negotiator. The Egyptian officials will meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as the peace talks reached "total impasse," Abed Rabbo told Voice of Palestine Radio.

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