Feature: War on olives in the West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by Nidal Ishtayeh - October 26, 2010 - 12:00am

NABLUS, West Bank, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- Abdel Karim Hussein, 38, was "shocked" after getting a permission from the Israeli army to reach his farm adjacent to the Alon Moreh Jewish settlement east of the West Bank city of Nablus, to harvest his olive trees. Hussein said the fence of the settlement occupies parts of his 325-dunum (325,000 square meters) farm. "Reaching the farm is a journey of torment, because I can only reach my land twice a year after coordination with the Israeli-Palestinian security liaison office." But getting the permission is far from getting a happy ending.

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Palestinians renew threat to seek UN recognit
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman
by Mohammed Daraghmeh - October 25, 2010 - 12:00am

BETHLEHEM, WEST BANK — The Palestinian president said Monday that Israel has been taking unilateral steps for decades by building settlements, so the Palestinians might take one of their own — asking the United Nations to recognize their independent state. President Mahmoud Abbas was replying to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said the only path to peace is negotiations. The threat of unilateral action indicates the depth of the crisis over peace talks restarted just last month by President Barack Obama.

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Palestinians renew threat to seek UN recognition
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman
by Mohammed Daraghmeh - October 25, 2010 - 12:00am

BETHLEHEM, WEST BANK — The Palestinian president said Monday that Israel has been taking unilateral steps for decades by building settlements, so the Palestinians might take one of their own — asking the United Nations to recognize their independent state. President Mahmoud Abbas was replying to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said the only path to peace is negotiations. The threat of unilateral action indicates the depth of the crisis over peace talks restarted just last month by President Barack Obama.

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Some Question Insistence on Israel as Jewish State
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - (Analysis) October 24, 2010 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM — The more stridently Israel insists on Palestinian recognition of it as the nation-state of the Jewish people, the more adamantly the Palestinian leadership seems to refuse. As a result, some senior Israeli officials are beginning to question the wisdom of the policy of their prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who has made recognition of the legitimacy of the Jewish nation-state a prerequisite for any final agreement with the Palestinians.

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Halt to Palestinian peace talks could become permanent
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Glenn Kessler, Janine Zacharia - October 23, 2010 - 12:00am

In perhaps the shortest round of peace negotiations in the history of their conflict, talks between the Israelis and Palestinians have ground to a halt and show little sign of resuming.

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Clinton says no substitute for talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
October 21, 2010 - 12:00am

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday there was "no substitute for face-to-face discussion" to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Speaking at a Washington dinner for advocacy group the American Task Force on Palestine, Clinton said negotiations were "the only path that will lead to the fulfillment of the Palestinian national aspiration." Clinton reiterated the US administration for a two-state solution, which she said was critical for Israel's long-term future and to end "The indignity of occupation" for Palestinians.

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Last rapper in Gaza struggles to make voice heard
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Harriet Sherwood - October 20, 2010 - 12:00am

Mothafar Assar's spell in the limelight lasted only 30 minutes before the Hamas security forces came to break up his inaugural gig. A crowd of 450 people had crammed into the hotel venue for Gaza's first rap party, scheduled to last for three hours. As the audience left, the police confiscated video cameras, returning them later with the subversive images of Assar's Street Band Rappers removed.

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Abbas: Netanyahu fears govt collapse
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
October 18, 2010 - 12:00am

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- President Mahmoud Abbas said Sunday that Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu told him he could not extend the settlement moratorium "because he fears his government might collapse." In an interview with Israel's Channel 1, Abbas further said "the government isn't more valuable than peace, neither is it more valuable than the future of both peoples."

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With statehood, Palestine ready to end all claims
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman
by Karin Laub - October 17, 2010 - 12:00am

RAMALLAH, WEST BANK — The Palestinians are ready to end all historic claims against Israel once they establish their state in the lands Israel occupied in the 1967 Mideast War, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Sunday, addressing a long-standing Israeli demand. In an interview with Israel TV, Abbas also said negotiations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remain his preferred choice, but that he will consider other options if talks break down over Israel's continued settlement expansion.

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Budrus: A Palestinian story of non-violent protest
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
by Yolande Knell - October 17, 2010 - 12:00am

"We don't have time for war. We want to raise our kids in peace and hope," he states in Hebrew, addressing any Israelis in the cinema audience. Mr Morrar comes from one of six small villages close to the occupied West Bank's border with Israel, which were due to be encircled by the Israeli separation barrier in 2003. The plans would have cut off Budrus residents' access to some 300 acres of land and torn up their olive trees. The film, produced by a Palestinian and an Israeli, follows the villagers' largely peaceful protests against the barrier.

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