Israeli actions jeopardize two-state solution
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Hanan Ashrawi - (Opinion) November 16, 2010 - 1:00am

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has reached a critical stage. For more than two decades, the two-state solution has been the basis of international efforts to make peace in the region. Yet the Israeli government's refusal to cease settlement construction in the occupied Palestinian West Bank and East Jerusalem will shortly render the creation of a territorially contiguous and viable Palestinian state impossible.

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The Palestinians are in the driving seat, their time is now
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Zvi Barel - (Opinion) November 15, 2010 - 1:00am

"Turkey? Yes," "Russia? Yes," "United Kingdom? Yes," "United States? Abstain," "Israel? No." This is how a vote at the United Nations on the recognition of an independent Palestine may sound. And really, why should the Palestinians not demand international recognition of their state? In such a move it could shake the peace process and extricate it from the strangle hold in which Palestine and Israel are caught.

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Not only still relevant, but desirable
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Mazal Mualem - (Opinion) November 12, 2010 - 1:00am




Abbas talks peace process at Arafat memorial
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
November 12, 2010 - 1:00am

Palestinians will not accept Israel's construction of settlements on occupied Palestinian land, President Mahmoud Abbas told a crowd attending a memorial for late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on Thursday in Ramallah. "We don't want settlements on our land for they are illegitimate from the beginning. We all are sure that Jerusalem is the Palestinians' capital and the refugees will return," he said to the tens of thousands gathered at the site dedicated to the construction of the Arafat Museum.

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MESS Report / Fragile Palestinian unity threatened by Fatah split
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Avi Issacharoff - November 12, 2010 - 1:00am

Thousands of Palestinians filled the plaza in front of Ramallah's Muqata government complex to mark six years since Yasser Arafat's death yesterday. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas hailed efforts at reconciliation between his Fatah faction and its traditional rival Hamas, then in the next breath rallied the crowd against Israeli settlement building in the West Bank.

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Happy to be proven wrong
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Ezzedine Choukri Fishere - (Opinion) November 12, 2010 - 1:00am

It was chilling in Jerusalem in January 2002, and not only because of the weather. The sandbags, the metal detectors, the security guards with their visible guns at entrances to restaurants, malls, hospitals; almost a guard for every door. This was a country seized by a deep sense of threat and disillusionment. In the West Bank, a second winter of heavy repression closed and terrorized villages and towns. Those who had to leave their homes for work, an errand or a family visit, couldn't know when, if, they would come back. This was a whole nation denied hope, and grounded.

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Palestinians say it's time to recognise their state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Douglas Hamilton - November 10, 2010 - 1:00am

ERUSALEM, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Israel's plan to build new homes on occupied land should be countered by international recognition of a Palestinian state, the chief Palestinian negotiator said on Tuesday. Raising the stakes in deadlocked U.S.-sponsored peace talks, Saeb Erekat said it was clear from the latest announcement of building plans that Israel wants settlements, not peace. "Israeli unilateralism is a call for immediate international recognition of the Palestinian state," he said in a statement.

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PNA de facto controls Jerusalem's Arab neighborhoods: report
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
November 10, 2010 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM, Nov. 9 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) is the de facto sovereign in Jerusalem's Arab neighborhoods as Israeli institutions gradually sever ties with their residents, local daily Ma'ariv reported on Tuesday. While senior officials in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing government often pledge that Jerusalem will forever be united under the Israeli sovereignty, the PNA exercises its control in the Arab neighborhoods in its eastern sector, the report said.

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Israeli tactics are 'uniting' Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Jonathan Cook - (Opinion) November 10, 2010 - 1:00am

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, is in the United States this week, but few observers expect an immediate or significant breakthrough in the stalled peace talks with the Palestinian leadership. In public, Mr Netanyahu maintains he is committed to the pledge he made last year, shortly after he formed his right-wing government, to work towards the creation of a demilitarised Palestinian state.

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Israel's own citizens are the new target of extremist settlers
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Jesse Rosenfeld - November 9, 2010 - 1:00am

West Bank settlers entered the Arab city under the cover of an armed escort. As they proceeded, security forces chased Palestinian youth down alleys, firing tear gas, stun grenades and foam-covered bullets. Masked in keffiyahs, local high school students who had been striking against the settlers' provocations reorganised, throwing stones at the Israeli forces from behind makeshift barricades.

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