Israel Rejects Hamas Overture, And Presses Housing Construction
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - December 28, 2007 - 2:18pm

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel on Sunday rejected overtures by Hamas, the militant Islamic group that rules Gaza, for discussions about a temporary cease-fire. At the same time, Mr. Olmert’s government raised the ire of Palestinian representatives from the West Bank, with whom Israel is embarking on negotiations for a permanent peace, by seeking budget approval to build more housing for Jewish residents in areas that the Palestinians claim for their future state.

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Settlement Dispute Stalls Mideast Talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Adam Entous - December 28, 2007 - 2:16pm

Israel is considering easing criteria for freeing Palestinian prisoners, a move one Israeli official said on Monday could pave the way for the release of Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouthi. Israel's deputy defense minister, Matan Vilnai, said Barghouthi, a Palestinian uprising leader from Fatah and a possible successor to President Mahmoud Abbas, could be a candidate for release. Also on Monday, a second round of peace talks between Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams were bogged down in a dispute over settlement building near Jerusalem.

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(settlement) Blocks To The Roadmap
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Israel Policy Forum
by Sadie Goldman With Jason Proetorius And Ipf Staff - (Analysis) December 21, 2007 - 3:26pm

On the heels of the first meeting of the Israeli-Palestinian negotiating team, Israel announced its approval of the construction of 307 new homes in Har Homa, a settlement south of East Jerusalem. The announcement produced strong and negative responses from the European Union, the United Nations, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, all of whom expressed the concern that Israel’s action was contrary to its Roadmap obligations to freeze settlement construction, as confirmed in the agreements reached at Annapolis.

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Israeli Plan For Homes Near Jerusalem Under Fire
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Adam Entous, Ari Rabinovitch - December 19, 2007 - 3:36pm

Israel's Housing Ministry has drawn up a preliminary proposal to build new homes on occupied land near Jerusalem but Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office said on Wednesday the plan has not been authorised. The issue of Israeli settlement building in the Jerusalem area has clouded renewed peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians launched at a U.S.-sponsored conference last month.

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Har Homa Is Not In Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
by J.r. Almoslino - December 18, 2007 - 12:33pm

Israel announced a plan last week to build 307 new housing units in what most international media are calling "a Jewish neighborhood of East Jerusalem." Har Homa's white apartment blocs are draped on a hillside overlooking the city of Bethlehem, where I work. Like other West Bank settlements, it was erected on high ground, with the intention of intimidating the Palestinian population below. Spatially speaking, Har Homa is no more in Jerusalem than Bethehem itself is.

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Annapolis Unsettled
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Financial Times
(Editorial) December 18, 2007 - 12:30pm

The hopes raised by last month’s Annapolis conference on Middle East peace, at which Israel and the Palestinians undertook to negotiate a solution to the conflict by the end of next year, are already in danger of being dashed. Only days afterwards, the Israeli government gave the go-ahead to complete work on arguably the most contentious of its settlements on occupied Arab land.

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Blair's Uphill Battle To Revive Palestinian Economy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Ian Black - (Special Report) December 18, 2007 - 12:26pm

It was hard to avoid the obvious seasonal message when Tony Blair, briefly playing the tourist, stayed overnight in Bethlehem recently: yes, there was room at the inn in the little West Bank town, a rare public vote of confidence in prospects for the Palestinian economy. Britain's former prime minister has been travelling incessantly since becoming the representative of the "Quartet" of Middle East peacemakers in the summer, and generally keeping a low profile.

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Israeli Neighborhood Haunts Peace Talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Sarah El Deeb - December 18, 2007 - 12:23pm

The Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Homa, with its white stone buildings and billboards hawking new real estate projects, now has managed to disrupt Israeli-Palestinian peace talks for the second time in a decade. Israel's announcement this month that it plans to build 307 new homes in this east Jerusalem neighborhood, on land Palestinians want for the capital of their future state, drew international condemnation. The plan was the first wrench thrown into peace negotiations relaunched last week after a violent seven-year hiatus.

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Israel To Allow Building In Settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Adam Entous - December 18, 2007 - 12:20pm

Israel will allow construction within built up areas of existing Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, but will not expand beyond those areas, Israeli officials said on Monday. The position could widen the rift in U.S.-backed peace talks launched by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Annapolis, Maryland last month.

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Donor Nations To Ask Israel To Remove Roadblocks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Avi Issacharoff, Assaf Uni - December 17, 2007 - 1:29pm

The international donors conference to the Palestinian Authority is expected to issue a statement here today calling on Israel to remove roadblocks in the West Bank, European diplomatic sources said over the weekend. Representatives of the participating Arab countries are expected to criticize Israel sharply over the issues of roadblocks, the Gaza closure and construction in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Homa. The PA is hoping the donors conference will raise pledges for the unprecedented sum of $5.6 billion over the next three years.

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