Future of vast Jewish enclave in West Bank far from settled
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Edmund Sanders - October 3, 2010 - 12:00am

Reporting from Ariel, West Bank advertisement Ron Nachman had waited 10 months for this day. But when Israel's West Bank construction moratorium expired a week ago and settlers celebrated with balloons and bulldozers, the mayor of the fourth-largest Jewish settlement was nowhere to be found. Nachman, 68, was in the hospital undergoing chemotherapy for recently diagnosed bladder cancer.

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Peace talks come and go, but a settlement grows
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman
by Matti Friedman - October 3, 2010 - 12:00am

The American president was pushing hard for a Mideast peace agreement when six Jewish families arrived on this West Bank hilltop early one morning with cribs, refrigerators, Israeli flags and flatbed trucks carrying mobile homes. White House condemnation came quickly: "Settlements are an obstacle to peace and their continuation does not contribute to the development of a peace process which we have all been working toward." It was April 16, 1991.

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Defining 'Jewish state': For many, term has different meanings
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Glenn Kessler - October 2, 2010 - 12:00am

Nine years ago, then-Secretary of State Colin L. Powell delivered a speech on the Middle East in which he briefly called on Palestinians to recognize Israel as a "Jewish state." Powell doesn't recall how the phrase ended up in his speech, but David Ivry, then the Israeli ambassador to the United States, says he persuaded an aide to Powell to slip it in.

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Did Obama appeal to Netanyahu to extend the settlement freeze?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
October 2, 2010 - 12:00am

With Israel's ten-month freeze on construction in Jewish settlements on the West Bank ending earlier this week, speculation is rife about what this will mean for the current round of negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians under the supervision of U.S. President Barack Obama. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has threatened to walk away from the talks if Israel does not extend the freeze.

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Arab Peace Initiative to hold urgent session
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
October 2, 2010 - 12:00am

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The Arab Peace Initiative will hold an urgent meeting of Arab foreign ministers on Friday in Sirtre, Libya over direct negotiations before meeting for an extraordinary Arab League summit, the deputy Arab League chief said. Ahmad Bin Hali told reporters Saturday that President Mahmoud Abbas will address the committee and updated officials on US efforts to save talks from collapse in light of Israel's decision not to extend its settlement freeze in the West Bank.

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Commentary: Instant diplomacy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from United Press International (UPI)
by Arnaud De Borchgrave - (Analysis) October 1, 2010 - 12:00am

Along with instant coffee, instant soup, instant oven cleaners, instant Viagra, instant pain relief from four-hour Viagra, it was only a matter of time before instant diplomacy made its debut on the nation's comedy channels. Some foreign leaders have concluded American youth -- and many older Americans, too -- have tuned out serious news and tuned in comedians who make fun of everything from the nuclear ambitions of superannuated Iranian mullahs to Osama bin Laden's air-conditioned deluxe cave in the Hindu Kush.

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Report: Four illegal outposts to be built in Hebron
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
October 1, 2010 - 12:00am

The infrastructure for four illegal outposts is being constructed around the West Bank city of Hebron, a settlement affairs expert said Thursday. In an interview with Ma'an Radio, Abed Al-Hadi Hantash said the outposts would be integrated to form a new settlement, which would be linked with Kiryat Arba, the largest settlement in the district.

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Japan calls for settlement freeze
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
September 30, 2010 - 12:00am

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The Japanese Foreign Ministry said the nation's government was disappointed that the Israeli moratorium on settlement activities has not been renewed," a statement issued on Wednesday said. "Japan urges Israel to return to a moratorium on settlement activities," the document read, and added that the government "reaffirms its basic position that Israel should freeze all settlement activities in the West Bank which includes East Jerusalem."

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Arab League may bring settlement freeze debate to UN
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Shlomo Shamir - September 30, 2010 - 12:00am

Arab League representatives, set to meet in Cairo on Wednesday to discuss the future of the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in the wake of the expiration of Israel's freeze on settlement construction in the West Bank, will also consider a proposal to request that an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council be held on the issue, sources at the UN told Haaretz.

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Dutch watchdog criticizes Israeli tourism website for blurring borders
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
September 30, 2010 - 12:00am

The Dutch advertising watchdog has criticized Israel for publishing "misleading" information on its tourism website that blurs the borders between Israel and occupied Arab territories. The Advertising Code Committee says in a nonbinding ruling that material distributed by the Dutch branch of the Israeli National Tourism Board does not "clearly show where the border lies between what is internationally recognized as Israeli territory and 'disputed' areas."

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