Settlements | The American Task Force on Palestine

Painted into a corner
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Nahum Barnea - September 26, 2010 - 12:00am

The following question shall not appear in the next history matriculation exam at Israeli high schools: Three politicians – Barack Obama, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Mahmoud Abbas – painted themselves into a corner and didn’t know how to get out of it. Who will go down now? The answer: None of them. Not immediately, The only thing that would crumple is the small chance of advancing an Israeli-Palestinian deal.

Divided city of Hebron shows challenge of peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Tom Perry - September 26, 2010 - 12:00am

The growth of a Jewish settlement next to Hany Abu Haykel's home means the Palestinian needs an Israeli permit to use his front gate. Hardly anyone visits, he says. Guests need permission to reach the house where he was born 41 years ago, in an old neighbourhood of Hebron, in the occupied West Bank. Abu Haykel's family must trek through an olive grove patrolled by Israeli soldiers to enter the house the back way.

Palestinian President Abbas has the most to lose
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
(Editorial) September 25, 2010 - 12:00am

PRESIDENT OBAMA'S Middle East peace diplomacy has made some progress, but an early error still haunts it. The president's ill-advised attempt to force a freeze of Israeli housing construction in Jerusalem and the West Bank could cause the breakdown this weekend of direct talks on a final settlement, only a month after they began.

'We were looking for a nice, peaceful place near Jerusalem'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Rachel Shabi - September 25, 2010 - 12:00am

The housing project currently under construction in Almon offers enticingly priced, spacious family homes with a garden and a view. The surrounding neighbourhood, also known as Anatot, sits on a ridge overlooking the Judean hills, near Jerusalem, a blaze of cultivated greenery in the parched landscape. Residents have a relaxed air, and newcomers who have recently relocated from Jerusalem wish they'd made the move years ago. If I were a prospective house-buyer, I'd be charmed. But I would not be looking here – because Almon is in the occupied West Bank.

Settlers plan burst of quick, 'light' construction as freeze nears end
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Chaim Levinson - September 24, 2010 - 12:00am

As settlers prepare to resume construction in full force on Monday, in an effort to preempt a possible last-minute extension of the settlement freeze, the star of the day is "light construction" - cheap, environmentally friendly methods that enable building a house in two months or less. Monday is expected to be a big day for contractors, after nine months of no work. There are an estimated 2,000-2,200 housing units in the territories that have all the necessary approvals in order to begin construction.

Settlement construction to be resumed, limited
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Atilla Somfalvi - September 24, 2010 - 12:00am

Only two days are left before the end of a 10-month moratorium on new settlement construction in the West Bank, and the Israelis and Palestinians have yet to reach a compromise which would allow the peace talks to continue. The American administration is leading hectic efforts to come up with a creative solution, as representatives of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas continue the talks in Washington. US President Barack Obama on Thursday called on Israel once again to continue the building freeze.

Olmert urges ‘int’l trusteeship’ for Holy Basin
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
September 24, 2010 - 12:00am

Israel should agree to an international trusteeship in Jerusalem’s Holy Basin, should allow non-Jewish neighborhoods of Jerusalem to serve as the capital of a Palestinian state, and should offer to solve the Palestinian refugee problem within the framework of the Arab peace initiative, former prime minister Ehud Olmert urges in an op-ed article in today’s Jerusalem Post. “If [Israel] takes a clear stance on these issues and presents them as its position for the negotiations,” Olmert writes, it would “transform the atmosphere” surrounding the direct talks with the Palestinian Authority.

Eitan urges ‘partial territorial agreement’ to boost talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by David Horovitz - September 24, 2010 - 12:00am

In a proposal aimed at giving positive momentum to Israeli- Palestinian direct talks following the imminent end of the 10-month settlement freeze, Likud Minister Michael Eitan is urging the two sides to try to reach a “partial territorial agreement” in the next few months, under which Israel would transfer authority and security responsibilities to the Palestinian Authority in the overwhelming proportion of the West Bank, while Israel would resume building in the major settlement blocs.

Obama and his audacity of hope for Middle East peace talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
(Editorial) September 24, 2010 - 12:00am

At the United Nations on Thursday, President Obama took a risk by speaking so optimistically about the fragile Middle East peace talks. He told his international audience that “this time will be different.” The president offered that outcome as a choice, but even so, he went out on a limb by pronouncing that one short year from now, the UN could have a new member: a sovereign Palestine living in peace with Israel. In 2003, President Bush held out that possibility for 2005.

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