PA pushing for short e. Jerusalem freeze
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Herb Keinon - January 20, 2010 - 1:00am

The Palestinian Authority is pushing Israel to agree to a total construction freeze, in both the settlements and east Jerusalem, of between three to six months, something senior Israeli officials said Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will not agree to, The Jerusalem Post has learned. This is one idea that US Middle East envoy George Mitchell is expected to raise during talks with Netanyahu on Thursday. Mitchell, who has not been to the region since early November, is scheduled to arrive on Wednesday and stay through Saturday.

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Abbas urges US 'endgame' unless Israel halts settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
January 17, 2010 - 1:00am

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas urged Washington on Sunday to declare an "endgame" to resolve the decades-old Middle East conflict if Israel does not agree to halt settlement growth. Abbas, in a statement carried by the official Wafa wire service, said Arab states and the Palestinians would present a unified position to the United States offering two options.

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Settlements obstacle to peace, says Kingdom
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
(Editorial) January 12, 2010 - 1:00am

RIYADH: The Council of Ministers on Monday denounced the Israeli move to construct more Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, saying it would obstruct efforts to restart the Middle East peace process. The Cabinet meeting, chaired by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, commended the European stand, which rejects Israel’s illegitimate settlement policy.

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Abbas calls for settlement freeze 'for a fixed period'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
January 12, 2010 - 1:00am

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Tuesday said for the first time that he might restart peace negotiations with Israel if it froze settlement expansion for a "fixed period." "We will not accept the relaunching of negotiations without a complete halt to settlements, including in Jerusalem, for a fixed period," Abbas told reporters in the West Bank town of Ramallah. It was the first time Abbas appeared to accept some kind of temporary settlement freeze, after months in which he insisted on a total halt to settlement growth pending a final agreement on borders.

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Israel considers giving legal status to two illegal West Bank outposts
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Chaim Levinson - (Analysis) January 11, 2010 - 1:00am

After four and a half years of government promises to destroy the two West Bank settlements of Hayovel and Harsha, the High Court of Justice said yesterday that it intends to examine conditions on the ground there, potentially paving the way for their formal recognition.

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Clinton urges Israel, Palestinians to plunge into talks
Media Mention of Ziad Asali In The Los Angeles Times - January 9, 2010 - 1:00am

Reporting from Washington-- Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Friday urged Palestinians and Israelis to plunge into negotiations over the most difficult issues dividing them as a way of breaking an impasse in peace talks. Clinton said negotiations on major issues, such as the borders of a future Palestinian state or the status of Jerusalem, would help defuse the dispute over the growth of Jewish settlements in the West Bank that has obstructed progress toward peace.

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6 weeks into settlement freeze, Barak eases restrictions
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
(Analysis) January 8, 2010 - 1:00am

Defense Minister Ehud Barak decided on Thursday to ease the temporary construction freeze in the West Bank settlements, announced in November by Prime Minister Benjamin Netnayhau, granting local settlement municipalities the authority to hand out building permits to be implemented immediately after the freeze expires. Netanyahu issued the freeze orders on November 26 in efforts to jumpstart stalled peace talks with the Palestinians, who have demanded that Israel cease all construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem before negotiations could resume.

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Fayyad: PA will clear West Bank of settlement products
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
(Editorial) January 6, 2010 - 1:00am

Salfit – Ma'an – Before tossing goods made in Israeli settlements into a fire on Tuesday, Prime Minister Salam Fayyad affirmed the dedication of the Palestinian Authority to ridding local markets of the goods, and ridding the West Bank of the settlements entirely. The products being tossed were all found in the Salfit municipality, southeast of Nablus. They were found on trucks and in shops in the district, and would have been for sale to Palestinians. Much of the time goods from settlements are discounted or spoiled.

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US: East J'lem housing hampers peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Hilary Leila Krieger, Tovah Lazaroff - (Analysis) January 6, 2010 - 1:00am

The US accused Israel on Wednesday of damaging the peace process when it approved the construction of four new buildings in a Palestinian area on east Jerusalem's Mount of Olives a day earlier. "We have noted that these types of announcements and activity harm peace efforts," a US State Department official told The Jerusalem Post. Still, the harsh response was more measured than several previous US criticisms of plans to build in east Jerusalem.

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Israel okays new Jerusalem settlement buildings
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
(Editorial) January 5, 2010 - 1:00am

Bethlehem – Ma'an – Israeli authorities approved on Monday the construction of four new settlement apartment buildings Palestinian land in occupied east Jerusalem. According to Israeli media, the country’s Jerusalem Planning and Building Committee approved the new structures, intended to house 24 settler families adjacent to a Jewish religious school, in the heart of the annexed Palestinian capital.

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