Four Myths About the Mideast and Real Estate
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by J.J. Goldberg - (Opinion) December 17, 2009 - 1:00am

‘Take not heed unto all words that are spoken,” the wise old preacher Ecclesiastes wrote. You might find to your grief that people don’t always say what they mean — or worse, that they do. In that spirit, here’s a quick primer to some common sayings in circulation these days and what they really mean. Myth No. 1: Israeli settlements in the territories aren’t the problem preventing peace. The problem is Arab refusal to accept Israel’s legitimacy as a Jewish state.

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UN official: Settlement freeze falls short
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
December 17, 2009 - 1:00am

The situation in Gaza continues to deteriorate as neither Israel nor the Palestinians do enough to obtain peace, a senior UN official told the UN Security Council on Thursday. Robert Serry, the UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, said Israel's announced 10-month suspension of settlement activity fell short of its commitments under the 2003 Road Map peace plan. He called on Palestinians to resume negotiations with Israel, which were suspended after military operations against Hamas left the Gaza strip in a state of calamity

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Yesh Din: Ofra uses dogs to keep Palestinians off their own farmland
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Dan Izenberg - December 17, 2009 - 1:00am

Settlers in Ofra are using attack dogs to keep Palestinians from cultivating land they own near the settlement, the human rights organization Yesh Din charged in a petition filed in the High Court of Justice earlier this week. Yesh Din attorneys Michael Sfard, Shlomi Zachary and Avisar Lev filed the petition on behalf of the head of the Silwad village council, Nael Hamad, and three village residents.

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Why Palin and Huckabee Dig Settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Noam Neusner - (Opinion) December 16, 2009 - 1:00am

The Republican field for 2012 is beginning to stretch its legs. Not surprisingly, presidential hopefuls have started to define themselves by what they are not: Barack Obama.

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Palestinian leaders to extend President Mahmoud Abbas's term indefinitely
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Howard Schneider - December 16, 2009 - 1:00am

The Palestinian Liberation Organization's ruling Central Council gathered here this week to extend the soon-to-expire term of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, a session that promised to say as much about the drift and division in Palestinian politics as about the 74-year-old leader's standing.

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A Netanyahu Conversion? The Case for Skepticism
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Leonard Fein - (Opinion) December 16, 2009 - 1:00am

Too transparent to be a scam, more nearly a farce. I refer to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s 10-month “freeze” in settlement construction on the West Bank, about as gummy a freeze as can be imagined, a freeze meant to change nothing, only to placate the Americans.

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Mahmoud Abbas remains in charge of PLO until elections can be held
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Edmund Sanders - December 16, 2009 - 1:00am

Reporting from Ramallah, West Bank - With a giant poster of deceased leader Yasser Arafat smiling over them, members of the Palestine Liberation Organization's central council gathered here Tuesday to indefinitely extend President Mahmoud Abbas' term until credible elections can be held. The extension, expected to be formally approved today, should provide a degree of short-term stability to the fractured Palestinian movement. But for some, the stopgap measure only papers over an emerging PLO leadership crisis that could become yet another obstacle to peace talks.

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Abbas to Haaretz: Peace possible in 6 months if Israel freezes all settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Avi Issacharoff - December 16, 2009 - 1:00am

If Israel completely halts construction in the settlements, negotiations with the Palestinians on a final-status agreement can be completed within six months, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas told Haaretz Tuesday, adding that Israel needn't declare the freeze, just carry it out. Abbas, who appeared self-assured and upbeat during the exclusive interview, said the Palestinians had no preconditions for talks with Israel but wanted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to meet his obligations to the road map, which calls for a cessation of construction in the settlements.

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U.S. planning to restart Israel-PA talks based on '67 borders
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - December 16, 2009 - 1:00am

The United States and Egypt, along with France, are planning a joint move to restart Israeli-Palestinian talks on the basis of the June 4, 1967, borders, territorial exchanges and a complete freeze of construction beyond the Green Line, including East Jerusalem. The freeze would not be announced publicly. Egypt's foreign minister, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, said in an extensive interview with the Arabic daily Asharq Al-Awsat that "once they realized their earlier approach had failed, the Americans see themselves forced to change direction."

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Weighing Netanyahu as Peace Maker
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - December 15, 2009 - 1:00am

A month ago, Aluf Benn, a senior columnist at the left-leaning Israeli newspaper Haaretz, wrote an article that shocked many. He said he believed that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, leader of the right-wing Likud party, was seriously interested in making concessions to the Palestinians and coming to an agreement on a two-state solution. Long a foe of Palestinian statehood, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu now says he backs the two-state idea.

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