Bethlehem traders still waiting for Christmas cheer
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Erika Soloman - December 1, 2009 - 1:00am

The lights are going up and carols are ringing from Manger Square, but Christmas cheer hasn't spread to all of Bethlehem's residents. While calm has returned to the Biblical birthplace of Jesus, scene of heavy fighting during the Palestinian Intifada, or uprising, in the early years of this decade, big-spending foreign tourists have mostly not, say the shopkeepers and restaurant owners who depend on them for their livelihood.

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Israeli settlers scuffle with govt inspectors
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
December 1, 2009 - 1:00am

Residents of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday scuffled with government inspectors who had come to enforce a moratorium on construction, a military official said. "There were several scuffles between residents of various Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria (West Bank) and site inspectors," a senior military official told AFP on condition of anonymity. "But the authorities will continue to work to apply the decision."

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Israel settlers obstruct building curbs inspectors
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
December 1, 2009 - 1:00am

Groups of settlers, who have vowed to ignore the curbs, gathered at the entrance to one settlement and said they had forced inspectors to leave. A government official said there had been some "low level friction". The Palestinians say Israel's 10-month building pause is not enough and are refusing to restart peace talks. The building restrictions do not apply to East Jerusalem, where the Palestinians want to locate the capital of their future state. 'Without violence'

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Devious ways
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
(Editorial) November 30, 2009 - 1:00am

Benjamin Netanyahu didn’t really believe the Palestinians would thank him for deciding to temporarily freeze settlements in the West Bank. The Israeli prime minister received the Palestinian reply immediately after he announced a 10-month settlement freeze in the West Bank: Any temporary halt that did not include East Jerusalem is a nonstarter. The really important question, which interests Netanyahu more than anything else, is how US President Barack Obama will view his proposal.

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We should call Israel's bet, then raise
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Rami Khouri - (Opinion) November 30, 2009 - 1:00am

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement a few days ago, that Israel would suspend all new housing construction in the occupied West Bank for 10 months, while other building and colonial ventures continued, reminds us that we are passing through another episode of a long-running tale of biblical proportions: Arabs and Israelis reject or stall American peace-making efforts; stalemate ensues amid mutual accusations of insincerity; Israel takes a unilateral initiative that many hail as a positive step, but that the Arabs see as not enough and mostly deception; and the conflict and

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Settlers label Obama 'enemy of the Jews'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
November 30, 2009 - 1:00am

Members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s own party held a meeting on Saturday to voice outrage at a declared slowdown in construction of West Bank settlements. Settler leaders were among the 200 members of the ruling Likud party who attended the meeting in the city of Ra’ana inside Israel. The right-wing activists saved their most intense criticism for US President Barack Obama, who for 10 months has been urging a total freeze on the expansion of settlements on land taken from Palestinians.

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Israel to Recruit More Building Inspectors to Enforce a Freeze on West Bank Construction
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - November 29, 2009 - 1:00am

Israel’s defense minister, Ehud Barak, instructed his staff on Sunday to recruit dozens of new building inspectors to supervise the government’s temporary construction freeze in West Bank settlements, while some settler leaders vowed to defy the building ban. Mr. Barak’s hurried efforts and the settler threats illustrated both the government’s seriousness and the difficulty it could face in carrying out its decision to halt new housing starts in the settlements over the next 10 months.

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Israel okays 28 new settlement buildings, despite freeze
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amos Harel, Chaim Levinson, Barak Ravid, Yanir Yagna - November 27, 2009 - 1:00am

Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Thursday ordered the IDF to issue a temporary freeze order, but at the same time allowed the construction of 28 new public buildings in settlements. Meanwhile, Haaretz has learned that the state is expected to ask the Supreme Court for more time to evacuate illegal outposts. The State Attorney's Office is expected to update the Supreme Court by next week on three court rulings that have not been carried out, for the evacuation of outposts at Eli, Horsha, and Netiv Ha'avot, as well as six other locations in the West Bank.

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Settlers have been working for months to undermine construction freeze
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amos Harel - (Analysis) November 27, 2009 - 1:00am

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu owes much gratitude to the Yesha Council and the members of the rightist flank in Likud. Were it not for their public opposition over the past two days, someone might have suspected that the decision to freeze settlement construction permits for 10 months was an even smaller Israeli concession than it originally appeared to be.

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Civil Administration distributes freeze orders
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Roni Sofer - November 27, 2009 - 1:00am

Officers of the Civil Administration began Friday to hand out orders to Judea and Samaria council heads commanding them to stop issuing construction permits in settlements, just two days after the cabinet decision on a 10-month settlement construction freeze. In addition, Defense Minister Ehud Barak confirmed reports that his ministry sent an aircraft to photograph West Bank settlements, in order to document the construction taking place there.

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