Diplomacy 101
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
(Editorial) November 27, 2009 - 1:00am

We were thrilled when President Obama decided to plunge fully into the Middle East peace effort. He appointed a skilled special envoy, George Mitchell, and demanded that Israel freeze settlements, Palestinians crack down on anti-Israel violence and Arab leaders demonstrate their readiness to reach out to Israel. The Israelis have refused to stop all building. The Palestinians say that they won’t talk to the Israelis until they do, and President Mahmoud Abbas is so despondent he has threatened to quit. Arab states are refusing to do anything.

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Israel settlement freeze: Benjamin Netanyahu promises 10-month halt, angering allies
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Ilene Prusher - November 25, 2009 - 1:00am

In an attempt to jump-start Middle East peace talks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Wednesday for a c. Israel's security cabinet, one of the gatekeeping bodies on major policy decisions, approved the freeze with an 11-1 vote.

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Report: US officials survey settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
November 25, 2009 - 1:00am

US officials, some of them aides to special envoy George Mitchell, have been visiting illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank as a part of an investigation, the Israeli daily Ma’ariv reported on Wednesday. In the first such visit on Monday, officials from the US consulate in Jerusalem and Mitchell’s team visited the settlement of Efrat, southwest of Bethlehem, the newspaper said. The officials were reportedly comparing the boundaries and number of buildings in the settlement with earlier maps to see whether settlements are expanding.

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Libya urges UN to take up Israeli settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
November 25, 2009 - 1:00am

Libya indicated on Tuesday that it would introduce a fresh draft resolution before the United Nations Security Council demanding that Israel end its settlement activity in Palestinian territory. "We are discussing it with the Palestinians and other members of the Security Council. We are going to do that, yes," Libya's UN Ambassador Mohamed Shalgham told reporters about the plans. Arab countries could quickly reach an agreement on the principles and terms of the text, perhaps before the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday on Friday, he said.

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Israel's pro-settlement soldiers worry leaders
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
November 25, 2009 - 1:00am

In Israel, most men and women do military service. As a result, the public's attitude towards their military is rather familial and criticism is mostly expressed in private. But, suddenly, an increasing number of soldiers are openly protesting against their involvement in the evacuation of Jewish settlement outposts in the West Bank, reports the BBC's Katya Adler.

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Peres: Netanyahu can and must make peace with Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
November 23, 2009 - 1:00am

President Shimon Peres said Monday that just peace between Israel and the Palestinians was just a "step away," and urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to do everything necessary to ensure an end to the conflict during its tenure. "Today, there is just one step left between us and the end of this conflict," said Peres. "The current government can and must do it. The painful solution of dividing the land, two states for two peoples, was something the [Israel's first prime minister] David Ben-Gurion took on himself, and today it is accepted by the majority of the nation.

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Jerusalem Syndrome
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - November 23, 2009 - 1:00am

Sometimes tourists show up at Jerusalem's mental health centers, convinced that a voice from the heavens told them they were the messiah. The illness, commonly known as Jerusalem Syndrome, usually passes once they have left the city. However, Israelis, mostly public figures, have been afflicted with this syndrome for the past 42 years, affecting their ability to distinguish between reality and fantasy. Jerusalem has become the Disneyland of the Jewish people.

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Rabbis at secret meet: Soldiers who refuse orders are 'heroes'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Chaim Levinson - November 23, 2009 - 1:00am

Dozens of religious Zionist rabbis held a secret meeting in Jerusalem on Sunday to discuss ways of bolstering the hesder yeshivas, the halachic argument for refusing to obey military orders to evacuate settlements, and the campaign against having the army evacuate Jews from their homes. The rabbis in attendance included Zalman Baruch Melamed, rabbi of Beit El and head of the yeshiva there; Shmuel Eliyahu, rabbi of Safed; and Yaakov Yosef, son of Shas spiritual leader Ovadia Yosef.

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Palestinian Children Face Daily Settler Attacks Getting to School
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS)
by Mel Frykberg - November 23, 2009 - 1:00am

Being able to travel to school in relative safety is something children all over the world take for granted. But, for Palestinian children living in the shadow of the ubiquitous and illegal Israeli settlements dotting the West Bank, simply walking to school can be a terrifying experience. "It is really scary walking to school. We never know when the settlers will attack us and beat us," says Rima Ali, 10, from the village of Tuba in the southern West Bank, about two hours drive south of Jerusalem.

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Palestinian MK: 15,000 settlement homes awaiting approval in Jlem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
November 20, 2009 - 1:00am

Palestinian Member of the Knesset Ahmad Tibi said Israel's Jerusalem municipality is preparing to build 15,000 new housing units around the city, mainly in areas beyond the Green Line in occupied Palestine. “These plans are larger and more dangerous than the recent plans to build 900 housing units in Gilo,” Tibi said during a phone interview on Friday. The MK called the plans common knowledge, saying “Everyone who follows up these issues knows that these plans exist," and explained they were just waiting for approval from the government, just like "what happened in Gilo," Tibi said.

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