Settlement by stealth belies promises of restraint
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Donald MacIntyre - November 4, 2009 - 1:00am

Maysaa Al-Kurd has lived all her life in the home her family moved into in 1956. The pomegranate tree standing in the garden was planted by her father when she was still an infant nearly half a century ago. But that hardly reassured her yesterday when she heard the Jewish settlers break into the next-door extension building her brother Nabil built to house his family in 2001.

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For sale – one Middle East peace strategy (hardly used)
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Emile Hokayem - November 4, 2009 - 1:00am

Pity the Palestinians, but pity also the peacemakers whose good intentions inevitably stumble up against the harsh realities of Israeli-Palestinian politicking. The US secretary of state Hillary Clinton’s retreat from the position that a complete Israeli settlement freeze is a necessary confidence-building measure before final-status negotiations is not new; Barack Obama admitted as much in September. It simply reflects the dead end that US peace diplomacy has reached, and the need to start anew with a different approach.

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A bad month for Mideast peace-making
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Rami Khouri - (Opinion) November 4, 2009 - 1:00am

In baseball three strikes mean you are out, but in American foreign policy in the Middle East three strikes seem to mean business as usual. In the past few days and weeks, the United States has made three very controversial moves related to Arab-Israeli issues that generate widespread skepticism and anguish – though their total significance remains difficult to gauge, because this depends on whatever else the US may do in the weeks and months ahead.

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Clinton Backs Peace Talks Before Israeli Settlement Freeze
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Mark Landler - November 4, 2009 - 1:00am

CAIRO — Winding up a Middle East tour, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton repeated on Wednesday that while the Obama administration rejects the legitimacy of Israeli settlement expansion, it nonetheless believes that Israeli-Palestinian negotiations should precede a permanent freeze on such construction. Her arguments conflicted with Arab and Palestinian demands that all settlement activity be frozen as a precondition for resuming talks with Israel.

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PA: Netanyahu promised US settlement freeze
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Ali Waked - November 4, 2009 - 1:00am

The Palestinians are optimistic about comments made by American officials in recent days. Palestinians sources told Ynet on Wednesday that the Americans said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has committed to halt construction in settlements.   The sources said that despite the Palestinians' dissatisfaction with US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton's public support of Israel on settlement construction, Netanyahu has officially committed to a freeze.  

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U.S. hope dims for high-level Israeli-Palestinian talks over state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Karen Deyoung, Howard Schneider - November 4, 2009 - 1:00am

The Obama administration has concluded that an early resumption of high-level negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians over a Palestinian state is unlikely in the near future -- an acknowledgment that it has fallen short, for now, on one of its major initial foreign policy goals. While still pressing for face-to-face talks between Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli President Binyamin Netanyahu, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has begun to urge Arab states to encourage Palestinian participation in lower-level talks with Israel to avoid a vacuum.

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Palestinians who see nonviolence as their weapon
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Richard Boudreaux - November 4, 2009 - 1:00am

Every Friday, Mohammed Khatib's forces assemble for battle with the Israeli army and gather their weapons: a bullhorn, banners -- and a fierce belief that peaceful protest can bring about a Palestinian state. A few hundred strong, they march to the Israeli barrier that separates the tiny farming community of Bilin from much of its land. They chant and shout. A few teenagers throw stones. Khatib helped launch the weekly ritual five years ago in an attempt to "re-brand" a Palestinian struggle often associated with rocket attacks and suicide bombers.

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UN chief urges Israel to end 'provocative actions' in east Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
November 4, 2009 - 1:00am

UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday urged Israel to end its "provocative actions" in east Jerusalem and to abide by its commitments to freeze all settlement activity in the occupied West Bank. "The Secretary General is dismayed at continued Israeli actions in occupied east Jerusalem, including the demolition of Palestinian homes, the eviction of Palestinian families and the insertion of settlers into Palestinian neighborhoods," a UN statement said. "The eviction today of a Palestinian family in east Jerusalem is just the most recent incident," it added.

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Clinton tries to keep peace alive
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC World News
by Kim Ghattas - November 4, 2009 - 1:00am

Hillary Clinton was planning to be home by now after a week-long trip, but instead she took a detour through Egypt for talks with top officials including President Hosni Mubarak, looking for help from a country that is key to any progress in the Middle East peace process. In her discussions she is expected to try to undo some of the damage done by her comments in the past few days while also looking for ways to keep some semblance of movement in the moribund Middle East peace process. The Obama administration is worried that in the absence of any talks, violence might resume.

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In face of Arab anger, Clinton amends view on Israel's offer to curb West Bank growth
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Karen Deyoung - November 3, 2009 - 1:00am

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton tried to soothe Arab uneasiness Monday over weekend statements she made praising the Israeli government's offer to "restrain" growth in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, saying it "falls far short" of the Obama administration's hopes and is "not enough."

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