Fayyad condemns "terrorist" settler violence
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
November 2, 2009 - 1:00am

Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on Saturday condemned an attack during which Israeli settlers shot a Palestinian and injured four others in occupied East Jerusalem. Five relatives, three of them over 60 years old, were hospitalized after right-wing Israelis attacked the Salah family, shooting one, in a bid to take over their home in the Palestinian neighborhood of Beit Safafa on Friday.

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Obama yet to deliver on Middle East
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
by Jeremy Bowen - November 2, 2009 - 1:00am

When he travelled to Cairo at the beginning of June this year being president must have seemed much easier than it does now. He gave a speech there, in a grand lecture theatre at the university, that was intended as a key foundation stone for his presidency. It was supposed to begin to repair the damage done to America's standing in the Muslim world, and especially in the Arab Middle East by his predecessor. Most importantly of all, it was to accelerate the president's push for Middle East peace.

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US credibility damaged by reversal on Israeli settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Paul Woodward - (Opinion) November 2, 2009 - 1:00am

In a speech in Cairo that was widely applauded across the region last June, the US president, Barack Obama, boldly declared: "The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements. This construction violates previous agreements and undermines efforts to achieve peace. It is time for these settlements to stop." Five months later Mr Obama's resolve appears to have withered. He sent his secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, to deliver news that Israel was only too eager to hear.

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Analysts look ahead to a peace process without Abbas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Omar Karmi - November 2, 2009 - 1:00am

Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, is on another mission to persuade Palestinians and Israelis to negotiate peace. But she may have to continue in the future without Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian leader, who twice last week reportedly said he was considering not running for a second term if and when new Palestinian elections are held. With Washington apparently softening its position on an Israeli settlement construction freeze as a precondition for talks, Mr Abbas may feel he has been backed into a corner and can ill afford to back down.

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Fayyad condemns "terrorist" settler violence
Media Mention of Ziad Asali In Ma'an News Agency - November 2, 2009 - 1:00am

Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on Saturday condemned an attack during which Israeli settlers shot a Palestinian and injured four others in occupied East Jerusalem. Five relatives, three of them over 60 years old, were hospitalized after right-wing Israelis attacked the Salah family, shooting one, in a bid to take over their home in the Palestinian neighborhood of Beit Safafa on Friday.

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Clinton Denies Easing Pressure on Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Mark Landler - November 2, 2009 - 1:00am

Struggling to stem protests from the Arab world, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday reiterated that the Obama administration still wanted Israel to freeze construction of Jewish settlements, even if it regarded Israel’s compromise offer as “unprecedented.” Arab officials expressed alarm that the United States seemed to be easing pressure on Israel after Mrs. Clinton said in Jerusalem on Saturday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposal of restrained settlement building was better than anything previous Israeli governments had offered.

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No to settlements is yes to peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Eric Yoffie - (Opinion) October 30, 2009 - 12:00am

Too many American Jewish groups have their heads in the sand when it comes to the damage the settlement project has done to Israel. They embrace those on the American religious right who endorse settlement as a religious principle, without realizing that the influence of these groups is declining. They talk to each other or to themselves, but not to their own children on campus who must deal with this topic every day. Yet those of us who do the actual work of making Israel's case in local communities know full well the damage the settlement issue causes in grassroots America.

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Israeli military gives settlers free rein
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Seth Freedman - (Opinion) October 29, 2009 - 12:00am

During a swearing-in ceremony at the Western Wall in Jerusalem last Thursday, two soldiers held up a banner that sparked a wave of condemnation by soldiers and civilians alike. The slogan on the banner – "Shimshon [Brigade] does not evacuate Homesh" – referred to the prospect of the soldiers being ordered to evict settlers from an illegal outpost on the site of the former Homesh settlement.

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Avi Issacharoff / Obama demands may leave Abbas feeling betrayed
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Avi Issacharoff - October 28, 2009 - 12:00am

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will arrive on Sunday for a visit to Israel and the Palestinian Authority during which she will meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and PA President Mahmoud Abbas. George Mitchell, the U.S. Middle East envoy, will be in Israel Thursday to lay the groundwork for the secretary of state's visit. Clinton and Mitchell will attempt to persuade Abbas to reopen negotiations with Israel on a final peace agreement.

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Arabs to Abbas: Renew talks with Israel without freeze
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Ali Waked - October 28, 2009 - 12:00am

As Israel and the Palestinians exchange blame for the failure to get peace talks off the ground, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is reportedly under pressure from the Arab camp to renew negotiations. Palestinian sources told Ynet that Arab officials have passed on messages to Abbas prodding him to agree to renewed peace talks without conditioning them on a total freeze of building in West Bank settlements.

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