Why Defining ‘Natural Growth’ Is So Confusing, On Purpose
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Nathan Jeffay - June 24, 2009 - 12:00am

Givat Ha’eytam, West Bank — Givat Ha’eytam, a lonely hill in the Israeli occupied West Bank, seems like anything but a natural part of the bustling 8,000-person Jewish settlement of Efrat. Indeed, the stony outcrop, with its view of Efrat’s buildings in the distance, soon will be cut off from that settlement by the separation barrier Israel is building across the length of the West Bank, ostensibly to protect Israelis from Palestinian terrorism.

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Israel in plan to expand West Bank settlement
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Financial Times
by Vita Bekker - June 24, 2009 - 12:00am

Ehud Barak, Israel’s defence minister, has approved a plan to construct hundreds of new homes in an unauthorised outpost in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, an Israeli rights group said on Tuesday in a report that appeared to defy Washington’s calls for a freeze on settlement growth.

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US: Settlement freeze includes Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
June 23, 2009 - 12:00am

The US demand that Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank must cease includes East Jerusalem, a State Department spokesperson said on Monday. In response to a question from Israel's Jerusalem Post newspaper, State Department spokesperson Ian Kelly said, “We’re talking about all settlement activity, yeah, in the area across the line,” he said, referring to the 1948 armistice line, or Green Line.

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Unnatural Growth
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewcy
by Moshe Yaroni - (Opinion) June 23, 2009 - 12:00am

"Israel will not freeze settlement construction for natural growth, despite intense pressure from the Obama administration to do so," The Jerusalem Post, June 1, 2009. The argument that “natural growth” is crucial to Israel's well-being is utter nonsense. Here are a few facts.

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Israel authorises 300 new settlement homes - report
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
June 23, 2009 - 12:00am

Israel has authorised construction of 300 new homes at a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank, Israeli Army Radio said on Tuesday, defying U.S. calls for a halt to settlement growth. The station said 60 of the 300 homes slated for the Talmon settlement in the West Bank have already been built and that Defence Minister Ehud Barak, who oversees West Bank operations, had approved plans to construct another 240 units there. The Defence Ministry had no immediate comment, saying it was checking the report.

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Report: Israel plans to legalize, expand outpost
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
June 23, 2009 - 12:00am

The Israeli government has formulated plans to legalize 60 existing homes at an unauthorized settlement outpost in the West Bank and allow the construction of 240 other residences, an Israeli group said Tuesday. Such a move would flout a U.S. demand for a settlement freeze. It would also bolster the claim by Palestinians that the unauthorized outposts are intended to permanently seize land they want as part of their future state.

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Outpost Watch: Obama's future minefield - and Netanyahu's
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Bradley Burston - (Analysis) June 23, 2009 - 12:00am

The following is the first phase of a project aimed at helping monitor outposts and clarify the potential difficulty in countering them for the sake of peace. The data is based in large part on extensive research conducted over years by the Peace Now organization, augmented with and cross-referenced by information from settlers and Haaretz correspondents. The accompanying map of outposts is under construction. It is, as is the lists of outposts below - and the outposts themselves - a work in progress.

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Bibi: Preoccupation with settlements waste of time
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Roni Sofer - June 23, 2009 - 12:00am

The preoccupation with the issue of the settlements is a 'waste of time' and hinders progress towards peace, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday. Netanyahu arrived in Italy on Tuesday on his first trip to Europe since being elected, visiting Rome and Paris to sound out regional allies about his qualified endorsement of a Palestinian state.

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Netanyahu Believes Obama Has Already Backed Down On Settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Talking Points Memo
by M.J. Rosenberg - (Opinion) June 23, 2009 - 12:00am

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu believes that President Obama has already blinked. The way he sees it, Obama made his demand to stop settlements in Cairo. He, Netanyahu, responded with a firm "no" -- but by uttering the phrase "two states" changed the subject suficiently to get Obama off his back. He also thinks the Iran crisis has diverted Obama's focus away from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and saved him from further pressure.

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Opinion: Fictions on the Ground
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Tony Judt - (Opinion) June 22, 2009 - 12:00am

I am old enough to remember when Israeli kibbutzim looked like settlements (“a small village or collection of houses” or “the act of peopling or colonizing a new country,” Oxford English Dictionary). I am old enough to remember when Israeli kibbutzim looked like settlements (“a small village or collection of houses” or “the act of peopling or colonizing a new country,” Oxford English Dictionary).

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