Israel razes Jordan Valley mosque for third time
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Agence France Press (AFP) - October 12, 2011 - 12:00am

Israeli forces have demolished for the third time a mosque in a remote Bedouin village in the Jordan valley, Palestinian security forces said. The demolition took place in the village of Khirbet Yarza, some five kilometres east of Tubas in the northeastern corner of the West Bank. The mosque has been demolished twice before, once in February and in November 2010, when troops razed the mosque, its much larger extension, and various animal stables.

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Netanyahu seeks to legalize outposts built on private Palestinian land
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Chaim Levinson - October 11, 2011 - 12:00am

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has instructed Justice Minister Yaakov Neeman to set up a task force to explore ways to legalize houses in the settlements that were built on private Palestinian land. The instruction was issued under heavy pressure from settlers and others on the right in response to the state's decision to demolish several outposts built on private Palestinian land over the next half year.

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Barak: 'Price tag' attackers operate almost like terrorists
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
October 11, 2011 - 12:00am

Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Tuesday that groups of settlers carrying out self-defined "price tag" attacks against Palestinians "operate almost like terrorist organizations." The attacks, carried out against Palestinians and private property, "embarrass the State of Israel," he said during a military tour. Barak also praised the West Bank settlement leadership for condemning the acts. Last week a mosque in the northern town of Tuba Zanghariya mosque was burned, causing significant damage. The attackers left the words "price tag" scrawled on nearby walls.

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PA: Quartet must act on Israeli settlement 'provocations'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
October 9, 2011 - 12:00am

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- The Palestinian Authority said on Sunday Israel's decision to approve new housing units in an East Jerusalem settlement undermined the Middle East Quartet's proposal for talks. "Israel's approval of more settlement housing, this time in Pisgat Zeev, is a clear violation of the Quartet's initiative, which calls for negotiations without pre-conditions and without provocations," the statement said. "The Quartet must tell Israel that it cannot pretend to accept its initiative while flagrantly breaching its terms," it added.

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PA official: IDF protects settlers who attack Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Khaled Abu Toameh - October 7, 2011 - 12:00am

The IDF dismissed accusations by the Palestinian Authority that it was protecting settlers who attack Palestinians and/or their property in the West Bank as ridiculous on Thursday. “It is both baseless and ridiculous to say the IDF is supporting such activity,” an army source said. “The IDF together with other law enforcement bodies constantly work to prevent and investigate unlawful activities in the West Bank, whether they are perpetuated by Palestinians or Israelis,” the sources said.

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Fight for Justice Continues Against Violent Settlers
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Leonard Fein - (Opinion) October 6, 2011 - 12:00am

Two of my young Israeli friends, key activists in Solidarity, the folks who for nearly two years have demonstrated every Friday afternoon at Sheikh Jarrah, a Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem where Israeli Jews have been buying up Palestinian property and claiming that the neighborhood is legally Jewish, were assaulted September 30. My friends, graduate students, were assaulted by Jewish settlers in a village near Jerusalem, a 20-minute drive from the center of the city, an hour’s walk from the Old City, in Anatot, once the home of Jeremiah the prophet.

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Europeans want another settlement freeze from PM
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Herb Keinon - October 6, 2011 - 12:00am

Some of Israel’s best friends in Europe, such as Germany and the Netherlands, are urging Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to freeze construction across the Green Line as a way to bring the Palestinian Authority back to talks, western diplomatic officials told The Jerusalem Post Wednesday. The idea, according to the officials, is for Israel to refrain “from provocative action” in order to pave the way for the Palestinians to accept the new Quartet proposals and get them back to the negotiating table.

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Why did PM greenlight Gilo housing project?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Herb Keinon - (Analysis) October 4, 2011 - 12:00am

A decision by the Interior Ministry in March 2010 during the visit of US Vice President Joe Biden to issue a tender for the construction of a new housing project in Jerusalem’s Ramat Shlomo neighborhood, which is over the Green Line, sparked a mini-crisis with the US and brought ties between the two countries to their lowest point in years.

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Condemnation grows against Israel's settlement plans
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
(Analysis) September 30, 2011 - 12:00am

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Pressure is growing against Israel as Russia and Turkey added their voices to the international condemnation against the recent approval of 1,100 housing units in East Jerusalem. "We are particularly concerned that decisions on such a sensitive matter should be taken at an extremely important time for the future of the peace process," the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement. "We are counting (on Israel) so that the construction projects in East Jerusalem are reviewed."

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Another (Predictable) Jerusalem Settlement Announcement
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Americans For Peace Now
by Lara Friedman - (Opinion) September 30, 2011 - 12:00am

As the entire world now knows, yesterday an Israeli planning committee approved Plan 13261, Mordot Gilo - South (aka "Gilo Slopes") - a plan for large-scale settlement construction in East Jerusalem, adjacent to the settlement of Gilo (map, courtesy of Daniel Seidemann). This development was predictable (and predicted). Which is really the theme here.

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