Netanyahu: Israel needs to separate from the Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - June 21, 2011 - 12:00am

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu surprised many of the participants in the weekly cabinet meeting Sunday when he embarked on a monologue praising the idea of parting from the Palestinians and in relinquishing portions of the West Bank. Netanyahu said the number of Palestinians and Jews between the Jordan River and the sea "is irrelevant" and that it's more important to "preserve a solid Jewish majority inside the State of Israel."

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Israel approves expansion of 2,000 settler homes
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
June 20, 2011 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM (AFP) -- Israel's Jerusalem municipality approved the expansion of 2,000 homes in the settlement district of Ramat Shlomo in occupied East Jerusalem on Sunday, allowing each Israeli home to add an additional room, a council press statement said. The announcement of new settlement activity came as Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told France 24 television that, "there is no real way to announce an end to construction. There's half a million people living there." Palestinian Authority officials were quick to condemn the statement.

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Settlers cultivate W.Bank tourism to tighten grip on land
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Alertnet
by Maayan Lubell - June 20, 2011 - 12:00am

The bulletproof van is extra. Welcome to the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where Jewish settlements built on land Palestinians seek for a state are opening their gates to foreign tourists and Israeli visitors. A one-day tour, booked through a regional settler council, costs $50. An additional $80 secures the armoured bus. Palestinians, or "local Arabs" in the words of settlers who spoke to one group of visitors, are not on the itinerary.

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Cabinet expected to curtail Barak's power to veto West Bank settlement construction
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - June 17, 2011 - 12:00am

The cabinet is expected to vote on Sunday to curtail Defense Minister Ehud Barak's authority to supervise construction in West Bank settlements. The proposal would revoke Barak's right to veto West Bank construction by the World Zionist Organization's Settlement Division. The division budgets NIS 25 million a year for this purpose. The Settlement Division was set up in 1967 after Israel conquered the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Golan Heights and Sinai Peninsula. For years, it was tasked with building settlements in the West Bank and did not deal with the Negev or Galilee at all.

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Palestinians stick to call for settlement freeze
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
June 16, 2011 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM — The Palestinians are sticking to their demand for an Israeli settlement construction freeze in the West Bank, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Thursday, complicating President Barack Obama's latest peace drive. Obama recently outlined his vision of two states based on the pre-1967 war lines, with mutually agreed land swaps. The president's call for talks did not mention a new settlement freeze, and U.S. officials have indicated it is not essential to the restarting of talks.

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Hamas: Netanyahu responsible for swap deal delay
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
June 9, 2011 - 12:00am

Hamas leader Moussa Abu Marzouq blamed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, for what he said was a delay in the release of Israeli and Palestinian prisoners in a swap deal. Citing Netanyahu's "intransigence," the official said the leader bore "full responsibility" for the continued confinement of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit as well as thousands of Palestinians considered prisoners of war.

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Palestinian leadership divided over plan to seek UN recognition
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - June 9, 2011 - 12:00am

The Palestinian leadership is sharply divided over the unilateral move to seek recognition from the United Nations General Assembly in September. While Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is determined to go through with the move, a group of senior Palestinians have said in closed conversations that they oppose it because they believe seeking recognition from the United Nations could do more harm than good to their cause.

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Hamas, Fatah to meet next week in Cairo
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
June 8, 2011 - 12:00am

Delegates from rival Palestinian factions will meet in Cairo next week for more talks after they have agreed to reconcile, an official said Wednesday. The representatives of Hamas and Fatah will talk next Tuesday about the formation of a technocratic government in accordance with the Egypt-brokered agreement that was signed early last month, said Azzam Al-Ahmad, an official from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party. "The meeting will look into starting steps to implement the agreement," Al-Ahmad told Xinhua.

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Israel's plan to forcibly remove 30,000 Bedouin slammed as cruel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Vita Bekker - June 7, 2011 - 12:00am

Human rights groups have condemned an Israeli government plan to forcibly remove 30,000 Bedouin Arabs from their homes in southern Israel, calling it "cruel and discriminatory". Government ministers are expected to approve a programme that will cost at least six billion shekels (Dh6.5bn) and calls for the relocation of the members of the Arab minority to larger Bedouin communities in the Negev desert, according to reports released at the weekend.

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Settlers, police clash at West Bank outpost
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
June 3, 2011 - 12:00am

Six Israeli police officers and five settlers were injured Thursday in clashes that erupted as police dismantled an illegal settlement outpost, a police spokesman said. Police moved in to the Ali Ayan outpost in the West Bank, north of Ramallah, early on Thursday, spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. "Police, border police, and the army moved in there in the early morning in order to take down four illegal buildings that were built recently," he said. "Immediately upon arriving in the area there was a strong response from settlers, who threw stones."

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