'Our lives became something we'd never dreamt': The former Israeli soldiers who have testified against army abuses
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Donald MacIntyre - (Book Review) December 12, 2010 - 1:00am

For anyone who has covered Israel, the West Bank and Gaza over the past few years, reading "Occupation of the Territories," the new book from the Israeli ex-soldiers organisation Breaking the Silence, can be an eerily evocative experience.

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Reality Check
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Thomas L. Friedman - (Opinion) December 11, 2010 - 1:00am

The failed attempt by the U.S. to bribe Israel with a $3 billion security assistance package, diplomatic cover and advanced F-35 fighter aircraft — if Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu would simply agree to a 90-day settlements freeze to resume talks with the Palestinians — has been enormously clarifying. It demonstrates just how disconnected from reality both the Israeli and the Palestinian leaderships have become.

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Keeping alive a sense of decency in Arab East Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Ian Buruma - (Opinion) December 11, 2010 - 1:00am

Every Friday afternoon for more than a year, hundreds of Israeli Jews have gathered on a dusty little square in the middle of Arab East Jerusalem. There are some Palestinians there, too, including a couple of boys selling fresh orange juice. The people gather there, in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, to protest the eviction of Palestinian families from their homes to make way for Israeli settlers.

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The end of the settlement freeze gimmick is not the end of the world, or the possibility of peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ibishblog
by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) December 10, 2010 - 1:00am

For many months now I have been predicting that the US would probably be able to secure a three or four-month settlement freeze extension, allowing for the resumption of direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. And, indeed, the Obama administration moved heaven and earth to do so, but now it would appear they have accepted that the present Israeli cabinet simply will not agree to any such thing.

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Hillary Clinton signals failure of direct talks on Mideast peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Glenn Kessler - December 10, 2010 - 1:00am

The Obama administration will continue to try to negotiate the outlines of an eventual peace deal between Israelis and Palestinians through indirect talks, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday evening, implicitly acknowledging that the direct talks launched with fanfare just three months ago had failed.

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Israel faces tougher line from EU after former heads call for Palestinian state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Chris McGreal, Harriet Sherwood - December 10, 2010 - 1:00am

Twenty-six European grandees have urged the EU to adopt a tougher stance towards Israel including taking "concrete measures" and exacting "consequences" over continued settlement building on occupied land, which they say is illegal under international law.

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Israel draws international rebuke over settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman
by Karin Laub - December 10, 2010 - 1:00am

The European Union, the United Nations and the Arab League have rebuked Israel after its refusal to halt settlement construction forced Washington to drop efforts to relaunch Mideast peace talks. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday stuck to his position that he won't negotiate without a freeze of Jewish settlement building in the West Bank and east Jerusalem — lands captured by Israel and sought by the Palestinians for their state. He spoke after meeting in Cairo with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and intelligence chief Omar Suleiman.

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Abject surrender
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
(Editorial) December 10, 2010 - 1:00am

Washington’s decision that it will no longer attempt to persuade the Israelis to impose a new moratorium on settlement construction in order to restart peace negotiations is an abject and shocking admission of failure. Everyone knew that that the Americans had serious difficulties trying to persuade the Israelis to concede on this vital issue. But there was wide belief that an ingenious diplomatic formula could be devised to enable talks to go ahead. No one imagined that President Barack Obama would simply capitulate to the Israelis. That is what has happened.

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Why the U.S. Ended Push for Israeli Building Freeze
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - December 9, 2010 - 1:00am

When it became clear a month ago that American and Israeli officials were negotiating a partial, one-time, 90-day Israeli settlement construction freeze in exchange for American military hardware and diplomatic guarantees, few analysts applauded. Related Israel Says It Will Permit More Exports From Gaza (December 9, 2010)

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U.S. hurting peace chances by giving up on Israeli settlement freeze, analysts say
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Janine Zacharia - December 9, 2010 - 1:00am

The Obama administration's decision to stop seeking a new Israeli settlement freeze as a way back into talks with the Palestinians has diminished prospects of achieving a peace accord within a year and eroded U.S. credibility in the region, analysts said Wednesday. The decision also represented a belated recognition that even if they had persuaded Israel to renew a construction moratorium in the West Bank for three months, U.S. officials would have faced an even more difficult problem after that expired.

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