Frustration Behind Abbas' call for unilateralism
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by Adam Gonn - December 2, 2010 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has once again raised the possibility of unilaterally declaring a independent Palestinian state without signing a peace agreement with Israel. After a meeting with German President Christian Wulff in Bethlehem on Tuesday, Abbas told reporters that if talks with Israel fail then the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) will look for other options to achieve independence.

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Editorial: US responsibility
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
(Editorial) December 1, 2010 - 1:00am

We hear Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas this week warning that the unresolved Jewish settlements issue is a time bomb waiting to blow apart any chance of a peace deal between Palestinians and Israelis. We hear, too, from international aid and human rights organizations that Israel’s claims to have eased the blockade on Gaza is a lie; it has had almost no effect and done nothing to improve the lives of ordinary Palestinians there. We hear, as well, that a poll of Israeli Jews finds that they are intolerant and suspicious of Israeli Arab citizens.

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Israel`s latest settlement plan angers Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
November 30, 2010 - 1:00am

Israeli authorities on Monday approved a request for 130 new Jewish homes on the outskirts of annexed east Jerusalem, drawing an immediate protest from Palestinian officials. The Jerusalem municipal council approved a request that would rezone an area in the settlement of Gilo, near Bethlehem, allowing residential construction on a plot of land originally designated for a hotel. Elie Isaacson, spokesman for Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, said the rezoning decision was part of a plan to increase housing in the Holy City.

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Abbas warns of settlement 'time bomb'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
November 30, 2010 - 1:00am

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas warned Monday that Israel's settlement enterprise has become "a time bomb" that could destroy peace hopes at any moment. Abbas made the statement on the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People which is marked each year since 1977 on November 29. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said in a message to mark an international day for Palestinians that there was little sign of optimism by Palestinians or Israelis that a peace accord could be achieved soon.

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Beyond Green Line: Apartments instead of hotel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Ronen Medzini - November 29, 2010 - 1:00am

The Jerusalem Local Planning and Building Committee on Monday gave its approval to build 130 housing units in an area located beyond the Green Line, between the neighborhoods of Gilo and Beit Safafa. The area was previously designated for the construction of hotels.

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A Crisis in the Heart of Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Hussein Shobokshi - (Opinion) November 28, 2010 - 1:00am

Ever since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, its media has been trying to sell the idea that Israel is a secular state that brought together its children from the Diaspora, returning them to the Promised Land, as was promised in their scriptures and religious teachings where they can live their lives according to socialist principles in collective communities called Kibbutzim [or a Kibbutz]. This is a Yiddish language word which was spoken predominately by Jews in Eastern Europe.

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Regional leaders accuse Netanyahu of 'rejecting peace'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Vita Bekker - November 27, 2010 - 1:00am

TEL AVIV // Leaders from Syria, Egypt and Lebanon accused the Israeli premier yesterday of rejecting peace efforts in what appeared to be a bid to pressure Israel to accept a US plan that could lead to renewed talks with the Palestinians. Their charges came just hours after the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's predecessor, Ehud Olmert, lashed out at his successor for not heeding Washington's demand to halt new settlement projects in the occupied West Bank for three months to help restart negotiations.

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Price of Beauty: Boycotts and ‘Buycotts’
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Joy Resmovits - November 27, 2010 - 1:00am

The Middle East conflict has inflamed college campuses, bedeviled political campaigns and sparked street demonstrations. But cosmetics stores are the latest, and perhaps least likely, sites so far to bear witness to the sprawling nature of this ever deepening dispute.

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Washington bends for Israel once again
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Rami Khouri - November 27, 2010 - 1:00am

The revelation in the United States Wednesday that Washington was offering Israel new security-related guarantees in return for a two-month extension of the partial moratorium on new Jewish colonies in the occupied Palestinian territories is neither surprising nor encouraging. It may reflect a continuation of the tradition in Washington that emphasizes a fawning and almost servile attitude to Israeli “security” concerns as the primary substantive issue in Arab-Israeli negotiations, which the Israelis astutely use as leverage in tactical negotiations to press their side of the negotiations.

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A Dangerous Link
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Forward
(Editorial) November 24, 2010 - 1:00am

The Obama administration’s offer of a package of advanced weaponry and military assistance worth billions of dollars in return for an Israeli commitment to freeze settlement construction for just three months marks a troubling development in the relationship between the two allies. There’s a reason that this deal has drawn criticism from an unusual chorus on both the left and the right among Americans who care about Israel’s security. It’s not beneficial to either nation.

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