A Search for Plan ‘B’ as Hopes Fade for Direct Mideast Talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Nathan Guttman - October 20, 2010 - 12:00am

As Israelis and Palestinians continue to reject compromise on the extension of a Jewish settlements freeze on the West Bank, all eyes are turning to Washington to see what happens next. With each side digging in on its demands regarding the settlements before they will agree to resume direct negotiations, diplomats and analysts are increasingly discussing the possibility of the Obama administration issuing its own “terms of reference” for such talks. It is an act that would mark a new phase in American involvement, but would still fall short of a full-fledged Obama peace plan.

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Palestinians Shift Focus in Strategy for Statehood
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - October 20, 2010 - 12:00am

The Palestinian leadership, near despair about attaining a negotiated agreement with Israel on a two-state solution, is increasingly focusing on how to get international bodies and courts to declare a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem.

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Palestinians mull alternatives to peace talks, including UN recognition
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Joshua Mitnick - October 20, 2010 - 12:00am

With Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations in limbo over a dispute regarding settlement expansion, Palestinians are starting to think out loud about possible alternatives to peace talks. After investing all of his political capital in talks with Israel, what would President Mahmoud Abbas and his Palestinian Authority (PA) do if he concludes there's no chance for a deal with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu?

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Official: Israel seeks de facto recognition of east Jerusalem's illegal annexation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by Patrick Galey - October 19, 2010 - 12:00am

RAMALLAH, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat on Monday accused Israel of seeking a de facto recognition of its illegal annexation of East Jerusalem by hosting the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) conference in the city. Erekat said in a press statement emailed to reporters that the Palestinians thanked the countries that have decided to withdraw their attendance to the OECD Tourism Committee Summit to be held in Jerusalem on Oct. 20.

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Netanyahu still wary of razing six West Bank outposts slated for demolition in 2004
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
October 19, 2010 - 12:00am

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that his cabinet needed more time to decide when and how to dismantle certain illegal West Bank outposts, due to the "political implications" involved. The government "needs time to consider its priorities" with regard to these outposts, Netanyahu said ahead of a High Court of Justice deliberation on the matter. The court last year ordered the state to explain why it had not evacuated six illegal West Bank outposts - Givat Assaf, Ma'aleh Rehavam, Givat Haroeh, Mitzpeh Yitzhar and Mitzpeh Lachish - that were slated for evacuation in 2004.

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Palestinians plan UN resolution calling for settlement evacuation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - October 19, 2010 - 12:00am

The Palestinian leadership, in conjunction with Arab states, plans to submit a resolution to the UN Security Council stating that Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal and must be evacuated, Haaretz has learned. This initiative comes in place of an earlier idea of seeking Security Council recognition for a Palestinian state within pre-1967 lines.

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Israel pushes Palestinians to acknowledge its Jewish character
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Edmund Sanders - October 19, 2010 - 12:00am

It sounds at first like a familiar Mideast tussle: Israel demands recognition, Arabs refuse to give it. But Israel's recent push to be recognized as a "Jewish" state is actually a new twist on an old struggle, and one that is rapidly turning into the latest stumbling block to faltering peace talks. Israel defines itself as a Jewish state in its declaration of independence. U.S. Presidents Obama and George W. Bush have embraced the term, which was used in the 1947 U.N. resolution calling for the establishment of two states, one Jewish and the other Palestinian Arab.

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Netanyahu's, Barak's silent freeze
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Ofer Petersburg - October 18, 2010 - 12:00am

Despite the end of the West Bank building moratorium, the construction of thousands of planned homes are frozen in practice, as top government officials refrain from granting them the final go-ahead, Yedioth Athronoth reported Monday. Palestinian Side Among other homes, about 1,300 housing units in Jerusalem, which passed all the planning and construction procedures, are not getting the green light that would turn them from blueprints to active construction sites.

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Building to destroy the peace process
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from
(Opinion) October 18, 2010 - 12:00am

Why did the Israeli government see fit to approve, at this particular juncture, the construction of 240 housing units in Jerusalem neighborhoods east of the Green Line? The only explanation is an attempt to sabotage the efforts to renew direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

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INTERVIEW-Israel might extend settlements freeze-ambassador
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Louis Charbonneau, Patrick Worsnip - October 18, 2010 - 12:00am

[-] Text [+] | Subscribe | Email | Print | RSS INTERVIEW-Israel might extend settlements freeze-ambassador 18 Oct 2010 23:19:18 GMT Source: Reuters * Israel govt "looking into possibilities" - Israel envoy * Peace talks with Palestinians not dead, Reuben says By Patrick Worsnip and Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Israel might renew a moratorium on building Jewish settlements in the West Bank after its end last month abruptly froze peace talks with the Palestinians, Israel's new U.N. ambassador said on Monday.

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