Middle East News: World Press Roundup

In an op-ed for The Guardian, ATFP President Ziad Asali analyzes Salam Fayyad’s blueprint for a de-facto Palestinian state. Prime Minister Netanyahu will reportedly approve the construction of hundreds of new housing units in existing West Bank settlements as a prelude to a building freeze, drawing sharp criticism from many Quarters. President Abbas says that a possible summit meeting with Netanyahu and President Obama depends on "steps that are taken beforehand regarding a settlement construction freeze." Israeli warplanes bomb a tunnel linking the southern Gaza Strip with Israel. Israeli police are deployed in Jerusalem as thousands of Palestinians head to the city for prayers on the second Friday of Ramadan. Hamas leader Khaled Meshal is reportedly planning to finalize a prisoner swap deal involving the release of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

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If you build it, the state will come ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Ziad Asali - (Opinion) September 4, 2009 - 12:00am Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad's blueprint for what he has called "de facto Palestinian statehood" offers a new and important element to the quest for peace in the Middle East. » Read more

Israel to Approve Flurry of West Bank Building ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Ethan Bronner - September 4, 2009 - 12:00am Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will approve the construction of hundreds of new housing units in Israeli settlements in the West Bank in the coming days as a prelude to a building freeze of six to nine months aimed at restarting peace talks with the Palestinians, senior Israeli officials said on Friday. The plan is an attempt to ease pressure on Mr. Netanyahu from within his own Likud Party, which wants settlements to continue unimpeded, and from Washington, the Palestinian Authority and the rest of the Arab world, which want a total halt to such construction. » Read more

Israel 'to back settlement work' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News September 4, 2009 - 12:00am The prime minister is expected to back work on hundreds of new homes next week in addition to 2,500 units already being built, a senior aide said. He will then consider a temporary halt to settlement building, as requested by the US in a bid to restart peace talks. The news angered the Palestinians who said it was "absolutely unacceptable". "The only thing suspended by this announcement will be the peace process," Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat told the AFP news agency. 'Moratorium' » Read more

Following night airstrike, Israeli bulldozers invade Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency September 4, 2009 - 12:00am Israeli warplanes bombed a tunnel allegedly linking the southern Gaza Strip with Israel early on Friday morning. Also on Friday, witnesses in Gaza said Israeli military vehicles, including three armored bulldozers, razed farmland about 100 meters east of Gaza City. Israeli forces also reportedly fired on houses in the area. » Read more

Checkpoints become friction points as Palestinians throng Jerusalem ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency September 4, 2009 - 12:00am Israel deployed police heavily in Jerusalem as tens of thousands of Palestinians headed to the city for noon prayers on the second Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Armed police and border guards were seen in what seemed like every street and alley of Old City surrounding cities. For Palestinians from the West Bank, Friday was a rare chance to visit their capital and pray at Islam’s third holiest site: the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Thousands of Palestinians from Jerusalem and communities inside Israel were also expected. » Read more

Israel to approve hundreds of new settler homes ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP) by Marius Schattner - September 4, 2009 - 12:00am Israel will approve construction of West Bank settlement homes before it considers a freeze sought by Washington, a top government official said on Friday, sparking Palestinian outrage. The plan is also certain to anger the US administration, which has pushed for a freeze of Jewish settlements in an effort to restart the stalled Middle East peace process. "In the next days the prime minister will approve construction starts and then he might consider a freeze for a limited time under certain conditions," the official told AFP, asking not to be identified. » Read more

Aide: Netanyahu considering settlement freeze ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Matti Friedman - September 4, 2009 - 12:00am Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would be willing to consider suspending construction in the West Bank for several months — but first plans to authorize hundreds of new apartments there, an aide said Friday. The U.S. has been pressing Israel to agree to a settlement freeze, and the Palestinians have said they would not resume peace talks unless Israel suspends construction on lands they want for a future state. Friday's statement was the first time an aide has said in the name of the prime minister's office that such a move could be imminent. » Read more

Abbas sees Israeli settlement freeze by October ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP) September 4, 2009 - 12:00am Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said on Thursday that he hopes for Israel to agree to a settlement freeze on occupied Palestinian land by the end of September. "Concerning the peace process, we reaffirmed that we were entirely disposed to go forward with negotiations for the (Palestinian territories') final status if Israel stops settlement building," Abbas said. "This is the main concern of the American administration and of all of our European friends with France leading," he told a press conference alongside French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner as he began a visit to France. » Read more

Abbas: Netanyahu's West Bank construction plan 'unacceptable' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Barak Ravid - September 4, 2009 - 12:00am Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's planned approval of the construction of hundreds of new housing units in West Bank settlements is "unacceptable," Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Friday in Paris. "What the Israeli government said [about the planned construction] is not useful," Abbas said after a meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy. "It is unacceptable for us. We want a freeze on all settlement construction." » Read more

Yossi Sarid / Divide Jerusalem, before we lose it forever ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Yossi Sarid - September 4, 2009 - 12:00am Believers the world over do not believe the ape was their ancestor. They are correct - man is apparently descended from the wolf. A pack of Arab wolves lynched a Jewish man in Tel Aviv and a pack of Jewish wolves preyed on an Arab man in Jerusalem this week. They know no God, so what do we expect of the poor apes? » Read more

Hamas said ready to sign Shalit deal this weekend ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Avi Issacharoff - September 4, 2009 - 12:00am Hamas leader in exile Khaled Meshal is planning to finalize a prisoner swap deal for the release of abducted Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit during a rare visit to Cairo this weekend, senior Palestinian sources told the Saudi daily Al-Watan on Friday. Hamas spokesman Taher A-Nunu confirmed that Meshal was traveling to Cairo on Saturday for a round of talks with Egyptian officials, attended by the organization's top-brass from Gaza and Damascus. » Read more

Embassy source: Doubtful US signed off on Israeli decision ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews September 4, 2009 - 12:00am Hours after the angered Palestinian response to Israel's plans to authorize the construction of hundreds of new housing units in the West Bank before implementing a settlement freeze it became apparent that the plans were not necessarily approved by the United States. Kurt Hoyer, spokesman for the US embassy in Tel Aviv, said Friday Washington would be unlikely to accept anything "contrary to the spirit of negotiations they've been undertaking" and added it was "doubtful" the US had signed off on the Israeli decision. » Read more

Erekat: Approval of construction unacceptable ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews September 4, 2009 - 12:00am Reports that Israel plans to approve the construction of hundreds of housing units in the West Bank before implementing the settlement freeze that was agreed upon with the United States has angered the Palestinian leadership. Top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said on Friday the planned Israeli move is "unacceptable". Earlier Friday an aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, "The prime minister plans to approve the construction of hundreds of news housing units in Judea and Samaria, before the freeze." » Read more

'Gov't doesn't know where it's going' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post September 4, 2009 - 12:00am Following reports of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's plan to approve hundreds of new housing units in the West Bank before considering a brief settlement freeze, opposition leader Tzipi Livni said on Friday that the government did not know where is was headed and was playing a dangerous game of trying to please everyone. "Israel's leaders, the elected government, in my opinion, still hasn't made a choice between two different outlooks. One, Jewish existence in every part of Israel, and two, the existence of a Jewish democratic state," she said in a speech at an IDF pensioners' event. » Read more

Are inaccurate media reports hurting U.S.-Israel relationship? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) by Eric Fingerhut - September 2, 2009 - 12:00am President Obama told Jewish leaders in a July meeting that Israel needs to “engage in serious self-reflection.” Israel’s new U.S. ambassador was “summoned” to the State Department to be lectured about Israel's building settlements in Jerusalem. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called two top aides to Obama “self-hating Jews.” All of these reports appeared in the Israeli daily Ha’aretz. And they've all been disputed or denied by the principals involved. » Read more

Bibi should not be overconfident ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News by Patrick Seale - (Opinion) September 4, 2009 - 12:00am On two key issues of Barack Obama's foreign policy - Palestinian statehood and reconciliation with Iran - Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's Prime Minister, has chosen to fight the American President. He has refused to bend to Obama's will, and is instead seeking to outwit and defeat him. » Read more

Obama can still do more ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times by George S. Hishmeh - September 4, 2009 - 12:00am As the stage is being reportedly set for President Barack Obama to spell out his much-awaited ideas for a Palestinian-Israeli settlement at the opening of the UN General Assembly later this month, two issues remain regrettably overlooked or shortsightedly sidetracked. If this neglect persists, they have the potential of derailing a peaceful settlement. » Read more

Editorial: Mideast peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News (Editorial) September 4, 2009 - 12:00am It was not just among Americans that Barack Obama raised great expectations when he won last year’s US presidential elections. In this part of the world, people believed that he would solve the Palestinian issue. Repeated signs from him that restarting and solving the Middle East peace process was a foreign policy priority reinforced that view. As a result, Arab and Muslim attitudes toward the US softened. » Read more

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