JERUSALEM MEDIA REACTION (08/28): Conflicting reports about

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SUBJECT: JERUSALEM MEDIA REACTION (08/28): Conflicting reports about
a US-Israeli agreement on settlements

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Main Stories:
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The three dailies front-page news refuting earlier reports that the
US reached an agreement with ISRAEL about a partial freeze of
settlement activities. Al-Ayyam quotes Palestinian Authority
Presidential Spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina praising US efforts, but
denying that any concrete agreements between the US and ISRAEL were
made. Al-Quds cites US government sources saying that the US
believes that a freeze of settlement activities must include East
Jerusalem. Al-Ayyam also runs a separate front page story citing an
unnamed US official hinting that there might be some flexibility
concerning a freeze in settlement activity.

The local press highlights the "Elders" visit to the West Bank
village of Bil'in, the site of weekly demonstrations against the
barrier being built between ISRAEL and the West Bank. The headlines
quote former President Jimmy Carter calling on the Israelis to
remove all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem to help
create an independent Palestinian state.

All three dailies run front page coverage of the restrictions
imposed by the Israeli police on West Bank Palestinians wishing to
enter Jerusalem to pray on Fridays during Ramadan. Only men over the
age of 50 and women over the age of 45 may enter the
city. --------------
BLOCK QUOTES:
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1) Saleh Al-Qallab opines in Al-Quds independent daily under the
title "Palestine...from the Chaos of the Revolution to the
Discipline of the State" (08/28): "The Palestinians will join the
negotiations that are supposed to resume after Barack Obama launches
his promised peace plan during the UN General Assembly in September.
They will go to the negotiations carrying with them the West Bank
model as a weapon to face Israeli allegations and stalling tactics.
Security is sustained, and chaos no longer exists. The PA now
controls everything in the West Bank. The forthcoming independent
state would be able to fulfill all of its commitments in any
security or non-security agreements that signs with Israel."
2) Rasmi Abu-Ali opines in Al-Hayat Al-Jadida independent daily
y
under the headline "Even If It's for One Olive Tree" (08/28):"Now
[PA Prime Minister Salam] Fayyad doesn't want to wait for
negotiations to start building an independent Palestinian state ...
He suggests that we try and light a candle instead of cursing the
dark. He suggests that we start building what we can build from the
current infrastructure. And here he calls for a kind of radical
cultural transformation - the transition from the violent conflict
mentality to the construction and building mentality - despite all
the impossible circumstances surrounding the Palestinian people."

WALLES