JERUSALEM MEDIA REACTION (11/23): Progress on Prisoner

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SUBJECT: JERUSALEM MEDIA REACTION (11/23): Progress on Prisoner
Exchange; Negotiations Resumption Offer Rejected, and Settlements
Prominently Covered

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Main Stories:
-------------- Dailies lead with news that progress has been achieved
on the prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hamas through
German mediation. Reports expect the deal to be concluded by
Al-Adha Eid.

Ma'an and dailies report that President Mahmoud Abbas refused a US
proposal to resume negotiations with Israel including the following
offers:
Q Weapons for Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces
Q Release of 400 Fatah prisoners from Israeli jails before the
Muslim holiday of Eid
Q Extending the PA's West Bank jurisdiction in Area B to full
control and Area C to partial control

Dailies and Ma'an report on PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's
statement yesterday at a police training graduation ceremony in
Al-Fari'a in the Jordan Valley that the "PA will not accept a
fragmented state".

PA official daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida reports on Qassam brigades
(Hamas' military wing) reaching an agreement with other Palestinian
factions to stop rocket attacks against Israel in order to protect
Palestinian national interests from Israeli retaliation.

Dailies report on Egyptian President Mubarak's statements on Sunday
during a joint press conference with Israeli President Shimon Peres
in Cairo that construction on Palestinian lands occupied since 1967
must stop. Peres was quoted as saying that the expansion of
settlements in the West Bank is a "marginal" topic that obstructs
the peace talks.

Independent daily Al-Quds front pages news that Israeli authorities
distributed 25 evacuation orders to Palestinian families residing in
housing units in Samiramis near Qalandia area, claiming that the
units were built on land that is owned by Jewish settlers. The
evacuation orders will leave 200 people homeless.

Dailies and Ma'an report on a Syrian delegation entering Gaza
through Rafah border crossing yesterday on a solidarity visit. The
delegation was composed of several well-known Syrian television
stars, including Dureid Lahham and Jamal Sulaiman.

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Weekend stories:
--------------
Sunday, November 22:

All three dailies lead with statements by Egyptian President Mubarak
to a joint meeting of Egypt's Parliament that Israelis are
"undermining chances for a just peace by asking for recognition of
Israel as a Jewish state, asking to negotiate over temporary borders
for the Palestinian state, and excluding Jerusalem from the peace
negotiations." Mubarak is also quoted as saying that Egypt will not
accept further procrastination regarding internal Palestinian unity.
Independent daily Al Ayyam quotes Mubarak saying that foreign
pressures are seeking to undermine Palestinian reconciliation.


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All three dailies front page excerpts from an Israeli TV interview
with an Israeli international law expert, Moshe Hersh, in which he
stated that a majority of UN general assembly members would
recognize a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders. According to
Hersh, 130 states would likely recognize such a state. He noted
that even "timid" EU support for such a state would embarrass the
United States, which intends to oppose a unilateral declaration of
Palestinian Statehood.

Al Hayat Al Jadida runs a front page story, quoting Ma'an News
Network that Israeli sources revealed that Jewish rabbis have paid
an Israeli soldier, imprisoned for refusing to evacuate Israeli
settlers from settlement outposts in the West Bank, 1000 shekels for
each of the 56 days he spent in prison for refusing to carry out the
evacuation order.

Al Quds runs a front page interview with the Fatah Parliament Block
leader Azam Al Ahmad, who expressed astonishment at claims by the
United States of its inability to exert pressure on Israel to stop
settlement construction. He stated that all U.S. presidents,
including President Obama, have considered Israel part of U.S.
national security, and if that is the case, then if President Obama
were to issue an order for Israel to stop building settlements it
[Israel] would obey. Al Ahmad expressed the "deep frustration and
disappointment over the U.S. blind biasness towards Israel" as felt
by Palestinians, the PA and Fattah. He also expressed concerns that
if the political environment does not change, PA President Abbas
might quit political life, and consequently the PA might collapse,
however Al Ahmad does not believe that will occur.


Saturday November 21:

All three dailies front-page reports that progress has been achieved
on the Hamas-Israeli prisoner exchange deal. The reports reveal
that the German mediator passed a new list, from Hamas to Israel,
containing 70 names of Palestinian prisoners, after Israel rejected
releasing some prisoners from a previous list. According to the
reports, Israeli PM Netanyahu has already given his consent to go
ahead with the deal, making it possible to move to phase two of the
deal, in which Shalit is to be transferred to Egypt. Once Shalit is
examined by Israeli doctors and found to be in good health, Israel
will release the 450 Palestinian prisoners. The dailies further
report that Hamas hopes to wrap up the deal by November 27 in time
for the Eid Al Adha holiday despite official statements by Israeli
and Palestinian officials that a deal by Friday is "too early." The
reports add that Fatah leader Marwan Barghouthi and the Popular
Front for the Liberation of Palestine leader Ahmad Saadat are said
to be among those that will be released.

All three dailies run lead stories about President Abbas' visit to
Brazil, his call for Brazil to play a more active role in the
stalemated Mideast peace talks, and his statements accusing Israel
of ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Jerusalem. He also accused
Israel of "all forms of oppression and cruelty against the
Palestinians." PA official daily Al Hayat Al Jadida quotes Abbas
as saying "The Palestinian people want a peace in which our sons and
the sons of the Israelis can live free of fear, a peace that returns
to the land of peace its mission of peace...as our people look
forward to the liberation day because occupation is an ugly form of
slavery." The three papers quote Brazilian President Da Silva's
demands that "settlement expansion in the West Bank must be

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frozen...the borders of the future Palestinian state must be
protected and the access of movement within the occupied territories
must be ensured."

Al Quds front page runs several articles on Israeli settlement
activity in Jerusalem. The below-the fold center item headlines "An
Israeli expert: - 'Any Palestinian land owner - in Jerusalem- will
need 10 to 15 years of Israeli construction permit procedures, to be
able to build a house in Jerusalem, even if he is able to prove land
ownership.'" The statements were published Friday in The Jerusalem
Post in response to Israeli official reports that "one day"
Palestinians would benefit from Israeli plans to build housing units
in Jerusalem. In another front page article, Al Quds reports on
Fatah official for Jerusalem Affairs, Hatem Abdul Qader, noting that
GOI plans to confiscate hundreds of dunums of Palestinian lands in
the Walajeh area near Jerusalem to construct the new settlement of
Givat Yael which will house 50,000 Israeli settlers. In a third
front page article, Al Quds, reporting on Friday prayer in
Jerusalem, notes that hundreds of Palestinians performed prayers in
a protest tent in the Bustan area in Silwan, to protest Israeli
settlement activity in the neighbourhood. The paper quotes Sheikh
Raed Salah of the Islamic Movement in Israel calling on the
Palestinians to stay in Jerusalem and stick to their land and
houses.

Al Quds runs a center front-page story entitled "Prominent US
journalist commends PA PM Fayyad's plan." The paper quotes
Washington Post columnist David IGNATIUS' recent article,
"Ramallah's Road Map to Statehood," which praised PA PM Salam
Fayyad's plan for establishing a Palestinian state within two years.
IGNATIUS quotes Martin Indyk, who heads the Saban Center at the
Brookings Institution, as saying, "Fayyad is the only game in town,
but his plan isn't sustainable without a political process."
IGNATIUS' article calls for U.S. approval and support of Fayyad's
plan.
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BLOCK QUOTES:
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Independent daily Al-Quds runs an editorial under the title:
"Mubarak Rectifies Facts in Peres' Misleading Statements" (11/23):
"We all know that Peres' statements, that settlements are a
'marginal' issue obstructing the resumption of negotiations, are
misleading...expansion of settlements is the major obstacle
obstructing the resumption of negotiations as well as to achieving
peace... Peres has no right to determine the future territory of the
Palestinian state, be it Jerusalem, West Bank or Gaza." Al Quds
characterizes Mubarak's courageous statements as a unified Arab
Muslim position supporting the Palestinian cause before the
international community.


RUBINSTEIN
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