Was there an occupation?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Zvi Barel - (Opinion) August 8, 2012 - 12:00am

All told, what did the justice minister really want to do? Insert a small correction. Clerical. Fair, like most of the minister's ideas. Courts, he decided, cannot review claims that do not cite the identity card number or passport number of the plaintiff. Yet this is no naive directive. It is designed to nullify the basic rights of thousands of work migrants and residents from the territories. It will stop them from lodging claims in Israeli courts. One small step for bureaucracy, one giant leap for the occupation.

»

Tel Aviv council rejects Arabic caption in city logo
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Gilad Morag - August 7, 2012 - 12:00am

The city of Tel Aviv may aim to serve as a beacon of co-existence but as far as its official logo is concerned it may not be so liberal. The Tel Aviv city council on Monday rejected a motion to reimagine the emblem so it includes the city's name in Arabic as well as in Hebrew and English.  

»

On Apartheid
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Gershon Baskin - (Opinion) August 6, 2012 - 12:00am

Spending days with the Jewish community of South Africa at Limmud is a unique opportunity to meet another dynamic, engaged Jewish community in the Diaspora.

»

Israel Must Accommodate The Arabic Language
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Yedioth Ahronoth
by Gilad Kariv - (Opinion) August 6, 2012 - 12:00am

Not long ago while on an El Al flight, I received an explanation from a service manager about the plane’s sound system. On a list hung on the side of the control box was a roster of the numerous languages used in the in-flight announcements. Only one language did not appear: Israel's second official language, Arabic.

»

An Israeli Arab's home is his castle
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Noam Dvir - (Opinion) August 2, 2012 - 12:00am

During his last visit to Wadi Ara in January 2012, Dr. Kobi Peled was surprised to discover dozens of Corinthian-style pillars on the facades of private homes. While some were structural, it was clear that many were not weight-bearing, but merely placed there to lend an appearance of classical beauty and sanctity to the house, or sometimes, to make homes look like public or government buildings.

»

Palestinian Christians swept aside as Israel rewrites history
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Ali Khaled - (Opinion) August 1, 2012 - 12:00am

He vanquished a dragon, saved a princess and passed into myth. What popular culture knows about St George (or Georgius, in Latin) pretty much begins and ends with the children's fairy tale, but there is a historical figure underneath that legend. Born about 1,800 years ago, St George's father was a soldier in the Roman army, and his mother was a Palestinian Christian. After his death, he was hallowed by the Catholic Church, but what is less known is that Muslims also venerated his name.

»

Israel's Wild West
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Ayyam
by Moshe Ronen - July 30, 2012 - 12:00am

The year: 1935. Three Zionist Jews, born in Persia and its environs, decide to buy plots in the Holy Land. They find a Bedouin Sheikh named Hussein Salaam Abu Kuaf, pay him and receive a 654 dunam tract [158 acres] in the Negev. Almost 80 years later, their descendants discover that a Bedouin village was constructed on the land that had been purchased for them, and the new tenants have no intention of leaving. “This is exactly like the Ulpana Hill crisis,” claim the Jewish land-owners. “Only this time, it’s about Bedouins who took over Jewish land.”

»

East Jerusalem concert nixed after claims of "normalization"
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
July 26, 2012 - 12:00am

The UN Middle East envoy announced on Wednesday the postponement of a concert planned for East Jerusalem, after Palestinian objections to the perceived act of "normalization".

»

Jerusalem municipality asks IDF to take responsibility for residents who live east of the separation fence
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Nir Hasson, Chaim Levinson - July 24, 2012 - 12:00am

The Jerusalem municipality director-general has asked the IDF to take responsibility for handling civilian matters pertaining to Jerusalem residents east of the separation fence. The director-general, Yossi Heiman, made this request at a municipality meeting three weeks ago, saying the Israel Defense Forces' Civil Administration could increase its responsibilities.

»

The Palestinian problem is gone!
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Gershon Baskin - (Opinion) July 23, 2012 - 12:00am

I am struggling to make sense of the policies being implemented by our prime minister. Binyamin Netanyahu is an intelligent man. In keeping his coalition together and staying in power longer than most past prime ministers, he has proven that he is also a masterful politician. However, I can’t accept that his political strategy is only a game of survival. I believe Netanyahu cares deeply about the country and its people; he adheres to a defined worldview and does not only make difficult decisions under pressure, as many claim.

»


American Task Force on Palestine - 1634 Eye St. NW, Suite 725, Washington DC 20006 - Telephone: 202-262-0017