Arabs in Israel | The American Task Force on Palestine

Jewish Donors Can Influence Israel’s War on Arabic
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Ron Gerlitz - (Opinion) March 16, 2012 - 12:00am

Last week, I had to spend some time at the new children's wing of Hadassah University Hospital in Ein Karem, Jerusalem. The hospital serves Arabs as well as Jews, and it was my impression that all its patients are treated professionally and with equality. But Arabic-language signs are almost nonexistent in this brand-new and impressive wing.

Israel 'must end imputiny of violence by settlers'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Donald MacIntyre - March 14, 2012 - 12:00am

EU governments, including Britain, have secretly been urged by their top diplomats in Jerusalem and the West Bank to press Israel to enforce laws against Jewish settlers responsible for an "alarming" rise in violence against Palestinians and their property.

In Israel, Druze Community Divided Over Military Service
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Edmund Sanders - March 13, 2012 - 12:00am

Reporting from Isfiyeh, Israel— Amal Asad began his barrier-breaking military career in the Israel Defense Forces after being drafted just days before the 1973 Yom Kippur War. He went on to become one of its first Arab paratroopers and retired as brigadier general, the second-highest rank achieved by a non-Jewish officer.

Israel needs an anthem that represents Arabs and Jews
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
(Editorial) March 12, 2012 - 12:00am

It turns out that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent a message of support to Supreme Court Justice Salim Joubran after the jurist chose not to join in singing the Israeli national anthem at the recent ceremony marking the installation of Asher Grunis as the court's new president. In his message, which was transmitted by diplomatic envoy Isaac Molho, Netanyahu informed the justice that he didn't expect an Israeli Arab like Joubran to sing lyrics such as "a Jewish soul yearns," which are in "Hatikva."

Threatened
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New Yorker
by David Remnick - (Opinion) March 12, 2012 - 12:00am

Democracy is never fully achieved. At best, it’s an ambition, a state of becoming. In America, it took generations for blacks, women, and gays and lesbians to win the rights of citizenship—rights that, in many instances, remain incomplete. (Various contenders for the Presidency are now competing to scale back such rights.) The twenty-first century began with a fraudulent Presidential election. And this is in the luckiest of nations. Elsewhere—in Russia, in Hungary, in Zimbabwe—the fragility of democratic aspiration is a brutal fact of history.

Judge's Silent Protest of Israeli Racism
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Leonard Fein - (Opinion) March 11, 2012 - 1:00am

The scandal took place at the home of Israel’s president, where members of the nation’s leading legal and political echelon had gathered to pay tribute to the retiring president of the Supreme Court and to welcome her successor to that august office. Among those present were the other justices of the Court, including Justice Salim Joubran, the first Israeli Arab to be counted among its 15 members.

Palestinian Female Detainees Tell Horrific Stories of Abuse in Israeli Prisons
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Arabiya
by Amjad Samhan - March 8, 2012 - 1:00am

Throughout the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, around 800,000 Palestinians have been arrested by Israeli authorities, more than 10,000 of whom are women. Many of those female detainees were subjected to several forms of abuse, sexual in particular, but very few were willing to talk. On the eve of International Women’s Day, however, some decided to break their silence. S.H., who refused to disclose her full name, was arrested for a few days to put pressure on her husband, also detained at the time, and extract confessions from him.

Can rival Palestinian factions reach unity deal?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from CNN
by Fionnuala Sweeney - March 7, 2012 - 1:00am

Jerusalem (CNN) -- The recent visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Washington primarily focused on Iran's nuclear program -- a long way from previous meetings that had, more often than not, focused on Israeli-Palestinian relations. There is little talk about a peace process these days.

Israel investing more, but not enough, in Arab sector
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
March 7, 2012 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM, March 7 (Xinhua) -- An Israeli-Arab lobbying group led a Knesset parliament discussion this week on the socioeconomic status of the country's million and a half Arab residents, who make up more than 20 percent of the population. The Haifa-based Mossawa advocacy group presented it's comprehensive findings at a ministerial-level conference organized by lawmaker Talab al-Sana of the United Arab List-Ta'al, who sits on the Knesset Finance Committee.

Arab women in Israel face double discrimination
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Merav Michaeli - (Opinion) March 6, 2012 - 1:00am

In Israel, 17-year-olds are minors for all intents and purposes - except when it comes to marriage. This is not merely theoretical: Every year more than 4,500 Israelis aged 17 or younger marry. The vast majority - around 4,000 - are female. For this purpose, they are not minors. After all, they can already cook and clean; more important, their wombs and all the organs leading to them are ready. The Knesset plenum is to vote today on a bill to raise the minimum marriage age from 17 to 18; there is still a danger that the ultra-Orthodox parties will scuttle it.

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