May 20th

Lanny Davis says peace should be based on Israelis and Palestinians coming together. Pres. Obama tells Jewish members of Congress he will not seek to impose a US plan.A new website explores obstacles to peace. Sasha Polakow-Suransky looks at "alternatives" to a two state agreement. Ma'an interviews a Salafist-Jihadist militant from Gaza. The US donates $1.4 million to UNRWA. Palestinians register formal complaints with the US about Israeli actions. Hamas arrests a senior Fatah leader in Gaza. Palestinians say settler efforts to break their boycott will fail. Reports are growing of family sexual abuse in Gaza. Israel expects the Palestinians to increase diplomatic pressure on settlements in spite of negotiations. Gideon Levy says Israel is starting to resemble North Korea. Israeli extremists rally in support of insubordinate troops. George Hishmeh says Arab funding is needed to counter Israeli propaganda. Daoud Kuttab explains the difficulties for Palestinians to keep their Jerusalem residency. Hussein Ibish says the US may not have a plan B for peace, but the Palestinians do. This Week in Palestine profiles organic farmers.

The US may have no Plan B, but the Palestinians do
Media Mention of Hussein Ibish In The Daily Star - May 20, 2010 - 12:00am

The Obama administration was successful in arranging for the resumption of Palestinian-Israeli negotiations through “proximity talks,” which began recently. However, expectations in all quarters are understandably low for any near-term breakthrough. Consequently, Palestinians have been systematically developing a new set of peaceful strategies to achieve independence and advance a resolution to the conflict.

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The path to a true peace
Media Mention of ATFP In The Hill - May 19, 2010 - 12:00am

Recently, I had lunch with an Israeli friend who, despite being a strong supporter of a two-state solution (as this writer is), was skeptical that the U.S.’s basic approach to the peace process — emphasizing negotiating the details of a peace agreement — would be enough to bring true peace between the Israelis and Palestinians.

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Palestinian Agro-Resistance
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from This Week in Palestine
by Vivien Sansour - May 20, 2010 - 12:00am

Abu Adnan does not talk about a global movement to save the earth. He doesn’t know much about Greenpeace or the Kyoto Protocol; but he does know everything about keeping his soil healthy and fertile, and the terraces he builds to protect his soil make his mountainous piece of land a visual paradise. A farmer since childhood in his home village of Faqua in the Jenin district, Abu Adnan Abed El Salam, who is now 78 years old, has built over 60 terraces in his lifetime, one stone at a time. When people come to talk to him about the “new” trend of organic agriculture he smiles.

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Residency and naturalisation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Daoud Kuttab - May 20, 2010 - 12:00am

My eldest daughter, Tamara, who studied and worked in the US, finally got her own Israeli-issued residency ID for Jerusalem. It took her seven years to accomplish this feat despite the fact that she was born and raised in Jerusalem to parents holding Jerusalem residency. What would normally be a routine act is a major hurdle for Palestinians, especially those who reside in Jerusalem.

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Arab funding could be a game changer
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by George S. Hishmeh - May 20, 2010 - 12:00am

The Israeli narrative — thanks to Israel's wealthy and well-connected supporters and the many politicians who, in turn, are desperately in need of their financial backing and votes — is prevalent in the West, especially in the United States. This is evident in the halls of Congress, in the American media, in mushrooming think-tanks in key cities, particularly Washington, and, needless to say, among some senior US officials.

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A Roadside Rally For Soldiers Who Refused Orders
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Nathan Jeffay - May 19, 2010 - 12:00am

Some 400 protesters gathered recently outside a prison dating back to the British Mandate to offer solidarity with inmates who are being hailed by some as modern-era Sharanskys. “Refuseniks claimed the right for Jews to live in a certain place in the world, and these youngsters are defending that right,” Likud party activist Shlomo Amshalem said of two men being held inside the prison.

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Democracy according to Reichman
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Gideon Levy - May 20, 2010 - 12:00am

In the end, we will only be left with Prof. Uriel Reichman. After we sent Prof. Noam Chomsky away, and there was no sharp rebuke by Israeli academics (who in their silence support a boycott of Bir Zeit University ), we will be left with a narrow and frightening intellectual world. It will be the kind of intellectual world shaped by the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya - an institution of army officers and the rich, headed by its president, Reichman.

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Classified report: PA to step up anti-Israel diplomacy despite proximity talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - May 20, 2010 - 12:00am

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman says in a classified document that despite the indirect talks with the Palestinian Authority, the PA is expected to conduct a diplomatic struggle against Israel abroad. Lieberman makes his case in the document handed out to the forum of seven senior ministers. The report also states that the Palestinians will seek to use the so-called proximity talks to increase American pressure on Israel so the freeze on settlement construction will continue well beyond its September deadline.

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Family Sexual Assault Surfacing in Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line
by Omer Ghraieb - May 19, 2010 - 12:00am

Eighteen-year-old “E.S.” hides in the corner of her dark room, fearing the approach of a family member coming to prey on her flesh again. The wary girl with deep green eyes and golden locks makes several grueling attempts at speech, eventually letting out in screams that she was being raped by her relatives, finally leading her to isolation.

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