Israel forces surround Jerusalem home
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
June 23, 2010 - 12:00am


Jerusalem – Ma’an – Israeli forces deployed around a Palestinian home south of Jerusalem following fierce clashes between local landowners and settlers attempting to expand a road in the area, onlookers said. The settlers were using bulldozers to enlarge a street in advance of plans to install a mobile home in Beit Safafa, witnesses said. Many settlements in the occupied West Bank began as simple structures placed on Palestinian land.


Beit Yehonatan residents: We will evict Arabs ourselves
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Ronen Medzini - June 23, 2010 - 12:00am


"If police do not evacuate the Heichal Shlomo Synagogue of its squatters, we will do it ourselves on July 4," the residents of Beit Yehonatan in the Silwan neighborhood of east Jerusalem threatened on Wednesday. According to them, the State is exercising "discrimination and political persecution" against them by placing Beit Yehonatan on the list of properties destined for evacuation, while Arab houses they claim were built illegally are not included on the list.


Settlers attack Palestinians near Bethlehem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
June 23, 2010 - 12:00am


Hebron – Ma’an – Furious after their own government demolished two houses in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian property in the latest incident of the "price tag" phenomenon. Dozens of residents of the illegal Israeli settlement of Bat Ayin, in the Bethlehem Governorate, were seen throwing stones and empty bottles at Palestinian homes in Safa, an adjacent village next to the Beit Ummar town north of Hebron.


After escaping flotilla uproar, Israel faces new flap over Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Joshua Mitnick - June 23, 2010 - 12:00am


Tel Aviv, Israel Diplomatic tensions have flared over Jerusalem for the first time in weeks following the preliminary approval for a controversial plan for a tourist park in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan. The plan calls for 22 Palestinian houses to be demolished. The decision Monday by a Jerusalem municipal planning committee immediately drew condemnation by the Palestinian Authority and a warning from the United States.


Israel asks UN to shelve aid ship raid inquiry
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
June 23, 2010 - 12:00am


Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said any inquiry should be shelved because new attempts to breach the blockade were still being organised. Nine pro-Palestinian activists died when Israeli soldiers stormed a Turkish aid ship in May. The UN has called for an impartial and credible inquiry into the raid. Israel has announced its own inquiry but some governments have expressed scepticism about its credibility. Mr Barak spoke after talks with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who has been trying to organise the international inquiry called for by the Security Council.


Shimon Peres defends Israel's policies as vital to security
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Edmund Sanders - (Interview) June 23, 2010 - 12:00am


Reporting from Jerusalem Israeli President Shimon Peres said Tuesday that his nation's policy on the Gaza Strip has not yielded the results the government expected, and he criticized municipal plans to tear down 22 Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem to make way for redevelopment. But the 86-year-old former prime minister vigorously defended Israel's overall policies as vital to its security, saying international critics don't face the daily threat of terrorism. He spoke with the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday in his Jerusalem office.


Few legitimate candidates
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Yossi Alpher - (Opinion) June 23, 2010 - 12:00am


The question of settlers remaining in a Palestinian state is becoming increasingly central to the issue of a successful two-state solution. One reason is quite simply the growing number of settlers who live beyond the settlement blocs and who are not likely to accept financial compensation and leave their homes in order to facilitate an agreement.


Palestinians in Lebanon: Righting a wrong
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Ramzy Baroud - (Opinion) June 23, 2010 - 12:00am


What is unfortunate though, is that granting basic civil rights to over 400,000 Palestinians — 62 years after their expulsion from their historic homeland and the issuing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights — has been a topic of “debate” in the first place. Equally regrettable is the fact that various “Christian” Lebanese political forces are fiercely opposing granting Palestinians their rights.


Adviser to Israel's Netanyahu questions Mideast peace effort, new Iran sanctions
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Janine Zacharia - June 23, 2010 - 12:00am


JERUSALEM -- Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's national security adviser said Tuesday that the push for Palestinian statehood has weakened Israel's standing in the world, and he suggested that the outlook is bleak for U.S.-mediated negotiations in the region. Uzi Arad, central in the crafting of Israel's stance on the Palestinians and on Iran's nuclear program, also argued that new U.N. Security Council sanctions on Iran are inadequate to thwart its nuclear progress. A preemptive military strike might eventually be necessary, he said.


Israeli Official Assails Plans for Demolition of Arab Homes
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Dina Kraft - June 23, 2010 - 12:00am


TEL AVIV — A top Israeli official scolded local officials on Tuesday for giving preliminary approval to a plan calling for the demolition of 22 Palestinian homes, in an echo of past stumbles over Jewish development in East Jerusalem.



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