July 6th

Gazans: We were used as 'human shields'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
July 6, 2010 - 12:00am

A series of testimonies in a report probing Operation Cast Lead suggest that IDF soldiers used Gazans as human shields. The report – exclusively obtained by Ynet – was compiled by the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI) and Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, and focuses mainly on violation of Palestinian prisoners' rights by the Israeli military during the Gaza war.

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B'Tselem: Settlements must be evacuated
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
July 6, 2010 - 12:00am

Forty-two percent of the West Bank is governed by settlement councils, Israeli rights organization B'Tselem revealed in a new settlements study, published Tuesday. Released as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepares to meet with US President Barack Obama in Washington, the report By Hook and by Crook: Israel's Settlement Policy in the West Bank, uses government reports, Civil Administration maps and military documents to compile a picture of "the mechanisms used to gain Israeli control of land in the West Bank."

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Palestinian state now
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Orly Azoulay - July 6, 2010 - 12:00am

The prime minister will undergo a corrective experience in the White House Tuesday: President Obama will shake his hand before the cameras, utter a few polite words of encouragement, and later serve the PM a strictly kosher lunch. It won’t be like Netanyahu’s previous visit, which was held far away from the cameras, almost in hiding, amid a sour atmosphere and bearing the characteristics of a military hazing ceremony.

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Israel's rocky friendship with Barack Obama
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
by Jeremy Bowen - (Opinion) July 6, 2010 - 12:00am

Benjamin Netanyahu does not have a great history with the occupants of the Oval Office. He got off to a bad start with Bill Clinton during his first term as Israel's prime minister in the 1990s. After he lectured Mr Clinton about the Arab-Israeli conflict the president was not happy. "Who the heck does he think he is?" he expostulated. "Who's the hecking superpower here?" Only according to the witness, a diplomat called Aaron Miller, he did not say "heck". It is safe to say that Mr Netanyahu's relations with President Obama have been disastrous.

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Obama-Netanyahu talks need concessions for an Israeli-Palestinian deal
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
(Editorial) July 2, 2010 - 12:00am

A year has passed since President Obama vowed the US would not to turn its back on the Palestinians and their “aspiration for ... a state of their own.” On Tuesday he meets with the one man most able to create that new state: Benjamin Netanyahu, prime minister of Israel. Their talks at the White House will have many purposes, such as lessening the estrangement between the two leaders and bolstering US support of Israel at a time when it is very isolated. But Mr. Obama should not forget his promise to the Palestinians and must extract concessions from Mr. Netanyahu.

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Settlements are a blockade to peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Seth Freedman - (Opinion) July 6, 2010 - 12:00am

There are plenty of thorns in the side of the peace process, but none as sharp and intractable as Israel's settlement programme. For decades, successive Israeli governments have persisted in their obstinate policies in the West Bank to the detriment of civilians on both sides, despite knowing full well that no lasting peace deal can ever be reached without an end to the settlement enterprise.

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Tax-Exempt Funds Aid Settlements in West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner, Mike McIntire, Jim Rutenberg - July 6, 2010 - 12:00am

Twice a year, American evangelicals show up at a winery in this Jewish settlement in the hills of ancient Samaria to play a direct role in biblical prophecy, picking grapes and pruning vines. Believing that Christian help for Jewish winemakers here in the occupied West Bank foretells Christ’s second coming, they are recruited by a Tennessee-based charity called HaYovel that invites volunteers “to labor side by side with the people of Israel” and “to share with them a passion for the soon coming jubilee in Yeshua, messiah.”

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The Palestinians have set the stage for Netanyahu's Washington trip
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ibishblog
by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) July 6, 2010 - 12:00am

This week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his entourage will be visiting Washington and meeting with Pres. Obama tomorrow, but it all comes very much in the context of last month's highly successful trip by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and an entourage of PLO leaders, the centerpiece of which was a meeting on June 9 with Obama in the White House. The logic of the Abbas visit, which had originally been scheduled to follow one week after a similar meeting between Obama and Netanyahu, originally seemed lost due to Netanyahu's cancelation of his meeting.

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Beyond the Occuption: Palestine and the Two-State Solution
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from In These Times
by Ralph Seliger - (Interview) July 6, 2010 - 12:00am

In the wake of the Israel Defense Force’s violent interdiction of the Free Gaza movement’s “peace flotilla” on May 30, and Israel’s decision to ease the blockade of Gaza as a result, we present a pro-Palestinian viewpoint that favors peaceful co-existence with the Jewish State.

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July 2nd

Pres. Abbas reaches out directly to the Israeli public. Martin Indyk says Pres. Obama and PM Netanyahu are developing better working relations. Rights groups critique Israel's Gaza policies. A report from The Lancet confirms long-term health costs from the Gaza blockade. Israel proposes releasing 1000 Palestinian prisoners for Gilad Shalit. Abbas says direct talks depend on progress in indirect talks. Into the Gaza flotilla attack is likely to be more critical than expected. Obama is preparing to press Netanyahu on peace and settlements, and Israeli officials say the conversation will shape the future of the Middle East. PM Fayyad says direct negotiations are not imminent. Israel considers transferring authority over Gaza crossings to the PA. The Jerusalem Post says adroit Palestinian diplomacy has created a conundrum for Netanyahu. UK Methodists vote to boycott settlement products. Jeremy Ben-Ami and Debra DeLee say it's time for more honesty in pro-Israel advocacy. IPS profiles the new film “Budrus"about nonviolent Palestinian resistance.

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