May 26th

Israel ends highway segregation, pleasing no-one ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Douglas Hamilton - May 25, 2010 - 12:00am Starting Friday, Israeli troops will guard new checkpoints in the West Bank that nullify the impact of an Israeli court order allowing Palestinian drivers to use route 443. What was hailed as a victory for justice six months ago, when a 2002 ban on Palestinian traffic was ruled illegal, now looks like sleight of hand presaging a "human rights travesty", says the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI). » Read more

Israel to permit entry to Arab investors for PIC ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency May 26, 2010 - 12:00am Israel will permit an exceptional 815 Middle East businessmen and women to enter the West Bank for Bethlehem's second Palestine Investment Conference (PIC) in June, officials announced on Tuesday. Executive director of PIC Ja’far Hdeib called news of the permits, communicated by Israel's Civil Administration late Monday night, the first signs of success for the conference, titled Investing in Palestine: Empowering Small and Medium-sized Enterprises. » Read more

UN peace envoy: 2-state solution urgent ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency May 26, 2010 - 12:00am UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Robert Serry spoke Tuesday of the urgency of achieving the two state solution at a UN International Meeting in Turkey. » Read more

Gaza: 15 injured in Israeli airstrikes ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency May 26, 2010 - 12:00am Fifteen Palestinians were injured on Wednesday morning as Israeli F16 warplanes bombarded a training base belonging to Hamas' military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip. Palestinian medical sources confirmed that some of the victims sustained critical wounds, with media coordinator for Gaza medical services Adham Abu Selmiyya saying injured were evacuated to hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip. He explained that several houses close to the training base sustained material damage. » Read more

What Do They Want from the Palestinians? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'ariv by Yariv Oppenheimer - May 26, 2010 - 12:00am Those Palestinians, what ingrates. Instead of being happy that the Israeli economy has learned to exploit the lands of Judea and Samaria and to invest inordinate sums of money to build factories and industrial zones in the territories, the Palestinian Authority announces a boycott and a ban on purchasing Israeli goods that are manufactured in the settlements. We could have expected better from the Palestinians. » Read more

PA's Abbas slams Iran ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Ali Waked - May 26, 2010 - 12:00am Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas harshly slammed the Iranian regime Tuesday for interfering in Palestinian affairs. In an interview with Egyptian television, Abbas said that Hamas was refusing to achieve intra-Palestinian reconciliation because of an Iranian veto. "We, the Palestinian people, are like a hijacked airplane," he said. "The decision-making power is not in our hands, but rather, in the hands of the Iranians. For that reason, the Palestinian people's unity, just like the plane, is also hijacked." » Read more

Effective resistance to illegal occupation ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons by Ghassan Khatib - May 26, 2010 - 12:00am The Palestinian campaign to boycott settlement products is enjoying exceptionally high levels of enthusiasm and support from all sectors of Palestinian society. It is also garnering sympathy and understanding from a wide range of members of the international community. » Read more

May 25th

700 days of no, and one yes: George Mitchell on peacemaking ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Politico by Laura Rozen - May 25, 2010 - 12:00am With Israeli-Palestinian indirect proximity talks having finally gotten underway after more than a year of his shuttle diplomacy, Middle East peace envoy George Mitchell took to two stages Monday evening to talk about his peacemaking efforts in the Middle East and Northern Ireland in the role of diplomatic dean. » Read more

Harsh jail rules for Hamas prisoners threaten riots, Israel warned ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Omar Karmi - May 24, 2010 - 12:00am Hamas officials yesterday warned that new legislation before the Israeli parliament that seeks to worsen conditions for Hamas prisoners detained in Israeli jails could spark prison riots that might spill over into the streets. Human rights organisations also condemned the legislation, which cleared a major hurdle on Sunday when it passed a ministerial committee and received the support of the Israeli government. » Read more

Even picnics in Israel are political ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Neve Gordon - May 25, 2010 - 12:00am Picnics, like almost everything else in Israel, are often political. Oz Shelach underscores this point in his collection of short stories, Picnic Grounds, where he describes how a history professor takes his family on a picnic in the pine forest near Givat Shaul, a Jerusalem neighbourhood. The professor teaches his son some of the camping skills he learned while serving in the Israeli military, using old stones to block the wind and to protect the newly lit fire. The stones, we are told, are the remains of a village known as Deir Yassin. » Read more