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ATFP News Roundup November 3, 2016

News:

Israeli planning authorities issued building permits for 181 new homes in East Jerusalem Wednesday, drawing a harsh rebuke from the United States. (Times of Israel/Ha'aretz)

The former Gaza strongman Mohammed Dahlan is the focus of intrigue as Arab leaders seek change over the objections of Mahmoud Abbas, who has no designated successor. (New York Times)

One of the most divisive trials in Israeli history is taking place in a cramped military courtroom in a peeling mansion in the poor Arab section of Jaffa. (Washington Post)

An Israeli official accused Hamas of “exploiting” Palestinian residents of Gaza traveling to Israel to make them cooperate with the movement, and threatened to reduce access to aid in the blockaded coastal enclave if such alleged pressures continued. (Ma'an)

The Palestinian teenager who murdered Dafna Meir, a mother of six, in her West Bank home was sentenced to life in prison. (JTA)

Israeli bulldozers raided and demolished the unrecognized Palestinian Bedouin village of al-Araqib in the Negev desert for the 105th time on Wednesday morning. (Ma'an)

Two Palestinian teachers from the occupied West Bank district of Nablus qualified to participate in the Global Teacher Prize organized by the Varkey Foundation. (Ma'an)

A senior reporter who spoke to PM Netanyahu the day of the Israeli election says Netanyahu blamed global conspiracy to oust him using U.S. super-software that locates voters. (Ha'aretz)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday accused Syrian government troops of committing "crimes against humanity" that could not be overlooked. (Reuters)

Already accused of war crimes in Syria, the Kremlin is anxious to avoid a blood bath and humanitarian crisis while ousting antigovernment forces. (New York Times

U.S.-backed Iraqi forces moved closer on Wednesday to a town south of Mosul where aid groups and regional officials say Islamic State has executed dozens of prisoners. (Reuters)

Whenever members of Islamic State's Mosul vice squad find a woman without gloves, they pull out a pair of pliers. (Reuters)

Residents celebrated their regained freedoms after the Iraqi forces’ victory over the Islamic State in their area, and the military worked to maintain order. (New York Times)

Aid agencies said on Wednesday families who have fled Mosul and surrounding towns were starting to reach displacement camps away from the fighting, as Iraqi forces press on with an offensive to retake Islamic State's last major stronghold in Iraq. (Reuters)

Almost half the population of the Middle East and North Africa would stay away from casting ballots for either Clinton or Trump if given the right to vote in next week’s US presidential election, an opinion poll revealed Thursday. (Times of Israel)

Commentary:

Ahmad Melhem says news was leaked to the media about the arrest of cell members who were plotting to assassinate three Fatah leaders, although the Palestinian security services will not reveal details on the case before the investigation process is complete. (Al-Monitor)

Steven Heydemann says President Obama shouldn’t leave his successor with no options to move ahead with diplomacy in Syria. (New York Times)

Emile Simpson says Russia has quietly been building power throughout the Middle East. (Foreign Policy)

Michael Young says the election of Michel Aoun as Lebanon’s president represents a new phase in Lebanese politics. (The National)

Rima Maktabi says the Lebanese people want to see the implementation of modern and new laws, and then electing a parliament that reflects their demands, diversity, and opinion. (Al Arabiya)

The New York Times says as more people are arrested and media outlets closed, other countries need to speak the bitter truth to Turkey. (New York Times)

ATFP News Roundup November 2, 2016

News:

Italian President Sergio Mattarella expressed on Tuesday his appreciation for the link between his country and Palestine during his first visit to the occupied Palestinian territory. (Ma'an/Times of Israel)

A mountainous Palestinian community in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Al Jab'a differs in many ways from surrounding Israeli settlements but it shares one worry with its neighbors – a shortage of water. (Reuters)

PM Netanyahu says heads "most sympathetic government toward settlements" ever. (Ha'aretz)

Palestinian Authority security forces reportedly attempted to prevent an attack by one of its officers on Israeli soldiers at a West Bank checkpoint. (Ma'an/Times of Israel)

Israeli Nature and Parks Authority forces demolished several graves inside a Palestinian cemetery in occupied East Jerusalem on Tuesday morning, according to local sources.  (Ma'an)

Clashes broke out between Palestinian youth and Israeli forces on Tuesday afternoon near al-Quds University in the Jerusalem district town of Abu Dis. (Ma'an)

The Palestinian soccer chief said Tuesday he would appeal to the world’s top sports court if the soccer world body FIFA fails to punish Israel over clubs based in the West Bank. (Times of Israel)

Israeli media reported that Israeli security forces “thwarted a potential stabbing attack,” after they stopped a Palestinian woman who allegedly had knives in her possession near the Ibrahimi mosque in the southern occupied West Bank city of Hebron. (Ma'an)

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Tuesday a Western failure to rein in violent Islamists in Syria had indefinitely delayed the resumption of peace talks. (Reuters)

All sides fighting over the Syrian city of Aleppo may be committing war crimes through indiscriminate attacks in civilian areas, U.N. human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told a regular U.N. briefing in Geneva on Tuesday. (Reuters)

Meeting reporters, Mr. Assad radiated confidence that he was firmly in control of his country, declaring that he planned to remain president until his term ends in 2021. (New York Times)

After Islamic State conquered villages in northern Iraq, it spelled out in minute detail the rules of its self-proclaimed caliphate, from beard length to alms to guidelines for taking women as sex slaves. (Reuters)

Islamic State militants killed 40 former members of the Iraqi Security Forces near Mosul on Saturday and threw their bodies in the Tigris river, U.N. human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said on Tuesday, citing reports from the field. (Reuters)

Iraqi forces battled Islamic State fighters on the eastern edge of Mosul on Tuesday as the two-week campaign to recapture the jihadists' last main bastion in Iraq entered a new phase of urban warfare. (Reuters)

Saudi Arabia has injected more than $25 billion into the faltering Egyptian economy in two years, but ties between the two most influential Sunni nations are fraying. (New York Times)

Commentary:

Akiva Eldar says Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman's "carrot-and-stick" plan promises Palestinians big punishments alongside negligible benefits, very much like the policies of the European colonial powers in Africa. (

Mohammed Othman says Hamas has released Zaki al-Sakani from prison, raising questions of whether it was part of a deal between Hamas and Mohammed Dahlan, with whom it just restored relations. (Al-Monitor)

The Washington Post says President Erdogan tramples free expression in a colossal purge. (Washington Post)

Antoun Issa says Lebanon has a new president, not that it matters. (Foreign Policy)

Abdul Rahman Al Rashed says during the years ahead, whether the war continues or peace prevails, it will not be easy for Houthis to impose themselves as a dominating power. (Al Arabiya)


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