Israel court rules against evicting two East Jerusalem Palestinian families
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Nir Hasson - December 19, 2011 - 1:00am

The Jerusalem Magistrate's Court has rejected two separate lawsuits seeking the eviction of two Palestinian families from homes in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan. In both cases, the plaintiff said the homes had been sold to new owners who wanted the Palestinian families out. Two judges rejected those claims Thursday. The lawsuits were filed by two groups closely linked to Elad, an organization supporting Jewish settlement in the area, and to Elad chairman David Be'eri, who is also the Israel representative of one of the groups seeking the eviction.

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Israel razing more Palestinian homes, wells-monitors
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Allyn Fisher-Ilan - December 13, 2011 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Israel has stepped up its demolitions of Palestinian property in occupied land this year, razing double the number of homes and water wells from 2010, human rights groups said on Tuesday. The statement endorsed by 20 organisations including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch further said Jewish settler violence against Palestinians had risen in 2011 and that Israel had sped up its expansion of settler enclaves.

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Israel OKs new settler homes in East Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
December 8, 2011 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM (AFP) -- Israel has approved construction of a new Jewish enclave in the heart of a Palestinian neighborhood of annexed East Jerusalem, state-owned Channel One TV reported Wednesday. The channel said the 14-home project, to be named Maale David, was approved late Wednesday by the Jerusalem city council's planning committee and was likely to spark fresh international condemnation of Israel's settlements policy. It is to be sited in the Palestinian neighborhood of Ras al-Amud, near an existing Jewish settlement of 1,000 people, the report said.

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US 'disappointed' by new Israeli settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Google News
December 8, 2011 - 1:00am

WASHINGTON — The United States expressed disappointment Thursday over Israeli settlement activity after the approval of construction of a new Jewish enclave in annexed east Jerusalem. However, the US State Department also said that it opposed a call by the Palestinians to take the issue to the UN Security Council, where Washington vetoed in February a resolution condemning Israeli settlements.

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Jerusalem orders ramp to Temple Mount and Al Aqsa Mosque closed
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Batsheva Sobelman - December 8, 2011 - 1:00am

REPORTING FROM JERUSALEM -- Jerusalem officials have ordered a ramp leading from the Western Wall plaza up to Temple Mount and Al Aqsa mosque closed immediately, a controversial move in an area of competing religious and political claims. The Mughrabi Ramp, which is used mostly by tourists and Israeli security personnel, is a temporary structure built after the previous bridge partially collapsed during the stormy winter of 2004.

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Without peace talks, Israel must leave East Jerusalem alone
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
(Editorial) December 7, 2011 - 1:00am

As the diplomatic process has sunk deeper into hibernation, acts whose sole purpose is to tighten Israel's annexation of East Jerusalem have multiplied. Thus even as the Palestinians have given the Quartet a proposal on security arrangements and permanent borders in the West Bank, Israel is advancing proposals to change the master plans of neighborhoods over the Green Line.

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Israel paving road to link East Jerusalem neighborhoods to city center
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - December 2, 2011 - 1:00am

The city of Jerusalem began works two weeks ago on a road that will connect the capital's northeastern neighborhoods to Jerusalem's main traffic artery, Menachem Begin Boulevard, as part of a policy to stregthen bonds between neighborhoods across the Green Line and the rest of the city. The neighborhoods to be connected by the new route are Pisgat Ze'ev, Neve Yaakov, Anatot, Shoafat, and Beit Hanina; the route 20 project will also link Jerusalem's northern neighborhoods with route 443, which in some places crosses through the West Bank.

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Stories from the Old City: 'We are not living like human beings'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Catrina Stewart - November 30, 2011 - 1:00am

At the top of a steep and ramshackle street in the Palestinian neighbourhood of Silwan, a rusty, battered gate opens into an unremarkable house. Less than a quarter mile away, though, stand the Al Aqsa mosque and the Wailing Wall, two of Jerusalem's most venerated holy sites, making it a very attractive piece of real estate indeed.

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Who Will Write Jerusalem's Story?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Huffington Post
by Ronit Avni - (Opinion) November 18, 2011 - 1:00am

While Jerusalem has always received its fair share of attention at the center of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, too often it is treated as an idealized symbol rather than a real place. In debates surrounding the future of the city, religious proclamations and lines on maps overshadow the needs and interests of the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians and Israelis who live, work and raise their families in the city.

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The Eviction of One Palestinian Family Might Cause the Next Political Crisis Over East Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Huffington Post
by Hagit Ofran - (Opinion) November 17, 2011 - 1:00am

August 2nd, 2009. The Ghawi and Hannun families of Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem are waking to the sounds of police and trucks and movers. In a few hours, their houses will have become the home to settler families, and they will be kicked out to the street.

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