Israel plans work at contested Jerusalem holy site
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Allyn Fisher-Ilan - March 6, 2011 - 1:00am

Israel has given preliminary approval for renovations at a contested holy site in East Jerusalem where rebuilding has triggered violence in the past, a city official said on Sunday. Municipal planners last week approved the project to repair an earthen ramp near the Mughrabi Gate connecting the Wailing Wall remnant of an ancient Jewish temple to a complex revered by Muslims and Jews, both of whom claim the area as their own.

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Housing for Jews approved in east Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Amy Teibel - March 2, 2011 - 1:00am

Jerusalem officials approved new housing for Jews in the heart of an Arab neighborhood, officials said Wednesday, infuriating Palestinians who see the growing Jewish presence in the city's war-won eastern sector as undermining their aspirations to statehood. The approval further complicates efforts to restart deadlocked negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. The municipality said the plan to build 14 apartments in the Ras al-Amud neighborhood met all the necessary conditions for approval.

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An old Jerusalem road gets a high-tech makeover
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Batsheva Sobelman - February 27, 2011 - 1:00am

Jaffa Road has witnessed empires come and go, watched camel caravans give way to stagecoaches and automobiles, seen pilgrims and pioneers, businessmen and bombers. Now change is coming once again to the iconic Jerusalem route. Supplemented by a network of designated buses and pedestrian malls, a new light-rail train along the city's main thoroughfare will "revolutionize transportation and the city too," said Nadav Meroz, acting director of the Jerusalem Transportation Master Plan.

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Shin Bet warns of increased PA security involvement in East Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Chaim Levinson - February 22, 2011 - 1:00am

Intelligence figures in the Jerusalem District Police and the Shin Bet security service are increasingly concerned about the growing involvement of Palestinian security authorities in East Jerusalem. Recent intelligence reports suggested that militant Palestinians may be trying to prevent the operation of community centers so that young Palestinians will roam the streets and disturb the peace. In another incident, the Palestinian security forces reportedly arrested a man in connection to a dispute between neighbors.

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Plans to expand Har Homa rejected
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Ronen Medzini - February 21, 2011 - 1:00am

Jerusalem Municipality's local planning and construction committee announced Monday it would not approve plans to expand the Jewish Har Homa neighborhood in east Jerusalem. The announcement came just a few days after the US vetoed a UN vote to condemn construction in settlements, causing speculation that the plans were not approved due to political pressure.

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Abbas stresses Palestinian clinging to Jerusalem's Armenian Quarter
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
February 16, 2011 - 1:00am

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas stressed Wednesday his leadership will never give up the Armenian area in East Jerusalem under any peace deal with Israel. "The Armenian Quarter is an undividable part of East Jerusalem, which is the capital of the (future) independent Palestinian state, " Abbas said during a meeting with Christian leaders at his office in Ramallah.

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Israel to build more East Jerusalem homes
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
February 15, 2011 - 1:00am

Jerusalem's municipal council on Monday approved the construction of 120 new homes in the Jewish settlement neighborhood of Ramot in annexed East Jerusalem, a councilor told AFP. "It's not good news," Pepe Alalu of the opposition Meretz party said. "They approved 120 housing units in Ramot... there were two permits authorized, one for 56 housing units and another for 64."

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The 10 plagues of east Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Meir Margalit - February 15, 2011 - 1:00am

The revolution in Cairo’s streets should raise the alarm in Jerusalem too. Like many Egyptians and Tunisians, the Arabs of east Jerusalem have been humiliated and trampled upon for years. Here too, patience is running out. The winds in east Jerusalem are the same ones blowing through Egyptian streets, and may ultimately bring down a regime that anticipated never-ending rule.

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Word of Palestinian Concession in 2008 Roils Mideast Debate
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - January 23, 2011 - 1:00am

Despite longstanding protests against the construction of Jewish developments in contested areas, Palestinian negotiators agreed to cede large tracts of Jerusalem to Israel during peace negotiations in recent years, according to a set of documents Al Jazeera says it has obtained. The materials suggest that the chief Palestinian negotiator at the time, Ahmed Qurei, “proposed that Israel annexes all settlements in Jerusalem,” except for the Jewish district known as Har Homa.

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Palestinian faults Arabs over Jerusalem support
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
January 19, 2011 - 1:00am

Arab states are failing to help the Palestinians in Jerusalem, a Palestinian official said on Wednesday, criticising them for paying only a fraction of funds pledged to sustain Palestinian life there. Foreign Minister Riad Malki's comments reflected the Palestinians' frustration over the Arab failure to support them in the face of what they see as an Israeli campaign to "Judaize" Jerusalem, the city at the heart of the Middle East conflict.

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