Israel approves more East Jerusalem settler homes
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
January 18, 2011 - 1:00am

The city council on Monday approved the building of another 122 Israeli settler homes in occupied East Jerusalem, a councilor said, a move likely to bring fresh censure from the international community. Elisha Peleg, head of the conservative Likud group on the city council, told AFP its planning and construction committee had given the green light for construction of 90 housing units in Talpiot East and another 32 in Pisgat Zeev.

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Jerusalem Palestinians taking Israeli citizenship
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Daniel Estrin - January 12, 2011 - 1:00am

Palestinian residents of east Jerusalem are increasingly lining up to request Israeli citizenship. But this is no embrace of the Jewish state. Instead, it seems to reflect waning hopes that peace talks will achieve a Palestinian state and fears that the Israeli separation barrier snaking around east Jerusalem could one day lock them out of the city.

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East Jerusalem housing project will stay Jewish-only
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Maher Abukhater - January 12, 2011 - 1:00am

Bondholders of a troubled Israeli real estate company that is building Jewish housing in Arab-dominated East Jerusalem have rejected an offer from a Palestinian American entrepreneur to buy the firm, officials said Wednesday. Bashar Masri, a wealthy West Bank-born businessman, said in a telephone interview that he was disappointed at the decision of bondholders to instead accept a last-minute bid from an Israeli tycoon.

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Five controversial Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Ariel Zirulnick - January 11, 2011 - 1:00am

In 2000, then-President Bill Clinton suggested that one of the thorniest issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – the division of Jerusalem to create two capitals for two states – should be decided along demographic lines. In other words, Jewish neighborhoods would be incorporated into Israel and Arab neighborhoods would become part of the future Palestinian state.

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The Future of Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Atlantic
by Jeffrey Goldberg - (Opinion) January 11, 2011 - 1:00am

My in-box is filled with e-mails and press releases asserting that East Jerusalem, including and especially the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem, and including and especially the site on which the Shepherd Hotel stood until this past weekend, when it was bulldozed to make way for apartments for Jewish Israelis, is holy Jewish territory, part of the holiest city in Judaism, and therefore a place where Jews have a perfect right to build and live.

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EU diplomats step up opposition to east Jerusalem building
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
January 10, 2011 - 1:00am

The European Union stepped up its opposition to Jewish building in east Jerusalem on Monday. In an internal document sent to 25 EU Consuls General in Jerusalem, the EU said: "Israel has left Palestinian neighbourhoods ever more isolated" and "by legal and practical means, is actively pursuing its [illegal] annexation by systematically undermining the Palestinian presence in the city," London-based The Independent reported.

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ATFP Expresses Grave Concerns over Demolition of Shepherd Hotel
Press Release - Contact Information: Ghaith al-Omari - January 10, 2011 - 1:00am

Washington DC, Jan. 10 -- The American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) today expressed grave concerns about the effects of Israel's demolition of the historic Shepherd Hotel in occupied East Jerusalem on prospects for peace.


Bulldozers begin work for Jewish settlement in East Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Joel Greenberg - January 10, 2011 - 1:00am

Bulldozers began tearing down a former hotel building Sunday to make way for a Jewish housing development in an Arab neighborhood of East Jerusalem, pushing ahead with a contentious project that has raised concerns in Washington. The work drew a rebuke from Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and sharp condemnation from Palestinian officials, further souring the diplomatic atmosphere as the Obama administration works to sustain peace efforts despite a breakdown of direct talks in a dispute over Israeli building in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

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Israel hotel demolition escalates fight for East Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Christa Case Bryant - January 10, 2011 - 1:00am

The demolition of an East Jerusalem hotel to make way for Jewish homes in a predominantly Palestinian neighborhood has sparked concerns from Europe to Egypt, which suggested a new intifada could break out as a result. The Shepherd Hotel project will bring only 20 Jewish homes to Sheikh Jarrah, but it is at the forefront of a broader, intensely controversial Jewish campaign to establish a foothold in Arab neighborhoods circling the heart of Jerusalem.

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PA: Israel demolishing chance for peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
by Hossam Ezzedine - January 10, 2011 - 1:00am

Palestinian officials on Sunday slammed Israel's demolition of an East Jerusalem hotel to make way for settler homes, accusing Israel of destroying any chance of peace. Palestinians reacted furiously to the demolition of part of the Shepherd Hotel, which sits on a piece of land in occupied East Jerusalem where developers plan to build a complex of 20 luxury apartments for Jewish settlers. "By doing this, Israel has destroyed all the US efforts and ended any possibility of a return to negotiations," Nabil Abu Rudeina, a spokesman for President Mahmoud Abbas, said in a statement.

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