EU diplomats say East Jerusalem should be treated as Palestinian capital
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Nir Hasson - January 10, 2011 - 1:00am

East Jerusalem should be treated as the capital of the Palestinian state, according to a report compiled by the heads of European diplomatic missions in Jerusalem and Ramallah. The report includes several other unprecedented recommendations to the European Union regarding its attitude toward East Jerusalem. The European diplomats, mainly consuls, also recommend that EU officials and politicians refuse to visit Israeli government offices that are located beyond the Green Line and that they decline any Israeli security in the Old City and elsewhere in East Jerusalem.

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Israeli Demolition Begins in East Jerusalem Project
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - January 9, 2011 - 1:00am

Israeli bulldozers demolished part of a landmark building in a predominantly Arab neighborhood of East Jerusalem on Sunday to make way for a Jewish housing project, prompting condemnation from Palestinian officials and symbolic claims to the site from both sides. Plans for development at the landmark, the Shepherd Hotel, have been in the works since the 1980s. But Jerusalem officials did not give the final go-ahead for the project until March, at the height of tensions between Israel and the Obama administration over construction in contested East Jerusalem.

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'It's not politics – it's just business'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Danny Rubenstein - January 6, 2011 - 1:00am

Bashar Masri is trying to to calm the panic. "I'm not interested in Israeli real estate or any Israeli company, not in Tel Aviv and not in Netanya," he stresses, "but in a residential project in Jabel Mukaber, a Palestinian neighborhood in east Jerusalem. I'm not a politician but a national Palestinian businessman who knows his work, and if my business serves my people – I feel better."

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Israeli forces demolish East Jerusalem home
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
January 4, 2011 - 1:00am

Israeli authorities on Monday demolished part of a Palestinian home in occupied East Jerusalem. Forces bulldozed nearly 90 square meters of Nasser Yousif Seyam's home in Lafta village north of Sheikh Jarrah, leaving around 35 square meters standing, witnesses said. The family of nine must now live in one bedroom, one lounge and a corridor.

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Israel approves construction for Jerusalem yeshiva
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
December 16, 2010 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM (Ma’an) -- Israel's Jerusalem Municipality approved for construction an additional 24 housing units near the ultra-Orthodox center Beit Orot in occupied East Jerusalem, Israel Radio reported Thursday. The organization's website confirmed the report, but said there were only 18 units under construction, all designed as "housing for married students and to enhance the development of the educational complex."

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Bethlehem mayor complains about Israeli limits
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman
December 15, 2010 - 1:00am

Bethlehem's mayor has lit up his town's main Christmas tree while complaining that Israel's limitations on access to his West Bank town are weighing heavily on holiday cheer. Mayor Victor Batarseh and a Palestinian official threw a switch to light white bulbs strung around a tall, star-topped fir tree in front of the Church of the Nativity, marking the traditional birthplace of Jesus. Part of Israel's West Bank separation barrier cuts through southern Bethlehem, blocking the road to Jerusalem, 3 miles (5 kilometers) away.

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Israeli forces demolish 2 homes under construction in Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
December 14, 2010 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- Two Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem, both under construction, were demolished by Israeli forces on Tuesday morning, as bulldozers executed demolition orders stating the homes lacked permits. The homes, in the Ras Al-Amud and Sur Bahir neighborhoods of occupied East Jerusalem, were two of an estimated 60,000 with standing demolition orders authorized by the Israeli courts on request from the municipality.

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Abbas asks U.S. to press Israel to cancel Jerusalem evictions
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
December 13, 2010 - 1:00am

RAMALLAH -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday asked the United States to press Israel to cancel the eviction of a Hamas lawmaker from Jerusalem. Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, who is in Washington, carried a letter from Abbas to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, which asked the U.S. administration to intervene, said Azzam Al-Ahmad, an aide to Abbas. On Wednesday, an Israeli court ruled to expel Mohammed Abu Tair from Jerusalem, who was later sent to the West Bank city of Ramallah.

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Palestinians express doubts over 2-state future
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman
by Tia Goldenberg - (Analysis) December 12, 2010 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM — Conventional wisdom on Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking has long held that Israel should relinquish most of the lands it occupied in 1967 in favor of a Palestinian state — the "two-state solution" that much of the world has supported for years.

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Keeping alive a sense of decency in Arab East Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Ian Buruma - (Opinion) December 11, 2010 - 1:00am

Every Friday afternoon for more than a year, hundreds of Israeli Jews have gathered on a dusty little square in the middle of Arab East Jerusalem. There are some Palestinians there, too, including a couple of boys selling fresh orange juice. The people gather there, in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, to protest the eviction of Palestinian families from their homes to make way for Israeli settlers.

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