Elections | The American Task Force on Palestine

Poll: 72 percent plan to vote in October's local elections
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
September 29, 2012 - 12:00am

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- A new poll shows 72 percent of Palestinians plan to vote in elections taking place in three weeks, but supporters of Hamas are much less likely to participate in the vote, which is being boycotted by the party. In a poll published on Saturday by the Arab World for Research & Development, 85 percent said they support holding local elections, which will take place on Oct. 20 in the West Bank only.

Even Real Lobbies Fail Sometimes
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast
by Peter Beinart - (Opinion) September 19, 2012 - 12:00am

Why does writing about the Israel lobby make people stupid? By people, I mean both anti-Semites obsessed with Jewish control of the government and smart foreign policy commentators like David Rothkopf, who believes that because pro-Israel Jews don't control the United States government, the Israel lobby is a myth.

All-female bloc runs in Palestinian elections
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Mohammed Daraghmeh - September 15, 2012 - 12:00am

HEBRON, West Bank — A new group running for municipal elections in Hebron is offering residents an alternative to politics as usual in the conservative West Bank city: Women at the helm, instead of men.

Few choices for voters in upcoming election
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
September 13, 2012 - 12:00am

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- The registration process for local elections ended Tuesday with 200 municipalities registering only one bloc of candidates, officials said Thursday. The West Bank has 353 electorates but 200 of them will not be contested in October's municipal election because voters will only be able to vote for one list of candidates. Abdul Kareem Sidir, undersecretary of the Ministry of Local Government, told Ma'an that 16 municipalities in the Jerusalem area decided to run on joint lists, which means candidates will be unopposed.

The miraculous October 1973 victory
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Emad El Din Adeeb - (Opinion) September 10, 2012 - 12:00am

I find it particularly painful when some of my colleagues show a lack of appreciation for the victorious October 1973 war; a miraculous humanitarian and military victory by any standards.

Obama on the fence
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Yoaz Hendal - (Opinion) September 6, 2012 - 12:00am

n Hebrew there is a slight difference between in the pronunciation and spelling of "obligation" and "commitment." There is a big difference when it comes to the nuclear threat. The Obama administration has said everything it had to say in order to convince us that it is committed to Israel's security. But what it isn’t saying is that it is obligated – because it isn't.

Is Netanyahu planning an October surprise?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Douglas Bloomfield - (Opinion) September 5, 2012 - 12:00am

As the Republicans and Democrats held their conventions and the presidential election moved into the home stretch, the rhetoric and pressure coming out of Israel for an attack on Iran intensified like the winds of Hurricane Isaac. It’s difficult to tell how much is aimed at keeping Iran from getting a nuclear weapon and how much at preventing Barack Obama’s reelection.

Gazans celebrate Brotherhood victory in Egypt
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Ibrahim Barzak - June 25, 2012 - 12:00am

The Gaza Strip erupted in celebratory gunfire on Sunday with news that the Muslim Brotherhood's candidate won the presidency in neighboring Egypt, but one person was killed. Tens of thousands of joyous Palestinians took to the streets across the territory after Egypt announced that Mohammed Morsi won last weekend's runoff election, the first time an Islamist has won that nation's highest office.

Israel jittery after Brotherhood victory in Egypt
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Josef Federman - June 25, 2012 - 12:00am

The Muslim Brotherhood victory in Egyptian presidential elections, announced Sunday, has raised fears in Israel that its strategic 1979 peace agreement with its southern neighbor could be in danger. In contrast, in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, ecstatic residents flocked into the streets, fired guns in the air and handed out candy in celebration. Israel's peace agreement with Egypt, its first with an Arab country, is a cornerstone of Israeli security. The agreement ended decades of hostilities, with to five wars and thousands of deaths.

Internal Egyptian power struggle encouraging Sinai threat to Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by Adam Gonn - June 20, 2012 - 12:00am

One Israeli was killed and several others wounded in a terrorist ambush Monday on their way to work on Israel's border fence with Egypt, in an attack that bodes ill for future bilateral relations. Militants crossed into Israel from Egypt and carried out a combined shooting, bombing and rocket-propelled grenade attack against two vehicles carrying the Israeli workers. Israeli troops were dispatched to the area and killed two of the three gunmen.

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