Hamas tax laws trigger leftist protests in Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
April 29, 2010 - 12:00am

The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) called on Gaza residents and particularly the poor to attend a series of peaceful rallies demanding change to the recent tax laws enforced by the Hamas government. Marking a further rise in tensions over the issue and a clear alignment of leftist parties against what Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) officials called "harsh" means of tax collection and an arbitrary mandate for collection, the protests are expected to take place Friday.

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PA urges Palestinians to stop using Israeli cell phone firms
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Avi Issacharoff - April 29, 2010 - 12:00am

The Palestinian Authority is urging Palestinians to stop using the Israeli cellular companies Pelephone, Orange, Cellcom and Mirs. But PA Communications Minister Mashhour Abu Daqqa told a press conference in Ramallah yesterday that this is not political boycott. Rather, he said, it is an attempt to regulate the PA's cellular communications market. Abu Daqqa told reporters that the Israeli companies operate in PA-controlled areas without a license, in violation of Palestinian law and the Oslo Accords. Moreover, he said, the companies do not pay any taxes to the Palestinian Authority.

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ATFP Advocacy Director Lectures on “Domestic Dysfunction in the Israel-Palestine Conflict” at U. of Maryland
Press Release - Contact Information: Ghaith al-Omari - April 29, 2010 - 12:00am

On April 27th, ATFP Advocacy Director Ghaith Al-Omari took part at the University of Maryland Israel-Palestine Symposium organized by University of Maryland School of Public Policy, Saul Stern Professorship of Civic Engagement and Gildenhorn Center for Israel Studies.


Fayyad's Road to Palestine
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Roger Cohen - (Opinion) April 29, 2010 - 12:00am

I spoke to the Palestinian prime minister, Salam Fayyad, for 90 minutes, and the word he uttered most often, by far, was “security.” As in, “The absence of security has been our undoing.” When Palestinian leaders are talking about their self-inflicted undoing, as well as the undoing inflicted on them by Israel, things may be starting to move.

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Gaza…The Next Explosion
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Tariq Alhomayed - (Opinion) April 29, 2010 - 12:00am

The Arabs might be taken by surprise by the situation in the Gaza Strip blowing up at any moment; all the signs indicate that the situation on the street has reached boiling point and that divisions between the Hamas leaders, as well as divisions between Hamas and its other allies in the Gaza Strip, have increased.

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Hamas warned: fear may give way to revolt in Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Nidal Al-Mughrabi - April 28, 2010 - 12:00am

Security forces of the Islamist group Hamas detained Palestinian political activists overnight for distributing leaflets urging them to ease up on the people of Gaza or face a possibly explosive revolt. An official of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) told Reuters several members were arrested late on Tuesday and set free on Wednesday.

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No fines now for Palestinian settlement workers
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman
by Mohammed Daraghmeh - April 28, 2010 - 12:00am

Palestinians who violate a new ban on working in Israeli settlements will be given time to find other employment before facing punishment, a top official said, reflecting just of how hard it will be to enforce the measure in the job-strapped West Bank. The law, which also prohibits the sale of Israeli settlement products in the West Bank, was signed this week by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Violators face up to five years in prison and thousands of dollars in fines.

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Borrowing from Gandhi? Palestinian passive resistance gains followers
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Joshua Mitnick - April 28, 2010 - 12:00am

As has become ritual in this Palestinian village for the last five years, every Friday several hundred demonstrators march toward Israel's security fence - and toward a confrontation with soldiers stationed on the other side.

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Who Speaks for the Palestinians?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Weekly Standard
by Elliott Abrams - (Opinion) April 28, 2010 - 12:00am

Will proximity talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority soon begin? While both Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Abbas have said they hope so, the matter is no longer in the hands of the Palestinians but in those of the Arab League foreign ministers--who meet May 1.

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Children stand trial for stone throwing
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
April 27, 2010 - 12:00am

Fourteen and 15-year-old brothers stood trial at Ofer's military court on Monday, facing charges of throwing stones at Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank. The boys, Nadim and Jihad Basim Kawazba from Bethlehem's Al-Minya neighborhood, were recommended for sentences of three and four months detention but the judge's decision was delayed when lawyers Eyhab Al-Ghaleith and Iyad Misk requested that the hearing be postponed until Thursday.

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