Palestinian trade unions divided over strike action
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
September 17, 2012 - 12:00am

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Palestinian trade unions are divided over whether to continue strike action in protest against rising living costs, unionists said Sunday. Transport union leader Nasser Younis told Ma'an that strike action was not a goal in itself but a means to pressure the Palestinian Authority to listen to their demands.

»

Mistreatment of refugees in Israel doesn't stop at border
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Mya Guarnieri - (Opinion) September 17, 2012 - 12:00am

Earlier this month, 21 Eritrean asylum seekers, including a 14-year-old child and two pregnant women, spent over a week trapped between fences on the Israeli side of the Israeli-Egyptian border. As the temperatures soared, one of the women reportedly miscarried. The group was not provided with any shelter; the "most moral army in the world" gave the refugees only small amounts of water and scraps of cloth to protect themselves from the sun.

»

Palestinians protest anti-Islam film
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
September 17, 2012 - 12:00am

RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories — Hundreds of Palestinians on Monday staged a peaceful protest in Ramallah against an anti-Islam film that has sparked violent demonstrations in the Muslim world. Participants of the sit-in, organised by the Palestinian Authority's Waqf (religious endowment) and held outside its offices, held signs saying "We are against those who oppose you Mohammed" and "Do not touch our Prophet." Speaking at the event, Waqf minister Mahmoud Habbash called on the United States to remove the film and apologise for it.

»

Zahhar: Gaza more secure than West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
(Interview) September 15, 2012 - 12:00am

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) – Seven years after Israel disengaged from the Gaza Strip, several things have changed both at the political and the economic level, Hamas official Mahmoud Zahhar said Friday. Speaking to Ma’an, Zahhar asserted that “Gaza is free of occupation, and contiguity with the outside world is easier as visitors from all over the world visited the coastal enclave.”

»

A "Palestinian Spring": A Renewed Fatah Bid to Remove Fayyad
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gatestone Institute
by Khaled Abu Toameh - (Opinion) September 14, 2012 - 12:00am

It is no secret that Fatah has long been trying to get rid of Fayyad who, its representatives argue, had been imposed on the Palestinians by the Americans and Europeans. Abbas and Fatah have been trying for years to replace Fayyad with one of their own so that they could regain control over the Palestinian Authority's finances. The US and most Western donors have repeatedly made it clear to Abbas that removing Fayyad from his post would prompt them to reconsider financial aid to the Palestinians.

»

Without Medals, With Pride
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS)
by Eva Bartlett - September 14, 2012 - 12:00am

AFAH, Gaza, Sep 14 2012 (IPS) - The car’s engine revs, wheels spinning in vain, as it sinks deeper into the sandy lane near Rafah, southern Gaza. Members of the Palestinian Paralympic Committee (PPC) are en route to welcome Palestine’s two Paralympic contenders, Mohammed Fanouna and Khamis Zaqut, home from the 2012 London Paralympic Games. Zaqut and Fanouna, both repeat medal winners in prior Paralympic, Arab, and Asian Games, came fourth and ninth respectively in their events in London 2012.

»

Israel takes cut of Palestinian tax revenues
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
by George Hale - September 13, 2012 - 12:00am

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Israeli authorities have seized millions of shekels in tax revenue for the Palestinians to compensate for an Israeli company's unpaid electricity bills, officials said Wednesday. Finance Ministry officials say Israel kept 35 million shekels ($9 million) of the 260 million shekels ($66 million) in customs taxes it collected on behalf of the Palestinian Authority in September. The Israeli Ministry of Finance confirmed the deduction.

»

East Jerusalem Families Demand Improvement of Schools
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line
by Linda Gradstein - September 13, 2012 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM -- Dressed in school uniforms and wearing small backpacks, dozens of boys walk in the street, passing a gas station and an auto body shop. They turn into a narrow alleyway and walk uphill toward a residential white stone building.

»

Palestinians Angry with Leaders, But Unity Remains Key
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Ayyam
by Ashraf Al Ajrami - (Opinion) September 13, 2012 - 12:00am

The recent developments that took place in different regions of the West Bank, mainly in Galilee and Nablus, are reminiscent of the First and Second Intifadas. Palestinians are revolting against the Palestinian Authority (PA) as if they wish to topple it, because they see it as their worst enemy. According to the protesters, the main reason for their demonstrations is the soaring price of goods — mainly gas and other products — in addition to low salaries and a delay in disbursing the wages of government officials.

»

Food unites Israeli Jews and Arabs in ways politics cannot
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by David Amitai - (Opinion) September 12, 2012 - 12:00am

Every week for the past five months, a group of Arab and Jewish women from neighboring towns near Haifa, Israel, have come together to cook. Each week, they meet in a different woman’s home, discovering their commonalities and differences by sharing recipes, culinary traditions and childhood memories.

»


American Task Force on Palestine - 1634 Eye St. NW, Suite 725, Washington DC 20006 - Telephone: 202-262-0017