Israeli Settlers Step Up Attacks on Palestinian Mosques
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS)
by Mel Frykberg - May 11, 2010 - 12:00am

"Despite living under a brutal military occupation and being subjected to regular attacks by Israeli settlers for decades, normally places of worship were spared," Hussein, a spokesman from this Palestinian village, near Nablus, in the northern West Bank, told IPS. "People could forget about the economic hardship, the political oppression and their personal problems for a few hours a week as they retreated to pray in the mosque." All this changed dramatically for the agricultural village of 3,000 residents a few weeks ago.

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The lesser known settlement freeze deal
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy
by Michael Sfard - May 10, 2010 - 12:00am

Proximity talks between the Israeli government and the Palestinian leadership have just begun. It took Barack Obama's administration almost 15 months to obtain the consent of the parties to talk to each other indirectly, through George Mitchell's team. For the 19-year-old peace process (if counted from the Madrid summit) it is doubtful whether this new phase deserves even the modest "small step" label.

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Palestinians frustrated by report of newly announced East Jerusalem construction plan
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
May 10, 2010 - 12:00am

Reports of Israeli renovation work which started Sunday and will include construction of 14 housing units in a Jewish settlement in disputed East Jerusalem frustrated the Palestinians. A report by the Peace Now, an Israeli anti-settlement movement, said that the housing units would be appended to a place that has once been used as a post by Israeli police, which overlooks the Muslim holy shrine al-Aqsa Mosque.

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Buy Palestinian products
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - May 10, 2010 - 12:00am

Suppose some Palestinian group managed to set up a new settlement on land abandoned by refugees of the 1967 war in the Jordan Valley. What would your average Israeli patriot have to say about an Israeli contractor who agreed to build it, or about Jewish workers clambering on Palestinian scaffolds? What an outcry we'd hear from the Israeli right about such traitors! Never fear, our forces would never allow the uncircumcised to fix even a peg in the occupied territory under absolute Israeli control (some 60 percent of the West Bank ).

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Palestinians report first Israeli violation of talks to U.S.
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
May 10, 2010 - 12:00am

Just two days after resuming peace talks with Israel, the Palestinian Authority has reported to the United States what it termed the first violation of negotiation terms, a senior Palestinian official said Monday. Yasser Abed Rabbo said the construction of 14 housing units for Jewish settlers in an East Jerusalem neighbourhood, as reported by the Israeli Peace Now pressure group, violated the terms of new talks.

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Israel's security measures? Don't make me laugh
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
(Opinion) May 9, 2010 - 12:00am

Who says Jewish humor has disappeared from Israel? Who says that even the state's shadowiest organizations don't enjoy occasional moments of levity, in between carrying out assassinations and foiling conspiracies? Israel's ongoing fascistization, isolation, nationalism and militarism don't make for much comic relief. So listen to what Barak Ravid reported in Haaretz on Thursday.

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US: Israel promised not to build in Ramat Shlomo for 2 years
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Yitzhak Benhorin - May 9, 2010 - 12:00am

The State Department said the first round of indirect peace talks between Israel and Palestinian authorities have been completed. State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said in a statement Sunday that US special envoy George Mitchell has left the Middle East after concluding talks characterized as serious and wide-ranging.

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Israeli construction in East Jerusalem adds to difficulties facing negotiators
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Janine Zacharia - May 7, 2010 - 12:00am

When the Obama administration launches indirect peace talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians, as early as this weekend, it faces a much more complicated landscape than the Clinton or Bush administrations did, especially in Jerusalem. In the decade since Israelis and Palestinians came close to a peace deal in 2000, the complexion of Jerusalem, perhaps the most sensitive of all the sticking points, has been altered. Israeli construction is blurring lines between Arab and Jewish neighborhoods, making any bid to share or divide the city even more difficult than in the past.

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Voice of Israel: Settlers plan action against talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
May 6, 2010 - 12:00am

Voice of Israel radio hosted a program Thursday morning about a settler plan to "distract" indirect Israeli-Palestinian negotiations "as soon as they start." The program's military guests and settler researchers said West Bank settler-leaders had formed a committee and distributed thousands of leaflets with details on planned protest action as meetings between officials continue.

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PA sets deadline to end settlement work
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
May 5, 2010 - 12:00am

The Palestinian Authority is working in full swing to make sure no laborers will be working in Israeli settlements by the end of 2011, PA Minster of National Economy Hasan Abu Libda said Tuesday. “There are currently 25,000 Palestinians who make their living from working in Israeli settlements. They should stop as they aren’t any different from 200,000 other unemployed workers,” Abu Libda said in an interview with Ma'an.

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