The House That Sabri Built
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from International Herald Tribune
by Rajah Shehadeh - (Blog) May 3, 2012 - 12:00am

BEIT IJZA, West Bank — One of the first statements under oath that I took for Al Haq, a human rights organization I helped establish, was from Sabri Garaib, a farmer from Beit Ijza, a Palestinian village ten miles northwest of Jerusalem.

»

Bethlehem nuns in West Bank barrier battle
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
by Yolande Knell - May 2, 2012 - 12:00am

In the green Cremisan valley, west of Bethlehem, a goatherd leans against a rock while his flocks graze under the olive and fig trees. Nearby, a narrow road winds along the hillside to a 19th Century convent and a secluded monastery where monks run the only Palestinian winery. For the mainly Christian town of Beit Jala, this is the local beauty spot. Residents come here to take a stroll or for a weekend barbecue. Many own small plots of agricultural land. They also send their children to the convent school and visit the monastery to sell grapes or buy its wine.

»

Israeli settlement hotel plans 'threaten West Bank tourism'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
May 2, 2012 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli plans to build nine hotels in a settlement neighborhood in East Jerusalem aim to undermine tourism in Bethlehem, a Palestinian researcher warned Tuesday. Israel on Tuesday pushed forward with plans to build 1,100 hotel rooms in Givat Hamatos, a neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem close to Israel's checkpoint to Bethlehem. Khalil Tufakji, a Palestinian expert in settlement affairs, told Ma'an that an Israeli committee had approved the plan, which includes nine hotels.

»

The outpost and the rule of law
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Susan Hattis Rolef - (Opinion) May 2, 2012 - 12:00am

Last Friday the state requested that the High Court of Justice put off by 90 days the demolition of five houses in the Ulpana outpost in Beit El that were built on private Palestinian land. Just over a year ago the court ruled that the houses should be demolished by May 1, 2012.

»

Israeli official larceny
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
(Editorial) April 27, 2012 - 12:00am

Israel's timing was predicable. With the world’s gaze focused on the horrors in Syria and the Obama administration increasingly diverted by November’s presidential election, it chose this week to declare “legal” three fortified West Bank settlements which had been originally been erected by fanatical Zionists in contravention of their country’s own laws.

»

The 'rehabilitated' IDF
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Yossi Sarid - (Opinion) April 27, 2012 - 12:00am

I won a bet recently over Lt. Col. Shalom Eisner. My friend said to me, "That lieutenant colonel is going to be booted from here to kingdom come." And I said, "He'll be suspended, so that he can stay on." I won. Because nowadays, the chief of the General Staff doesn't run the Israel Defense Forces; it's run by the generals of Judea and Samaria - its activists and rabbis - and Eisner is one of their favorite sons.

»

Being an occupier has a destructive effect on Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Ben Lynfield - (Opinion) April 27, 2012 - 12:00am

With international attention distracted by Iran and Syria, Israel’s fateful entanglement in the West Bank hardly gets a mention in the news these days.

»

Israel asks to defer demolition of settler homes
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
April 27, 2012 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM — The Israeli government has asked the nation's Supreme Court to defer next week's deadline for demolishing an unauthorized West Bank settlement outpost. The request Friday said the government needs 90 more days to consider a court order to destroy the 30 apartments there. It is not clear whether the court will agree. Critics of the proposed delay accuse the government of trying to flout the rule of law. The state previously agreed to destroy the apartments in the Ulpana outpost because they were erected on privately owned Palestinian land.

»

Mansour: Settlements prove Israel rejects 1967 borders
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
April 27, 2012 - 12:00am

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The PLO ambassador at the United Nations on Wednesday condemned Israeli settlement activity in a series of letters to senior UN officials. "There have been confirmations by the UN Security Council and General Assembly, Human Rights Council and the Social and Economic Council on the illegality of all settlement activity in a number of resolutions which are still available, and we are still calling on Israel to respect and implement the resolutions," Mansour said.

»

Settlers attack village, block Nablus road
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
April 26, 2012 - 12:00am

NABLUS (Ma'an) -- Settlers in the northern West Bank set up a roadblock and attacked a Nablus village on Thursday, a PA official said. Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors settler activity in the northern West Bank, said that settlers blocked a main road that links the West Bank town of Huwwara to Tulkarem and Qalqiliya. Settlers prevented Palestinian vehicles from passing through, causing a large traffic jam. Around 12 settlers also attacked the village of Urif in Nablus, clashing with local villagers.

»


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