Arabs in Israel | The American Task Force on Palestine

Israel, democracy and the Arabs
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by Julian Memetaj, Stuart Reigeluth - (Opinion) March 1, 2012 - 1:00am

The prolongation of the Arab-Israeli conflict is all about the illegal occupation, expropriation, colonisation, and annexation of Arab territory by Israel. And beneath the armour of the Israeli military machine is the systematic exclusion of the Other — the Arabs. Jewish Israelis are xenophobic towards Arabs not so much because they fear them as an existential military threat, as Likud and Labour are prone to repeat, but rather because of the intrinsic demographic threat they present to the national identity of a Jewish State.

Arab judge, Jewish words
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Noah Klieger - (Opinion) March 1, 2012 - 1:00am

I just cannot understand the major assault on Supreme Court Justice Salim Joubran, who refrained from singing our national anthem, HaTikva, in an official ceremony at the courthouse earlier this week. What do they want from him? After all, he is not Jewish, and the thing about our anthem is that its words are “blatantly Jewish.” How can an Arab Israeli, regardless of whether he is Muslim or Christian, sing about a “Jewish soul?” After all, Naftali Herz Imber wrote the words of our national anthem many years before the State of Israel’s inception as an anthem for the Zionist movement.

Judge Rubinstein: Arabs don’t have to sing anthem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Aviad Glickman - March 1, 2012 - 1:00am

Supreme Court Justice Elyakim Rubinstein expressed his unwavering support for Justice Salim Joubran's decision not to sing Israel's national anthem, Hatikva, at chief Justice Asher Grunis' induction ceremony. The anthem was sung at the end of the ceremony by all judges present, who then posed for the traditional group photo. Joubran, who is the highest-ranking Israeli-Arab on the Bench, chose to stand silently beside them. The decision was harshly criticized, but Ynet learned Thursday that Rubinstein sent a letter to all presiding judges defending the decision.

Muslims and Christians must also serve in IDF
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Moshe Arens - (Opinion) February 28, 2012 - 1:00am

If you're an Israeli citizen who is ultra-Orthodox, Muslim or Christian, you're exempt from sharing the burden of the country's defense with your fellow citizens who are Jewish or Druze. There is no discrimination here - these religious communities are equal when it comes to not defending the country. To be precise, not quite all. The young men of the small Circassian community residing in Kafr Kama and Reikhaniya in the Galilee, although Muslims, are obligated to do compulsory military service. They are the exception.

Palestinian woman on hunger strike in prison
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
February 27, 2012 - 1:00am

RAMALLAH, Feb 27 (Reuters) - A Palestinian woman, released by Israel in a prisoner swap last year but re-arrested earlier this month and held without charge, is on a hunger strike to protest at her treatment, officials said on Monday. Hana Shalabi started refusing to eat 12 days ago, her lawyer and a Palestinian prisoners's organisation said, becoming the second Palestinian detainee to go on a hunger strike in quick succession.

Qatar emir: Arab identity in Jerusalem at risk
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
February 26, 2012 - 1:00am

DOHA, Qatar — Qatar's ruler says the Arab identity in Jerusalem is threatened by Israeli expansion around the city claimed as capital by both Israel and Palestinians. Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani urged a U.N-backed investigation into Israeli settlements as well as Israeli actions in predominantly Arab districts in Jerusalem and surrounding areas captured by the Jewish state in 1967. His remarks Sunday opened a conference in the Gulf emirate's capital Doha on Jerusalem.

Similarities, but no similar response
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
(Interview) February 23, 2012 - 1:00am

An interview with John Dugard Bitterlemons-InternationaI (BI): You wrote recently that, while there are differences in Israel's practices and those of apartheid South Africa (namely that black South Africans were citizens), there are similarities in the areas of discrimination, repression and territorial fragmentation. Can you touch briefly on those areas?

When children are 'terrorists', Israel's story rings hollow
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Ali Khaled - (Opinion) February 22, 2012 - 1:00am

It's one of the 20th century's most celebrated images of individual courage. Very few people are unfamiliar with the photograph of the lone Chinese protester facing down a line of army tanks in Tiananmen Square in 1989. Despite his anonymity, "Tank Man" or the "Unknown Rebel", as he came to be known, is a lasting symbol of that student rebellion that was so brutally crushed.

‘Bad guy’ or not, Adnan hunger strike was about due process
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from 972 Magazine
by Mairav Zonszein - (Opinion) February 22, 2012 - 1:00am

As Khader Adnan’s case took over the news cycle this week, I noticed comments by thoughtful readers, generally on my Facebook feed, pointing out Adnan’s association with terror. They have circulated a video in which Adnan asks who the next suicide bomber will be, pointed to his affiliation with Islamic Jihad, and asked: How can you root for a terrorist? How can supposed progressives like us rally around him?

Police prepare for possible Temple Mount clashes
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Yaakov Lappin, Melanie Lidman - February 21, 2012 - 1:00am

Jerusalem Police was preparing for the possibility of clashes between right-wing activists and Palestinians on and around the Temple Mount Tuesday morning. The preparations followed a call by Palestinian activists to come and "protect" the Temple mount after right-wing activists said they would ascend to the holy site. Overnight Monday, police raided an apartment in Jerusalem's Ramot neighborhood and found extremist right-wing documents related to the Temple Mount. Police arrested one activist and took him for investigation.

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