Palestinian official accuses Israel of demolishing houses of Arab Jerusalemites
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
May 20, 2010 - 12:00am

A Palestinian official has accused Israel of demolishing houses belong to Arabs in Jerusalem, saying the Israeli municipality of Jerusalem has handed demolition notices to Arab Jerusalemites. "These new procedures against the Palestinian residents of Jerusalem are very dangerous and will lead to a dead end" in newly- launched indirect talks with Israel, Hatem Abdul Qader, a Fatah official in charge of Jerusalem affairs told Voice of Palestine radio on Thursday.

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Palestinians mark 'Nakba' with tears and questions
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
by Paul Wood - May 18, 2010 - 12:00am

Claudette Habesch stood at the gate of what had once been her family house, tears in her eyes as she pointed to the garden shaded by a large date palm. "It was beautiful, a lot of fun, a lot of happiness," she said, recalling an Arab childhood spent in Jerusalem before her family fled in 1948. "(Then) there was the foundation of the state of Israel - on my own homeland, on my own home." As a little girl, she often used to wonder "who is sleeping in my bed, who is playing with my dog?"

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Israel's apartheid road
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Rachel Shabi - May 17, 2010 - 12:00am

If you didn't have peripheral vision, it would probably be fine. If you didn't glance to the sides of Israel's highway 443 between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, then it wouldn't smack you in the face that the road is – how shall we put it? – segregated. As it is, you can't help but notice that when the 443 passes by the Israeli town of Modi'in and heads east into the occupied West Bank, some of its side-routes are blocked. Concrete boulders, metal barriers, rubble and heaps of rubbish halt roads from Palestinian villages such as Beit Sira and Beit Ur al-Fuka.

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Israel's secret police targeting leaders of country's Arab minority, say Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Jonathan Cook - May 14, 2010 - 12:00am

The recent arrest of two respected public figures from Israel’s Palestinian Arab minority in night-time raids on their homes by the Shin Bet secret police – brought to light this week when a gag order was partially lifted – has sent shock waves through the community.

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Arabs have a complex relationship with the Holocaust
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Gilbert Achcar - (Analysis) May 12, 2010 - 12:00am

The issue of Holocaust denial in the Arab world has been widely covered in the media. Every public display of Holocaust denial by an Arab source is prominently reported and construed as further evidence of the pro-Nazi inclinations that Arabs, or Muslims, hold in their deepest hearts, especially when they are hostile to Israel. The deliberate provocations that the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, stages regularly contribute considerably to fostering this image.

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Shin Bet recruiters enticing Palestinian medical students with Jerusalem entry permits
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amira Hass - May 12, 2010 - 12:00am

The Shin Bet security service is trying to recruit Palestinian medical students as a condition for granting them entry permits to Jerusalem, according to two medical students at Al-Quds University pursuing internships in Palestinian university hospitals in the city.

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Israel detains Haifa man for alleged spying
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
May 11, 2010 - 12:00am

A Palestinian citizen of Israel was detained by Israeli forces on Thursday, two weeks after authorities handed down a travel ban imposed by Israel's Interior Ministry. Amir Makhoul, director of Ittijah and chairman of the Popular Committee for the Defense of the Political Freedoms, was arrested by Israeli forces on 6 May during a raid of his home, noting that police raided the offices of the organization, confiscating equipment and documents.

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Israel seeks to silence dissent
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Ben White - May 11, 2010 - 12:00am

Last Thursday, in the early hours of the morning, a Palestinian community leader's home was raided by Israeli security forces. In front of his family, the wanted man was hauled off to detention without access to a lawyer, while his home and offices were ransacked and property confiscated. While this sounds like an all-too typical occurrence in West Bank villages such as Bil'in and Beit Omar, in fact, the target in question this time was Ameer Makhoul, a Palestinian citizen of Israel and head of internationally renowned NGO network Ittijah.

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2 Israeli Arabs suspected of spying for Hezbollah
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman
by Ian Deitch - May 10, 2010 - 12:00am

Israel has arrested two Israeli Arabs suspected of spying for Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon, police and security services said Monday, partially lifting a gag order on the case. Websites flouted the gag order and made the arrest of political activist Amir Makhoul into a rallying cry for critics of Israel's treatment of its Arab minority. Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the gag order was imposed to avoid harming the investigation.

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Hundreds protest arrest of alleged Arab spies
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Sharon Roffe-ofir - May 10, 2010 - 12:00am

Some 300 people rallied in Haifa Monday evening in protest of the arrest of well-known Arab figures Omar Said and Ameer Makhoul on suspicion of contacting a Hezbollah agent. Several Arab Knesset members attended the rally as well, including Balad Chairman Jamal Zahalka, Hadash Chairman Mohammad Barakeh and MK Talab El-Sana (United Arab List-Ta'al). "We won't let (Israel) turn our political activities into security offenses," said Zahalka.

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