July 30th

Livni Wants To Be Pm 'to Restore Public Confidence': Interview
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
July 30, 2008 - 3:28pm

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni confirmed publicly for the first time on Tuesday she wanted to become prime minister, saying the public needed leaders who respect the law. "I want to be prime minister ... in order to carry out changes and corrections because (the public) no longer has confidence in politicians and this confidence should be restored," Livni told Channel 10 private television. "The public wants to know that their leaders give priority to the interests of the country and respect the law," she added.

»

Soldiers Seldom Punished For Attacks On Palestinians: Report
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
July 30, 2008 - 3:28pm

Only six percent of probes into offences allegedly committed by Israeli soldiers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank yield indictments, an Israeli rights group said on Wednesday. The report came as the armed forces vowed to investigate the death of a 12-year-old boy Palestinian allegedly shot by Israeli troops during a protest on Tuesday against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank.

»

Palestinians Capture Violence Of Israeli Occupation On Video
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Peter Beaumont - July 30, 2008 - 3:26pm

An Israeli child from a far-right settler group in the West Bank city of Hebron hurls a stone up the stairs of a Palestinian family close to their settlement and shouts: "I will exterminate you." Another spits towards the same family. Another settler woman pushes her face up to a window and snarls: "Whore!"

»

Palestinian Child Shot Dead By Israeli Soldiers
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Times
by James Hider - July 30, 2008 - 3:25pm

Israeli soldiers shot dead a young Palestinian boy today during heated protests in a West Bank village close to Israel’s huge separation barrier. Hammad Hossam Mussa, believed to be around nine years old, was mortally wounded by an Israeli bullet as protestors threw rocks near the West Bank close to the village of Nilin.

»

July 29th

A Palestinian boy is shot and killed by Israeli soldiers today during a protest near the separation barrier in the West Bank (1) (8). An article and video in The Guardian reveal abuses of Palestinians by settlers and the IDF (2), while AFP reports that Israeli soldiers are seldom punished for such attacks (3). Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announces that he will step down when his Kadima party picks a successor (10).

Provocateurs Vs. Defeatists
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
July 29, 2008 - 5:22pm

The outgoing commander of the northern West Bank, Colonel Amir Baram, says he is "not surprised" by the settlers' recent rioting. Nor were his predecessors. There is really nothing new under the West Bank sun - things repeat themselves. Officials in the Israel Defense Forces, police and prosecution know mainly how to summarize events, warn of similar ones in the future, write reports and hold meetings summing up their failure to deal with the West Bank lawbreakers.

»

Cash-strapped Palestinian Government Seeks World Bank's Help
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
July 29, 2008 - 5:20pm

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad has appealed to the World Bank to help him secure emergency financing to bridge a shortfall in donor funds and pay public workers, Palestinian and European sources said Tuesday. Fayyad is seeking a so-called comfort letter from the international lending agency to obtain short-term private bank funding, the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity. His unusual appeal underscores the extent of the Palestinian Authority's budget crisis despite billions of dollars in aid pledged last year as part of a US-backed peace drive.

»

The Arabs Will Look Differently Upon America
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Ron Pundak - July 29, 2008 - 5:15pm

On January 20, 1993 we departed--Yair Hirschfeld and myself--for our first meeting in Norway with the PLO delegation headed by Abu Ala (Ahmed Qurei). This meeting would eventually lead to the Oslo accord, signed nine months later on the White House lawn under the auspices of the president of the United States. That same evening, we watched the inauguration ceremony of President Bill Clinton. A new president, a wave of hope: we asked ourselves how involved the new administration would become in the Middle East peace process.

»

Engage
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Ghassan Khatib - July 29, 2008 - 5:12pm

There seem to be two schools of thoughts among Palestinian politicians and analysts regarding the coming elections in the United States. Some, including President Mahmoud Abbas and the head of the negotiating delegation, Ahmed Qurei, believe that this last year of President George W. Bush is a year of opportunity that must not be wasted. Others, including Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, are convinced that no progress can be expected in the Palestinian-Israeli political process before a new administration has settled in.

»

Israel ‘chokes’ Jordan Valley
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Omar Karmi - July 29, 2008 - 5:11pm

Jasser Said Daragmeh is an obstacle. The ramshackle hut that houses the 34-year-old farmer, his wife and six children on land his family has been cultivating for generations, lies in the middle of a cluster of small Jewish settlements on surrounding hilltops in the northern Jordan Valley.

»


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