November 3rd

Iconic Palestinian headscarf outgrows Mideast conflict
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
August 27, 2008 - 8:00pm

Anti-war activists and fashionistas have carried the iconic Palestinian keffiyeh across the globe, but in the West Bank producers of the headscarf are struggling to compete with Chinese imports. The black-and-white checkered scarf -- which became an international symbol of the Palestinian struggle when Yasser Arafat first sported it in the 1960s -- has since grown into a global phenomenon more and more disconnected from the land and the struggle in which it was born.

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Changing the West Bank Status Quo: A Conversation with Brigadier General (ret.) Baruch Spiegel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Israel Policy Forum
(Interview) August 26, 2008 - 8:00pm

The current system of checkpoints and roadblocks in the West Bank (checkpoints are manned structures while roadblocks are unmanned) was instituted in response to the suicide bombings that began in the late 1990s. The idea behind the policy was to stop terrorists from reaching Israel by having a presence throughout the West Bank in Nablus, Jenin, and Ramallah. As a result, Palestinians must not only cross through checkpoints and go through security checks when leaving the West Bank but also when traveling through it.

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Seafaring activists, Palestinians leave Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
August 27, 2008 - 8:00pm

Two boats carrying foreign peace activists who had defied an Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip left the Hamas-ruled territory on Thursday for Cyprus, taking with them seven Palestinians. An Israeli official said the Israeli navy would not intercept the boats. Thousands of cheering Palestinians had welcomed the boats, carrying 44 peace activists from 17 nations, when they docked in the Gaza Strip on Saturday. A Hamas official said nine activists decided to stay in the territory in a show of solidarity with its 1.5 million inhabitants.

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Palestinians: Explosive device kills farmer
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
August 28, 2008 - 8:00pm

A West Bank farmer was killed early Friday when he triggered an explosive device on his way to work in his fields, a Palestinian police official said.

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A biblical tragedy in Galilee
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Kim Sengupta - August 28, 2008 - 8:00pm

The 2,000-year-old fishing boat of Galilee in which, the story goes, Jesus may have sailed, is one of the most precious ancient treasures in Israel. The vessel, which draws thousands of tourists to a kibbutz in Ginosar, was discovered by chance in 1986 when the sea level dropped dramatically because of a severe drought.

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Abbas to hold further talks with Israel's Olmert
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
August 28, 2008 - 8:00pm

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will meet again with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday, Israeli and Palestinian officials said. The next round of talks in Jerusalem will come days after a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that made little progress toward a goal of a limited peace accord before President George W. Bush leaves office in January. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told Reuters on Friday Abbas and Olmert would meet to "review the negotiations and the final status issues".

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November 1st

The French presidency of the European Union condemns Israeli setteers’ attacks on Palestinians (1). Masked settlers assault Palestinian photographers near the West Bank town of Hebron (2). Several leading Israelis condemn the televised interview with former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s assassin (3). Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is set to leave Wednesday for a visit to the Middle East (5). The UN reports that 130 Palestinians have been displaced in the last two days as a result of Israeli home demolitions in the West Bank (10).

October 31st

The Middle East also wants a change
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - (Opinion) October 30, 2008 - 8:00pm

One might think that Gerald Ford (of whom it was said that he could not walk and chew gum at the same time) is the leading candidate for president of the United States. Otherwise, it is impossible to explain why the left fears (and the right hopes) that Barack Obama (or perhaps even John McCain) will be up to his neck in the economic crisis for months and will be unavailable for dipping in the Middle Eastern swamp. By that time the Likud will have established a government of refusal, or perhaps a unity government, i.e., a government of paralysis.

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EU condemns settler 'acts of brutality' against Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
October 30, 2008 - 8:00pm

The European Union on Friday issued a harsh condemnation of settler violence against Palestinians after a recent upsurge in clashes in the West Bank. "The European Union once again condemns in the strongest possible terms the acts of violence and brutality committed against Palestinian civilians by Israeli settlers in the West Bank," the EU presidency said. The censure came after a series of violent clashes between settlers, Palestinians and the Israel Defense Forces during the current olive harvest.

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How Stupid Do They Think Jews Are?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Israel Policy Forum
by M.J. Rosenberg - October 30, 2008 - 8:00pm

I have been looking to see if the Jewish “defense organizations” put out statements condemning the vicious attacks on Professor Rashid Khalidi, the Palestinian-American academic. I looked in vain. But then, these Jewish organizations tend not to get overly excited when the targets of bigotry are Palestinian or even Palestinian-American. And some of these organizations themselves play the “guilt by [Palestinian] association” game so they are in no position to criticize it.

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