July 15th

British Jews favour 'two-state solution' in Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
July 15, 2010 - 12:00am


The majority of British Jews favour a "two-state solution" to the situation in Israel, and more than half would support negotiations with Hamas, according to research published today. The study carried out by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research (JPR) found Jews in Britain strongly identify with and support Israel, with nine out of 10 having visited the country. Nearly three quarters (72%) agreed Israel's action in Gaza in 2008 and 2009 was "a legitimate act of self-defence".


Palestinians in Lebanon deserve better
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by Joseph A. Kechichian - (Opinion) July 15, 2010 - 12:00am


Once again, the fate that befell 450,000 plus Palestinian refugees in Lebanon has preoccupied that hapless country's leaders. Like other neighbouring states, Lebanon warmly welcomed Palestinians expelled from Israel over the years, providing them with relative security even if weak governments failed to regularise their presence. After the hugely mistaken 1969 Cairo Accords, which allowed refugees to arm themselves — ostensibly to attack Israel — Lebanon compounded the Palestinian tragedy by authorising a new battlefront on its own territory.


Legitimate questions
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Daoud Kuttab - (Opinion) July 15, 2010 - 12:00am


Over dinner in Bethlehem recently, I mentioned to my brother-in-law how Israel has strategically succeeded in cutting off Gaza Strip from the West Bank. While agreeing with me, he told me what a senior Israeli officer told him shortly after the beginning of the Oslo process. He said that Palestinians shouldn’t celebrate too much the withdrawal of Israel from Bethlehem, for before too long, Palestinians in Bethlehem will need to have a visa to enter Jerusalem.


Arabs, Israel's second class minority
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Raja Kamal - (Opinion) July 15, 2010 - 12:00am


In a recent column in The New York Times, Thomas Friedman reflected on the strong Israeli economy, quoting a recent survey that put the number of Israeli millionaires at 8,419.


Fatah urges no direct Mideast talks for now
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Tom Perry - July 15, 2010 - 12:00am


The Palestinian president's Fatah party said on Thursday there should be no move to face-to-face Middle East peace talks sought by the United States without progress in the indirect talks it is mediating. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, due to meet U.S. President Barack Obama's Middle East envoy on Saturday, is facing pressure from Washington to agree to direct negotiations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu -- who says he is ready to start talks with the Palestinian leader right away.


The olive branch in the West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Bulletin
by Hugh Gusterson - (Opinion) July 15, 2010 - 12:00am


Israel's ambassador to the U.S., Michael Oren, was recently quoted as saying that relations between the U.S. and Israel were undergoing a "tectonic rift in which continents are drifting apart." If the quote is accurate, which Oren later disputed, it is surely an overstatement. Still, an interesting divergence is developing in the means by which the U.S. and Israeli militaries are dealing with Islamic militants in territories they are occupying.


Home demolition leaves mother, four children homeless
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Maher Abukhater - July 13, 2010 - 12:00am


Dalal Rajabi, a mother of four children, came home Tuesday to find that her modest two-room house that has sheltered her family for two years had been razed. A team of Jerusalem municipal workers protected by a large police force came to the Rajabis' 200-square-foot home in Beit Hanina, an East Jerusalem Arab neighborhood, broke down the main door, took the furniture out and proceeded to demolish it. Dalal Rajabi was not home at the time. She had left the house to take her son to see a doctor when the workers and a bulldozer arrived.


Despite Settlement Freeze, Buildings Rise
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - July 14, 2010 - 12:00am


One of the most contentious issues facing the Middle East peace talks is whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will extend the 10-month-old building freeze in West Bank Jewish settlements, as the Palestinians and Americans want.


Cheer, Then Gloom, on Talks for Peace Deal in Mideast
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - July 14, 2010 - 12:00am


In the upbeat atmosphere after their recent meeting in Washington, the prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, and President Obama expressed hopes of an imminent resumption of direct Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and of achieving a peace deal — within a year, according to Mr. Netanyahu, or in Mr. Obama’s case, before the end of his term. There has been vague talk in Washington about a narrowing of gaps in the weeks since the indirect, American-brokered negotiations started in May.


Police suspect alleged Jewish terrorist killed four Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amos Harel, Chaim Levinson - July 15, 2010 - 12:00am


A right-wing Israeli extremist arrested this week over a string of stabbing attacks is suspected of murdering four Palestinians and attempting to murder another seven, according to details of the investigation released on Thursday. Chaim Pearlman was arrested Tuesday, initially on suspicion of carrying out two murders in 1998, and for a series of attacks on other Palestinian victims over the last 12 years. The Petah Tikva Magistrate's Court on Thursday extended his remand by six days.



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