December 7th

'Fayyad mulling PA presidential run'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Khaled Abu Toameh - December 6, 2011 - 1:00am


Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas Tuesday chaired a meeting of the Fatah central committee in Ramallah amid reports that Prime Minister Salam Fayyad is planning to run in the next presidential election. Sources close to Fayyad were quoted as saying that the prime minister would present his candidacy for PA president only if Abbas decides not to run for another term.


Quartet to meet in Jerusalem next week
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
December 6, 2011 - 1:00am


The United States and other Mideast mediators will gather next week in another effort to revive the Israel-Palestinian peace process, but with little hope of even restarting direct negotiations let alone reaching a breakthrough on a two-state peace agreement. The "Quartet" of mediators that includes the US, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations plans to meet Dec. 14 in Jerusalem, US officials said.


Israeli army arrests 21 Palestinians in West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
December 7, 2011 - 1:00am


Israeli army on Wednesday arrested 21 Palestinians in the West Bank, Palestinian sources said. Among them, 12 people, including officials from Islamic Hamas movement and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, were arrested in the city of Nablus , Palestinian security sources said. Other raids took place in Hebron and Bethlehem where a total of nine were arrested. Israel Radio reported that West Bank raids are targeting wanted Palestinians, and they take place on a daily basis.


Israeli troops kill gunman in Gaza -medics
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Nidal al-Mughrabi - December 6, 2011 - 1:00am


Israeli forces clashed with members of the militant Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, killing one gunman and wounding another in a rare cross-border incursion, witnesses and hospital officials said. An Israeli military spokeswoman said the air force had struck two groups of gunmen preparing to launch rockets. But she had no immediate comment on a ground operation, in which Hamas said a small number of armoured vehicles crossed about 150 m (yards) beyond the border, east of Gaza City. Hamas also dispatched fighters to the area.


NGO: Israel army fails Palestinian complainants
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
December 7, 2011 - 1:00am


The Israeli army's inquiries into Palestinian complaints against its soldiers are frequently flawed and less than four percent result in an indictment, an Israeli rights group said on Wednesday. In a report entitled "Alleged Investigation," Yesh Din said more than a third of the 3,150 complaints against Israeli troops filed between 2000 and 2010, were dismissed without a criminal investigation.


Fatah: No elections until unity government formed
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
December 7, 2011 - 1:00am


RAMALLAH -- Senior Fatah official Azzam al-Ahmad said Wednesday that a unity government must be formed before elections can be held. During a meeting in Cairo on Nov. 24, Fatah leader and President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas chief Khalid Mashaal approved a two-page document saying they would establish a joint government after elections in May 2012. But on Wednesday, al-Ahmad told Voice of Palestine radio: "It is illegal to run elections while we have two governments."


Settlers torch West Bank mosque
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
December 7, 2011 - 1:00am


SALFIT (Ma'an) -- A mosque was set on fire on Wednesday by settlers in the West Bank village of Bruqin, near Salfit, local officials said. The governor of Salfit Isam Abu Bakr told Ma'an that at 2.00 a.m. a number of settlers sprayed racist anti-Arab slogans on the mosque walls and torched a car belonging to local resident Muatasim Samarah. Abu Bakr said that the attack came "after Israeli forces issued demolition warrants against the mosque claiming it was built without a license."


Israeli officials expel Hamas lawmaker from Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Maher Abukhater - December 6, 2011 - 1:00am


REPORTING FROM RAMALLAH, WEST BANK – Israeli police following military court orders Tuesday expelled a Hamas lawmaker from Jerusalem and sent him to the West Bank city of Ramallah. Ahmad Attoun, who was elected to the Palestinian Authority parliament in 2006, was brought before an Israeli military court near Ramallah on Tuesday morning, which ruled to expel him. He was later taken to the Kalandia checkpoint between Jerusalem and Ramallah, where he was ordered to cross into the West Bank with clear instructions not to enter Jerusalem again.


December 6th

NEWS: Palestinian officials say they won't yield to Israeli “extortion” regarding Palestinian tax revenues. Four men accused of a sensational “honor killing” that has scandalized the West Bank deny the charges. Palestinians accuse Israeli settlers of abducting a shepherd. Palestinian officials say Israel must abide by its commitments to a settlement freeze before talks can resume. Israeli artists say it's ridiculous for the government to offer a prize for “Zionism” in the arts. In the next phase of the prisoner swap, Israel may seek to boost Fatah instead of Hamas. The International Organization of Parliaments says the PA is a welcome member, but Hamas cannot join. Israel is planning to forcibly evict thousands of Bedouins from their homes to near a rubbish dump to make way for settlers. A hard-line Israeli MK heaps praise on the late Sen. Joseph McCarthy. Israeli occupation forces demolish two Palestinian homes in occupied East Jerusalem. COMMENTARY: Roger Cohen says there's a lot more for Jewish Americans to be outraged at in Israeli policy than ads warning against life in the United States. Ha'aretz says human rights are in danger in Israel. Khaled Diab says PM Netanyahu and Pres. Ahmadinejad are "gifts to each other but curses on their nations.” Caroline Glick says "under Obama, the US is no longer Israel’s ally." Elliot Jager reviews a new book about the “Stern Gang” Jewish terrorist organization during the British mandate. Gal Beckerman looks at a new book by Pres. Peres about David Ben-Gurion. Linda Heard says US criticism is good for Israel. Yossi Alpher says Palestinian financial vulnerability does not compromise their claims for independence. Ghassan Khatib says Palestinians have faced worse financial crises in the past, but the political impasse and stagnation is crippling. David Brodet says the recent financial crisis has shown how vulnerable the PA is economically to Israel and donor nations.

Israel demolishes 2 homes in East Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
December 6, 2011 - 1:00am


Israeli forces demolished two Palestinian homes in occupied East Jerusalem on Monday, locals said. In Beit Hanina, troops bulldozed the temporary residence of a man who took shelter there after he could not get a permit from the Israeli municipality to build his house, the official PA news agency Wafa reported. In Silwan, Israeli forces tore down the house of Burhan Burqan, that was home to nine people. "Israeli troops came at five in the morning to demolish the house and were done by 7 am. They also demolished our barn that had some poultry in it," Burqan said.



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