Israel displays military assets to journalists. Hamas is showing signs of moderating its policies. Egyptian activists are urged to cancel a march to Gaza. Palestinians launch a $15 million equity fund. Palestinians and Israelis make progress on sports talks. PM Fayyad says a sudden salary crisis will be solved soon. The number of Palestinians has increased eightfold since 1948. American Christian fanatics warn Palestinians about an upcoming “apocalypse.” Palestinians demonstrate for the right of return. Likud sources say PM Netanyahu’s upcoming US speech will offer no concessions. Yossi Verter says there is no reason for this, but Netanyahu will find one. Hamas and Fatah agree to hold simultaneous municipal elections sometime in the future. Fayyad reiterates Palestinians are ready for statehood. Saeb Erekat says Israel has to choose between peace and apartheid. Palestinians speak about a potential third intifada. Israeli security officials say Egypt isn’t doing much to stop arms smuggling into Gaza. Israeli forces are on alert for Nakba Day. Some refugees from a Palestinian village destroyed by Israel in 1948 have managed to quietly return. A CUNY trustee is asked to resign over remarks suggesting Palestinians are “not human.” JJ Goldberg says Israel's security elite is turning against Netanyahu. The National condemns Israel’s wholesale cancellation of Palestinian residency rights in the occupied territories. Israel is accused of trying to push Palestinians out of the Jordan Valley. Hassan Haidar asks when Israelis will begin protesting their government. Palestinian officials in the Gulf say an independent state may try to join the GCC. The US Supreme Court is set to rule on the legal status of Jerusalem.

Court may rule on US stand on Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Barbara Ferguson, Tim Kennedy - May 12, 2011 - 12:00am

The case, involving a young Israeli-American, could serve as a landmark in Israeli-Palestinian relations. Eight-year-old Menachem Binyamin Zivotofsky has dual American and Israeli citizenship, yet carries an American passport that designates “Jerusalem” as the country of his birth. The State Department — bowing to ongoing negotiations between Israel and Palestinians over the status of the once-divided city — has resisted all appeals by young Zivotofsky’s parents (and their persistent lawyers) to have the passport designation of “country of birth” changed to “Israel.”

»

Palestine willing to merge with ?GCC when liberated: Envoy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Khaleej Times
by Anwar Ahmad - May 13, 2011 - 12:00am

The Palestinian government seeks support from the GCC countries to resolve their long-standing conflicts with Israel and is willing to merge with the GCC bloc when liberated, said Dr Khairi Al Oraidi, Ambassador of Palestine to the UAE. Addressing the media on the occasion of the Nakba or catastrophe day at the embassy premises on Thursday, Dr Al Oraidi, said: “I believe in the important role which the GCC countries have been playing in the region socially and politically.”

»

When Will the Israelis Protest?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat
by Hassan Haidar - (Opinion) May 12, 2011 - 12:00am

More than at any time before, the State of Israel on the anniversary of its founding seems similar to all other countries in the region, as its “regime” resorts to the same fear-mongering methods that were adopted by Arab regimes that have gone, as well as by others that still make use of them with their citizens to convince them of the absurdity of change and the danger of the alternatives.

»

When Will the Israelis Protest?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat
by Hassan Haidar - (Opinion) May 12, 2011 - 12:00am

More than at any time before, the State of Israel on the anniversary of its founding seems similar to all other countries in the region, as its “regime” resorts to the same fear-mongering methods that were adopted by Arab regimes that have gone, as well as by others that still make use of them with their citizens to convince them of the absurdity of change and the danger of the alternatives.

»

Israel trying to push Palestinians out of Jordan Valley, says report
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Vita Bekker - May 13, 2011 - 12:00am

By exploiting the land, water resources and tourist sites of the Jordan Valley and northern Dead Sea areas, Israel is trying to annex the territory, an Israeli human rights group said yesterday. Such exploitation of the strip of land on the eastern part of the Israeli-occupied West Bank helps Israel maintain its authority over the area's borders and prevent them from falling under the control of the Palestinians, according to the group, B'Tselem, and other analysts.

»

Close the door on Israel's land grab
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
(Editorial) May 13, 2011 - 12:00am

What would you do if your citizenship were rejected once your passport expired? Impossible, you would think - a travel document isn't your only, or even your primary, tie to your land of origin. But that was the fate of 140,000 Palestinians, as the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz reported this week, when Israel quietly cancelled their West Bank residency status between 1967 and 1994. It was as if residents simply blinked out of existence when their travel documents expired.

»

Israel’s Security Elite Joins the Opposition
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by J.J. Goldberg - (Opinion) May 11, 2011 - 12:00am

It probably won’t surprise you to hear that the leaders of Israel’s security establishment, the people who’ve led the fight against the state’s enemies for decades, are more frightened now than they’ve been in a long time. You might be shocked, though, to hear what’s got them in a panic. It’s not the Iranian nuclear project they’re scared of, nor Hamas, nor the unrest that’s rocking the Arab world. Israel has always faced dangers, and it’s always come out on top. What scares them most is their prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

»

CUNY trustee asked to resign over anti-Palestinian comments
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Jordana Horn - May 13, 2011 - 12:00am

The trustee who opposed Jewish-American Tony Kushner’s honorary degree on the basis of the playwright’s views on Israel is being called on to resign. Kushner had originally been removed from a list of candidates for honorary degrees from the City University of New York after trustee Jeff Wiesenfeld denounced his past statements about Israel and Palestinians, including a reference to “ethnic cleansing” during the formation of the state. A special meeting of the trustees was held on Monday night, and Kushner was put back on the list to receive a degree.

»

The Invisible Return
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Danny Rubenstein - May 13, 2011 - 12:00am

THE MAIN ROAD BETWEEN Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and the coastal area is especially crowded on spring days between the festivals of Passover and Shavuot, when tens of thousands – tourists and hikers, Jews, Christians and Muslims – make the traditional pilgrimage to the holy sites in Jerusalem.

»


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