NEWS: Palestinian officials deliver a letter to PM Netanyahu reiterating several points, including the demand for settlement freeze. Neither side expresses much hope negotiations will resume. Deputy FM Ayalon warns of “falling into the trap of a good atmosphere” in international negotiations with Iran. UNIFIL says the continued Israeli occupation of part of a Lebanese village has “political reasons.” Israel tightens restrictions on Palestinian prisoners in retaliation for their mass hunger strike. The Iraqi Kurdish leadership is downgrading its ties to Israel. Israeli settlers and Palestinians clash in Hebron. An Israeli court evicts a Palestinian family from their home in occupied East Jerusalem in favor of settlers. Mitt Romney's ascendancy in the Republican Party is likely to cool its rhetoric on Middle East issues. A major Palestinian film festival is planned for London later this year. COMMENTARY: Hassan Bin Talal says the US shouldn't de-prioritize Middle East foreign policy. Ha'aretz says Netanyahu should stop "hiding behind" Holocaust analogies. Zvi Bar'el says other countries would be entitled to issue travel warnings to Israel given attacks on foreigners by soldiers. Beth Miller explains what it feels like to be a Jew working for human rights in the occupied territories. Sophie Claudet interviews Mustafa Barghouthi. Nahman Shay says Israel badly overreacted to the "flytilla." Shlomo Brom says Israel's 2002 “Operation Defensive Shield” offensive in the occupied Palestinian territories was badly planned and had far-reaching negative political consequences. Benny Morris says Daniel Levy is wrong, and that Arabs are, indeed, “barbarians.” Amira Hass says Israel seems determined to keep the Jordan Valley free of Palestinians.

A Champion of Non-violence on Palestine's Tactics
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor
by Sophie Claudet - (Interview) April 15, 2012 - 12:00am

With a huge, open-ended hunger strike planned for April 17, in which all Palestinian prisoners will follow the example of Khader Adnan —who was released after a 66-day strike earlier this year—questions about the Palestinian non-violence movement have become pertinent again. Among the reasons that led Palestinian militant groups to renounce large-scale violence, one could cite the wall that Israel started building in 2002 around the West Bank to thwart suicide bombings, or Israel’s massive assault on Gaza in December 2008-January 2009 to stop rocket attacks.

»

Palestinian Filmmakers Embrace Complexities for the Big Screen
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Stephen Dalton - April 18, 2012 - 12:00am

The moveable feast that is Palestinian cinema returns to Britain next week for the latest London Palestine Film Festival. Launched in 1998, the festival hub will once again be the towering concrete battlements of the Barbican Arts Centre, with satellite events scattered across the capital's cinemas and colleges. The 2012 programme features more than 50 works including dramas, documentaries, shorts, video art installations and rare gems from the archives - plus a topical new strand called "Beyond Palestine" focusing on Syria and the western Sahara.

»

Being a Jew in Palestine
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Beth Miller - (Opinion) April 18, 2012 - 12:00am

The first people I told were Safa and Imad. Good friends, they lived near me in the Aida Refugee Camp and invited me for lunch every Friday. I knew they were religious Muslims. Imad had told me that Israeli soldiers had killed his brother during the second intifada. But the topic of religion and politics was on the table, and now seemed like a good time.

»

Israel Fighting the Wrong War, Overreacts to Activist 'Flightilla'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor
by Nahman Shay - (Opinion) April 17, 2012 - 12:00am

At the end of the day, it was clear that a mountain had been made out of a molehill. Of the 1,200 activists who were supposed to land in Israel, only several dozen arrived. A few were arrested and a couple released, and the event came to a close. A sigh of relief by government officials — including those within the police and the Interior Ministry, which dealt with the affair — silently brought an end to what had seemed to be a major attack on Israel’s air space and entry point. But to what end?

»

Romney’s Triumph Smooths Sharp Edges of GOP Middle East Policy Rhetoric
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Ron Kampeas - April 17, 2012 - 12:00am

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- The Republican primaries are effectively over, and gone with them is the sharp-edged rhetoric and departures from past U.S. policy on the Middle East. Gone is Rick Santorum’s pledge to strike Iran and his suggestion that West Bank Palestinians should be referred to as Israelis. Gone is Newt Gingrich’s suggestion that the United States is engaged in a “long struggle with radical Islamists” and reference to the Palestinians as an “invented” people.

»

Arab Family Evicted in Jerusalem, Jews Move in
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Melanie Lidman - April 18, 2012 - 12:00am

An Arab family was evicted from their home in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Hanina on Wednesday morning, and 10 Jewish activists with the right-wing Israel Land Fund moved into the house, prompting left-wing activists to dub the issue "the new Sheikh Jarrah." The eviction is first step toward creating a new Jewish complex of 50 apartments in the predominantly Arab neighborhood. According to Israel Land Fund director Aryeh King, a Jewish buyer 35 years ago purchased two buildings, each with two apartments. The properties also belonged to Jewish residents prior to 1948, he said.

»

World nations should issue a travel warning to Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Zvi Barel - (Opinion) April 18, 2012 - 12:00am

The skilled attack by Lt. Col. Shalom Eisner on a blond Danish peace activist in a kaffiyeh was spectacular. The senior officer's two agitated arms grasped the M-16 rifle as if it was an indivisible part of his body, and with an instinctive movement that might be expected from someone whose life was being threatened, landed it in the face of the person who dared to look him in the eye.

»

Settlers, Palestinians Clash in Hebron
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Elior Levy - April 18, 2012 - 12:00am

Palestinians threw stones at two Israeli teenage girls who were walking towards Givat Ha'avot neighborhood in the West Bank city of Hebron. One of the teens suffered a fracture to her hand and was treated at a local medical center. According to Palestinian sources, shortly after the incident, which took place on Tuesday night, a group of settlers arrived at several Palestinian homes in Hebron, called their owners out and confronted them about the incident.

»

Restoring IDF freedom of action
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Shlomo Brom - (Opinion) April 16, 2012 - 12:00am

Operation Defensive Shield began on March 29 and ended on April 10, 2002. It was the first large-scale operation initiated by Israel since the beginning of the second intifada in September 2000 that engaged a large part of the West Bank controlled by the Palestinian Authority. It was a turning point in Israel's struggle to stop the bloodshed caused by this intifada.

»


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