May 10th

US c'tee moves to control Egypt, PA money
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Hilary Leila Krieger - May 10, 2012 - 12:00am


WASHINGTON – A congressional subcommittee approved a foreign aid budget tightening control over money to Egypt and the Palestinians Wednesday following some members’ concern over developments in the region. The House foreign operations appropriations subcommittee passed by voice vote the $40.1 billion foreign operations budget for 2013, which includes fully funding the $3.1b. US commitment to Israeli military assistance as part of the 10-year Memorandum of Understanding between the two countries.


PA seeks to take part in UN earth summit as state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
May 10, 2012 - 12:00am


As part of its continuing efforts to gain international recognition as a state, the Palestinian Authority is requesting to take part in the United Nations Sustainable Development Conference (Rio+20) scheduled to take place in Brazil in June, Army Radio reported on Thursday. The PA vowed to seek membership in various UN agencies after its bid for recognition as a state, presented to the Security Council in September, stalled.


New Hamas force in Gaza is foiling rocket attacks against Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Avi Issacharoff - May 10, 2012 - 12:00am


The Hamas government in Gaza has been operating a force over the past few months whose sole task is to prevent the firing of rockets into Israel. Hamas, which has always championed jihad against Israel, is now using its authority to foil the firing efforts of cells from other organizations such as the Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees.


Settler leaders knew homes were built on private Palestinian land, says Ulpana developer
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Chaim Levinson - May 10, 2012 - 12:00am


Settler leaders knew from the start that Beit El's Ulpana neighborhood was built partly on privately owned Palestinian land, police documents reveal, even though residents claim they bought the houses in good faith. Yoel Tsur, CEO of the company that built the neighborhood and owns 24 of the 30 houses that the High Court of Justice has ordered razed, admitted in a police interrogation three years ago that it was built on land whose purchase was never finalized.


UN's oldest refugee camps look at sensitive upgrades
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Noah Browning - May 10, 2012 - 12:00am


BETHLEHEM (Reuters) -- Three generations of Palestinians displaced by the founding of Israel in 1948 know only life in UN refugee camps, going to schools beneath the blue-and-white UN flag and drawing their food stocks from UN warehouses. For these Palestinians whose long-cherished goal is the right of return to the lands they lost 64 years ago, the camps must be seen as temporary no matter how permanent they might seem to others.


Settler group patrols West Bank for demolition targets
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
by Charlotte Alfred - May 10, 2012 - 12:00am


BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- A tiny village of Palestinian families in the southern West Bank has had an unwelcome visitor in recent months. “He comes with small weapons and his camera, sometimes with armed forces, sometimes with settlers,” Susiya resident Nasser Nawaja says. The armed visitor is Ovad Arad, the Judea and Samaria Director of Regavim, an Israeli non-governmental organization.


UN's Ban urges Israel to charge prisoners or free them
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
May 10, 2012 - 12:00am


BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday urged Israel to either charge or release Palestinian detainees "without delay." Ban expressed concern for Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike in protest over their detention without charge and stressed "the importance of averting any further deterioration in their condition," in a statement issued through his spokesman Martin Nesirky.


Palestinian leadership expects Egyptian efforts to resolve hunger strike
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
May 10, 2012 - 12:00am


RAMALLAH, May 10 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinian leadership expects that the Egyptian efforts will soon succeed in reaching a settlement between Israel and hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners, a Palestinian official said Thursday. "We have positive signs that the results of these efforts will be seen by Saturday," said Ziad Abu Ein of the Palestinian Prisoners' Affairs Ministry. He refused to elaborate.


Model West Bank City Loses a Crime Fighter
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Jodi Rudoren - May 9, 2012 - 12:00am


JENIN, West Bank — Relaxing in their rooftop salon one recent night, Amal Qadoura headed to fetch ice cream for herself and her husband when the shooting began. First, she recalled, two bullets were fired at one side of the glass-enclosed porch, followed by a barrage from a hilltop on the other side.


May 9th

NEWS: Israel says its inclusion on a UN list of human rights violators is “absurd.” Israel renews its "administrative detention" order against a senior Hamas figure. Four Palestinian protesters are injured by occupation forces at a protest near Ramallah. A new poll shows most Palestinians blame both Hamas and Fatah for the impasse in national unity talks. International Muslim organizations are donating $65 million to the health sector in Gaza. Abbas says he still sees PM Netanyahu as a peace partner. Israeli occupation forces order Palestinians to uproot 1,000 olive trees. A new poll confirms that Jewish Americans vastly prefer Pres. Obama over Mitt Romney. A major European supermarket group decides to boycott all products coming from Israeli settlements. Jewish and Muslim student groups are forging new links on some American campuses. COMMENTARY: Moshe Arens says even if it's ordered by the Supreme Court, evicting settlers from outposts is immoral. Akiva Eldar says Obama didn't need former Shin Bet chief Diskin to inform him that Netanyahu is not interested in peace. Bernard Avishai says Diskin's remarks may be the beginning of a stirring of the Israeli majority against present government policies. Kamel Abu Jaber says Israel isn't a safe place for Arab Christians. Uri Avnery says he's still an optimist and the two-state solution is the only way to end the conflict. Gil Troy and Rashid Khalidi continue their debate about the “Museum of Tolerance” being built on the site of a Muslim cemetery in Jerusalem. Raja Shehadeh says Israeli courts have at times softened the harshness of the occupation but this may have counterintuitively led to its perpetuation. Jeffrey Goldberg says that the hard-line positions of his recently deceased father uniquely position Netanyahu to deliver majority Israeli and Jewish opinion for a peace agreement.

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