June 12th

PA will borrow from banks if necessary
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
June 12, 2012 - 12:00am

The Palestinian Authority will start talks with the private sector, and still has bank funds available to cover its financial crisis, the newly-appointed PA minister of economy Jawad Naji said Monday. The Palestinian Monetary Authority chief Jihad al-Wazir said Sunday the PA had reached its maximum limit for bank borrowing. But the minister told Ma'an: "If we need, we will borrow from banks to pay salaries." "In fact there are deposits and cash which we haven’t used so far," Naji continued.

»

Israeli authorities 'demolish Jerusalem farm complex'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
June 12, 2012 - 12:00am

  Israeli authorities demolished a complex of sheep barns in an East Jerusalem neighborhood on Tuesday morning, a local rights group said. Bulldozers tore down the 700-square-meter steel buildings belonging to Aziz Jamil Jaabees in the al-Salaa neighborhood in Jabal al-Mukabbir, the Jerusalem Center for Social and Economic Rights said.

»

Israel begins rounding up African migrants
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Josef Federman - June 11, 2012 - 12:00am

Israeli authorities detained dozens of African migrants in predawn raids early Monday, in the first major step toward what leaders say will be deportation of 4,500 people who have entered the country illegally. The arrests were the harshest move yet against migrants, reflecting growing concern about the effect on Israel of tens of thousands of Africans who have sneaked into the country across the porous Egyptian border in recent years.

»

Graffiti is 'classic anti-Zionist heradi rhetoric'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Jeremy Sharon - June 12, 2012 - 12:00am

The declarations and content of the slogans spray-painted at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial have led the to believe that ultra- Orthodox extremists are behind the vandalism perpetrated night. Below one of the slogans spray-painted at the site, the vandals signed off in the name of “World Haredi Jewry.” The content of the graffiti, including conspiracy theories about Zionist collaboration with the Nazis, is also consistent with the beliefs of some radical anti-Zionist elements within the haredi community.

»

Memorial Vandalized
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - June 11, 2012 - 12:00am

Vandals spray-painted graffiti overnight Monday on the walls of Yad Vashem, Israel’s official Holocaust memorial, with messages attacking Zionism and blaming Zionists for the Holocaust. Nearly a dozen messages were scrawled around the Warsaw Ghetto Square monument and other parts of the campus.

»

Israel admits it revoked residency rights of a quarter million Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - June 12, 2012 - 12:00am

Israel stripped more than 100,000 residents of Gaza and some 140,000 residents of the West Bank of their residency rights during the 27 years between its conquest of the territories in 1967 and the establishment of the Palestinian Authority in 1994. As a result, close to 250,000 Palestinians who left the territories were barred from ever returning.

»

June 11th

NEWS: Israeli and Palestinian negotiators meet to explore the possibility of resuming talks. Israel's military says it fears that Syrian chemical weapons might be targeted at Israel. Israeli officials will soon decide whether to recognize the "Ariel University Center of Samaria," a school set up by settlers in the occupied Palestinian territories, as an official Israeli “university.” Suspected pro-settlement extremists vandalize Palestinian-owned cars in occupied East Jerusalem. Israelis, including Pres. Peres, are pushing for the release of convicted spy Pollard. A senior Palestinian official says Palestinian-Israeli security coordination has been declining over the past two years. Hamas leaders say Israel could be isolated by the results of the upcoming Egyptian presidential election. The head of the Palestine Monetary Authority says the PA has reached its maximum level of borrowing from Palestinian banks. Israeli experts warn that settlement expansion could lead to a third intifada. Pres. Abbas says he "would accept” nonmember state status at the UN. Bedouins in Israel are struggling against government plans to relocate tens of thousands of them. Rear Adm. Paul Bushong is will serve as the new U. security coordinator for Israel-Palestinian Authority. COMMENTARY: Oudeh Basharat says military defeat in 1967 was an important wake-up call to the Arab world, but Hanan Ashrawi says it was a disaster for Israelis and Arabs alike. Hannan Hever says Israel needs to recognize it bears a heavy responsibility for the Palestinian Nakba. Dor Glick says the world should help Israel by boycotting settlement products. Yaron Friedman says Jewish Israelis should study Arabic. Donald McIntyre looks at conditions in Gaza, five years after Hamas took over. The National says Palestinian resistance to occupation must be characterized by nonviolence. Uri Avnery remembers Israel's invasion of Lebanon in 1982 as a “war of lies.” Hussein Ibish says it's incorrect to think Abbas is politically weak and incapable of acting. Amal Daraghmeh Masri says the Palestinian economy is ready for independence. Elliott Abrams says few Middle East actors really want Israeli-Palestinian peace. Dan Ephron says PM Netanyahu now has to political clout to take on the settler movement, but he won't.

Democracy in Arabia
In Print by Hussein Ibish - Bookforum.com - June 11, 2012 - 12:00am

If anybody asked me, particularly in a plaintive tone of desperation, for a comprehensive backgrounder on the uprisings that have convulsed much of the Arab world since December 2010, I’d have no hesitation in pointing them to The Battle for the Arab Spring.

»

Navy announces new flag officer assignments
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Navy Times
by Jacqueline Klimas - June 8, 2012 - 12:00am

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced Friday that the President Obama has made the following nominations: • Rear Adm. Paul Bushong, who has been nominated for promotion to vice admiral, will be U.S. security coordinator, Israel-Palestinian Authority. He is currently serving as commander, Navy Region Marianas/U.S. Pacific Command Representative, Guam, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Republic of Palau/commander, U.S. Naval Forces, Marianas, Guam.

»

Bedouin are ‘squatters’ on their own land
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Hugh Naylor - June 11, 2012 - 12:00am

Nuri Al Okbi’s home is an archive of his futile campaign to prove to Israel that he owns land he says has been in his family for centuries. Tucked away in boxes and stacked on bookshelves are maps and land deeds dating back to the Ottoman Empire. The collection, he says, is evidence of the Okbi clan’s ownership of land in the Al Araqib area of Israel’s Negev desert.

»


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