April 28th

Israel tries new tactics against Palestinian protesters ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Edmund Sanders - April 28, 2010 - 12:00am It's the usual Friday afternoon cat-and-mouse dance between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian protesters in this West Bank village. Young village men, joined by Israeli leftists and international activists, begin blocking roads with boulders and tires; soldiers take up positions at key intersections. Israeli forces fire tear gas canisters; protesters fling rocks. Before long, the military calls in one of its most dreaded weapons. » Read more

Uphill battle to build Palestinian nonviolent movement ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) by Dina Kraft - April 28, 2010 - 12:00am Rami Burnat sits in his wheelchair toward the back of a sprawling courtyard where Palestinian speakers take turns championing the cause of nonviolent resistance. Burnat, 29, has been disabled ever since a bullet pierced his neck in clashes in late 2000, shortly after the second intifada began. Still an activist, Burnat is among a small but growing number of Palestinians trying to mount a new kind of intifada against Israel: a nonviolent one. » Read more

Pace of Planning for East Jerusalem Projects Slows ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Isabel Kershner - April 27, 2010 - 12:00am After a recent spike in Israeli-American tensions over Israeli building plans for Jewish housing in contested East Jerusalem, there appears to have been a lull in the planning process. Palestinians demand that East Jerusalem be the capital of a future state, and call for an end to settlement construction there. Some municipal officials in Jerusalem have interpreted the lull as amounting to a tacit, if temporary, freeze in the advancement of new plans. Other municipal and government officials say that regular planning meetings have been held up for purely bureaucratic reasons. » Read more

US domestic politics will drive Mideast policy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star by Rami Khouri - (Opinion) April 28, 2010 - 12:00am I was able to follow US-Mideast diplomatic developments at close range and consult with many knowledgeable players and analysts, I sense that the Arab-Israeli peace process in the Middle East (now focused on the energetic attempt to launch Palestinian-Israeli “proximity talks”) is as much about political process in the United States as it is about diplomatic moves abroad. » Read more

Israel won't honor outpost pledge ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Tovah Lazaroff - April 28, 2010 - 12:00am Despite a 2002 road map commitment and years of pledges by successive prime ministers including Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel has no intention in the foreseeable future of dismantling any of 23 unauthorized West Bank outposts built after March 2001, The Jerusalem Post has learned. » Read more

President Abbas addresses the Israeli public through their TV sets ATFP World Press Roundup Article from April 28, 2010 - 12:00am Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas sought to soothe Israeli worries about a potential unilateral declaration by the Palestinians of their independence by next year. “We have always opposed unilateralism and we are not going to be the ones who will carry out unilateral steps,” said Abbas in an interview with Israel’s TV Ch 2 on Monday, 25 April 2010. » Read more

April 27th

Top 10 Myths Likely to be Heard from Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat in Washington this week ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Americans For Peace Now by Lara Friedman - April 27, 2010 - 12:00am This week Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat will be in Washington. He will be holding meetings with Members of Congress, Administration officials, think tanks, and the press. These interactions offer an excellent opportunity to hear the mayor's views about the Jerusalem-related issues of contention right now between his government and the Obama Administration. While Mayor Barkat has a right to hold any opinions he wishes, the facts are important and, when and if he deviates from them, he should be challenged. » Read more

A new style of politics in the West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman by Mohammed Daraghmeh - April 27, 2010 - 12:00am Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad is quietly changing the rules of the Arab-Israeli conflict with a simple credo: Palestinians have to build their state now and cannot wait for an elusive peace deal with Israel. He is moving ahead with an ambitious plan to get the Palestinians ready for statehood by August 2011 by trying to build it from the ground up: paving roads, reforming the judiciary, planning new cities. » Read more

Gaza is the fuel for Muslim world's anti-Israel struggle ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Haggai Alon - (Opinion) April 27, 2010 - 12:00am The events of the past few days have created two illusions. One is that Israel and the United States are equal; the other is that the problem is Jerusalem. These illusions are dangerous for Israel, in that they create a dangerous diplomatic perception and self-image. » Read more

Is there a de facto east Jerusalem construction freeze? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Abe Selig - April 26, 2010 - 12:00am The government has imposed a de facto freeze on new Jewish construction projects in east Jerusalem despite Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s public insistence to the contrary, Jerusalem Municipality officials said on Monday. While whether the slowdown actually constitutes a moratorium, or how long it will last, remains unclear, the apparent freeze likely reflects Netanyahu’s need to mend the current rift with the US regarding construction over the Green Line, on lands the Palestinians claim for a future state, and to bring the Palestinians back to the negotiating table. » Read more