May 17th

Report: IDF soldiers kill elderly Palestinian near Gaza border ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz May 15, 2010 - 12:00am Palestinian emergency services and witnesses said Israel Defense Forces soldiers killed one Palestinian and wounded another near the border with Gaza, Israel Radio reported on Saturday. Medical officials in Gaza said the man, who was 75 and whose body was only discovered on Saturday when it became light, had been shot several times. They added that his family had reported he had been missing for two days. » Read more

U.S. Jewish leaders echo European call to end Israeli settlement building ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz May 16, 2010 - 12:00am Following in the footsteps of the European initiative launched by JCall, a group of Jewish-American leaders on Friday launched an online petition urging an end to Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and calling for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israeli protest against settlements Called "For the Sake of Zion," the petition is signed by dozens of prominent American rabbis, judges, writers, academics and philanthropists. » Read more

Hamas destroys dozens of homes in southern Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by Rizek Abdel Jawad - May 16, 2010 - 12:00am Hamas police wielding clubs beat and pushed residents out of dozens of homes in the southern Gaza town of Rafah on Sunday before knocking the buildings down with bulldozers, residents said. Gaza's militant Hamas rulers said the homes were built illegally on government land. Newly homeless residents were furious over Palestinians on bulldozers razing Palestinian homes. » Read more

Palestinians mark displacement in 1948 Mideast war ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by Rizek Abdel Jawad - May 15, 2010 - 12:00am Bitter Palestinian rivals marched together Saturday in a rare show of unity as they marked 62 years of displacement in the war surrounding Israel's creation. Loyalists of rival groups Hamas and Fatah held Palestinian flags and a giant key symbolic of their hoped-for return as part of annual commemorations of what they call the "catastrophe," or "nakba" in Arabic. The names of the villages and towns emptied during the war were written across the key, alongside the slogan "We will return." » Read more

Israeli left flies flag to urge end to occupation ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Alastair MacDonald - May 16, 2010 - 12:00am A weekend rally in Jerusalem by Israelis demanding an end to their country's settlement and occupation of the West Bank was hailed by its left-wing sponsors as the start of a major push that could help U.S. peace efforts. But the turnout of just a couple of thousand people drew scorn from settlers, who count on the rightist-led government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to resist President Barack Obama's drive for a deal to establish a Palestinian state. » Read more

Israel shuts down PA municipal office in Hebron ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency by Muhammad Oweiweih - May 17, 2010 - 12:00am Israeli authorities closed down the Palestinian Authority Municipal Inspectors building in the Old City of Hebron on Sunday, the city's mayor said. Hebron Mayor Khalid Al-Useili said the procedure was "illegal and a violation of the Hebron agreement," and would endeavor to reopen the office immediately. Al-Useili said Israeli authorities accused the PA of allowing its police force to operate secretly in the area, known as H2 and under full Israeli control, which would constitute a contravention of the Hebron Protocol and Agreement signed on 15 January 1997 between the PA and Israel. » Read more

PA dissolves ministries of information, sport ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency May 17, 2010 - 12:00am Insisting the move was not part of the anticipated Ramallah-based government cabinet shuffle, officials said Sunday that the ministries of information and sport were replaced with "higher councils." Caretaker government spokesperson Ghassan Al-Khatib told Ma’an that the ministries of sport and information were dismantled during the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, and replaced with two higher councils for sport and information respectively. » Read more

Abbas spokesman: Negotiations likely to fail ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency May 17, 2010 - 12:00am Indirect negotiations are not likely to create significant changes or advancements in the peace process, Fatah official and presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudaineh said on Sunday. Blaming "Israeli stubbornness and insistence to continue building in settlements," Abu Rudaineh cast a pessimistic shadow over indirect negotiations scheduled to resume on Monday as US Middle East envoy George Mitchell returns to the region. » Read more

Why some in Israel say the Gaza blockade has failed ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Joshua Mitnick - May 14, 2010 - 12:00am Both Hamas and Israel chalked up victories this week. In Damascus, the Islamic militants got a rare international embrace from Russia President Dmitry Medvedev. In Washington, the Jewish state got about $280 million for weapon system to intercept rockets from Gaza. Skip to next paragraph » Read more

Architect eyes tony Palestinian city with eco-mindset and fast Internet ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Ilene Prusher - May 14, 2010 - 12:00am The state Palestinians dream of may not actually exist by next summer, as the Palestinian premier recently promised. But at the very least, a city upon a hill may have started to rise, with ground already being broken in the first planned Palestinian community – and the first new Palestinian city to be built in centuries. » Read more