August 18th

4 Palestinians to be tried for violating settlement boycott ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Ali Waked - August 17, 2010 - 12:00am The Palestinian Finance Ministry decided Tuesday to indict four merchants who violated the boycotted on products made in West Bank settlements. The four Palestinians are expected to face harsh penalties. Moreover, the law states that Palestinians caught selling settlement products may have their license revoked and vehicle impouned. Despite this, Fayyad's counterpart in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, said he believes the Palestinian Authority is not being firm enough with Israel. Hamas unimpressed » Read more

Palestinian minors held 3 weeks on suspicion of arson ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amira Hass - August 18, 2010 - 12:00am Palestinian minors suspected of perpetrating even minor crimes against settlers are subject to extreme pressure during detention and interrogation in an effort to extract a confession, the Palestinian branch of Defense for Children International claims. » Read more

August 17th

College aid for Jews and not Arabs criticised ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Jonathan Cook - August 17, 2010 - 12:00am Measures designed to benefit Jewish students applying for places in Israeli universities at the expense of Arabs have been criticised by lawyers and human rights groups. Critics have termed the controversial measures, including a programme to provide financial aid exclusively to students who have served in the Israeli army, a form of “covert discrimination”. » Read more

Israel should not keep its history behind lock and key ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Jonathan Cook - August 16, 2010 - 12:00am History may be written by the victors, as Winston Churchill is said to have observed, but the opening up of archives can threaten a nation every bit as much as the unearthing of mass graves. That danger explains a decision quietly taken last month by Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, to extend by an additional 20 years the country’s 50-year rule for the release of sensitive documents. » Read more

Op-Ed: Palestinian leaders must foster hope, not hate ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) by Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi - August 16, 2010 - 12:00am With a flurry of diplomatic activity regarding direct Israeli-Palestinian talks, a contingent from The Israel Project (TIP) including pollster Stanley Greenberg met in the West Bank with Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat. » Read more

Harvard insists Israeli shares sale not driven by boycott ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Ewen Macaskill - August 16, 2010 - 12:00am Harvard University has sold millions of dollars in shares in Israeli companies, a move that it insists is purely financial but which has already been claimed by a pro-Palestinian group as a victory in its boycott and divestment campaign against Israel. Groups sympathetic to the Palestinians have been pressing universities in the US, the UK and elsewhere to end investment in Israel and to boycott Israeli academics. » Read more

Jordan Valley is a microcosm of Israel's colonisation ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Ben White - August 17, 2010 - 12:00am The Jordan Valley, stretching all the way down the West Bank's eastern side, is a microcosm of Israel's discriminatory policies of colonisation and displacement. For 40 years, settlements have been established, military no-go areas declared, and Palestinians' freedom of movement restricted. There are now 27 colonies in the Jordan Valley – most of them had been established by the late 1970s under Labour governments. There are also nine "unauthorised" outposts. In the 1990s, the size of territory afforded to the settlements increased by 45%. » Read more

PLO accuses Israel of imposing preconditions on talks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua August 16, 2010 - 12:00am The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Monday accused Israel of setting preconditions which would obstruct efforts to start direct peace negotiations between the Palestinians and Israel. Yasser Abed Rabbo, a member of the PLO's Executive Committee, said Israel "deliberately impose preconditions on the peace negotiations" by announcing its rejection to a statement by the Quartet. The Quartet comprising the United States, European Union, Russia and the United States, plans to issue a statement establishing the principles of peacemaking process between Israel and the Palestinians. » Read more

Mass support rally planned for defiant rabbis ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Akiva Novick - August 15, 2010 - 12:00am The summoning of Rabbis Dov Lior and Yaakov Yosef for police questioning stirred outrage among the religious and haredi public, and now the Religious Zionist Movement plans to hold a large gathering in support of the two, with the attendance of hundreds of rabbis. Last week the two rabbis were summoned for questioning – but refused to appear – after endorsing Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira's controversial book, "Torat Hamelech", in which he presented a halachic perspective on the killing of gentiles, including women and children. » Read more

Palestinian killed, Israeli soldier wounded in southeast Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua August 17, 2010 - 12:00am A Palestinian was killed and an Israeli soldier was lightly injured on Monday evening during clashes in southeast Gaza Strip, an Israeli army spokesman and Palestinian sources said. The spokesman told Xinhua that an Israeli army force noticed a group of Palestinian militants trying to plant a roadside bomb near the fence between southeast Gaza Strip and Israel. The spokesman said that the force had immediately opened fire at the group, killing one Palestinian, and the others ran away. The death of the Palestinian man was not confirmed by medics or security sources. » Read more