December 20th

Poll: Palestinians have doubts about outcome of reconciliation talks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Maher Abukhater - (Blog) December 19, 2011 - 1:00am REPORTING FROM RAMALLAH, WEST BANK -– As new reconciliation talks between Palestinian factions get underway in Cairo, including a meeting set for Wednesday between Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal, a poll suggests there are serious doubts among the Palestinian people about whether the negotiations will succeed. A public opinion poll by the Ramallah-based Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research published Monday found that, regarding the reconciliation efforts, Palestinians are equally divided between believers and skeptics. » Read more

This Holy Land battle focuses on tourists' wallets ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Edmund Sanders - December 20, 2011 - 1:00am Reporting from Bethlehem, West Bank— A 45-foot-high artificial Christmas tree towers over Manger Square, and downtown Bethlehem is festooned with sparkling decorations. There's even a picture of a saxophone-playing Santa Claus. But Nabil Giacaman, co-owner of a souvenir shop called Christmas House, isn't feeling the holiday spirit. The third-generation woodcarver, who sells handmade likenesses of baby Jesus and the Virgin Mary, sees as many as 200 tour buses arrive every day from Israel to visit the Church of the Nativity, just a few steps from his store. » Read more

Finding Fault in the Palestinian Messages That Aren’t So Public ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Isabel Kershner - December 20, 2011 - 1:00am JERUSALEM — A new book by an Israeli watchdog group catalogs dozens of examples of messages broadcast by the Palestinian Authority for its domestic audience that would seem at odds with the pursuit of peace and a two-state solution. Instead, the authors say, their findings show a pattern of non-recognition of Israel’s right to exist, demonization of Israel and promotion of violence. » Read more

December 19th

Palestinian textbooks debate reaches US campaign ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Mohammed Daraghmeh, Karin Laub - December 17, 2011 - 1:00am Do Palestinian school textbooks "teach terrorism," as Newt Gingrich claimed in a recent debate among U.S. Republican presidential hopefuls? His example - that Palestinians "have text books that say, `If there are 13 Jews and nine Jews are killed, how many Jews are left?'" - is not in any of the texts, researchers say. As for Gingrich's broader claim, the textbooks don't directly encourage anti-Israeli violence, but they also don't really teach peace, studies say. » Read more

Fatah and Hamas resume talks on Palestinian reconciliation ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Avi Issacharoff - December 19, 2011 - 1:00am Hamas and Fatah officials met in Cairo on Sunday in order to renew talks on Palestinian reconciliation. The two sides are due to meet on Tuesday to sign a reconciliation agreement, although its implementation is expected to be postponed since the parties decided to delay the discussion on the formation of a Fatah-Hamas unity government until after January 26. Until now, the two sides have only been discussing the makeup of the Palestinian election committee. » Read more

Hamas moves away from violence in deal with Palestinian Authority ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Phoebe Greenwood - December 18, 2011 - 1:00am Hamas has confirmed that it will shift tactics away from violent attacks on Israel as part of a rapprochement with the Palestinian Authority. A spokesman for the Hamas prime minister, Ismail Haniya, told the Guardian that the Islamic party, which has controlled Gaza for the past five years, was shifting its emphasis from armed struggle to non-violent resistance. » Read more

Clashes in Lebanon refugee camp, one killed ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters December 18, 2011 - 1:00am AIN EL-HILWEH, Lebanon, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Sporadic clashes broke out between armed factions in Lebanon's largest Palestinian refugee camp on Sunday after the bodyguard of an official there was killed, a witness and security officials said. Fighters supporting the mainstream Fatah party clashed with gunmen suspected of belonging to extremist Islamist parties, shooting at each other and firing rocket propelled grenades in Ain el-Hilweh in southern Lebanon. Armed clashes are common in the camp, which houses 50,000 refugees, and militant Islamists are known to operate there. » Read more

'Mashaal agreed to non-violence, pre-67 borders' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post December 17, 2011 - 1:00am Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal agreed in the context of reconciliation with Fatah that resistance to Israel must be non-violent and a Palestinian state should be based on the1967 borders, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said in an interview with the Euronews international television network. Speaking in the interview aired Friday, Abbas said that Mashaal agreed to those two points, as well as to elections in May 2012 when the two met last month. » Read more

Israel court rules against evicting two East Jerusalem Palestinian families ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Nir Hasson - December 19, 2011 - 1:00am The Jerusalem Magistrate's Court has rejected two separate lawsuits seeking the eviction of two Palestinian families from homes in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan. In both cases, the plaintiff said the homes had been sold to new owners who wanted the Palestinian families out. Two judges rejected those claims Thursday. The lawsuits were filed by two groups closely linked to Elad, an organization supporting Jewish settlement in the area, and to Elad chairman David Be'eri, who is also the Israel representative of one of the groups seeking the eviction. » Read more

Israeli lawmakers move to annex West Bank, one museum at a time ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Ben Lynfield - December 16, 2011 - 1:00am As Rachel Slonim shows a visitor around the modest, unheated archeological museum in this West Bank settlement, she becomes animated when she reaches a display case with artifacts from the biblical Israelite period. ''The Israelite period was the most beautiful period in the history of Samaria,'' says Ms. Slonim, referring to the 600-year era that she says climaxed with the reign of King Omri, who built his capital near the area where she lives today. ''Settlement is very important in our eyes and the eyes of the Holy One Blessed Be He, who gave us this land.'' » Read more