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Palestinian-American Entrepreneur Re-Envisions West Bank Development
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Nathan Jeffay - February 23, 2011 - 1:00am In his chic office in Ramallah, Bashar Masri, believed to be the richest person in the Palestinian territories, is in high spirits. It’s February 3, his 50th birthday, and the past year has been a particularly good one. It is a year that has seen him start construction on the first planned Palestinian city, an $800 million development that will have more homes than Ramallah. And he nearly achieved in the boardroom what Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, whose office is just a few blocks away, hasn’t managed in negotiations. |
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Young Palestinians call for protests on 15 March
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Harriet Sherwood - February 24, 2011 - 1:00am Their movement has no name and no leaders. Just a goal, and a tool. The goal is to force an end to the political divisions among Palestinians by stirring the youth of Gaza and the West Bank to emulate their brothers and sisters in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya. Their tool – as elsewhere – is the internet, specifically Facebook. "End The Division", a page in both Arabic and English, calls for protests across the Palestinian territories and refugee camps in Jordan and Lebanon on 15 March. It has already got thousands of supporters, and is growing by the day. |
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Jerrold Kessel, journalist, author, filmmaker, dies at 66
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Leslie Susser - February 25, 2011 - 1:00am Jerrold (Yoram) Kessel, who died on Thursday after a long battle with cancer, was one of Israel’s leading English-language journalists, with a career that spanned over four decades in radio, print and television, including stints as Jerusalem correspondent for the London Jewish Chronicle, news editor at The Jerusalem Post, Israel reporter for CNN and sports columnist for Ha’aretz. He was 66. We first met at the Hebrew University in the 1960s, as part of a group of young ex-South African immigrants studying subjects like literature, history, politics, economics and philosophy. |
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PA, Hamas fear Gaddafi will attack Palestinians in Libya
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Khaled Abu Toameh - February 24, 2011 - 1:00am Palestinians on Thursday expressed fear that Muammar Gaddafi would turn against thousands of Palestinians living in Libya under the pretext they are helping his opponents. The concern came in response to charges made by Gaddafi and his son Seif al-Islam to the effect that Arabs living in Libya were involved in the fighting against the government. Both the Palestinian Authority and the Hamas government have called on neighboring Arab countries to intervene to prevent Gaddafi from carrying out “massacres” against Palestinians in Libya. |
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J Street aims to have 2,000 at weekend conference in DC
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Hilary Leila Krieger - February 25, 2011 - 1:00am More than 50 members of Congress are expected to attend J Street’s second-annual conference here this weekend, with 200 offices receiving the progressive group’s lobbyists during its visit to Capitol Hill on Tuesday, according to the organization. The number of federal lawmakers coming to the conference gala on Monday night are slightly more than the 44 who came last year, but well under the 148 lawmakers who served as a host committee at the last conference. This year J Street has no host committee. |
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Israel allows $13.5 million into Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Tani Goldstein - February 25, 2011 - 1:00am Israeli authorities – the Bank of Israel and security forces – approved and facilitated the transfer of $13.5 million in cash to the Gaza Strip through the Erez crossing on Wednesday, just several hours before a Grad rocket attack on the southern city of Beersheba, Ynet has learned. The money was transferred from a bank account of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in the Bank of Palestine in Ramallah to the organization's account in the same bank in Gaza in order to pay the salaries of UNRWA employees in the Strip. |
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Demand soars for Birthright trips
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews February 25, 2011 - 1:00am A record 40,108 eligible Jewish young adults in North America applied to participate in a Taglit-Birthright Israel trip this summer. Registration for the trip, which closed February 22 after only seven days, represents both the highest number of applicants from North America and the shortest registration period. |
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Ian McEwan donates Jerusalem Prize money to Israeli-Palestinian peace group
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Maya Sela - February 25, 2011 - 1:00am The British author Ian McEwan, who received the Jerusalem Prize at this year's International Book Fair, said he will be donating the $10,000 award to Combatants for Peace. The group was founded by Palestinians and Israelis who had previously taken an active part in fighting each other. Its representatives said they are committed to working to end the occupation and achieve a two-state solution. McEwan met Thursday with group representatives Bassem Ararmin, Muhammed Aweida, Yoni Yahav and Roi Amit to hand them the prize money. |
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Merkel chides Netanyahu for failing to make 'a single step to advance peace'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Barak Ravid - February 25, 2011 - 1:00am A crisis erupted between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. During a telephone call this week, Merkel told Netanyahu that he had disappointed her and had done nothing to advance peace, sources told Haaretz. The prime minister tried to persuade Merkel that he was about to launch a diplomatic initiative, explaining he is making a speech in two weeks in which he will outline a new peace plan. |
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Path of peace is Israel's only choice in new Mideast
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Yoel Marcus - February 25, 2011 - 1:00am President Shimon Peres, an incorrigible optimist, promised us a new Middle East. He even predicted that the day would come when Gaza would turn into the Singapore of the Middle East. He was also the first to encourage an alliance of security interests between secular Turkey and Israel. Like many of us, he too believed that so long as Mubarak stayed in power, the peace agreement would last. He was also confident that Mubarak's corrupt son would perpetuate his father's policies. After all, billions of dollars of American aid should not be taken lightly. |