May 7th, 2012

Fatah official: Fayyad will keep PM post after reshuffle ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency May 7, 2012 - 12:00am BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- Fatah official Azzam al-Ahmad said Sunday that current Palestinian Authority premier Salam Fayyad is certain to remain head of the government after the coming ministerial reshuffle. President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to announce the new cabinet by Tuesday, his adviser said earlier. Al-Ahmad confirmed earlier reports that Fayyad will keep the prime ministerial post. He cautioned about any discussion about elections, calling it "premature". » Read more

Israel considering razing homes of Palestinian convicts ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua May 7, 2012 - 12:00am JERUSALEM, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Israel's Shin Bet internal security agency has recommended to the defense ministry the demolition of the homes of two Palestinians convicted of murder in a West Bank settlement a year ago, The Jerusalem Post reported on Sunday. On March 11, 2011, Amjad Awwad, 19, and his cousin, Hakim Mazen Awwad, 18, broke into the Fogel family's house in Itamar settlement southeast of Nablus and killed the sleeping husband and wife and their three children. » Read more

Hunger intifada? Palestinian prisoners wield new-old tool against Israel. ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Rebecca Collard - May 4, 2012 - 12:00am As many as 2,000 Palestinian prisoners – nearly half of the 4,500 Palestinians currently in Israeli jails – have launched a mass hunger strike that is gaining momentum and putting pressure on Israel to review prisoner demands. » Read more

Israeli court rules against Palestinian hunger strikers ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Ali Sawafta - May 7, 2012 - 12:00am RAMALLAH, WEST BANK May 7 (Reuters) - Israel's Supreme Court turned down on Monday an appeal by two Palestinians, who have been on hunger strike for the past 70 days, to free them from detention without trial. But in its decision, released by the Justice Ministry, the court said security authorities should consider freeing them for medical reasons. » Read more

Israeli Supreme Court questions demolition delay ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press May 6, 2012 - 12:00am JERUSALEM — The Israeli Supreme Court has reacted coolly to a government request to delay the demolition of an illegal West Bank settler outpost. The state agreed to raze the five buildings by May 1 after it acknowledged they were built on private Palestinian land. But it put off the deadline by asking the court to reopen the case. The government is under pressure from settlers who insist the construction was legal. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's governing coalition is sympathetic to the settlers. » Read more

Palestine's exiles find family bonds thru Facebook ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Ben Hubbard - May 6, 2012 - 12:00am As Jewish forces advanced on their village during the war that surrounded Israel's creation in 1948, the Palestinian Faour family piled children and belongings into donkey carts and fled, hoping to return home when the fighting stopped. Only some of them got back, and the family is still divided. Some are in the Lebanese city of Sidon as stateless refugees. Others are 80 kilometers (50 miles) away as Israeli citizens in their village of Shaab, across a fenced and hostile border. » Read more

Arab Spring Spurs Palestinian Journalists to Test Free Speech Limits ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Isabel Kershner - May 6, 2012 - 12:00am RAMALLAH, West Bank — Yousef Shayeb, 37, a Palestinian journalist from Ramallah, published an article in a Jordanian newspaper this year charging officials at the Palestinian diplomatic mission in Paris with corruption and espionage. In an interview here last week, he said that he had imagined people might thank him for his exposé. » Read more

Netanyahu Calls for Early Elections in Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Jodi Rudoren - May 6, 2012 - 12:00am JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel on Sunday called for early elections, vowing to win a “renewed mandate” and “form the broadest government that is possible&r » Read more

May 4th

Hamas and the Arab Spring ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Council On Foreign Relations by Elliott Abrams - (Blog) May 3, 2012 - 12:00am It would be logical to assess that Hamas (a part of the Muslim Brotherhood) must be a winner from the “Arab Spring.” The various revolts have brought Islamists into power in several Arab countries, and most importantly the Muslim Brotherhood has attained a predominant position in Egypt’s parliament and may win the presidency in the forthcoming election. » Read more

Palestinian Christians Against the Occupation ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Huffington Post by Philip Farah - (Blog) May 3, 2012 - 12:00am In a recent op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren claimed that Christians in Israel are better off than their brethren anywhere else in the Middle East. Two Sundays ago, "60 Minutes" made clear he attempted to intimidate Bob Simon by going over Simon's head to speak to Jeff Fager, the head of CBS News and executive producer of "60 Minutes," to complain that Simon's story on Christian Palestinians was "a hatchet job" against Israel. » Read more