A Jerusalem neighborhood's line in the sky
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Edmund Sanders - August 9, 2010 - 12:00am

The view from Jerusalem's hilltop Abu Tor neighborhood is pretty good. Too good, some might say. From my apartment terrace, I can glimpse the major tourist sites: Old City walls, the golden Dome of the Rock and Temple Mount, the King David Hotel and Mt. Zion, believed to be the location of the Last Supper. But when clashes erupt between Israeli police and Palestinian demonstrators, I can also watch tear-gas clouds rise from the Arab village of Silwan below. And every morning, the sun rises over a massive concrete wall, part of Israel's West Bank security barrier.

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Israel approves new east Jerusalem apartments
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
August 3, 2010 - 12:00am

Israeli municipal officials have approved the building of 40 apartments in a Jewish neighborhood in Jerusalem's disputed eastern sector. The move could undermine efforts to restart direct Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. It comes as U.S. peace envoy David Hale is visiting the region. Municipality spokesman Stephen Miller confirmed the approval and said on Tuesday that construction would continue for residents of all faiths in Jerusalem.

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Abbas rejects U.S. request to set date for direct talks without reference
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by Saud Abu Ramadan - August 3, 2010 - 12:00am

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday rejected a U.S. request to set a date for moving to the direct peace negotiations with Israel without defining an international peace reference for it, a senior Palestinian official said. Wassel Abu Yousef, a senior Palestine Liberation Organization's (PLO) official, told Xinhua that David Hale, deputy of U.S. peace envoy George Mitchell, asked President Mahmoud Abbas during their meeting earlier on Monday in Ramallah about setting a date for launching the direct talks.

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Pro-Palestinian activists welcome, but leave the tank tops at home
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Tsafi Saar - August 3, 2010 - 12:00am

Tank tops, it turns out, can be the focus of a raging debate, both feminist and nationalist. The setting: an impressive protest that takes place every Friday in the Palestinian neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem. Palestinians and Jews demonstrate together against the eviction of Palestinian families and attempts to evict even more residents from the site where they have lived for generations, in order to replace them with Israeli settlers.

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UN envoy says acts in Jerusalem 'provocative'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
July 30, 2010 - 12:00am

Robert Serry, the UN special envoy to the Middle East peace process, condemned the takeover by armed settlers of a building in occupied East Jerusalem on Thursday. Two Jewish families, protected by Israeli police, entered the building, home to nine Palestinian families, with documents claiming that they owned the property. Israeli National Police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said police were examining the documents “to determine whether they are accurate or not."

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A barely tolerated minority
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Daniel Seidemann - July 30, 2010 - 12:00am

Hamas-affiliated Palestinian parliament member Mohammed Abu Tir - renowned for his bright orange beard - is my neighbor in Jerusalem. We live about a mile apart. I've never met him, nor do I care to. I have no illusions about Hamas. Abu Tir has just been released after spending four years in Israeli jail in because of his membership of the Change and Reform Party, which is associated with Hamas (and which both Israel and the Palestinian Authority allowed to participate in the 2006 legislative elections ). He is now facing exile. Not new charges, not a new indictment, not a trial.

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Israeli settlers evict Palestinian family from their home of 70 years
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Harriet Sherwood - July 30, 2010 - 12:00am

Israeli settlers took over a Palestinian home in the Muslim quarter of Jerusalem's Old City today, evicting about 45 members of an extended family which has occupied the building for more than 70 years. The settlers claimed to have documentation to prove they had purchased the building from the owners. The Palestinian tenants, who have been fighting attempts to evict them for many years, were challenging the takeover in court. A police spokesman said the Israelis had entered the home "based on documents claiming that they owned the property".

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Police, settlers take over Jerusalem home
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
July 29, 2010 - 12:00am

Israeli settlers accompanied by police took over a building in the Old City of occupied East Jerusalem early Thursday morning, evicting families from three of the building's apartments. Israeli National Police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said two Jewish families entered the Old City home "based on documents claiming that they owned the property." He described the eviction as proceeding without incident.

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6 Palestinians injured in clashes with Israeli settlers over house demolitions
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
July 28, 2010 - 12:00am

Six Palestinians were injured and four others were arrested during clashes with Israeli police in East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan, witnesses said. The witnesses said angry Palestinian young men threw stones at Israeli police and settlers who came to inspect a site where the municipality of Jerusalem is planning to build an entertainment place. The Israeli police used rubber-coated metal bullets and tear gas to disperse the crowds, the witnesses added.

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Six injured in clashes between Palestinians, settlers
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
July 26, 2010 - 12:00am

Four Jewish settlers and two Palestinians were injured during clashes between the two sides near a settlement to the south of Nablus city in the West Bank on Monday, witnesses said. The settlers went to the street to express anger after Israeli police demolished a house and a barn that were built in an Israeli settlement near the Palestinian village of Burin, saying the demolishment violated an Israeli government freeze on settlement expansion in the West Bank, Israel Radio reported.

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