'Police delaying evacuation of settlers from controversial East Jerusalem building'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - July 14, 2010 - 12:00am

The police refuse to carry out a court order to evict Jewish residents of the Beit Yonatan building in East Jerusalem, the city's legal advisor, Yosef Havilio, charged on Tuesday. The order was issued two years ago, and five months ago, then-attorney general Menachem Mazuz ordered the police to execute it without delay. But so far, nothing has happened. On Tuesday, Havilio sent an angry letter to Police Commissioner David Cohen. Two weeks ago, he wrote, the city's eviction department asked the Jerusalem police to set a date for the eviction, but the police have yet to do so.

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Despite Settlement Freeze, Buildings Rise
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - July 14, 2010 - 12:00am

One of the most contentious issues facing the Middle East peace talks is whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will extend the 10-month-old building freeze in West Bank Jewish settlements, as the Palestinians and Americans want.

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Israel razes inhabited Palestinian home in Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Jeffrey Heller - July 13, 2010 - 12:00am

Israel razed an inhabited Palestinian home in East Jerusalem for the first time in eight months on Tuesday, effectively ending an unofficial freeze of such internationally-condemned demolitions. A Reuters photographer witnessed a Palestinian family removing its belongings from the house in East Jerusalem's Beit Hanina neighbourhood before an Israeli excavator tore into the dwelling.


Israeli bulldozers raze 4 east Jerusalem buildings
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Diaa Hadid - July 13, 2010 - 12:00am

Israeli bulldozers destroyed six buildings, including at least three homes, in contested east Jerusalem on Tuesday, resuming the demolition of Palestinian property after a halt aimed at encouraging peace talks. Jerusalem house demolitions are a volatile issue because of conflicting Israeli and Palestinian claims to the city's eastern sector. Israel sees it as part of its capital city, while Palestinians want it for their own future capital.

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Home demolition leaves mother, four children homeless
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Maher Abukhater - July 13, 2010 - 12:00am

Dalal Rajabi, a mother of four children, came home Tuesday to find that her modest two-room house that has sheltered her family for two years had been razed. A team of Jerusalem municipal workers protected by a large police force came to the Rajabis' 200-square-foot home in Beit Hanina, an East Jerusalem Arab neighborhood, broke down the main door, took the furniture out and proceeded to demolish it. Dalal Rajabi was not home at the time. She had left the house to take her son to see a doctor when the workers and a bulldozer arrived.

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Senior Palestinian calls Jerusalem a "time bomb"
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
July 12, 2010 - 12:00am

A senior Palestinian figure said on Sunday that rising tension with Israel over settlement building in the Jerusalem area was a "time bomb" that was eroding trust between the two sides. Ahmed Qurei, a former prime minister and negotiator, joined Tsipi Livni, a former Israeli foreign minister and now opposition leader in parliament, in calling on both sides to work harder to achieve a two-state solution.

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Netanyahu signals no extension of settlement freeze
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Jeffrey Heller - July 9, 2010 - 12:00am

NEW YORK, July 8 (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu signaled on Thursday he would not extend beyond September a 10-month moratorium on new housing starts in Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. "I think we've done enough. Let's get on with the talks," he said, when asked in an appearance at the Council on Foreign Relations whether he would extend the limited freeze he put in place to coax the Palestinians into peace negotiations.

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WEST BANK: A tit for tat or just a new policy?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Maher Abukhater - (Blog) July 6, 2010 - 12:00am

Hundreds of Palestinian dairy and meat producers demonstrated Monday outside the Palestinian Authority prime minister’s office in the West Bank city of Ramallah, demanding that Israel cancel an order banning the sale of their products in East Jerusalem markets. The demonstration took place only hours before Prime Minister Salam Fayyad of the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority was scheduled to meet Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak in Jerusalem to discuss such matters and many more that directly affect Palestinian living conditions.

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Tensions build in Palestinian neighborhood over plans to demolish 22 houses
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Joel Greenberg - July 1, 2010 - 12:00am

In a warren of cramped alleys in the crowded Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan, a slogan scrawled on a wall warns: "Silwan is in danger." The danger, as residents see it, is a city development plan that calls for the demolition of 22 homes to make room for a park that would flank a promenade of restaurants, art studios and shops. Mayor Nir Barkat says the plan -- aimed at attracting visitors to the historic valley near Jerusalem's Old City where Silwan is located -- will improve services to residents, provide jobs and boost commerce.

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Barred from Jerusalem for crime of being Palestinian
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Donald MacIntyre - June 29, 2010 - 12:00am

To say that Palestinian Murad Al-Khalaf's roots are in Jerusalem is a serious understatement. His family lived in the Baka district of West Jerusalem until they were forced to leave in the war of 1948. They have since lived – and live – in the inner East Jerusalem district of Ras al-Amud. His family doctor father's clinic in East Jerusalem's main street of Salahadin is opposite three shops owned by each of his uncles. One of his brothers, also a doctor, works at one of Jerusalem's two main (Israeli) hospitals, the Shaare Zedek Medical Centre. The city is, in short, his home.

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