J Street unveils grassroots field effort
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Hilary Leila Krieger - August 18, 2009 - 12:00am

J Street announced Tuesday that it would be launching field operations around America to encourage grassroots activists to become involved in shaping local debates on Israel and US Middle East policy.

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Israelis help rebuild Palestinian homes
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from ABC News
by Anne Barker - August 13, 2009 - 12:00am

Some Israeli citizens are challenging the Jewish state over its practice of demolishing Palestinian houses. They have taken up trowels and buckets to rebuild two houses that were knocked down in a Palestinian town straddling East Jerusalem and the West Bank. Younes Sbaih says he has been moved by the generosity of about 20 volunteers who are rebuilding his house from a pile of rubble. The group - some who cart sand and cement while others work with saws and jackhammers - will take just two weeks to build the house from scratch.

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Protecting human rights is never 'interference'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Jeff Halper - (Opinion) August 13, 2009 - 12:00am

The article entitled Spain funds 'summer camp' for foreign volunteers to rebuild demolished illegal Palestinian homes, which merited the front page of The Jerusalem Post (August 10), would seem somewhat of a non-story. After all, Israel and the US funded NGOs assisting Jews in the Soviet Union.

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Israeli human rights groups back Robinson pick
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
August 10, 2009 - 12:00am

Seven Israeli human rights groups wrote to President Obama supporting the choice of Mary Robinson as a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. "Mrs. Robinson deserves this honor for a lifetime of unflagging support to the cause of human rights in its many dimensions," the leaders of B'Tselem, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, Association for Civil Rights in Israel, Binkom-Planners for Planners Rights, Gisha-Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, Hamoked-Center for the Defense of the Individual and Yesh Din-Volunteers for Human Rights said in their letter to the president.

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Feed Them Against Hunger…And May God Protect Them!
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Tariq Alhomayed - (Opinion) August 6, 2009 - 12:00am

In Gaza, men cannot walk along the beach bare-chested, shop owners are requested to hide mannequins, summer camps for children are being discouraged based on the pretext of free mixing between the sexes, and cafes and Christian symbols are being targeted. In fact it has reached such a level that an explosion went off at a wedding party based on the claim that music is haram [prohibited in Islam].

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Rights groups: Gov't stifles free speech
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Dan Izenberg - August 3, 2009 - 12:00am

Organizations who devote all or part of their efforts towards protecting Palestinian human and legal rights on Sunday delivered a strong protest to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu against "the aggressive efforts of the government of Israel to hurt Breaking the Silence." On July 15, Breaking the Silence, an organization comprising former IDF soldiers, published a report including testimonies by 30 soldiers who provided alleged examples of the army's illegal use of Palestinian civilians in combat situations, wanton destruction of homes and buildings and careless use of weapons.

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Paralysed girl's story reflects Gaza's plight
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
July 23, 2009 - 12:00am

Four-year-old Samar Abed Rabbu lost her two sisters during Israel's offensive in Gaza last December and January. The BBC's Christian Fraser has been following the plight of Samar and her family - now divided across two continents, as Samar receives treatment in Belgium with her mother. Throughout these months of gruelling therapy Belgian doctors say Samar Abed Rabbu has demonstrated remarkable courage. She is desperate to walk again - she even simulates it on the bed with her fingers - but there is nothing the Belgian doctors can do to repair Samar's broken back.

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Catastrophe? Israel bans 'nakba' from Arab textbook.
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Ilene Prusher - July 23, 2009 - 12:00am

In the lexicon of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, few terms elicit as much energy as the word nakba – Arabic for "the catastrophe," the term Palestinians use to describe the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. This week, the term became even more of a lightning rod. Amid a rising nationalistic tide in Israel's government, Education Minister Gideon Saar moved to expunge the word from school textbooks, reversing a 2007 decision.

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I remember the Nakba
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Yoram Kaniuk - (Opinion) July 23, 2009 - 12:00am

This week I visited the Knesset for the third time in my life. The first time was during the War of Independence, when the site was not yet under Israel’s control. Today, it’s an immense building. If Netanyahu’s policy of going to war against the Americans will be implemented, even the US Army won’t be able to take over the Knesset building. Israel’s parliament looks like the formidable fortress of a strong nation. Barbed wire, thick walls, police officers, and checkpoints. An ugly citadel surrounded by even uglier buildings.

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Don't Go There
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by George Fletcher - (Opinion) July 22, 2009 - 12:00am

Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo deserves great credit for having led the International Criminal Court from its birth pangs to its present position, where it commands global respect.

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