Internal Palestinian Politics | The American Task Force on Palestine

Abbas dismisses idea of dismantling PA
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
April 16, 2012 - 12:00am

TOKYO (Ma’an) -- President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday dismissed the idea of dismantling the Palestinian Authority, during an interview with Japanese media. "Where do the writers of such reports get their ideas and information from," Abbas replied when asked by Japanese media about the proposal raised in a US magazine. Yossi Beilin, one of the authors of the Oslo Accords, made the appeal in Foreign Policy magazine. Regarding a letter being sent to Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, next week, Abbas said it would highlight the negative effects of settlement activity.

The Press on Trial
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
(Editorial) April 16, 2012 - 12:00am

As investigative stories go, it doesn’t read like a blockbuster, hardly in the league of a Watergate scandal or the groundbreaking constitutional challenge ignited by the publication of the Pentagon Papers. The January 30 story appeared in the Jordanian newspaper Al-Ghad, written by Yousef al-Shayeb, and it described the kind of government corruption that, frankly, many have come to expect the world over.

Hundreds of Palestinians declare hunger strike
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Dalia Nammari - April 16, 2012 - 12:00am

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel launched a hunger strike on Tuesday, officials said, protesting their conditions and demanding an end to open-ended detentions without trial as the Palestinians marked their annual day of solidarity with the inmates. Some 3,500 prisoners refused meals on "Prisoners' Day," and 1,200 of them said they would continue with an open-ended hunger strike, according to Israeli prison service spokeswoman Sivan Weizman.

How we got to here
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Ghassan Khatib - (Opinion) April 16, 2012 - 12:00am

Ten years ago, Israel reoccupied the Palestinian Authority areas that had been designated in peace agreements as "Area A", i.e., areas under the civilian and security authority of the Palestinian Authority. That Israeli aggression, dubbed Operation Defensive Shield, dramatically changed the status quo that was created by the Oslo agreements, which was intended to be a transition to a permanent solution agreed on through final status negotiations.

A sea-change in trust
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Mohammed Najib - (Opinion) April 16, 2012 - 12:00am

Ten years after Operation Defensive Shield, the wide Israeli operation in the West Bank, a new reality has been created on the ground, whose impact deeply affects West Bank residents.

Palestinians Ban Sale of Israeli Produce
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line
by Arieh O'Sullivan - April 15, 2012 - 12:00am

The Palestinian Authority (PA) started to block the sale of Israeli potatoes as part of a new policy to support local farmers and remove foreign produce in the marketplace, agriculture officials told The Media Line. “We are doing this to protect the farmers because they can’t sell their potatoes due to the cheaper ones the Israelis are unloading on us,” said Zakaria Salawdeh, a deputy director of the Palestinian Agriculture Ministry, saying that the ban wasn’t directed against Israel for political reasons.

A Champion of Non-violence on Palestine's Tactics
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor
by Sophie Claudet - (Interview) April 15, 2012 - 12:00am

With a huge, open-ended hunger strike planned for April 17, in which all Palestinian prisoners will follow the example of Khader Adnan —who was released after a 66-day strike earlier this year—questions about the Palestinian non-violence movement have become pertinent again. Among the reasons that led Palestinian militant groups to renounce large-scale violence, one could cite the wall that Israel started building in 2002 around the West Bank to thwart suicide bombings, or Israel’s massive assault on Gaza in December 2008-January 2009 to stop rocket attacks.

Palestinian Authority affirms its commitment to 1967 borders
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Nabeel Shaath - (Analysis) April 13, 2012 - 12:00am

For a few years, international leaders have voiced concerns about the stalemate in the Middle East peace process. After 20 years of negotiations, we still hear calls to go back to the table for negotiations. At the same time, Israeli bulldozers continue to change Palestine's landscape.

‘One-State’ Idea Gains Support of Some Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from National Public Radio (NPR)
by Lourdes Garcia-Navarro - April 12, 2012 - 12:00am

Peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians are at a standstill and have been for almost two years. The stated aim of those negotiations is what is known as the "two-state solution," which means the establishment of a viable, independent Palestinian state existing in peace alongside Israel. But as hopes for an agreement diminish, Palestinians — and even some Israelis — are now talking about other solutions to the conflict. Among them, the so-called "one-state solution."

Bethlehem Mayor to Israel: Allow our Friends to Visit
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
April 11, 2012 - 12:00am

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The mayor of Bethlehem on Tuesday urged Israel not to humiliate hundreds of tourists invited to a week-long tour of Palestine. Some 25 Palestinian organizations have invited internationals to visit Palestine from April 15 - 21 and Mayor Victor Batarseh urged Israel to let them enter and not to humiliate them, at a news conference in Bethlehem. "We demand our international friends have access to Bethlehem," the mayor said. "It is our right to welcome visitors."

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