International Condemnation | The American Task Force on Palestine

Israel: Erdogan, don’t become Chavez
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Herb Keinon - April 6, 2010 - 12:00am

Israel, in a sharply worded response to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s latest rhetorical slam, advised him on Monday night “not to turn into another extreme leader such as Hugo Chavez.” Erdogan should not try to integrate his country into the Arab world at Israel’s expense, a Foreign Ministry official said, in a rare direct response to one of Erdogan’s now almost routine attacks on Israel.

Lieberman: Erdogan turning into Gaddafi
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Roni Sofer - April 6, 2010 - 12:00am

Iran is heading towards a nuclear bomb, Turkey continues to verbally attack Israel, the Palestinians are threatening to declare a state and US President Barack Obama is demanding to control construction in Jerusalem. But Foreign Minister Avgidor Lieberman remains optimistic, despite all of these plagues. "We’ve weathered Pharaoh, we'll overcome this period as well," he told Ynet on Monday evening. "Those who fought for independence and for the State's existence must stand up to pressure. There is no alternative."

Gandhi says Jewish settlements obstruct establishment of Palestinian state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
April 5, 2010 - 12:00am

Rajmohan Gandhi, the grandson of late Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi, said here Monday that the Jewish settlements in the West Bank obstruct the establishment of the future Palestinian state. Gandhi, chairman of the Initiatives of Change International, an NGO working for peace, reconciliation and human security worldwide, toured the West Bank and met with several Palestinian leaders. Gandhi told a news conference in Ramallah that the Jewish settlements, the road barriers and the separation wall in the West Bank are "more illegal and humiliating than I believed."

Journalist on the run from Israel is hiding in Britain
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Kim Sengupta - April 2, 2010 - 12:00am

An Israeli journalist is in hiding in Britain, The Independent can reveal, over fears that he may face charges in the Jewish state in connection with his investigation into the killing of a Palestinian in the West Bank. Uri Blau, a reporter at Israel's liberal newspaper, Haaretz, left town three months ago for Asia and is now in London. Haaretz is understood to be negotiating the terms of his return to Israel with prosecutors, according to an Israeli source, who declined to be identified, because of the sensitivity of the situation.

Needed: An Israeli peace plan
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
(Editorial) March 31, 2010 - 12:00am

While in Washington the U.S. administration is trying to reduce tensions with Israel, in Jerusalem they go out of their way to depict in war paint the demands President Barack Obama put to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Political sources in Jerusalem told Haaretz's Ari Shavit this week that hiding behind the American demands is an intention to impose a permanent settlement on the two sides in less than two years. This is being presented as a troubling change in U.S.

Sarkozy 'condemns Israeli construction in East Jerusalem'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
March 31, 2010 - 12:00am

French President Nicolas Srakozy on Tuesday said his country stands with the United States in condemning Israeli settlement activity in East Jerusalem. Sarkozy said his own commitment to Israel's security is well known but adds that the settlement activity in an area claimed by the Palestinians "contributes nothing." Speaking at a news conference with U.S. President Barack Obama after their White House meeting, Sarkozy praised Obama for trying to engage the two sides in peace talks.

Rachel Corrie's family takes case to court in Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Edmund Sanders - March 30, 2010 - 12:00am

The American parents sit stoically in a sky-lit courtroom, listening to testimony about how an Israeli military bulldozer crushed their daughter to death seven years ago. They hear about the dangerous game of chicken played for several hours that winter afternoon in 2003, between bulldozers and international activists trying to protect Palestinian homes, before Rachel Corrie disappeared under a creeping mound of dirt.

Ensure Israel arms curbs, say MPs
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
March 30, 2010 - 12:00am

The UK government must ensure that military equipment sold to Israel is not used in the occupied territories, MPs have said. Ministers must learn "broader lessons" about ensuring the ban on the trade in such products for use in Gaza and the West Bank is enforced, a report adds. The MPs said it was "regrettable" that UK arms sold to Israel were "almost certainly" used in Gaza in 2008. However, they said the UK provided less than 1% of arms exported to Israel.

On Passover, Israel concerned over world standing
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Aron Heller - March 29, 2010 - 12:00am

Nearly one out of every two Israelis thinks the country's international standing is poor following Israel's most serious crisis with the United States in decades, according to a poll published Monday on the eve of the Passover holiday. As Jews around the world were making last-minute preparations for the spring festival — which marks the biblical story of the Hebrews' exodus from Egypt — a poll in the Maariv daily showed increasing concern following the open rift between the governments of the world's two largest Jewish centers.

Arab countries miss opportunity to cash in on strained Israeli-US relations
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Omar Karmi - March 29, 2010 - 12:00am

The 22nd Arab League summit that ended on Sunday was, as is common by now, long on rhetorical support for the Palestinians but short on practical measures to implement such support. Arab leaders did agree to draw up a strategy, in the words of Amr Moussa, the league’s secretary general, to stand up to Israel. In this context, however, it was surprising that the apparently strained US-Israeli relations were not more of a topic.

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