Jail ordeal of hundreds of Palestinian children arrested for throwing stones
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Rory McCarthy - March 14, 2010 - 1:00am

With more than 300 Palestinian children being held in Israeli prisons, human rights groups and Palestinian officials are increasingly concerned about the actions of the Israeli military. The Israeli group B'Tselem said that security forces had "severely violated" the rights of a number of children, aged between 12 and 15, who had been taken into custody in recent months.

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MESS Report / Israel threatens PA: 'fight violence or we will'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amos Harel, Avi Issacharoff - March 8, 2010 - 1:00am

Israel has conveyed messages to the Palestinian Authority over the past few days that it must contain the popular protests that have recently erupted in the West Bank, stop PA officials from participating in them and keep them from turning violent, Palestinian sources told Haaretz. They said Israel also told the PA it must reduce incitement regarding the Temple Mount and Jerusalem and curtail its campaign against the use of Israeli products.

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Fayyad tells US Jewish leaders: IDF incursions undermine us
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Haviv Rettig - February 19, 2010 - 1:00am

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad told visiting American Jewish leaders on Thursday that IDF incursions into Palestinian population centers “need to stop.” While “there is interest on both sides” in promoting Palestinian development and progressing toward statehood, Israel’s military operations in PA-controlled areas “not only run operational risks, but they undermine our credibility and standing. We need actions taken by the Israelis to be consistent with the notion of a state in evolution,” Fayyad said.

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ICRC condemns Israeli occupation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
February 18, 2010 - 1:00am

Israeli restrictions make normal life "close to impossible" for many West Bank Palestinians, the International Committee of the Red Cross has said. Some Palestinians are often unable to reach a hospital or visit relatives, while 50% live in poverty, it said. They are also frequently harassed by Jewish settlers, the organisation said. An Israeli foreign ministry spokesman said the ICRC had ignored statements by the Palestinian Authority that West Bank residents lived a "normal life".

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A Palestinian arrest so ridiculous even the Israeli judges smiled
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amira Hass - February 15, 2010 - 1:00am

Something about 12-year-old Bassam caused two Israelis to smile. Two Palestinians noticed, but did not remember their smiles as being disparaging or arrogant. On the contrary. The Palestinians regarded the smiles as a rare moment in which two Israelis - and not just any Israelis, but military judges - realized how ridiculous the situation was.

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Israeli soldiers kill a Palestinian in Hebron: medics
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
February 12, 2010 - 1:00am

A 41-year-old Palestinian resident of the West Bank city Hebron died of his wounds after he was shot and critically wounded by Israeli soldiers' gunfire on Friday afternoon, medical sources and witnesses said. The sources said Fayez Farraj was critically wounded after Israeli soldiers opened fire at him in the neighborhood of Bab el- Zawya. They said he died in a hospital a few hours later. However, the Israeli army said Farraj had tried to stab an Israeli soldier in the neighborhood by a knife he was carrying.

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Israeli forces arrest two foreigners in West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Ori Lewis, Erika Soloman - February 7, 2010 - 1:00am

Israeli security forces made an incursion into a Palestinian city on Sunday to arrest two foreign women belonging to an organisation involved in protests against Israel's West Bank barrier. Palestinian government spokesman Ghassan Khatib said the arrest of Spaniard Ariadna Jove Marti and Australian Bridgette Chappell in the city of Ramallah violated interim peace accords that gave Palestinians self-rule in parts of the West Bank.

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War stories our daughters won't tell us
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Larry Derfner - (Interview) February 4, 2010 - 1:00am

The most shocking testimony in the new Breaking the Silence report, I think, is number 95. A female Border Police sergeant describes how the guys would catch Palestinian kids trying to sneak into Israel to sell cheap little toys: It was simply routine – emptying the children’s plastic bags and playing with their toys. You know, grabbing the stuff and throwing the toys among us like balls. Q: The children cried? Constantly. They cried and were terrified. I mean, you couldn’t miss it. Q: Adults cried too?

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IDF to return to strategic hilltop
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Tovah Lazaroff - February 1, 2010 - 1:00am

The IDF has agreed to erect a watchtower on a strategic Gush Etzion hilltop called Shdema, thereby handing a partial victory to settlers who have campaigned for two years to ensure that it remains under Israeli control. Nadia Matar of Women in Green, who has organized weekly Friday protest events at the site for the last two years, said that an IDF commander told of them of the move late last week. On Sunday security sources told The Jerusalem Post that a watchtower would be placed there to increase area security.

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Israel Signals Tougher Line on West Bank Protests
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - January 28, 2010 - 1:00am

For more than a year, this village has been a focus of weekly protests against the Israeli security barrier, which cuts through its lands. Now, the village appears to be at the center of an intensifying Israeli arrest campaign. Apparently concerned that the protests could spread, the Israeli Army and security forces have recently begun clamping down, arresting scores of local organizers and activists here and conducting nighttime raids on the homes of others.

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