Interview: Abbas says Israel aims to keep status quo
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
(Interview) April 16, 2012 - 12:00am

ON BOARD PRESIDENTIAL JET (Ma'an) -- Israel seeks to maintain the status quo by talking about peace without making any efforts to achieve it, President Mahmoud Abbas said on Sunday. Abbas, on a regional tour in Asia, told Ma'an that the Israeli government's stated support of a two-state solution was a "slogan for public opinion." "Israel talks about the two-state solution without taking a single step towards that solution ... (they are) comfortable with the status quo and don't seek to reach a solution," he said.

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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.

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Shin Bet: Action Against Jewish Extremists Has Reduced Attacks on Palestinians in West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Chaim Levinson - April 6, 2012 - 12:00am

Shin Bet security service officials say their actions against extreme right-wing activists have led to a significant reduction in violent incidents against Palestinians. Senior Shin Bet officials, from the unit monitoring the activists’ activity in the West Bank, made the statement recently at an internal defense establishment meeting dealing with events in the extreme right.

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IDF soldier moderately hurt after stabbed during West Bank arrest
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Gili Cohen - March 8, 2012 - 1:00am

A Palestinian man was shot and thought to have been killed by Israel Defense Forces on Thursday after stabbing a soldier in a West Bank village near Hebron. The incident took place in the village of Yatta during an operation carried out by soldiers belonging to the Kfir infantry brigade, geared at arresting Khaled Mahmara, who was released as part of the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange swap.

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Israel's "tunnel rats" brace for new guerrilla war
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Lianne Gross - March 8, 2012 - 1:00am

SIRKIN SPECIAL FORCES BASE, Israel, March 8 (Reuters) - Fearing a surge in tunnel and bunker construction by Lebanon's Hezbollah and Palestinian militants, Israel is training its troops to hunt below ground with robot probes and sniffer dogs. Such preparations reflect concerns that should Israel or the United States carry out attacks on Iran's disputed nuclear programme, Tehran may retaliate through its allies on the Jewish state's borders. "You can see a growing threat," said a major from the Israeli engineering corps' Yahalom ("Diamond") commando unit.

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PA: Israel seizing broadcast frequencies
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
March 1, 2012 - 1:00am

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) – The Palestinian Authority is describing Wednesday's raids on TV networks in the occupied West Bank as the possible beginning of a "frequency war" over limited broadcasting space. The confiscation of equipment from Watan TV and Al-Quds Educational TV deprives Palestinians of their right to have frequencies for building modern wireless communication networks, the PA says. Ramallah Prime Minister Salam Fayyad visited one of the stations, Watan TV in Ramallah, and said the Israeli operation was "oppressive and monstrous" and violated "all international laws".

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Israeli Troops Raid 2 Private Palestinian TV Stations in West Bank, Confiscate Equipment
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
February 29, 2012 - 1:00am

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Israeli troops raided two private Palestinian TV stations before dawn Wednesday, seizing transmitters and other equipment, the military said. The military said one of the outlets, al-Watan TV, is a pirate station whose frequencies interfered with legal broadcasters and aircraft communications. It said several transmitters were confiscated in the operation initiated by Israel’s Communications Ministry. The military also confirmed a second raid at Jerusalem Educational TV, a Ramallah-based station owned by the Palestinians’ Al Quds University, but did not elaborate.

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Hebron Funeral Becomes Target of ‘Skunk’ Weapon
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Israel News
by Elior Levy - February 29, 2012 - 1:00am

A funeral in Hebron this weekend became the target of a non-fatal weapon used by security forces to disperse crowds during violent protests. The funeral began as a protest marking the Cave of Patriarchs massacre's anniversary was ending. At a certain point during the rally, which was also in protest of the closing of a street to Palestinian traffic, clashes between protesters and IDF and Border Guard forces erupted.

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Israeli forces raided AQU campus and prevented the University educational TV from Broadcasting
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from ATFP
by Ziad Asali - February 29, 2012 - 1:00am

Dear Friends, We have received the message below from Al-Quds University and I am forwarding it to all those who are interested in resolving this conflict with simple questions: What does this mean? What message does it send? Are such Israeli actions leaving any room for the quest for peace and for those who seek dialogue and compromise? Should the campus of Al-Quds University expect thuggish smashing in lieu of search warrants?

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Israeli Troops Raid Two Palestinian TV Stations in the West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Ethan Bronner - February 29, 2012 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM — Israeli troops raided two Palestinian television stations in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank early on Wednesday, confiscating transmitters, computer hard drives and documents and eliciting angry condemnations from the Palestinian Authority. Officials at the two stations, Al Watan and Al-Quds Educational Television, said that officials from Israel’s Communications Ministry, accompanied by soldiers, spent several hours removing the equipment and documents.

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