Court orders state to explain why Amona outpost not demolished
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Chaim Levinson - May 5, 2010 - 12:00am

The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued a temporary injunction requiring the state to explain why it has not followed through with evacuating every illegal outpost built on Palestinian land in the West Bank. The court made its ruling particularly with regard to the Amona outpost, where settlers began to build in 1995 and have continued to do so despite an official evacuation as recently as 2006.

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Soldiers charged with using boy, 10, as human shield
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Ben Lynfield - May 5, 2010 - 12:00am

Two Israeli soldiers were charged in a military court yesterday with forcing a 10-year-old Palestinian boy in the Gaza Strip to handle objects they suspected of being rigged to explode. The soldiers were indicted for "ordering the boy to open cases that they thought were explosives", Major Dorit Toval, the prosecutor, said. The alleged crime took place during Operation Cast Lead, the Israeli military onslaught waged more than a year ago with the aim of halting Hamas rocket fire at southern Israel. A gag order was placed barring publication of the names of the soldiers.

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PA security officials detained in Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
May 4, 2010 - 12:00am

Israeli forces detained seven Palestinian locals from several neighborhoods in Jerusalem on Tuesday at dawn, after they were accused of affiliation to the Palestinian Authority security forces. The seven detainees were at an Israeli court in Jerusalem on Tuesday afternoon, and are accused of affiliation to PA security. They were expected to be detained for nine days, but attorney Saleh Ayoub sought a shorter remand.

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Israel mulls wider Palestinian control in West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Allyn Fisher-Ilan - May 4, 2010 - 12:00am

Israel is considering handing over security responsibilities to Palestinians in additional West Bank towns under U.S.-backed plans for resuming peace talks, Israeli and Palestinian security sources said. The sources named Abu Dis, a town at the edge of Jerusalem once seen as a possible Palestinian seat of government, as one of the more significant sites where Israel is weighing whether to soon permit armed Palestinian police to patrol.

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Price tag: Who's to blame for settler violence?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Anat Shalev - April 30, 2010 - 12:00am

Torching fields, vehicles and houses, uprooting olive trees, vandalizing kindergartens – these are part of a long list of almost routine violent acts of settlers against Palestinians, dubbed "price tag." The latest incident occurred Thursday in the village of Hawara, when residents from the settlement of Yitzhar hurled stones, torched fields and caused havoc in a kindergarten and in private homes.

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Jordan's Abdullah: Israel playing with fire
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
April 30, 2010 - 12:00am

Jordan's King Abdullah II said Thursday that Israel was "playing with fire" in Jerusalem, stressing that the Hashemite Kingdom retains all political, diplomatic and legal options to "protect" Jerusalem and its Muslim holy sites. Speaking to foreign ambassadors on the shores of the Dead Sea, Abdullah said reaffirming the Palestinian quest for statehood was a top priority for his country.

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PNA: Israel aids settlers to confiscate Palestinian land
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
April 29, 2010 - 12:00am

The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) on Wednesday accused the Israeli government of supporting Jewish settlers to confiscate Palestinian-owned land. The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a press release that the Israeli authorities "prevent farmers and shepherds in Tubas district in northern West Bank from reaching their farms." "The Israeli authorities allow hundreds of armed settlers to erect tents in the area where Palestinian shepherds usually feed their sheep," said the ministry.

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Settlers attack Palestinian village to protest police crackdown
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
April 29, 2010 - 12:00am

Far-rightists from the West Bank settlement of Yizthar on Thursday marched through a neighboring Palestinian village and attacked local homes, to avenge a series of arrests by Israel Police earlier in the day. The group stormed through Hawara to show their anger at the "police crusade against the settlers" after 11 residents of their community were detained, settler spokesman Avraham Binyamin.

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Gaza…The Next Explosion
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Tariq Alhomayed - (Opinion) April 29, 2010 - 12:00am

The Arabs might be taken by surprise by the situation in the Gaza Strip blowing up at any moment; all the signs indicate that the situation on the street has reached boiling point and that divisions between the Hamas leaders, as well as divisions between Hamas and its other allies in the Gaza Strip, have increased.

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Israel tries new tactics against Palestinian protesters
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Edmund Sanders - April 28, 2010 - 12:00am

It's the usual Friday afternoon cat-and-mouse dance between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian protesters in this West Bank village. Young village men, joined by Israeli leftists and international activists, begin blocking roads with boulders and tires; soldiers take up positions at key intersections. Israeli forces fire tear gas canisters; protesters fling rocks. Before long, the military calls in one of its most dreaded weapons.

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