Israel seals West Bank as security precaution
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
April 18, 2010 - 12:00am

Israel has barred the entry of nearly all Palestinians from the West Bank as a security measure because of observances for Memorial Day and Independence Day. The closure is to be lifted at midnight Tuesday. Israel is always on a heightened state of precaution during national observances. Memorial Day begins on Sunday night and is followed by Independence Day, which begins Monday night and lasts through Tuesday.

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Israeli fire kills 1 east of Gaza City
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
April 16, 2010 - 12:00am

Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian operative in the Gaza Strip on Friday morning, Palestinian and Israeli security sources said, following witness accounts of heavy fire. Fatah's Al-Aqsa Brigades said its operatives clashed with Israeli forces along the Gaza-Israel border on Friday. In a statement, the armed wing reported that at 6am, its forces acted defensively against an undercover Israeli force that entered Gaza. Israeli forces reportedly opened fire at the Al-Aqsa fighters, killing one. Another affiliate remained missing Friday afternoon, the group said.

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Israeli actions are turning Jerusalem into a settlement
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Zeev Sternhell - (Opinion) April 16, 2010 - 12:00am

Thanks to an attempted settler takeover of the Sheikh Jarrah quarter, that quiet neighborhood of East Jerusalem has turned into a kind of microcosm of the illnesses that are poisoning relations between Jews and Arabs. The worst of these is the refusal to recognize the finality of the situation that was created at the end of the War of Independence. It is possible to understand the settler right, whose existential aim is the continued conquest of the land. But how is it possible that state institutions will lend a hand to an act that destroys the very land under our feet?

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Israel ponders construction, demolition in disputed Jerusalem areas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Dave Bender, Qi Xianghui - April 15, 2010 - 12:00am

The Jerusalem municipality has taken an administrative step towards building some 200 apartments, a synagogue and a school in a disputed area in East Jerusalem, Israeli media reported. It is unclear when the building would begin. Yossi Gottesman, deputy spokesperson for the municipality, told Xinhua on Wednesday that the municipality has "transferred legal ownership of several dunams of land" in the neighborhood of Gilo. But he did not specify if the property would be used for housing, the synagogue or the school.

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IDF preps soldiers for settler violence
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Yaakov Katz, Tovah Lazaroff - April 15, 2010 - 12:00am

The IDF Central Command has prepared a special crash course for soldiers in the Judea and Samaria Division amid concern about a possible escalation in settler violence should the government extend the moratorium on new settlement construction in the West Bank beyond the end of September, senior officers have told The Jerusalem Post. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu convened top cabinet ministers earlier this week to discuss the US’s demands to extend the freeze, which were presented during his visit to the White House in March.

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Palestinians see return of Israeli military rule in eviction order
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
April 15, 2010 - 12:00am

A senior Palestinian official on Thursday said the recent Israeli decision to evict people from the West Bank aimed to exert Israeli military rule on the Palestinian- controlled territory again. "The real context of the decision is the return of the Israeli military rule, which has ended according to Oslo peace accords between Israel and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1993, " said Tayeb Abdul Rahim, secretary general of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA).

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It takes a village to humanize the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Richard Cohen - (Opinion) April 13, 2010 - 12:00am

Budrus is a Palestinian village just inside the West Bank. "Budrus" is also a documentary about what happened in that village when Israeli authorities tried to use some of its land -- cherished olive groves -- to build a security fence separating Arab from Jew or, as has too often been the case, terrorist from target. The villagers resisted, the Israelis insisted, and in the end an agreement was reached. On paper, it looks like a compromise. On film, it's an Israeli rout.

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Aluminum to enter Gaza after 3-year Israeli ban
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
April 13, 2010 - 12:00am

Israel has informed the Palestinian Authority that aluminum and wood will be permitted entry into Gaza, officials said Monday. The announcement was made by Nasser As-Seraj, assistant undersecretary in the Ministry of National Economy, and was confirmed by Palestinian liaison official Raed Fattouh. Fattouh told Ma'an that the first truckload of wood is expected to enter Gaza on Thursday -- the first delivery for over three years -- but that it remains unclear when the transfer of aluminum is expected.

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Erekat: World must compel Israel to revoke military order
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
April 13, 2010 - 12:00am

Chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat called on US Mideast envoy George Mitchell, among others, to immediately intervene and pressure Israel to revoking a military order mandating the expulsion of Palestinians from the West Bank defined as "infiltrators." Erekat further issued the same communique to EU Mideast representative Marc Otte, the UN's special coordinator for the peace process, Robert Serry, Russia's special envoy to the region, Alexander Saltanov, and Quartet envoy, Tony Blair.

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IDF bid to expel West Bank Palestinians is a step too far
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
(Editorial) April 12, 2010 - 12:00am

A new military order will take effect this week, enabling the army to deport tens of thousands of Palestinians from the West Bank and prosecute them on infiltration charges, which carry long prison terms. The order, uncovered by Amira Hass in Haaretz yesterday, bears the signature of Maj. Gen. Gadi Shamni in his previous capacity as commander of the Israel Defense Forces in Judea and Samaria.

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