Palestinian Society | The American Task Force on Palestine

Study: Bribery rampant in Palestinian territories
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
December 9, 2010 - 1:00am

One person in four worldwide paid a bribe during the past year, according to a study released Thursday to mark International Anti-Corruption Day. The study, by the Berlin-based non-governmental agency Transparency International, focuses on small-scale bribery and was put together from polls conducted among more than 91,000 people in 86 countries and territories. In the past 12 months, one in four paid a bribe to one of nine institutions, such as health, education or tax authorities, according to the 2010 Global Corruption Barometer.

Palestinians battle bid to bulldoze road to statehood
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Hugh Naylor - December 6, 2010 - 1:00am

As Husam Assi describes it, it was an important battle on the road to Palestinian statehood. It began in late November when Israeli soldiers took positions protecting bulldozers sent to this otherwise sleepy West Bank village to destroy a recently laid strip of asphalt. Then, Mr Assi said, Palestinian youth swarmed the Israelis from the surrounding hills. "From the village mosque we called on the community to defend the road against the Israelis," the 49-year-old manager at Qarawat Bani Hassan's municipality said as he surveyed the area a few days later.

Abbas: Last resort _ I'll ask Israel to take over
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman
by Mohammed Daraghmeh - December 4, 2010 - 1:00am

RAMALLAH, WEST BANK — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has warned he may dissolve his self-rule government and ask Israel to resume full control of the West Bank if troubled peace talks fail. Dismantling the Palestinian Authority would be a last resort, Abbas told Palestine TV in an interview broadcast late Friday. However, his comments marked the most explicit warning yet that he's considering a step that could crush lingering hopes for a Mideast peace deal.

Mideast Conflict Plays Out In A House Divided
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from National Public Radio (NPR)
by Lourdes Garcia-Navarro - December 3, 2010 - 1:00am

On the surface, Jerusalem's Old City seems like the ideal melting pot of cultures and religions. Muslims, Christians and Jews live in this ancient walled enclave of less than half a square mile. It is a place that seems so removed from the modern world that surrounds it, and yet is so intrinsically a part of it. But an undercover war is being waged here: The Old City is the beating heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and everyone wants a piece of it. 'Revival Of Jewish Life'

Journal of an Ordinary Grief
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Rayyan Al-Shawaf - December 3, 2010 - 1:00am

“What is homeland?” asks famed Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish in his Journal of an Ordinary Grief, an intriguing but uneven collection of ruminations and autobiographical fragments that first appeared in Arabic in 1973 and is now being published posthumously in English. He has several answers. The most powerful? “To hold on to your memory – that is homeland.”

Palestinian shot in An-Nabi Saleh
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
December 3, 2010 - 1:00am

Israeli soldiers shot a Palestinian in the leg during an incursion Thursday in the West Bank town of An-Nabi Saleh, near Ramallah, local sources said. Palestinians in the village said Omer Saleh At-Tamimi was shot with live ammunition while demonstrators confronted the Israeli soldiers, throwing stones. Israeli military forces were said to have shut down all entrances to the village, stopping Palestinians from entering or leaving. Residents also said Israeli soldiers detained several people, including Helmi At-Tamimi.

A ‘tragic and dangerous development’
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Michael Jansen - (Opinion) December 2, 2010 - 1:00am

Reliable sources report that George Mitchell, a hero of the Good Friday agreement which ended Catholic-Protestant warfare in Northern Ireland, is set to step down from his post as US peace broker. Having tried and failed to relaunch negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis since being appointed by President Barack Obama early in 2009, Mitchell is apparently “to bow out” or “throw in the towel” in despair - as they say. If this report is correct, Mitchell’s departure would be a tragic and dangerous development.

Israel restricts Al-Aqsa access
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
December 2, 2010 - 1:00am

Israeli forces closed most gates leading into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound Thursday morning, leaving only two open. All worshipers under 40 years old were barred by Israeli police from entering the compound, and prayed together in the streets adjacent to the Haram Ash-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary) which houses the mosque and the Dome of the Rock. The action came following the entry of an estimated 55 religious Jews into the mosque compound shortly after 8 a.m., witnesses said. The group was accompanied by more than a dozen Israeli guards.

Palestinians angry over new Israeli building plans
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman
by Matti Friedman - December 2, 2010 - 1:00am

The Palestinians criticized an Israeli decision to push forward plans for 625 new homes in east Jerusalem, saying Thursday the project shows Israel has chosen "settlements and not peace." Israel's Interior Ministry confirmed Thursday that the new housing project in Pisgat Zeev, a sprawling area of 50,000 residents, was permitted to proceed by a district planning committee late last month. Further approval is required at the district and national levels, and actual construction would not begin for at least two years.

Palestinian delegate to U.S.: Congress shouldn't interfere in Mideast peace process
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Natasha Mozgovaya - December 2, 2010 - 1:00am

While the Jewish community of Washington, D.C. was busy lighting the first Hanukkah candle, the Palestinian mission to the United States held an event at the Ritz-Carlton in Pentagon City marking at the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. Several weeks before the Republicans are to take command of the U.S. House of Representatives on Capitol Hill, the head of the Palestinian mission to the U.S., Maen Rashid Areikat, sounded quite frustrated with the peace process - and wary of the prospects of the conduct of a Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

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