Interrogation of Palestinian teens was illegal, court rules
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Yanir Yagna - December 1, 2010 - 1:00am

Police illegally questioned two Palestinian minors late at night, even though there was no lawyer or adult family member present, their lawyer told the Kfar Sava Magistrate's Court this week. The minors, both 16-year-olds from Qalqilyah, are suspected of being accessories to the theft of three bicycles and two helmets that were found three weeks ago in the possession of two adults from Qalqilyah. These men were carrying the identity cards of the teens, which led police and military personnel to raid the minors' homes in Qalqilyah at 2 A.M. Monday.

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A ‘self-hating’ Palestinian?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Murad Bustami - (Opinion) December 1, 2010 - 1:00am

Several months ago, I took part in a symposium organized by the Palestinian Academic Society for International Affairs, entitled “Hamas’s Political Agenda 2010.” It took place at a venue a few meters from the burial site of Yasser Arafat and the office of current PA President Mahmoud Abbas. Independent figures from different academic backgrounds spoke on the podium in an attempt to analyze the political discourse of the Hamas movement, as well as to highlight the growing rift between the Palestinian liberation movement and the peace process.

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Palestinian Author Defends His Widely Challenged Report on Western Wall
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Nathan Jeffay - December 1, 2010 - 1:00am

The author of a controversial new Palestinian Authority report says his claim that the Western Wall is not a Jewish historic site does not constitute Palestinian propaganda but is rather an attempt to educate world Jewry. “I want to speak to all Jews and say — this wall is not for you; it’s for the Muslims,” Al-Mutawakel Taha, the PA’s Deputy Minister of Information, told the Forward. “I want to tell this to all Jews in all of the world.”

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Palestinian PM defiant over Israeli control
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Hugh Naylor - December 1, 2010 - 1:00am

Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian Authority prime minister, defiantly toured Israeli-controlled land in the West Bank yesterday, vowing to rebuild a road that Israel recently destroyed in the area. Near the northern village of Bani Hassan, the two-kilometre, PA-built road falls on a swath of land that the represents roughly 60 per cent of the West Bank. Although under Israel's exclusive authority, the Palestinian leader's pledge to rebuild the motorway is part of his effort to defy Israel's control over the area that he has called necessary for building an independent Palestinian state.

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Abbas: Palestinians have 'other options' if peace talks fail
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
December 1, 2010 - 1:00am

The PLO will explore alternative ways to gain international recognition if US efforts to advance peace talks with Israel fail, President Mahmoud Abbas said Tuesday. "We will spare no effort in pursuing this process and we have no choice but the choice of peace, we will continue with the peace process and we hope that US efforts will succeed," Abbas said at a news conference with German President Christian Wulff.

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Amid security successes, Palestinians feel unease
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman
by Mohammed Daraghmeh - December 1, 2010 - 1:00am

A senior Israeli commander in the West Bank recalled that he used to carry a thick notebook full of names of wanted militants. Today, the list is so thin it "almost doesn't exist," he said. And when Israel's military chief recently visited a famous church in Palestinian territory, he had some unlikely escorts: Palestinian security forces. Such sights were inconceivable just a few years ago, reflecting the startling progress made by U.S.-trained Palestinian security forces in the West Bank.

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Palestinians remove Western Wall report
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman
December 1, 2010 - 1:00am

The Palestinian government has removed a report claiming that Jerusalem's Western Wall isn't holy to Jews from an official website, after it provoked furious reaction. The five-page report has been condemned by the U.S. and Israel as incorrect and provocative. Palestinian officials would not comment on the report Wednesday. But its author, Al-Mutawakil Taha, a civil servant in the Information Ministry, says he stands by it.

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Palestinians mark 63rd anniversary of UN partition plan
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by Emad Drimly - November 30, 2010 - 1:00am

The Palestinians Monday marked the 63rd anniversary of the UN partition plan, calling for the implementation of international resolutions that lead to the establishment of their independent state. The Ramallah-based Palestinian Ministry of Information said in a statement sent to reporters that the decision (partition plan) " was a dangerous turning point that kept the Palestinians paying heavy prices."

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Palestinian officials fund schools, fill potholes in E. Jerusalem. Are they building a state?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Joshua Mitnick - November 24, 2010 - 1:00am

Officially, Israel considers the Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem as part of its "undivided and eternal" capital. But in practice, there's been an erosion of Israeli sovereignty on Jerusalem's eastern outskirts in recent months as the Palestinian Authority (PA) steps up a quiet campaign to fill a vacuum of municipal services – building new schools, filling potholes, and maintaining public order.

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Palestinian courts scuffle over land sale to Israelis
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Maher Abukhater - November 24, 2010 - 1:00am

In a struggle for Palestinian statehood in which every acre of land is a precious commodity, should selling West Bank property to an Israeli -- something viewed by many Palestinians as treason -- be punishable by death? That’s the question now facing the Palestinian Authority and the budding Palestinian courts system as they attempt to rebuff the rising trend of Israeli buyers, often right-wing settler groups, offering exorbitant prices for West Bank land in an effort to strengthen Israel’s claim on the occupied territory.

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