The Palfest book festival puts Palestinian writers on the map
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Akin Ajayi - May 11, 2010 - 12:00am

When it comes to literary festivals, the way it usually works is that the organisers find a nice spot for writers to set up shop, then wait for the public to turn up to listen to the writers talk. In Palestine, though, things are a little different. Here, it's the job of the writers to go out and travel from city to city, seeking out an audience. And here, the writers listen as much as they talk: to the people whom they've come to meet about the realities of life under military occupation.

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Hundreds protest arrest of alleged Arab spies
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Sharon Roffe-ofir - May 10, 2010 - 12:00am

Some 300 people rallied in Haifa Monday evening in protest of the arrest of well-known Arab figures Omar Said and Ameer Makhoul on suspicion of contacting a Hezbollah agent. Several Arab Knesset members attended the rally as well, including Balad Chairman Jamal Zahalka, Hadash Chairman Mohammad Barakeh and MK Talab El-Sana (United Arab List-Ta'al). "We won't let (Israel) turn our political activities into security offenses," said Zahalka.

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Both hindrance and blight
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
May 6, 2010 - 12:00am

The Palestinian boycott of Israeli goods that originate in settlements is picking up speed. This is a very laudable initiative and a form of resistance that might, combined with other tactics, gain some result. For a start, it hits Israel where it hurts, namely in the pocket. While the exact market share of settlement goods in the Palestinian economy is not known, since Israel does not label goods properly, estimates suggest that it is as high as 15 per cent.

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Palestinian Terror Wanes, but Fear Remains
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by J.J. Goldberg - May 5, 2010 - 12:00am

On May 3, just two days before Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations were to resume through American mediation, Israel’s deputy foreign minister appeared alongside the head of a right-wing research organization at a press conference in Jerusalem to release new evidence that the Palestinians are not, in fact, ready for peace. It’s what you might call a confidence-building measure, Middle East style.

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Boycott puts the squeeze on Jewish settlers
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Omar Karmi - May 5, 2010 - 12:00am

The man selling watermelons on the main road from Ramallah to the Qalandiya military checkpoint had clearly worked on his sales pitch. “These are Arab watermelons,” he said with some feeling. He pointed to the sticker on the melons, which, although it boasted an Israeli mobile phone number, was written in Arabic. “These are not Jewish,” he said. “And they are sweet.”

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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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Fayyad calls for lifting Gaza siege
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
April 30, 2010 - 12:00am

Prime Minister of the caretaker government Salam Fayyad called Thursday for lifting the siege on Gaza. Following talks with South African foreign affairs chief Ibrahim Ismail Ibrahim in his office in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Fayyad affirmed the necessity of lifting the siege to enable the Palestinian Authority to begin rebuilding Gaza by implementing developmental and vital projects similar to those being accomplished in the West Bank.

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The sensible Palestinian statehood plan
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Ziad Asali - (Opinion) April 30, 2010 - 12:00am

Palestinians have recently been developing a peaceful multilevel strategy to achieve their national goals of a negotiated peace agreement with Israel, an end to the occupation, and the creation of a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders.

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PA urges Palestinians to stop using Israeli cell phone firms
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Avi Issacharoff - April 29, 2010 - 12:00am

The Palestinian Authority is urging Palestinians to stop using the Israeli cellular companies Pelephone, Orange, Cellcom and Mirs. But PA Communications Minister Mashhour Abu Daqqa told a press conference in Ramallah yesterday that this is not political boycott. Rather, he said, it is an attempt to regulate the PA's cellular communications market. Abu Daqqa told reporters that the Israeli companies operate in PA-controlled areas without a license, in violation of Palestinian law and the Oslo Accords. Moreover, he said, the companies do not pay any taxes to the Palestinian Authority.

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