Fatah calls for escalation of non-violent resistance
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
March 31, 2010 - 12:00am

Fatah's Central Committee stressed the necessity for an escalation of non-violent resistance against the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, officials said following a meeting on Tuesday. United Palestinians should continue to protest the crimes committed against them by Israel, the Central Committee said, and recruit the help of international solidarity activists, officials said, noting their willingness to put forward a concerted effort toward Palestinian unity.

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Senior Fatah official refuses to appear alone before Israeli court
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
March 31, 2010 - 12:00am

A senior official from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party on Wednesday refused to stand before an Israeli military court, showing a solidarity sign with a group of detainees who were detained with him and being tried separately. Abbas Zaki, a member of Fatah central committee, was arrested with 11 Palestinians on an Israeli checkpoint in the West Bank during a demonstration this week.

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Gaza banks on strike after de facto raid on branch
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
March 30, 2010 - 12:00am

All banks across the Gaza Strip announced a general strike on Tuesday, protesting an attack against a local branch on Monday by de facto police. Banks announced action after the Monetary Authority called on branches to respond to the attack against a Palestine Bank in the Ar-Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City, in which 1 million shekels was seized by de facto security forces who were executing a court order demanding the branch return the amount to the Patients' Friends Society.

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Thousands attend 'Land Day' ceremony
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Sharon Roffe-ofir - March 30, 2010 - 12:00am

Thousands of people arrived in Sakhnin Tuesday to attend a ceremony marking the 34th anniversary of 'Land Day'. Participants waved black flags and Palestinian flags and called, "Barak, Barak, defense minister, how many children have you killed today?" Mosques throughout the northern city called on worshippers to participate in the rally and churches rang bells of mourning for the deaths of six activists who died protesting the confiscation of their lands in 1976.

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A script that may never be finished
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Raja Abdulrahim - March 30, 2010 - 12:00am

When Saleem Azzouqa first wrote a pivotal scene in his semi-autobiographical play, "Salam Shalom," two gay lovers were depicted arguing over a fictional suicide bombing. But this was no ordinary couple. One of the men was an Israeli Jew, the other a Palestinian Muslim, and the site of the imaginary bombing was Tel Aviv. Soon, the playwright realized he need not invent dramatic twists for this story. The nightly news would provide all the material he needed.

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Fayyad joins protest to mark Land Day
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
March 30, 2010 - 12:00am

Prime Minister Salam Fayyad joined over 200 Israeli, Palestinian and internationals marking Land Day on Tuesday in the village of Qarawat Bani Hassan, in the West Bank governorate of Salfit. The march began at around 10am and lasted until 12:30pm, Israeli peace activist Jonathan Pollack said, beginning near the Ein Entweteg Spring in the village.

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Palestinian PM ploughs ahead with future state
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Ali Waked - March 30, 2010 - 12:00am

Prime Minister Salam Fayyad got behind a horse-drawn plough in the West Bank on Tuesday and drilled a furrow in protest against Israeli control of Palestinian land. Wearing a T-shirt and a hat, the former World Bank economist put his foot to the rusty plough as Jewish settlers watched from a hilltop outpost nearby. Arab protestors attend special ceremony in Sakhnin, cry out: 'Barak, how many children have you killed today?' MKs present complain of Israel's 'racist policies', say they won't stop fighting for 'stolen land'

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Gaza bank 'held up' in broad daylight... by police
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
March 29, 2010 - 12:00am

When gunmen burst into Gaza's Palestine Bank on Monday and demanded a quarter of a million dollars the branch manager had to give in -- he couldn't say no to the police. The incident in Gaza City took place when police run by the Islamist Hamas movement went to impose a court order unfreezing the assets of a health charity at the heart of a bitter factional dispute. When the Friends of the Patient Society, which operates a small hospital in the impoverished territory, was taken over by Hamas earlier this year, the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank blocked the assets.

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Palestinian security forces walk a careful line
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Edmund Sanders - March 26, 2010 - 12:00am

As the highest-ranking commander of nearly 8,000 Palestinian security troops, Maj. Gen. Diab Ali is accustomed to being top gun. But the salutes often stop when he leaves the military base and travels through the West Bank. Experience has taught the general to leave his gun behind and trade the uniform for civilian clothes, lest some young Israeli checkpoint guard decide to hold him for questioning or block his way. "It avoids problems," said Ali, commander of the National Security Forces of the Palestinian Authority.

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Erekat: Settlement decision against peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
March 25, 2010 - 12:00am

Israel was straying further outside of the international consensus and damaging its credibility as a serious partner for peace, chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat said in a statement on Wednesday. The PLO official's comments follow Israel's decision to build in the flashpoint Palestinian neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah at the site of the former Shepherd Hotel, in occupied East Jerusalem.

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