It is not just corruption
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Hassan Barari - (Opinion) February 16, 2010 - 1:00am

Few, if any, were shocked by the news that senior Palestinian officials close to President Mahmoud Abbas were involved in various kinds of corruption. One report after another has revealed corruption in the Palestinian Authority (PA) unparallel anywhere else in the Middle East. Indeed, one of the reasons behind the electoral fall of the Fateh movement was the widely held perception of a highly corrupt PA under Fateh rule. As such, it is not that the phenomenon is unknown. It is about the timing for revealing the issue and the identity of the one exposing the corruption.

»

Cheated: PA trade union head details permit fraud
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
February 16, 2010 - 1:00am

Thousands of Palestinians hoping to gain work and higher wages in Israel were duped over the last three years by a gang of Israelis and Palestinians selling forged permits, Secretary-General of the Palestinian Trade Union Shahir Sa’d said Tuesday. The scam was routed Sunday when Israeli police detained dozens of alleged gang members. The undercover investigation was carried out over a number of months under Commander Dorit Ben-Meir, the Israeli news site Ynet reported at the time. According to the report, 23 Israelis and 11 Palestinians were involved in the scam.

»

Telling Film Floats Between Art and the Actual
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS)
by Jerrold Kessel, Pierre Klochendler - February 15, 2010 - 1:00am

'Ajami' starts as a case of mistaken identity in a semi-tribal, semi-criminal feud: a kid fixing a car in the streets of Ajami, a nondescript Arab neighbourhood of the Mediterranean city of Jaffa, is killed in a drive-by shooting. Soon, a backdrop of acute poverty, crime and social decay evolves into a powerful tale of suffering, vengeance, and survival. 'Ajami' is a somehow a worst-case scenario of lives cast in tragic circumstances, a mirror image of the many conflicts that subdue the lives of Jews and Arabs within Israel/Palestine.

»

Selling a piece of Palestinian Main Street
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Edmund Sanders - (Interview) February 15, 2010 - 1:00am

Is the West Bank ready for Wall Street? That's a question soon to be answered with the launch of the first-of-its-kind Palestinian private equity fund, which managers hope will raise $50 million to invest in businesses in the Palestinian territories. The Palestine Liberation Organization's finances have at times drawn criticism. Late PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat was accused of controlling a $1-billion investment portfolio that, Western intelligence agencies said, was funded in part through money laundering, arms dealing and diversion of international aid.

»

Hamas boycotts meeting over municipal elections
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
February 12, 2010 - 1:00am

No members of the Hamas party attended the Thursday meeting of PLO factions alongside the elections committee to prepare for a June municipal vote across the West Bank and Gaza, Fatah General Elections Commissioner Muhammad Al-Madani said. Though Hamas is not part of the PLO, the party was invited to the meeting, Al-Madani said, to prepare for elections called by the Ramallah-based caretaker government on 2 February. The Palestinian Authority Cabinet, under appointed Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, set the elections date for 17 July 2010.

»

West Bank stab suspect 'suicidal'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
February 12, 2010 - 1:00am

A Palestinian man accused of killing an Israeli soldier in the West Bank may have been suicidal, the Israeli military has said. A senior military officer who spoke to alleged killer Mohammed Khatib, 34, told journalists "he said he was tired of living". Sgt Maj Ihab Khatib, 26, was stabbed in the chest as he sat in a 4x4 army vehicle on Wednesday. The attack has been condemned by the Palestinian Fatah movement. 'Personal circumstances' Mohammed Khatib, who is not related to the victim, is a senior police officer working for Fatah.

»

Peaceful Palestinian resistance is paying off
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Ben White - (Opinion) February 11, 2010 - 1:00am

For many, the idea of Palestinian resistance is synonymous with terrorism, conjuring up images of suicide bombings and rockets. This is a distortion shaped by the media and our politicians. Beyond the headlines, Palestinian resistance has always included nonviolent tactics. Today, in rural villages from Bilin and Jayyous to Nilin and Beit Ommar, this kind of Palestinian persistence against Israel’s separation barrier and illegal settlements is paying off – and attracting the participation of international supporters and Jewish Israelis.

»

An ‘Israeli Remix’ of a Palestinian Scarf
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Robert Mackey - (Blog) February 8, 2010 - 1:00am

Two years ago, under pressure from conservative bloggers, Dunkin’ Donuts called off an ad campaign featuring Rachael Ray because she was photographed wearing a black and white scarf that looked like a keffiyeh. One of the bloggers, the conservative columnist Michelle Malkin, argued that the scarf was inappropriate because “the keffiyeh, for the clueless, is the traditional scarf of Arab men that has come to symbolize murderous Palestinian jihad.”

»

War stories our daughters won't tell us
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Larry Derfner - (Interview) February 4, 2010 - 1:00am

The most shocking testimony in the new Breaking the Silence report, I think, is number 95. A female Border Police sergeant describes how the guys would catch Palestinian kids trying to sneak into Israel to sell cheap little toys: It was simply routine – emptying the children’s plastic bags and playing with their toys. You know, grabbing the stuff and throwing the toys among us like balls. Q: The children cried? Constantly. They cried and were terrified. I mean, you couldn’t miss it. Q: Adults cried too?

»

Israel's dual reality
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Aluf Benn - (Opinion) February 4, 2010 - 1:00am

Israel's image problem abroad is down to one issue: the stark and growing difference between how Israelis view their country, and how it is seen from outside. This explains the anger and insult that Israelis feel when they watch themselves on the BBC or CNN. It can't possibly be us, they protest, the networks must be biased and pro-Arab.

»


American Task Force on Palestine - 1634 Eye St. NW, Suite 725, Washington DC 20006 - Telephone: 202-262-0017