Palestinians pay the price for Israel's illegal settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Katherine Butler - August 27, 2009 - 12:00am

On a still, hot, August afternoon you can only hear the bleating of the lambs and the occasional bark of a dog. There are few places more exposed and isolated in the West Bank than the cluster of tents and caves that is home to Khalil Nawaja, his wife Tamam, their two sons and their 50 sheep.

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Abbas vows to reform PLO
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
August 26, 2009 - 12:00am

Ramallah – Ma’an – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas pledged to reform the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), and expressed solidarity with Lebanon and Syria on Wednesday at an emergency session of the Palestinian National Council (PNC) in Ramallah. Abbas called for the PNC meeting in order to appoint new members to fill vacant positions on the PLO’s high-ranking Executive Committee.

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One-state solution is a blueprint for a nightmare
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Carlo Strenger - August 26, 2009 - 12:00am

The continued failure of the Mideast peace process and the escalation of violence from the second intifada to the Gaza war have led many to think that the two-state solution is pedestrian, unimaginative and inhuman. Many Palestinians and a small but vocal group of Jews back Edward Said's claim that a one-state solution with full right of return for all Palestinians must be endorsed. This, they say, would finally lead to absolute and full justice.

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Dilemma of Palestinian settlement builders
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
by Heather Sharp - August 26, 2009 - 12:00am

"I feel like a slave," says 21-year-old Palestinian Musanna Khalil Mohammed Rabbaye. "But I have no alternative," he says, as he waits among a group of sun-beaten men in dusty work boots outside the Jewish settlement of Maale Adumim. The phrase comes up again and again as the labourers try to explain why they spend their days hammering and shovelling to help build the Jewish settlements eating into the land they want for a future state of Palestine. Mr Rabbaye wants to be a journalist and is trying to fund his studies.

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PLO holds poll amid criticism
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Jazeera English
August 26, 2009 - 12:00am

The Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) is facing claims it is no longer relevant as members of the legislative body prepare to vote on members for its executive council. The Palestinian National Council (PNC) convened in Ramallah in the West Bank on Wednesday to elect six new members to its executive committee. But the PNC, the highest legal body for Palestinians, is facing criticism from Palestinian factions who say the body has failed to represent the Palestinian people. Both Hamas and Islamic Jihad have refused to join until the organisation is reformed.

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PLO to pick new leaders at landmark meeting
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Google News
August 26, 2009 - 12:00am

RAMALLAH, West Bank — The parliament of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) on Wednesday began its first meeting in more than a decade in the occupied West Bank to replace leaders who have died. During the meeting in the territory's political capital of Ramallah, the Palestinian National Council (PNC) will pick six new members of the 18-strong PLO Executive Committee headed by Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.

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On the ground in Gaza, hopes for peace still flicker
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Antony Loewenstein - August 26, 2009 - 12:00am

Kamal Awaja lost his son in the recent Gaza war. He claims that Israeli soldiers murdered his child in front of his eyes before shooting his wife and himself in the leg, chest and arm. Today he lives with his large family in a tent in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, trying to provide a sense of normality for his children by tending a vegetable patch and constructing a small, plastic swimming pool.

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Nablus: a template for peace, or Netanyahu at his most cynical?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Ben Lynfield - August 25, 2009 - 12:00am

The shopkeepers in Nablus, the West Bank's toughest town, are smiling for a change. But no one knows for how long. Dubbed "the mountain of fire" by Palestinians for its part in the revolt against the British mandate during the 1930s, Nablus is usually known for its violent uprisings, choking Israeli clampdowns and prowling Palestinian gunmen extorting protection money.

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Israel speaks with one voice; Arabs must do the same
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Mustapha Karkouti - (Opinion) August 25, 2009 - 12:00am

There is a peacemaker in the White House and now we know what Israel is doing about it. Since his first and only meeting with the US president in May, the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been trying to derail Mr Obama’s efforts even before he announces his long-awaited peace plan for the Middle East. Mr Netanyahu has failed so far but there is no guarantee that he will not succeed in the future.

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An unusual sighting in Ramallah
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Daoud Kuttab - August 24, 2009 - 12:00am

I had to rub my eyes a few times to be sure that what I was seeing was real. The setting: downtown Ramallah. The event: International Youth Day. The participants were wearing white T-shirts with logos on the front and back and dark red hats. Palestinians from all over the West Bank were participating in the event organized by a network of youth NGOs called "We are Palestine." The theme this year was "We will be as much as we can dream."

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