Palestinian Paralympians visit Jerusalem holy site
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Harriet Sherwood - May 21, 2012 - 12:00am

In al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site in Islam, Moussa Qadoom sank to the floor and wept into the gold and red carpet. As swallows swooped between the white marble columns of the vast edifice, the athletics coach from Gaza City surrendered to the emotion of the moment. "I'm 31 years old, and I have only ever seen this place in newspapers and on television," he said a few minutes later. "I never imagined in my whole life that I would come and pray in al-Aqsa."

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Israel convicts Palestinian protest leader
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Diaa Hadid - May 20, 2012 - 12:00am

OFER MILITARY BASE, West Bank — An Israeli military court on Sunday convicted a Palestinian protest leader of urging youths to throw rocks at Israeli soldiers, ruling in a case that sparked international criticism of Israeli practices in the West Bank. Bassem al-Tamimi — a symbol of Palestinian opposition to Israeli military rule praised by the European Union as a human rights defender — was convicted largely because of a confession by a 15-year-old interrogated without a lawyer.

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Meet The Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast
by Emily L. Hauser - (Opinion) May 18, 2012 - 12:00am

Many Israeli and American Jews hold strong opinions about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We study it, attend conferences, and are often told to expect only violence from the Palestinian side—yet there’s one thing many of us have never done: Met a Palestinian.

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Israeli NGO: Police beat handcuffed detainees in Palestinian solidarity protest
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - May 18, 2012 - 12:00am

The Justice Ministry has received complaints of severe police violence against demonstrators, including the use of Taser electroshock weapons, beating and kicking bound detainees, racist verbal abuse and sexual harassment of female detainees. The complaints were filed to the ministry's department for investigation of police officers by the Adalah advocacy group two weeks ago, after a demonstration in support of hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners outside the prison clinic in Ramle.

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Several prisoners still on hunger strike in Israeli jails
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
May 17, 2012 - 12:00am

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Several prisoners in Israeli jails are still on hunger strike, officials said Thursday, days after a deal was struck to end a mass hunger strike movement. Israeli Prisons Service spokeswoman Sivan Weizman told Ma'an that Mahmoud al-Sarsak and Akram al-Rekhawi are refusing food. They are being held in Ramle prison clinic, she said.

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Israel 'arrests TV director, confiscates equipment'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
May 17, 2012 - 12:00am

JENIN (Ma’an) -- Israeli forces arrested the director of a Jenin-based satellite channel on Thursday after raiding his home, the executive director of the channel said. Saher Qassem, chief of the Al-Asir channel, told Ma'an that a group of soldiers arrested Baha Khayri Ata Musa, 32, after raiding his home in Mirka village. Soldiers confiscated the TV station's broadcasting equipment from Musa's home, preventing the channel from being able to continue its coverage, Qassem said.

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Palestinian cave dwellers caught in Israel's crossfire
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Catrina Stewart - May 17, 2012 - 12:00am

Generations of Jabareens, a Palestinian family, were born in the cave hewn into the rugged hillside just a few miles from the Green Line delineating the occupied West Bank from Israel. Over the decades, the cave has acquired a few comforts, including generator-run electricity, a door offering protection against the elements, and a toilet installed at the expense of the British government.

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Israel has to change the way it views Palestinian prisoners
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
(Editorial) May 17, 2012 - 12:00am

Palestinian society, like every society waging a struggle for national liberation, feels a special responsibility toward those of its sons and daughters who have sacrificed their lives or their freedom for the collective. Palestinians consider the people we call "terrorists" or "murderers" as "freedom fighters" and "national heroes." In many cases, as in South Africa and Northern Ireland, it was prisoner leaders who effected reconciliation.

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Palestinian prisoner deal shows non-violence works
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Ali Sawafta - May 16, 2012 - 12:00am

RAMALLAH, West Bank, May 15 (Reuters) - Standing up to Israel through non-violent resistance can produce encouraging results, Palestinians said on Tuesday, after a prisoner hunger strike produced some Israeli concessions. The deal under which some 1,600 Palestinian prisoners agreed on Monday to end a month-long fast against Israel's prison policy was struck on the eve of Nakba (catastrophe) Day that marks Israel's founding in a 1948 war when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were driven out of their homes.

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The Palestinian struggle persists
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Rami Khouri - (Opinion) May 16, 2012 - 12:00am

Yesterday marked the 64th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba of May 1948, when Israel was established and Palestinians experienced the combination of exile and occupation that still defines them today.

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