Palestinians march in annual mourning ritual
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Mohammed Daraghmeh - May 15, 2012 - 12:00am

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Palestinians on Tuesday marked their mass displacement that followed Israel's creation with a blend of sadness and hope, stopping in their tracks for a mournful siren but also flashing victory signs and carrying banners proclaiming their right of return. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were forced from their villages during the war that established the Jewish state in 1948, an event they commemorate every year as their "Nakba," or catastrophe.

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Medics: 80 injured in Nakba protests near Ramallah
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
May 15, 2012 - 12:00am

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Over 80 Palestinians were injured in clashes with Israeli forces near Ramallah on Tuesday, medics said, as protesters commemorated the Nakba, or catastrophe, of their exile in 1948. After a mass rally in Ramallah's clock square, protesters headed to Israel's Ofer detention center and the Qalandiya checkpoint between Ramallah and Jerusalem to commemorate the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians during the founding of the state of Israel.

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Tibi: Israel must show empathy on 'Nakba Day'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Lahav Harkov - May 15, 2012 - 12:00am

MK Ahmed Tibi (UAL-Ta'al) spoke out against criticism of "Nakba Day" demonstrations on Tuesday, calling for Jewish Israelis to show empathy. "Recognition and empathy of the others' suffering is a lofty, humane value and a step towards peace between nations," Tibi said at a demonstration near Umm el-Fahm.

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Nakba is part of Israel's history
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
(Editorial) May 15, 2012 - 12:00am

"I don't expect an Arab national to sing 'A Jewish soul still yearns,' Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said two months ago, after Supreme Court Justice Salim Joubran refrained from singing the national anthem. Although the message was conveyed to Joubran indirectly, it reflected Netanyahu's understanding of the fundamental contradiction underlying an anthem that addresses only one people, the Jewish one.

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Thank you, Russian immigrant to Israel, for Nakba Day
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Bradley Burston - (Opinion) May 15, 2012 - 12:00am

It is customary for our people to honor fast days, memorial days and festivals by studying commentaries on their origins, the symbols and rituals of their observance, and the ways in which they connect to our own lives.

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Prisoners of Process
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast
by Hanan Ashrawi - (Opinion) May 15, 2012 - 12:00am

Two days ago the news of an agreement between Israel and the Palestinian prisoners to end the hunger-strike broke. The prisoners, most of whom have been without food for a month, won the right to have Gazan family visit them in prison (such visits have been denied for the past seven years) and the release of roughly 20 prisoners from solitary confinement into the general prison population (one prisoner has been in solitary confinement for almost a decade).

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Palestinian hunger strikes: the power of peaceful protest
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Benedetta Berti - (Opinion) May 15, 2012 - 12:00am

It may not have received much international attention, but Palestinian hunger strikes, which ended on May 14, have the potential to shake the status quo of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. That potential lies in the nonviolent nature of the strikes, which were carried out by Palestinians in Israeli detention, backed by grass-roots organizers, and concluded with Israel agreeing to improve prison conditions.

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Arab Spring and the Nakbeh
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Osama Al-Sharif - (Opinion) May 15, 2012 - 12:00am

The Arab Spring has not been good to the Palestinian cause. It has deflected attention from Israel’s nefarious scheme to bypass the two-state solution by enforcing a unilateral settlement on the Palestinians.

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Palestinians in Jails End Hunger Strike
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - May 14, 2012 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM — Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails ended a hunger strike on Monday that had lasted for weeks, signing an agreement with the Israeli authorities that promised improved conditions, according to officials. The end of the strike calmed fears of widespread unrest in the event of a prisoner’s death. “There is an agreement — the strike is over,” Sivan Weizman, a spokeswoman for the Israel Prison Service, said by telephone on Monday evening.

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Boycotts and threats ultimately hurt the Palestinian cause
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Ron Pundak - (Opinion) May 14, 2012 - 12:00am

A few days ago, hundreds of left-wing Israeli peace activists met to discuss the big issue: what to do? Should the focus be social or political? Is there a political solution? One state or two? And how to generate a center-left majority in the next elections? This time around, we looked at an additional topic: the influence of a peace process vacuum on the capacity to actually carry out activities involving interaction between Israeli and Palestinian societies.

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