Palestinian Society | The American Task Force on Palestine

Fayyad: PA Operating in Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
February 17, 2012 - 1:00am

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- The prime minister in Ramallah said Wednesday that the Palestinian Authority was working inside occupied East Jerusalem, despite Israeli restrictions on PA activities. The PA is continuously trying to allocate resources inside the city, which Israel occupied in 1967, Salam Fayyad said. The Israeli government is trying to impose its policies to control Jerusalem and its institutions, which is contrary to international law and signed agreements, Fayyad said.

Nablus Village at the Center of Settler Violence
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
by Charlie Hoyle - February 17, 2012 - 1:00am

ASIRA AL-QIBLIYA (Ma'an) -- A drive along the northern section of route 60 paints a telling picture of the physical geography of settlements and settler violence in the West Bank. Winding through picturesque Nablus countryside, the main north-south highway acts as a boundary between Israeli settlements on one side and Palestinian villages on the other. Overlooked by these illegal hilltop residences, local Palestinians are all too familiar with the disadvantages of the neighborly proximity, especially given that the Nablus district experienced the majority of settler violence in 2011.

Khader Adnan: The West Bank's Bobby Sands
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Donald MacIntyre - (Analysis) February 17, 2012 - 1:00am

It was only after talking with lucidity and animation for an hour about her husband's 61-day hunger strike that Randa Jihad Adnan's eyes, visible though the opening of her nekab, filled with tears. Until then, this articulate 31-year-old graduate in sharia law from Al Najar University in Nablus, the pregnant mother of two young daughters aged four and one and half, had described with almost disconcerting poise the two months following the arrest of her husband, Khader Adnan, on 17 December.

A Divided Town, Where the Pursuit of Bargains Brings Together Israelis and Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Linda Gradstein - February 17, 2012 - 1:00am

BARTA'A, West Bank (JTA) -- In these days of frozen peace negotiations, most Israelis and Palestinians have little contact. Palestinians need a special permit to enter Israel, and Israelis need army permission to enter the parts of the West Bank controlled by the Palestinian Authority. In fact, just a mile north of this small West Bank town, a large yellow sign reminds drivers that “it is illegal to hand over cars for repair to the Palestinian Authority or to enter Palestinian areas.”

Palestinian Property Ownership Law ‘Unjust’ Says LPDC Head
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Annie Slemrod - February 17, 2012 - 1:00am

BEIRUT: Abdul-Majid Kassir, president of the Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee, has called Lebanon’s law that bars Palestinians from owning property “unjust” and a “violation of human rights.” The former diplomat took the helm of the body tasked with improving relations between the two communities last summer, and spoke with The Daily Star Thursday about a wide range of issues that affect an often strained relationship.

Insight: In Israel, an Illegal Outpost Faces its Reckoning
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Crispian Balmer, Maayan Lubell - February 17, 2012 - 1:00am

MIGRON, West Bank (Reuters) - The Jewish settlement of Migron perches high on a blustery hill in the occupied West Bank. Its inhabitants pay taxes, are hooked up to the electricity grid and get round-the-clock protection from Israeli soldiers. Over the past decade the government has spent at least 4 million shekels ($1.1 million) on establishing and maintaining the cluster of squat, prefab bungalows, even building a neat tarmac road up the steep incline to the treeless ridge.

Palestinians Mourn Schoolchildren in Bus Attack
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Maher Abukhater - February 17, 2012 - 1:00am

REPORTING FROM RAMALLAH, WEST BANK –- At least six people, including five Palestinian chidren, were killed Thursday when their bus collided with a truck and overturned outside Ramallah during a school field trip. Palestinian police and medics said the children, ages 4 to 7, and their teacher were killed instantly and another 30 children were injured, seven seriously. The accident, in which the bus caught fire after the collision, took place in rainy and foggy conditions.

Condolences Pour in After Deadly Crash
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
February 17, 2012 - 1:00am

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Condolences poured in from near and far Thursday, as Palestinians mourned the deaths of at least five children in a fiery accident south of Ramallah. Some 39 others were injured in addition to the five children and their teacher who perished when a school bus and truck collided on a field trip, Palestinian medical officials said. Israeli leaders were among the first to extend condolences; President Shimon Peres phoned his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas to express sorrow, Israeli media reported.

8 Palestinian Children, Teacher Killed in Crash
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
February 16, 2012 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM (AP) — A truck lost control in slick, rainy weather and barreled into a Palestinian school bus on Thursday, killing at least seven children and a teacher and drawing hundreds of people to a West Bank hospital in an outpouring of grief, police said. The bus left the city of Ramallah on a school excursion but returned due to heavy rains and stormy weather, according to Palestinian police spokesman Yousif Osrael. On the way back, a truck careened into the school bus, causing it to flip and catch fire, Osrael said. The children killed were aged four to six.

Palestinian hunger striker Khader Adnan 'near death' in Israeli detention
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Harriet Sherwood - February 16, 2012 - 1:00am

A Palestinian prisoner on his 61st day of hunger strike while shackled to a bed in an Israeli hospital is in immediate danger of death, according to a medical report submitted to the supreme court in an effort to secure his release. Khader Adnan, 33, a baker from a village near Jenin, is being held without charge by the Israeli authorities under a four-month term of "administrative detention". He began his hunger strike on 18 December, the day after being arrested.

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