Right of return, but not in my backyard
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Marcus Sheff - (Opinion) November 17, 2011 - 1:00am

On a recent afternoon in Nablus, during the Id al-Adha Muslim holiday, a group of Palestinian men sat down to a conversation in an office suite. As traffic honked and rattled in the streets of this bustling West Bank city, the discussion ranged from the relative popularity of Fatah and Hamas to the man most likely to succeed Mahmoud Abbas as Palestinian president.

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Khaldun Bshara has dodged bullets to preserve Palestinians' heritage
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from
by Ruth Eglash - (Analysis) November 14, 2011 - 1:00am

Most visitors to the Palestinian architectural company RIWAQ would be forgiven for thinking that its building and people are similar to others in the area. With its Arabesque entryway, high ceilings, and tiled floor, the stone structure that houses the firm is a standard Ottoman design common across the region. And the people, busily working behind desks, appear to be like any other office employees.

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I'm Palestinian - but where am I from?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
by Mourid Barghouti - (Opinion) November 11, 2011 - 1:00am

For years, the Facebook team has been reminding me that I have to edit my profile and add the country I come from. As a matter of fact, I deliberately left this out because of my irresponsible fancy that writers belong everywhere and to everyone. Fed up with the dogged persistence of that dialogue box, I finally complied and clicked the "edit" button to write down "Palestine". Oh, it was not as easy as I had thought. I am not allowed to type, I must select from an alphabetically prearranged list of countries.

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Notorious Al-Saraya Becomes Holiday-Time Mall
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line
by Omar Ghraieb - (Analysis) November 7, 2011 - 1:00am

The Al-Saraya compound has been at the center of life in the Gaza Strip for nearly a century, mostly as the headquarters for whoever was in power, a prison for those who opposed them and occasionally as a military target. Now, the place where generals, government officials and warders once worked has been turned into a canvas-covered shoppers’ paradise for the Eid Al-Adha holiday.

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'Spring-less' Palestine?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Ibrahim Shikaki - (Opinion) November 3, 2011 - 12:00am

In recent years, and for various ecological reasons, Palestinians have been witnessing a "two-seasoned" year. Each year more noticeably than the one before, two seasons prevail: a colder-than-average winter and hotter-than-average summer. This means that two lovely seasons have begun to disappear. This brings us to the questions posed in this article, i.e. is there really "no Palestinian spring", and if so, will we need to import our spring from neighboring Arab countries?

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Remarks by Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad at the Sixth Annual Gala on October 19, 2011
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from American Task Force on Palestine
October 31, 2011 - 12:00am

Thank you. Thank you so very much. This gives a whole new meaning to what Woody Allen must have had in mind about the importance of showing up. Let me see what I can do with the ten percent.

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Behind Bars, Palestinians Find Love, Marriage
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line
by Omar Ghraieb - (Analysis) October 27, 2011 - 12:00am

He was from Fatah and she was from Hamas, the two rival Palestinian movements. They were both serving multiple life sentences. They had participated in killings – she for her role in a Jerusalem restaurant bombing, he in connection with the killing of an Israeli. As lovers go they could not have been more star crossed, yet Nezar and Ahlam Al Tammimi met, fell in love, got engaged and finally married while they were sitting in Israeli jails. Both were among some 450 Palestinian prisoners swapped for Israeli hostage Gilad Shalit last week.

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Freed Palestinian prisoners hope to rebuild lives
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman
by Tara Todras-Whitehill - (Analysis) October 23, 2011 - 12:00am

Palestinian prisoners sent to the Gaza Strip in a swap for a captive Israeli soldier last week are contemplating the rest of their lives after years behind bars. Some say they want to put their violent pasts behind them and move on, now that the celebrations marking their release have faded.

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Palestine and the Arabs: An inescapable relationship
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Bilal Hassen - (Opinion) October 20, 2011 - 12:00am

The Arab-Israeli conflict is an ever-present strategic issue for any Arab state or regime, regardless of its [political] trend. This has resulted in the emergence of popular anti-Israeli [political] movements; some are Palestinian, whilst others are Arab. These movements represent a tool in the struggle against the Israeli challenge. The majority of them are military [Fedayeen] movements, whilst some are political movements, whether via the Oslo Accords or via the political framework of the Palestinian Authority.

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Yalla Peace: Getting mad at the wrong people
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Ray Hanania - (Opinion) October 18, 2011 - 12:00am

PLO representative Maen Areikat reportedly announced last week that he was “distancing” the PLO office from the American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) because the latter group does not support the Palestinian push for statehood at the United Nations.That’s the buzz in the Palestinian world this week. Palestinians rarely make news, but when they do, it is usually about some internal squabble that most of the people who can influence the future of Palestine disregard. It’s typical of the problems Palestinians face and raises questions about issues that often are not openly discussed.

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