Palestinian Society | The American Task Force on Palestine

University employees announce strike
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
April 25, 2011 - 12:00am

University employees will strike on Wednesday to demand better pay and a new council for higher education, union officials said. Employees will go to work but will be on a comprehensive strike, said spokesman of the federation of university employees' unions Mousa Ajwa. Head of the federation Amjad Barham expressed disappointment over the "indifference" of the Palestinian Council for Higher Education to employees' interests.

Palestinian Billionaire Sees Hope After Arab Spring
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Voice of America
by Luis Ramirez - April 22, 2011 - 12:00am

It is a sight one would not expect in the Israeli-occupied West Bank: An Italian villa complete with ancient Greek statues, Picassos, and manicured gardens reminiscent of Versailles. Palestinian billionaire Munib Al Masri, whose personal wealth represents about a third of the Palestinian economy, has turned his extravagant dream into reality. Al Masri invited correspondent Luis Ramirez to his lavish home near Nablus to talk about his vision for a Palestinian state. A palace on a hill overlooking Nablus, complete with authentic works of art from Europe.

Palestinian leadership refuses to move Arafat's archive to Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
April 21, 2011 - 12:00am

A Palestinian official in Fatah movement said Thursday that the Palestinian leadership has not yet allocated the place to keep the archive of late President Yasser Arafat when they receive it from Tunisia. Secretary of the Revolutionary Council of Fatah Ameen Maqboul said that the Palestinian leadership has not yet asked for an Israeli permission to receive the archive. The PNA didn't decide till now the new place to save the archive, whether in the West Bank or Jordan, but they will decide that later, Maqboul added.

Palestinian leader: There will be no new uprising
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Bouazza Ben Bouazza - April 20, 2011 - 12:00am

The Palestinian president said Wednesday he is opposed to another armed uprising against Israel, even if faltering peace efforts fail later this year. Mahmoud Abbas told reporters in Tunisia that he remains committed to the U.S.-backed target of reaching a negotiated peace agreement with Israel by September. But with talks stalled for months, he repeated his plan to unilaterally seek U.N. endorsement of Palestinian independence in the absence of a deal.

Palestinian PM supports non violence in struggle against Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
April 20, 2011 - 12:00am

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on Wednesday voiced his support for non-violent resistance against Israel. "The great power of our non-violence program gets us closer to the moment of freedom," Fayyad said during a conference to promote peaceful struggle in the West Bank village of Bilin. He reiterated that the non-violent struggle has become part of the Palestinian National Authority's plans to establish an independent state alongside Israel.

Authors Pamuk, McEwan Back Bookseller Facing Israel Deportation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bloomberg
by Calev Ben-Dor - April 18, 2011 - 12:00am

At Munther Fahmi’s small bookshop in East Jerusalem, Martina Quick, political counselor at the Swedish embassy to Israel, peruses a copy of Palestinian academic Sari Nusseibeh’s autobiography “Once Upon A Country.” “This is the best bookshop in the country,” says the blond, bespectacled Quick, 39. “It has the most varied selection in English about the region, including fiction, non- fiction, memoirs and travel writing. My boss, Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, feels the same way and he really knows bookstores.”

Palestinians mark Prisoner Day with protests, hunger strike
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by Saud Abu Ramadan - April 17, 2011 - 12:00am

Hundreds of Palestinians in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip and the West Bank marked on Sunday the Palestinian Prisoner Day with demonstrations calling on Israel to release the prisoners, as thousands of prisoners in Israeli jails went on a one-day hunger strike. In Gaza City, hundreds of Palestinians, including mothers, children and wives of the prisoners in Israeli jails demonstrated in front of the headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), calling on Israel to release more than 7,000 Palestinian prisoners imprisoned in 12 Israeli jails.

Palestinians inaugurate first West Bank international soccer stadium
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
April 15, 2011 - 12:00am

The first international soccer stadium in the West Bank was inaugurated yesterday, with French international star Lilian Thuram making the first kick. The French- and German-funded stadium in al-Birah, a suburb of the central West Bank city of Ramallah, has 9,000 seats and cost more than 1.1 million euros, said a statement. Ex-Barcelona and Juventus defender Thuram - who was on the French national team when it won the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000 - participated in the inauguration on his first ever visit to the West Bank.

The ravaged palace that symbolises the hope of peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Matthew Kalman - April 13, 2011 - 12:00am

The first remodelling of Albert Abu Zgheibreh's impressive home in Beit Jala on the outskirts of Bethlehem was free of charge, but not to his taste. Hellfire missiles fired from Israeli Apache helicopter gunships left gaping holes in the walls, tank shells smashed through the supporting pillars of the verandas and the stonework was raked with heavy-calibre machine-gun fire.

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