A Beer for Palestine
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Roger Cohen - (Opinion) May 17, 2010 - 12:00am

Few people vacation on the West Bank, but if they did they might head for Taybeh, a hilltop village clustered around a church whose charm trumps the Israeli checkpoints that have to be negotiated to get there. The air is good, the stones smooth, the light brilliant — and the beer excellent.

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How to tell if there's progress in Israeli- Palestinian talks?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by David Harris - May 17, 2010 - 12:00am

Indirect talks between Palestinians and Israelis are to kick off on Tuesday with the visit to Ramallah of United States special envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell. Later in the week he is slated to hold talks with Israeli leaders in Jerusalem. These initial indirect or proximity talks will first tackle border issues and security. For some regional analysts, this is the best way to begin the process, while others see this approach as doomed to fail.

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Palestinian PM slams Israel for denying entry of U.S. professor
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
May 17, 2010 - 12:00am

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad lashed out at Israel on Monday for denying entry of Jewish American professor Noam Chomsky into the Palestinian territories. According to the official Palestinian Wafa news agency, Fayyad phoned Chomsky after he was barred from entering the West Bank and updated him on the latest developments in the Palestinian territory. The academic was invited by Birzeit University, near Ramallah, to lecture at a number of its faculties. He was also supposed to meet with Fayyad and other Palestinian officials.

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Middle East Plan B
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Boston Globe
by Sasha Polakow-Suransky - May 16, 2010 - 12:00am

“I think this is a very big deal,” President Clinton declared to a group of American Jews and Arabs after the legions of photographers left the White House grounds on Sept. 13, 1993. However, Clinton warned, it would take commitment and hard work to guarantee that the historic Israeli-Palestinian Accord signed that day would “truly be a turning point.”

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Israeli left flies flag to urge end to occupation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Alastair MacDonald - May 16, 2010 - 12:00am

A weekend rally in Jerusalem by Israelis demanding an end to their country's settlement and occupation of the West Bank was hailed by its left-wing sponsors as the start of a major push that could help U.S. peace efforts. But the turnout of just a couple of thousand people drew scorn from settlers, who count on the rightist-led government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to resist President Barack Obama's drive for a deal to establish a Palestinian state.

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Palestinians mark displacement in 1948 Mideast war
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Rizek Abdel Jawad - May 15, 2010 - 12:00am

Bitter Palestinian rivals marched together Saturday in a rare show of unity as they marked 62 years of displacement in the war surrounding Israel's creation. Loyalists of rival groups Hamas and Fatah held Palestinian flags and a giant key symbolic of their hoped-for return as part of annual commemorations of what they call the "catastrophe," or "nakba" in Arabic. The names of the villages and towns emptied during the war were written across the key, alongside the slogan "We will return."

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Report: IDF soldiers kill elderly Palestinian near Gaza border
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
May 15, 2010 - 12:00am

Palestinian emergency services and witnesses said Israel Defense Forces soldiers killed one Palestinian and wounded another near the border with Gaza, Israel Radio reported on Saturday. Medical officials in Gaza said the man, who was 75 and whose body was only discovered on Saturday when it became light, had been shot several times. They added that his family had reported he had been missing for two days.

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Limited construction goods to enter Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
May 13, 2010 - 12:00am

Two of the Israel/Gaza terminals will open on Thursday, what will likely be the final day of crossings operations for the week, Palestinian liaison officials were informed early the same morning. Crossings officer Raed Fattouh said he was told to expect approximately 130 truckloads of goods, including 5 truckloads of plastic pipes for the coastal waters, one truckload of goods for the power authority, one truckload of cement for aid agencies and 2 truckloads of iron girders and gravels.

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Israelis: No halt to east Jerusalem construction
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman
by Amy Teibel - May 13, 2010 - 12:00am

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hawkish coalition partners vowed Thursday to keep building Jewish settlements and demolishing unauthorized Palestinian homes in contested east Jerusalem — despite indications the Israeli leader has put the brakes on both. The United States opposes both at this delicate time, when indirect talks between Israelis and Palestinians have just begun. The remarks by Netanyahu's partners show the thin tightrope he has to walk in trying to address the conflicting demands of his political allies at home and Israel's strongest ally abroad.

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Arab homes in East Jerusalem to be demolished: Israeli minister
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
May 13, 2010 - 12:00am

"Illegally built" Arab homes in East Jerusalem will be razed "in the coming days," Israeli Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch said Wednesday. Aharonovitch revealed the plan in response to an inquiry by a Likud legislator during a plenary session of the Knesset, or Israeli parliament.

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