Stop Humiliating Palestinian Refugees
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Sari Hanafi - (Opinion) March 16, 2012 - 12:00am

In a recent talk at the American University of Beirut, Chile’s former president, Michelle Bachelet, described how her country’s parliament was forced to issue a general amnesty in 1978, as a condition imposed by the dictator Augusto Pinochet to abandon power. Yet Chilean judges have refused to implement the law. Along with a vibrant civil society, they refuse to grant immunity to those who violated human rights.

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Israeli Leader Wrongly Blames UN and Arab States for Palestinian Refugees
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Atlantic
by Leila Hilal - (Opinion) February 21, 2012 - 1:00am

At the end of 2011, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, posted the third video in his YouTube series about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. These polished presentations are produced by an Israeli public relations firm in collaboration with StandWithUs, a U.S.-based group that counters criticism of Israeli policies regarding Palestinian. The series is promoted as "explanations of the historical facts" of the core issues of the conflict -- thus far covering the peace process, the West Bank, and most recently, refugees. (A fourth video on Jerusalem is said to be forthcoming.)

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Interior Ministry sets up Palestinian database
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Stephen Dockery - February 14, 2012 - 1:00am

BEIRUT: The Interior Ministry announced Monday that it is setting up the first state-held database of Palestinian refugees to try to alleviate their personal status paperwork problems. Interior Minister Marwan Charbel introduced the new registry at his office in Beirut Monday, saying it was part of the government’s obligation to the Palestinian people to improve their lives without undercutting the right of return.

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Israel 'denied residency to thousands of Palestinians'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
February 6, 2012 - 1:00am

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- Israeli policies have arbitrarily denied thousands of Palestinians the right to live in or travel to and from the West Bank and Gaza, an international rights group said Sunday. “Israel’s control over the population registry has significantly reduced the registered Palestinian population in the West Bank and Gaza, probably by hundreds of thousands of people,” the report by Human Rights Watch said.

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Israel Passes Draconian Law on Illegal Immigrants
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Donald MacIntyre - January 11, 2012 - 1:00am

Israel's parliament approved harsh new penalties on illegal immigrants yesterday in an effort to stop mainly sub-Saharan Africans seeking refuge from conflict and poverty. Although the law stopped short of enacting some of the most draconian penalties sought by the government, it has provoked widespread criticism from human rights groups. The law allows the state to imprison illegal migrants for life if they commit certain crimes and detain them and their children for three year terms simply for being caught entering Israel.

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Israel prepares for fall of Assad, Syria refugees
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Ori Lewis, Ari Rabinovitch - January 10, 2012 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Israel is making preparations for the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and a flood of refugees from his minority Alawite sect into the Golan Heights, Israel's military chief told a parliamentary committee on Tuesday. "Assad cannot continue to hold onto power," a committee spokesman quoted Lieutenant-General Benny Gantz as saying. "On the day that the regime falls, it is expected to result in a blow to the Alawite sect. We are preparing to take in Alawite refugees on the Golan Heights."

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Implementing a Negotiated Settlement on the Palestinian Refugee Question: The International Dimensions
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Chatham House
by Leila Hilal - (Analysis) January 1, 2012 - 1:00am

Today there are an estimated six million Palestinian refugees. Resolving their plight has been a core part of the peace agenda in the Middle East since 1948. While considerable diplomatic effort in the past two decades has centred on reaching a bilateral Israeli–Palestinian permanent status agreement, implementing any such agreement will present an equally massive challenge.

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Clashes in Lebanon refugee camp, one killed
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
December 18, 2011 - 1:00am

AIN EL-HILWEH, Lebanon, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Sporadic clashes broke out between armed factions in Lebanon's largest Palestinian refugee camp on Sunday after the bodyguard of an official there was killed, a witness and security officials said. Fighters supporting the mainstream Fatah party clashed with gunmen suspected of belonging to extremist Islamist parties, shooting at each other and firing rocket propelled grenades in Ain el-Hilweh in southern Lebanon. Armed clashes are common in the camp, which houses 50,000 refugees, and militant Islamists are known to operate there.

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Israel's Palestinian refugee video racking up views, strong responses
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
December 11, 2011 - 1:00am

A brief animated YouTube video recently released by the Foreign Ministry focusing on the Palestinian refugee issue has drawn tens of thousands of page views so far, as well as arousing strong pro and con sentiments. Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon last week posted the five- and-half-minute long clip, entitled "Israel Palestinian Conflict: The Truth About the Refugees." In it, he compares the disparity in treatment by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) of Palestinian refugees, to that of other refugee groups which have been resettled in other areas.

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Israel deputy FM: UNRWA 'morally, politically unacceptable'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
December 9, 2011 - 1:00am

TEL AVIV, Israel (Ma'an) -- Israel's deputy foreign minister accused the UN agency for Palestinian refugees of perpetuating Palestine's conflict with Israel, in a speech at the UN refugee headquarters in Geneva on Thursday, Israeli newspaper The Jerusalem Post reported. Calling UNRWA "morally and politically unacceptable," Danny Ayalon said the UN applied double standards by not resettling Palestinian refugees through its central body for refugees, UNCHR, and creating the separate Palestinian refugee agency.

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