Palestinian protesters pose as Na'vi from "Avatar"
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
February 12, 2010 - 1:00am

Palestinian protesters have added a colorful twist to demonstrations against Israel's separation barrier, painting themselves blue and posing as characters from the hit film "Avatar." The demonstrators also donned long hair and loincloths Friday for the weekly protest against the barrier near the village of Bilin. They equated their struggle to the intergalactic one portrayed in the film. Israel says the barrier is needed for its security. Palestinians consider it a land grab.

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Israel rerouting barrier near West Bank village
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Mohammed Daraghmeh - February 11, 2010 - 1:00am

Israel began work on Thursday to reroute a section of its West Bank separation barrier to restore land to a village that has become a flashpoint of Palestinian opposition to the enclosure. The move comes 2 1/2 years after Israel's Supreme Court ruled that the barrier must be moved to ease the hardship of Palestinians in the village of Bilin. Some Palestinians welcomed the development but stressed it fell far short of their demand to dismantle the entire enclosure.

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Peaceful Palestinian resistance is paying off
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Ben White - (Opinion) February 11, 2010 - 1:00am

For many, the idea of Palestinian resistance is synonymous with terrorism, conjuring up images of suicide bombings and rockets. This is a distortion shaped by the media and our politicians. Beyond the headlines, Palestinian resistance has always included nonviolent tactics. Today, in rural villages from Bilin and Jayyous to Nilin and Beit Ommar, this kind of Palestinian persistence against Israel’s separation barrier and illegal settlements is paying off – and attracting the participation of international supporters and Jewish Israelis.

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Israeli forces arrest two foreigners in West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Ori Lewis, Erika Soloman - February 7, 2010 - 1:00am

Israeli security forces made an incursion into a Palestinian city on Sunday to arrest two foreign women belonging to an organisation involved in protests against Israel's West Bank barrier. Palestinian government spokesman Ghassan Khatib said the arrest of Spaniard Ariadna Jove Marti and Australian Bridgette Chappell in the city of Ramallah violated interim peace accords that gave Palestinians self-rule in parts of the West Bank.

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Israelis To Move Security Barrier At Site of Palestinian Protests
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Nathan Jeffay - January 27, 2010 - 1:00am

Two-and-a-half years after a Supreme Court order, Israel’s army is preparing to adjust the route of the long security barrier it has constructed on the West Bank at a key flashpoint where a fence cuts off Palestinian villagers from their own land.

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Israel targets Palestinian anti-wall activists
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Omar Karmi - January 18, 2010 - 1:00am

Jamal Juma’ could not help but laugh at one of the accusations he said he had been threatened with while in Israeli detention. “They said they would indict me for links to Hizbollah. They didn’t like it when I started laughing,” Mr Juma’, a lifelong communist, said on Sunday, five days after his release.

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Occupation tourism: A new trend at West Bank fence protest
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Coby Ben-Simhon - January 15, 2010 - 1:00am

An old man in a black galabia who is leaning on a walking stick catches the attention of Ferdino Madno. In the center of Bil'in, while waiting for the start of the weekly demonstration against the separation fence, Madno, 41, scurries around with two cameras slung over his shoulders.

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Building a Different Middle East
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Nation
by Joel Beinin - (Opinion) January 15, 2010 - 1:00am

Like every other woman in her village Umm Hasan wears a headscarf. Her husband and other male relatives are not on the scene. But this is not an obstacle to her animated interactions with the sixteen Israelis and foreigners she has never previously met but welcomes into her home. Among the visitors are a German and a Serb who are making a film about Palestinian hip-hop. Everyone has come to participate in the weekly demonstration against the separation barrier organized by the local Popular Committee.

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Jerusalem should be at the center of peace efforts
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Daoud Kuttab - January 4, 2010 - 1:00am

The first decade of the twenty-first century has been a disastrous one for Palestinians. Negotiations efforts were dealt a dramatic blow, historic leaders and potential leaders were killed, assassinated or imprisoned and, worst of all, the scourge of internal strife returned to Palestinians in the form of the destructive Hamas-Fateh division.

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Bethlehem's modern nativity scene – crib, wise men and separation wall
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Rory McCarthy - December 23, 2009 - 1:00am

The shelves of Bethlehem's tourist shops this winter are filled with the gifts you might expect. There are countless carved olive-wood crucifixes, angels and last suppers. But there are also unexpected nativity scenes complete with Joseph, Mary, crib, wise men and large Israeli concrete wall with military watchtower.

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