Security | The American Task Force on Palestine

Israel prevents Palestinians from free movement
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Google News
by Diaa Hadid - September 15, 2011 - 12:00am

Ahmad Ayyash once had a construction job in Israel, earning good money. Now he is a goat herder struggling to eke out a living, barred from working in Israel and restricted from entering his olive grove next to this West Bank village. Ayyash's story is familiar to Palestinians, who face a complicated system of travel restrictions that Israel mostly developed during the height of violence between them and Palestinians, hoping to prevent militants from reaching the Jewish state and West Bank settlements.

Rise in terror activities by Jewish extremists worries Israel's Shin Bet
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Vita Bekker - September 14, 2011 - 12:00am

Israel is growing concerned about a rise in terror activities by Jewish extremists against Palestinians and Israeli left-wing activists as it anticipates violence ahead of a possible United Nations recognition of Palestinian statehood.

Keep the peace between Israel and Egypt
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Chuck Freilich - (Opinion) September 14, 2011 - 12:00am

My fingers burned with excitement. It was just weeks after Egyptian President Anwar Sadat's dramatic trip to Israel in November 1977 and my boss had just returned from Egypt, the first Israel Defense Forces officer ever to visit that nation. I was a young officer, and the "present" he brought me — a standard tourist postcard — was the most precious one I could imagine. It was something from Egypt, and it was not going to explode. Until Sadat's trip, and the 1979 Israel-Egypt peace treaty that followed, that sort of contact had been as tangible to Israelis as the moon.

A weak Palestinian Authority might lose control after vote
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Tony Karon - (Opinion) September 14, 2011 - 12:00am

The Arab Spring may have had little effect on the governance of the Palestinian territories, save for a few demonstrations that sparked a patently insincere unity agreement between Fatah and Hamas, both of which have been preoccupied with avoiding blame. But the Arab Fall may yet bring the collapse of the Palestinian Authority.

Israel’s new problem with the Arab Street
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by David Ignatius - (Opinion) September 13, 2011 - 12:00am

The expanding confrontation between Israel and its neighbors has been described variously as a “train wreck,” a “lose-lose situation” and a “political tsunami.” It’s all those things and likely to get worse, for there’s no quick fix by Israel’s ally, the United States.

Encountering Peace: The view from Cairo
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Gershon Baskin - (Opinion) September 12, 2011 - 12:00am

Since Friday I have been in Cairo. This great city is not unfamiliar to me – I’ve been here more than 20 times, although my last visit was five years ago. I came to Cairo to attend a small meeting of MECA – the Middle East Citizens Assembly. This small but important organization was founded by Walid Salem, a Palestinian peace and democracy activist from east Jerusalem who decided that for real democracy to take root in the Arab world, citizens needed to take responsibility, stop acting like subjects and become active participants.

A Secular State with a…“Football” Frame of Reference
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat
by Mohammad Salah - (Opinion) September 12, 2011 - 12:00am

It is not difficult to explain what happened with the Israeli embassy in Cairo. Indeed, despite it being unanimously recognized as unlawful action contrary to Egyptian and international law, as well as to all conventions, and despite the fact that all Egyptian political forces have rejected the attack on the embassy, as well as of course the confrontations with security personnel that followed, we must understand that there is in Egypt a major social issue called “vengeance”, for which the search to find a solution never stops, and which is well entrenched especially in Upper Egypt.

Egypt cracks down after Israeli Embassy attack
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Joel Greenberg - September 10, 2011 - 12:00am

CAIRO — Israel scrambled its diplomatic staff out of Egypt early Saturday after protesters tore down a wall and broke into the Israeli Embassy. As thousands more protesters torched police vehicles and clashed with security forces, an Egyptian commando squad rescued six embassy guards trapped inside the building. Israeli officials who tracked events during the night described tense hours in which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke by phone with President Obama and the chief of Egyptian intelligence while monitoring events over a direct link to the besieged guards.

In Sinai, Egypt should be tough but fair
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Masry Al-Youm
by Issandr El Amrani - (Opinion) September 6, 2011 - 12:00am

On 29 July, a group of around hundred armed men rode into the town of Arish in northern Sinai on motorbikes. They proceeded to attack the central police station, as well as a hospital morgue where they were reported to have taken a body of one of their own, before disappearing back into the desert.

War and peace: Egyptians consider post-uprising relations with Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Masry Al-Youm
by Ali Abdel Mohsen - August 30, 2011 - 12:00am

Mohamed Abdel Razek Ali has been standing outside the Israeli Embassy for the past week. His clothes are torn, his hands are filthy, and he holds a couple of signs, too detailed and busy to make immediate sense to any passers-by. The message he is trying to get across, however, is all too clear: “Down with Field Marshal Tantawi!” Abdel Razek Ali demands as he takes his one-man protest off the sidewalk and into traffic.

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