Settlements | The American Task Force on Palestine

Six injured in clashes between Palestinians, settlers
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
July 26, 2010 - 12:00am

Four Jewish settlers and two Palestinians were injured during clashes between the two sides near a settlement to the south of Nablus city in the West Bank on Monday, witnesses said. The settlers went to the street to express anger after Israeli police demolished a house and a barn that were built in an Israeli settlement near the Palestinian village of Burin, saying the demolishment violated an Israeli government freeze on settlement expansion in the West Bank, Israel Radio reported.

Top settler rabbi arrested for allegedly inciting to kill non-Jews
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Chaim Levinson - July 26, 2010 - 12:00am

The head rabbi of a prominent yeshiva in the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar was arrested Monday for writing a book that allegedly encourages the killing of non-Jews. Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira is the alleged author of the book "The King's Torah," which deems as legal, according to "Jewish law," the killing of non-Jews. Police began investigating Shapira after an advertisement for the book in a Hebrew newspaper created a public uproar. Deputy Attorney General Shai Nitzan encouraged the investigation as he believed the book contained an incitement to violence.

IDF: Curb 'price tag' violence
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Israel News
by Aviel Magnezi - July 26, 2010 - 12:00am

Palestinian fields in the Har Bracha area were torched on Monday as part of the settlers' "price tag" reprisals against the demolition of illegal structures in the settlement of Yitzhar earlier Monday. Palestinian fire trucks were deployed to the blazing fields and a heavy cloud of smoke hovered over the region. Meanwhile, two more settlers were arrested after clashing with police officers in Givat Natan near Bracha forest.

Ten years after Camp David, Israel has made peace even harder
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Ben White - July 26, 2010 - 12:00am

In an interview earlier this year with The Jerusalem Post, one of the Jewish settlers in Sheikh Jarrah, an area in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem where Palestinians are being evicted from their homes, explained that he had no “personal problems” with “the Arabs” – but insisted that “they have to admit who the landlord is here.” This sentiment offers more insight into the current realities on the ground in East Jerusalem, and Palestine/Israel in general, than dozens of column inches spent analyzing the progress of “shuttle diplomacy,” “concessions,” and “indirect talks.”

US presses Abbas to resume direct peace talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Karin Laub - July 26, 2010 - 12:00am

A senior U.S. envoy warned the Palestinian president that he must move quickly to direct talks with Israel if he wants President Barack Obama's help in setting up a Palestinian state, according to an internal Palestinian document obtained by The Associated Press on Monday. The 36-page memo, sent to senior Palestinian officials, advised Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to resist growing U.S. pressure, warning that rescinding his conditions for face-to-face negotiations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would be "political suicide."

Palestinian official hints at accepting direct talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
July 25, 2010 - 12:00am

A Palestinian official on Sunday hinted at accepting U.S. demands to start direct peace talks with Israel. "We don't rule out any possibility or form of negotiations," said Yasser Abed Rabbo, a member of the Executive Committee of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). However, Abed Rabbo stressed that Washington should present guarantees that the direct discussions would lead to an agreement. "These negotiations should not be taking place in vicious circle." Israel and the Palestinians started four-month indirect negotiations in May.

Israel sentences popular struggle leader
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
July 22, 2010 - 12:00am

A Palestinian protest organizer detained in 2005 and put on trial was sentenced Wednesday with a second trial pending, popular committee officials in Bil'in said. A statement said Abdallah Abu Rahmah was sentenced to two months of imprisonment and a six-month suspended sentence while a five-year trial on a litany of charges including "activity against the public order," "obstructing a soldier in the line of duty," and "incitement." A verdict in Abu Rahmah's main case for which he is already in jail since December is expected soon, organizers added.

Israeli forces demolish Palestinian homes, shops
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
July 22, 2010 - 12:00am

Israeli authorities have demolished eight structures belonging to Palestinians in a residential area northwest of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. Al-Gharbi mayor Ghassan Abu Salem said more than a dozen military vehicles carrying armed soldiers arrived mid-morning Wednesday with military equipment to carry out the demolitions. "They immediately began tearing down the structures," Abu Salem said. "They were homes and shops right on the main street, but the army said they were illegally built in 'Area C'," which falls under Israeli control.

Netanyahu: I'm willing to take political risks for peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - July 21, 2010 - 12:00am

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told the European Union's foreign policy chief that he is ready to take a political risk to reach an agreement with the Palestinians, but only if he does not have to take a security risk, sources say. During talks with Catherine Ashton, Netanyahu reiterated that he seeks to move forward quickly if direct negotiations with the Palestinians begin. He believes it would be possible to reach an agreement with the Palestinians within a year. A deal would then be implemented gradually over a number of years.

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