Court rejects settlers appeal to stay in East Jerusalem building
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Nir Hasson - May 25, 2010 - 12:00am

The Jerusalem District Court on Tuesday rejected an appeal to overturn an order to seal off a building in the heart of East Jerusalem in which a handful of Jewish families have settled. The Jerusalem municipality ordered the contentious Beit Yehonatan building, named for convicted spy Jonathan Pollard, to be sealed off and evacuated as it was constructed without a legal permit.

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Minister Shalom: Gov't may sanction PA over boycott
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Atilla Somfalvi - May 25, 2010 - 12:00am

Vice Prime Minister and Minister for the Development of the Negev and the Galilee Silvan Shalom threatened Tuesday to impose sanctions on the Palestinian Authority for its organized boycott of Israeli products, which consists of a ban on all products made in settlements and a prohibition against working in Israeli factories in the West Bank.

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Palestinians: Israeli threats meaningles
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Ali Waked - May 25, 2010 - 12:00am

Palestinian Authority sources say they are unimpressed by Minister Silvan Shalom's threats to impose sanctions against the PA to counter a Palestinian boycott on settlement goods. PA spokesman Dr. Ghassan al-Khatib said Tuesday that threats by "settler leaders and manufacturers as well as by ministers and settler sympathizers do not deter us." "We are not interested in maintaining the welfare of settlements any longer. We are interested in boosting the local Palestinian industry and economy," al-Khatib said

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An understandable but ill-planned gesture
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Yossi Alpher - May 24, 2010 - 12:00am

I don't like boycotts. Israel suffered from a comprehensive Arab boycott prior to 1967, when settlements and territories were not an issue. Israel is today targeted for academic and economic boycotts by elements in the West whose hostility toward it in many cases goes far beyond the West Bank, Jerusalem and the settlements.

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Transcript: Shimon Peres
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Wall Street Journal
(Interview) May 24, 2010 - 12:00am

In an exclusive interview with The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Peres said Israel's survival as a Jewish state depended on its ability to conclude a two-state peace deal with the Palestinians. Below is an edited transcript. The Wall Street Journal: Where should we begin?

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Report: Israel legalized over 1,600 unauthorized Palestinian homes
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Chaim Levinson - May 24, 2010 - 12:00am

The Civil Administration retroactively legalized 1,611 Palestinian structures built without the necessary permits all over the territories in recent years, according to internal documents obtained by Haaretz. Meanwhile, the High Court of Justice is deliberating over a number of petitions filed by Israeli settlers demanding that the Civil Administration, which deals with non-military issues in the West Bank, retroactively legalize homes built without permits in Jewish towns there.

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Israel's Transfer Scheme
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Hussein Shobokshi - May 24, 2010 - 12:00am

The eyes of the Arab world are intensely focused on fears of a possible Israeli strike against Lebanon or Syria or even Iran. But the biggest fear lies in the secret scheme that is being whispered against the West Bank. Israel continues to believe that the biggest obstacle to its expansionist policy and settlement construction activities is the Palestinian human "numbers" on the lands of the West Bank. This intense and major Palestinian presence is the "truth" that is facing and delaying Israel's expansionist designs.

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PA minister promises employment for settlement workers
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Ali Waked - May 23, 2010 - 12:00am

Palestinian Social Affairs Minister Majida al-Masri said Sunday that her ministry has begun preparations to absorb 6,000 female Palestinian workers currently employed in the settlements as the ban on Israeli settlement produce progresses. Al-Masri invited the workers to fill out forms in branches of the Social Affairs Ministry in order to find new jobs inside Palestinian Authority territory.

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Settlement goods no longer sold in Italian grocery chains
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
May 22, 2010 - 12:00am

The Italian Coalition Against Carmel-Agrexco announced Saturday that two major Italian supermarket chains, COOP and Nordiconad, said they would suspend the sale of products from a settlement good exporter. Products from Agrexco, what the coalition calls a "principal exporter of produce from Israel and the illegal Israeli settlements" will be cleared from stores by the end of the month, the director of Nordiconad told the coalition.

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Boycott volunteers say army searching for them
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
May 21, 2010 - 12:00am

Volunteers with the Palestinian Authority's House to House settlement goods boycott campaign said Israeli forces entered the Husan village, west of Bethlehem, searching for them. Volunteer Ahmad Jaz'ul told Ma'an that four Israeli military jeeps "raided the village at 1pm in the afternoon, searching for the campaign's volunteers, stopping passer-bys and asking where we were." "We hid our uniforms and ID cards. Some volunteers stayed hidden in their homes until the Israeli army withdrew," he added.

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