U.S. Agrees to Resettle Palestinians Displaced by Iraq War
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Wall Street Journal
by Miriam Jordan - July 17, 2009 - 12:00am

The U.S. agreed to resettle 1,350 Palestinians displaced by fighting in Iraq, marking the largest resettlement ever of Palestinian refugees in the nation. The decision appears to signal a shift in Washington's previous position against resettling Palestinians out of concern about the potential impact on U.S. relations with Israel and the Arab world. The resettlement, which is slated to begin this fall, is likely to illicit strong reactions from people on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

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Coverage continues of emerging economic growth in parts of the West Bank (1, 12, 17). The Washington Post features an op-ed by former Israeli PM Olmert arguing against a focus on the question of Israeli settlements, and another by crown prince of Bahrain Shaikh Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa urging Arab states to communicate their desire for peace directly to the Israeli public (2, 3). In the Guardian, an anonymous Israeli writer questions Israel’s housing minister’s stance on keeping Arabs and Jews in separate towns, while Jerusalem's legal adviser has ordered the demolition of settler structures adjacent to the old city (5, 7). In Ha’aretz, Ari Shavit argues that Israel must make progress with the Palestinians before it can push the international community for a harder line on Iran, but Aluf Benn suggests that the Obama administration is still far from presenting a detailed peace plan of its own (8, 6). Two articles consider the state of both the traditional and the more peace-oriented pro-Israel groups in Washington (13, 15).

My Word: Obama team should pressure Israel on settlements
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Oakland Tribune
by Cecilie Surasky - (Opinion) July 17, 2009 - 12:00am

FEW AMERICANS HAVE had the opportunity to see firsthand, as I did in early July, the devastating impact of Israel's occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and why it's critical that we support President Barack Obama's call for a settlement freeze.

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Breathing life back into Nablus
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News
by Heather Sharp - July 17, 2009 - 12:00am

Business has more than doubled in recent months, said sweet shop owner Magdi Abu Salha, taking a break from slicing up knefi, the sticky cheese-based dessert for which his home town of Nablus is famed. Two years ago the northern West Bank town was a stronghold of armed Palestinian militant groups. And just three months ago, the six Israeli roadblocks and checkpoints that had ringed it for nine years had all but killed its economic life. Magdi Abu Salha, Nablus sweet shop owner Magdi Abu Salha says the Israeli-Arab visitors have boosted business

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European hardball
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Rami Khouri - (Opinion) July 17, 2009 - 12:00am

The call by the European Union’s foreign policy chief for the UN Security Council to recognise a Palestinian state by a certain deadline, even without any Israeli-Palestinian agreement, is intriguing and unimpressive. Javier Solana said on July 11, at a lecture in London, that “after a fixed deadline, a UN Security Council resolution should proclaim the adoption of the two-state solution.” This, he said, should address border parameters, refugees, control over the city of Jerusalem, and security arrangements.

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Pro-Israel lobby still influential in America
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by Marwan Al Kabalan - (Opinion) July 16, 2009 - 12:00am

President Barack Obama's recent meeting with the leaders of the pro-Israel lobbies in the US did nothing but feed speculation about how much power and influence these groups wield on US Middle East policy. The purpose of the meeting was to ask these groups to help convince Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to freeze colony activity in the occupied Palestinian territories and facilitate the resumption of Middle East peace talks.

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Israel should answer for Gaza war crimes
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
(Editorial) July 16, 2009 - 12:00am

The Israeli assault on Gaza in January was an outrage against humanity. Israeli frustration and fury with Hamas led to the government allowing the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) to break its own rules and commit a wide variety of war crimes in an effort to punish the entire population and reduce Gaza to rubble.

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J Street conference demonstrates increased coordination on left
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Eric Fingerhut - July 16, 2009 - 12:00am

Left-wing advocates of a two-state solution and a greater U.S. role in the peace process are joining forces in support of what they hope will be a groundbreaking conference this October in Washington. The conference, set for Oct. 25-28, is being dubbed as J Street's first national convention, but 11 other groups have signed on as “participating organizations,” including Ameinu, Americans for Peace Now, the Israel Policy Forum, the New Israel Fund and Brit Tzedek v'Shalom.

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West Bank boom
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Khaled Abu Toameh - July 17, 2009 - 12:00am

Many of those who have visited this city in the past decade were journalists searching for interviews with gunmen belonging to Fatah's armed wing, the Aksa Martyrs Brigades, or stories related to violence and bloodshed. In recent months, however, most of those who come to Nablus, once known as the Palestinian's economic capital, are shoppers searching for cheap clothes and fine sweets or a massage at one of the newly renovated 200-year-old Turkish baths.

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Arab camp kids humiliated in Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Tal Rabinovsky - July 16, 2009 - 12:00am

A group of Arab summer camp children were banned from entering Temple Mount in Jerusalem while wearing their camp t-shirts. When the children arrived at Temple Mount wearing their orange summer camp shirt, which read ''Al-Quds – Arab Culture Capital,' police officers told them that if they wish to enter, the shirts must come off. The incident took place Tuesday when children from the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Tzur Baher toured Jerusalem's Old City as part of their summer camp activities. However, what should have been an enjoyable day out quickly became a humiliating experience.

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