July 16th

Israel to UN: West Bank ‘outside our boundaries’
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Tovah Lazaroff - July 16, 2010 - 12:00am

Israel argued this week that a major human rights treaty, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, did not apply to its treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, because those areas were outside the country’s national boundaries, even as it defended its record on that score before the covenant’s monitoring body in Geneva.

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Force Israel's hand on Palestinian home demolitions
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Seth Freedman - July 16, 2010 - 12:00am

In theory, a municipality demolishing illegal structures on its land should not raise any eyebrows. In practice, however, such a measure should be viewed in the context of the wider politics of the locality – and when it comes to the tinderbox of Israeli-Palestinian affairs, the Israeli authorities' actions should be seen for the provocative and spiteful behaviour that they are.

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July 15th

The New York Times looks at diminishing hopes for negotiations, and says settlement building has continued apace in spite of the partial moratorium. A Jerusalem home demolition leaves a Palestinian mother and four children homeless. Fatah says conditions are not right for direct talks. A Libyan aid ship to Gaza docks in Egypt and will ship its supplies overland. Israeli police suspect an alleged Jewish terrorist has killed four Palestinians. Ha'aretz says Israeli security is increasingly challenged by Jewish terrorism. Gideon Levy says PM Netanyahu is not being honest with the Israeli public. Special Envoy Mitchell arrives in the region to push for direct negotiations. A former Israeli official says Israel knows it cannot stay in the West Bank. Israeli soldiers are convicted for shooting a bound Palestinian prisoner. British Jews overwhelmingly support a two-state solution. Joseph Kechichian says Lebanon must treat Palestinian refugees better. Daoud Kuttab looks at threats to Palestinian residents of Jerusalem. Raja Kamal outlines problems facing Palestinian citizens of Israel. The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists looks at a new film about Palestinian nonviolent protests against the occupation.

Tricky Bibi
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Gideon Levy - July 15, 2010 - 12:00am

This video should have been banned for broadcast to minors. This video should have been shown in every home in Israel, then sent to Washington and Ramallah. Banned for viewing by children so as not to corrupt them, and distributed around the country and the world so that everyone will know who leads the government of Israel. Channel 10 presented: The real (and deceitful ) face of Binyamin Netanyahu.

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Mitchell arrives to push direct talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Herb Keinon - July 15, 2010 - 12:00am

US special envoy George Mitchell was scheduled to arrive on Thursday to push for direct Israeli-Palestinian talks, amid Israeli optimism that these talks will begin well before the 10-month settlement moratorium ends on September 26. On the eve of Mitchell’s visit, one senior government official said the talks would begin “soon,” though probably not in the “next few days.”

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Shin Bet challenged by cases of Jewish terror
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amos Harel - July 15, 2010 - 12:00am

Suspicions against a member of the extreme right wing, Chaim Pearlman, link him to cases of Jewish terrorism that have yet to be solved: the murder of two Arabs, stabbed to death in Jerusalem more than a decade ago. In the police files and at the Jewish Division of the Shin Bet, there are a number of such conundrums left, and first and foremost among them is a series of shooting attacks in which Palestinians were murdered on West Bank roads during the early part of the past decade.

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Police suspect alleged Jewish terrorist killed four Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Chaim Levinson - July 15, 2010 - 12:00am

A right-wing Israeli extremist arrested this week over a string of stabbing attacks is suspected of murdering four Palestinians and attempting to murder another seven, according to details of the investigation released on Thursday. Chaim Pearlman was arrested Tuesday, initially on suspicion of carrying out two murders in 1998, and for a series of attacks on other Palestinian victims over the last 12 years. The Petah Tikva Magistrate's Court on Thursday extended his remand by six days.

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'Nuclear Iran less threat than chance of binational state'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Greer Fay Cashman - July 15, 2010 - 12:00am

“A nuclear Iran is not the end of Israel. A binational state is the end of Israel,” political commentator and former consul-general in New York Alon Pinkas told members of the Israel Britain and the Commonwealth Association on Wednesday. Speaking at the Sheraton Hotel in Tel Aviv prior to the IBCA general meeting, Pinkas initially addressed outgoing British Ambassador Tom Phillips, to whom he said that in an ambassador’s average three-to-four year in Israel there are two wars, two elections and one peace process.

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Soldiers convicted in Nil'in shooting
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
July 15, 2010 - 12:00am

The special military court convicted Lt. Col. Omri Burberg and his soldier, Staff Sgt. (res.) Leonardo Corea Thursday for unsuitable, threatening behavior towards a Palestinian. The incident happened nearly two years ago in Nil'in when the soldier fired a rubber bullet at the feet of a bound Palestinian and his commander looked on as it happened. Burberg, former commander of Battalion 71 in the Armed Coprs was convicted for attempted threats and Corea for illegally using a weapon. Both were convicted for inappropriate behavior.

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Libyan Gaza-bound aid ship enters Egyptian port
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Yusri Mohamed - July 14, 2010 - 12:00am

A Libyan-chartered ship carrying aid for Palestinians reached an Egyptian port on Wednesday after altering its course following a warning from Israel's navy not to head to the blockaded Gaza Strip. An Egyptian official said the Moldovan-flagged Amalthea arrived in El Arish, on Egypt's Mediterranean coast about 45 km (27 miles) south of the border with Gaza, in mid-evening and would begin unloading cargo.

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