Building Boom in Gaza’s Ruins Belies Misery That Remains ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Ethan Bronner - June 25, 2011 - 12:00am GAZA — Two luxury hotels are opening in Gaza this month. Thousands of new cars are plying the roads. A second shopping mall — with escalators imported from Israel — will open next month. Hundreds of homes and two dozen schools are about to go up. A Hamas-run farm where Jewish settlements once stood is producing enough fruit that Israeli imports are tapering off. » Read more

Peaceful protesters of Bil'in say struggle is far from over ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Hugh Naylor - June 27, 2011 - 12:00am BIL'IN, WEST BANK // A dedicated supporter of his village's weekly demonstrations against Israel's separation barrier, Ahmed Abu Rahme, 38, turned up to Friday's protest in a solemn mood. Two days earlier, Israel's military began re-routing a 3-kilometre segment of the massive barrier that severed his community of 1,800 people from an estimated two thirds of its farmland. » Read more

Getting on board with peace in Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Hagit Borer - (Opinion) June 26, 2011 - 12:00am Later this month an American ship, the Audacity of Hope, will leave Greece on a journey to the Gaza Strip to attempt to break Israel's blockade. It will join an expected nine other ships flying numerous flags and carrying hundreds of passengers from around the world. I will be one of those passengers. » Read more

'Hamas will not work with German mediator again' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post June 27, 2011 - 12:00am The deputy chairman of Hamas' political bureau, Moussa Abu Marzouk, told London-based al-Hayat on Monday that his organization would not work with German mediator Gerhard Konrad again after he failed to secure a prisoner exchange agreement between Hamas and Israel in negotiations for the release of captured IDF soldier Gilad Schalit. The last time talks broke down with the German mediator, Abu Marzouk said that while Konrad's role in the negotiations had ended, Hamas would "not oppose his return if the Israeli government wants it." » Read more

Suspect dies in custody in Palestinian jail ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press June 27, 2011 - 12:00am GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — A Palestinian human rights group is demanding an inquiry into the death of a Gaza man in Hamas police custody. The Gaza-based Palestinian Center for Human Rights says it fears Ibrahim Aaraj might have been tortured while in custody at the Nusseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. Center staff said Monday that they saw a fracture on the top of his head and bruises on his forehead, face, back and limbs. » Read more

Palestinians seek support for UN recognition ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by Mohammed Daraghmeh - June 27, 2011 - 12:00am RAMALLAH, West Bank — Palestinian delegations will make the rounds of nearly a dozen countries to try to drum up more support for their bid to have the United Nations recognize a Palestinian state, senior officials said Monday. Palestinian officials will visit Canada, Australia, New Zealand and several other countries that have not yet endorsed the Palestinian plan for recognition, said Hana Amireh, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization's decision-making Executive Committee. » Read more

Buying Into Palestinian Statehood ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Yossi Alpher, Colette Avital, Shlomo Gazit, Mark Heller - (Opinion) June 24, 2011 - 12:00am TEL AVIV — Instead of wasting time and energy trying to revive a moribund Israeli-Palestinian peace process, the United States and European Union should take another look at the Palestinian initiative to seek U.N. recognition in September. What is described in some quarters as a recipe for new strife and confrontation can actually be leveraged into a win-win situation for Israelis, Palestinians and the world. » Read more

Israel moves West Bank barrier after 4-year delay ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Maayan Lubell - June 26, 2011 - 12:00am BILIN, West Bank, June 26 (Reuters) - Israel began repositioning part of its contested barrier in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, four years after a court ruled it should be re-routed to give Palestinians greater access to farmland. Israeli tractors tore down a section of the barrier, a metal fence, as a clutch of journalists watched. A new concrete barrier has been erected some 600 meters from the old route near the Jewish settlement of Modiin Illit. The Israeli military tore down a watchtower overlooking Bilin on Wednesday and protesters rammed a bulldozer into the fence on Friday. » Read more

Palestinians going ahead with statehood bid ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency June 27, 2011 - 12:00am RAMALLAH (AFP) -- President Mahmoud Abbas said Sunday that with no renewal of peace talks on the horizon, the Palestinians would pursue their unilateral bid for recognition in September. "I say that if negotiations have failed we will go to the United Nations for membership," Abbas told a meeting of the Palestine Liberation Organization and his Fatah party. "Until now there have been no new incentives to return to negotiations," he said. » Read more

Israel urged to speak directly to Arab world ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Edmund Sanders - June 26, 2011 - 12:00am Few countries are as active in courting international opinion as Israel. An entire ministry is devoted to a kind of global PR called hasbara, the Hebrew word for "explaining." Israelis studiously track public opinion in the United States and Europe, and Israel's military has taken to using YouTube, Twitter and an army of bloggers to disseminate real-time updates around the world, sometimes in the middle of battle. But the public diplomacy campaign, which has largely focused on the West, has ignored the Arab world, which many in Israel have viewed as a lost cause. » Read more