August 22nd

Palestinians Strike to Seek Historic Agreement ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS) by Jillian Kestler-D'Amours - August 19, 2011 - 12:00am Nestled between rolling hills just outside of Jerusalem, a dozen Palestinian workers have escaped the scorching summer heat in the shade of a makeshift tent, where they anxiously wait to sign what would be the first collective bargaining agreement between Palestinian workers and an Israeli employer. » Read more

Palestinian PM denies U.S. threat to cut aid ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua August 21, 2011 - 12:00am Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on Sunday denied reports that Washington has threatened to cut financial aid if the Palestinians insisted to seek recognition at the United Nations. A statement by Fayyad's office said the Palestinian premier and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discussed the fiscal crisis the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) were suffering from and that donor nations should meet their financial commitments to the PNA. » Read more

Foreign funds for Hamas hit by Syria unrest-diplomats ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Nidal al-Mughrabi - August 21, 2011 - 12:00am Iran has cut back or even stopped its funding of Hamas after the Islamist movement, which rules the Gaza Strip, failed to show public support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, diplomats said Sunday. Hamas has denied that it is in financial crisis but says it faces liquidity problems stemming from inconsistent revenues from tax collection in the Gaza Strip and foreign aid. » Read more

Rush to cover up bloodshed in Palestinian camp ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency by George Hale, Hannah Patchett - August 20, 2011 - 12:00am Syrian forces scrambled Saturday to destroy evidence of last week's bloody crackdown in Latakia that killed dozens and sent Palestinian refugees fleeing, activists said as UN investigators arrived in Damascus. Security forces were seen scrubbing blood off the streets and walls of al-Ramel refugee camp ahead of the cross-agency mission’s anticipated arrival in the port city. The delegation was dispatched from Geneva in response to a damning report to the Security Council on Syrian leader Bashar Assad's "apparent shoot-to-kill" policy. » Read more

Egypt sets new battle front in a war with its own Islamic hardliners ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent by Alastair Beach - August 21, 2011 - 12:00am Perched high on a sandbank overlooking the slums of Gaza, a man who calls himself Abu Nafaq points to a block of canary-yellow flats just beyond the Egyptian border fence. "That is where the Israelis bombed a few days ago," he says, referring to the Israeli bombing raid in response to last week's ambush by terrorists in southern Israel. According to the Israelis, the gunmen who murdered eight people near the Red Sea resort town of Eilat came from Gaza – possibly sneaking out through the warren of smugglers' tunnels leading into the nearby Egyptian shantytown of Rafah. » Read more

Bedouin May Have Joined Attack on Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line by Joseph Mayton, Arieh O'Sullivan - August 21, 2011 - 12:00am As the Egyptian military began to flex its muscle in the northern Sinai on Sunday, Bedouin trial leaders said the cross-border attack on Israel that killed eight people had included Bedouins as well as Palestinians. » Read more

Israel-Gaza violence threatens protest movement ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman by Aron Heller - August 21, 2011 - 12:00am Security has traditionally trumped all other concerns in Israel. Now some social activists fear a sudden spike of violence with the Palestinians could overwhelm a spontaneous and surprisingly strong summer-long revolt against the country's high cost of living. A deadly ambush that killed eight Israelis, and subsequent Israeli airstrikes and rocket barrages from Gaza over the weekend, have abruptly shifted the country's attention away from the economic protests that were coalescing into a serious threat to the government. Now the security situation is the center of attention again. » Read more

Gaza factions agree ceasefire as overnight calm holds ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency August 22, 2011 - 12:00am Reports of a Sunday evening ceasefire deal reached between factions in Gaza and Israel appeared to hold overnight Sunday, as residents paused for breath after four days of Israeli airstrikes. Israeli media and army reported that 12 rockets launched from the Gaza Strip landed in southern Israel overnight, with no injuries. But the cessation deal, described by a Hamas official as "informal", seemed to take Gaza residents safely through the night. No faction claimed rockets attacks after the deal was in place, around 9 p.m. Israel time, 8 p.m. in winter-saving time. » Read more

Israel apologizes for Egyptian soldiers' deaths ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Jeffrey Fleishman, Edmund Sanders - August 21, 2011 - 12:00am Eager to head off a diplomatic crisis with its most important peace partner, Israel apologized to Egypt on Saturday over the deaths of three Egyptian soldiers who were accidentally killed last week during an Israeli military incursion into the Sinai peninsula. » Read more

Egypt and Israel Move to Halt Growth of Crisis ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Stephen Farrell - August 21, 2011 - 12:00am The Egyptian and Israeli governments moved Sunday to ease tensions over fatal cross-border attacks, apparently seeking to stop the crisis from flaring up into a full-scale diplomatic rift. An Israeli official confirmed that an Israeli military delegation arrived in Egypt on Sunday, quietly and unannounced, for behind-the-scenes talks with Egyptian officials, and a second Israeli official issued a public statement of regret for the deaths of Egyptian soldiers. » Read more