August 9th

Fire from Gaza intensifies as three mortars hit southern Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
August 8, 2011 - 12:00am

Three mortar shells fell Sunday night in Sha'ar HaNegev Regional Council, causing damage to a fence. No injuries were reported. The incident comes after a spate in rocket attacks launched from the Gaza Strip last week. On Friday, Israel Air Force jets attacked five targets in Gaza in response to the firing of Grad rockets. Hours before the air strike a rocket fell in an open field near the town of Kiryat Gat. The rocket was the third of its kind in 24 hours, but it caused no injuries or damage.

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Israeli army arrests 11 Palestinians in West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
August 9, 2011 - 12:00am

Israeli army arrested 11 Palestinians in the West Bank early Tuesday, including a senior Hamas member, Palestinian security sources and Israeli media said. Most of the detainees were napped in Hebron city where Hamas official Aied Doudin lived. The Palestinian sources said that Doudin and some of his relatives were seized. Israel Radio reported that the raid targeted wanted activists. It also reported that two rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip and landed in Western Negev in Israel. The missiles caused no injuries or damage.

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Hamas employees' wages late due to cash crisis
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
August 7, 2011 - 12:00am

Civil servants in Gaza will not receive their July salaries until the end of August due to government cash shortages, Hamas finance ministry official Ismail Mahfouz said Sunday. Speaking at the Gaza government's information office, Mahfouz said that while some of the government's income came from internal revenue, a large part of the budget was received from external sources. He said there was a deficit in support from abroad, and that Hamas officials were trying to secure more finance from outside the Gaza Strip.

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PM lobbies world envoys against Palestinian statehood
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Herb Keinon - August 9, 2011 - 12:00am

Israel is prepared to make concessions, but the Palestinians have shown no indication of a willingness on their own for compromise, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Monday to a group of 18 ambassadors to Washington from Asian, European, African and Latin American countries who don’t usually vote for Israel at the UN. “Six prime ministers, including myself, have come out in support of a Palestinian state, and two offered far-reaching concessions, but this hasn’t helped,” Netanyahu said, in a reference to the concessions offered by Ehud Barak in 2000, and Ehud Olmert in 2008.

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Arab states to head UN in September
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Yitzhak Benhorin - August 9, 2011 - 12:00am

Two Arab states will head the United Nations Security Council and General Assembly in September, the month which is expected to see a vote on recognition for a Palestinian state. Lebanon will serve as president of the Security Council in September and Qatar will head the General Assembly for one year as of next month. The Security Council has five permanent member states with veto power (The United States, Russia, China, France and Britain) but Arab states are invariably represented among the 10 remaining rotating states.

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Palestinians study UN status options
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
August 9, 2011 - 12:00am

Permanent Palestinian observer to the United Nations Riyad Mansour said Tuesday that the option of changing Palestine's status from "observer entity" to a "non-member state" is still being studied. Mansour told the Italian news agency AKI that becoming a non-member state "does not invalidate the right to become a member state as recommended by several UN resolutions such as resolution 181 in 1947." The ultimate goal would be to obtain full UN membership like South Sudan, he said, however if that objective is not met then Palestine would seek a status similar to that of the Vatican.

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August 8th

NEWS: Hamas and Fatah agree to release political prisoners. Fatah figures accuse ousted official Muhammad Dahlan of being involved in the "poisoning" of the late Pres. Arafat. FM Lieberman says Israel should cut all ties to the PA. A five-star hotel opens in Gaza. EU diplomats criticize Israel's “arrogant” stance. Israel may hold early elections due to ongoing protests. Israeli textbooks are criticized for bias against Palestinians. Israel pressures human rights organizations. Palestinian women are entering the banking sector. Lebanon says it will recognize the Palestinian state. COMMENTARY: The New York Times says a confrontation at the UN would be harmful to all parties and the US should work towards a compromise. Former UN ambassador Gabriela Shalev says Israel's international standing is collapsing. Oudeh Basharat says Palestinian citizens should get involved in Israel's cost of living protests. Asharq Al-Awsat interviews FM Al-Maliki. Xinhua says empty promises from Israel won't stop a Palestinian UN initiative. Sister Paulette Schroeder says living with Palestinians in Hebron taught her lessons about being a Christian. Mira Sucharov asks where Palestinians fit into Israeli cries for "social justice." As'ad Abdul Rahman says Palestinians need a peaceful uprising against occupation. Steve White says maintaining US funding for Palestinian security forces is imperative.

No countries for old men
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy
by Steve White - (Opinion) August 5, 2011 - 12:00am

After serving nearly six years as the special advisor to the United States Security Coordinator (USSC) for Israel and the Palestinian Territories, I came home convinced of one thing, cognizant of another. The first was that a peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was not only in the vital security interests of Israel and the future state of Palestine, but also the United States. The second, initially noted two years ago by a former IDF Chief of Staff, was that, "The USSC, the IDF and the Palestinian Security Services were buying time, time for the politicians....

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Intifada of candles not tears
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by As'ad Abdul Rahman - (Opinion) August 6, 2011 - 12:00am

It is almost a reality now that neither the Palestinians nor the Israelis see any possibility of resuming peace negotiations following recent speeches by Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before the US Congress and the Jewish lobbying group American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac). With a clear voice and determination, Netanyahu annihilated all possibilities of establishing two independent states; Israel and a Palestinian state peacefully co-existing and equally thriving together.

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Where do Palestnians figure in the Israeli cry for 'social justice'?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Mira Sucharov - (Blog) August 8, 2011 - 12:00am

With the four-week old Israeli cost-of-living tent protests swelling in intensity -- capped by 300,000 demonstrators taking to the streets on Saturday night - I am fascinated by the fact that the term “social justice” has become a household word. The official slogan of the demonstrations -- “The nation demands social justice!” (Ha’Am doresh tzedek chevrati!) - involves the headiest and most ethereal of concepts. But commentators have been rightly asking whether the use of the term “social justice” is deserved.

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