August 25th

7 killed in overnight airstrikes on Gaza Strip
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
August 24, 2011 - 12:00am

Seven Palestinians were killed and at least 30 injured as multiple Israeli airstrikes targeted Gaza overnight Wednesday. Hisham Adnan Abu Harb was killed as an airstrike hit a smuggling tunnel in Rafah, southern Gaza. Earlier, reports said that three people were unaccounted for after the Rafah airstrike. Four bodies were later pulled from rubble in the Rafah area. Hamas official Imad Muhammad Hamada had earlier said that crews were searching for the missing persons.

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Gaza cease-fire tested by Israeli airstrike, Palestinian rocket fire
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Joel Greenberg - August 24, 2011 - 12:00am

A tenuous cease-fire between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip was punctured Wednesday by a deadly Israeli airstrike that triggered rocket and mortar fire at Israel. After 48 hours in which air attacks were suspended, an Israeli drone strike killed Ismail Asmar, a senior member of the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad group, in his car in Rafah, near the border with Egypt, according to the military and local medical officials.

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Glenn Beck hosts rally in Old City of Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman
by Aron Heller - August 24, 2011 - 12:00am

Former Fox TV personality Glenn Beck capped a contentious visit to Israel Wednesday with a strong call of support for the Jewish state in a rally alongside a hotly disputed holy site in Jerusalem's Old City. The conservative commentator has won fans among Israel's far-right with his unabashedly pro-Israel, anti-Muslim rhetoric, and 2,000 people turned out to hear him speak next to the compound known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary.

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August 24th

NEWS: An internal Palestinian document outlines the risks of a UN initiative, but the Arab League pledges to support one. Fatah says Hamas requested the postponement of municipal elections. Rights groups urge Hamas to allow students to leave Gaza. Israel attacks targets in Gaza. Israel prepares for more possible attacks in its south. Israel believes some involved in the recent attacks were Egyptian citizens. Support for Israel has become a major factor in the election to fill Anthony Weiner's seat in Congress. An Egyptian woman is injured by a missile fired from Gaza. COMMENTARY: Mira Sucharov says she is both a Zionist and a Palestinian nationalist. Ray Hanania says common sense is important for peace. Jonathan Glennie says aid is not enough and Palestinians need an end to the occupation. Donald Macintyre says Glenn Beck's rhetoric has horrified many Israelis. Yossi Alpher says September could still produce a win-win scenario rather than a confrontation. Ghassan Khatib says Israel is hyping the prospects of a confrontation to distract from the need to end the occupation.

Don't believe the hype
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Ghassan Khatib - (Opinion) August 24, 2011 - 12:00am

Israeli politicians and its media and PR machine have filled the news in the last two weeks with exaggerated and sometimes fabricated news and analysis about practical preparations on the ground for the upcoming Palestinian bid to the United Nations. Israel, which has two major difficulties with the Palestinian plan to ask the UN to discuss the stalled peace process, is having trouble fighting this move politically and diplomatically. Instead, it is resorting to its comparative advantage in public relations to try to reduce growing international support for this move.

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September can still produce something useful
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Yossi Alpher - (Opinion) August 24, 2011 - 12:00am

September 20 is the day the PLO has targeted for submitting to the United Nations its request for state recognition. It is still not clear how that request will be worded and whether it will be submitted first to the Security Council or directly to the General Assembly. But despite this lack of clarity, or perhaps because of it, both Palestinians and Israelis are actively preparing on three fronts for some sort of confrontation.

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The strange crusade: Glenn Beck's Holy Land mission
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Donald MacIntyre - (Opinion) August 24, 2011 - 12:00am

He was too right-wing for Fox TV, or at least for the 400 advertisers who told the network earlier this year they no longer wanted their commercials on his now-cancelled talk show. He provoked international outrage by saying the Norwegian youth camp where 68 people were massacred in July bore "disturbing similarities" to the Hitler Youth. He has horrified the staunchly pro-Israel and anti-racist Anti-Defamation League with his "bigoted ignorance" in comparing reform Judaism to "radicalised Islam".

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Aid alone won't help the desperate Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Jonathan Glennie - (Opinion) August 24, 2011 - 12:00am

There are many good news stories in the world of international development at the moment, with some of the world's poorest countries experiencing the growth that has eluded them for decades. But a report released by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) on Tuesday makes it quite clear that Palestine is not one of them.

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Yalla Peace: The rarity of ‘common’ sense
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Ray Hanania - (Opinion) August 24, 2011 - 12:00am

If you are a Palestinian or Israeli driven by common sense, you are an anomaly in the Middle East. That could explain why there is no end in sight to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. There is not much common sense in the Middle East. People are consumed with fear, suspicion and traditions of vengeance. There is a lot of passion. A lot of anger. And a lot of meaningless, distorted rehashing of the past. I consider myself a reasonable person. You have to be when you are both a journalist and a stand-up comedian. That also means I have a lot of common sense.

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I am a Zionist. And I am a Palestinian nationalist
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Mira Sucharov - (Opinion) August 24, 2011 - 12:00am

One of the first times I taught my Israeli-Palestinian relations course, a puzzled student approached me at the end of the first class. “I always thought Zionist was a derogatory word,” he whispered. I smiled sympathetically and explained that Zionism simply means the desire for Jews to have a state of their own, as a response to centuries of exile and anti-Semitism persecution. It was a word we’d be using frequently, I added.

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