October 1st

Yasser Arafat's exhumation may answer questions over his death ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Harriet Sherwood - October 30, 2012 - 12:00am Within the guarded walls of the Palestinian presidential compound, known as the Muqata, the body of Yasser Arafat lies inside a gleaming limestone and glass mausoleum. It is here that political figures, dignitaries, devotees and tourists come to pay their respects to a man who was revered and reviled across the world as the face of the Palestinian struggle for decades. » Read more

Barak: Lieberman's comments on Abbas harm Israel's interests ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz September 30, 2012 - 12:00am Defense Minister Ehud Barak harshly criticized Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman over the weekend, for naming Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas as “the biggest obstacle to peace.” » Read more

Poll: 72 percent plan to vote in October's local elections ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency September 29, 2012 - 12:00am BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- A new poll shows 72 percent of Palestinians plan to vote in elections taking place in three weeks, but supporters of Hamas are much less likely to participate in the vote, which is being boycotted by the party. In a poll published on Saturday by the Arab World for Research & Development, 85 percent said they support holding local elections, which will take place on Oct. 20 in the West Bank only. » Read more

PA finance ministry to cut fuel prices from Oct. 1 ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency October 1, 2012 - 12:00am RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- The Palestinian Ministry of Finance announced Sunday that fuel prices are set to be reduced, a statement said. The price cuts, which will be implemented on Oct. 1, will see a liter of diesel reduced from 6.95 shekels ($1.77) to 6.70 ($1.70). A liter of benzene will now cost 7.60 shekels ($1.93), down from 7.98 shekels ($2), and a 12kg canister of domestic-use gas will be reduced to 64 shekels ($16), down from 65. » Read more

Electricity company: Govt bodies have not paid bills ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency October 1, 2012 - 12:00am BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- Some Palestinian Authority government institutions have not paid their electricity bills for more than two years, the head of the indebted Jerusalem electricity company has revealed. The company, which supplies power to Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Ramallah and Jericho, still owes its Israeli supplier around 300 million shekels ($76 million), Director-General Hisham al-Umari told Ma'an on Sunday. The Israeli company has repeatedly postponed threats to cut power supplies. » Read more

Activists: Now, yes now, is the time for US to push for MidEast peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Christian Science Monitor by Ariel Zirulnick - September 28, 2012 - 12:00am Cambridge, Mass. A major Israeli-Palestinian activist group is bucking conventional wisdom by arguing that now is the right time to engage Americans in the moribund Middle East peace process. The presidential campaign season is traditionally a terrible time to make any progress on foreign policy, especially during elections focused on pocketbook issues. » Read more

Daystar, TBN ready for Messiah in Jerusalem ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Los Angeles Times by Edmund Sanders - October 1, 2012 - 12:00am JERUSALEM — If the Messiah descends from the Mount of Olives as foretold in the Bible, America's two biggest Christian broadcasters are well-positioned to cover it live thanks to recent acquisitions of adjacent Jerusalem studios on a hill overlooking the Old City. » Read more

False Prophecy and Real History in the Mideast ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Nation by Norman Birnbaum - (Opinion) September 24, 2012 - 12:00am Kabuki theater, with its extremely stylized dramaturgy, and the Yiddish stage, with its lachrymose realism, are rarely joined. The Democratic National Convention succeeded, however, in fusing the two. A platform insertion terming Jerusalem the undivided capital of Israel was gaveled through by a visibly unhappy mayor of Los Angeles, reportedly at the insistence of the White House, which sought to silence Republican charges that the administration is disloyal to our unruly client state. » Read more

Israel frees two Hamas lawmakers in West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua September 30, 2012 - 12:00am RAMALLAH, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Israeli authorities on Sunday released two lawmakers in the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) in the West Bank. » Read more

Palestinian official criticizes U.S. position on U.N. recognition ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Los Angeles Times by Maher Abukhater - September 28, 2012 - 12:00am RAMALLAH, West Bank -- A Palestinian official Friday criticized President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for opposing Palestinians' bid for statehood recognition in the United Nations, and failing to give the issue more attention in their speeches this week before the international body. » Read more