June 18th

Music for the Masses
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from International Herald Tribune
by Raja Shehadeh - (Blog) June 13, 2012 - 12:00am

Monday night I attended a piano concert in Ramallah given by the internationally acclaimed Palestinian pianist Saleem Abboud Ashkar who was born in Nazareth and now lives in Berlin. Despite the hardship of the Israeli occupation, a vital classical music revival has emerged in the West Bank in the last few years.

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At least 3 killed in attack on Israel-Egypt border
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Maayan Lubell - June 18, 2012 - 12:00am

Militants fired on an Israeli crew building a border barrier on the Egyptian frontier on Monday, killing one of the workers, and Israeli soldiers shot dead two of the infiltrators, the military said. The incident, hours after Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood declared victory in the country's presidential election, raised Israeli concern about lawlessness in Egypt's Sinai desert since the fall of Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

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June 15th

NEWS: PLO officials say they are working on a possible meeting between Pres. Abbas and PM Netanyahu, and say they will demand the release of pre-Oslo prisoners. Israeli settlers in the "Ulpana” outpost say they'll have to be forced to leave. Israel begins fortifying schools near the Gaza border. Israel reportedly arrests a former soldier, now living in Bethlehem and seeking Palestinian citizenship. Israel releases transcripts related to the murder of a settler family. MK Michaeli Is embroiled in a controversy over her stridently homophobic remarks. According to a new poll, most Israelis think Mitt Romney would be a friendlier president to Israel than Barack Obama. A UNESCO committee advises Palestinians not to go forward with an effort to register the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem as a World Heritage site in Palestine. Palestinians hope to benefit from a visit by Pres. Putin. Palestinians pressure UEFA over Israel's scheduled hosting of the upcoming European Under-21 soccer championship. The Middle East Quartet meets in Brussels amid Palestinian criticism it has become ineffective. COMMENTARY: Ha'aretz says Israel must end discrimination against Palestinian college graduates. Dan Sagir says Israel needs a minister for peace. Herb Keinon says the new Israeli Comptroller report on the flotilla incident illustrates a slapdash decision-making process. Alon Ben-Meir outlines the speech he thinks Netanyahu ought to give. A new book looks back on life in Palestine under the British mandate. George Hishmeh says Pres. Obama is dithering on Israeli-Palestinian peace, and that's likely to continue. Emily Hauser says Israel's image problem stems from the fact that it's legitimate to doubt that its government really wants peace. Rafael Frankel says that "modified unilateralism” by Israel might be the only way forward towards peace. Sahar Segal says it's ridiculous for some Palestinians to urge a boycott of Palestinian citizens of Israel who have integrated into Israeli society.

Quartet envoys meet amid Palestinian criticism
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP)
June 15, 2012 - 12:00am

Envoys from the Middle East Quartet met in Brussels on Friday amid calls from the Palestinians to step up action to halt continuing Israeli settlement activity. Officials from the United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia gathered "to consult as they routinely do over the phone as well", said a spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.

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Palestinians say Israel should not host football tournament
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC World News
June 15, 2012 - 12:00am

Israel is due to host the European Under-21 championship in 2013. PFA President Jibril Rajoub wrote to Uefa to express concern about three Palestinian players who are being held in Israel without charge. One of them, midfielder Mahmoud al-Sarsak, is on hunger strike. Mr Sarsak, 25, is one of a handful of Palestinian prisoners who have rejected a deal that ended a mass hunger strike on 14 May.

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Assimilating Awad
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast
by Sahar Segal - (Opinion) June 14, 2012 - 12:00am

Mira Anwar Awad, an Arab-Israeli, will be singing at a festival in Nazareth, a predominantly Arab-Israeli city on Saturday. The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), based in Ramallah, demanded the mayor cancel her appearance. Why? Because Awad represented Israel in the 2009 Eurovision song contest.

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Palestinians See Positive Boost From Putin’s Upcoming Visit
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line
by Arieh O'Sullivan - June 14, 2012 - 12:00am

The Palestinians are hoping for a boost to their diplomatic stature when they host Russian President Vladimir Putin later this month. At a time when the attempts to restart peace negotiations with the Israelis have floundered as each side accuses the other of intransigence, the Palestinians see Putin’s visit as a solid message of support.

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PA advised against bid for Bethlehem church
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Tovah Lazaroff - June 15, 2012 - 12:00am

The secretariat of UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee has come out against a bid by the Palestinian Authority to use an emergency procedure to register Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity under the country of “Palestine” as a World Heritage site. “At the UN, where the General Assembly each year adopts more resolutions criticizing Israel than on the rest of the world combined, this is a spectacle as rare as Halley’s Comet,” UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer said.

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A New Solution for Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National Interest
by Rafael Frankel - (Opinion) June 15, 2012 - 12:00am

An Israeli settlement in the West Bank.Seven years after Israel’s unilateral disengagement from the Gaza Strip, and twelve years after the same move from southern Lebanon, Israeli policy makers are once again debating the merits of another unilateral withdrawal—this time from parts of the West Bank east of the security barrier.

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Most Israelis think Romney would be 'friendlier'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Herb Keinon - June 15, 2012 - 12:00am

The fact that Israelis have conflicted attitudes toward US President Barack Obama came out loud and clear in a poll released on Thursday. The survey – commissioned by the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, the Bar-Ilan University Center for International Communication and the Anti-Defamation League – found that while 51 percent of Israeli Jews believe Obama is “friendly” or “very friendly” toward Israel, more people think the expected Republican presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, would better promote Israel’s interests.

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