NEWS: Israel's Supreme Court delays by three weeks the court-ordered evacuation of an “unauthorized” settlement outpost. Palestinian refugees in Syria are being sucked into the conflict there, as most factions retain a presence in that country. The PA Finance Minister says its fiscal crisis is growing more acute. Pres. Morsy meets Hamas leader Hanniyeh in Cairo. US counterterrorism chief Brennan is visiting Israel. Hamas claims that the Arab uprisings have not spread to the West Bank because of Israel. A PA investigation into violence against protesters in Ramallah says police chiefs should be questioned about the incident. Pres. Obama authorizes expanded military cooperation with Israel. Israel bans 5 Palestinian woman from Gaza from studying in the West Bank. An advisor to Pres. Abbas visits Auschwitz. Gaza Christians and Hamas are at odds over purported forced conversions to Islam. Some Palestinian protests are focusing on Abbas, not Israel. COMMENTARY: Hussein Ibish says both Israelis and Palestinians are avoiding their urgent national debates. Ha'aretz interviews Mitt Romney. Hirsh Goodman says Israeli society is now divided between unilateralists and annexationists, neither of whom have a workable long-term vision. Jay Bushinski says it's only the occupation that's keeping the Israeli right in power. Rachel Cohen compares her very different trips to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories under the Birthright program and J Street U. Michael Sharnoff interviews Mohammed Dajani. Lara Friedman responds to Dani Dayan's recent New York Times commentary. A new book outlines the bureaucracy of Israel's occupation. CNN interviews a survivor of the attack on Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics. The Economist asks what would happen to Hebron in a two-state solution.

Not so easy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Economist
(Editorial) July 28, 2012 - 12:00am

EVEN if an Israeli government were determined to remove Jewish settlements in the West Bank in order to make way for a Palestinian state, it would now be exceptionally hard to remove Jews living in the settlement of Kiryat Arba and in the nearby ancient city of Hebron, which has sites that are holy both to Jews and Muslims.

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The Munich massacre: A survivor's story
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from CNN
by James Montague - (Interview) July 27, 2012 - 12:00am

Professor Shaul Ladany has a busy schedule to keep these days but lays down one important condition before agreeing to speak to CNN. "Every morning I roll up the carpet and do my exercises," he explains.

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Probing the bureaucracy of occupation
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Vered Lee - (Book Review) July 26, 2012 - 12:00am

"The Bureaucracy of Occupation: The Permit Regime in the West Bank 2000–2006," by Yael Berda, allows us to peek “over the shoulder of the military bureaucrat,” as Max Weber, one of the founders of modern sociology, put it. Berda, a practicing lawyer, specializes in administrative and constitutional law and is a research student at Princeton University.

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Lara Friedman Responds to Dani Dayan
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast
by Lara Friedman - (Opinion) July 26, 2012 - 12:00am

Today’s New York Times features an op-ed by Dani Dayan, the head of the Yesha Council (the group that represents settlers and their interests).

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Give Palestinian Third Parties a Chance
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast
by Michael Sharnoff - (Opinion) July 26, 2012 - 12:00am

No, Dani Dayan, the status quo in the West Bank cannot continue. 

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Latest Target For Palestinians' Protest? Their Leader
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from National Public Radio (NPR)
by Lourdes Garcia-Navarro - July 26, 2012 - 12:00am

The Kalandia checkpoint between Jerusalem and Ramallah in the West Bank is best known as a flashpoint between Palestinian protesters and Israeli security forces. Images of masked youths throwing rocks by the painted concrete wall here are ubiquitous. Protesters gathered at Kalandia again last week, but their focus wasn't Israeli soldiers: It was Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

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Gaza Christians, Hamas at Odds Over Conversions to Islam
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor
by Saleh Jadallah - July 27, 2012 - 12:00am

The recent conversion of Palestinian Christians to Islam has sparked tensions between Hamas, the Islamist group ruling the Gaza Strip, and the Christian minority here. Both publicly traded barbs for the first time since Hamas took over Gaza Strip from its rival, Fatah, after the 2006 parliamentary elections.

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Birthright’s triumphs and flaws
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Rachel Cohen - (Opinion) July 25, 2012 - 12:00am

After being privileged last year to go on a Taglit-Birthright trip with 40 students from Johns Hopkins University, last month I traveled with 12 other student leaders to Israel and the West Bank with J Street U. Since then I’ve been reflecting a great deal on these two very different experiences.

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Adviser to Palestinian president Abbas visits Auschwitz memorial
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
July 27, 2012 - 12:00am

An adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas visited the memorial at the German Nazi death camp of Auschwitz to pay respect to camp victims on Friday. Ziad al-Bandak, who advises Abbas on Religious affairs, visited prisoner blocs, gas chambers and a crematorium in the Auschwitz-Birkenau complex that the Germans built and operated in southern Poland during their World War II occupation of the country. Some 1.5 million people, mostly Jews, were killed in the camp from 1940-45.

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