Minister: Abbas refused Israeli offer of selective prisoner release ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency July 9, 2012 - 12:00am Palestinian Authority Prisoners Minister Issa Qaraqe said Monday that President Mahmoud Abbas refused an Israeli offer for the staged release of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for returning to peace talks. Abbas insists that all 123 prisoners held since before the 1994 Oslo agreement be freed in a single release, Qaraqe said. Israeli daily Haaretz reported earlier Monday that Israel offered to release some 25 Palestinian prisoners convicted of the murder of Israelis, followed by another 100 prisoners by the end of the year. » Read more

Abbas says Hamas obstructs reconciliation ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua July 9, 2012 - 12:00am Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday accused rival Hamas movement of obstructing the implementation of the Palestinian internal reconciliation agreements reached in Cairo and Doha. At a joint news conference with European Commission Chief Jose Manuel Barroso following a meeting held in Ramallah, Abbas said that he doesn't know why Hamas suddenly decided to halt the update of voters' record in Gaza. » Read more

East Jerusalem Suffers Economic Tailspin ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Ben Lynfield - (Analysis) July 8, 2012 - 12:00am Call it patriotism or doing something to express his Palestinian identity — Taisir Jubeh wanted to start a business in Jerusalem. So five months ago, after handing over the reins of his Ramallah bookshop to relatives, he opened a men’s casual wear store in the new Addar Shopping Mall, off Salah el-Din Street. The mall, opened earlier this year in downtown East Jerusalem by Muhammad Nuseibeh, a member of one of East Jerusalem’s most prominent families, had sparked hope that its 40 stores and offices would inject new life into the struggling area. » Read more

Clinton meets Abbas before talks with Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Arshad Mohammed - July 6, 2012 - 12:00am U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday the Palestinian-Israeli conflict should not be forgotten amid wider upheaval in the Middle East. Washington has made no visible progress toward its goal of reaching an outline peace deal by the end of this year and both sides appear unlikely to make any significant steps toward peace ahead of the U.S. election in November. » Read more

Israeli policemen jailed over death of Palestinian ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Maayan Lubell - July 9, 2012 - 12:00am An Israeli court on Monday sentenced two policemen to 30 months in jail each over the death of a Palestinian detainee whom they abandoned on the side of a highway in the middle of the night. In 2008, Omar Abu Jarban was hospitalised for two weeks in Israel after entering illegally and crashing a car he had stolen, Jerusalem Magistrate's Court said in its ruling. After being discharged, Israel ordered him deported rather than prosecuted, but two days later he was found dead, apparently of dehydration, just over the boundary of the occupied West Bank. » Read more

Palestinian PM urges Arabs to send promised cash ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press July 8, 2012 - 12:00am Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad is urging Arab countries to keep their promises and send tens of millions of dollars to his cash-strapped government. The West Bank-based Palestinian Authority has always relied on foreign aid but is now embroiled in its worst cash crisis in years, unable to pay tens of thousands of government employees. Fayyad needs $1 billion to close the 2012 spending gap, but previous heavy borrowing means he can no longer turn to banks. Unlike Arab states, Western donors have mostly made good on pledges. » Read more

Palestinians invite Swiss experts to take samples of Arafat's remains ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua July 9, 2012 - 12:00am The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) invited Swiss experts to the West Bank to take samples of late President Yasser Arafat's remains for more tests. "This reflects the Palestinian leadership's insistence to continue the investigations into the truth and the circumstances of Arafat's death," said Saeb Erekat, a senior member of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). » Read more

President Abbas, if you don't want to fight, negotiate ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency by Nasser Laham - (Analysis) July 4, 2012 - 12:00am I cannot work out an explanation for the state of "no peace, but no war" which has prevailed in Palestine in the last two years. We Palestinians neither want to fight the Israeli occupation, nor to negotiate with them. We use the term "steadfastness" to describe this stalemate, as if doing nothing at all and remaining motionless has become steadfastness. Palestinian intellectuals have long criticized the Arab regimes because they neither want to fight Israel, nor accept reconciliation with the occupying country. » Read more

Palestinian president approves Arafat autopsy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Karin Laub - July 9, 2012 - 12:00am Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has given his permission to exhume the remains of his predecessor, Yasser Arafat, a top aide said Monday, days after a Swiss institute reported finding elevated traces of a radioactive substance on the late leader's belongings. The findings by Switzerland's Institute of Radiation Physics were inconclusive, but revived speculation that Arafat was poisoned. » Read more

Reality Check: Netanyahu refuses to seize the day ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Jeff Barak - (Opinion) July 8, 2012 - 12:00am The decision facing Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is really quite simple: either do what’s best for the country or just tread water and survive another year in office. The first choice requires courage; the second demands nothing beyond the competence of any third-rate politician. Any guesses as to which path our prime minister will choose? Hint: At the very last second, just before the Knesset was about to disperse in May, Netanyahu chose to expand his coalition by throwing a lifeline to a sinking Kadima rather than risk facing the voters. » Read more