July 25th

What if Rabin Had Lived?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'ariv
by Ben Caspit - (Opinion) July 24, 2012 - 12:00am

This week 20 years ago, Yitzhak Rabin's government was sworn in to the Knesset. Following the defeat of the Likud, Yitzhak Shamir retired permanently from political life. Rabin had prepared meticulously for his rise to power.

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Hamas PM heads to Egypt to seek lift of Gaza closure
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
July 25, 2012 - 12:00am

GAZA, July 25 (Xinhua) -- Prime minister of the Hamas authority in Gaza, Ismail Haneya, will visit Egypt Wednesday and meet Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi to discuss lifting the blockade on the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. It will be the first meeting between the Hamas official and the Egyptian president.

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Israel's crackdown on UN aid organization part of an assault on democracy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Michael Sfard - (Opinion) July 25, 2012 - 12:00am

You don't need to be Sherlock Holmes to grasp that Israel's democracy is under attack.

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Abbas to delay Palestinian UN bid until after US elections
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Times of Israel
by Gabe Fisher - July 24, 2012 - 12:00am

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has decided to delay a Palestinian bid for UN recognition until after US elections in the fall, Arabic daily Al Hayat reported on Tuesday. Last year, Abbas sought full UN membership for Palestine but failed to win the necessary votes in the UN Security Council. Palestine was eventually accepted as a member of UNESCO, the UN’s cultural and educational arm, in a separate process that drew harsh condemnation from Israel and the US.

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Why Israel’s Right will stay in power
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Carlo Strenger - (Opinion) July 25, 2012 - 12:00am

Over the last weekend the New York Times published an editorial entitled "Israel's embattled democracy" that expresses concern that Israel may be distancing itself from the liberal democratic principles on which it was founded. Of course, Jewish right-wing groups, both in Israel and the US, will point out that the NYT is anti-Israel, and that therefore we can simply disregard what they say.

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Arafat documentary paints intimate portrait of late leader
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
by Brandon Davis - (Opinion) July 19, 2012 - 12:00am

He has been called a terrorist, a freedom fighter and the founding father of the Palestinian nation - and in Richard Symons' and Joanna Natasegara

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Fayyad meets EU parliament member
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
July 25, 2012 - 12:00am

RAMALLAH (Ma’an) -- The prime minister in Ramallah met Tuesday with an Austrian social democrat politician and called for international action to stop Israel's violations of international law. Salam Fayyad told Hannes Swoboda that Israel's violations were "endangering the two-state solution," and called for European and international intervention to stop plans to demolish eight villages. Fayyad said Israel's plan, disclosed Monday by Israeli media, will displace 1,500 Palestinians.

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Israel confronts a flood of African refugees
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Ruth Marcus - (Opinion) July 24, 2012 - 12:00am

Walk through Levinsky Park near the central bus station here and you might think you were in another country. African men, and some women, occupy every inch of a low stone bench in the brutal sun. Blankets are stashed in the branches of a eucalyptus tree, to be retrieved at nightfall.

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Hundreds of Palestinians face eviction from land
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Karin Laub - July 24, 2012 - 12:00am

The Israeli Defense Ministry wants to evict hundreds of Palestinians from eight hamlets in a West Bank area the military has designated as a firing zone, rights activists said Tuesday, portraying the decision as a new Israeli land grab. The firing zone, one of several in the West Bank, covers several thousand acres close to the border with Israel. Hundreds of Palestinian herders and farmers live there for part of the year in caves and shacks.

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July 24th

NEWS: A Palestinian prisoner in Israeli detention ends a hunger strike claimed to have lasted for 103 days. Israeli police are looking into whether settlers used forged land documents in an effort to prevent their court-ordered eviction. Israeli field commanders are reportedly undergoing training in international law. The UN expresses grave concern over the fate of Palestinian refugees in Syria. PLO official Ashrawi urges the EU to reconsider upgrading its relations with Israel. Egypt's ambassador to the PA says entry regulations for Palestinians to his country have not changed. PA and Hamas officials will reportedly meet in Cairo to explore ways of alleviating the Gaza fuel crisis. Israel's municipal authorities in Jerusalem have asked the military to take responsibility for Palestinians living east of the separation barrier. FM Lieberman says any transfer of weapons of mass destruction from Syria to Hezbollah would be grounds for war. Gangs in southern Sinai are reportedly smuggling stolen fuel into Gaza and Israel. COMMENTARY: Budour Hassan says Palestinians are not neutral in the Syrian uprising. David Harris says Israel can't afford a Romney presidency. Yossi Verter says the real reason Kadima leader Mofaz left the Netanyahu coalition is fear that it is preparing a war with Iran. Orly Azoulay says PM Netanyahu is “playing with fire” by counting on a Romney victory in the US presidential election. Gershon Baskin says the Israeli right, including Netanyahu, are pretending the Palestinian problem has disappeared. Tal Harris says official Israeli government recognition of the university in the Ariel settlement undermines prospects for a two-state solution, and Ron Mandelbaum says it fails both in terms of due process and substance. The National says Egypt's unofficial easing of visa restrictions for Palestinians might be limited to the seven people who already reportedly took advantage of the procedure. Elisheva Goldberg and Hannah Gross say New York's MTA is using a double standard regarding Middle East-related ads.

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