July 17th

NEWS: Sec. Clinton says Israeli-Palestinian peace talks must resume, but this no longer seems to be a priority for American foreign policy. Palestinian journalists are angered by Israeli efforts to strip search them before attending a press conference with Clinton. Israel was reportedly hoping for guidance from Clinton regarding the new Egyptian government. PM Fayyad asks the US to help alleviate the PA financial crisis, as he meets with Clinton in Jerusalem. Israel is preventing Palestinian medical graduates from working in occupied East Jerusalem. Christians in Gaza stage a rare protest after what they claim are forced conversions to Islam. Hamas executes three Gaza residents for murder. PA police are launching a campaign against child labor in the West Bank. The Israeli military hires an architect to resume construction at an “unauthorized” settlement outpost. Settler leaders are expected to declare that a school in the settlement of Ariel is a “university.” Peace Now's Settlement Watch Director is again threatened by right-wing extremists. Israel claims it has thwarted more than 10 terrorist attacks emanating from the Sinai Peninsula. Israel's governing coalition may break up over the question of national service. Israel's “social justice” protest movement is divided over the question of the occupation. COMMENTARY: Christiane Amanpour interviews Fayyad. Aaron David Miller lists five reasons why the two-state solution "will never die." Bradley Burston says American politicians should understand that "pro-Israel" does not mean anti-peace. Mira Sucharov says BDS supporters need to decide what it is they are fighting for. David Newman says Israelis must understand the Palestinians are in the land to stay. Ethan Felson looks at the boycott vote recently taken by the US Presbyterian Church. Walid Khadduri says Palestinians must begin to develop their West Bank oilfields before Israel seizes them.

Occupation Divides Israeli Protest Movement
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Nathan Jeffay - July 15, 2012 - 12:00am

One year after Israel’s social protest movement was born, activists are battling over its soul. Throughout June, protestors once again started to flow into the streets of Tel Aviv on Saturday nights. They all claimed to be reviving the demonstrations held weekly last summer, when tent cities proliferated all over the country. But it quickly became evident that this time, there were very different ideas among the protestors about what their demands should be.

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The Palestinian Authority under pressure
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from CNN
by Lucky Gold - (Opinion) July 16, 2012 - 12:00am

We have been facing serious financial difficulties for more than two years CNN – Can the stalled peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority be revived by the visit of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to the region? On Monday, Christiane Amanpour sat down with Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian Prime Minister, in his Ramallah office on the West Bank, where he expressed serious doubts – not only about the peace talks but about the very existence of the Palestinian Authority he represents:

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'Mofaz mulling departure from coalition today'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Gil Hoffman - July 17, 2012 - 12:00am

Kadima leader Shaul Mofaz will remove his party from Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s coalition as early as Tuesday if gaps between Likud and Kadima on how to equalize the burden of IDF service are not bridged, sources close to Mofaz said Monday.

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Gaza Christians protest 'forcible conversions'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Diaa Hadid - July 16, 2012 - 12:00am

Dozens of Gaza Christians staged a rare public protest Monday, claiming two congregants were forcibly converted to Islam and were being held against their will. The small but noisy demonstration showed the increasingly desperate situation facing the tiny minority. Protesters banged on a church bell and chanted, "With our spirit, with our blood we will sacrifice ourselves for you, Jesus."

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MI chief: Over 10 recent Sinai attacks thwarted
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Lahav Harkov - July 17, 2012 - 12:00am

IDF Military Intelligence head Aviv Kochavi said that more than 10 recent planned terror attacks emanating from the Egyptian side of the Sinai border have been thwarted during remarks before the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. Kochavi said that upheaval in Egypt is expected to continue for a long time, and that the victory of the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Mursi in the presidential election has ushered in an age of political Islam.

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Israel and the West Bank’s Oil
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Hayat
by Walid Khadduri - (Opinion) July 15, 2012 - 12:00am

On July 10, 2012, the English-language website of the BBC published an article by journalist Alex Rowell, who recently visited the West Bank. The article mentioned that Givot Olam Oil Ltd, an Israeli company, is producing oil from the Meged field located in Israeli territories “on the edge of the West Bank”, “raising concern that it might also draw from untapped Palestinian reserves”.

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Premier Palestinian medical school graduates struggle to work in Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Joel Greenberg - July 16, 2012 - 12:00am

Basel Nassar, a young Palestinian doctor from this city, is not allowed to practice medicine here. So he flew to Houston last week to take the last phase of a licensing exam that will qualify him to work in the United States. “I am forced to do this,” Nassar, 33, said on the eve of his departure. “Israel is so close, but it is making trouble for us for some trivial reason. I can’t work 15 minutes from my house, where they accepted me in a specialty I was dreaming to get. I simply can’t understand it.”

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'You're dead' daubed near Peace Now activist's flat
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Noam Dvir - July 16, 2012 - 12:00am

The words "Hagit, you're dead" and "Kahane was right" were daubed near the apartment of Hagit Ofran, the director of Peace Now's Settlement Watch project. Police have launched an investigation into the incident, which marks the third time hate slogans were spray-painted near Ofran's apartment in Jerusalem.

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Fayyad meets with Clinton in Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
July 17, 2012 - 12:00am

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad met with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Jerusalem on Monday, and discussed prospects for a return to negotiations with Israel, officials said. The meeting was set to follow-up Clinton's meeting with President Mahmoud Abbas in Paris ten days ago, when Abbas asked the US official to communicate to Israel his demands before going ahead with talks, presidential advisor Nimir Hamad told Ma'an.

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