July 17th

Op-Ed: Look between the headlines to understand the Presbyterians’ vote ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) by Ethan Felson - (Opinion) July 16, 2012 - 12:00am NEW YORK (JTA) -- The Presbyterian Church (USA)’s 220th General Assembly had just cast its first vote on an anti-Israel divestment resolution when the spin began. Major news outlets and activists on each side could hardly wait for the debate to finish the next day before declaring winners and losers.  This was my fourth GA and one thing I’ve learned is that reality lies somewhere between the headlines. Here are some reality checks on the GA. * The defeat of divestment was narrow -- and it wasn’t.  » Read more

Ariel academic center in West Bank expected to be named university in disputed vote ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Talia Nesher - July 17, 2012 - 12:00am The Judea and Samaria Council for Higher Education is to meet this afternoon at Bar-Ilan University to vote on whether to recognize the Ariel University Center as a full-fledged university. The planning and budget committee of the state's Council for Higher Education had recommended against it at this time. » Read more

Palestinian PM asks U.S. help to overcome fiscal crisis ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua July 17, 2012 - 12:00am Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad on Monday asked U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for help to overcome the fiscal crisis the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) is going through. Omer al-Ghoul, an aid to Fayyad, told Xinhua that Fayyad urged Clinton to intervention in the donor countries to fulfill their financial commitments pledged to the PNA, adding that "Clinton gave positive promises in this respect." » Read more

Borderline Views: To occupy or not to occupy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by David Newman - (Opinion) July 16, 2012 - 12:00am So what have we achieved by the publication of a political report, under the guise of a legal opinion, which arrived at a conclusion that the occupied territories are not occupied, that the illegal settlements are not illegal, and that everything Israel has done in the West Bank (Judea and Samaria) during the past 45 years is really okay? » Read more

Israel to Clinton: Tell us what Egypt is thinking ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Joshua Mitnick - July 16, 2012 - 12:00am US secretaries of state usually devote their visits to the region shuttling between the Israelis and Palestinians, but as Hillary Clinton began her one-day stopover today, the focus is on two countries needing US mediation: Israel and Egypt. » Read more

Defense Ministry hires architect to resume construction of illegal West Bank outpost ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Chaim Levinson - July 17, 2012 - 12:00am The government is stepping up construction in the West Bank settlements and acting to legitimize at least one illegal outpost it has pledged to demolish, Haaretz has learned. The Defense Ministry recently contracted an architect to resume construction of the Givat Sal'it outpost in the Jordan Valley, in what is seen as a step toward legitimizing the outpost. Givat Sal'it is one of 26 communities the Sharon government had promised the United States it would tear down nearly 10 years ago. » Read more

Palestinian journalists balk at strip search ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press July 16, 2012 - 12:00am A Palestinian journalist says he and three colleagues trying to cover U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's news conference walked away after being asked to drop their pants in an Israeli security check. The Palestinian journalists were invited to Monday's event by the U.S. consulate, which sent a staffer to guide them through security. Mohammed Abu Khdeir of the Al Quds newspaper says Israeli and foreign journalists were not asked to strip. » Read more

Police launch campaign against child labor ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency July 17, 2012 - 12:00am Police took to the streets of Tulkarem on Tuesday to raise awareness about a campaign to stop child labor and begging, a statement said. Accompanied by a committee set up to fight child labor, police toured Tulkarem's markets and main streets. Sixteen children aged between 11-16 were taken to the police station for questioning, and their parents were called to explain that child labor is illegal. » Read more

BDS supporters can’t decide on what the endgame is ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Mira Sucharov - (Opinion) July 13, 2012 - 12:00am On the heels of new semantic murkiness about what is and is not Israeli occupation, one could be forgiven for being a tad confused about how to oppose whatever-it-is-we-should-now-call-it. » Read more

Mideast peace slips to second billing for US ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Josef Federman - July 17, 2012 - 12:00am Mideast peace, America's defining issue for decades of dealings with Israel and its Arab neighbors, was just a postscript Monday as Hillary Rodham Clinton made perhaps her final visit to the region as secretary of state. Three years after President Barack Obama declared the plight of the Palestinians "intolerable," his administration no longer sees the failing Arab-Israeli peace efforts with the same immediacy. U.S. interests are focused now on Iran and Syria, though the deep differences between Israel and the Palestinians are not ignored. » Read more