July 9th

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.

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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.

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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.

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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).

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Reality Check
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.

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Report on outposts' legality states Israel isn't an occupying force in West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Chaim Levinson - July 9, 2012 - 12:00am

A report by a committee formed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to examine the legal aspects of West Bank land ownership recommended to sanction all Israeli outposts, rejecting the claim that Israel's presence in the territory is that of an occupying force. The Levy Committee, headed by former court vice president Edmond Levy, recommends a fundamental change in the legal regime in the West Bank, including the annulment of a long list of laws, High Court of Justice Rulings and procedures in order to permit Jews to settle in all of Judea and Samaria.

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July 6th

NEWS: The ATFP/APN joint Israeli-Palestinian internship program is profiled by the Times of Israel. The debate on national service highlights questions about Israeli identity. By a close vote, the Presbyterian Church decides not to divest in firms involved in Israel's occupation. Palestinian officials say they want more information before commencing an autopsy of the body of the late Pres. Arafat, as his relatives urge exhumation. An Israeli counterterrorism analyst claims polonium was planted on Arafat's effects some time following his death. Another Palestinian hunger striking prisoner is reportedly in critical condition. Young Israeli Jews and Arabs are connected by boxing. The World Bank pledges $22.3 million to help alleviate the PA financial crisis. Israel is going to produce another communications satellite. Palestinians in the occupied territories are increasingly turning to solar power for energy independence from Israel. Israel is set to acquire 20 advanced F-35 stealth fighter jets. COMMENTARY: Hussein Ibish says a recent Al Jazeera report suggesting Arafat was murdered by polonium poisoning is groundless. Hirsh Goodman says Israel should drop its hostile attitude towards international and multilateral agencies. Yaakov Katz says Israel is much more prepared now for another war with Hezbollah. Jennifer Lipman says the IOC should agree to a minutes silence to honor the Israeli athletes slain during the 1972 Olympics. Michael Young says Israel's policies are still defined by extremist attitudes of the late PM Shamir. The Arab News says Palestine is still being held hostage by the occupation. Gershom Gorenberg says it's a myth that Israel offered to exchange the occupied territories for peace in 1967. Shayna Zamkanei says Mosab Hassan Yousef's zealous evangelical Christian attitudes are not helpful to Israel.

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