June 29th

J14 V. The Occupation: Why Talking About The Occupation Will Only Prolong It
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast
by Ami Kaufman - (Opinion) June 28, 2012 - 12:00am

When I was a teenager back in the 80’s, there was an ad on Israel’s only TV channel about road safety. It urged drivers to use their heads rather than simply rely on driving legally. The catchy slogan was “On the road, don’t be right—be smart!”

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The creeping annexation of Judea and Samaria
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Jay Bushinsky - (Opinion) June 28, 2012 - 12:00am

One of the most effective ways for an expansionist state to annex territory conquered by its armed forces is to populate it with its own people. That is what Israel seems to be doing in the West Bank: Performing a demographic fait accompli in which the number of Jewish inhabitants eventually may equal or even outnumber the Palestinians there.

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National service proposal riles Israeli Arabs
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
June 29, 2012 - 12:00am

NAZARETH, Israel — Israel's plan to overhaul its military draft has veered into turbulent new territory with the government's abrupt proposal to mobilize the country's Arab minority for civilian national service.

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Want to forget the occupation? End it
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Mira Sucharov - (Opinion) June 29, 2012 - 12:00am

It’s easy to forget the occupation. It’s easy not to notice it, when grasping the tip of the iceberg means arranging to have Lior Amihai, one of the talented and committed staff members at Peace Now’s Settlement Watch, drive me through the northern West Bank in the organization’s white Hyundai, painstakingly explaining the criss-crossed landscape of state appropriation amidst the interminable status quo.

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Illegal West Bank settlement outpost cleared
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
June 29, 2012 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM — Israel has finished evacuating some 30 settler families from an illegal West Bank outpost, encountering little resistance, police and the military said Friday. The Ulpana outpost was evacuated in two phases, with the second set of families leaving Thursday night. Police say residents left peacefully, but 15 settlers from outside Ulpana barricaded themselves inside one apartment to protest the eviction. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said officers broke down two doors to remove the resisters and arrested six people.

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UNESCO votes to add Bethlehem holy sites to world heritage list
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
June 29, 2012 - 12:00am

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- UNESCO on Friday declared Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity and the nearby pilgrimage route World Heritage sites. Thirteen members of the 21-nation World Heritage Committee voted in favor of the Palestinian application, securing exactly the needed number of votes. Two countries abstained and six voted against the bid. "I am delighted," Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki told the conference in St. Petersburg, to rapturous applause. "You have our most gracious thanks."

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Lessons from Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
by Tania Hary - (Opinion) June 29, 2012 - 12:00am

This month, I mark two important events which took place five years ago and changed the course of my life. It has been five years since I moved to Israel from New York and five years since Hamas took over the Gaza Strip and the closure of the enclave tightened.

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June 28th

NEWS: Hamas says one of its operatives has been assassinated in Damascus and blames Israel. Palestinians are intensifying their efforts to get UNESCO to recognize the Church of the Nativity in occupied Bethlehem as a World Heritage Site in Palestine. Israeli scientists are working on a pre-battlefield treatment for PTSD. Hamas urges Pres. Abbas not to meet with Deputy PM Mofaz next week as planned. Israel allocates $90 million for infrastructure repair in Arab towns inside Israel. Hamas says it intends to broadcast "confessions of collaborators” with Israel. Israeli officials claim they have convinced Russia not to sell missiles to Syria. Two Egyptian men are criminally convicted in a case regarding cheap gas supplies to Israel. An Israeli border patrol officer faces trial for shooting a 10-year-old Palestinian child. Palestinian leaders in Lebanon asked the military to ease its behavior towards certain refugee camps. COMMENTARY: Avi Issacharoff and Amos Harel save the murder of a Hamas operative in Syria won't stop the flow of arms to Gaza. Eric Yoffie says the Israeli right cannot comprehend the settlements really are a major obstacle to peace. Giora Eiland says Israel should recognize Gaza as a de facto state. Alon Liel says misleadingly labeling settlement products “made in Israel” demonstrates Israel's self-deception. Diana Moukalled says Israeli television has just provided supporters of Pres. Assad with an undeserved gift. The Jordan Times says more Russian involvement in the Middle East peace process could be very helpful. Ruth Elgash says more Palestinian citizens of Israel are volunteering for National Service. Jonathan Schanzer says Palestinians may be gearing up for another major UN effort. Zafrir Rinat says Israel's policy of uprooting Palestinian olive trees is entirely political. Hamze Awawde says a new generation of young Palestinians is developing their own, independent political identity.

The new Palestinian
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Hamze Awawde - (Opinion) June 27, 2012 - 12:00am

I was born in 1990. I experienced a bit of the first intifada; the creation of the Palestinian Authority and what is called Palestinian self-administration; the rounds of negotiation between Israel and Palestine; the second intifada; the failure of the peace process; Hamas in government; the West Bank separating completely from the Gaza strip; and revolutions in the Arab world called the “Arab Spring,” that changed everything in the region. I am only 22 years old.

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Uprooting olive trees: Nature or politics?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Zafrir Rinat - (Opinion) June 28, 2012 - 12:00am

One of the most complex challenges facing the Israel Nature and Parks Authority is finding the balance between protecting the nature in its reserves and allowing agriculture to flourish. This has become a particularly complicated issue in the Wadi Kana nature reserve in the northern West Bank, where the debate is not only focused on land, nature and the environment, but as is often the case in this country, it has become a question of politics.

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