September 11th, 2012

Spreading Palestinian Protests Focus on Leaders
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - September 10, 2012 - 12:00am

HEBRON, West Bank — A week of Palestinian protests against rising prices and economic hardship erupted Monday into rioting against the Palestinian Authority in this city and others in the West Bank, posing a new challenge to the Western-backed government that has worked to promote stability.

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Fayyad announces measures to alleviate economic crisis
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
September 11, 2012 - 12:00am

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad announced several measures on Tuesday to alleviate the economic crisis. VAT will be reduced to 15 percent and diesel, gas and kerosene will revert back to August prices, he said during a Ramallah press conference. Palestinian Authority ministers had met earlier on Tuesday to discuss ways of easing economic hardships as protests erupted across the West Bank this week against rising living costs.

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Will Morsi Offer Change for Gaza?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor
by Sophie Claudet, Saleh Jadallah - (Opinion) September 5, 2012 - 12:00am

GAZA CITY – When Egypt reopened the Rafah crossing border with Gaza late last month, Palestinians hailed the move as a possible end to their isolation from the rest of the world after years of near-total closure enforced by both Israel and former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

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Refugees and peace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
(Editorial) September 10, 2012 - 12:00am

‘Palestinians” are the first people to come to mind when the word “refugee” is uttered in a Middle East context. And Palestinians have paid dearly to reinforce this misconception. Largely dispossessed by their fellow Arabs, Palestinians have lived as second-class citizens in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and elsewhere in the region. Palestinians’ dismal treatment by their Arab brethren is undoubtedly due in part to strongly held prejudices and exclusionary nationalist loyalties.

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The defeatism of the left
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - (Opinion) September 11, 2012 - 12:00am

The settlers are right. Had today’s Zionist left been leading the Jewish community here in the 1940s there is a good chance we never would have had a state. Had those who lay proud claim to being “the peace camp,” who explain how “it’s impossible to evict 300,000 settlers,” been running the show in the early ‘50s, the Yishuv − with its population of 600,000 − would never have taken in one million Jews. The word “irreversible” does not exist in the vocabulary of the settlers.

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Separated by shared history: The story of Israeli Arabs and Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - (Opinion) September 11, 2012 - 12:00am

This column is dedicated in particular to the radical right-wingers who speak of transferring Israeli-Palestinian villages to the Palestinian side of the Green Line ("willing transfers") and to the despairing left-wingers who recommend the unification of the Israeli residents of Baka al-Garbiyeh with their neighbors in Baka al-Sharkiyeh (the binational state).

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September 10th

NEWS: A new UN report details poverty in Gaza. Palestinians continue to protest rising prices, as truck drivers block streets. Israeli officials rule out Palestinian requests to modify the Paris Protocol to ease economic woes. The PA says public employees will receive half pay on Wednesday. Protesters call on Pres. Abbas to resign. PM Fayyad says the protests demonstrate the PA's commitment to freedom of expression. A rocket fired from Gaza hits a house in southern Israel, causing damage but no injuries. Israel will compensate a Palestinian family which lost two sons in the 2009 Gaza war. Israel's Cabinet votes to upgrade the status of a school in a West Bank settlement to that of an officially recognized “university.” Palestinian children in occupied Hebron face serious challenges in returning to school. Some Palestinians in Jordan are threatened with losing their citizenship. Palestinian refugees in Lebanon suffer from long waits for medical care. COMMENTARY: Saud Abu Ramadan argues Salafist militants in Gaza are trying to drag Hamas into a war with Israel. Adam Gonn says there's a direct connection between a potential renewed Palestinian UN bid and the urgent need for economic relief. Amira Hass says Palestinians should remember their problems mainly stem from the occupation. Hagai Segal says the settlers have won the battle for the West Bank against Israeli moderates and the Palestinians. Alon Liel says Israel is repeating its “low stool” diplomatic tactics used against Turkish officials with US Amb. Shapiro. Salman Masalha says it's ridiculous that anybody involved in the Oslo Accords ever got a Nobel Peace Prize. Eric Yoffie says it won't matter much to Israel whether Pres. Obama is reelected or Mitt Romney wins the presidency. Robert Turner says the new UN report shows the urgent need to lift the blockade of Gaza. The National encourages the Palestinians to seek greater recognition at the UN. Tariq Alhomayed says it is political buffoonery for Arabs to allow Hamas and Hezbollah to thrive while the PA is on the brink of bankruptcy. Dan Ephron profiles Israel's powerful and growing settler movement.

A Dream Not Deferred
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Newsweek
by Dan Ephron - (Opinion) September 10, 2012 - 12:00am

Dror Etkes should have been pleased. Six years ago, the 44-year-old Israeli peace activist asked Israel’s High Court of Justice to intervene in the case of a Jewish settlement outpost in the West Bank built on Palestinian farmland. Etkes, who spends much of his time fighting settlement expansion, thought the Migron outpost could be a test case. But when the court finally ordered Israeli authorities to evict the settlement’s 50 families last week, he couldn’t bring himself to celebrate.

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Love, bankruptcy and buffoonery in our region
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Tariq Alhomayed - (Opinion) September 10, 2012 - 12:00am

The Iranian President told his Palestinian counterpart that he loves the Palestinians, prompting Abbas to reply: “For God’s sake, love us all”, i.e. not just Hamas. But it is hard for Ahmadinejad to do that, for Iran and its adherers will not be satisfied with the Palestinians until they are a game in their hands, like Hamas, Hezbollah and al-Assad.

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UN recognition is best course for Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
(Editorial) September 10, 2012 - 12:00am

The Palestinian Authority is at a crossroads, although many will expect President Mahmoud Abbas to steer along the same deadend track. On Saturday, Mr Abbas repeated a promise to return to the United Nations to press for recognition of Palestinian statehood; and yesterday, the PA proposed renegotiating the Paris Protocols, which govern its economic arrangements with Israel.

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