Rafah crossing re-opens ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency June 8, 2011 - 12:00am GAZA CITY (Ma’an) -- The crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip was re-opened Wednesday morning after a four-day closure. The decision to open was made after Palestinian and Egyptian officials agreed on a set of mechanisms for the passage of Palestinian travelers. From Wednesday onward, Rafah will open between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. and allow an average of 550 passengers per day to cross. » Read more

Israel-Iran behind the door dealings ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News by Khalaf Al Habtoor - (Opinion) June 8, 2011 - 12:00am A scandal that has recently erupted in Israel concerning a private Israeli shipping and transport group — Ofer Brothers — that sold a tanker to Iran via a well-known Iranian front company and has been transporting petroleum products to and from Iran for a decade, heightens my suspicions that nothing is what it seems in the dirty world of geopolitics. » Read more

The Palestinians: The single currency for crises ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat by Tariq al-Homayed - (Opinion) June 8, 2011 - 12:00am Lately, many people came out to say "no to Palestinians being exploited in the crises of some Arab regimes." This was after demonstrations broke out at the Yarmouk Palestinian Refugee Camp in Syria in protest at the Syrian regime sending Palestinian youth to the occupied Golan Heights, which led to them being killed at the hands of the Israeli army. » Read more

The Palestinians’ trick answer to Obama ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Jackson Diehl - June 7, 2011 - 12:00am The chief Palestinian negotiator with Israel staked out a new position Tuesday in Washington: “We want to resume negotiations,” said Saeb Erekat, on the basis of President Obama’s recent Middle East address. » Read more

In India and Israel, the burden of protest falls on the victims of injustice ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Pankaj Mishra - (Opinion) June 6, 2011 - 12:00am At a dark moment in postcolonial history, when many US-backed despots seemed indestructible, the great Urdu poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz, whose centenary falls this year, wrote: "We shall witness [the day] when the enormous mountains of tyranny blow away like cotton". That miraculous day promised by the poet finally came in Egypt and Tunisia this spring. We have since witnessed many of the world's acknowledged legislators scrambling to get on the right side of history. » Read more

Violence at Palestinian camp funerals in Syria leaves 20 dead ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Roula Hajjar - June 7, 2011 - 12:00am Funerals in the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp near the Syrian capital of Damascus turned violent late Monday as clashes erupted between camp residents and a Syrian-backed Palestinian faction, leading to the deaths of as many as 20 people, according to Palestinian sources and amateur video posted on the Internet. » Read more

Readiness and blindness in the Golan Heights ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz (Editorial) June 7, 2011 - 12:00am The IDF proved this week that it does a good job preparing for the previous war. It may only be an isolated incident, whose character was more civilian police-oriented than military, but anyone who found flaws in the intelligence and military systems on Nakba Day (May 15 ) must admit the lessons were learned, the forces were deployed and the mission was accomplished. On Sunday, Naksa Day, the Israel Defense Forces succeeded in blocking hundreds of demonstrators who, surrounded by cameras, stormed the border fences in the Golan Heights, carrying flags, posters and loudspeakers. » Read more

The end of the media's Israel fixation? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Carmel Gould - (Opinion) June 8, 2011 - 12:00am The Arab spring has had a remarkable effect on the media's appetite for Middle East news which doesn't revolve around Israel. Over the first three months of this year, correspondents usually engaged full time in counting Israeli bricks going down in the West Bank were dispatched to Tahrir Square and Tripoli, because something even bigger was happening. » Read more

Pro-Syrian Palestinian group kills 11 refugees ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Khaled Yacoub Oweis - June 7, 2011 - 12:00am AMMAN (Reuters) – Gunmen from a Palestinian faction loyal to Syria shot dead at least 11 Palestinians at a refugee camp near Damascus Monday in a dispute over the group's backing for Damascus, Palestinian sources said Tuesday. Hundreds of angry refugees had tried to storm the headquarters of the Syrian-backed Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) in Yarmouk camp on the edges of Damascus. They accused the group of sacrificing Palestinian lives by encouraging protesters to demonstrate at the Golan Heights, where several were shot by Israeli forces. » Read more