June 14th

Search for justice continues ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons by Ghassan Khatib - June 13, 2011 - 12:00am Several important dates have been observed in recent weeks. In one, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians became refugees when Israel was created, their lives and futures altered in a way that was catastrophic for the Palestinian nation. The second date that recently passed was the occasion of Israel's occupation of the rest of historic Palestine, comprised of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. » Read more

Defend our borders, but make a gesture ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons by Yossi Alpher - (Editorial) June 13, 2011 - 12:00am The Arab revolutionary wave has already touched the Palestinian issue in more ways than one. The transitional military regime in Egypt has granted Hamas in Gaza greater legitimacy, opened the Rafah crossing and pressed for a Palestinian unity government. Fairly modest demonstrations and exploitation of social media by youth in Ramallah and Gaza clearly exerted additional pressure on the Palestinian leadership to reconcile. » Read more

Fatah, Hamas meet in Cairo to settle dispute on leadership ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua June 14, 2011 - 12:00am Representatives of Fatah and Hamas, the Palestinian rivals, are to meet Tuesday in Cairo to discuss forming a unity government among increasing differences on the candidate of the prime minister. The meeting is the second one since the two movements signed an Egyptian-brokered agreement to end political division between the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and the Fatah-ruled West Bank. When the two movements met on May 14, they discussed the independent candidates who may lead the technocratic government that will administer Gaza and the West Bank according to the agreement. » Read more

Palestine’s White September ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy by Carlo Strenger - (Opinion) June 13, 2011 - 12:00am Historical dates often emerge by sheer coincidence. In 2009, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad formulated an operational goal for his tenure: by 2011 he wanted to build institutions that would justify the proclamation of a Palestinian state. This would not just have symbolic value, as PLO Chairman Yasir Arafat's statement in 1988, but would carry practical implications. Fayyad's efforts have commanded international admiration. The West Bank is indeed run in a way that meets many criteria for successful statehood. » Read more

Take away Hamas excuses on unity ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National (Editorial) June 14, 2011 - 12:00am Salam Fayyad probably saw it coming. Four years ago, the Palestinian prime minister told The New York Times that he had every intention of de-legitimising the Islamist movement of Hamas. Violence is "not who we are", he said in 2007. "I want to disappoint them." On Sunday, it was Hamas that did the disappointing. » Read more

Israel’s Real Arab Problem ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Ilan Peleg, Dov Waxman - (Opinion) June 14, 2011 - 12:00am “Of the 300 million Arabs in the Middle East and North Africa, only Israel’s Arab citizens enjoy real democratic rights,” Prime Minister Netanyahu boasted in his recent speech to the United States Congress. Lest the point be lost on his audience, Netanyahu emphatically reiterated it: “Of those 300 million Arabs, less than one-half of 1% are truly free, and they are all citizens of Israel!” » Read more

Report: Deputy Israeli FM visits Egypt ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency June 14, 2011 - 12:00am Deputy Israeli Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon visited Egypt two weeks ago and met with top officials, Israeli daily Ma'ariv reported Tuesday. It is the first time since the country's former leader Hosni Mubarak was toppled that such a high-ranking Israeli political official visited Egypt, the daily reported, although the Israeli foreign ministry has denied the visit took place. Ma'ariv said that Ayalon met with Hussein Tantawi, head of Egypt’s higher military council, and Egyptian foreign minister Nabil Al-Arabi. » Read more

Unofficial Nakba study kit a hit with teachers ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Asaf Shtull-Trauring - June 14, 2011 - 12:00am When Shira (not her real name ), a history teacher at a junior high school in the center of the country, mentioned "nakba" in a class three years ago, none of her students had any idea what it referred to. Today, she says, the word just surfaces naturally among the students. They know about it and talk about it. According to her, the reason is clear - Amendment 40 to the Budget Foundations Law, more commonly known as the "Nakba Law." » Read more

Gaza unemployment levels 'among worst in world' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News by Jon Donnison - June 14, 2011 - 12:00am Gaza's unemployment rate was among the world's highest, at 45.2% in late 2010, the UN has found, as Israel's blockade of the territory enters its fifth year. Real wages meanwhile fell by more than a third, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said. Its report says that private businesses have been hardest hit by the continuing ban on virtually all exports. Israel tightened sanctions on Gaza in 2006 after militants captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. » Read more

UN marks 5 years of Gaza siege ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency June 14, 2011 - 12:00am "If the aim of the blockade policy was to weaken the Hamas administration, the public employment numbers suggest this has failed," a UNRWA spokesman said Tuesday as the UN marks Gaza's fifth year under intense Israeli siege. Commenting on a report released by the UN agency charged with providing care and services for the one million refugees living in the Gaza Strip, on the fifth anniversary of the siege, spokesman Chris Gunness added "it has certainly been highly successful in punishing some of the poorest of the poor in the Middle East region." » Read more