June 29th

Israel ramps up campaign against Gaza aid flotilla ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Joel Greenberg - June 28, 2011 - 12:00am JERUSALEM — As organizers of a flotilla seeking to challenge Israel’s naval blockade of the Gaza Strip prepare to embark on their voyage, Israeli officials are mounting an increasingly vocal campaign to discredit the activists, depicting them as planning violence against troops preparing to intercept the ships. » Read more

A Bountiful Harvest, Rooted in a Former Settlement’s Soil ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Fares Akram, Ethan Bronner - June 28, 2011 - 12:00am GAZA — Hundreds of acres of watermelons, orange saplings and grapevines stretch in orderly rows out to the horizon. Irrigation hoses run along the sand, dripping quietly. Apple trees are starting to blossom nearby. Avocados and mangoes are on their way. » Read more

AP Interview: Palestinian PM skeptical of UN bid ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by Karin Laub - June 28, 2011 - 12:00am RAMALLAH, West Bank — U.N. recognition of a Palestinian state would largely be a symbolic victory and would not change the reality of Israeli occupation, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said Tuesday. Fayyad's skepticism, voiced in an interview with The Associated Press, set him apart from the rest of the Palestinian leadership. Earlier this week, President Mahmoud Abbas and top officials in his Fatah movement formally decided to seek U.N. membership for a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, the territories Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war. » Read more

June 28th

Israel trumps the Arab world ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Peninsula June 25, 2011 - 12:00am There is no doubt that Israel is superior to all Arab countries in the sphere of Information Technology, a comparative study between Arab nations and Israel on ‘Scientific Research and Patent Rights Compared’ conducted by Dr Khalid Said Rubaia, a Palestinian researcher at American Arab University in Palestine, says. Israel spends 4.7 percent of its total GDP on scientific research, which is the highest in the world. However, Arab states are spending 0.2 percent of their total incomes and Asian Arab countries around 0.5 percent of their incomes on research, said the report. » Read more

Egypt should now be responsible for Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Moshe Arens - (Opinion) June 28, 2011 - 12:00am It may well turn out that one of the positive outcomes of the mass disturbances against the Mubarak government in Tahrir Square will be the change in the policy of the new government in Cairo toward the Gaza Strip. » Read more

Netanyahu playing with fire in bid to win EU backing against Palestinian state ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Akiva Eldar - (Opinion) June 28, 2011 - 12:00am After the Palestinian Authority leadership announced its (final? ) decision on Sunday to ask the United Nations to recognize a Palestinian state in the June 1967 borders, it appears United States President Barack Obama will have to grapple with a challenging dilemma. The formulation of the resolution that is emerging from Ramallah will be a "cut and paste" job of lines from the president's speech on May 19, in which he presented the formula of the 1967 lines with mutually agreed border adjustments. The White House will have to decide whether to order U.S. » Read more

What does Fayyad's ultimatum mean? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency (Editorial) June 27, 2011 - 12:00am Prime Minister in Ramallah Salam Fayyad said in Bil'in on Friday that Israel "should either give Palestinians freedom or the right to vote." Does this mean the two-state solution is history? For economic, security, and social considerations the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank alone is not possible. The West Bank has no geographic contiguity with the Gaza Strip, and the capital Jerusalem has been encircled with a 15-meter cement wall. » Read more

A guide to September ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Gershon Baskin - (Opinion) June 27, 2011 - 12:00am The PLO leadership has made its decision. In September it will ask the United Nations to recognize the State of Palestine in the pre-June 4, 1967 borders and grant it membership. After submitting an official letter to the secretary-general in which they will request to become a member state of the UN, the representatives of Palestine will declare that they will adhere to the UN Charter and that they are a peace-loving state. » Read more

A message for Israel and Evangelicals: Genesis isn’t a policy guide ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Walter Rodgers - (Opinion) June 27, 2011 - 12:00am I recently passed a local evangelical church here in rural New England with a sign that read: “We Love You Israel. Hold God’s Land.” » Read more

All eyes on UN ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News (Editorial) June 27, 2011 - 12:00am The Palestinian decision to approach the United Nations seeking formal approval for their state appears to have set cat among the pigeons. Although Israel and its powerful backers in the United States initially dismissed the Palestinian move with contempt, there’s increasing signs of nervousness, if not panic, over the possible fallout of such a proposal getting the go-ahead by the world body. » Read more