June 2nd

Open Border at Gaza Is Not So Open, Palestinians Find ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Fares Akram - June 1, 2011 - 12:00am Days after Egypt, with great fanfare, opened its border permanently with Gaza, new restrictions have been imposed on Palestinians who want to cross, and the area’s Hamas rulers spoke on Wednesday with frustration and anger. Only three buses, carrying a total of 150 passengers, entered the Egyptian hall at the Rafah crossing on Wednesday, while five others remained stuck on the Palestinian side, Hamas officials said two hours before closing. » Read more

June 1st

Netanyahu: Next year in a more built up Jerusalem ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press June 1, 2011 - 12:00am Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated his uncompromising stance on a united Jerusalem Tuesday night, saying he plans to authorize more building in the capital, in a speech at Mercaz Harav Yeshiva in Jerusalem. The prime minister spoke on the eve of Jerusalem Day that commemorates Israel's liberation of east Jerusalem in the 1967 Six Day War. Mercaz Harav, an orthodox Yeshiva located in the Kiryat Moshe neighborhood of Jerusalem was the site of a terror attack in 2008 in which a Palestinian gunman killed eight students. » Read more

Policemen stoned in east Jerusalem ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Yair Altman - May 31, 2011 - 12:00am Five police officers and a civilian sustained mild injuries Tuesday, after protesters rioted in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of A-Tur and stoned them. Molotov cocktails were also hurled at the officers, who responded by using crowd-control measures. Five rioters were arrested. The officers and civilian were taken to a Jerusalem hospital for treatment. Earlier Tuesday, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel published a report that noted an increase in Arab-security forces skirmishes in east Jerusalem over the past 18 months. » Read more

Making the refugees priority No. 1 ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Kenneth Bandler - (Opinion) May 31, 2011 - 12:00am Abbas has perfected the art of complaining, yet has not presented a vision for solving the refugee dilemma, one that would address legitimate Palestinian needs and Israeli concerns. Two days before President Barack Obama delivered his Middle East policy address, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas revealed on The New York Times op-ed page that his core issue was not Israeli settlements. No, most vital for the Palestinian leader is fulfilling what he asserts is a Palestinian right to return to the homes and lands vacated during the first Arab-Israeli war. » Read more

Was Netanyahu right to rebuff Obama? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Avi Perry - (Opinion) June 1, 2011 - 12:00am The humiliation of 1948 and the call to redeem lost honor is more exigent for the Palestinians than the call for a peace offensive. In this context, the PM had no choice but to dispel illusions in his speech to Congress. In his latest speech to the American Congress, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu claimed that the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians has never been about the establishment of a Palestinian state. It has always been about the existence of the Jewish state. » Read more

On victory and arrogance ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Nahum Barnea - (Opinion) May 30, 2011 - 12:00am The Congress press gallery is situated above the podium. One cannot see the speaker’s face, only his or her head. Yet the faces of the listeners, that is, members of Congress, can certainly be seen. Their enthusiasm over Netanyahu’s speech was genuine and sweeping. » Read more

Op-Ed: We must talk about the two Jerusalems ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) by Jill Jacobs - (Opinion) May 31, 2011 - 12:00am NEW YORK (JTA) -- After my first visit to Israel, at age 6, I proudly toted my photo album to Hebrew school for show-and-tell. As the class crowded around a picture of the Kotel, my teacher marveled, “Look how blue the sky is!” I squinted at the picture: The sky didn’t look any bluer than the sky in Framingham, Mass., where I grew up. But I believed her. Of course, the Jerusalem sky would be bluer than anywhere else in the world. » Read more

The Israeli right's refusal to accept other versions of Zionism ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Carlo Strenger - (Opinion) May 31, 2011 - 12:00am There is an old saying that when an orator hits a weak point, he generally tries to shout. Noise is always an attempt to cover up the weakness of one's position. Israel’s right-wing has lately been stepping up its attempts to cover up the fact that it has no vision for Israel's future - that all it has in store for its citizens is further isolation and misery. » Read more

A Proclaimed State of War ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat by Bilal Hassen - (Opinion) June 1, 2011 - 12:00am If the popular marches towards the Palestinian border have brought the struggle against Israel to a new historical starting point, then Obama and Netanyahu's speeches in Washington, as well as before the American-Zionist AIPAC organization, have brought the entire region into an atmosphere of war. » Read more

Hamas prevents youths from holding conference in Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua May 31, 2011 - 12:00am The Hamas police arrested two people on Tuesday and prevented a group of youths from holding a conference sponsored by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) , witnesses said. The conference was aimed at supporting a national agreement that Egypt brokered between Hamas and President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party. Dozens of policemen surrounded the hall where the conference was scheduled to be held, prevented people from entering, "beat several organizers and arrested two of them," said Ibrahim Al- Shatali, one of the organizers. » Read more