July 18th

Gaza rocket fire: Why now? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amos Harel, Avi Issacharoff - (Blog) July 17, 2011 - 12:00am The new escalation of violence between Israel and Gaza, still limited in scope, is the first of its kind since the bitter round of clashes at the beginning of April. That previous round, which included rocket fire on Ashdod and Be’er Sheva, ended once Israel took the initiative, mustering all its aerial firepower against Hamas and other Palestinian factions in Gaza, and simultaneously intercepting eight Katyusha rockets fired at its territory, using the Iron Dome anti-missile defense system for the first time. » Read more

Economy minister criticizes allegations of corruption ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency July 15, 2011 - 12:00am RAMALLAH (Ma’an) -- Palestinian Authority minister of economy Hassan Abu Libdeh has criticized reports linking names from his ministry with allegations of corruption. Abu Libdeh told Ma'an Thursday that he is ready to appear before an anti-corruption committee and answer any questions put forward regarding corruption charges, vowing to defend the work of his ministry. “I am ready to appear before anti-corruption committee everyday and not only in this issue but on any other issue for the forty years I have spent at public service,” he said. » Read more

2 injured in air attacks on southern Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency July 18, 2011 - 12:00am GAZA CITY (Ma’an) – Two Palestinians were injured, one of them critically, as Israeli warplanes targeted the southern Gaza Strip for the fifth day in row, onlookers said. A Ma’an reporter said fighter jets fired missiles at the town of Khuza’a east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. Two men were injured and were evacuated to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, where medics said one of the victims sustained critical wounds. » Read more

The boycott law and bullshit ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Carlo Strenger - (Blog) July 15, 2011 - 12:00am MK Zeev Elkin, who initiated the boycott law that was passed by the Knesset this Monday, said that the law was not meant to silence people, but to “protect the citizens of Israel.” Elkin’s statement would, in and of itself, not carry much interest, if it didn’t highlight a hallmark of the eighteenth Knesset that is undermining Israel as a liberal democracy step by step. » Read more

Can green energy help Palestinians unplug from Israel? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Rebecca Collard - July 15, 2011 - 12:00am Outside Khaled Sabawi’s West Bank office it is a sweltering summer day, but inside it is a balmy 73 degrees Fahrenheit – without the use of conventional air-conditioning. » Read more

Not Befitting a Democracy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times (Editorial) July 17, 2011 - 12:00am Israel’s reputation as a vibrant democracy has been seriously tarnished by a new law intended to stifle outspoken critics of its occupation of the West Bank. The law, approved in a 47-to-38 vote by Parliament, effectively bans any public call for a boycott — economic, cultural or academic — against Israel or its West Bank settlements, making such action a punishable offense. » Read more

Rights group: In last 5 years, Israeli army detains 835 Palestinian youths for throwing rocks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Associated Press - July 18, 2011 - 12:00am JERUSALEM — Over the past five years, Israel’s military has detained more than 800 Palestinian youths and children for pelting rocks at Israelis soldiers, and has interrogated and jailed many of them, a rights group said in a report released Monday. Drawing on military statistics and interviews for its 70-page report, the Israeli rights group B’Tselem counted 835 minors who were taken into custody from 2005 through early 2011, including 34 children who were 13 or younger. In the worst case, B’Tselem cited an 8-year-old who was seized in the West Bank in February. » Read more

Palestinian factions settle comfortably into limbo ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Edmund Sanders - July 17, 2011 - 12:00am Reporting from Jerusalem— A proposed Palestinian unity government that was touted two months ago as a potential Mideast game-changer has been stalled by familiar political realities and lingering antagonisms. Since rival factions Fatah and Hamas announced a reconciliation after four years of feuding, the promised coalition government remains unformed due to disputes over who will serve as prime minister. Other goodwill measures, such as mutual prisoner releases, have also gone unfulfilled since May, and public attacks against one another have resumed. » Read more

July 15th

We Can’t Say This ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward (Editorial) July 13, 2011 - 12:00am We could get in trouble for this. Not in New York City, where this editorial is being written, because legitimate comment is protected under the First Amendment. But our editorials, along with many other stories and columns in the Forward, also appear every Sunday in the English edition of the Haaretz newspaper in Israel. And now, with a new anti-boycott law approved by the Knesset and due to take effect in less than 90 days, the boundaries of free speech and legitimate expression have grown unpredictably and suffocatingly tight. » Read more

Palestine’s Split Over Statehood ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by Dan Ephron - (Opinion) July 14, 2011 - 12:00am Palestinians have been talking for months about petitioning the United Nations in September for a vote that would push them closer to statehood. Now, as the deadline for a decision nears, the top policy-makers in Ramallah are divided over precisely what course to take, according to Palestinian and western officials familiar with internal discussions on the matter. » Read more