July 5th

Blast at Sinai Pipeline Again Halts Gas to Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Liam Stack - July 4, 2011 - 12:00am Unknown attackers blew up a strategic natural gas pipeline that runs through Egypt’s rugged Sinai Peninsula to Israel and Jordan on Monday, bringing the flow of gas to a halt for the third time this year. Security sources described the explosion as “massive” and said it generated “high flames,” although it led to no injuries or damage to nearby buildings. » Read more

July 1st

Leading Palestinian and Jewish American groups announce joint internship program ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News June 30, 2011 - 12:00am WASHINGTON: The American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) and Americans for Peace Now (APN) started their joint summer internship program on Thursday. ATFP is hosting an Israeli student, and APN is hosting a Palestinian student. This is the third time that ATFP and APN, a pro-Palestinian organization and a pro-Israeli organization, are cooperating on a joint internship program, making it a tradition intended to underscore that Americans who care about Middle East peace — be they Arab or Jewish — have more in common than what sets them apart. » Read more

Jordan committed to Arab consensus in support of Palestinian UN bid ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times by Hani Hazaimeh - June 30, 2011 - 12:00am AMMAN - Jordan is committed to the Arab consensus supporting the Palestinian leadership’s pursuit of recognition of a state by the UN General Assembly if Israel continues to reject relevant international resolutions, Minister of Foreign Affairs Nasser Judeh said on Thursday. Judeh reaffirmed Jordan’s continued support for the Palestinians in their efforts to establish their own independent state on the national Palestinian soil with East Jerusalem as its capital, on the basis of the two-state solution. » Read more

Oren presents Israel’s priorities for talks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) June 30, 2011 - 12:00am WASHINGTON (JTA) -- Israel's U.S. ambassador, Michael Oren, outlined for Jewish leaders his country's list of priorities in framing peace talks with the Palestinians. Oren, speaking Thursday in a conference call, said Israel is looking into President Obama's recent proposals for renewing talks. Such talks, Oren said, should be framed by what he called the "terms of reference": the recognition of Israel as a Jewish state; no return of Palestinian refugees; and a long-term military presence for Israel along the Jordan-West Bank border. Also, that an agreement would end all claims. » Read more

The Role of the Border in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict ATFP World Press Roundup Article from New America Foundation by Daniel Levy - (Opinion) June 30, 2011 - 12:00am In March of this year, the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution hosted a crisis simulation exercise on the Israeli-Palestinian issue. The participants, myself included, assumed the roles of key players from the US, Israeli, and Palestinian sides and were presented with a scenario in which the protagonists were two weeks into the implementation of a US-brokered agreement on borders and security. » Read more

Death in the West Bank: the story of an 'honour' killing ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Harriet Sherwood - June 30, 2011 - 12:00am As Ibrahim Baradiya recounts the events surrounding the last moments of his daughter's life at the bottom of a dark well, the agony of grief is drawn across the face of his wife, Fatima. She says almost nothing. Her eyes are half-closed. She shakes her head with small, rapid movements. A deep frown furrows her forehead. When the story is finished, she fetches her daughter's trinkets – beads, bangles, a hair clasp, a key ring, a purple pom-pom – and spreads them over the table and she weeps. » Read more

Palestinian crisis solved in 814 words ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Chicago Sun Times by Neil Steinberg - (Opinion) July 1, 2011 - 12:00am Did you hear that the flotilla planning to run the Israeli blockade of Gaza didn’t get off as scheduled? Insurance problems, alas, sparked by an Israeli ploy, plus one of the 10 ships had its propeller mysteriously cut. I sure hope Alice Walker doesn’t run into a scheduling conflict — maybe a Marin County book-signing — that would call her away from yet another chance to remind the world that the Israelis are the Star Wars Evil Empire, the Nazis and the Klingons all rolled into one. » Read more

Israel's Gaza sea blockade is an act of self-defense ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Amos Guiora - (Opinion) July 1, 2011 - 12:00am Self-defense against threats to national security and individual citizens is a core right and duty of all nation-states. No one seriously disagrees. And yet this week, the Mediterranean Sea will once again be the site of a dangerous attack on this basic right. » Read more

In Balata, the future is scarier than September ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Avi Issacharoff - July 1, 2011 - 12:00am BALATA REFUGEE CAMP, NABLUS - Several days before the first intifada broke out, a few hundred people in the Balata refugee camp marched toward the drawn guns of raiding Israeli soldiers. The soldiers withdrew at the order of then-GOC Central Command Amram Mitzna, who wanted to avoid bloodshed, and Balata became a symbol of the struggle against the Israeli occupation that broke out on December 9, 1987. » Read more

Israel's contempt for the law of the sea ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Ahram by Stuart Littlewood - (Opinion) July 30, 2011 - 12:00am In 2008, two humanitarian vessels got through to Gaza, and in an article entitled "Keeping the Sea-Lane to Gaza Open", I wrote at the time that "the success of the âê˜Free Gaza' boats in breaking the siege, and their safe arrival and departure, was due to the intervention and good offices of the British Foreign Office." » Read more