July 28th

Nasrallah recognizes Israel! ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat by Tariq al-Homayed - (Opinion) July 28, 2011 - 12:00am Hezbollah chief [Hassan Nasrallah] has called on the Lebanese government not to waste the opportunity to explore for oil and natural gas along its maritime border. Nasrallah said that "the resistance" has no objection to the government reaching an agreement to demarcate Lebanon’s maritime borders. » Read more

Is Abbas setting the stage for a third intifada? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Douglas Bloomfield - (Opinion) July 28, 2011 - 12:00am Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas says he doesn’t want to see a third intifada, and I believe him. So why does he persist in laying the groundwork for it? His two-pronged strategy of powersharing with Hamas and making a bid for UN recognition is foundering, increasing the risk that the high expectations he sparked among his people will dissolve into frustration and violence. » Read more

Before a Diplomatic Showdown, a Budget Crisis Saps Palestinians’ Confidence ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Ethan Bronner - July 27, 2011 - 12:00am RAMALLAH, West Bank — As the Palestinian Authority faces some of the hardest choices in its history regarding relations with Israel, membership in the United Nations and unity with Hamas, it is mired in a severe economic crisis, leading many here to a sense of foreboding and despair. » Read more

July 27th

Fayyad seeks $300 million to ease cash crisis ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency July 27, 2011 - 12:00am CAIRO (AFP) - Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad said Tuesday that the Palestinian Authority needed $300 million "urgently" to help ease a financial crisis. The PA "urgently needs $300 million to overcome the bottleneck and deal with the financial crisis," he told reporters in Cairo after an extraordinary meeting of Arab League representatives. The crisis stems from the fact that pledged aid has not yet come through. Fayyad said the PA had received $331 million in 2011, including $79 million from Arab countries, as well as an additional $30 million from Saudi Arabia. » Read more

Palestinian leader wants rallies to back UN bid ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Mohammed Daraghmeh - July 27, 2011 - 12:00am RAMALLAH, West Bank — Invoking the Arab Spring, the Palestinian president on Wednesday urged his people to take to the streets for massive rallies in support of his government's bid to get the U.N. to recognize an independent Palestinian state. The call by President Mahmoud Abbas for peaceful, "popular resistance" throughout the West Bank was likely to fuel Israeli concerns that the U.N. vote in September and any large demonstrations could spark a new round of violence. » Read more

Hamas launches plans to fully control Gaza-Egypt borders: spokesman ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua July 26, 2011 - 12:00am GAZA, July 26 (Xinhua) -- The deposed government of Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip had launched a security plan to fully control the borderline area between Egypt and the coastal enclave, a Hamas official said Tuesday. Ihab al-Ghussein, spokesman of the Hamas ministry of interior told Xinhua "the ministry is exerting every possible effort to keep a full control of the borderline area between the Gaza Strip and prevent more violations of the law." » Read more

Israel sues 34 Bedouin for costs of repeated demolitions of their homes ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Jack Khoury - July 27, 2011 - 12:00am The state filed an unprecedented suit against 34 Negev Bedouin in Be'er Sheva Magistrate's Court on Tuesday, seeking NIS 1.8 million in damages for the expense repeatedly incurred in evicting the defendants from state land and demolishing their homes. The state, through the Israel Lands Administration, told the court that the defendants had built homes in the Al-Arakib area, northeast of Be'er Sheva, on what had been state land since the time of Ottoman rule. » Read more

Palestinian children endure systematic abuse from Israel's military courts, say reports ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Hugh Naylor - July 27, 2011 - 12:00am BEIT UMMAR, WEST BANK // Military justice came to Sami on March 8 when two-dozen Israeli commandos raided his home shortly after midnight. The 15-year-old Palestinian's family watched as soldiers bound his hands, slipped over a blindfold and arrested him without offering an explanation. Sami recounted in an interview how he was forced to walk three kilometres beyond his village, Beit Ummar, to a nearby Jewish settlement. » Read more

Why Netanyahu is suddenly unpopular in Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Joshua Mitnick - July 26, 2011 - 12:00am Tel Aviv Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been put firmly on the defensive for the first time since his election, with tens of thousands of people protesting the surging cost of housing. With his approval ratings in a double-digit dive, Mr. Netanyahu canceled a trip to Poland today to unveil a series of measures aimed at cooling off real-estate prices that have risen by more than one third since 2007. » Read more

UN: Palestinians ready for statehood ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency July 27, 2011 - 12:00am UNITED NATIONS (AFP) -- The Palestinian Authority is ready to govern a nation but deadlock with Israel has made a two-state solution far from certain, the UN special envoy for the Middle East peace process said Tuesday. Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians have been on hold for 10 months. They broke down shortly after Washington relaunched the first direct negotiations between the two sides for nearly two years. » Read more