July 26th

PA minister: No plans to ease settlement boycott ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency July 26, 2011 - 12:00am HEBRON (Ma’an) -- The Palestinian Authority's economy minister Hassan Abu Libda said Monday that during 2010 settlement products were substantially reduced throughout the Palestinian marketplace. “It is shameful for us as Palestinians to support settlement activities and to contribute to their well-being while they’re occupying and confiscating our land,” Libda said. The law banning sale of such goods put a big dent in the settlement economy, which was estimated at some 200 million shekels per year when it was last legal to buy and sell them in 2010, he said. » Read more

News analysis: Israel-Turkey reconciliation mutually beneficial: analysts ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua by Adam Gonn - July 25, 2011 - 12:00am The publication of the United Nations Palmer Report on the Israeli raid on last year's Gaza- bound flotilla has been delayed a third time, reportedly so that Israel and Turkey may continue reconciliation talks. » Read more

2 convicted collaborators executed in Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency July 26, 2011 - 12:00am GAZA CITY (Ma’an) -- The government in the Gaza Strip announced Tuesday that two residents accused of collaborating with the Israeli occupation have been executed. Gaza's Interior Ministry told Ma'an that execution orders were issued in 2004 and were postponed several times until the crimes of the accused could be thoroughly proven. The two prisoners were executed on Tuesday morning. They were not identified. » Read more

Former Israeli diplomats in Washington: 1967 borders are defensible ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Natasha Mozgovaya - July 25, 2011 - 12:00am A group of former Israeli army officials and diplomats visited Washington Monday, claiming that a peace agreement with the Palestinians is urgent in spite of, and because of, regional turmoil, and that contrary to what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claims, the 1967 borders are, in fact, defensible. The group visited the White House on Monday and met with the National Security Council Director for Middle East and North Africa Steven Simon, and were to have meetings later in the evening with acting Middle East envoy David Hale and officials at the Pentagon. » Read more

Christian Pro-Israel Group Stakes Claim on Right ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Forward by Nathan Guttman - July 26, 2011 - 12:00am Once a novelty, the shofar-blowing, hora-dancing Christian evangelicals are now an integral part of the pro-Israel advocacy scene. At its 5,000-strong national conference in Washington, Christians United for Israel, the large Christian-Zionist movement, made clear it is stepping up its activity on the two issues that now top the pro-Israel agenda: fighting efforts to delegitimize Israel, and working on college campuses to counter anti-Israel activity. » Read more

Right-wing Israelis find little sympathy for Norway after tragedy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Vita Bekker - July 26, 2011 - 12:00am A few Israelis who shared their feelings on websites are expressing anything but sympathy for the killing of at least 76 mostly young people in Norway. Postings on Hebrew websites suggest Friday's attacks have reawakened hostility among some Israelis towards what they view as Norway's pro-Palestinian approach to the peace process. Such sentiments may have also been prompted by the fact that the confessed perpetrator in the attack appears to have espoused anti-Muslim sentiments and a pro-Zionist philosophy. » Read more

Arab League to hold urgent meeting on Palestinian financial crisis ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Masry Al-Youm July 26, 2011 - 12:00am The Arab League will hold an urgent meeting Tuesday for its permanent representatives to discuss the financial crisis that the Palestinian Authority currently faces. The meeting will be held upon the request of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Egyptian diplomatic sources said. Prime Minister Salam Fayyad will attend. State-run news agency MENA reported that Abbas contacted Arab League Secretary General Nabil al-Araby and requested the meeting so that Arabs would be informed about Palestinian Authority's critical financial situation. » Read more

UN flotilla report delayed again ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency July 26, 2011 - 12:00am JERUSALEM (AFP) -- A UN report into Israel's deadly 2010 raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, which was to have been published later this week, has been delayed once again, an Israeli official said on Monday. "The secretary-general asked to delay the publication of the report," foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said, referring to the UN chief, Ban Ki-moon. But he refused to confirm reports suggesting Israel had requested the delay in a bid to have more time to mend its relations with Ankara, devastated since the flotilla raid in which Israeli forces killed nine Turks. » Read more

Debating an extremist Israeli settler ATFP World Press Roundup Article from NOW Lebanon by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) July 26, 2011 - 12:00am Last week I had a fascinating debate with David Ha’ivri, an extremist Israeli settler—an event loosely connected to a conference of the pro-settler Christians United for Israel organization. » Read more

ISRAEL: Arabic radio station campaigns against killing of women ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Batsheva Sobelman - July 25, 2011 - 12:00am A young woman turns up dead. Her husband is held for a few days, then released. Police have no other suspects. Murmurs of "family honor" are heard -- and the news races on, reluctant to deal with a painful issue: the killing of women in Arab society. Until now. » Read more