Fire from Gaza intensifies as three mortars hit southern Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz August 8, 2011 - 12:00am Three mortar shells fell Sunday night in Sha'ar HaNegev Regional Council, causing damage to a fence. No injuries were reported. The incident comes after a spate in rocket attacks launched from the Gaza Strip last week. On Friday, Israel Air Force jets attacked five targets in Gaza in response to the firing of Grad rockets. Hours before the air strike a rocket fell in an open field near the town of Kiryat Gat. The rocket was the third of its kind in 24 hours, but it caused no injuries or damage. » Read more

Israeli army arrests 11 Palestinians in West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua August 9, 2011 - 12:00am Israeli army arrested 11 Palestinians in the West Bank early Tuesday, including a senior Hamas member, Palestinian security sources and Israeli media said. Most of the detainees were napped in Hebron city where Hamas official Aied Doudin lived. The Palestinian sources said that Doudin and some of his relatives were seized. Israel Radio reported that the raid targeted wanted activists. It also reported that two rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip and landed in Western Negev in Israel. The missiles caused no injuries or damage. » Read more

Hamas employees' wages late due to cash crisis ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency August 7, 2011 - 12:00am Civil servants in Gaza will not receive their July salaries until the end of August due to government cash shortages, Hamas finance ministry official Ismail Mahfouz said Sunday. Speaking at the Gaza government's information office, Mahfouz said that while some of the government's income came from internal revenue, a large part of the budget was received from external sources. He said there was a deficit in support from abroad, and that Hamas officials were trying to secure more finance from outside the Gaza Strip. » Read more

PM lobbies world envoys against Palestinian statehood ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Herb Keinon - August 9, 2011 - 12:00am Israel is prepared to make concessions, but the Palestinians have shown no indication of a willingness on their own for compromise, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Monday to a group of 18 ambassadors to Washington from Asian, European, African and Latin American countries who don’t usually vote for Israel at the UN. “Six prime ministers, including myself, have come out in support of a Palestinian state, and two offered far-reaching concessions, but this hasn’t helped,” Netanyahu said, in a reference to the concessions offered by Ehud Barak in 2000, and Ehud Olmert in 2008. » Read more

Arab states to head UN in September ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Yitzhak Benhorin - August 9, 2011 - 12:00am Two Arab states will head the United Nations Security Council and General Assembly in September, the month which is expected to see a vote on recognition for a Palestinian state. Lebanon will serve as president of the Security Council in September and Qatar will head the General Assembly for one year as of next month. The Security Council has five permanent member states with veto power (The United States, Russia, China, France and Britain) but Arab states are invariably represented among the 10 remaining rotating states. » Read more

Palestinians study UN status options ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency August 9, 2011 - 12:00am Permanent Palestinian observer to the United Nations Riyad Mansour said Tuesday that the option of changing Palestine's status from "observer entity" to a "non-member state" is still being studied. Mansour told the Italian news agency AKI that becoming a non-member state "does not invalidate the right to become a member state as recommended by several UN resolutions such as resolution 181 in 1947." The ultimate goal would be to obtain full UN membership like South Sudan, he said, however if that objective is not met then Palestine would seek a status similar to that of the Vatican. » Read more