October 4th

Hamas ministry rejects torture allegations ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency October 3, 2012 - 12:00am GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- The Ministry of Interior in Gaza on Wednesday said it was reviewing a Human Rights Watch report that accused the Hamas security forces of torturing detainees. The Hamas-run ministry says it applauds the role of human rights organizations in protecting rights. "We assure you that our detention centers are open for human rights centers," the ministry said in a statement. » Read more

Palestinian UN status likely to be debated in November ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters October 4, 2012 - 12:00am UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -- The United Nations is likely to hold a debate on whether to upgrade the Palestinians' UN status to a sovereign country in mid-November -- after the US election, the president of the 193-member UN General Assembly said Wednesday. Having failed last year to win recognition of full statehood at the United Nations, President Mahmoud Abbas said last week he would seek a less-ambitious status upgrade at the world body to make it a "non-member state" like the Vatican. » Read more

Israel's Haaretz paper strikes over layoffs ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press October 3, 2012 - 12:00am JERUSALEM —Workers at Israel's respected Haaretz newspaper have begun a strike to protest layoffs. The workers said Wednesday that they would not update the Haaretz website until midnight and will not publish the next day's paper. The issue is the planned dismissal of about 100 employees. Haaretz has a relatively small circulation, but it is an influential daily popular with Israel's elite. » Read more

Who "Froze" The Peace Process? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by Peter Beinart - (Opinion) October 3, 2012 - 12:00am Jeff Goldberg has a new Bloomberg column arguing that President Obama has not done enough to support the rebels in Syria, which had me mostly nodding in agreement until I reached this offhand comment about Israel: "Obama was wrong to draw a line in the sand over settlements, which are a derivative issue (if the Israelis and Palestinians settle their borders, the settlement issue will also be solved). But because he made it an issue without a thought to follow-up, he managed to freeze the process." » Read more

Wither The Israeli Press? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by Noam Sheizaf - (Opinion) October 3, 2012 - 12:00am On the Thursday before Yom Kippur, several hundred employees of the Israeli newspaper Maariv left their desks and marched under the hot Tel Aviv sun toward one of three buildings towering over Azrieli mall. They occupied the building's lobby, determined to make their way to the offices of IDB Holdings. Guards shut down the elevators, but about two dozen employees broke into the emergency stairwell and climbed to the 41st floor. » Read more

Is This a Palestinian Spring, Or a Coming Third Intifada? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Hayat by Nassif Hitti - (Analysis) October 3, 2012 - 12:00am Are we witnessing the harbingers of a “Palestinian Spring” or the first signs of a long-awaited third Palestinian intifada, whose triggers — many observers say — come from the Palestinian issue itself? » Read more

Devout Israeli Jews moving to Arab-Jewish cities ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Amy Teibel - October 4, 2012 - 12:00am ACRE, Israel — Orthodox Jewish Israelis, the driving force of the West Bank settlement movement, have begun to turn their attention inward to Israel itself, moving into Arab areas of mixed cities in an attempt to cement the Jewish presence there. » Read more

Time is running out for peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News by George S. Hishmeh - (Opinion) October 4, 2012 - 12:00am The Palestinian Question has been temporarily shelved — hopefully only till November — much to the disappointment of many a Palestinian who was expecting the ball to start rolling this month. » Read more

Is Israel a threat to US national interests? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News by Joseph A. Kechichian - (Opinion) October 4, 2012 - 12:00am Cartoonists all over the world showed rare talent this week as many depicted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ‘Wylie Coyote’ presentation in colourful montages, one illustrating his head in the shape of a bomb, and an imaginary red line above which the fuse ignited. » Read more

Sakhnin incitement ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post (Editorial) October 3, 2012 - 12:00am The country’s Arab parliamentarians managed this week to surpass even their own most strident incitement against the state that bankrolls them and guarantees their rights to subvert it. Speaking in Sakhnin at the 12th memorial to the 13 Arabs shot dead during the October 2000 riots, MKs Ahmed Tibi and Taleb a-Sanaa in effect agitated for violent vengeance, thereby ramping up already inordinately confrontational rhetoric. » Read more