Shimon Peres says: Two states for two peoples ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Los Angeles Times by Shimon Peres - (Opinion) June 20, 2012 - 12:00am The Middle East is ailing. The malady stems from pervasive violence, shortages of food, water and educational opportunities, discrimination against women and — the most virulent cause of all — the absence of freedom. There can be no peace without freedom. Economic growth is impossible without integration in the free global economy. Tragically, this simple logic eludes us in the Middle East. » Read more

No light at end of Egyptian tunnel for Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Crispian Balmer - (Analysis) June 19, 2012 - 12:00am Egypt's political upheaval is by no means over, but its uneasy neighbour Israel is not waiting for the outcome. Desert defences are being strengthened and strategy revised as a once stable relationship splinters. Shortly after the Muslim Brotherhood claimed victory in Egypt's presidential vote on Monday, unidentified gunmen crossed the Sinai border and killed an Israeli worker. » Read more

Palestinian anti-corruption court secures conviction but raises questions of bias ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Karin Brulliard - June 20, 2012 - 12:00am A two-year-old Palestinian court charged with combating corruption handed down its first major conviction this month, ruling that a man widely considered a pretty big fish — the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s former economic adviser — had embezzled millions of dollars. » Read more

Internal Egyptian power struggle encouraging Sinai threat to Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua by Adam Gonn - June 20, 2012 - 12:00am One Israeli was killed and several others wounded in a terrorist ambush Monday on their way to work on Israel's border fence with Egypt, in an attack that bodes ill for future bilateral relations. Militants crossed into Israel from Egypt and carried out a combined shooting, bombing and rocket-propelled grenade attack against two vehicles carrying the Israeli workers. Israeli troops were dispatched to the area and killed two of the three gunmen. » Read more

Majority of Palestinians Doesn’t Trust Fatah, Hamas Regards of Reconciliation ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Palestine News Network June 20, 2012 - 12:00am A poll hosted by the Palestine News Network has shown that the majority of Palestinians, around 80%, have no confidence in the reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas, saying that there is no hope for the reconciliation. The poll was published on the PNN website several weeks ago directly after the news about Fatah and Hamas signed an agreement on the formation of a new consensus government. The poll shows that: » Read more

Settlers erect homes, level land by Nablus outposts ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency June 20, 2012 - 12:00am Israeli settlers have brought 45 caravans to expand settler outposts near Nablus, a local official said Wednesday. Construction began on Monday on three settler outposts adjacent to Eli and Shilo settlements in the northern West Bank, PA official monitoring settler activities Ghassan Daghlas told Ma'an. Bulldozers have razed more than 60,000 square meters of agricultural land near Palestinian villages Jalud, Qaryut and Jurish, he said, noting that settlers had constructed several cement homes and brought in caravans. » Read more

13 wounded in clashes in north Lebanon camp ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press June 18, 2012 - 12:00am Lebanese security officials say three soldiers and 10 Palestinians have been wounded in clashes inside a refugee camp in the country's north. The clashes broke out Monday in the Nahr el-Bared camp during the funeral of a Palestinian who was killed in a confrontation Friday. There are tensions between Palestinian in Nahr el-Bared and Lebanese soldiers left over from three months of clashes in 2007 between the army and an al-Qaida-inspired Islamic extremist group. The battles killed more than 170 soldiers, as well as dozens of militants and Palestinian civilians. » Read more

Toddler killed in Gaza explosion ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency June 20, 2012 - 12:00am A Palestinian toddler was killed Tuesday evening in an explosion south of Gaza City, medics said. Emergency services spokesman Adham Abu Salmiya said in a statement that Hadil al-Haddad, 2, was killed and her brother was injured in the Zaitoun neighborhood of Gaza City. A Hamas medical official told Reuters the cause of the child's death was not clear. Witnesses said she was killed when militants launched a rocket close by. » Read more

Israel kills Gaza militant on 3rd day of fighting ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Dan Williams - June 20, 2012 - 12:00am Israel killed a Gaza militant on Wednesday as a surge of fighting across the border of the Palestinian enclave entered a third day despite what Egypt said were its efforts to broker a truce. The militant, a Palestinian belonging to one of Gaza's fringe Islamist Salafi networks, died and a comrade was wounded in an air strike on their motorcycle in southern Rafah, near Gaza's frontier with the Egyptian Sinai, medical officials said. » Read more

Israel Weighs Response After Attacks by Hamas ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Fares Akram, Isabel Kershner - June 19, 2012 - 12:00am Hamas, the Islamic militant group that governs here, fired barrages of rockets into southern Israel on Tuesday after a break of more than a year during which the group largely adhered to an informal cease-fire. By evening, Israel had issued a stern warning that it was examining all possible responses, signaling the potential for a sharp escalation in the area. » Read more