Blocked prospects ATFP World Press Roundup Article from NOW Lebanon by Hazem Saghiyeh - (Opinion) June 25, 2012 - 12:00am The Nahr al-Bared ordeal epitomizes the ordeal befalling Lebanon as a whole, including with regard to the Palestinian issue. The Nahr al-Bared camp, which is still witnessing the same long-term misery and marginalization added to destruction that was not followed by the promised reconstruction, summarizes the situation of the Palestinian “community” in Lebanon. However, it also epitomizes the inability of the sectarian regime, which is extremely attached to “balances,” to take any useful step in dealing with the Nahr al-Bared ordeal (and others as well). » Read more

Palestinian disinheritance sponsored by Oslo ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Akiva Eldar - (Opinion) June 25, 2012 - 12:00am It's a shame the police don't show the same determination treating the settlers who invade private Palestinian land as they do evicting the temporary settlers on Tel Aviv's Rothschild Boulevard. It's a shame the social justice activists ignore the creeping eviction by the Israeli government in the occupied territories. » Read more

The Overshadowed Peace Process ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National Interest by Aaron David Miller - (Opinion) June 22, 2012 - 12:00am Once upon a time in a galaxy far, far away, there once lived something called the Arab-Israeli peace process. It never lived an altogether happy life, but it did actually exist and breathe. In fact, it was capable of some spectacular highs (Egyptian-Israeli and Israeli-Jordanian peace treaties) and a great many lows. More failures than successes, to be sure, but there was—at least most of the time—a real sense of hope and possibility and a credible process worth pursuing. » Read more

The Real Cost of Israel's Settlers ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Yedioth Ahronoth by Yael Gvirtz - (Opinion) June 13, 2012 - 12:00am The only difference between the hate crime perpetrated at Neve Shalom ("Oasis of Peace," a cooperative village jointly established by Jewish and Arab citizens of Israel as a model of coexistence) and others is that the target this time around was an Israeli village. » Read more

“Freezing” Palestine – not the Settlements ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Hayat by Walid Choucair - (Opinion) June 22, 2012 - 12:00am Eighteen months into the Arab Spring, as expected, the Palestinian situation is being neglected in the Arab world and by the international community. All of the countries concerned with Palestine have been busy tending to their domestic situations, or the regional repercussions of Arab uprisings on other countries, which has allowed Israel to act unilaterally against the Palestinians. » Read more

Israeli army ‘game’ leaves one Palestinian dead ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star by Selim Saheb Ettaba - June 25, 2012 - 12:00am As the Shawakha brothers rushed to protect their home from intruders, they had no clue they were unwitting participants in an Israeli army exercise that would leave one of them dead. “It was March 27, 1:30 in the morning,” recalls Akram Shawakha, 36, who was on watch duty on the top floor of the modest family home on a hill east of the West Bank city of Ramallah. Their house is on the outskirts of the wealthy village of Rammun, where most residents have emigrated to America. » Read more

Alice Walker's The Color Purple should be read in Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Maya Sela - (Opinion) June 22, 2012 - 12:00am Literature at its best should be a Trojan horse. Good authors don't just tell us a story to pass the time in a pleasant way; he or she offers ideas that insinuate themselves into the reader's mind, sometimes unconsciously, sometimes in the form of a tale that disguises its moral and cultural lessons. Books can provide readers a mirror in which they will see something they hadn't seen before, and give them the opportunity of subsequently seeing themselves and their surroundings in a different light. » Read more

Israel's historic city of Acre faces tourist and settler tensions ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Harriet Sherwood - June 24, 2012 - 12:00am Amid narrow winding alleys, crumbling courtyards and dark doorways of neglected buildings, a work of art gleams within the walls of Israel's ancient but dilapidated city of Acre. The Efendi Palace hotel opened in March after eight-and-a-half years of painstaking restoration. » Read more

Is Hamas losing control? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Khaled Abu Toameh - (Analysis) June 24, 2012 - 12:00am Hamas's failure to enforce the latest Egyptian-brokered cease-fire with Israel is seen by Palestinians as a sign that the Islamist movement may be losing control over the Gaza Strip. In the past, Hamas has shown that its security forces are capable of implementing cease-fires with Israel. Hamas, whose leaders maintain that they are not interested in providing Israel with an excuse to launch another major military offensive in Gaza, had even gone as far as detaining members of other groups who insisted on launching rockets at Israel. » Read more

Yesha leaders come out against extremist violence ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Itamar Fleishman - June 25, 2012 - 12:00am Yesha Council leaders voiced rare criticism against the violent acts of far Right activists on Sunday after unknown assailants punctured the tires of Yesha official Ze'ev Hever. In a Yesha Council conference in Ofra, chairman Danny Dayan said, "Violence has become common currency in our camps while we remain silent." » Read more