June 26th

Israel arrests 3 for attack on Holocaust memorial ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press June 26, 2012 - 12:00am Israeli police have arrested three ultra-Orthodox Jewish suspects in connection with hate graffiti sprayed at the national Holocaust memorial and two Israeli army memorials. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld says the suspects admitted to vandalizing the sites. The Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial complex was sprayed earlier this month in 12 different places with slogans such as "Hitler, thank you for the Holocaust." One was signed "world ultra-Orthodox Jewry." » Read more

The perils of alienation over Palestine ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star by Ghaith Al-Omari - (Opinion) June 26, 2012 - 12:00am Critics of the American Task Force on Palestine get one thing right: Palestinian Americans have largely failed to make their voices heard in the mainstream American political and foreign-policy conversation. However, this is the fault of self-styled “pro-Palestinian” advocates who operate in a cult-like echo-chamber and advocate an approach that does considerable harm to the Palestinian cause. » Read more

Putin visits West Bank, tours key Christian shrine ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Mohammed Daraghmeh - June 26, 2012 - 12:00am Visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin praised his Palestinian counterpart Tuesday for what he said was a "responsible" position in negotiations with Israel, frozen for nearly four years, and said Russia has no problem recognizing a Palestinian state. Putin also offered veiled criticism of Israel, saying unilateral actions — an apparent reference to continued Israeli settlement expansion on war-won land — is not constructive. » Read more

Settlers Begin Evacuation of a West Bank Outpost ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Jodi Rudoren - June 26, 2012 - 12:00am BEIT EL, West Bank — The moving trucks arrived here on Tuesday morning while the men were in the middle of morning prayers, their heads covered by prayer shawls, and so began the first peaceful evacuation of a Jewish settlement from the occupied territories in memory. » Read more

June 25th

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