June 25th

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

Schools for Jews and Arabs: Separate but definitely not equal ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Rivka Cohen - (Opinion) June 25, 2012 - 12:00am In one clear step, Israel’s Education Minister has demonstrated that the separate Jewish and Muslim school systems have nothing to do with preserving an autonomous space for Jewish and for Arab culture, but rather - plain segregation. » Read more

Palestinian Authority arrests more than 100 following death of Jenin governor ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amira Hass - June 25, 2012 - 12:00am Many family members of detainees from the Jenin refugee camp have been having trouble sleeping in recent weeks. Not because of their relatives held in Israeli prisons but rather because of their relatives held in Palestinian Authority prisons, and mainly because of rumors - which have been confirmed - of torture at the Preventative Security detention facility in Jericho. » Read more

Fatah official: Mashaal, Abbas to set meeting date ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency June 25, 2012 - 12:00am Fatah leader President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas chief Khalid Mashaal are set to organize a meeting now the Egyptian presidential election results have been announced, a Fatah official said Monday. The heads of the rival political parties were scheduled to meet last Wednesday. The summit, the latest chapter of the long-running reconciliation process, was postponed amid the Egypt presidential electoral run-off. » Read more

The police turned Israel's nonviolent protest into terror ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Merav Michaeli - (Opinion) June 25, 2012 - 12:00am "Our policy is to use force to restore quiet," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared Sunday, at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting. And the translation: "Force," i.e., disproportionate violence; "quiet," i.e., suppression of the opposition that interferes with our ability to rule and do whatever we feel like doing; "to restore," i.e., it had previously been quiet, everything was in order and we just want to return things to that previous state. » Read more

Negotiator: UN bid underway, US asked for delay ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency June 25, 2012 - 12:00am PLO negotiator Muhammad Ishtayya said Monday that the US and other foreign nations were pressing the Palestinian leadership to suspend its campaign for membership of UN bodies until after the US presidential election. Ishtayya told the official PA radio Voice of Palestine that the leadership had initiated the process of obtaining a UN General Assembly resolution which recognizes a Palestinian state on borders prior to Israel's occupation in 1967. Palestinian officials have opened talks with Arab states and France to get the process started, he said. » Read more

Israel, U.S. planning largest-ever military drill ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua June 25, 2012 - 12:00am Israel and the United States are set to hold their largest-ever missile defense drill in October, local media said on Monday. About 3,000 soldiers are expected to take part in the drill and they will practice responses to a simulated mass barrage of hundreds of missiles fired at Israel simultaneously from Iran and Syria, the Ma'ariv daily reported. Israel will deploy its upgraded Arrow 2 missile defense system, while the U.S. do its Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense and PAC-3 Patriot air defense systems during the drill, according to the report. » Read more