July 23rd

Settlers seize over 50 dunams of land across West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency July 23, 2012 - 12:00am Settlers on Monday appropriated over 50 dunams of land in the northern and southern West Bank, official news agency Wafa reported. In the Tubas area of the Jordan Valley, settlers seized nearly 50 dunams of land and began farming it, village council head Aref Daraghmeh said. The land, which belongs to villagers, had previously been used by the Israeli army as a tank yard, he added. In Hebron, settlers from Susiya settlement seized five dunams of private Palestinian land near the town of Yatta, popular committee coordinator Rateb al-Jabour said. » Read more

A story addresses solidarity across Israeli roadblocks ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star by Michael Felsen - (Book Review) July 23, 2012 - 12:00am “Means of suppressing demonstrations,” a short story by 25-year old Israeli author Shani Boianjiu that recently appeared in the fiction slot of the prestigious The New Yorker magazine, has garnered plenty of attention in the few weeks since it was published. Set at a checkpoint on a closed, deserted road in the West Bank, it explores a range of questions about human dignity and the effects of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on both the occupier and the occupied. Commentators are sharply divided on what the author intends with this simple story. » Read more

2nd group of Gaza families visit relatives in Israeli jails ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency July 23, 2012 - 12:00am A group of families from the Gaza Strip visited relatives in Israeli jails early Monday, in the second visit of its kind since 2007, a prisoners group said. A bus carrying 52 people set out from the offices of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Gaza City to the Erez crossing, before family members were transferred to Nafha prison facility, Gaza-based prisoners group Waed said. The Palestinian liaison department said only 33 out of a group of 57 family members were allowed to continue their journey by Israeli authorities. » Read more

'No Occupation' Report Negates Israel's Legitimacy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Leonard Fein - (Opinion) July 23, 2012 - 12:00am Considerable attention has been focused these last several weeks on the report of Israel’s Levy Commission. No great surprise: The three-person commission, appointed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to render an advisory opinion regarding Jewish settlement in the West Bank, determined that there is no barrier to such settlement and, indeed, that the legality of all such settlements that may have been thought clouded could and should be retroactively affirmed. » Read more

Israel fears Syrian missiles, nerve gas reaching Hezbollah ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua by Adam Gonn - July 23, 2012 - 12:00am Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Friday said that he has ordered the army to prepare to intervene should Syria start to transfer missiles and chemical weapons to the Lebanese group Hezbollah. "Syria has advanced anti-aircraft missiles, surface-to-surface missiles and elements of chemical weapons," Barak told local Chanel 2 TV, adding that "I directed the Israel Defense Forces ( IDF) to prepare for a situation where we will need to consider the possibility of an attack." » Read more

Netanyahu’s falling stock ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Jeff Barak - (Opinion) July 22, 2012 - 12:00am Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu must be kicking himself as the Knesset enters the final days of its summer session this week. Had he not buckled at the very last minute and cancelled his plans for calling early elections, he would now be only a couple of months away from an easy victory and his third term in the Prime Minister’s Office. » Read more

Drama meets daily life in Palestinian film ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Noah Browning - July 23, 2012 - 12:00am Brazen and in broad daylight, "Israeli infantry" plunge deep into the West Bank Palestinian capital of Ramallah, hoisting a flag atop a makeshift checkpoint. A motley crowd of children, veiled ladies and young men in jeans chant defiantly in the summer sun at the soldiers clad in olive drab and facing them with rifles. A clash looms. "Cut!" Director Rashid Masharawi steps into the fray, his cargo shorts and straw sun hat breaking the illusion created by the actors and production company at the set of feature-length film "Palestine Stereo". » Read more

Israel's part in Egypt's revolution ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Khaled Diab - (Opinion) July 23, 2012 - 12:00am Monday marks the anniversary of the Egyptian revolution. Not the Tahrir Square revolution that began last year – that is on 25 January – but the 23 July revolution of 1952. At a recent event I attended in Ramallah to mark the occasion, an Egyptian diplomat said that 2011 was a continuation of 1952. » Read more

Arab League backs bid for UN nod to Palestine ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by Mohammed Daraghmeh - July 22, 2012 - 12:00am The Arab League on Sunday backed a Palestinian plan to ask the U.N. General Assembly to recognize a state of Palestine, but stopped short of setting a date for the bid, Palestinian officials said. Instead, Arab League representatives meeting in Doha asked a committee to prepare the U.N. appeal and report back on Sept. 5, said Saeb Erekat, an aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, speaking by phone from Doha. Timing is crucial, with a U.N. bid before November potentially disrupting the U.S. presidential race. » Read more

Palestinians still need visa to enter Egypt: Airport source ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ahram Online July 23, 2012 - 12:00am A source at Cairo Airport told Ahram Online employees have not received any instructions to allow Palestinians to enter Egypt without a visa. Earlier on Monday, Associated Press news agency quoted Egyptian Airport officials saying that Egypt has started allowing Palestinians free entry into the country, ending part of a five-year blockade on the Gaza Strip. The decision would mean Palestinians can freely leave Gaza, says AP, pointing out that the decision also applies to Palestinians in the West Bank and Jerusalem. » Read more