July 17th

Defense Ministry hires architect to resume construction of illegal West Bank outpost ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Chaim Levinson - July 17, 2012 - 12:00am The government is stepping up construction in the West Bank settlements and acting to legitimize at least one illegal outpost it has pledged to demolish, Haaretz has learned. The Defense Ministry recently contracted an architect to resume construction of the Givat Sal'it outpost in the Jordan Valley, in what is seen as a step toward legitimizing the outpost. Givat Sal'it is one of 26 communities the Sharon government had promised the United States it would tear down nearly 10 years ago. » Read more

Palestinian journalists balk at strip search ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press July 16, 2012 - 12:00am A Palestinian journalist says he and three colleagues trying to cover U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's news conference walked away after being asked to drop their pants in an Israeli security check. The Palestinian journalists were invited to Monday's event by the U.S. consulate, which sent a staffer to guide them through security. Mohammed Abu Khdeir of the Al Quds newspaper says Israeli and foreign journalists were not asked to strip. » Read more

Police launch campaign against child labor ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency July 17, 2012 - 12:00am Police took to the streets of Tulkarem on Tuesday to raise awareness about a campaign to stop child labor and begging, a statement said. Accompanied by a committee set up to fight child labor, police toured Tulkarem's markets and main streets. Sixteen children aged between 11-16 were taken to the police station for questioning, and their parents were called to explain that child labor is illegal. » Read more

BDS supporters can’t decide on what the endgame is ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Mira Sucharov - (Opinion) July 13, 2012 - 12:00am On the heels of new semantic murkiness about what is and is not Israeli occupation, one could be forgiven for being a tad confused about how to oppose whatever-it-is-we-should-now-call-it. » Read more

Mideast peace slips to second billing for US ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Josef Federman - July 17, 2012 - 12:00am Mideast peace, America's defining issue for decades of dealings with Israel and its Arab neighbors, was just a postscript Monday as Hillary Rodham Clinton made perhaps her final visit to the region as secretary of state. Three years after President Barack Obama declared the plight of the Palestinians "intolerable," his administration no longer sees the failing Arab-Israeli peace efforts with the same immediacy. U.S. interests are focused now on Iran and Syria, though the deep differences between Israel and the Palestinians are not ignored. » Read more

Hamas executes three Gaza men for murder ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters July 17, 2012 - 12:00am Three men convicted of murder were hanged in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip on Tuesday, the territory's interior ministry said. A total of 14 Palestinians have now been executed since the Islamist group Hamas seized the Gaza Strip in 2007 from Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction. No details of the murder cases were given and the Hamas-run ministry identified the executed men only by their initials. » Read more

Romney, Condi, and the meme that pro-Israel must be anti-peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Bradley Burston - (Opinion) July 17, 2012 - 12:00am Studies have shown that among American voters, Israel as an issue does not figure significantly in decision-making at the ballot box – even for Jews. It shouldn't matter, but it could. One step down the wrong slippery slope - a cross-border war, perhaps, or a spiral of civilian deaths in terrorism and air strikes, or, in the nightmare scenario, a conflagration involving Iran – and Israel could become very much an American campaign issue. » Read more

Peace Talks Must Resume, Clinton Says in Israel Visit ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Jodi Rudoren - July 16, 2012 - 12:00am Visiting Israel for the first time in nearly two years, with the Palestinian peace process seemingly on perpetual hold, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday that “the status quo is unsustainable” and urged leaders from both sides back to negotiations. » Read more

Five Reasons Why the Two-State Solution Just Won't Die ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy by Aaron David Miller - (Opinion) July 16, 2012 - 12:00am By all accounts it's time to say a kaddish -- the traditional Jewish prayer for the dead -- over the idea of a Palestinian state living side by side in peace and security with Israel. » Read more

July 16th

Palestinians to request Arab support in Arafat's probe ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency July 15, 2012 - 12:00am The Palestinian delegation to the Arab League (AL) will demand support for an international investigation into the death of former Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, Palestinian officials said on Sunday. PLO senior official Saeb Erekat said he will use the emergency meeting next Tuesday to discuss new facts suggesting that Arafat was poisoned. The meeting was requested by Tunisia following an investigative program on the Arabic news channel al-Jazeera, aired on July 3. The AL is meeting in Doha, Qatar next Sunday. » Read more