July 11th

Israel’s Occupational Hazard ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bloomberg (Editorial) July 10, 2012 - 12:00am Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu might have gotten what he wanted from the committee he named to explore ways to legalize unauthorized Jewish settlements in the West Bank. After all, its chairman, retired Supreme Court Justice Edmond Levy, had previously made clear that he rejects the term “occupied territory” to describe the West Bank’s status. » Read more

Abbas to visit Saudi Arab seeking financial aid ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua July 11, 2012 - 12:00am Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will travel to Saudi Arabia on Friday to request urgent help to overcome the financial crisis faced by the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), a local official said on Wednesday. Nimer Hammad, Abbas's political adviser, said that the visit is to deal with the financial crisis in order to alleviate it. » Read more

Israel frees hunger-striking Palestinian player ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Ibrahim Barzak - July 11, 2012 - 12:00am Dozens of Islamic militants fired rifles in the air Tuesday in a rousing homecoming for a member of the Palestinian national soccer team who was released by Israel after being held for three years without formal charges. The player, Mahmoud Sarsak, 25, had staged a hunger strike for more than 90 days to press for his release, winning support from international sports organizations. Israel accused Sarsak of being active in the violent Islamic Jihad group, a charge he denied while in custody. » Read more

Wrong Time for New Settlements ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times (Editorial) July 10, 2012 - 12:00am Palestinian hopes for an independent state are growing dimmer all the time. Israel is pushing ahead with new settlements in the West Bank and asserting control over new sections of East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians claim as their capital. Meanwhile, peace talks — the best guarantee of a durable solution — are going nowhere. » Read more

Rights groups: Spike in Israeli settler violence ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press July 11, 2012 - 12:00am Human rights groups and U.N. agencies say Israeli settlers in the West Bank have sharply stepped up attacks on Palestinians in a climate of impunity created by lacking law enforcement. The groups said Wednesday that the number of attacks causing injury or damage rose from 168 in 2009 to 411 in 2011. They say 154 attacks occurred in the first half of 2012. » Read more

July 10th

Arafat’s death haunts foes, followers ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News by Osama Al-Sharif - (Opinion) July 10, 2012 - 12:00am Ask any Palestinian about the death of former leader and symbol of national resistance, Yasser Arafat, and he or she will immediately say that he was killed by Israel for refusing to give in to pressure to accept an unjust final peace settlement. Arafat’s death, in mysterious circumstances at a French military hospital, in November 2004, remains one of the most contentious issues for millions of Palestinians. » Read more

What Putin's Trip To Jerusalem Really Means ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by Dimi Reider - (Opinion) July 9, 2012 - 12:00am Much of the coverage of the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories focused on two questions: Putin's perceived foot-dragging over Iran, and the visit's significance for the Russian-speaking Israelis who make up about one-fifth of the population, as large as Israel's Palestinian population. » Read more

Israel and Russia Make Odd Couple ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Robert O. Freedman - (Opinion) July 6, 2012 - 12:00am Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Israel in late June with the ostensible purpose of helping to unveil a monument to the Soviet soldiers who helped defeat Nazi Germany. But Putin’s motivations for this trip to the Middle East were not so innocuous. In fact, they underlined the degree to which his ambitions for the region have not changed at all since his last reign as Russia’s president, from 2000 to 2008. » Read more

Palestinians call local elections for October 20 ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Agence France Presse (AFP) by Nasser Abu Bakr - July 10, 2012 - 12:00am The Palestinian government in the West Bank on Tuesday said it would hold local elections in October across the Palestinian territories, sparking anger from Gaza's Hamas rulers. "The Palestinian cabinet approved during its meeting today, chaired by prime minister Salam Fayyad, conducting local elections on October 20, 2012 in all local councils in the homeland," a statement said after the meeting. » Read more

Boosting Arab employment ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Kenneth Bandler - (Opinion) July 9, 2012 - 12:00am How to improve the economic conditions of minority populations is a challenge for any democracy, all the more so for one as young as Israel. The country’s non-governmental organizations devoted to advancing Jewish-Arab relations have long advocated concrete steps to integrate citizens into the nation’s workforce. In recent years some government officials have for measures to increase the numbers of qualified Arab workers. » Read more