September 18th

Pro-Hamas bloc wins control of UN agency union ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Ibrahim Barzak - September 18, 2012 - 12:00am GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — A pro-Hamas bloc has won control of a union representing Palestinians working for a UN agency in Gaza. The bloc won 25 out of 27 union seats in a late Monday vote among 10,000 staffers with the U.N. Relief and Works Agency. The development underscores Hamas' influence among Gaza's professionals even though it has been criticized lately for ignoring the needs of the poor. » Read more

Israeli Diplomat Is Man in Middle ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Elisabeth Bumiller - September 17, 2012 - 12:00am WASHINGTON — With Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel engaged in an unusually public dispute with the Obama administration over Iran, Mr. Netanyahu’s man in Washington, Michael B. Oren, has been working rooms all over town. » Read more

Palestinian protests in West Bank highlight link between economy and security ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amira Hass - September 18, 2012 - 12:00am Zakaria Zbeidi's continued arrest by the Palestinian authority has a great deal of impact and is condemned abroad, specifically by pro-Palestinian activists. Zbeidi's arrest, without a proper investigation, indictment and when allegations against him are constantly altered, is not exceptional. This is the Palestinian version of the Israeli administrative detention (extrajudicial arrest). » Read more

Financial Strains Said to Threaten Stability of Palestinian Authority ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Isabel Kershner - September 17, 2012 - 12:00am JERUSALEM — As the Palestinian Authority marks the 19th anniversary this month of the signing of the Oslo Accords, the agreement with Israel that brought it into existence, the authority is facing a financial crisis that experts say could threaten its future operations and stability. » Read more

PNA to donors: Status quo cannot continue ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News by Nasouh Nazzal - September 18, 2012 - 12:00am Ramallah: The Palestinian National Authority will tell a donors conference in New York on September 23 that the status quo in the Palestinian Territories cannot continue. Rather, the PNA will present a plan to take over Zone C which constitutes 65 per cent of the total Palestinian Territories. According to a statement issued by the Palestinian government, Dr Nabeel Qasis, Finance Minister, and Mohammad Abu Ramadan, the State Minister for Planning Affairs will represent the PNA at this key conference. » Read more

September 17th

A Preventable Massacre ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Seth Anziska - (Opinion) September 16, 2012 - 12:00am ON the night of Sept. 16, 1982, the Israeli military allowed a right-wing Lebanese militia to enter two Palestinian refugee camps in Beirut. In the ensuing three-day rampage, the militia, linked to the Maronite Christian Phalange Party, raped, killed and dismembered at least 800 civilians, while Israeli flares illuminated the camps’ narrow and darkened alleyways. » Read more

Palestinian economic protests point to uncertain future for PA, Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) by Ben Sales - (Opinion) September 16, 2012 - 12:00am TEL AVIV (JTA) – Could the Palestinian Authority's budget woes end up costing Israel? Growing economic protests in the West Bank could lead to increased regional instability and perhaps even the end of the Palestinian Authority, experts are warning. At this point, however, they say the protests are unlikely to result in an eruption of violence against Israel. » Read more

Islam is ready for peace with Israel, says rabbi who has met with ‘whole strata’ of radicals ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Times of Israel by David Horovitz - (Interview) September 16, 2012 - 12:00am For 10 years, from 1999, Rabbi Michael Melchior was a member of Knesset, elected via the dovish Meimad faction — the political face of moderate religious Zionism. » Read more

When a Courtyard Becomes a Border ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS) by Pierre Klochendler - (Opinion) September 17, 2012 - 12:00am RAS EL-AMOUD, Occupied East Jerusalem, Sep 17 2012 (IPS) - Filistin Hamdallah looks disoriented, walking without purpose amidst the furniture strewn in the courtyard, as if she was moving home. Only the fresh laundry hanging on wires indicates that the Palestinian family is here to stay, to stay in conditions with Jewish neighbours that show just how difficult the divisions in Jerusalem can be. » Read more

Mistreatment of refugees in Israel doesn't stop at border ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Mya Guarnieri - (Opinion) September 17, 2012 - 12:00am Earlier this month, 21 Eritrean asylum seekers, including a 14-year-old child and two pregnant women, spent over a week trapped between fences on the Israeli side of the Israeli-Egyptian border. As the temperatures soared, one of the women reportedly miscarried. The group was not provided with any shelter; the "most moral army in the world" gave the refugees only small amounts of water and scraps of cloth to protect themselves from the sun. » Read more