EU diplomat says aid to Palestinians in question
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman
by Daniella Cheslow - August 25, 2011 - 12:00am

Europe's financial crisis is causing some European Union lawmakers to question whether the bloc can continue to deliver millions in aid to the Palestinians, an EU diplomat said Thursday. The EU is the largest single donor to the Palestinians, contributing about 500 million euros ($720 million) a year to build institutions for a future state and pay salaries. Under Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, the Palestinians embarked in 2009 on a two-year state-building plan to be ready for independence by September.

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UN bid 'endangers Palestinian rights'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
August 24, 2011 - 12:00am

The Palestinian team responsible for preparing the United Nations initiative in September has been given an independent legal opinion that reveals a high risk involved with its plan to join the UN. An initiative to transfer the Palestinians' representation from the PLO to a state will terminate the legal status held by the PLO in the UN since 1975 that it is the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, according to the document.

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Israel bolsters Egypt border defenses over new terror warnings
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Avi Issacharoff, Anshel Pfeffer - August 24, 2011 - 12:00am

Chief of Staff Benny Gantz ordered on Wednesday that the Israel Defense Forces increase defensive measures along Israel's border with Egypt due to intelligence that terrorist groups are planning attacks similar to the ones last Thursday in which eight Israelis were killed. The new measures include putting in place additional means of electronic and visual intelligence gathering as well bolstering the Navy Command Center in the southern city of Eilat.

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Woman injured as missile hits Rafah
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Masry Al-Youm
August 24, 2011 - 12:00am

A missile from Gaza that hit Rafah in North Sinai Wednesday has left one woman injured, a source told the state-run news agency MENA. The woman was transferred to a hospital for treatment after the missile landed in Rafah's Nafoura Square. MENA did not give further details about the incident. The missile may have been fired by Hamas in Gaza at southern Israel. Palestinian factions on Monday announced a ceasefire following bloody clashes at the border between Gaza and Israel. But some factions rejected the truce.

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Convenient occurrences
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
(Opinion) August 23, 2011 - 12:00am

Tension is flaring up again between Israel and Gaza, after the recent attacks by unknown assailants against Israeli vehicles along the Israeli border with Sinai, which killed and wounded a number of Israelis, both military and civilians, and between Israel and Egypt. Israel’s knee-jerk response was to immediately send its military planes to strike Palestinian targets in Gaza Strip, killing and wounding a number of civilians, including children. Before that, Israeli forces killed five Egyptian soldiers on its border with Sinai, while allegedly in pursuit of attackers.

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The return of the generals
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Uri Avnery - (Opinion) August 23, 2011 - 12:00am

Since the beginning of the conflict, the extremists of both sides have always played into each other's hands. The cooperation between them was always much more effective than the ties between the corresponding peace activists. This was proved again this week. At the beginning of the week, Binyamin Netanyahu was desperately looking for a way out of an escalating internal crisis. The social protest movement was gathering momentum and posing a growing danger to his government. The whole content of the public discourse had changed beyond recognition.

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Egyptian government bans export of palm leaves to Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Masry Al-Youm
August 22, 2011 - 12:00am

Egypt’s Agriculture Ministry has announced a ban on the export of palm leaves to Israel starting this year and for the coming two years, a decision that some news reports have linked with recent violence along the Egyptian border with Israel in the past week. Tensions have been high between the Israeli and Egyptian governments this past week after Israeli military units crossed into Egyptian territory while pursuing alleged terrorists along the border. Six Egyptian police and army personnel were killed by Israeli fire.

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The EU must give Gazan hope a hand
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Sami Abdel-shafi - (Opinion) August 22, 2011 - 12:00am

It is no longer fitting to wonder whether Gaza is a problem: of course it is, and will continue to be for as long as its residents are forced to survive on aid for lack of economic opportunity and are denied the simple freedoms to pursue a decent and peaceful life. Whenever violence breaks out in or around the Gaza Strip, whether Gazans are responsible or not, we end up bearing the brunt.

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New Strategic Flaw Affects Israel?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat
by George Semaan - (Opinion) August 22, 2011 - 12:00am

The Arab action has started to cast its shadows over Israel, while the security repercussions of the Eilat operation on the Gaza Strip and the killing of the Egyptian soldiers with the bullets of the Israeli army on the border between the two countries might lead to political repercussions that could make the Hebrew state come face to face with a blunt strategic flaw. In the meantime, Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is standing before challenges for which it is not envied.

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Gaza factions agree ceasefire as overnight calm holds
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
August 22, 2011 - 12:00am

Reports of a Sunday evening ceasefire deal reached between factions in Gaza and Israel appeared to hold overnight Sunday, as residents paused for breath after four days of Israeli airstrikes. Israeli media and army reported that 12 rockets launched from the Gaza Strip landed in southern Israel overnight, with no injuries. But the cessation deal, described by a Hamas official as "informal", seemed to take Gaza residents safely through the night. No faction claimed rockets attacks after the deal was in place, around 9 p.m. Israel time, 8 p.m. in winter-saving time.

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