Israel slams Iranian allegation of "Jews behind drug trade"
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
June 27, 2012 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM, June 27 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Wednesday slammed remarks by a senior Iranian official alleging that Jews control international drug trade.

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Putin visits West Bank, tours key Christian shrine
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Mohammed Daraghmeh - June 26, 2012 - 12:00am

Visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin praised his Palestinian counterpart Tuesday for what he said was a "responsible" position in negotiations with Israel, frozen for nearly four years, and said Russia has no problem recognizing a Palestinian state. Putin also offered veiled criticism of Israel, saying unilateral actions — an apparent reference to continued Israeli settlement expansion on war-won land — is not constructive.

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The perils of alienation over Palestine
In Print by Ghaith al-Omari - The Daily Star (Opinion) - June 26, 2012 - 12:00am

Critics of the American Task Force on Palestine get one thing right: Palestinian Americans have largely failed to make their voices heard in the mainstream American political and foreign-policy conversation. However, this is the fault of self-styled “pro-Palestinian” advocates who operate in a cult-like echo-chamber and advocate an approach that does considerable harm to the Palestinian cause.

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West Bank's route 60 a 'road of death' for Palestinian children
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Phoebe Greenwood - June 26, 2012 - 12:00am

Manar Juwali's five-year-old daughter Miri is lying in a drug-induced coma after suffering burns to 75% of her body. The 32-year-old Palestinian woman holds her pregnant belly as she talks about the accident. Four months on, it is still difficult for her – and for all the parents whose children were killed or injured in the inferno on the West Bank's route 60 – to identify who is to blame.

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Israel jittery after Brotherhood victory in Egypt
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Josef Federman - June 25, 2012 - 12:00am

The Muslim Brotherhood victory in Egyptian presidential elections, announced Sunday, has raised fears in Israel that its strategic 1979 peace agreement with its southern neighbor could be in danger. In contrast, in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, ecstatic residents flocked into the streets, fired guns in the air and handed out candy in celebration. Israel's peace agreement with Egypt, its first with an Arab country, is a cornerstone of Israeli security. The agreement ended decades of hostilities, with to five wars and thousands of deaths.

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Negotiator: UN bid underway, US asked for delay
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
June 25, 2012 - 12:00am

PLO negotiator Muhammad Ishtayya said Monday that the US and other foreign nations were pressing the Palestinian leadership to suspend its campaign for membership of UN bodies until after the US presidential election. Ishtayya told the official PA radio Voice of Palestine that the leadership had initiated the process of obtaining a UN General Assembly resolution which recognizes a Palestinian state on borders prior to Israel's occupation in 1967. Palestinian officials have opened talks with Arab states and France to get the process started, he said.

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Fatah official: Mashaal, Abbas to set meeting date
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
June 25, 2012 - 12:00am

Fatah leader President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas chief Khalid Mashaal are set to organize a meeting now the Egyptian presidential election results have been announced, a Fatah official said Monday. The heads of the rival political parties were scheduled to meet last Wednesday. The summit, the latest chapter of the long-running reconciliation process, was postponed amid the Egypt presidential electoral run-off.

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Blocked prospects
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from NOW Lebanon
by Hazem Saghiyeh - (Opinion) June 25, 2012 - 12:00am

The Nahr al-Bared ordeal epitomizes the ordeal befalling Lebanon as a whole, including with regard to the Palestinian issue. The Nahr al-Bared camp, which is still witnessing the same long-term misery and marginalization added to destruction that was not followed by the promised reconstruction, summarizes the situation of the Palestinian “community” in Lebanon. However, it also epitomizes the inability of the sectarian regime, which is extremely attached to “balances,” to take any useful step in dealing with the Nahr al-Bared ordeal (and others as well).

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Election of Islamist as Egyptian president raises concerns in Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Joel Greenberg - June 25, 2012 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM — The election of an Islamist as president of Egypt has heightened concerns in Israel about the future of relations between the two countries — ties that have been increasingly tested since the overthrow of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.

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For Gaza, Egypt’s Islamist victory no quick fix
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Ibrahim Barzak, Karin Laub - (Opinion) June 25, 2012 - 12:00am

Gaza’s euphoria over the election of a Muslim Brotherhood leader as Egypt’s first Islamist president seemed a bit premature as reality set in the Monday.

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