PA official: Female dress code at Gaza university 'illegal'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
January 27, 2013 - 1:00am

The Palestinian Authority Minister of Higher Education on Sunday issued an official condemnation over a Gaza university's decision to implement an "Islamic" dress code for female students. Al-Aqsa University president Salam al-Agha told Ma'an Sunday that the code, which is set to be implemented when the new semester begins, does not require the jilbab (full-length coat) or niqab (face-veil), but rather what he termed dress befitting of the university. He said students would not be expelled for violations of the dress code.

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Public sector union announces strikes across West Bank
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
December 18, 2012 - 1:00am

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- The Palestinian Authority civil servants union on Monday accused Israel of collective punishment for withholding Palestinian tax revenues and announced strike action over non-payment of salaries. Union chief Bassam Zakarneh said government employees would strike from noon Tuesday until the end of the week.Civil servants have not received November salaries and cannot afford transport to get to work, Zakarneh added.

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Hijab Stands In the Way of Palestinian Female Journalists
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line
by Diana Atallah - December 18, 2012 - 1:00am

Journalists Claim Discrimination for Wearing Hijab RAMALLAH - Lubna Abu Safiyeh was forced to leave her media job and now works in an administrative position in a Ramallah company - all because her ambition to work in the TV world did not fit her choice of wearing a head scarf.

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Palestine: Diary of a historic month
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Raja Shehadeh - (Opinion) December 14, 2012 - 1:00am

9 November It was inevitable that at some point Jewish settlements in the West Bank would endanger even the trees. This was the thought I had as I was driven through the northern part of the West Bank on a field trip organised by Oxfam, which is working with Palestinian NGOs to help local cooperatives improve their agricultural practices and open up local and international markets to them. The villagers told us that tens of thousands of olive trees have been uprooted to make way for the construction of the Israeli separation barrier.

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Gaza conflict deters Bethlehem Christmas pilgrims
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from CNN
by Tim Hume - December 13, 2012 - 1:00am

CNN) -- Authorities in the Palestinian town of Bethlehem are hoping it won't be a silent night this Christmas Eve, following a spate of tourist cancellations due to recent violence in Gaza. The West Bank town of around 29,000 people, eight kilometers (five miles) south of Jerusalem, contains the Church of the Nativity, venerated by Christians as the birthplace of Jesus.

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Truce brings extra gleam to Gaza marketplace
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Nidal al-Mughrabi - December 13, 2012 - 1:00am

GAZA, Dec 13 (Reuters) - The horizon of the claustrophobic Gaza Strip stretches further out to sea after a bloody eight-day battle last month and its main market gleams with extra supplies of locally-caught fish. In a low-key move it has yet to acknowledge, Israel moved a naval blockade it imposed in 2009 back to six miles (10 km) from the Palestinian enclave's coast from three on Nov 23, two days after signing an Egypt-brokered truce with Gaza's Hamas rulers.

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Israeli troops clash with Palestinian protesters
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Nasser Shiyoukhi - December 13, 2012 - 1:00am

HEBRON, West Bank —Thousands of Palestinians marched through the streets of Hebron on Thursday, chanting anti-Israel slogans and waving green Hamas flags during a funeral procession for a teenager killed by Israeli troops in this volatile West Bank city. Dozens of youths clashed with Israeli soldiers throughout the day, throwing stones and bottles while troops responded with volleys of tear gas and rubber bullets. No serious injuries were reported.

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Rooftop gardens provide food and hope for cash-strapped Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Hugh Naylor - December 13, 2012 - 1:00am

DHEISHEH, WEST BANK // High in the sky above a narrow, noisy and congested street in this West Bank refugee camp is a veritable paradise of green, shade and quiet. Throat-burning exhaust, blaring horns and clinging dust seem to choke the life from the Palestinians navigating the street below. But atop this overcrowded, dilapidated apartment block is a garden that bursts with cucumbers, bell peppers and strawberries - and hope.

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Vandals target Jerusalem monastery, Palestinian cars in price tag attacks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
December 12, 2012 - 1:00am

JERUSALEM, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- Two price tag attacks occurred overnight as vandals sprayed hate slogans on a monastery in Jerusalem and torched and spray painted a car in Ramallah, local news outlets reported Wednesday.

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Gaza perfume sales soar with rocket name
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Nidal al-Mughrabi - December 12, 2012 - 1:00am

GAZA, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Sales of a citrus-scented perfume marketed in Gaza have soared since it was named in honour of the rockets that Palestinians shot at Israel during a war last month, the manufacturer said. "M-75" perfume, which comes in men's and women's fragrances, is named for the missiles Hamas Islamist militants shot at Tel Aviv and Jerusalem in an eight-day conflict that killed more than 170 Palestinians and six Israelis, ending with an Egyptian-brokered truce.

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