Palestinian women racers find freedom on the track
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
August 22, 2012 - 12:00am

Ramallah, (AFP) - With her bright orange pedicure, Michael Kors handbag and skinny jeans, Maysoon Jayyusi hardly looks like a Palestinian speed racer -- until she gets behind the wheel. The minute she starts up her SUV, she's off -- coursing ahead of the rest of the traffic, weaving among bewildered locals in the crowded streets of the West Bank city of Ramallah.

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A proper Zionist live fire zone
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amira Hass - (Opinion) August 20, 2012 - 12:00am

When police of the African National Congress are slaughtering platinum miners who demand that the mine owner (a private transnational company registered in London! ) pay them a wage that begins to befit the hardships of the job and value of the metal in operating rooms and on the fingers of plutocrats, there is no chance that one Palestinian tractor impounded by Israeli soldiers will attract the attention of a single foreign news editor anywhere on earth.

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A building boom
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Economist
(Opinion) August 18, 2012 - 12:00am

Five years after Israel and Egypt closed their gates, the Palestinian strip of land they encircle is rising from the ashes of war and siege. “We’re building cities,” says a delighted UN engineer, putting the finishing touches to “Saudi City”, a public housing estate replete with garages, tiled bathrooms and dishwashers that cost its Saudi sponsors $120m. Built on land where Israel first settled Jews after its 1967 conquest and then removed them in 2005, it is set to open its doors to 11,000 residents in the next few months.

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Palestinian government debt hurts private sector
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Mohammed Daraghmeh - August 18, 2012 - 12:00am

Palestinian drug importer Ghassan Mustaklem says he can't afford to work with the West Bank's Palestinian government anymore. He recently halted supplies to his biggest client, which now owes $12 million in unpaid bills, or more than half his annual turnover. The cutoff by Mustaklem and other suppliers has fueled a shortage of key drugs in Palestinian hospitals, making the health sector the latest victim of a deepening financial crisis for the Palestinian Authority.

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Finding a safe space for Palestinian queer activism
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
August 17, 2012 - 12:00am

In 2008, Laila was a recent college graduate and committed anti-occupation activist in her hometown of Nablus. But there was one issue her groups could not adequately address: her sexuality. “I started testing the waters, looking at what organizations are out there, what’s the discourse,” said Laila last month in Nablus. She researched the Haifa-based lesbian group Aswat, but that organization is more attentive to Palestinians within Israel and inaccessible to West Bank residents like Laila.

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Minister: Prisoners launch initiative for PoW status
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
August 17, 2012 - 12:00am

Palestinian detainees in Israel are launching an initiative to press for prisoner of war status, the Palestinian Authority prisoners minister said Thursday. Palestinians in Israel's Eshel jail have developed a national legal and political program to push their cause internationally, Issa Qaraqe said in a statement. The initiative aims to secure treatment in line with the Geneva Conventions, rather than Israel's military orders which govern Palestinians under occupation, the minister added.

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No Palestinians involved in Sinai attack
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
August 16, 2012 - 12:00am

Asharq Al-Awsat has learned that security agencies operating in the Gaza Strip are currently in the process of providing their Egyptian counterparts with information highlighting their past experiences in confronting Salafist jihadist groups. This is in order to help Cairo confront the militant groups operating on the Sinai Peninsula following the killing of 16 Egyptian soldiers close to the Rafah Border Crossing.

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How the Arab Spring might help Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Miami Herald
by Frida Ghitis - (Opinion) August 15, 2012 - 12:00am

A few months ago, as I was speaking to a non-profit group about how developments in the Arab world would affect Israel, I noticed the faces in the crowd looking back at me with deep skepticism. I understood the reason. I was arguing that there is a possibility — not a certainty — that Israel will eventually emerge safer than before as a result of the Arab revolutions, also known as the Arab Spring. I have not changed my mind.

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What Edward Really Said
In Print by Hussein Ibish - NOW Lebanon (Opinion) - August 15, 2012 - 12:00am

Few contemporary thinkers have been more revered and reviled than the late Palestinian-American professor Edward Said. But even his most ardent critics can hardly deny that Said was one of the most significant public intellectuals of our time. And while he is probably best remembered for his political activism, it was as a major literary theorist that he produced his most important work. 

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Palestinian prisoner refuses water after two months on hunger strike
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
August 15, 2012 - 12:00am

A Palestinian prisoner on hunger strike for more than two months refused water on Wednesday in a new challenge, protesting the renewal of his administrative detention. The Palestinian Prisoners' Association said that Hassan Safadi went on a hunger strike on June 21 and was promised by Israeli authorities to be released by the end of his administrative detention term. However, this term has now been renewed for another six months, prompting him to refuse water.

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