Palestinian journalists balk at strip search
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
July 16, 2012 - 12:00am

A Palestinian journalist says he and three colleagues trying to cover U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's news conference walked away after being asked to drop their pants in an Israeli security check. The Palestinian journalists were invited to Monday's event by the U.S. consulate, which sent a staffer to guide them through security. Mohammed Abu Khdeir of the Al Quds newspaper says Israeli and foreign journalists were not asked to strip.

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Borderline Views: To occupy or not to occupy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by David Newman - (Opinion) July 16, 2012 - 12:00am

So what have we achieved by the publication of a political report, under the guise of a legal opinion, which arrived at a conclusion that the occupied territories are not occupied, that the illegal settlements are not illegal, and that everything Israel has done in the West Bank (Judea and Samaria) during the past 45 years is really okay?

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Premier Palestinian medical school graduates struggle to work in Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Joel Greenberg - July 16, 2012 - 12:00am

Basel Nassar, a young Palestinian doctor from this city, is not allowed to practice medicine here. So he flew to Houston last week to take the last phase of a licensing exam that will qualify him to work in the United States. “I am forced to do this,” Nassar, 33, said on the eve of his departure. “Israel is so close, but it is making trouble for us for some trivial reason. I can’t work 15 minutes from my house, where they accepted me in a specialty I was dreaming to get. I simply can’t understand it.”

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Gaza Christians protest 'forcible conversions'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Diaa Hadid - July 16, 2012 - 12:00am

Dozens of Gaza Christians staged a rare public protest Monday, claiming two congregants were forcibly converted to Islam and were being held against their will. The small but noisy demonstration showed the increasingly desperate situation facing the tiny minority. Protesters banged on a church bell and chanted, "With our spirit, with our blood we will sacrifice ourselves for you, Jesus."

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Uprooting Palestinian trees - and lives
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amira Hass - July 16, 2012 - 12:00am

The hummer and the jeep screeched to a halt on the path in the olive grove. The soldiers bravely climbed out of the vehicles, and proceeded toward the unknown. Armed and determined, they cleared their way through thorns, stones and rusty barrels; they headed toward the suspicious figures. Within a few minutes, the soldiers received reinforcements. Another hummer appeared on the scene, and its soldiers climbed out of it, armed and determined. Behind them the Swiss red rooftops of the Nachliel settlement jutted into the skyline. Standing before them was a group of thirty people.

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30 Palestinians wounded in fireworks explosion near Ramallah
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
July 13, 2012 - 12:00am

At least 30 Palestinians were wounded early Friday by an explosion of fireworks when they were celebrating a wedding ceremony in a small town near the West Bank city of Ramallah, witnesses and medics said. Medics at a Ramallah hospital said 30 people were brought to the hospital with various injuries, adding that four of them were in serious conditions. Witnesses said the explosion occurred suddenly while some relatives and families were celebrating and dancing during the wedding ceremony in a wedding hall in the town of Termes'aya, north of Ramallah.

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Palestinian women battle to break into business
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Sophia Jones - (Opinion) July 12, 2012 - 12:00am

However, the deeply traditional, male-dominated society that is prevalent across much of the Arab world, coupled with bureaucratic restraints unique to the Israeli-occupied West Bank, pose particular challenges for women seeking to get ahead. “Many women in the West Bank want to do things, but they can’t. Our culture is generally more of a man’s culture. Women are trying to do things, but in small steps,” said Shyrine Ziadeh, a 24-year-old Birzeit University graduate.

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UNESCO chair at Gaza University angers Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Ian Deitch - July 12, 2012 - 12:00am

Israel has condemned UNESCO's decision to establish a chair at the Islamic University of Gaza, calling the institution "a breeding ground for terrorists." Israel's foreign ministry said Thursday that "(Palestinian militant group) Hamas uses Gaza University laboratories to develop and produce explosives and rockets and has even run a course on explosive making." Gaza militants often bomb southern Israel with mortars and rockets.

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Arafat’s death haunts foes, followers
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by Osama Al-Sharif - (Opinion) July 10, 2012 - 12:00am

Ask any Palestinian about the death of former leader and symbol of national resistance, Yasser Arafat, and he or she will immediately say that he was killed by Israel for refusing to give in to pressure to accept an unjust final peace settlement. Arafat’s death, in mysterious circumstances at a French military hospital, in November 2004, remains one of the most contentious issues for millions of Palestinians.

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Israel Didn't Kill Arafat
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast
by Yossi Melman - (Opinion) July 10, 2012 - 12:00am

Al Jazeera’s English-language TV service released a new documentary that reveals evidence suggesting that Yasser Arafat was poisoned by a radioactive element, polonium-210.  Many who followed Arafat’s death believe that Israel took a byproduct of its nuclear program and used it to turn Arafat into a sickly, weak man, leading to his death in November 2004.

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