Palestinian president approves Arafat autopsy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Karin Laub - July 9, 2012 - 12:00am

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has given his permission to exhume the remains of his predecessor, Yasser Arafat, a top aide said Monday, days after a Swiss institute reported finding elevated traces of a radioactive substance on the late leader's belongings. The findings by Switzerland's Institute of Radiation Physics were inconclusive, but revived speculation that Arafat was poisoned.

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Palestinians invite Swiss experts to take samples of Arafat's remains
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
July 9, 2012 - 12:00am

The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) invited Swiss experts to the West Bank to take samples of late President Yasser Arafat's remains for more tests. "This reflects the Palestinian leadership's insistence to continue the investigations into the truth and the circumstances of Arafat's death," said Saeb Erekat, a senior member of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

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The Israelis' quest to poison Yasser Arafat
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
by Uri Avnery - (Opinion) July 9, 2012 - 12:00am

For me, there was no surprise. From the very first day, I was convinced that Yasser Arafat had been poisoned by Ariel Sharon. I even wrote about it several times. It was a simple logical conclusion. First, a thorough medical examination in the French military hospital where he died did not find any cause for his sudden collapse and death. No traces of any life-threatening disease were found.

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Palestinian businessmen searching for new markets
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line
by Abdullah Omar - July 9, 2012 - 12:00am

From furniture to cosmetics to food, dozens of Palestinian companies are seeking new markets in Jordan. Fifty seven Palestinian companies, including seven from Gaza, were in Amman this week for the first-ever exhibition in Jordan to find local partners and boost investment in the Palestinian territories.

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East Jerusalem Suffers Economic Tailspin
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Ben Lynfield - (Analysis) July 8, 2012 - 12:00am

Call it patriotism or doing something to express his Palestinian identity — Taisir Jubeh wanted to start a business in Jerusalem. So five months ago, after handing over the reins of his Ramallah bookshop to relatives, he opened a men’s casual wear store in the new Addar Shopping Mall, off Salah el-Din Street. The mall, opened earlier this year in downtown East Jerusalem by Muhammad Nuseibeh, a member of one of East Jerusalem’s most prominent families, had sparked hope that its 40 stores and offices would inject new life into the struggling area.

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Arafatuous
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy
by Hussein Ibish - (Opinion) July 5, 2012 - 12:00am

In November 2004, a sad but very familiar scene played itself out: A sick, 75-year-old man who had been living in squalor for several years after an extremely difficult life -- including a near-death experience in the Libyan desert -- finally passed away. Doctors at the Percy hospital in France determined he died of natural causes: a stroke caused by an unidentified infection. As is so often the case, human life ends not with a bang, but with a whimper.

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Arafatuous
In Print by Hussein Ibish - Foreign Policy (Editorial) - July 5, 2012 - 12:00am

In November 2004, a sad but very familiar scene played itself out: A sick, 75-year-old man who had been living in squalor for several years after an extremely difficult life -- including a near-death experience in the Libyan desert -- finally passed away. Doctors at the Percy hospital in France determined he died of natural causes: a stroke caused by an unidentified infection. As is so often the case, human life ends not with a bang, but with a whimper.

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Palestinians May Exhume Arafat After Report of Poisoning
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Isabel Kershner - July 4, 2012 - 12:00am

A potentially explosive re-examination of the circumstances behind the death of Yasir Arafat, the symbol of the Palestinian national struggle, has galvanized Palestinian suspicions that he was poisoned and led the Palestinian Authority to agree in principle on Wednesday to an exhumation of his remains, possibly within days. Yasir and Suha Arafat in Ramallah in 2004, about two weeks before Mr. Arafat died. Al Jazeera has reported that he might have been poisoned with radioactive polonium 210.

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Ashrawi condemns violence against Ramallah protesters
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
July 3, 2012 - 12:00am

PLO official Hanan Ashrawi on Monday condemned the violent suppression of weekend protests in Ramallah. Palestinian Authority police attacked demonstrators at a rally Saturday against a proposed meeting between President Mahmoud Abbas and Israel's vice premier. A day later, police used brutal force at a demonstration against police brutality.

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Palestinians face the real police violence – with no right to demonstrate
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Raghad Jaraisy - (Opinion) July 3, 2012 - 12:00am

Difficult questions about the thin line between legitimate protest and disturbing the peace have been raised by demonstrations organized by Israel's social protest movement and the methods used to police these events raise. What makes a protest legitimate? Is it the measure of 'righteousness' inherent in the cause? Or is it just a permit to demonstrate authorized by the police? And what makes a protest 'just'? Does justice exist only in the eye of the beholder? Or in the eyes of the political camps that we identify with?

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