Palestinian security forces seize weapons in Dahlan house raid
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
July 28, 2011 - 12:00am

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Palestinian security forces raided the Ramallah house of ousted Fatah strongman Muhammad Dahlan early Thursday morning, after his appeal against expulsion from the party was rejected on Wednesday. At around 7 a.m. police, preventive security and national security forces encircled the home of the former Gaza security chief. Forces raided the house on motorbikes and gunshots were heard as Dahlan's security guards tried to escape, a Ma'an correspondent said.

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Palestinians fear for ancient West Bank water source
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Tom Perry - July 28, 2011 - 12:00am

RASHAYIDA, West Bank, July 28 (Reuters) - Hewn from rock, the cavernous cisterns which dot the desert beyond Bethlehem have for centuries harvested winter rain to provide shepherds and their flocks with water through summer. Under a baking sun, an elderly Bedouin explains how cisterns he remembers from childhood, many of them restored to full working order in the last few years, are once again helping his goat-herding community to survive. That, he concludes, is why the Israeli authorities who control the West Bank have demolished at least three in the area since November.

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Israeli-Palestinian commerce works against the clock
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by Dave Bender - July 28, 2011 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM, July 27 (Xinhua) -- On a media tour on Tuesday featuring commercial, health and hi-tech cooperation between Israelis and Palestinians, representatives sought to project a " business-as-usual" mien, while, half a world away both sides sparred at the United Nations Security Council over a possible Palestinian National Authority (PNA) bid for statehood at the UN General Assembly in September.

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Gaza’s economic mirage
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy
by Wasseem El Sarraj - (Opinion) July 28, 2011 - 12:00am

GAZA CITY — A predominant, if misguided, narrative holds Gaza to be a Mediterranean secret, where food is plentiful and joy is unabated. Such statements are not exactly false. As a Gazan, I can say I have laughed, dined out (not just falafel), and been able to embrace my proclivity for consumption -- recently purchasing a 37" flat-screen TV. But this has been a product of the stubbornness and creativity of capitalism under an enforced closure (where goods flow into Gaza, but what goes out is very limited).

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ISRAEL: Arabic radio station campaigns against killing of women
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Batsheva Sobelman - July 25, 2011 - 12:00am

A young woman turns up dead. Her husband is held for a few days, then released. Police have no other suspects. Murmurs of "family honor" are heard -- and the news races on, reluctant to deal with a painful issue: the killing of women in Arab society. Until now.

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Captive hearts fly free with kites in Jerusalem's Old City
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Hugh Naylor - July 24, 2011 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM // At dusk, the skies over the city's ancient and congested heart erupt into a frenzy of activity. That is when the Palestinian youth of Jerusalem's Old City congregate near Damascus Gate or climb on to the roofs of their clustered homes with plastic kites. For the casual observer, it is a spectacle of brilliantly coloured objects overhead. For children in this claustrophobic corner of East Jerusalem, lacking the recreational facilities that are so abundant in the city's Jewish areas, the kite channels pent-up energy into the skies above.

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PNA warns of new measures to oppose Israeli policy on Palestinian prisoners
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
July 22, 2011 - 12:00am

RAMALLAH, July 21 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinian National Authority on Thursday threatened to take a series of measures to press Israel to stop recent policies against Palestinian prisoners. Minister of Prisoners Affairs, Eissa Qaraqe, said that the PNA would boycott the Israeli judiciary system and prisoners would stop appearing before Israeli courts. Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners have boycotted the Israeli courts as a symbolic protest that could end with issuing default judgment.

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In Palestinian city, diggers uncover biblical ruin
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman
by Associated Press - July 22, 2011 - 12:00am

NABLUS, West Bank — Archaeologists unearthing a biblical ruin inside a Palestinian city in the West Bank are writing the latest chapter in a 100-year-old excavation that has been interrupted by two world wars and numerous rounds of Mideast upheaval. Working on an urban lot that long served residents of Nablus as an unofficial dump for garbage and old car parts, Dutch and Palestinian archaeologists are learning more about the ancient city of Shekhem, and are preparing to open the site to the public as an archaeological park next year.

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Seeking signs of health
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Samah Jaber - (Opinion) July 21, 2011 - 12:00am

For those who lament the Palestinians' use of violence and sigh, saying, "Where is the Palestinian Gandhi?" here is the answer: Israel delegitimizes all tools of resistance. Most recently, the Israeli parliament passed legislation making it possible to punish any public call for economic, cultural or academic boycott of the Israeli occupation and its settlements.

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Fayyad: Hebron defies segregation and siege
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
July 20, 2011 - 12:00am

HEBRON (Ma’an) – Palestinian Authority premier Salam Fayyad said Tuesday that Hebron's old city sets an "example for human civilization in all ages, and an ideal for steadfastness and defiance." Residents reject seggregation, 'judaisation,' and siege, and it "is time its people enjoy freedom and independence,” Fayyad said while inaugurating an international conference on historic cities. The conference is part of the celebrations of the 15th anniversary of the Hebron Rehabilitation Committee. It is held in association with Palestine Polytechnic University in Hebron.

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