Lure of the homeland fades for Palestinian refugees
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC World News
by Lina Sinjab - August 24, 2010 - 12:00am

The right of return for Palestinian refugees is a major sticking point in the upcoming US-sponsored Middle East peace talks, but some younger Palestinians - having never laid eyes on their ancestral homeland - say they do not actually want to go back. As a third-generation Palestinian growing up in Syria, Bissan al-Sharif says she feels rooted in Damascus. "I don't know if I would leave everything and go and live [in my ancestral village] because I don't know the place," says Ms Sharif.

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Mideast peace talks to look forward to?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by David Makovsky - August 24, 2010 - 12:00am

The announcement Friday that Middle East peace talks would be launched Sept. 2 was not exactly met with an outpouring of enthusiasm. Yet progress on security and other issues suggests there is reason to believe peace talks can produce results.

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WEST BANK: Big obstacles in road to direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Maher Abukhater - (Blog) August 23, 2010 - 12:00am

Even before direct Palestinian-Israeli negotiations kick off in Washington on Sept. 2, the road there is littered with political landmines. The Palestinians stated when they agreed on Friday, under U.S. and international pressure, to resume direct negotiations that if Israel resumed settlement construction in the West Bank, the talks would stop.

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UN hails Lebanese step towards Palestinian refugees
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
August 19, 2010 - 12:00am

The United Nations on Wednesday hailed a Lebanese decision to lift an employment ban on Palestinian refugees in the country. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA and the International Labor Office (ILO) said in a joint statement distributed to the press that the Lebanese move represents "an important step in the right direction." "This endorsement of the universal right to work by Lebanese legislators is an important breakthrough," added the statement. "It reaffirms Lebanon's commitment to social justice and decent work for all," it stressed.

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Editorial: Not enough
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News
August 19, 2010 - 12:00am

Palestinians remain barred from working for the government and in the professions, including law and medicine. They are also still forbidden from owning property and taking advantage of government health and welfare provisions.

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Lebanon Gives Palestinians New Work Rights
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by Nada Bakri - August 17, 2010 - 12:00am

Lebanon passed a law on Tuesday granting Palestinian refugees here the same rights to work as other foreigners, a step in ending years of discrimination that had restricted them to the most menial of jobs.

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http://www.statesman.com/news/nation/lebanon-debates-giving-palestinians-rights-855172.html
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Zeina Karam - August 12, 2010 - 12:00am

Mohammed al-Amin spends his days doing little more than playing billiards and smoking cigarettes in this sprawling Palestinian refugee camp, where gunmen roam narrow alleyways dotted with tin-roofed, cement-block homes. The 25-year-old studied dental lab technology but works at a small, grubby coffee shop in the camp, making $100 a month. He dreams of working with a respected doctor in Lebanese society and being welcomed like any other foreigner, without being looked down on.

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Lebanon debates giving Palestinians rights
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Zeina Karam - August 12, 2010 - 12:00am

Mohammed al-Amin spends his days doing little more than playing billiards and smoking cigarettes in this sprawling Palestinian refugee camp, where gunmen roam narrow alleyways dotted with tin-roofed, cement-block homes. The 25-year-old studied dental lab technology but works at a small, grubby coffee shop in the camp, making $100 a month. He dreams of working with a respected doctor in Lebanese society and being welcomed like any other foreigner, without being looked down on.

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Hamas Blamed for Contested Gaza Explosion
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line
August 5, 2010 - 12:00am

A mysterious explosion which obliterated eight Gazan homes, damaged another 30 and injured over 50 people on Monday originated in a house used by Hamas to store weapons, The Media Line has learned. The Deir Al-Balah refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip was rocked Monday by an explosion centered in an uninhabited house belonging to 'Alaa Al-Danaf, a field commander of the 'Izz A-din Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas The 'Iz A-Din Al-Qassam Brigades blamed the explosion on Israel, claiming it was an assassination attempt on their field commanders.

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Ghanem: Work permits retain refugee status for Palestinians
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
July 21, 2010 - 12:00am

ead of the Administration and Justice parliamentary committee, MP Robert Ghanem, said work permits will preserve the refugee status of Palestinians in Lebanon. The West Bekaa MP spoke to reporters on Monday after chairing a meeting for the committee at the Parliament. Ghanem said the committee amended article 59 of the Labor Law by which Palestinians registered in the Interior Ministry and the Political Affairs and Refugees Directory would have to file for a work permit in order to gain access to various professions.

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