Young Jews More Interested in Israel: Poll
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Simi Lampert - July 9, 2012 - 12:00am

Young Jews are now more attached to Israel than the previous generation, almost reaching the level of interest of their elders, a new poll reveals. While Jews 45 and older were rated as having a 40-44 level of attachment to Israel, those between 35 and 45 only scored a 24. Those under 35 got a 39 out of 100, according to the poll carried out by the Workmen’s Circle.

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UNESCO votes to add Bethlehem holy sites to world heritage list
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
June 29, 2012 - 12:00am

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- UNESCO on Friday declared Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity and the nearby pilgrimage route World Heritage sites. Thirteen members of the 21-nation World Heritage Committee voted in favor of the Palestinian application, securing exactly the needed number of votes. Two countries abstained and six voted against the bid. "I am delighted," Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki told the conference in St. Petersburg, to rapturous applause. "You have our most gracious thanks."

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Schools for Jews and Arabs: Separate but definitely not equal
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Rivka Cohen - (Opinion) June 25, 2012 - 12:00am

In one clear step, Israel’s Education Minister has demonstrated that the separate Jewish and Muslim school systems have nothing to do with preserving an autonomous space for Jewish and for Arab culture, but rather - plain segregation.

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A Palestinian plan to attract Muslims back to Al-Aqsa
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Tom Heneghan - June 21, 2012 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The grand mosques in Mecca and Medina, the two holiest in Islam, draw millions of pilgrims annually. Al-Aqsa, the last of the three sacred sites the Prophet Mohammad urged Muslims to visit, sees only a few thousand foreign worshippers a year. The difference is political, not religious. The first two mosques are in Saudi Arabia, a proudly Muslim kingdom, while Al-Aqsa stands on Israeli-controlled land that may be the most disputed religious spot on earth.

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Toddler killed in Gaza explosion
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
June 20, 2012 - 12:00am

A Palestinian toddler was killed Tuesday evening in an explosion south of Gaza City, medics said. Emergency services spokesman Adham Abu Salmiya said in a statement that Hadil al-Haddad, 2, was killed and her brother was injured in the Zaitoun neighborhood of Gaza City. A Hamas medical official told Reuters the cause of the child's death was not clear. Witnesses said she was killed when militants launched a rocket close by.

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Vatican denies it will recognize East Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Philip Pullella - June 12, 2012 - 12:00am

The Vatican said on Tuesday that an economic agreement it is negotiating with Israel will not mean the de facto recognition of Israel's annexation of East Jerusalem. The Vatican was responding to reports in Palestinian media that the deal, which involves tax status and other financial issues concerning Church properties in the Holy Land, would result in a recognition of Israel's control of East Jerusalem.

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Netanyahu: 'Fatal mistake' to concede sacred sites
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
May 22, 2012 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday it would be a "fatal mistake" ever to give up control over Jerusalem's holy sites. His remarks, in a parliamentary speech, went a little further than Israel's longtime policy of viewing Jerusalem, a city at the heart of Middle East conflict, as its "indivisible capital".

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Palestinian Christians are disappearing
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Saliba Sarsar - (Opinion) May 4, 2012 - 12:00am

Christians in the Holy Land, especially Palestinian Christians, are living under duress. In Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, now only 18 percent of the population is Christian. In Jerusalem, where Jesus was crucified and resurrected, the percentage of Palestinian Christians is a far lower 1.5 percent, or 12,000 out of some 800,000 people. The remaining population is made up of around 65 percent of Israeli Jews and 33.5 percent Palestinian Muslims. In 1948, by contrast, Christians numbered 25,000 in the city, out of approximately 165,000 inhabitants, or 15 percent.

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Abbas renews calls on Arabs, Muslims to visit Jerusalem
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
April 25, 2012 - 12:00am

RAMALLAH, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday renewed his calls on Arabs and Muslims all over the world to visit Jerusalem. Abbas' earlier call to visit the city was opposed by the some Islamic Palestinian groups which considered the visits of Arabs and Muslims as a sign of normalization with Israel. State-run Wafa news agency quoted Abbas as saying that "we called and we are still calling our Arab, Muslim and Christian brothers to visit Palestine and Jerusalem."

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Is the Campaign Against Grand Mufti Gomaa Justified?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat
by Elias Harfoush - (Opinion) April 23, 2012 - 12:00am

It was only natural for the visit of Grand Mufti of Egypt Sheikh Ali Gomaa to East Jerusalem and his prayer at the Al-Aqsa Mosque to arouse the controversy that it did among Palestinians and among Muslims in general. Such a controversy is justified by the man’s religious position, and by Jerusalem’s political position at the heart of the conflict between the Palestinians and the Arabs on the one hand and Israel on the other, being the promised capital of the Palestinian state and the alleged “eternal capital” of the Israeli entity.

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