July 14th

Blair praises Israeli gestures to PA
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from United Press International (UPI)
July 14, 2009 - 12:00am

Recent steps taken by Israel to improve the quality of life for Palestinians are not getting enough credit, Mideast envoy Tony Blair said. Blair made the statements at a meeting with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Silvan Shalom, minister of Regional Development in Jerusalem, Monday evening, Maariv said Tuesday. Blair praised the recent removal of West Bank checkpoints and roadblocks by Israel and recent steps taken to boost the Palestinian economy, the paper said.

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Trading a settlement freeze for action on Iran, Arab ties
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Leslie Susser - (Analysis) July 13, 2009 - 12:00am

The fact that Israel and the United States have yet to reach an agreement on Jewish settlement growth in the West Bank is as much a question of wider Middle East concerns as about the settlement issue itself.

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West Bank fence not done and never will be, it seems
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Amos Harel - July 14, 2009 - 12:00am

Seven years after construction work began on the West Bank separation fence, the project seems to have run aground. Work has slowed significantly since September 2007, and today, after the state has spent about NIS 9.5 billion, only about 60 percent of the more limited, revised route has been completed.

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IDF thinks Israelis fabricated stone throwing incident
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Erfat Weiss - July 14, 2009 - 12:00am

Three Israelis were wounded in car accident in the West Bank Monday night. One sustained serious injuries and the other two were lightly wounded. The men told security forces Palestinians in the village of Kifl Hares near the town of Ariel pelted their car with stones, but the police believe they were lying, because no signs of violence were found on their vehicle.

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Phase I of Beit Ur Al Tahta Project Complete
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from American Charities for Palestine
July 14, 2009 - 12:00am

American Charities for Palestine (ACP) is pleased to announce the completion of phase one of a joint infrastructure project in the West Bank village of Beit Ur al Tahta. CHF International is implementing the construction work in the area, which includes sidewalk and road electrification projects funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in partnership with ACP and funding from the Sheikh Mohammed Shami Foundation. USAID provided $250,000 through the Emergency Jobs Program (EJP) to the project.

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July 13th

The European Union’s foreign policy chief calls on the UN Security Council to recognize a Palestinian state (1). Britain revokes several arms exporting licenses from companies selling weapons parts to Israel (2). An article in the Jordan Times looks at how Palestinian children are being paid to work in the dangerous Gaza smuggling tunnels (6). Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas reiterates his refusal to resume peace talks until Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu accepts the two-state solution and halts settlement activity (9). A series of opinion articles examine the ongoing issue of a proposed Israeli settlement freeze (3) (10) (11) (12).

Brothers divided by Gaza rivalry
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Erin Cunningham - July 13, 2009 - 12:00am

Every morning Nidal dons his blue camouflage fatigues, trademark of the Hamas Islamist movement that rules the Gaza Strip, and sets off to work as a civil policeman in the Jabaliya refugee camp outside Gaza City. In the same camp, another policeman, Ismail, keeps his own uniform tucked neatly in a drawer, forbidden to wear it after Hamas fighters ousted his fellow Fatah forces from Gaza in a violent power struggle in 2007.

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Children risk their lives in Gaza’s blockade-busting tunnels
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
by Patrick Moser - July 13, 2009 - 12:00am

Anwar, 15, can’t read or write, but says he’s good at tunnel work. He needs a new job as Israeli planes bombed his workplace, one of hundreds of smuggling tunnels on Gaza’s border with Egypt. His rough voice and tough looks belie his young age, but his small, wiry body is what makes him a perfect candidate for the job. And, like thousands of other children in the impoverished and war-shattered Gaza Strip, his family badly needs the money. The job is comparatively lucrative, with children getting up to $30 for a 12-hour shift.

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For our own good
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Yossi Alpher - (Opinion) July 13, 2009 - 12:00am

Ever since the Israeli-Palestinian peace process began in earnest with the Oslo accords of 1993, the two sides' negotiations have been accompanied by Israeli settlement construction. Serious Israeli peace-seekers like Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres, Ehud Barak and Ehud Olmert all continued building or at least expanding settlements even as they sought interim and final status arrangements with the PLO leadership. The latter, first Yasser Arafat and in recent years Mahmoud Abbas, proceeded with negotiations even as they protested settlement expansion.

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Freezing settlement construction a defining test of Israel's intentions
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Daoud Kuttab - (Opinion) July 13, 2009 - 12:00am

A year or so after the signing of the Oslo accords, I was one of a group of Palestinian journalists who were invited by Shimon Peres to his office at the Israel Foreign Ministry in West Jerusalem. When questions focused on continued settlement activities, the then foreign minister tried to deny them.

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