August 12th

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.


Abbas, Mubarak, Abdullah to meet in Cairo
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
August 12, 2010 - 12:00am


President Mahmoud Abbas, Jordanian King Abdullah II and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, will sit for a tripartite meeting in Cairo on Thursday, an aide to Abbas said. In a Wednesday statement published on the governmental news agency WAFA, Abbas’ political adviser Nimer Hammad said officials would discuss the US call to start direct negotiations. Earlier in the day, Abbas met with Mubarak in a one-on-one meeting in Cairo.


Program joins Palestinians and Israelis as interns in the District
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Glenn Kessler - August 12, 2010 - 12:00am


A sweltering June day at Reagan National Airport. Mariam Ashour walks to the parking lot, "freaking out in my mind," looking for someone she has never met. Noam Rabinovich sits in a car, trying to identify Ashour, with whom she has exchanged only a few messages on Facebook. As they approach each other, something strange happens, something neither can fully explain. They hug. "I don't want to over-dramatize the moment, but time stopped for a second," Ashour said later. "To me it was, like, 'Wow.' I was very happy."


Abbas Between the Plague and Cholera
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat
by Abdullah Iskandar - (Opinion) August 12, 2010 - 12:00am


Will the sixth tour of American Envoy George Mitchell between Ramallah and occupied Jerusalem since last May - which marked the launching of the indirect talks between Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas and Benjamin Netanyahu’s government - be the last tour that will make Abu Mazen head toward direct negotiations?


August 11th

The NYT says Pres. Abbas should return to direct talks. The reopening of the Jenin Cinema is part of the revival of the city. Israel's Gaza flotilla inquiry doesn't appear to be assigning responsibility. Israel's military chief of staff says his troops weren't ready for resistance during the raid. Nahum Barnea calls PM Netanyahu's testimony “catastrophic.” The UN launches its own inquiry, which may help restore Israel's ties with Turkey. Millions of dollars worth of aid to Gaza is piling up in warehouses. The CSM examines Hezbollah's “evidence” that Israel assassinated former Lebanese PM Hariri. The PA Justice Ministry asks for a clearer separation of powers. A Palestinian cleric is injured trying to block the demolition of a Muslim cemetery in Jerusalem. US officials say they are optimistic about the resumption of direct negotiations. UNRWA denounces an Israeli TV broadcast. Amira Hass says Israeli occupation forces often behave like bullying children with guns. Reports claim DM Barak wanted to launch a major attack on Lebanon following the recent border incident. Right-wing settlers clash with Israeli occupation troops in Jericho. Ali Ibrahim says Arabs should reach out to Israeli public opinion.

Israel wasn't ready for flotilla resistance -general
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Ari Rabinovitch - August 11, 2010 - 12:00am


JERUSALEM, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Israeli troops were not ready for the violent resistance they met when they boarded a Gaza-bound aid ship and ended up killing nine pro-Palestinian activists, the country's top military officer said on Wednesday. Speaking to an inquiry, Israeli Defence Forces Chief of Staff General Gabi Ashkenazi gave the most detailed explanation so far of what went wrong with the military plan in the May 31 raid, which sparked a world outcry.


Bulldozer injures sheikh at Jerusalem cemetery
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
August 11, 2010 - 12:00am


Sheikh Ali Abu Sheikha was injured Tuesday when an Israeli bulldozer struck him while when he attempted to block a construction crew from bulldozing a section of a Muslim cemetery in Jerusalem. Abu Sheikha suffered moderate injuries but refused to leave the Mamilla (Ma'man Allah) cemetery, Ma'an's correspondent said. An Israeli police spokesman did not immediately return a call seeking comment. Israeli bulldozers entered the cemetery Monday night and began taking down headstones from Muslim graves, the Jerusalem-based Al-Aqsa Foundation for Waqf and Heritage said.


UN panel on Gaza flotilla incident begins work
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Patrick Worsnip - August 10, 2010 - 12:00am


The United Nations sought to head off any potential clash with Israel over a U.N. inquiry into a deadly Israeli assault on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, as a panel began work on the task on Tuesday. A U.N. statement on an inaugural meeting between the four-man team and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressed that the inquiry was "not designed to determine individual criminal responsibility." Instead it would "examine and identify the facts, circumstances and the context of the incident."


UNRWA calls Israeli TV portrayal of Palestinian refugees a 'stack of lies'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Gili Izikovich - August 11, 2010 - 12:00am


The United Nations' relief agency for Palestinian refugees, lashed out Tuesday at the Israel Broadcasting Authority for airing what it called a a dishonest portrayal of the organization on Saturday in "Ro'im Olam" on Channel 1 television. The news magazine's anchor and the journalist behind the segment have fired back.


As UN Gaza flotilla inquiry opens, a chance for improved Turkey-Israel relations?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Christa Case Bryant - August 11, 2010 - 12:00am


The UN investigation into Israel's Gaza flotilla raid that left 8 Turks and one Turkish-American dead opens today with Turkey insisting that Israel bears full responsibility for the deaths and Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak saying a Turkish aid group's attempt to breach the economic blockade of Gaza was a "deliberate provocation." The UN investigation will start with Secretary General Ban Ki-moon meeting with the four-member panel, which includes both an Israeli and a Turkish representative. The panel will investigate the fatal Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound aid boat.



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