June 24th

Fighting for the right to return ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Ahram by Mohsen Saleh - (Opinion) June 23, 2011 - 12:00am When 12-year-old Imad saw his mother preparing some sandwiches for the 15 May march to the southern Lebanese borders with Palestine, he wondered what the food was for. "Will we have the time to eat it," he asked. "Aren't we going to the borders of Palestine to fight the Israelis?" The message this child and his peers conveyed gave the event another dimension, for these marches of return to the borders with Palestine, occupied in 1948 and becoming Israel, have turned into landmarks in the Palestinian approach to the right of the Palestinians to return to their homeland. » Read more

Israel PM agrees to 1967 borders ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency June 24, 2011 - 12:00am TEL AVIV, Israel (Ma’an) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly agreed to peace talks based on 1967 borders on the condition that the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state and solve the Palestinian refugee issue outside of Israel's borders. Netanyahu announced the position to US presidential Middle East adviser Dennis Ross, and acting envoy for the Middle East David Hale, both of whom Netanyahu met with last week, the Israeli daily Maariv reported Thursday. » Read more

Law of the jungle ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Ahram by Saleh Al-Naami - (Opinion) June 23, 2011 - 12:00am Despite the cold in this mountainous region, a group of young men gathered on the outskirts of the town of Al-Moghayer east of Ramallah in the centre of the West Bank. These youth are intent on preventing Jewish settlers from burning the town mosque again after they set it ablaze for the first time three weeks ago. Threats by settlers that they will continue these attacks moved the group of youth to risk their lives and volunteer to foil the settler plots. » Read more

Facebook posts by Israeli PM's son draw fire ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by Matti Friedman - June 24, 2011 - 12:00am JERUSALEM — The Israeli prime minister's 19-year-old son posted disparaging comments about Arabs and Muslims on his Facebook page, an Israeli paper reported Friday. Earlier this year, Yair Netanyahu posted that Muslims "celebrate hate and death," the Haaretz daily reported. After Palestinian assailants entered a West Bank settlement and stabbed five members of an Israeli family to death, he wrote that "terror has a religion and it is Islam." Yair Netanyahu, the eldest of the prime minister's two sons, is currently a soldier in the Israeli military's media liaison unit. » Read more

Erekat: Turkey to aid statehood bid ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency June 24, 2011 - 12:00am BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- PLO official Saeb Erekat said Friday that Turkey had pledged to enlist more nations to recognize Palestine as an independent state at the UN in September. Speaking with Ma'an from Turkey, where he is with President Mahmoud Abbas for meetings with the Turkish leadership, Erekat said they had a made a number of requests of Turkey which were all agreed, without giving further details. » Read more

My Jerusalem diaries: a permit for home ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Ahram by Rana B Baker - (Opinion) June 23, 2011 - 12:00am What a pity to be asked if you have ever been to your capital city and all that you have to say is, "I would love to go there one day," or that "the last time I visited Jerusalem I was nine years old." There could be a third way to answer this question: yes, I passed by it, but I was not allowed to step out of the bus because I didn't have the special permit required for such visits. » Read more

The moment to move ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Akiva Eldar - (Opinion) June 24, 2011 - 12:00am With Greece in turmoil, the Spanish economy collapsing and the French political system in a state of upheaval, the leaders of the European Union are nonetheless putting time and energy into getting the ball rolling again on the Israeli-Palestinian front. EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, followed by European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek, last week visited the offices of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Both returned to Brussels as confused as ever. » Read more

AP Exclusive: Palestinians ready to ease demands ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by Mohammed Daraghmeh - June 23, 2011 - 12:00am RAMALLAH, West Bank — The Palestinians are ready to ease their demand for a freeze on Israeli settlement construction to get peace talks back on track, a top official told The Associated Press on Thursday. The softened position reflects the Palestinians' growing realization that their alternative strategies to talks — reconciling with the Hamas militant group and seeking unilateral recognition at the United Nations — are both in trouble. » Read more

ISRAEL: No more perks for Palestinian prisoners, says Prime Minister Netanyahu ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Batsheva Sobelman - June 23, 2011 - 12:00am After Hamas rejected a call from the International Red Cross for access to Gilad Shalit, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called an end to perks for Hamas prisoners in Israeli prisons. » Read more

Obama's fake promises of peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News by Marwan al-Kabalan - (Opinion) June 24, 2011 - 12:00am As the attention of the world is focused on the Arab region and its overdue democratic transition, the Middle East peace process seems to have completely disappeared from the international agenda and particularly that of the US. When Barack Obama was elected President of the US two and a half years ago, he seemed intensely interested in solving the Arab-Israeli conflict and establishing a Palestinian state. As he approaches his final year in office, nothing of these proclaimed promises has materialised. » Read more