NEWS: Europe is assuming a larger role in peace talks. Refugees across the Middle East experience deep frustration. Pres. Abbas says UN initiatives should not affect negotiations with Israel. A shelter for abused women is opened in Gaza. The Knesset rejects a bill to investigate NGOs and human rights groups. Analysts say Israel’s handling of the latest flotilla reflects a learning curve. Despite the blockade, a new mall opens in Gaza. Israel’s attorney general has reportedly told PM Netanyahu to apologize to Turkey over last year’s flotilla. Several countries ask Israel to stop forging their passports. Israel’s cost-of-living crisis may be the consequence of funding the occupation. Palestinians are also facing a growing economic crisis. COMMENTARY: Ha’aretz says the high command must stop the spread of religious extremism in the Israeli military. Gideon Levy says MK Danny Danon is acting like Joe McCarthy. D. Bloomfield says Netanyahu was wrong to support an antidemocratic boycott law. Noam Sheizaf says the law is about forcing Israelis to support the occupation. The National says Israel is afraid of nonviolent protests. Salon interviews the founder of J Street. Hagit Ofran and Jennifer Kaplan say settlement activity is a lucrative business. Bernard Avishai looks at why Israelis are nervous about September. Didier Jacobs says the international community, especially the EU, must play a stronger role in peace talks. Robert Baer says he does not actually have any information about Israel planning to bomb Iran. Trudy Rubin looks at the prospects for Israeli-Turkish rapprochement.

AG to Netanyahu: Apologize to Turkey or face indictments for IDF troops
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - July 21, 2011 - 12:00am

Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein has advised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel should apologize for the deadly takeover of the Gaza-bound Mavi Marmara ship last year, in which nine pro-Palestinian Turkish activists were killed, sources in Jerusalem said Thursday. According to the sources, Weinstein believes the UN investigation into the 2010 flotilla incident might prompt lawsuits against IDF soldiers. Therefore, he recommends reaching an understanding with Turkey, even if that means issuing an apology. The Justice Department declined to comment on these details.

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New Gaza mall opens despite Israeli blockade
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by Fares Akram - July 20, 2011 - 12:00am

GAZA, July 20 (Xinhua) -- Dozens of people entered the Al- Andalusya mall in Gaza City after the automatic sliding door opened, looking up at the ceiling where cool air came from and then down at their feet trying carefully to stand on the escalator. The people fanned out across the supermarket and the clothes store in the first and second floors of the shopping center. The third story is designated to have a restaurant, cafe shop, children cinema and a video games corner, but it is not yet ready.

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Israel urged to stop faking foreign passports
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Itamar Eichner - July 21, 2011 - 12:00am

Various countries have sent secret messages to Israel informing Jerusalem that they are aware that Mossad agents are using their passports in overseas operations, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Thursday. The countries, all friends of Israel, demanded to halt all use of such passports in messages to Israeli embassies and as part of the consular discourse. The protest had caused considerable embarrassment to Israel in several cases. In other cases, Israel could not respond to the claims as they did not include names and details of the alleged Mossad agents.

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Israel deals with Gaza-bound flotilla with lessons learnt: analysts
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by Adam Gonn - July 21, 2011 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM, July 20 (Xinhua) -- Israeli naval commandos boarded the only ship participating in the second Gaza flotilla Tuesday without any violent resistance from the passengers and crew. The takeover was in stark contrast to last year's events when nine pro-Palestinian activists, mainly Turkish, in the "Mavi Marmara" ship were killed in clashes with Israeli soldiers as Israel intercepted the first flotilla. The death of the Turkish participants led to the deepening of an already deteriorated relationship between Israel and Turkey.

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Israelis pay price of persecuting Palestinians with soaring cost of living
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Vita Bekker - July 21, 2011 - 12:00am

Danny Tavory regularly shows up at Tel Aviv's biggest marketplace just before it closes for the night, when vendors sell fruit, vegetables and other products at large discounts or give them away. Mr Tavory, 21, a university mathematics student, says he can barely afford to buy food as most of his monthly income of 2,500 shekels (Dh2,670) from giving private lessons and counselling troubled youth goes toward his rent.

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Israeli lawmakers kill bill to probe dovish groups
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
July 20, 2011 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM — Israel's parliament has voted down a bill that would have established an inquiry commission to investigate foreign funding of dovish activist groups. The vote followed approval this week of a bill targeting Israelis who promote boycotts against Jewish settlements in the West Bank. Dovish lawmakers denounced both laws as antidemocratic attempts to stifle free expression. Laws of the type defeated Wednesday show growing polarization in Israeli society.

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Omar H. Rahman: Economic crisis looms as Palestine nears UN push in September
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Arabiya
by Omar Rahman - July 20, 2011 - 12:00am

The Palestinian territories may soon be experiencing an economic crisis that is, at least in part, directly tied to their diplomatic initiative scheduled for the United Nations in September. The cash-strapped Palestinian Authority is facing a massive budget shortfall and has reached a ceiling in its borrowing from local banks and the private sector, with the situation becoming increasingly acute.

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FEATURE-Wife battering, sexual abuse get attention in Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Nidal al-Mughrabi - July 20, 2011 - 12:00am

GAZA, July 20 (Reuters) - Most safe-houses in the Gaza Strip are meant to provide protection for armed militants on Israel's target list. Now Gaza is offering protected shelter to battered Palestinian women. Its lone women's safe-house, opened two months ago, has had eight clients, all guarded by police from the Islamist Hamas movement that runs the enclave and enforces a conservative though not radical Muslim religious code.

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Worldview: Can once-friendly Israel and Turkey mend frayed ties?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Inquirer Digital
by Trudy Rubin - (Opinion) July 21, 2011 - 12:00am

As blood flows in Libya, Yemen, and Syria, and the region continues its meltdown, the only two Mideast democracies out there are Israel and Turkey. Ideally, these two would be working together, especially as Syria, which is sandwiched between them, shows signs of regime failure. Of course, the times are far from ideal. Israeli-Turkish relations, once close, are in the deep freeze; they nearly snapped last year after nine Turkish civilians were killed in an Israeli raid on the Mavi Marmara, an aid ship that tried to run Israel's blockade of Gaza.

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