June 15th

The reason for our water crisis
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Shaddad Attili - (Opinion) June 15, 2011 - 12:00am


Earlier this month, I took part in a panel discussion on the water crisis affecting the Middle East. Along with representatives from Jordan and France, Gilad Erdan, Israel’s Minister for Environmental Protection, was on the panel. The theme was “equitable sharing and reasonable use of cross-border watercourses,” which goes to the very heart of the water dispute between Palestinians and Israelis.


Fatah and Hamas call their top leaders to the rescue
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Maher Abukhater - (Blog) June 14, 2011 - 12:00am


Unable to agree on who will run the new Palestinian national unity government, the secular Fatah movement and the Islamist Hamas, two bitter rivals for years, decided Tuesday to call their top leaders to the rescue. After a meeting in Cairo to discuss government formation, the two main Palestinian political factions decided that it was time to have the Fatah leader, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, and the Hamas leader, Khaled Mishal, to join the next “final and decisive” meeting planned for next Tuesday in Cairo.


PM: Israel aims to offset PA's UN bid
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Attila Somfalvi - June 15, 2011 - 12:00am


Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Tuesday with European Parliament President Prof Jerzy Buzek in Jerusalem. The two discussed various regional issues, including the unilateral Palestinian bid for statehood in the UN, planned for September. Netanyahu told Buzek the he aims to push a diplomatic initiative that would see 30 UN-member nations block the PA's bid. "It will not create an opposing majority, but it will balance out the bid's potential support," he said.


Learning to trust our neighbors
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Leon Wieseltier - (Opinion) June 15, 2011 - 12:00am


The stability that Hosni Mubarak conferred upon Israeli-Egyptian relations could not last forever, and Israel's security policy cannot be premised on an eternity of Arab tyranny; but still it is not hard to understand the anxiety that the turbulence in Egypt, and elsewhere in the Arab world, has provoked in Israel. What seems to rattle Israel is not only the prospect of Arab instability, but also the prospect of Arab democracy. The only democracy in the Middle East looks as if it wishes to remain the only democracy in the Middle East. This is not altogether attractive.


Netanyahu says there's no solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Etgar Keret - (Opinion) June 15, 2011 - 12:00am


The flight to Rome leaves in the middle of the night. When I finish packing my small travel suitcase, my wife gives me a scrap of orange notepaper. It isn’t meant for me; it’s for the prime minister. It reads: “Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu, I beg you do everything in your power to bring peace, for the sake of the future of our children and yours. Thank you, Shira.” I find this amusing, and she is offended. “What are you thinking?” I ask her. “That Bibi is like the Western Wall? That you can stick a note into a crack in him somewhere, pray a little and he’ll bring peace?”


Hamas, Fatah fail to agree on prime minister
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Joel Greenberg - June 14, 2011 - 12:00am


JERUSALEM – Talks between the Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas on the composition of a shared government failed Tuesday to produce agreement on a prime minister, and the groups’ top leaders will meet next week in an effort to resolve the dispute, officials from both sides said.


June 14th

NEWS: The Palestinian national unity deal is threatened by the dispute over the future of PM Fayyad, as Hamas and Fatah leaders meet in Cairo. Israel is cracking down on Palestinian nonviolent protests. The UN says the Gaza blockade has strengthened Hamas. Deputy FM Ayalon visits Egypt. Israeli teachers are using unofficial curricula to teach about the Nakba. The UN says almost half of Gazans are unemployed. Occupation forces and Palestinians clash at a Jerusalem holy site. The vacancy at a key position for refugees leaves Palestinians in Lebanon without recourse. A US professor is trying to promote business startups as a vehicle for Israeli-Palestinian reconciliation. COMMENTARY: Richard Cohen says Turki al-Faisal’s warning about US favoritism towards Israel should be heeded. Akiva Eldar says even if Palestinians win UN recognition, that won’t mean much in practice. Gershon Baskin says nobody seems particularly interested in challenging the status quo in Israel and Palestine. Colette Avital says Israel’s only hope for remaining a Jewish, democratic state is to have a Palestinian state alongside it. Ilan Peleg and Dov Waxman look at what Israel needs to do for its Arab minority. The National says Fayyad has been a great Prime Minister but national unity is more important than any individual. Yossi Alpher says Israel should defend its borders but make gestures towards refugees. Ghassan Khatib says justice for the refugees is a crucial part of peace. Carlo Strenger says by going to the UN, Palestinians are seizing control of the situation.

Search for justice continues
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Ghassan Khatib - June 13, 2011 - 12:00am


Several important dates have been observed in recent weeks. In one, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians became refugees when Israel was created, their lives and futures altered in a way that was catastrophic for the Palestinian nation. The second date that recently passed was the occasion of Israel's occupation of the rest of historic Palestine, comprised of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip.


Defend our borders, but make a gesture
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons
by Yossi Alpher - (Editorial) June 13, 2011 - 12:00am


The Arab revolutionary wave has already touched the Palestinian issue in more ways than one. The transitional military regime in Egypt has granted Hamas in Gaza greater legitimacy, opened the Rafah crossing and pressed for a Palestinian unity government. Fairly modest demonstrations and exploitation of social media by youth in Ramallah and Gaza clearly exerted additional pressure on the Palestinian leadership to reconcile.


Fatah, Hamas meet in Cairo to settle dispute on leadership
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
June 14, 2011 - 12:00am


Representatives of Fatah and Hamas, the Palestinian rivals, are to meet Tuesday in Cairo to discuss forming a unity government among increasing differences on the candidate of the prime minister. The meeting is the second one since the two movements signed an Egyptian-brokered agreement to end political division between the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and the Fatah-ruled West Bank. When the two movements met on May 14, they discussed the independent candidates who may lead the technocratic government that will administer Gaza and the West Bank according to the agreement.



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