October 2nd

Palestinian official says Obama didn't ask to resume Mideast talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
October 1, 2012 - 12:00am

  RAMALLAH, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- The United States President Barack Obama didn't ask the Palestinian side for resuming the peace talks with Israel, a senior Palestinian official said Monday. Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told Xinhua on telephone that the Palestinian side hasn't received any official offer or proposal from anybody to resume peace negotiations with Israel.

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Hamas detains radical Salafi leader, 5 aides in Gaza
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
October 1, 2012 - 12:00am

GAZA, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- The Islamic Hamas movement's administration in the Gaza Strip has arrested the leader of a radical al-Qaeda affiliated Islamic Salafi group and five of his aides, the group said in a statement on Monday. The group, called the Army of the Nation (Jaish el-Omma), said in a statement sent to reporters that Hamas police arrested Abu Hafs al-Maqdisi, the group's leader, and five other activists of the group.

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Pro-settler vandals deface Jerusalem monastery
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
October 2, 2012 - 12:00am

JERUSALEM, Oct 2 (Reuters) - Suspected hardline Israelis scrawled pro-settler graffiti and religious insults on a monastery outside the walls of Jerusalem's Old City on Tuesday, police said, in the latest of a series of attacks on non-Jewish sites. The vandals wrote the phrase "price tag" in Hebrew on the gate of the Monastery of Saint Francis on Mount Zion - a reference to a violent campaign supporting unauthorised settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

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Palestinians: 2 teams to probe Arafat's death
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Mohammed Daraghmeh - October 1, 2012 - 12:00am

RAMALLAH, West Bank —Investigators from France and Switzerland will conduct parallel probes into the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Palestinian officials said Monday. His remains will be exhumed, at a date kept secret, to give each team a chance to draw samples to test for poisoning. The two teams are acting separately on behalf of Arafat's widow Suha Arafat and the Palestinian Authority, who each had misgivings about the other's investigation.

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Official: Hezbollah fighters killed in Syria
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press
by Elizabeth Kennedy - October 2, 2012 - 12:00am

A Lebanese security official says a Hezbollah commander and several other fighters from the militant group have been killed in Syria. The Shiite Muslim group is a strong ally of the Syrian regime. The Syrian opposition has long accused the group of assisting President Bashar Assad crack down on the 18-month-old uprising, a claim the group has denied.

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US warns European governments against supporting Palestinians at UN
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Harriet Sherwood - October 1, 2012 - 12:00am

  The United States has warned European governments against supporting a Palestinian bid for enhanced status at the United Nations, saying such a move "would be extremely counterproductive" and threatening "significant negative consequences" for the Palestinian Authority, including financial sanctions.

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October 1st

NEWS: Qatar says it intends to open a diplomatic office in Gaza. Palestinians in Gaza ask the Egyptian government not to continue destroying smuggling tunnels. PLO officials say a vote on UN nonmember observer state status for Palestine will be “very soon,” and that their issue isn't going to go away even if it is being ignored by the US. Israeli authorities release two detained Hamas politicians in the occupied West Bank. American evangelical Christian TV broadcasters are programming out of Jerusalem. The Israeli-Palestinian group OneVoice is pushing for progress on peace. Electric companies claim some PA agencies haven't paid bills in over 2 years. The PA says it will cut fuel prices starting Oct. 1. The new poll finds most Palestinians enthusiastic about voting and strongly preferring Pres. Abbas over Hamas leader Hanniyeh. DM Barak strongly criticizes FM Lieberman's harsh comments about Abbas. Preparations are still underway for the potential exhumation of the body of the late Pres. Arafat. Jordan appoints a new ambassador to Israel. In its latest crackdown, Hamas is arresting Gaza teenagers wearing baggy pants and prominent underwear. The PA is trying to securitize $200 million in public debt in order to reduce borrowing from banks. COMMENTARY: GOP candidate Mitt Romney is strongly critical of Pres. Obama's Middle East policies. Aaron David Miller says Obama had good political reasons for refusing to meet with PM Netanyahu and Pres. Morsy last week. The Boston Globe says the PAs financial crisis is a problem for the US and Israel as well. Tamir Haddad says Hamas corruption is weighing heavily on Gaza's economy and society. Daniel Levy is harshly critical of Netanyahu's foreign and domestic policies. Rachel Corrie's mother describes the Israeli court verdict in their lawsuit as “deeply disturbing.” Norman Birnbaum decries what he calls “false prophecy” in the Middle East.

Hamas cracks down on saggy pants
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Times of Israel
by Ilan Ben Zion - September 30, 2012 - 12:00am

Hamas is cracking down on a new threat to the well-being of the citizens of the Gaza Strip: low-riding pants. Several Gazan teenagers from Rafah were recently arrested by Hamas police because the clothes they wore were “foreign to Palestinian society, and contradicted the culture, values, and ethical code of the Strip’s residents,” the Hebrew daily Maariv reported on Sunday. The perpetrators had adopted “Western street fashion” and wore pants that rode so low as to show their underpants.

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Palestinian authority aims to securitize $200 million of debt
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Martin Dokoupil, Sylvia Westall - September 30, 2012 - 12:00am

KUWAIT (Reuters) - Palestinian authorities are aiming to securitize an initial $200 million of some $1.3 billion worth of government debt by the first quarter of 2013 to help reduce state borrowing from local banks, a top banker said on Sunday.

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Jordan appoints new ambassador to Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
September 30, 2012 - 12:00am

(JTA) -- Jordan reportedly has appointed a new ambassador to Israel. The appointment late last week of career diplomat Walid Obeidat was reported by the French news service AFP and Ammon News. The position has been vacant since mid-2010, when Ali al-Ayed left to become the country's minister of media affairs. Jordan did not fill the position immediately, citing the lack of progress in peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, and Israel's treatment of the Palestinians.

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