NEWS: Israeli workers constructing a barrier along the Gaza border are attacked and one is killed, along with two of the assailants. Two Palestinians are killed in Israeli shelling of northern Gaza. Israeli officials accuse the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood of ordering a missile attack on southern Israel from Gaza. An Israeli truck driver kills two Palestinians and wounds another in what he says was an attempt to foil an armed robbery. Israel may fit drones with a new sensor. Pres. Abbas accuses Israel of not being committed to a two-state solution. Palestinian anti-corruption authorities say PA and PLO officials are under investigation. Extremist Israeli settlers issue a guide to "struggling against evictions" by the Israeli government. Israel begins expelling hundreds of African migrants. The Israeli government is trying to increase the employment rate of Palestinian citizens of Israel. Refugees processed in southern Lebanon after a Palestinian refugee is killed in a confrontation with the Lebanese army. EU diplomats visit a Palestinian town near Hebron ordered demolished by Israeli occupation authorities. COMMENTARY: Raja Shehadeh says classical music is gaining a foothold in Palestinian society. Adam Gonn says Deputy PM Mofaz may be trying to chart his own foreign policy course. Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff say Egypt is becoming a “hotbed of terrorism” and Israel is powerless to stop it. Akiva Eldar says recent remarks by Deputy PM Ya'alon reveal PM Netanyahu's real intentions. Naomi Chazan says Israel's best friends are human rights watchdog groups. Adel Safty says legalizing land theft is part of Israel's broader strategy. Emily Hauser explains why she still believes in a two-state solution. Noga Tarnopolsky says an unused waste treatment plant in the Israeli settlement of Ofra in the West Bank has come to symbolize the conflict.

A perfect metaphor for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Global Post
by Noga Tarnopolsky - (Analysis) June 18, 2012 - 12:00am


In a metaphor its opponents may relish, the Israeli settlement movement finds itself mired in a sewer. For 30 years, the settlement of Ofra, located about 40 minutes north of Jerusalem and about 15 minutes from Ramallah, has disposed of its raw sewage in the local valley, soiling pristine streams and damaging the nearby mountain aquifer.


Why I'm Still a Two Stater
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast
by Emily L. Hauser - (Opinion) June 15, 2012 - 12:00am


In recent years, it’s become all the rage to support —or accept, or give in to—the notion of a “one-state solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.


EU diplomats concerned by Hebron village demolition threat
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
June 18, 2012 - 12:00am


European Union diplomats on Friday visited a village in the south Hebron hills under threat of demolition by Israeli authorities. The envoys toured Susiya to "show their concerns over the humanitarian impact and political implications of the recent demolition orders," an EU statement said.


Legalising land theft
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News
by Adel Safty - (Analysis) June 18, 2012 - 12:00am


One of the thorniest issues facing Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiators is undoubtedly the question of Israeli colonies in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Israeli leaders have maintained that they were entitled to build colonies in the territories which they designate by their biblical name (Judea and Samaria), invoking a historic right over the land which they describe as disputed, not occupied.


Dozens protest at Palestinian refugee camp in south Lebanon
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
June 18, 2012 - 12:00am


Dozens of Palestinians protested Sunday at the Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp in the southern coastal city of Sidon over recent clashes that led to the killing of a Palestinian teenager near a refugee camp in north Lebanon. Protesters chanted slogans condemning the use of arms against Palestinian civilians and called for establishing a committee to probe the circumstances surrounding the Friday killing of Ahmad Qassem, 15, near the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in north Lebanon.


Israel Seeks to Boost Hiring Of Arab University Graduates
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Yedioth Ahronoth
by Gad Lior - June 10, 2012 - 12:00am


Arab university graduates earn an average monthly income of $1,885, as compared to $3,149 in the Jewish sector, according to research that explores the integration of minority populations in the job market in Israel. It has also been found that the employment rate among Arab university graduates stands at about 81%, compared with 90% in the Jewish sector. At the same time, many of the Arab university graduates are not employed in their fields of expertise.


Israel's Best Friends
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Naomi Chazan - (Opinion) June 18, 2012 - 12:00am


‘I am obligated to uphold the law and preserve the settlements, and I say here that there is no contradiction between the two.”


Israel starts deporting South Sudanese
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National
by Vita Bekker - June 18, 2012 - 12:00am


Israel yesterday deported 120 South Sudanese and said it plans to expel hundreds more in coming weeks as part of its plan to oust tens of thousands of illegal African asylum-seekers from the country. The expulsion of the South Sudanese has drawn extensive media attention because it involves the biggest group of illegal migrants - some 700, according to activists' estimates - to be deported in recent years by Israel within a period of a few weeks.


Vice premier Ya'alon revealed Netanyahu's true intentions
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Akiva Eldar - (Opinion) June 18, 2012 - 12:00am


If the recent remarks by Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya'alon had been made by MK Aryeh Eldad of National Union or MK Miri Regev of Likud's lunatic wing, we might be able to take a deep breath and hope for the best. But when Ya'alon proposes to Ari Shavit, as he did in Haaretz Magazine over the weekend, that we live another hundred years by the carrot and the stick, our hearts skip a beat.



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