University heads ask court to overturn Ariel status ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post August 20, 2012 - 12:00am The heads of Israel's universities on Monday petitioned the High Court of Justice to overturn a decision granting Ariel University Center (AUC) official university status. The petition was filed against a number of organizations, including The Council for Higher Education in Judea and Samaria, the IDF OC Central Command, the Israeli government, Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz and Defense Minister Ehud Barak. » Read more

Hamas arrests terrorist behind June border attack ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Elior Levy - August 18, 2012 - 12:00am The Hamas government's security forces have arrested a terrorist who was responsible in part for the attack that killed an Israeli civilian working on Israel's southern border fence in June. » Read more

PM to Abbas: Israel will catch firebomb assailants ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Hassan Shaalan - August 18, 2012 - 12:00am Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday and offered his greetings for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr. Netanyahu promised that Israel will spare no effort in bringing those behind the firebomb assault against Palestinians to justice. » Read more

Israeli police arrest suspects in Jerusalem attack ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency August 20, 2012 - 12:00am Israeli police have arrested a total of five suspects in connection with an attack in Jerusalem early Friday that left a Palestinian citizen of Israel seriously injured, an Israeli police spokesman said Sunday. Spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told Ma'an that a special investigation team is looking into the incident and trying to work out the exact nature of the attack. Five suspects, including one female, aged between 13-19 have been arrested in connection with the assault, which took place in the early hours of Friday in West Jerusalem's Zion Square. » Read more

Israel Police: Hundreds watched attempt to lynch Palestinians in Jerusalem, did not interfere ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Oz Rosenberg - August 20, 2012 - 12:00am After initially treating the event as a brawl, police on Sunday for the first time referred to the attack on Palestinian youths by dozens of Jewish teens in Jerusalem early last Friday as a "lynching." A police representative told the Magistrate's Court that hundreds of people watched the event without helping the victims. Witnesses say the attack lasted a short while before police arrived and the attackers fled. » Read more

Israeli vice PM condemns "outrageous" attacks by Jews on Palestinians ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua August 19, 2012 - 12:00am Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Ya'alon on Sunday condemned as terrorism last week's Jewish gang attack on several Palestinians in downtown Jerusalem, and a suspected Jewish firebombing of a vehicle in the West Bank. "The hate crimes committed over the weekend against Arabs in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) and Jerusalem are intolerable, outrageous and must be firmly dealt with," he said in a statement Sunday. » Read more

U.S., Israeli navies hold joint Med maneuvers in tense times ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua August 19, 2012 - 12:00am Israeli and American naval counterparts spent the last week holding a joint search-and-rescue exercises in the Mediterranean Sea, which included live fire and seaborne helicopters landings. The "Reliant Mermaid" drill also tested the U.S. Navy's destroyer-mounted Aegis-missile defense system, which, theoretically, could defend Israel against Iranian missiles. » Read more

Hamas calls on Egypt to exclude Israel of any security coordination in Sinai ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua August 19, 2012 - 12:00am Ismail Haneya, premier of Islamic Hamas movement's rule in the Gaza Strip, on Sunday called on Egypt to exclude Israelis from any security coordination to control the security in the Peninsula of Sinai. During a speech on Sunday morning to mark Eid al-Fitr, the end of the 30 days of fasting in the holy month of Ramadan, Haneya said security in Sinai has to be controlled through coordination between Egypt and Hamas. » Read more

Militants fire on Egyptian troops in Sinai, 4 hurt ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Ashraf Sweilam - August 18, 2012 - 12:00am Militants attacked Egypt's security forces and wounded four policemen in the Sinai peninsula on Saturday, in the tenth day of clashes since 16 soldiers were killed in the volatile borderland near Israel and the Gaza strip earlier this month. The troops were returning from an early morning raid where they had arrested two suspects in their homes when militants fired a rocket-propelled grenade at their convoy as it was driving along a major road, a security official said. » Read more

Palestinian government debt hurts private sector ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Mohammed Daraghmeh - August 18, 2012 - 12:00am Palestinian drug importer Ghassan Mustaklem says he can't afford to work with the West Bank's Palestinian government anymore. He recently halted supplies to his biggest client, which now owes $12 million in unpaid bills, or more than half his annual turnover. The cutoff by Mustaklem and other suppliers has fueled a shortage of key drugs in Palestinian hospitals, making the health sector the latest victim of a deepening financial crisis for the Palestinian Authority. » Read more