Last kaffiyeh factory struggles to stay afloat in Palestinian territories ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Harriet Sherwood - August 3, 2010 - 12:00am In a rundown office to the side of a gloomy and deserted breeze-block factory, 76-year-old Yasser Hirbawi is hunched on a low couch turning his life's work over and over between his fingers. In his lap – and on his head – are specimens of what has become the internationally recognised symbol of the Palestinian national struggle, the kaffiyeh, the chequered headscarf worn by politicians and militants alike and adopted not just by their supporters but by fashionistas across the globe. » Read more

Abbas rejects U.S. request to set date for direct talks without reference ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua by Saud Abu Ramadan - August 3, 2010 - 12:00am Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday rejected a U.S. request to set a date for moving to the direct peace negotiations with Israel without defining an international peace reference for it, a senior Palestinian official said. Wassel Abu Yousef, a senior Palestine Liberation Organization's (PLO) official, told Xinhua that David Hale, deputy of U.S. peace envoy George Mitchell, asked President Mahmoud Abbas during their meeting earlier on Monday in Ramallah about setting a date for launching the direct talks. » Read more

Rocket attacks on Israel and Jordan highlight how Hamas could use Sinai ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Joshua Mitnick - August 3, 2010 - 12:00am A salvo of at least five rockets, believed to have been fired from Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, hit the Red Sea border area between Jordan and Israel on Monday morning. Three of the Katyusha rockets fell on the Israeli coastal resort area of Eilat, while the others hit outside the Intercontinental Hotel in the Jordanian resort city of Aqaba, killing one Jordanian and wounding at least three others. » Read more

Who will speak up for Israeli citizens' right to free speech? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Daphna Baram - (Opinion) August 3, 2010 - 12:00am The most widely mentioned text in Israel over the last few weeks has been the famous quotation by Pastor Martin Niemöller from 1946, which begins: "First they came for the Communists". » Read more

Israel approves new east Jerusalem apartments ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press August 3, 2010 - 12:00am Israeli municipal officials have approved the building of 40 apartments in a Jewish neighborhood in Jerusalem's disputed eastern sector. The move could undermine efforts to restart direct Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. It comes as U.S. peace envoy David Hale is visiting the region. Municipality spokesman Stephen Miller confirmed the approval and said on Tuesday that construction would continue for residents of all faiths in Jerusalem. » Read more

In the midst of Gaza's calamity lies an opportunity ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star by Joseph Mayton - August 3, 2010 - 12:00am Beyond the most obvious hardships brought about by the Gaza blockade, there is another less commonly discussed environmental calamity in the making that could have terrible long-term implications. According to the United Nations Environment Program, the blockade on the Strip is causing severe water shortages and preventing farmers from tilling their land, leading to environmental damage that could take decades to repair. » Read more

Israel, Turkey and the U.N. ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times (Editorial) August 3, 2010 - 12:00am It took too long, but Israel made the right decision in saying it would cooperate with a United Nations-led investigation into its disastrous attack on a Gaza-bound aid ship. Only a transparent and credible inquiry has a chance of calming international outrage over the incident and beginning to repair fractured Israeli-Turkish ties. » Read more

Is one-state solution an answer to Greater Israel dreams? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) by Leslie Susser - August 3, 2010 - 12:00am In one of the more curious twists in Israeli politics, prominent figures on Israel’s right wing have begun pushing for a one-state solution with Israelis and Palestinians as equal citizens with full voting rights. The one-state solution previously had been the preserve of the post-Zionist left, Palestinian hard-liners and left-leaning European intellectuals who envisioned turning Israel proper, the West Bank and Gaza into a single state in which the Palestinians soon would become the majority and assume the reins of government. » Read more

U.S. group launches campaign against West Bank settlement construction ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Natasha Mozgovaya - August 3, 2010 - 12:00am Americans for Peace Now, a sister group to the dovish Israeli group Peace Now, has announced the launching a unique campaign on Monday, meant to sway public opinion against containing settlement construction. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared the construction freeze West Bank settlements, due to expire on September 26, in last November, after months of pressure from the Obama administration, and following a Palestinian refusal to begin talks without one. » Read more