July 20th

Americans for Peace Now: We’ll boycott the anti-boycott law by boycotting settlement products ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) by Ami Eden - (Blog) July 19, 2011 - 12:00am If the goal of the new Israeli law banning boycotts was actually to prevent boycotts... things aren't exactly going according to plan. The board of Americans for Peace Now has unanimously endorsed a boycott of products made in the settlements. Why? Well, it has nothing to do with the settlements. The group says it's boycotting settlement products in order to protest the anti-boycott law. Here's the statement from APN's president and CEO Debra DeLee: » Read more

Spain tells Abbas it backs efforts for Palestinian state ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency July 20, 2011 - 12:00am MADRID (AFP) -- Spanish Foreign Minister Trinidad Jimenez told visiting President Mahmoud Abbas Tuesday that Madrid backs efforts to create an independent Palestinian state, the government said. Abbas met with Jimenez and Spain's King Juan Carlos at the start of a two-day visit to the country aimed at drumming up support for United Nations recognition of a Palestinian state. » Read more

Coalition seeks to discourage Christians from fleeing ME ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Ray Hanania - (Opinion) July 19, 2011 - 12:00am Not many in the Middle East care about the plight of Christians.They are marginalized on both sides of the Arab-Israeli line. But regardless of the reasons, the numbers of Christians have dwindled over the years, in part because Christians can more easily emigrate to Western - predominantly Christian – nations. In Jordan, one of the Arab countries where Christians feel safest, a coalition including Muslim and Christian clergymen, politicians and journalists are launching a campaign to convince Christians to stay. » Read more

Peace: So far and yet so close ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Michael Felsen - (Opinion) July 19, 2011 - 12:00am The Quartet – the US, Russia, the EU, and the U.N. – this week announced that it hasn’t yet found the way to bring Israelis and Palestinians back to the negotiating table. And according to Haaretz, Israeli and Palestinian sources concur that intensive US efforts to create an agreed outline for renewed negotiations have failed. » Read more

The glue holding Netanyahu’s coalition: hatred for liberal values ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Carlo Strenger - (Blog) July 20, 2011 - 12:00am The sound and the fury of Israel's anti-boycott law has not yet died down: Avigdor Lieberman’s Yisrael Beitenu party is reviving its push for a Knesset committee that will investigate ‘leftist organizations’; for the time being, the initiative to give the Knesset a veto right to reject candidates for the Supreme Court on the basis of their political views has been blocked, but it may well resurface. » Read more

PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES: Financial crisis causing public concern ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times by Maher Abukhater - July 19, 2011 - 12:00am The Palestinian Authority has until July 26 to come up with a plan on how it intends to pay salaries, without interruption, to more than 150,000 of its civil and military personnel. Otherwise, the employees may go on an open-ended general strike. This was the warning the Union of Public Employees conveyed to the Palestinian Authority on Monday following a meeting of its board members to discuss the authority's financial crisis and its claim that it may not be able to pay salaries anymore. » Read more

July 19th

Once fertile valley dries up as Jerichoans face drought and demolition ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Irish Times by Michael Jansen - July 19, 2011 - 12:00am THE PALM trees of Jericho stand tall on the broad brown floor of the Jordan valley, their thick green fronds fluttering in the stiff breeze. » Read more

Michele Bachmann’s Hazardous Love for Israel: Jeffrey Goldberg ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bloomberg by Jeffrey Goldberg - (Opinion) July 19, 2011 - 12:00am Michele Bachmann, the Minnesota congresswoman and Republican candidate for president, is making a muscular showing in the polls. She is telegenic. She is clever. Some of her Republican opponents worry she may be unstoppable. But never fear, oh Republican opponents of Michele Bachmann: I’ve devised a fail-safe way to bring her to a state of cognitive paralysis. This method will require some travel on her part. Bachmann’s destination: the Tel Aviv gay-pride parade. » Read more

The Long Overdue State of Palestine ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Huffington Post by Hussein Ibish and Saliba Sarsar - (Opinion) July 18, 2011 - 12:00am With the independence of the new Republic of South Sudan, the world is again reminded that states are created on the basis of local, regional and international necessity. At least two decades of international action, as well as a long, bitter and bloody conflict produced the independence of the south, a state that has been already welcomed by the international community, the African Union, the United Nations, and has been invited to join the Arab League. » Read more

Israeli minister says Palestinians losing UN bid ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by Daniel Estrin - July 18, 2011 - 12:00am JERUSALEM — International support for a planned Palestinian declaration of independence at the U.N. in September is waning, in large part because of intense Israeli lobbying against the initiative, a senior Israeli diplomat claimed Monday. » Read more