Palestinians Prisoners Languish in Administrative Detention ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS) by Mel Frykberg - August 10, 2011 - 12:00am Hana Al Shalabi, 27, Yehiya’s daughter, has been languishing in Israeli administrative detention for over two years - she is the longest serving Palestinian female political prisoner in administrative detention. According to her lawyer, the young woman from Jenin in the northern West Bank does not know why Israeli soldiers arrested her several years ago, nor does she know how long they will keep her in jail, or what they will charge her with. » Read more

Satirical Palestinian TV show elicits anger in West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Khaled Abu Toameh - August 10, 2011 - 12:00am Palestine TV’s controversial satire show, Watan ala Watar (Homeland on a String), has angered the Palestinian Authority police force in the West Bank, whose commanders have decided to sue the station for libel. The police are furious with the satire – especially because of a scene where two traffic policemen stop a drunk driver for inspection. The policemen are portrayed in an obnoxious manner that suggests that they too are under the influence of alcohol. » Read more

Israel's rights groups condemn 'Jews only' businesses ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Jonathan Cook - August 10, 2011 - 12:00am NAZARETH // We don't employ Arabs - so dozens of companies listed in Israel's Yellow Pages plainly state. The businesses, which include a bus firm, plumbers, electricians and a removal firm, openly advertise under the banner of "Hebrew labour" - a policy to hire only Jews that Israeli civil rights groups say is a violation of the country's anti-discrimination laws. The groups believe such advertising is one of a series of initiatives that aim to give preferential treatment to Jewish job-seekers over the country's Arab citizens, a fifth of the population. » Read more

US chides Israel over new east Jerusalem project ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews August 10, 2011 - 12:00am The United States is "deeply concerned" by Israel's plan to build a new housing project in the southeast Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Homa, the State Department said on Tuesday. The State Department warned that such "unilateral actions" were detrimental to the peace process. Last week, the Jerusalem Zoning Commission approved 930 new housing units in Har Homa. Actual building on the site is at least two years off. Alongside its rare rebuke of a close ally, the State Department said Israelis and Palestinians should settle their differences on Jerusalem through negotiation. » Read more

Peres: Israel-Palestinian peace still possible ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz August 10, 2011 - 12:00am President Shimon Peres on Wednesday told a delegation of visiting U.S. Democratic congressmen that he believes that it is still possible for Israel to reach peace with the Palestinians, Israel Radio reported. Peres said that both sides understand that they need to overcome differences and renew negotiations before the United Nations General Assembly session in New York next month at which the Palestinians have said they will seek recognition of statehood. » Read more

Western diplomat: UN statehood bid will harm U.S.-Palestinian Authority ties ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Barak Ravid - August 10, 2011 - 12:00am Cooperation between the U.S. and the Palestinian Authority will be harmed if the PA goes through with its plan to seek United Nations recognition of a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly session in September, a senior Western diplomat told Israeli journalists on Wednesday during a briefing in Tel Aviv. » Read more

Israel: Chinese military chief to visit ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman by Associated Press - August 8, 2011 - 12:00am JERUSALEM — The Chinese military's chief of staff will visit Israel next week for the first time, the Israeli military said Monday, in what may signal a renewed warming of ties between the Jewish state and Beijing. Chen Bingde will be a guest of the Israeli military chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, the military said. Bingde's visit follows Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak's trip to China two months ago. That was the first visit of an Israeli defense minister in a decade. Chinese officials were not available for comment about the visit. » Read more

Marwan Barghouti warns of protests if US wields veto ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency August 10, 2011 - 12:00am CAIRO (AFP) -- A Palestinian leader jailed in Israel has warned Washington that vetoing a Palestinian state at the United Nations would spark huge regional protests, Egypt's official MENA news agency reported Wednesday. Marwan Barghouti, a leading member of the dominant Fatah party convicted of organizing attacks against Israelis during the second intifada, gave an interview to MENA through his lawyer from an Israeli prison. » Read more

APNewsBreak: Israel and Arabs tentatively agree to exploratory talks on Mideast nuke-free zone ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post by Associated Press - August 10, 2011 - 12:00am VIENNA — Israel and Arab nations have tentatively accepted an invitation by the U.N. nuclear agency to discuss a Middle East free of atomic arms, in correspondence shared with The Associated Press. Whether the meeting takes place may depend on the participants’ willingness to compromise on preconditions. An official from a delegation accredited to the International Atomic Energy agency says IAEA chief Yukiya Amano planned to meet with the Arab group on Sept. 5 to try and bridge differences. » Read more

In Tumult, New Hope for Palestinian Cause ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Anthony Shadid - August 9, 2011 - 12:00am BEIRUT, Lebanon — In the Palestinian refugee camp of Shatila, a corner of Beirut bearing the scars of massacres and an enduring despair, the words of a young barber hinted at an emerging optimism about what the Arab revolts could mean for a central issue of the last half century in the Middle East: the fate of Palestinians. The barber, Mohammed Assad, was not naïve; life here is too grim for that. But in a region whose politics are being recalculated, he celebrated the rising influence of popular will on governments that long ignored it. “There is hope,” he said. » Read more