August 9th

Social media offers last keffiyeh factory lifeline ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News by Howard Johnson - August 8, 2011 - 12:00am Hirbawi Textiles is located on a nondescript road on the outskirts of the Palestinian city Hebron. To the outsider it looks like any other ageing factory. In the dank, strip-light lit interior there are rows of disused machines with cogs wrapped in cobwebs. But three years ago the factory became the focus of the world's media, when it became apparent it was the last in the Palestinian Territories to produce the keffiyeh, the traditional Arab headdress and favourite of former leader Yasser Arafat. » Read more

Gazan Defies Handicap to Live Life to Fullest ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line by Omar Ghraieb - August 2, 2011 - 12:00am Abdul Qader Abu Lubda is walking down the street in his Gaza City neighborhood one afternoon this week. In one hand he has a sheaf of papers perched precariously between his palm and two short fingers. In the other, two stumpy fingers are holding a heavy bag. But Abu Lubda doesn’t look or act like he’s struggling.. » Read more

Fire from Gaza intensifies as three mortars hit southern Israel ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz August 8, 2011 - 12:00am Three mortar shells fell Sunday night in Sha'ar HaNegev Regional Council, causing damage to a fence. No injuries were reported. The incident comes after a spate in rocket attacks launched from the Gaza Strip last week. On Friday, Israel Air Force jets attacked five targets in Gaza in response to the firing of Grad rockets. Hours before the air strike a rocket fell in an open field near the town of Kiryat Gat. The rocket was the third of its kind in 24 hours, but it caused no injuries or damage. » Read more

Israeli army arrests 11 Palestinians in West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua August 9, 2011 - 12:00am Israeli army arrested 11 Palestinians in the West Bank early Tuesday, including a senior Hamas member, Palestinian security sources and Israeli media said. Most of the detainees were napped in Hebron city where Hamas official Aied Doudin lived. The Palestinian sources said that Doudin and some of his relatives were seized. Israel Radio reported that the raid targeted wanted activists. It also reported that two rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip and landed in Western Negev in Israel. The missiles caused no injuries or damage. » Read more

Hamas employees' wages late due to cash crisis ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency August 7, 2011 - 12:00am Civil servants in Gaza will not receive their July salaries until the end of August due to government cash shortages, Hamas finance ministry official Ismail Mahfouz said Sunday. Speaking at the Gaza government's information office, Mahfouz said that while some of the government's income came from internal revenue, a large part of the budget was received from external sources. He said there was a deficit in support from abroad, and that Hamas officials were trying to secure more finance from outside the Gaza Strip. » Read more

PM lobbies world envoys against Palestinian statehood ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Herb Keinon - August 9, 2011 - 12:00am Israel is prepared to make concessions, but the Palestinians have shown no indication of a willingness on their own for compromise, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Monday to a group of 18 ambassadors to Washington from Asian, European, African and Latin American countries who don’t usually vote for Israel at the UN. “Six prime ministers, including myself, have come out in support of a Palestinian state, and two offered far-reaching concessions, but this hasn’t helped,” Netanyahu said, in a reference to the concessions offered by Ehud Barak in 2000, and Ehud Olmert in 2008. » Read more

Arab states to head UN in September ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Yitzhak Benhorin - August 9, 2011 - 12:00am Two Arab states will head the United Nations Security Council and General Assembly in September, the month which is expected to see a vote on recognition for a Palestinian state. Lebanon will serve as president of the Security Council in September and Qatar will head the General Assembly for one year as of next month. The Security Council has five permanent member states with veto power (The United States, Russia, China, France and Britain) but Arab states are invariably represented among the 10 remaining rotating states. » Read more

Palestinians study UN status options ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency August 9, 2011 - 12:00am Permanent Palestinian observer to the United Nations Riyad Mansour said Tuesday that the option of changing Palestine's status from "observer entity" to a "non-member state" is still being studied. Mansour told the Italian news agency AKI that becoming a non-member state "does not invalidate the right to become a member state as recommended by several UN resolutions such as resolution 181 in 1947." The ultimate goal would be to obtain full UN membership like South Sudan, he said, however if that objective is not met then Palestine would seek a status similar to that of the Vatican. » Read more

August 8th

No countries for old men ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy by Steve White - (Opinion) August 5, 2011 - 12:00am After serving nearly six years as the special advisor to the United States Security Coordinator (USSC) for Israel and the Palestinian Territories, I came home convinced of one thing, cognizant of another. The first was that a peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was not only in the vital security interests of Israel and the future state of Palestine, but also the United States. The second, initially noted two years ago by a former IDF Chief of Staff, was that, "The USSC, the IDF and the Palestinian Security Services were buying time, time for the politicians.... » Read more

Intifada of candles not tears ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News by As'ad Abdul Rahman - (Opinion) August 6, 2011 - 12:00am It is almost a reality now that neither the Palestinians nor the Israelis see any possibility of resuming peace negotiations following recent speeches by Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before the US Congress and the Jewish lobbying group American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac). With a clear voice and determination, Netanyahu annihilated all possibilities of establishing two independent states; Israel and a Palestinian state peacefully co-existing and equally thriving together. » Read more