July 13th

Palestinians hold US responsible for Israel policy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Ali Sawafta - July 12, 2011 - 12:00am RAMALLAH, West Bank, July 12 (Reuters) - The Palestinian leadership, in unusually harsh criticism of Washington, on Tuesday held the United States responsible for "racist" Israeli policies it said had sabotaged the peace process. The leadership said recent developments had confirmed the need for the Palestinians to go to the U.N. General Assembly in September to seek international recognition for a state of Palestine on lands occupied by Israel since 1967. » Read more

PCBS: Graduate unemployment improving, but slowly ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency July 7, 2011 - 12:00am RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Close to half of Palestinian graduates were unemployed in 2010, the official Palestinian statistics agency said Wednesday, noting a slight decrease in unemployment from 2009. The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics said 44.8 percent of Palestinians who completed university degrees were not in employment, an improvement on the 2009 figure of 47 percent. » Read more

FM: Palestinians could withdraw UN bid ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency July 13, 2011 - 12:00am BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The Palestinian leadership plans to seek recognition of statehood from the United Nations in September but would be willing to postpone the bid if peace talks restart with a clear timetable, the foreign minister in Ramallah said Monday. Riyad Al-Maliki says the Palestinians are moving forward on the plan, but that step "can be avoided if negotiations start before September based on clear foundations and a timetable." » Read more

Palestinian killed in West Bank raid ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency July 13, 2011 - 12:00am NABLUS (Ma'an) -- Israeli soldiers shot and killed a young Palestinian man early Wednesday near Nablus in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian and Israeli security officials said. University student Ibrahim Sarhan was shot while emerging from a mosque during a search operation in Al-Farah refugee camp near Nablus, Palestinian security sources told AFP. Soldiers were looking for an activist of the Islamic Jihad movement but Sarhan did not belong to any Palestinian political group, they said. » Read more

July 12th

Palestinian Open University project back on track ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star by Annie Slemrod - July 12, 2011 - 12:00am By 1980, hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees were living in Lebanon. And despite the difficult conditions in the country’s camps, some 15,000 Palestinians were studying at Lebanese universities. At the time, Palestinian university students were considered to be foreigners and had to pay correspondingly higher tuition than Lebanese nationals. There was no Palestinian university that offered courses to students outside of Israel or Palestine. » Read more

No quick reconciliation for Turkey-Israel ties, but Turkey rethinking rift ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) by Leslie Susser - July 11, 2011 - 12:00am The Turkey-Israel relationship is not out of the woods just yet. After some positive signs in recent weeks that the once close allies were moving to repair the rift that ripped wide open last year after nine Turks were killed by Israeli forces in a confrontation on a Gaza-bound flotilla of ships, Turkey’s prime minister renewed his hard line on Israel. » Read more

Sean Cleary: ‘Seize the Moment!’ ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Arabiya by Sean Cleary - (Opinion) July 12, 2011 - 12:00am All of us need to change gears, and direction, in our approach to the challenges of the world between the eastern Mediterranean and Central Asia. The turmoil in the Arab world must focus our minds, causing us to look beyond past habits and present uncertainty, to define and create a future that offers hope for generations to come. Efforts by the United States over the past ten years to counter what two different administrations have seen as threats to US interests in the Gulf and Afghanistan, have not brought benefits to many who dwell there. » Read more

In Hebron's casbah, rocking the vote ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Avi Issacharoff - July 12, 2011 - 12:00am Starting Tuesday morning, Hebron's main street, Ein Sara, was intermittently closed. The traffic jams piled up to an unbearable level. Hundreds of people congregated at the entrance of the Al-Hussein School, waiting for the turn to go in. It was an election day. Across from the school, booths were set up in support of candidates and party lists. Trucks plastered with ads for the leading lists traveled back and forth and above the street, dozens of banners with photos of the top candidates were hung. » Read more

A question of will, not semantics ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons by Ghassan Khatib - (Blog) July 11, 2011 - 12:00am The content of the article "Buying into Palestinian statehood" by a group of prominent Israelis represents a new, mature and responsible level of debate between Israelis and Palestinians--even when compared to official exchanges between the two sides. » Read more

Israel and Palestinian sources to Haaretz: U.S. peace efforts have failed ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Barak Ravid - July 12, 2011 - 12:00am The intensive U.S. efforts to create an agreed outline for renewed negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians have failed, Israeli and Palestinian sources have told Haaretz. The sources said the Palestinian leadership is more determined than ever to pursue the recognition of an independent Palestinian state at the United Nations in September. » Read more