June 23rd

Pressure mounts on Palestinians to abandon U.N. statehood gambit ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) by Leslie Susser - (Analysis) June 21, 2011 - 12:00am The pressure on Mahmoud Abbas to back down from plans to seek recognition of Palestinian statehood at the United Nations in September is intensifying. Squeezed by a combination of concerted American pressure and intense Israeli diplomacy, some top Palestinian leaders are urging the Palestinian Authority's president to drop his September plan. Abbas, however, says he still intends to go ahead with the U.N. move, unless key international players can get serious peace talks going before then. » Read more

Off the record: Poisoned atmosphere in Mid-East peace efforts ATFP World Press Roundup Article from BBC News by Paul Danahar - (Opinion) June 23, 2011 - 12:00am "If you're going to crucify yourself, don't do it on a small cross." An interesting metaphor particularly when it is addressed to the prime minister of Israel. This advice, I'm told, was from US Vice President Joe Biden to Benjamin Netanyahu. It was a little while ago, but there's been no sign since of the PM wandering around the Jerusalem forest looking for tall trees. The message from his speech to the US Congress last month suggested he's not ready for self-sacrifice yet. There were no concessions to US President Barack Obama or the Palestinians. » Read more

Hezbollah may fight Israel to relieve Syria ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post (Analysis) June 22, 2011 - 12:00am Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group is preparing for a possible war with Israel to relieve perceived Western pressure to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, its guardian ally, sources close to the movement say. The radical Shi'ite group, which has a powerful militia armed by Damascus and Iran, is watching the unrest in neighboring Syria with alarm and is determined to prevent the West from exploiting popular protests to bring down Assad. » Read more

Wanted: A policy on our Arab citizens ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Susan Hattis Rolef - (Opinion) June 23, 2011 - 12:00am Labor MK Avishay Braverman has initiated a private member’s bill that, if passed, will result in youngsters who do full military/ national service being paid a salary, which will be deposited in their names for academic or professional studies afterward. The salary, at differential rates depending on the type of service performed, will be paid as of the second year of service, and even at its lowest rate will be enough to pay for a full three years of tuition at one of the universities. » Read more

EU's Ashton to Haaretz: UN vote on Palestinian state not a done deal ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Akiva Eldar - June 23, 2011 - 12:00am The European Union's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, says she is not sure that there will be a vote in the United Nations in September on recognition of a Palestinian state and that the wording of the resolution is still uncertain. "It will depend very much on what the resolution says as to how the international community in general and the EU in particular, votes," Ashton told Haaretz in an interview this week in her office in the EU headquarters in Brussels. » Read more

Saudis give $70m for Palestinian housing in Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman June 22, 2011 - 12:00am A U.N. agency aiding Palestinian refugees said Wednesday that Saudi Arabia is contributing $70 million for new housing units in the Gaza Strip. Israel has authorized construction of the 1,200 new homes and 18 badly needed schools in Gaza, in what would be one of the largest housing projects in the seaside territory in years. Israel, which controls the cargo crossings into Gaza, has largely banned the entry of construction materials into the coastal strip since Hamas militants seized control in 2007. Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005. » Read more

How to stop Israeli soccer racism ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Larry Derfner - (Opinion) June 23, 2011 - 12:00am Here’s a suggestion on how to stop racism at Israeli soccer games – the chanting of “death to the Arabs,” the hooting of monkey sounds at black players, all that stuff: Film it and show it to the world. » Read more

ICRC demands Hamas provide proof Shalit is alive ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Alertnet June 23, 2011 - 12:00am The International Red Cross called on Hamas on Thursday to provide proof that Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit is still alive nearly five years after his capture by Palestinian militants. In an unusual public appeal, the independent aid agency said Shalit's family had a right under international humanitarian law to be in contact with their 24-year-old son, held incommunicado since his capture on June 25, 2006. » Read more

Jordan Valley families left homeless ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency (Analysis) June 23, 2011 - 12:00am "The big soldier wouldn’t speak to me. He just said ‘This is my job, sit down and shut up’," the newly homeless Ralia Darraghmeh, a diabetes sufferer in her sixties said of the one of the crew who had come to demolish her home Tuesday morning. She was sitting alone, crying in Khirbet Yarza, a tiny Bedouin hamlet, as her tin home was taken down by order of Israel's Civil Administration, which governs planning and permit issuing in the 60 percent of the West Bank categorized as Area C under the 1993 Oslo Accords. » Read more

Jordan remains stabilizing factor, Israel committed to helping monarchy survive ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Asaf Romirowsky - (Opinion) June 23, 2011 - 12:00am President John F. Kennedy once said that those who make peaceful revolution impossible make violent revolution inevitable. As a case in point, the so-called “Arab Spring” in the Middle East has now spread to the traditionally stable country of Jordan, a historical ally of the United States and Israel. » Read more