June 27th

Israeli rectors oppose academic upgrade of West Bank college ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua June 27, 2012 - 12:00am JERUSALEM, June 27 (Xinhua) -- Senior Israeli academics are urging the government not to grant university status to an state college located in a city in the West Bank. The Academic Center in Ariel has been seeking to upgrade its ranking to a university for years. The center, established three decades ago, has 12,500 students, including Israeli Arabs and Palestinians. » Read more

Traditional Gaza drawn to old alternative therapy ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by Ibrahim Barzak - June 27, 2012 - 12:00am RAFAH, Gaza Strip — In a Gaza shop, a group of men sit with glass jars attached to their legs, their backs, their faces, sucking at the skin as blood slowly seeps out. It's the latest craze in the isolated coastal strip — cupping therapy. Cupping is an ancient form of alternative medicine whose advocates believe it improves blood flow and helps relieve a range of ailments from headaches to arthritis. It is perhaps best known in the West as part of traditional Chinese medicine. » Read more

Israeli, Palestinian leaders may meet next week ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by Mohammed Daraghmeh - June 27, 2012 - 12:00am RAMALLAH, West Bank — Israeli and Palestinian officials say they expect Israel's new deputy prime minister to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas early next week in a bid to restart peace talks. Negotiations have been frozen for nearly four years. The Palestinians want Israel to halt settlement construction on occupied lands before talks can resume. Israel wants negotiations to start without any preconditions. » Read more

June 26th

Jews Must Repudiate All Hatred, Especially From One of Their Own ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Huffington Post by Brian Levin - (Blog) June 25, 2012 - 12:00am Pamela Geller, an outspoken Islamophobe who spins wild hateful conspiracy theories about Muslims, as well as President Obama, had a speaking event entitled "Islamic Jew Hatred: The Root Cause of the Failure to Achieve Peace" cancelled in Los Angeles over the weekend following condemnation by a number of local advocacy groups. The speech sponsored by the Zionist Organization of America was terminated after the venue owner, the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, intervened to prevent its tenant from hosting the controversial speaker. » Read more

A Palestinian Village Tries to Protect a Terraced Ancient Wonder of Agriculture ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Isabel Kershner - June 25, 2012 - 12:00am BATTIR, West Bank — In this scenic Palestinian village in the West Bank hills near Bethlehem, just south of Jerusalem, a week is said to last eight days, not seven. That is because Battir’s eight extended families take daily turns watering their crops from the natural springs that feed their ancient agricultural terraces, a practice they say has wor » Read more

For Gaza, Egypt’s Islamist victory no quick fix ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Ibrahim Barzak, Karin Laub - (Opinion) June 25, 2012 - 12:00am Gaza’s euphoria over the election of a Muslim Brotherhood leader as Egypt’s first Islamist president seemed a bit premature as reality set in the Monday. » Read more

Resolved: This is Not the Road to a Two-State Solution ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by Elisheva Goldberg - (Opinion) June 22, 2012 - 12:00am Earlier this week North Carolina’s Democratic Party considered a resolution that sought to end “Israel’s illegal occupation.” And that’s not all it said: It also called for a “nuclear free zone in the Middle East” i.e. » Read more

Israel denies 300 Palestinian couples from uniting ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Gulf News by Nasouh Nazzal - June 27, 2012 - 12:00am Ramallah: Hassan Mansour, a resident of the city of Nablus on the West Bank, has dedicated his recent life to bringing his Gazan wife Rinad to live with him, but Israeli authorities have rejected all requests from both husband and wife. For the past two years the couple have attempted to unite, but have not been granted permission by Israel. They have approached legal and human rights organisations and lodged several complaints with various courts, but have not achieved success. » Read more

No Partner For Peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast by Bernard Avishai - (Opinion) June 25, 2012 - 12:00am Ever since Benjamin Netanyahu’s Bar Ilan speech in 2009, in which he declared himself ready to work toward a demilitarized Palestinian state, his defenders in the United States have justified the collapse of any dialogue with the Palestinians in terms of Israel’s understandable caution. “There is no partner for peace,” we hear again and again, which suggests a number of things at once. » Read more

Israel demolishes Bedouin village for 39th time ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency June 25, 2012 - 12:00am NEGEV (Ma'an) -- Israeli bulldozers demolished Bedouin village al-Araqib for the 39th time on Monday, a lawyer said. Ayman Odeh, who witnessed the demolition, told Ma'an that demolishing people's homes should not be a routine for Israel. Israel considers al-Araqib and all Bedouin villages in the Negev illegal, while Bedouins say it is their ancestral land.