July 10th

Netanyahu to discuss legal status of West Bank settlements ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua July 10, 2012 - 12:00am Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday said he will discuss a recent report stating that settlements in the West Bank are not illegal. "This report, in my opinion, discusses the question of the legality and legitimacy of the settlement movement in Judea and Samaria on the basis of the facts and claims that merit serious examination," said a statement sent by the prime minister's office. "I will submit this report to the Ministerial Committee on Settlement Affairs I established and we will discuss it and make a decision," Netanyahu said. » Read more

Abbas hurting himself ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Alex Fishman - (Opinion) July 9, 2012 - 12:00am Mahmoud Abbas misses no Mideastern opportunity to fall into a pothole. What can you say, the man simply has no luck. He had a terrible year: Every international, regional or domestic initiative he touched has collapsed. » Read more

Israeli settler population surges under Netanyahu ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by Amy Teibel - July 9, 2012 - 12:00am Since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was elected more than three years ago, the Jewish population in the West Bank has ballooned by 18 percent, drawing tens of thousands of Israelis to the territory the Palestinians claim as the heartland of a future state, according to figures obtained by The Associated Press. » Read more

Abbas' Iran visit to explore options, not appease Ahmadinejad ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua by Adam Gonn - (Analysis) July 10, 2012 - 12:00am Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will make his first-ever visit to Iran next month, when he attends the Non-Aligned Movement Summit to be held in Tehran. "Historically speaking, this forum and its meetings have been extremely important for the Palestinians during the last 30-40 years," Prof. Bassem Zbeidi of Birzeit University told Xinhua on Monday. "We have plenty of supporters in this organization and Palestinians have a very good record in attending its meeting," he added. » Read more

Former Israeli Premier Is Cleared of Most Corruption Charges ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times by Isabel Kershner - July 10, 2012 - 12:00am Ehud Olmert, a former prime minister of Israel, was acquitted of corruption charges in two matters by a Jerusalem court on Tuesday, but convicted in a third, in a high-profile corruption prosecution that cut short his term in office and changed the course of Israeli politics and diplomacy. Mr. Olmert was convicted of breach of trust, the least serious of the charges he faced, and will be sentenced in September, according to court documents. » Read more

July 9th

The West Bank: If It's Not Occupation, Then What Is It? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Atlantic by Jeffrey Goldberg - (Opinion) July 9, 2012 - 12:00am Haaretz is reporting that a committee appointed by Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, to explore the legal status of Jewish settlements on the West Bank, has come to the conclusion that Israel is not an occupying force: » Read more

This conflict in the Holy Land must end – for the children’s sake ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent by Emanuel Stoakes - (Blog) July 9, 2012 - 12:00am The enduring fact of the failure of peace in the so-called Holy Land is a royal spring of misery from which bitter tensions flow, with mournful consequences for the entire restive middle-east region, already strained by wars and rumours of wars. In the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, those who are innocent, small, defenceless or vulnerable are common, even inevitable, victims of the promiscuously-brutalising nature of this clash between the claimed descendants of Abraham. » Read more

Israelis, Not MEK, Killed Iranian Scientists, New Book Says ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Monitor by Barbara Slavin - (Analysis) July 6, 2012 - 12:00am Israelis, not Iranians working for Israel, killed five Iranian scientists connected to Iran’s nuclear program between 2007 and 2011 according to a new book by veteran US and Israeli journalists. » Read more

The Israelis' quest to poison Yasser Arafat ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Arab News by Uri Avnery - (Opinion) July 9, 2012 - 12:00am For me, there was no surprise. From the very first day, I was convinced that Yasser Arafat had been poisoned by Ariel Sharon. I even wrote about it several times. It was a simple logical conclusion. First, a thorough medical examination in the French military hospital where he died did not find any cause for his sudden collapse and death. No traces of any life-threatening disease were found. » Read more

U.K. slams Israel with stiff upper lip: Not all Palestinian kids are potential terrorists ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Amira Hass - July 9, 2012 - 12:00am "A Palestinian child is a potential terrorist," an IDF prosecutor candidly told a delegation of nine visiting British lawyers. The attorneys, who visited Israel for a week in September 2011, reviewed and analyzed Israeli law and practice regarding the detention and prosecution of Palestinian children. Britain's foreign ministry financed the delegation's visit, which appeared to raise the bar a notch; after both British houses of parliament debated the issue last year, after several British MPs paid visits to the military court next to Ofer prison. » Read more