September 4th

Arafat's widow has unclear motives ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Hugh Naylor - August 30, 2012 - 12:00am After her husband, the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, died in 2004 in a Paris military hospital, she refused to allow outside examination of his medical records or permit an autopsy. Her refusal compounded the mystery surrounding Arafat's death and fuelled rumours of stonewalling, Israeli plots and cover-ups. » Read more

Israel accused of pillaging Dead Sea resources in occupied territory ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian by Harriet Sherwood - September 2, 2012 - 12:00am Israel is "pillaging" the natural resources of the Dead Sea which lie in occupied Palestinian territory in violation of international law, a report which singles out the cosmetics firm Ahava for criticism. According to the Palestinian human rights organisation al-Haq, the "appropriation and exploitation of Palestinian land and natural resources in the occupied Dead Sea area by Israeli settlers and companies … meet the requirements of the crime of pillage". » Read more

New Internet Censorship in Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Media Line by Omar Ghraieb - September 3, 2012 - 12:00am Many Gazans have long lamented that there’s not much to do in the Gaza Strip. There are no movie theaters, pool halls or bowling alleys -- all of which are seen as “un-Islamic.” And it’s not getting any better. In fact, now, curbs are being extended further – to the Internet. The Islamist Hamas movement that rules Gaza issued a new law this week that forces Gaza’s ten main internet providers to block all access to any websites with pornographic content. » Read more

Palestinians, settlers forced to share Ras al-Amud home ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Noam Dvir - September 3, 2012 - 12:00am Israeli settlers began moving into part of a home in east Jerusalem on Sunday, as police officers enforced a court order requiring the Palestinian family living there to vacate part of it. » Read more

Witnesses: Palestinian camp in Syria shelled, killing 2 ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency September 4, 2012 - 12:00am Two Palestinian refugees were reported killed and a third seriously injured in Al-Yarmouk refugee camp in Syria on Monday morning, according to witness accounts. Palestinians in the camp said a barrage of shells hit a home in the al-Hajar al-Aswad neighborhood of al-Yarmouk, in Damascus. The casualties were identified as Fadi al-Thahir and his wife Rawaa Muhammad Saadi, refugees who originally come from Tiberias. The couple’s four-year-old son was also seriously injured, according to al-Yarmouk News, a Facebook page reporting on events in the camp. » Read more

New divorce legislation passed in West Bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency September 4, 2012 - 12:00am Women who have not had sex with their husbands will be able to ask for a divorce under new legislation that came into effect on Monday, the head of Islamic courts in the Palestinian Authority said. Sheikh Yousef Ideis announced the implementation of the "bold" new law at a meeting with supreme court judges and the deputy governor of Nablus. » Read more

High cost of living in West Bank outrages Palestinians ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua September 3, 2012 - 12:00am The growing cost of living in the West Bank has urged Romel al-Swaiti, a Palestinian blogger from a village near Nablus, to devote his page on the internet to speak about the issue by publishing a comic picture of him going to work riding on a donkey. He wrote on his page on the social website of Facebook that he was obliged to go to work from his house in the village of Howara to the city of Nablus, which is about 11 km away, by riding a donkey as an alternative to traveling by car or by bus due to the high cost of transportation in the West Bank. » Read more

Israeli "skunk" fouls West Bank protests ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters by Noah Browning - September 3, 2012 - 12:00am Imagine taking a chunk of rotting corpse from a stagnant sewer, placing it in a blender and spraying the filthy liquid in your face. Your gag reflex goes off the charts and you can't escape, because the nauseating stench persists for days. This is "skunk", a fearsome but non-lethal tool in Israel's arsenal of weapons for crowd control. It comes in armoured tanker trucks fitted with a cannon that can spray a jet of stinking fluid over crowds who know how to cope with plain old tear gas. » Read more

Israel threatens to demolish Bedouin school ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press by Diaa Hadid - September 2, 2012 - 12:00am Dozens of children returned to school on Sunday, taking part in an annual ritual that has taken on special meaning in this Bedouin tent camp. The makeshift school buildings, cobbled together from mud and old tires, were built over the objections of Israeli authorities who are now threatening to demolish the structures. Israel says it won't tear them down until alternate facilities are available. » Read more

Evicted vow to return to Migron ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Hugh Naylor - September 4, 2012 - 12:00am Jewish settlers vowed yesterday to return to their illegal hilltop enclave in the West Bank, a day after Israeli authorities imposed a court order and evicted them from the Palestinian-owned site. "We will start a new fight," said Elisheva Razvag, 27-year-old mother of two who works as an occupational therapist. She and her family were among the 300 Israelis peacefully vacated from the hamlet of Migron on Sunday, after Israel's Supreme Court ordered the state to relocate them by today. » Read more