Palestinian-American among theater shooting victims
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
July 24, 2012 - 12:00am

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- A young Palestinian-American woman is among the dead after a gunman opened fire in a US theater last Friday, killing 12 people and injuring 70, her family confirmed on Tuesday. Jessica Ghawi, 24, was an aspiring journalist who had moved to Aurora, Colorado to pursue a broadcast career, according to her brother Jordan, 26, who lives in Texas. Jordan told Ma'an that Ghawi was a Palestinian-American. "My father is a Christian Arab from Palestine," he said Tuesday.

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Ashrawi calls on EU to review economic relations with Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency
July 24, 2012 - 12:00am

Senior PLO official Hanan Ashrawi on Tuesday called on the European Union to review its relations with Israel in light of its persistent violations of international law. The EU-Israeli Association's annual meeting, held in Brussels on Tuesday, is an opportunity for the EU to ensure any economic relations with Israel are contingent on its compliance with international obligations, Ashrawi said in a statement.

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South Sinai Gangs Smuggle Stolen Fuel Into Gaza, Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Masry Al-Youm
by Ayman Abou Zeid - July 23, 2012 - 12:00am

South Sinai residents have reported that organized gangs are smuggling state-subsidized fuel into the Gaza Strip and Israel through underground tunnels at the border.

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Dear MTA, A Little Consistency
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast
by Elisheva Goldberg, Hannah Gross - (Opinion) July 23, 2012 - 12:00am

The latest player in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict may be sidestepping the law.  And it's not the ultra-Orthodox.  It's the MTA.

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Palestinians still need visa to enter Egypt: Airport source
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ahram Online
July 23, 2012 - 12:00am

A source at Cairo Airport told Ahram Online employees have not received any instructions to allow Palestinians to enter Egypt without a visa. Earlier on Monday, Associated Press news agency quoted Egyptian Airport officials saying that Egypt has started allowing Palestinians free entry into the country, ending part of a five-year blockade on the Gaza Strip. The decision would mean Palestinians can freely leave Gaza, says AP, pointing out that the decision also applies to Palestinians in the West Bank and Jerusalem.

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Israel's part in Egypt's revolution
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Khaled Diab - (Opinion) July 23, 2012 - 12:00am

Monday marks the anniversary of the Egyptian revolution. Not the Tahrir Square revolution that began last year – that is on 25 January – but the 23 July revolution of 1952. At a recent event I attended in Ramallah to mark the occasion, an Egyptian diplomat said that 2011 was a continuation of 1952.

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Israel fears Syrian missiles, nerve gas reaching Hezbollah
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua
by Adam Gonn - July 23, 2012 - 12:00am

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Friday said that he has ordered the army to prepare to intervene should Syria start to transfer missiles and chemical weapons to the Lebanese group Hezbollah. "Syria has advanced anti-aircraft missiles, surface-to-surface missiles and elements of chemical weapons," Barak told local Chanel 2 TV, adding that "I directed the Israel Defense Forces ( IDF) to prepare for a situation where we will need to consider the possibility of an attack."

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Arab League backs bid for UN nod to Palestine
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Mohammed Daraghmeh - July 22, 2012 - 12:00am

The Arab League on Sunday backed a Palestinian plan to ask the U.N. General Assembly to recognize a state of Palestine, but stopped short of setting a date for the bid, Palestinian officials said. Instead, Arab League representatives meeting in Doha asked a committee to prepare the U.N. appeal and report back on Sept. 5, said Saeb Erekat, an aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, speaking by phone from Doha. Timing is crucial, with a U.N. bid before November potentially disrupting the U.S. presidential race.

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EU move to upgrade relations with Israel
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Phoebe Greenwood - July 22, 2012 - 12:00am

The EU will offer Israel upgraded trade and diplomatic relations in more than 60 areas at a high-level meeting in Brussels on Tuesday, just weeks after European foreign ministers warned that Israeli policies in the West Bank "threaten to make a two-state solution impossible". In advance of the annual EU-Israel Association Council on Tuesday meeting, a diplomatic source shared with the Guardian details of the package of benefits that will be offered to Avigdor Lieberman, Israel's foreign minister.

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The Real Problems with Israel's Newest University
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Beast
by Ron Mandelbaum - (Opinion) July 20, 2012 - 12:00am

A few days ago, Israel named Ariel’s University Center as its eighth official university. It should not have done so for several reasons. First, the decision was facilitated because it was based on a peculiar institutional setup existing as a result of its occupation of the West Bank. Second, the decision goes against a basic tenet of academia: judgment of an argument should be based on its merit alone. The erroneous decision is only compounded by the current state of Israeli higher education.

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