Sunday Links Part 1

From Ian:

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Envoys work to end UN's Palestinian refugee status
Prosor: Real obstacle to peace is right of return for Palestinian refugees, not settlements; adds transfer of status "misguided."

At a small conference at the Harvard Club in Manhattan on Thursday, a host of dignitaries and experts, including Israel’s envoy to the UN Ron Prosor, addressed the UN’s classification of Palestinian refugees as the principal stumbling block to a peace agreement between Israel and the PLO.
The conference was the opening salvo in the direction of drafting of US legislation meant to end the automatic transmission of refugee status to the descendents of Palestinians that has been taking place since 1948, just as Filippo Grandi, commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), prepared to hold a press conference on Monday on Palestinian refugees becoming a “forgotten population” in an increasingly turbulent region.

Israeli envoys promote anti-incitement accord at UN
Dore Gold tells 'Post:' There is a global interest in addressing problem of terrorism; Prosor presents draft accord.

Speaking to the Post, Gold recalled that two of the biggest failures of the international community during the 1990s were the genocide in Rwanda and the Srebrenica massacre in Bosnia. In both conflicts, “incitement was cited as a trigger for the wars that broke out,” he asserted.

'Abbas, Fayyad dispute could cause fall of gov't' By Khaled Abu Toameh
Sources say conflict between PA president, PM arose over resignation of Qassis, who is said to have quit over unions.

Qassis recently decided to quit the PA government – a move that was rejected by Abbas. Qassis was Abbas’s choice for finance minister – a job that Fayyad held for the past four years.
A few days later, however, Fayyad, in a surprise move, announced that he had accepted Qassis’s resignation.
Fayyad’s announcement was seen by Palestinians as a direct challenge to Abbas.

Freed UN peacekeepers cross from Syria to Jordan
After four days being held by Syrian rebels in village near Israeli border, all 21 Filipino captives reach safety

The abduction and the tortured negotiations that ended it highlight the disorganization of the rebel movement, which has hindered its ability to fight Assad and complicates vows by the US and others to provide assistance.
It also has raised concerns about the future of UN operations in the area. The Filipino peacekeepers were abducted on Wednesday by one of the rebel groups operating in southern Syria near the Jordanian border and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, where a UN force has patrolled a ceasefire line between Israel and Syria for nearly four decades.

UN peacekeepers on Syrian border halt night patrols

International teams fear more kidnappings, violence; Israel beefs up border security

In Jordan, desperate Syrian refugees turn to prostitution

‘Given the vulnerability of women, the camp’s growing population and the lack of resources, I’m not surprised,’ says UN official

Egypt protesters torch buildings, target Suez Canal
Two people die in Cairo from tear, gas and rubber bullets as court ruling on deadly soccer riot sparks rage.
Syria

The ruling enraged residents of Port Said, at the northern entrance of the Suez Canal, by confirming death sentences imposed on 21 local soccer fans for their role in the riot last year when more than 70 people were killed.
But the court also angered rival fans in Cairo by acquitting a further 28 defendants that they wanted punished, including seven members of the police force which is reviled across society for its brutality under deposed autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

Egypt wants to lure Israelis back to the Sinai
Once a prime vacation destination, revolution, terrorism and general lawlessness have kept tourists away from the Peninsula’s pristine beaches

Channel 2 news accompanied a group of Israeli travel agents who were invited by Egyptian tourism operators to tour the restive peninsula, in hopes of reversing the trend and bringing Israelis and their shekels back to the luxury resort towns of Taba and Sharm el Sheikh.