July 23rd

Israel's other Israel: the Tel Aviv 'bubble'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor
by Joshua Mitnick - July 19, 2009 - 12:00am

The Israeli relationship with this city is captured in a hit song about a 20-something who moves here from Jerusalem: "I mix in with the scene. Everything is fresh, and that's good," goes the hip-hop verse by Dag HaNahash. "After two years of Sodom and Gomorrah, I don't recognize myself in the mirror." Welcome to The Bubble, as Israelis call it. Here, residents forgo news about Hamas rocket fire for an espresso, then mosey down to the beach. While Jewish settlers spar with Palestinians in the West Bank, "Tel Avivis" make merry at disco clubs.

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Don't Go There
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times
by George Fletcher - (Opinion) July 22, 2009 - 12:00am

Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo deserves great credit for having led the International Criminal Court from its birth pangs to its present position, where it commands global respect.

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July 22nd

The US-Israel dispute continues over settlements (1, 2, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11), especially in Jerusalem, and the future of the separation barrier (7, 18). Speculation continues about the state of relations between the Obama administration and PM Netanyahu (6, 13, 15, 16). Netanyahu urges Jewish investment in the Palestinian economy (14). Hamas claims it will not block a PA-Israel agreement (4). The Israeli government decides to remove all references to the Palestinian Nakba from school textbooks (17).

'Gov't spent 22.3% more on settlements'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Tovah Lazaroff - July 22, 2009 - 12:00am

In past years, the government has spent 22.3 percent more on municipal budgets in the settlements than it has on such budgets within the Green Line, according to a new report issued Tuesday by the Israel European Policy Network. It explained how in 2002, the state provided 34.7% of the municipality budget for communities within the Green Line, and 57% of settlements' municipal budgets. Roby Nathanson, who coauthored the report for the policy forum, told The Jerusalem Post that the breakdown was similar in 2007. The Finance Ministry could not be reached for comment.

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U.S. Pressure On Jewish Settlements Spurs Sales
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from National Public Radio (NPR)
by Peter Kenyon - July 22, 2009 - 12:00am

Relations between the Obama administration and the Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continue to worsen over Israel's refusal to halt new construction in Jewish settlements. But as the Obama administration continues to press for a freeze to all new units, real estate agents are reporting a rush to buy apartments both in east Jerusalem and the West Bank. Real Estate Boom

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'US, Israel rift on settlement issue to be resolved soon'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
July 22, 2009 - 12:00am

Israel's Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren said that the disagreement between America and Israel on the settlement issue would be resolved soon. In an interview with Israel radio Wednesday, Oren claimed that there was no confrontation and no tension between the two countries. This was Oren's first interview since he presented his credentials on Monday to US President Barack Obama.

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Israel's barrier to progress
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Guardian
by Seth Freedman - (Opinion) July 22, 2009 - 12:00am

In many parts of the West Bank, Israel's much-vaunted separation wall is conspicuous by its absence; Ha'aretz reports that only around 60% of the barrier has been completed will come as no surprise to those who spend time in the area around the project's proposed route.

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Anti-colonialism, the Barack Obama way
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Daily Star
by Rami Khouri - (Opinion) July 22, 2009 - 12:00am

One of the most important political dynamics in the Middle East these days is the escalating war of words between the United States and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the international demand to freeze Jewish settlements and colonies in Arab lands occupied in 1967. It is surprising yet heartening that the Obama team has come out strongly demanding that Israel freeze the expansion of all settlements, with no exceptions for natural growth, pre-approved projects or anything else.

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Israel cuts Palestinian tragedy from textbooks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Associated Press
by Matti Friedman - July 22, 2009 - 12:00am

The Israeli government will remove references to what the Palestinians call the "catastrophe" of Israel's creation from textbooks for Arab schoolchildren, the country's education minister said Wednesday. The reference to "al-naqba" or catastrophe, what the Palestinian's call their defeat and exile in the war over Israel's 1948 creation, was controversially inserted by a dovish education minister for the first time in 2007. The phrase remains contentious six decades after Israel was founded.

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Arrogant defiance
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times
July 22, 2009 - 12:00am

Israel’s arrogant defiance of the US, its main ally and supporter, over the construction of yet another Israeli settlement in East Jerusalem has no easy or immediate answers. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s rejection of Washington’s demands that it cease and desist from building yet another housing project in the heart of East Jerusalem is unprecedented and provocative. Never before has the Jewish state provoked its closest ally to such an extent and gotten away with it.

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