Nationalists are turning Zionism into a childish religion ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Doron Rosenblum - November 19, 2010 - 1:00am The crowds of ministers and deputy ministers who surround Benjamin Netanyahu in their multitudes under the overall name "the government of Israel" sometimes seem like participants in a cantata or review: Every now and then, one of them gets up from among the semi-anonymous heads to make his voice heard - one with a trill in favor of annexation, another in a racist etude, yet another in an ethnocentric sermon, and another with a rational chirp. When one sits down, the next soloist gets up, while the Chorus of the Rock of our Existence follows him with background humming. » Read more

Fired AIPAC staffer tells Haaretz: I had no choice but to sue for defamation ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Natasha Mozgovaya - November 19, 2010 - 1:00am A former AIPAC staffer who was dismissed for allegedly "mishandling classified information" told Haaretz on Wednesday that he had been left with no choice but to see the pro-Israel lobby for defamation. The U.S. Jewish community has been scandalized by the details of the increasingly dirty lawsuit, brought forth by Steve Rosen. Rosen was sacked by the America Israel Public Affairs Committee in 2005 after he and fellow staffer Keith Weissman were charged with "mishandling classified information" and passing sensitive information to Israeli diplomats and journalists. » Read more

Gaza militants fire Grad rocket, barrage of mortar shells at western Negev ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Yanir Yagna - November 19, 2010 - 1:00am Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired a long-range Grad rocket and seven mortar shells at western Negev on Friday, following a night-long barrage of Qassam rockets fired from the coastal enclave. Eshkol Regional Council was hit by 3 mortar shells Friday afternoon. Another 4 bombs hit Hof Ashkelon Regional Council. No injuries or damages were reported. Earlier on Friday Gaza militants fired a long-range Grad rocket into the western Negev. » Read more

Israeli airstrike kills 2 Palestinians in Gaza ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua November 18, 2010 - 1:00am Two Palestinians were killed and three others wounded in an Israeli airstrike on a local car Wednesday evening in central Gaza City, medical sources and witnesses said. An Israeli war jet targeted a white Subaru car in central Gaza City, said witnesses, adding that ambulances arrived at the scene and evacuated the casualties to Shifa Hospital in the city. Adham Abu Selmeyah, spokesman of medical services in the health ministry of the deposed Hamas government, told Xinhua that Islam Yassin and Mohamed Yassin, who were in the targeted car, were killed. » Read more

Israel condemns Web list of Gaza soldiers ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Statesman by Matti Friedman - November 19, 2010 - 1:00am Israel's military on Friday condemned the publication of names and photographs of 200 Israeli soldiers on a website that called them "war criminals." Militants in Gaza, meanwhile, fired rockets at southern Israel, causing no casualties, but sparking retaliatory Israeli air strikes that wounded five. The website also published the home addresses and ID numbers of many of the Israelis. They included senior commanders and low-ranking soldiers who the site claimed participated in the three-week offensive Israel launched in Gaza in late 2008. » Read more

Israel, U.S. struggling to conclude settlement pact ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters November 19, 2010 - 1:00am Talks between Israeli and U.S. officials aimed at reviving Middle East peace negotiations have hit snags over incentives promised by Washington to persuade Israel to resume a freeze of Jewish settlement building. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unveiled the U.S. inducements to his cabinet last weekend and appeared hopeful the ministers would back plans for a temporary halt to building in the occupied West Bank to overcome a hurdle to the peace talks. » Read more

US bars Palestinian statehood moves in UN agencies ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters November 19, 2010 - 1:00am Away from the headlines, Palestinians have been trying to advance their statehood agenda in small but symbolic ways in United Nations agencies that fall off the radar for most people. But even on the outer reaches of the sprawling U.N. system, their efforts have been blocked by a United States resolved not to display the slightest tilt toward Palestinians as it tries to act as honest broker in their halting peace talks with Israel. » Read more

After foiled assassination plot, Nablus governor tours city ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency November 19, 2010 - 1:00am Nablus Governor Jibrin Al-Bakri toured the city's markets and congratulated shoppers and merchants on the occasion of Eid Al-Adha, days after PA forces said plot to assassinate him was foiled, and one day after Israel handed full PA security control over to the city's police. The mayor was accompanied by security forces as he made the tour, during which he reflected on the increased number of out-of-towners enjoying time in the city, and said he hoped it boded well for the next year. Al-Bakri thanked shopkeepers and his security team for keeping the atmosphere in the city calm. » Read more

Abbas aide: Palestine won't be pretext for weapons sale ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ma'an News Agency November 19, 2010 - 1:00am Presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina told reporters on Friday that Palestinians would not be used as a pretext for supplying Israel with weapons. Commenting from the Jordanian capital, Abu Rudeina said the Palestinian position on the matter of the US-Israel deal for an extension to the settlement freeze was clear. » Read more

Despite Hamas-Fatah split, Gaza's sportsmen score a truce. Game on. ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Christian Science Monitor by Daniel Estrin - November 19, 2010 - 1:00am The schoolboys chasing after a soccer ball at Ittihad Al-Shajayia sports club here hardly seem to notice the concrete shell nearby – all that's left of what were the club's offices before Israeli planes bombed them. And not one boy stopped to admire the large mural that depicts Israel's target: masked militants kneeling next to a rocket launcher. » Read more