Failed negotiations could fatally undermine the Palestinian Authority ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Bitterlemons by George Giacaman - (Analysis) February 15, 2010 - 1:00am The Palestinian leadership continues to resist ever-growing pressure to return to negotiations with Israel. And unless the international community, and especially the US, is ready to underwrite serious and substantial negotiations, embarking on a negotiations process that will likely fail could have dramatic consequences. » Read more

Is Barack Obama More AIPAC Than J Street? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Foreign Policy by Steven J. Rosen - (Analysis) February 17, 2010 - 1:00am Anxiety about Barack Obama has afflicted Israelis since his meteoric rise to the White House. Here was an untested president, one whose agenda in the Middle East could only be imagined. Would Obama's America be Israel's lifeline in a dangerous and often hostile world? Or would this American president experiment with mistaken or even unfriendly ideas that could wreak havoc for Israeli security? » Read more

Jaffa struggles to be left in peace ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Jonathan Cook - February 16, 2010 - 1:00am Over the past few days graffiti scrawled on walls around the mixed Jewish and Arab town of Jaffa in central Israel exclaims: “Settlers, keep out” and “Jaffa is not Hebron”. Although Jaffa is only a stone’s throw away from the bustling coastal metropolis of Tel Aviv, Arab residents say their neighbourhood has become the unlikely battleground for an attempted takeover by extremist Jews more familiar from West Bank settlements. » Read more

Democracy in the Balance ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward by Naomi Chazan - (Opinion) February 10, 2010 - 1:00am The New Israel Fund is only the latest target in a series of outrageous assaults on Israel’s democratic foundations. The apparently coordinated attempt this past year to intimidate, de-fund and possibly shut down Israel’s human rights community, culminating in this latest direct attack on NIF — and on me personally, as its president — is an alarming symptom of a deeply troubled society that is lurching toward authoritarianism and the undermining of basic civil freedoms. » Read more

'White House has learned lessons' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Haviv Rettig - February 17, 2010 - 1:00am The US administration is quietly pressuring the Palestinians to come to the negotiating table, according to an influential American Jewish leader and longtime supporter of US President Barack Obama. » Read more

Dahlan: Israel waging war on Abbas ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Ali Waked - February 16, 2010 - 1:00am Senior Fatah official Mohammed Dahlan on Tuesday accused Israel of waging a war on the Palestinian Authority and its leader. According to Dahlan, "We are convinced that Israel is engaging in a secret and public war, simultaneously, against the Palestinian Authority and against President Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) and against the sane voice among the Palestinian people." » Read more

High Court to state: Expedite demolition in illegal West Bank outposts ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Aviad Glickman - February 17, 2010 - 1:00am The High Court of Justice has ordered the state to provide a timetable for the demolition of illegal structures in two unauthorized West Bank outposts within 60 days. The decision to raze the structures drew harsh criticism due to the fact that one of the outposts in question is home to the widow and two children of fallen IDF officer Roi Klein, who was killed during the Second Lebanon War when he jumped on a grenade to save his comrades. » Read more

Pro-Mideast in America: Getting past 'Pro-Israel' and 'Pro-Palestine' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Bradley Burston - (Opinion) February 17, 2010 - 1:00am Let's face it. Viewed from North America, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a dismal read. Seen in full context, the confrontation is suffocatingly complex. As literature, it is paralytic, sullenly wordy. The plot, for all its spasms and blood, goes nowhere. As drama, the Israel-Palestine morass is the geopolitical equivalent of James Cameron's 1997 film "Titanic": interminable, exorbitant, unwieldy, dumb without just cause. Titanic-like, it tempts the observer to bail out in mid-course, seething under the breath "Sink, already! Just #*%&-ing sink!" » Read more

'Illegal' Gaza tunnel owners suffer as Hamas economy grows ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Avi Issacharoff - February 17, 2010 - 1:00am Owners of the smuggling tunnels bordering the Gaza Strip and Egypt have been suffering from financial problems due to their tunnels' inactivity, according to Palestinian sources. The reason, it turns out, actually stems from the overall success of smuggling tunnels in Gaza. Hamas has recently set up 'legal' tunnels, which they use to smuggle various merchandise. As a result, existing, non-Hamas run tunnels are suffering financially. » Read more

Five Israelis wake up as named 'Dubai assassins' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Danna Harman, Liel Kyzer - February 17, 2010 - 1:00am At least five Israelis awoke Tuesday morning to find their names tied to the assassination of senior Hamas operative Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in his Dubai hotel room last month. All were stunned to find their names displayed on passports that police in the emirate said were used by the assailants. However, the people pictured in the photos released by police looked nothing like them. All denied involvement in the affair. » Read more