Jerusalem & Babylon / Ultra-Orthodox need not protest Israel, they run it ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Anshel Pfeffer - (Opinion) November 18, 2011 - 1:00am Someone just woke up and discovered that women have been banished from advertising billboards throughout Jerusalem. Good morning! The Modesty Police has been ruling the streets for years and none of you have done anything about it. I am normally very skeptical of conspiracy theories, because that is what they are, theories, and because I have actually met some of the conspiracists. But even I sometimes wonder if a group of rabbis did not get together at some point at the end of the 1990s and hatch a plan to take over the state of Israel by legal and democratic means. » Read more

Rabin knew road to peace passed through the bank ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Nehemia Shtrasler - (Analysis) November 18, 2011 - 1:00am Last Saturday night, I went to the square. I do so every year, as part of my civic duty to salute the prime minister who was assassinated on the altar of peace. Everyone should devote at least one day a year to the frustrating thought that if the Shin Bet security service had done its job and arrested the murderer, we would today be living in a completely different reality - a much better one. » Read more

Attacks Target Palestinians In Israeli Towns ATFP World Press Roundup Article from National Public Radio (NPR) by Sheera Frenkel - (Analysis) November 18, 2011 - 1:00am In Israel, tensions are rising between Jews and Palestinian Arabs, who make up about 20 percent of the population. Over the past few months, several Arab sites have been vandalized by militant Jews who left graffiti such as "Death to Arabs." Locals blame activists from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. At a recent demonstration on a street corner in the central Israeli town of Jaffa, protesters chant in both Hebrew and Arabic. The crowd is made up of Jews and Palestinians angry over the attacks, which have rocked their community. » Read more

Palestinians' talks over unity government likely to succeed ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Xinhua by Adam Gonn - (Analysis) November 18, 2011 - 1:00am An agreement between Fatah and Hamas, Palestinians' rival parties, looks likely on the formation of a unity government with Fatah's flexibility on the future role of Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in the ruling body. Hamas, which established its own government in Gaza after routing out forces loyal to Fatah in 2007, has been opposed to Fayyad's playing any part in the unity government. » Read more

Fatah-Hamas meeting to focus on unified Palestinian vision ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat by Salah Jumaa - (Analysis) November 18, 2011 - 1:00am Nimr Hammad, the Palestinian president's political adviser, has asserted that President Mahmud Abbas will focus at next week’s meeting with Hamas chief Khalid Mishal on the need to have a unified political program for the next government for the sake of communicating effectively with the world and so as to have a unified Palestinian vision for dealing with the world and with political issues. Hammad believes that the division and different political stands between Hamas and Fatah and the absence of a unified vision toward the strategic issues serve Israel. » Read more

Christian community divided by Israeli separation barrier ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The National by Hugh Naylor - (Analysis) November 18, 2011 - 1:00am Even though its concrete pillars and barbed wire have yet to be pieced together through these terraced olive orchards, Israel's separation barrier has already divided this small Christian community. Israeli authorities are expected to build a segment of its 760-kilometre fence through Cremisan, an area of verdant hills wedged between occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank. » Read more

Settlers 'attempted to kill' Israeli soldiers ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent by Donald MacIntyre - (Analysis) November 18, 2011 - 1:00am Though fairly hair-raising, the blog Haim Har-Zahav wrote about how his Israel Defence Forces unit was attacked several times in the West Bank back in September would have gone almost unnoticed – except for one thing. » Read more

Top settler rabbi: Soldiers will sooner choose death than suffer women's singing ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Yair Ettinger - (Analysis) November 17, 2011 - 1:00am Israel Defense Forces soldiers should choose death before they remain at army events which include women's singing, a top settler religious leader said in an interview on Thursday. The comment made by Elyakim Levanon, the rabbi of the West Bank settlement of Elon Moreh, came after earlier this week, 19 reserve major generals sent a letter to Defense Minister Ehud Barak and IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz, imploring them not to allow harm to come to women's service in the army as a result of religious soldiers' demands. » Read more

Israel effectively annexes Palestinian land near Jordan Valley ATFP World Press Roundup Article from by Akiva Eldar - (Analysis) November 18, 2011 - 1:00am Israel carried out a de facto annexation of Palestinian land northeast of the Jordan Valley and given it to Kibbutz Merav. Merav, part of the Religious Kibbutz Movement, is about seven kilometers northwest of the parcel. The route of the separation barrier in the area was changed so that the plot in question, about 1,500 dunams (375 acres), would be on the Israeli side. » Read more

With eye on militants, Israel builds Africa ties ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Associated Press by Josef Federman - (Analysis) November 17, 2011 - 1:00am Israel has identified eastern Africa as an important strategic interest and is stepping up ties with nations in the region in a joint effort to control the spread of Islamic extremists, officials said Thursday. In effect, Israel would become a player siding with Christian-led African nations in conflicts with Muslim movements, a fault line that has sharpened around the continent in recent years. Israeli moves come as the United States as well has hiked up military support for African governments, in large part to combat al-Qaida-linked groups. » Read more