November 23rd

Jordan seeks Palestinian respect by offering Hamas a new home ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Zvi Barel - (Opinion) November 23, 2011 - 1:00am Jordan's King Abdullah is not an innovative leader. But last week he surprised Arab leaders and the whole world by becoming the first Arab ruler to call on Syrian President Bashar Assad to resign. "If I were in his shoes, I'd step down," he told the BBC. » Read more

Revive the peace process ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Pittsburgh Post-Gazette by Dan Simpson - (Opinion) November 23, 2011 - 1:00am It may seem misdirected to insist on there being in place a credible effort to settle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict when there is so much turmoil in neighboring states. There is, however, a critical case for not letting that effort stay dormant. There is even an argument that the situations in some neighboring states would become more coherent if an Israeli-Palestinian peace effort promised a stable and just resolution. » Read more

The Death of the Arab Peace Initiative? ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Atlantic by Marwan Muasher - (Opinion) November 23, 2011 - 1:00am We should all be "celebrating," in a few short months, the tenth anniversary of the Arab Peace Initiative, a collective Arab offer championed by then Saudi Crown Prince (and current king) Abdullah to help bring about a permanent resolution to the Arab-Israeli conflict. Instead, the fate of the plan is more precarious than ever. » Read more

Activist: Israeli government won't protect its own citizens ATFP World Press Roundup Article from CNN by Rebecca Vilkomerson - (Opinion) November 23, 2011 - 1:00am On September 30, a group of Jewish Israelis from the activist groups Solidarity and Ta'ayush set out on a visit to support the Palestinian al Rifai family in the West Bank. The family's claim to their land has been recognized by the Israeli Supreme Court, but the settlement of Anatot is nevertheless built upon it. Al Rifai family members have faced harassment for years while insisting on their right to access private land. The settlers of Anatot, enraged by the Israeli support of the Palestinian family, violently attacked the family and activists alike. » Read more

Timely support ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jordan Times (Opinion) November 23, 2011 - 1:00am His Majesty King Abdullah’s visit to Ramallah for talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is the second, in time, but first in importance. The Palestinians are passing through difficult circumstances, so there couldn’t be a better time to stand by them in solidarity. The Monarch reassured the Palestinians that Jordan stands by them and that support for their steadfastness in unwavering, no matter how challenging the current developments in the Middle East are. » Read more

Leadership that makes history ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post by Gershon Baskin - (Opinion) November 23, 2011 - 1:00am Leading is not easy. Leading Israel is certainly not a simple task. It is not surprising that many leaders of Israel, maybe even most of them, have made decisions in office that go against what they preached and believed in before they sat in the prime minister’s seat. As the saying goes, “what you see from here is not what you see from there.” Real leadership is measured when one is faced with real-life situations that place diametrically opposed values and principles on the scales of decision making. » Read more

Bibi's conspiracy of silence ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews by Attila Somfalvi - (Opinion) November 23, 2011 - 1:00am At the end of the day, the thing that will be remembered from Benjamin Netanyahu’s second premiership term is the harm to Israel’s democracy, freedom of expression, the media and the courts. In his three years in office, Israel's democracy went back 30 years. Instead of flourishing, it’s becoming defensive and pale. The prime minister is undermining the power of regular folk and boosting politicians at the people's expense. This is the entire aim of the so-called silencing law and of the series of laws against the court. No more and no less than that. » Read more

Netanyahu must choose the rule of law over Lieberman ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz (Editorial) November 23, 2011 - 1:00am Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman is threatening to break up the coalition if the illegal outposts Migron and Givat Assaf are evacuated. "Migron is not an illegal outpost," the minister said Monday. "It's a community where then-Defense Minister Moshe Arens and the GOC Central Command stood beside the cornerstone at its founding. How did it suddenly become illegal?" » Read more

Over Netanyahu's New Israel, the B.S. light is on ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz by Bradley Burston - (Blog) November 23, 2011 - 1:00am How does Israel expect to explain itself after this? How are people who support Israel supposed to understand the Black Flag legislation which has expropriated the business of the Knesset? Fortunately, the language of the Bible now has a word for all of it. It's spelled Bet Vav Lamed Shin Yud Tet. Sometimes written bull****. » Read more

Israel and 'Pinkwashing' ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The New York Times (Opinion) November 23, 2011 - 1:00am “In dreams begin responsibilities,” wrote Yeats in 1914. These words resonate with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people who have witnessed dramatic shifts in our relationship to power. After generations of sacrifice and organization, gay people in parts of the world have won protection from discrimination and relationship recognition. But these changes have given rise to a nefarious phenomenon: the co-opting of white gay people by anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim political forces in Western Europe and Israel. » Read more