December 15th

The GOP on the Palestinians as an "invented people"
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from CNN
by James Lindsay - (Opinion) December 12, 2011 - 1:00am

Apparently 7.6 million people like me had nothing better to do Saturday night than watch the twelfth GOP presidential debate. That’s the biggest audience by far to watch the Republicans to spar over who should lead the party against Barack Obama.

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A sorry state of affairs
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Asharq Alawsat
by Hussein Shobokshi - (Opinion) December 15, 2011 - 1:00am

The race to find US Republican Party presidential nominee has recently turned into a cheap circus, full of farce and ridicule. The candidates are bending over backwards to please the influential Christian neo-conservative trend, personal firearms manufacturers, anti-abortion groups, and of course the supporters of the state of Israel in all their forms, whether Jewish pressure lobbies or Zionist-Christian extremist blocs.

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Uprisings opportunity for new Israel foreign policy
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Andrew Friedman - (Opinion) December 15, 2011 - 1:00am

The explosion of popular protests last December against the ruling order in the Arab world was one of those moments in world history that caused observers to watch with bated breath. As the protests spread from Tunisia to Egypt to Yemen and beyond, those of us old enough to remember the 1989 Velvet Revolution could not help but wonder where it all would lead, whether dictators like Hosni Mubarak would use their militaries to quash the protests and what true democracy in the Arab world would mean for the West in general, and for Israel in particular.

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The (other) 'N word'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Nahum Barnea - (Opinion) December 15, 2011 - 1:00am

There is one word, just one word, that no decent American would dare speak out loud unless he happens to be a black stand-up comedian. That forbidden word is "nigger" – a racial slur for African-Americans. The interdiction is so grave that all one needs to say is "The N word" and everyone immediately knows what it's all about. "For top officials in the Obama Administration," a participant of the Saban Forum in Washington told me last week, "Netanyahu is now the 'N word' – the name best not mentions."

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Israel's extremist threat
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Hanoch Daum - (Opinion) December 14, 2011 - 1:00am

The lawbreakers from the hills threaten Israeli society, but much before that they threat me and those like me, members of the Religious-Zionist camp. They threaten us, a community that for dozens of years now attempted to passionately argue that there is a way to combine Torah and work, Judaism and culture, nationalism and morality. These lawbreakers from Samaria’s hills are cutting the ground under our feet.

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Blame it on the rabbis
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Ynetnews
by Yakir Elkariv - (Opinion) December 15, 2011 - 1:00am

We should keep things in proportion: A bunch of religious nutcases do not threaten Israel’s very existence. After all, if the army really wishes to do so, it can embark on a Cast Lead-style operation against them which they won’t forget for many years to come. However, the army is not a gang. It shows responsibility and restraint – even when these people produce smalltime provocations in order to divert attention away from the evacuation of outposts.

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The Israeli leaders who denounce Jewish terror are responsible for it
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Yossi Sarid - (Opinion) December 15, 2011 - 1:00am

The flood of condemnations has not put out the fire. The torch procession is still thundering toward the Temple Mount mosques, to the great conflagration that will rage in all corners of the Temple. The denouncers can prepare their fire extinguishers and fire-and-brimstone preaching.

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Israel has never been so ugly
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Ari Shavit - (Opinion) December 15, 2011 - 1:00am

We have never been so ugly. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanayhu seeks to silence the call to prayer over the loudspeakers of the country's mosques, and to shut down Channel 10 television. Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman expresses support for the Russian "democtator" who has just rigged elections. Defense Minister Ehud Barak stands by while Jewish settlers victimize Palestinians and ultra-Orthodox religious nationalists victimize female soldiers.

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Palestinian rivals united by drift
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Tom Perry - (Analysis) December 15, 2011 - 1:00am

RAMALLAH, West Bank, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Hamas and Fatah are Palestinian rivals facing the same dilemma: how to justify their role as leaders of the Palestinian people while making little headway in achieving their national goals. With elections overdue, questions over their legitimacy are only likely to increase unless they find a way to galvanise the Palestinians' struggle with Israel.

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December 14th

NEWS: Israel's leadership is outraged by a settler attack on military bases.The second phase of the Israel-Hamas prisoner exchange is underway. A senior Hamas leader says he very much doubts elections can be held in May. Rights groups say Israel and settlers are destroying more Palestinian homes and wells than ever. Thousands in Gaza attend a Hamas anniversary rally. Israeli extremists clash with police after attacking a historically significant mosque in occupied East Jerusalem. DM Barak says Israeli extremists need to be treated like terrorist groups. Israeli rights groups say a record number of Palestinians have been displaced by home demolitions in the past year.Israeli and Palestinian officials meet to discuss water issues. PM Netanyahu is moving to consolidate his domestic power. COMMENTARY: Thomas Friedman says Newt Gingrich hit a new low in pandering to Israel by suggesting Palestinians are “an invented people.” Haaretz says that Israel must impose its law on settlers. Bradley Burston says Newt Gingrich needs to do a lot of homework. Carlo Strenger says the Middle East is ready to accept Israel if PM Netanyahu will let it. Donniel Hartman says Israel doesn't need would-be American “friends” denying Palestinian peoplehood. Danny Danon says Israel did not mean to offend Jewish Americans with ads warning against life in the United States, but Liora Halperin says it did. Aeyal Gross says it's easy to imagine how Israel would have reacted to rock throwing Palestinians as opposed to settlers. Yossi Alpher says the current peace process paradigm is dead and needs an alternative urgently, and Ghassan Khatib says Israeli extremism is the reason why.

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